If you would rather read than listen — or want to do both — this audio is based loosely on this page of my website:  Dog Toenail Trimming with a Dremel Tool.

… but I did add more content to the audio file when I was recording it.

And if you would like to download this audio to listen to on an mp3 player, for example, here is the direct link to it. Just right-click or the Mac equivalent to save it to your computer.

http://www.training-dogs.com/sound-files/toenails.mp3

Here is the cordless Dremel tool for pets; click on the image to go to Amazon. I find that the little sandpapery things last a good long time, and it’s easy to find replacements.

Doing Dog Toenails with a Dremel Tool is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

If you would rather read than listen — or want to do both — this audio is based loosely on this page of my website: Does Your Dog Get Enough Exercise?

And if you would like to download this audio to listen to on an mp3 player, for example, here is the direct link to it. Just right-click or the Mac equivalent to save it to your computer.

http://www.training-dogs.com/sound-files/exercise.mp3

I hope this inspires you to increase your dog’s exercise. Here’s a good book on how to do that for your dog and get more exercise yourself. Click on the image to find out more at Amazon:

Does Your Dog Get Enough Exercise? Do You? is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

So I was delighted to find out about this new book.

I still remember my mother-in-law sending our aging Rhodesian Ridgeback, Cider, Reiki healing from 1000 miles away, some 15 years ago. Cider got somewhat better, and I figured it could have been the Reiki. I’ve also written here on this site about my experiences with the TTouch for dogs, so this new book would be right up my alley.

Here is part of the blurb about the book from Dogwise:

Anyone can learn energy healing, and this book makes it simple. You’ll get clear explanations backed by scientific studies, step-by-step exercises, and plenty of photographs. With a bit of practice, you will soon be channeling life force energy through your hands to dogs. You’ll learn to “scan” for problem areas; relieve joint pain; reduce inflammation; heal emotional issues with the “heart-centered” technique; learn about special considerations for working with shelter dogs; and more. There is an entire chapter dedicated to commonly asked questions, and another on do-it-yourself energy experiments you can try right away.

Imagine a gentle, non-invasive healing method that can address pain, injury, and illness; speed recovery after surgery; and have remarkable effects on fear, anxiety, aggression, depression, and trauma. Energy healing can do all this and more! It works by stimulating the body’s natural ability to heal itself, and can assist dogs in resolving a myriad of physical, emotional, and even mental issues. Energy healing will not cause harm, has no side effects, and can be used in conjunction with other holistic therapies or conventional medical treatments. Done on a regular basis, this safe, effective practice can help to keep dogs healthy and well-balanced.

Energy healing is simple, natural, and free, and is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and the dogs you love.

Specifics such as working with pain and inflammation, maintaining balance, working with shelter dogs and even how to work with dying animals will give the reader both the inspiration and courage to explore energy healing.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Readers, if you use energy healing, do comment below.

You can get Energy Healing for Dogs at Dogwise.

Energy Healing For Dogs, by Nicole Wilde is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Kudos to Dogwise Publishing for continuing to bring out such an excellent variety of dog books! Click on the book cover to go to Dogwise and find out more.

Or browse the book’s back cover right here. Most of it, anyway.

The Healthy Way to Stretch Your Dog: A Physical Therapy Approach is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

First, you may need to change some of your own habits. If you show your affection for your dog by giving a lot of treats, better if you use the treats for training rewards – and cut down on the amount you feed your dog at meal times to allow for those treats. Also, you can use tiny treats; for example, I cut one hot dog into quarters lengthwise, and then into 25 or more slices, and I have over 100 treats right there! I freeze them and use them frozen. One package of hot dogs lasts me and my two dogs for months.

It really is better for your dog if you can keep his weight in a normal range. Not only will he feel and look better, but he is less likely to have arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other problems.

How Much to Feed Your Dog?

There’s a saying; "Feed your dog to condition." This means feed the right amount so that you can feel those ribs. Remember that the suggested guidelines on the dog food packages are put there by the companies that sell the food! Many of the estimates are too high. Plus, different dogs of the same breed will need different amounts of food, depending on how active they are. A dog that goes running with its owner daily will need less food than a dog who gets less exercise.

If your dog is fat now, cut down on his food a little and see over the next few weeks if that is making a difference. If not, cut down a little more or try a different food. Veterinarians sell prescription weight loss diets. I have never had to use one on a dog, but I’ve heard they can work well. Eventually your dog should be in good condition.

Interestingly, underfeeding your dog may add to his life span. A recently completed study followed a group of dogs for 14 years and the results indicated that the dogs who were somewhat underfed lived an average of 15% longer than their littermates who were fed normal amounts of food.

Exercise

Being sure your dog gets enough exercise is important for several reasons. A tired-out dog is much less likely to get into mischief, for one thing! Another is that dogs are naturally meant to get exercise to stay fit. And of course, you can help your dog lose weight by taking him for walks, letting him run at a dog park if there is a good one near you, and other activities.

An enjoyable training game is to have two people in a yard with the dog. One of them calls the dog. When the dog comes, the other person calls the dog. Back and forth the dog goes. This is a great game for children, who often have more patience with it than do adults! This exercise is a way of teaching a dog to come, and in that context, small treats are used. If the purpose is weight loss, make those tiny treats and don’t give them every time the dog runs from person to person.

Really heavy dogs may have reached a point where walking and running are uncomfortable for them. In that case, you might investigate what water options are in your community. We have a friend whose dogs go in and out of her swimming pool, and love to dog-paddle! There also more high-tech solutions that your local veterinarian or dog trainer may know about. Any way that a fat dog can get some exercise in water can help.

Whatever you can do to help your dog stay trim will help!

Is Your Dog Fat? is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

She explained that normal dogs without skin allergies or other sensitivities simply don’t need bathing very much at all. A dog’s coat contains natural oils which are designed to repel dirt.

When people wash their dogs a lot, these oils can be removed. If that happens, then the coat will no longer stay clean naturally. So then the people are inclined to wash the dog again, and so it goes.

She  said that she bathes her own dogs roughly once a year. She realized that would horrify a lot of tidy housekeepers, but while her dogs do shed some hair, they really don’t bring in much dirt. I didn’t think to ask her what breeds they were.

She advised that if you really felt you had to wash your dogs sometimes, be sure to use a very mild shampoo, one which is soap-free, because that will remove less oil from the skin and coat.

But won’t the dogs smell without frequent baths?

This veterinarian said, ” In my experience, doggie smell comes from less-than-healthy skin. ” There are a couple of factors that particularly affect skin: diet and parasites. A good quality diet will lead to a nice shiny coat and healthy skin. If your dog has fleas or other critters that lead to scratching, then the normal bacteria and fungi that live on the skin may multiply out of control. In this context, she added that not bathing your dog will also make the flea control meds that you apply last longer.

Ears

The skin in a dog’s ear canal is much like the skin on the rest of the body. She said to me that if the dog has normal healthy ears without discharge or excessive wax, don’t use cleaners. If you do, you might upset the natural balance of fungi and bacteria in the ear. If they multiply, they will cause infection. She had a convincing argument: she personally has owned dogs for some 22 years, and she has never cleaned their ears. Just once in all that time did she have one dog with an infection briefly,

When this advice might not apply

She recommended that you work with your veterinarian if your dog has allergies, sensitivities, or infections. In those situations, medicated baths or some kind of ear treatment may be appropriate.

Save Time and Trouble, Don’t Wash Your Dog Much! is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

So I was pleased to come across a cute chart on the National Geographic website, based on data from the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals):

Weight of Dogs and Chocolate Quantities Consumed

The images aren’t quite right, as the picture labeled as a Doberman looks like a Dachsund to me, but the chart at least gives you some idea of what you are dealing with.

There is some small print at the bottom, which essentially says the exact amounts of the dangerous chemical, theobromine, may vary in the different kinds of chocolate they show. I would also add that dogs, like humans, exhibit biochemical individuality. This means that two dogs of the same size and even of the same breed may react differently to the same amounts of chocolate or other poison ingested.

Seems to me that the main use of this chart is to give you some sense of scale. If your Great Dane eats one chocolate chip, it’s most unlikely that you have a problem! But if the dog is smaller and the qauntity larger, then take a look at the chart and decide if it’s time to call the veterinarian. I like it that the chart allows you to set the dog’s estimated weight in pounds or kilograms, and the amount of chocolate ingested in grams or ounces.

I set the chart for a 50 pound dog and saw the estimates that it would take at least 6 ounces for any symptoms to appear. There are different weights given for vomiting and diarrhea, rapid heartbeats, tremors and seizures, and potential death.

I hope you never need this chart, but I suggest you bookmark this page just in case. And tell your friends! That’s how I found out about the chart, friends telling friends.

Chocolate and Dogs is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

If you say yes, then you and I are on the same page.

If you don’t have it, I’d like to suggest that it is a very worthwhile book for your collection. Admittedly, I am a book lover, but this is the most essential of my whole collection of dog books… After I wrote that sentence, I walked over to the bookcase to see if anything else could compete. One or two of the training books tried to get my attention, but really they don’t come close to Pitcairn, as we call the book at my house. It’s an excellent gift for any dog or cat owner.

Richard H. Pitcairn is a veterinarian with a PhD in Veterinary Microbiology. That sounds rather scholarly but he was in clinical practice for many years and now teaches homeopathic medicine to veterinarians. You can tell from the book that he is a down-to-earth, hands-on kind of person, with unusually good powers of observation. His experiences with actual dogs and cats shape what’s in the book, which he wrote with Susan Hubble Pitcairn.

The first edition of Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats came out over 25 years ago. I bought it then. (Now the third edition is out and I have it too… somehow I missed the second one.) The book has sold over 400,000 copies, and believe me, that is a LOT for a non-fiction book! Amazon.com calls it “A must-have for pet owners interested in a natural lifestyle for their pets.” and I agree. It has saved me a lot of stress and provided me with easily-varied recipes I’ve used for years. My dogs and cats are the healthier for it.

What’s in this Book?

Pitcairn has two parts, with a variety of topics covered in each:

• Part One: Natural Health for Pets consists of 15 chapters. A group of chapters discuss what is really in commercial pet food, how to make your own homemade pet food with supplements and how to help your pet make the switch. Next come chapters with titles such as Creating a Healthier Environment, Emotional Connections and Your Pet’s Health, and How to Care for a Sick Animal.
• Part Two: Quick Reference covers over 50 specific conditions in a page or two. From Abscesses and Allergies to West Nile Virus and Worms, this section is extremely useful. There is a particularly thorough coverage of vaccinations, in which he explains his statement “Vaccines are not always effective, and they may cause long-lasting health disturbances” and suggests what you can do.

In the photo, my cat Moonlight looks over my copy of Pitcairn.

Where Can You Get Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats?

It’s widely available, in bookstores, pet stores, and online. Here it is at Amazon.com, where most of the reviewers give it 5 stars out of 5:

And here it is at Dogwise: Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, where you can also view the complete Table of Contents and a couple of sample pages.

It is also available from the various Amazon websites in Canada, the UK, etc. Wherever you find it, I do hope you pick up a copy!

Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats: My Review is a post from: Training Dogs Blog