We keep our leashes handy by the front door. The little gray one on the right is the new city leash,and the other two are our longer ones. The black bag hanging above contains dry dog treats and a clicker for the walks where I do a little training. The other bags are for our grocery shopping and the like, as we try to use as little plastic as we can.

What is a retractable leash? It’s got cord or tape wrapped around a core inside the handle. You attach the leash to the dog’s collar and there is also a little additional safety collar that comes with every Flexi that you can use. Then the leash gives the dog room to roam around and get a lot more exercise while you walk along. Our black one there is 16 feet long, and it’s the one I always use. The blue one is ten feet longer, and I like having more control with the black one. The cord moves in and out of the handle as you and the dog move closer and further away. If you want to bring the dog in close, you just pull it in and then there is a button you can push to keep the dog at a fixed distance. The cords move pretty fast so you keep your fingers away from them. Also, do NOT attach these to a Gentle Leader or Halti or similar halter on a dog, as it would be dangerous to your dog’s neck to pull on his head from a distance.

So the purpose of the new Flexi City is to provide the retractability with a much shorter radius. City dwellers walking in busy areas will like this one a lot, I would guess.

Our situation is semi-rural… we live in a development that has far more empty lots than homes, and has a huge patch of desert nearby, so we can let our dogs roam a lot. I always walk my dogs on leash when they are out of their quarter-acre fenced yard where they can run. I’m about as careful about this as anyone can be… maybe due to the grief I felt when a neighbor’s dog was killed by a car when I was a kid.  Anyway, with the longer leashes, the dogs go sniffing around as they wish.  I keep my eyes out for rabbits and reel the dog in– I walk one at a time–before it can take off in pursuit.

So I’ve walked each dog a few times now with the six-foot leash. LarryDog, now 15 and lazy in the afternoons, is just fine with it. Our walks are pretty much like they always were. He does go bonkers when a car comes by, which is rarely, but when it happened the other day, I liked how quickly and easily I could reel him in before he got riled up.

I wouldn’t use it on an everyday basis with Lola, our Rottweiler, as she likes a lot more range. Also, this is good up to 77 pounds, which we guesstimate to be a tad more than she weighs. (She’s a small Rottie.) But for taking her to the vet or out for a walk in town, it would be great.

You can find out more about the leashes at the Flexiusa website.  They are sold just about everywhere.  And here is a useful and very nicely made video on how to use them:

The New Flexi City Lead is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

This approach makes it an environmentally friendly choice, safe for use around us humans and our pets. It works on carpets as well as on other surfaces, and has been in use at vet clinics, pet hospitals, and carpet cleaning companies for over 15 years.

I’ve been hearing raves about this stuff for a long time. Since I blog about housetraining a lot, today I thought I’d mention a way to deal with the mistakes. The image or the link go to the one quart size but you can get more if you will need it!

Anti Icky Poo Odor Remover (1) Quart with Sprayer

Anti Icky Poo is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Give your dog a Kong and it will provide entertainment for a good long time.

Funny looking, isn’t it? We always have a few somewhere, usually including some temporarily lost in the bushes.

I’ve used them for years.  Even with my Rottweiler’s strong jaws working them over, the Kongs seem to last and last.

There are many ways to use them, but these suggestions are based on what I do:

• Keep your Kongs in the kitchen, out of reach of your dog or dogs. Ours are on top of our refrigerator. We wash them out after use, sometimes soaking them if food has caked on them inside where the dogs can’t get to it.
• When you are about to go out, stuff the Kong with treats. Our quick and easy way is to take about a tablespoon of peanut butter and smear it around inside the larger entrance to the Kong. You can use cheese, bits of meat, Cheerios, all sorts of things. In the summer we sometimes use small ice cubes.
• Give your dog the Kong as you leave. Consider what foods you have just put in the Kong and what your floors are made of! We find that our dogs don’t really make much mess, even with my husband’s homemade peanut butter in their Kongs.

To take a look at Kongs at Amazon, click on the image above… or here’s one that comes with Liver Paste spray. Ah, it’s a dog’s life!

Give Your Dog a Kong When You Go Out is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Use them for getting in and out of beds, SUV and pickups, sofas, etc. I bet some dogs  play on them!

The manufacturers say they can hold up to 120 pounds, but most people use them for smallish  dogs or for cats.  Some users at Amazon report that they needed to do a minimal amount of training at first, specially if they had a dog who was terrified of stairs.

Here are a couple more examples of dog steps. Clicking on the images will take you to Amazon. All three of these items have good reviews.

Dog Steps Solve Problems is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Anyway, I went there for something yesterday, when I wasn’t glued to the television watching the inauguration, and found that they had had an active response to all the positive energy. Here’s what Darcie says:

Beginning January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day, we’re starting our own “First 100 Days” countdown to celebrate the first 100 days of the new administration. We’ll use any excuse to have some fun and help you save money. We’ll have new items in this category every day that will be 15% off. They’ll only be on special for just that one day. We’ll change them out every day around 10:00 PM Central time. So, spread the word and check back each day!

I like to buy from other small businesses as much as possible, when they offer quality and good prices, as SitStay does.

Take a look… this link takes you right to the page:

100 Days of Specials at SitStay.com. 15% Off!

Brief Note: SitStay Inaugurated a 100 Day Special Series is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

They are also dog owners and real dog lovers themselves. It’s a family business, and I suspect that some of the inventory ends up going to the dogs!

The other day, someone emailed me with a question about getting good quality puppy toys, and I wrote back and just said: go to sitstay. She wrote me back after taking a look at the site and said she was going to have a lot of fun shopping there.

So what sort of things are there? They sell dog crates, leashes, clickers, and other training tools. Lots of toys, selected for quality.

Here are links to some of their sections:

• Diet and Nutrition
• Health Fitness recommendations
•  DVD & Books

They have a special going… actually, I *think* it’s a year-round deal:

Use Promotion Code DOGLOVER and save 10% on your next order.
(Just clicking on DOGLOVER will take you right to the site.)

Sitstay 10% Off Coupon, For Great Dog Supplies is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

So a while ago, I started another website, Online-Dog-Resources.Com. So far it’s mostly resources from eBay, organized into categories… It uses “datafeeds” from eBay, so the listings are current every time someone goes to a page. I used to be a librarian, and I do love to organize information! I include some tips for buying on eBay, such as how to register and get the hang of eBay, how to evaluate sellers, and more. It’s really amazing what you can find there. Often the prices are really low, though you do have to be a bit watchful.

I just mentioned Sitstay.com… it couldn’t be more different from eBay, and I like it a lot too. A family-run business in Nebraska, they carefully test every product they carry. There are discussion boards and some dog training articles written by one of the owners of the business, herself a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, as am I. So far, I only have one link to them over at my new site, to Clearance items at SitStay.com. A good place to start looking around!

I’m planning to add lots more resources, from a variety of online stores, over time.

To get to my new site, Online-Dog-Resources.Com, just click on the dog at the computer! I didn’t draw it… it’s clipart that I have the right to use, and every time I look at it, it makes me smile. I wonder which of my dogs will be the first to push me away from the computer and take over!

[tags]dog supplies[/tags]

Dog Supplies on eBay and at Sitstay is a post from: Training Dogs Blog