Puppy Tips Blog

I like to have snack time with my dogs.  If I munch on carrots or cucumbers, I give some to the dogs as well.  A lot of people say that their dogs won’t eat any vegetables or they won’t eat anything but meat.  Offer some fresh vegetables to your dog and you might be surprised!

 I don’t like the skin on cucumbers so I always peel them.  My dogs know the sound of the peeler coming out of the silverware drawer. Every time I get the peeler out, all of the dogs come running to meet me at the garbage can.  They all wag their tails and I hear an occasional whine.

They all follow me to the counter where the plate is to cut up the cucumber.  Again, as I am cutting up the cucumber, I hear some more whines.  Once I am done cutting it up, I find five slices of equal size and I hand them out to the dogs as they sit and wait for their bite.

I sometimes like to snack on the baby carrots that come in a bag.  I put some in a bowl and I always add extra for the dogs.  I give each one a baby carrot and they find their own spots to sit and chew on them.  They eat the carrots just like they were eating a bone.  I feel good about giving them carrots because they are not fattening, they are good for them, and they help to clean their teeth.  I give each dog about three or four carrots.  Just remember to not overdo it with your dog.  I think my dogs would eat carrots all day long if I let them, but I don’t want them to get a belly ache or have diarrhea. 

Any time you feed a new food to your dog, you should feed them only small amounts at first so that you can see if it upsets their stomach.  Also, if you give them too much new food at one time it can cause them to have diarrhea.

OK, back to the fun stuff.  If I cut up broccoli or cauliflower, I give the dogs some bites after I finish cutting it up.  They enjoy the crunchy fresh taste.  It is a nice change from dog snacks.  I also give them bites of raw potato when I am cutting them up.  They love potato slices and it is funny to hear all of the crunching noises!

If your dog refuses to eat any vegetable at first, it might be because the texture of the vegetable feels funny to them.  Don’t force them to eat it, but let them see you eating it and then offer it to them again the next time you are cutting some up.  Sometimes they will eat it just because they see you eating it and they get curious.

My daughter likes to give our dogs bites of corn on the cob.  Believe it or not, she has taught them to chew the corn off the cob, but not to eat the cob.  She holds onto the ear of corn tightly between her hands in front of her and the dogs will chew off a bite just like we do.  She gives each dog a turn to chew off some corn.  Once in a while one of the dogs will get excited and try to pull the whole ear of corn out of her hands.  That’s why she hangs onto it really tight.

I also give my dogs some fresh fruit.  They like apples, pears, and oranges.  Some of them like bananas and some don’t. I think some of the dogs don’t like it because of the mushy texture of the banana.   The fruit is very wet and refreshing for them.  They like it better than a tough old dry dog biscuit.  Fruit also contains natural sugar instead of processed sugar like in their dog treats.  Believe it or not, dog treats contain a lot of sugar. 

I did try a dog treat once that was made out of dried sweet potato chips.  I don’t recommend it.  My dogs chewed off chunks that became very sticky.  The chunks got stuck on their teeth and on the roof of their mouths.  I had to help some of the dogs pry the treat out of the roof of their mouths before they choked to death.  A very scary experience!  I threw the rest of the bag of dried sweet potato chips away.

I have heard that you are not supposed to feed your dog tomatoes, grapes and onions.  First, I don’t think my dogs would eat raw onions and I don’t plan on feeding them any. As far as grapes, I heard that too many can be toxic or poisonous to your dog.  I occasionally give my dogs a grape, but no more than one for a snack just to be safe. 

I’ve heard that tomatoes could cause your dog to choke on the skin.  I haven’t had a problem with this.  As a matter of fact, last year our dogs would run to the garden and wait for me to get them each a grape tomato.  They love grape tomatoes!  They have eaten quite a few at one time and there has never been a problem. 

Towards the end of last year, when the tomatoes were almost gone, we would let the dogs hunt for their own tomatoes.  They would crawl through the plants looking for a tomato to eat. It’s kind of comical to watch four dogs on a treasure hunt for tomatoes!  Only four dogs were in the garden because we didn’t have Macy last year.  We will introduce her to the garden this year.

You might want to try using fruits and vegetables for rewards during dog training.  I have tried it, but the dogs get so excited that I can’t get them to calm down to work on tricks.  I can usually get them all to sit for a short time before I give them a treat in the living room.  They all get so desperate for a bite of a real treat!  It would probably work better if I tried it one on one with each dog.  Maybe I’ll try it and see if it works.

I give my dogs a variety of fruits and vegetables.  If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, then stick with the normal dog treats.  Just remember, don’t give them too many of either one.

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Barking is a natural method of communication for puppies and dogs.

They bark for all kinds of reasons and you need to understand the reason for the barking before you can correct it.

Also, your puppy must know that you are in control before you can start to correct their behavior.

Excessive barking can put a lot of stress on you, your family, and even your neighbors. 

I have found an article with some excellent puppy tips on how to stop your puppy from barking.  Read the full article here.

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I think a lot of parents get a puppy thinking that the kids are old enough to
care for it. If you are getting a puppy, make sure you have plenty of time
and patience for it.

No matter what age your kids are, you will be taking care of the puppy
sometimes. Young kids don’t know how to train a puppy and older kids don’t
have the time or interest in training them. Believe it or not, the novelty of
a new puppy wears off quickly and then its down to finding someone in the
family to care for the puppy for the next 10+ years.

I found a great article that demonstrates the problems that arise when nobody
has time for a puppy. It also gives tips on potty training puppies.

The four main points for potty training puppies are:

Establish a routine. Puppies do better when they are on a regular feeding
schedule.

Watch your puppy closely and do not give them a chance to go potty in the
house.

When you are not home or when you can’t watch the puppy closely, you need to
confine him to a small area.

If they make a mistake, clean it up as soon as possible.

I use Simple Solutions Odor and Stain Remover on the spots and it eliminates all of the odor. I’ve used a lot of differnet products and its the best one I’ve found so far.

To read this full article, click here .

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I like to have a variety of small puppy blankets available, so I can use them on the couch or on the dog pillows or in the truck. I finally came up with a cheap way to have a bunch of small puppy blankets.

One day I was sorting through all of our blankets and comforters and I came across some comforters that had stains on them and the filling inside was all bunched up. I was going to throw the comforters away, because I knew they were no longer any good for anyone to use. Then I thought how nice it would be to have these as puppy blankets, but they were too large.

My mom had given me a sewing machine a few years ago. It was just a basic sewing machine, nothing real fancy. I don’t sew much, but my mom had an extra machine and thought it would be nice for me to have one just in case I needed to sew anything. Well, the machine finally came in handy. I took the old comforters and cut them down the middle and then cut each half in half again. I now had four small comforters instead of one large comforter.

I didn’t cut the comforter very straight, which made it more difficult to sew. If you decide to cut a comforter into four squares, try to cut as straight as you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you don’t want a lot of jagged cuts either. Once I cut the comforter into four squares, I got out my sewing machine and I sewed all the open ends closed. I made sure that when I was sewing the open ends closed that I also sewed the filling in with the seams. You want to sew the filling in with the seam to make sure that the filling stays in place.

I ended up cutting two comforters into four squares each. That’s how I made eight small puppy blankets. I can easily wash three of the puppy blankets together in my washer and the nice thing is I can use bleach on them. My puppy blankets have never changed color because of the bleach. But even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.

The blankets come in handy for all kinds of uses. I use them to wrap up the dogs when I take them to the vet. I use them to cover the car seats. I use them to throw over the dog pillows. I also use them if the dogs are chewing on greasy bones and I don’t want to mess on the floor. I can also take a puppy blanket outside and place it on the ground of our old poodle to lie on.

The puppy blankets are very light weight and very easy to wash and dry. They also last a very long time. I made my eight puppy blankets over two years ago, and I still use all eight of them today.

If you don’t own a sewing machine, you might be able to take the comforters up to a dry cleaner to have them altered. You can also look in the newspaper for someone who does sewing on the side and ask them how much they would charge to cut and sew the comforters into four pieces. I think you will find the prices a lot cheaper than buying actual puppy blankets.

P.S.  If you don’t have any old comforters, you can find them pretty cheap at garage sales.

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Welcome to my puppy tips blog. I have been raising dogs for the last 15 years. I have bred dogs and raised puppies, I have taken in abused dogs and raised them, and I have taken care of older dogs until the day they passed away. As you can see, I have a wide range of experiences with dogs.

I currently have five dogs. I have had three of them since they were just puppies. The other two I got when they were around two years old. Their ages right now range from three years old up to ten years old.

The oldest one is Princess. She is a ten year old Toy Poodle. I got her when she was two years old. She was abused and extremely underweight. She was in very bad shape. It took a lot of TLC and patience to get her healthy again. She still has some psychological quirks that we all accept as part of her background. She doesn’t like her belly or tail touched when being petted. She also gets annoyed when any of the other dogs try to get near her.

The next one I got was Little One. She is a Toy Poodle and she turned three years old in mid-February. Then there is Dusty. He is also a Toy Poodle and is six weeks younger than Little One. He turned three in April. I got both of these guys when they were just eight weeks old.

I got both of them from the same breeder. I brought Little One home when she was eight weeks old. At that time, Dusty was only two weeks old so I had to wait six weeks before I could get him.

The next one is Sidney. She is an Australian Blue Heeler. She is four years old. I got her when she was two years old. She is a very high-energy dog.

The last one is Macy. I got her when she was three months old. She is now ten months old. She is a Pomeranian and she is a ball of energy!

As you can see, I have quite a mix of dogs and they all have their own personalities and quirks. I have learned a lot of puppy tips and tricks over the years and my intention is to share all of my puppy tips with you.

I also look for new puppy tips all the time, so when I find new ones, I will post them here as well. I hope you find this blog both useful and entertaining. Talk to you soon!

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Picking out a puppy name can take time. It’s hard to pick a name that will match the puppy’s personality at such a young age. You can get some idea of what the puppy’s personality will be like just by the way they play with you and interact with other people and other dogs.

There are lots of ways to come up with ideas for your new puppy’s name. For example, some people name their dogs after their favorite movie star. Some people name their dogs after their favorite movie character or their favorite kind of car. Some people name their dog after their favorite aunt or uncle. Some people name their dogs based on the dog’s characteristics for example. Names like a “Half Pint”, “Tiny”, “Smoky”, “Red”, or “Shorty”. These are all names that describe the dog’s physical characteristics.

If you’re getting a purebred puppy try to get a copy of the puppy’s family history. You might find a pattern in the family history of dog names. For example, they might be named after bands, nature, different outdoor themes, or cars. They can also be named after a city in the country that they originated from. Some people name their puppies based on the season or the month of the year. For example, some people name their dog “Auggie” for August or “Summer” or “Spring”. It’s

When I bought our two puppy poodles, the breeder gave me a copy of their paperwork, as far as their bloodline. When we were trying to decide on names for the puppies, we went back to their paperwork and noticed that our little female had a family history of names that were for country bands. That’s how we decided on her name to be “Little Diamond Rio”. We call her “Little One” for short.

We named our male poodle puppy, “A Little Dusting of Snow”, because his family had a history of names that were based on nature. We call him “Dusty” for short.

We bought our Australian Blue Heeler from a private couple. She was two years old when we got her and she had already had her name for awhile. They had named her “Sydney”. I think they named her that based on Sydney, Australia.

Some people also base their puppy’s name on feelings such as Faith, Hope, or Destiny. Some people name their puppy after words from a different language that have a meaning to them. For example, we had sold one of our puppies to a woman who named the little puppy after a French phrase that meant “healer of a broken heart”.

When you pick a puppy named keep in mind that it has to be an easy name for when you call them to come home. If you pick a long name, you can always shorten it and give the dog a nickname. Our oldest poodle’s name is Princess, but she has a lot of nicknames. We call her Sissy, Love Bug, Booger Butt, and Booger Bean. My better half likes to call her “B*tch”, because she’s old and crabby. He calls her that in a very loving way, and she answers to it!

Also keep in mind that when you name your dog, try to pick a name that fits in with the other names of your other dogs. All of our dogs names end in a “y”, except for “Little One”. We have Dusty, Macy, Sydney, Sissy and Little One.

Just remember, whatever you name your puppy, that will be its name for a long time. But if sometime down the road, you don’t like the name, you can always give your puppy a nickname.

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When you go to pick out a puppy and there is a whole litter of them, see which puppies come to you and give you their undivided attention. If there are any toys around, see which ones will play with you. The puppies that are very shy or the ones that continue to play with the other puppies and ignore you would not be my first pick. These puppies are not very interested in people or are downright afraid of people. They have a lack of curiosity and adventure.

A good way to test the temperament of a new puppy is to place it on its back. If it wiggles and struggles to flip itself upright, that means the puppy is not very trusting and could have a dominant personality, which means they want to be the boss of you and any other pets you might have.

If the puppy lies on its back and stays relaxed, then it means the puppy is very confident and trusts people. These puppies tend to get along well with people and other dogs because they just want to be friends with everyone and do not want to be the boss.

When we first got Dusty, he didn’t lay on his back very well. He would stiffen right up, but he didn’t struggle to get up either. Now he rolls over on his back when he is sleeping and sprawls out all relaxed. Little One will lie on her back too when she wants her belly rubbed.

If I hold Dusty in my arms, he will lie on his back and dangle his head upside down off of my arm and sleep like this in my arms! I can carry him anywhere through the house or outside like this and he doesn’t budge. He loves lying on his back and dangling his head. Funny thing is he doesn’t do this when he is lying on the couch.

Sidney will lie on her back if you pet her, but she keeps her tail tight between her legs. As soon as you are done petting her, she rolls back upright immediately. She does not have a dominate personality, but she does break up horseplay between the dogs, kind of like a mother hen.

Macy will not lay on her back at all. She has a lot of energy and does not want to be slowed down. She does not trust other people and has to be coaxed to let them touch her. She also wrestles with any of the dogs that want to wrestle. She does have somewhat of a dominant personality with the other dogs. If she wants to wrestle, she will continue to pick on one of the dogs until they wrestle with her.

Sissy will lay on her back half-way. She doesn’t roll completely over. She lies on her side, almost onto her back. She will let you pet her chest, but not her belly. If you pet her belly the wrong way, she jumps up and attacks your hand! She doesn’t bite, but she acts like she will and she barks and whines and really shows her displeasure. It takes a few minutes for her to calm down to where you can pet her again. She is very distrusting of people to the point that she will growl at someone if they try to get near her.

Little One will lie on her back if you rub her belly. She will also lie on her back if you pick her up and put her on your chest. She gets very relaxed when you rub her belly. If you stop rubbing her belly, she will paw and nuzzle at you with her nose until you rub her belly again. Eventually, she will fall asleep and then you can quit rubbing her belly and she will continue to sleep on her back. She will only lie on her back when she wants her belly rubbed. She does not roll over on her back when she is sleeping. She has a very dominant personality and wants to be the little boss over everyone, even Sidney!

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One thing to remember is that puppies will teeth just like babies will.  When puppies are teething they do a lot of chewing to relieve the pain.  They will chew on anything they can get their mouth around. This includes things like shoes, table legs, kid’s toys, chords sticks, bones, and your fingers!

You can give your puppy a special treat when they’re teething.  I got a washcloth wet, put it in a Ziploc bag and then froze it. Once it was frozen, I took it out and gave it to the puppy to chew on.  The cold washcloth helped to numb the pain.  The only problem with this is the washcloth did not stay frozen very long.

I had read somewhere that you can do the same thing with a dog toy.  I took one of the dog toy ropes and froze it in a Ziploc bag.  The problem I had with this is that the dog rope toy was too large for the puppy to chew on.  If you want to have the puppy chew on a frozen dog toy, make sure the toy is small enough for them to hang onto and to chew on.

One thing you don’t want to do is to give your puppy a regular baby teething ring.  The teething rings for babies are usually filled with liquid that you can freeze.  A baby’s teeth are not as sharp as a puppy’s teeth.  The puppy will chew holes in the teething ring in a matter of minutes. You will then have a wet mess on your hands, and I don’t know how safe the liquid is inside the teething ring.

When your puppy is teething try to keep some cold toys around, and also a variety of toys for them to chew on.  This will help to keep them entertained and away from things you don’t want them to chew on.

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