5 Tips to Keep Your Dog Safe on Thanksgiving

5 Tips to Keep Your Dog Safe on Thanksgiving

Huge meals cooking in the oven, children running around the house, unfamiliar relatives with their odd habits and particular needs, lots of visitors and plenty of hustle and bustle—Thanksgiving can be a very stressful time for us. Just imagine what it’s like for our dogs! With some planning and consideration, you can keep this year’s holiday festivities stress-free and safe for your canine and human family members.

Loose Leash Walking- Part 3

What about in the real world?

Your dog knows how to walk for a few steps on a loose leash, and things are rosy and grand most of the time. But what about those pesky squirrels? Or maybe it’s just one of those days and your dog seems to have forgotten everything you ever taught her–what then? Here are a few tactics you can employ.

Loose Leash Walking- Part 2

Let’s get walking!

So you’re ready to set out with your pup and work on your loose leash walking skills! As with any new skill, it is suggested to begin practicing in a low-distraction environment. If this whole process is brand new to your dog, it’s unfair to expect them to be able to learn it effectively at the park by the playground with squirrels all around. (You wouldn’t teach algebra to a child waiting in line at Disney World, unless you are intent on disappointment.) Start these exercises in your living room, then move them to the yard, then the front of the house, and so on, slowly exposing your dog to increasing distractions as their skills develop.

Loose Leash Walking- Part 1

Gimme Some Slack! 

Just picture it–you and your dog peacefully strolling along side-by-side down the street. Enjoying one another’s company in the carefree, effortless way that dogs and people are made to do. No one is falling on their face, no shoulders are being pulled out of socket, squirrels run to and fro and no one bats an eye. It might seem like a fantasy, but it is possible to accomplish with enough practice!

Loose leash walking can be one of the most difficult skills for a dog to learn. It’s because of this that I’ve split this topic into three blog posts. First, we’ll discuss what a walk actually entails. “One leg in front of the other, right?” Not so fast…