Dog Talk April  2011
The DogSmith  Monthly Newsletter

Hello,

Welcome to our April edition of  Dog Talk and our first edition from our new Corporate Offices in Oxford, Mississippi where we are busy settling in, finishing the DogSmith Training Center Agility Field and getting to know our neighbors. Oxford is a great place to live and work and we are very excited that our new facilities will provide increased service levels to our 4-legged and 2-legged clients. Come by and see us and take your dog for a romp in Oxford's only private off-leash Dog Park!

If you enjoy receiving our monthly newsletter and would like to receive daily pet care and dog training tips then you can follow our blog at our DogSmith website.

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The DogSmith Dog Training Videos

The DogSmith Management, Training and Exercise Protocols.


Relationship Exercise #4: Name Game

Goal: To teach your dog to look at you with a happy demeanor when you say its name.

Resources: You will need a treat bag with some soft, moist and yummy treats. You will also need a training partner, spouse, child or friend to help you.

Training Steps

To play the ‘name game,’ take your dog to a quiet place in your home.
Say your dog’s name and when it looks at you say ‘yes’ and give it a treat. Repeat this step 5 times each day for a week.

Play the ‘name game’ with other family members and your dog.
Have each family member, armed with small treats, go to different parts of the house. Then take turns calling your dog’s name. When your dog finds the correct person and makes eye contact, say ‘yes’ and give the dog a treat. Repeat this exercise each day for 3-days.

Now take the ‘name game’ outside. This time when your dog looks at you when it hears its name, say ‘yes’ and pet them for 30 seconds.

Limit the treats to every 5th time your dog makes eye contact when it hears its name.

Watch a short, fun video on how to teach your dog to respond positively to their name.

HINT-
NEVER use your dog’s name harshly. Always use your dog’s name in a happy and pleasant manner. Contact your local DogSmith for help teaching your dog to be a great family pet. For a FREE phone consultation complete this short form.

The DogSmith Recommends  Life's Abundance Agility Supplement
Good joint health is crucial to your companion animal’s wellbeing. The ability to walk, run and jump represents a large part of your dog’s unique ability to express emotion. Unfortunately, aching and stiff joints are just as much a part of aging for dogs as it is for humans. In fact, there are an estimated 68 million dogs experiencing hip and joint challenges – that’s nearly 60% of the canine population!

At present, there are several hip and joint formulas marketed for companion animals. Unfortunately, most of these products treat the joint as an isolated goal; it is for this reason that they do not work as well as they could. Our new and improved Agility supplement is a holistic formula, which means that it takes into account the needs of the whole body, including all the parts that work with the joints.

Read more here 


DogSmith Feature Blog - When Man's Best Friend is Obese

According to brand new data collected by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) and Banfield Pet Hospital, the epidemic of pet obesity continues to expand.

Over half of U.S. cats and dogs are overweight. One-fifth of those are 30 percent or more above normal weight, meaning they are obese.

The main contributors to fat pets are owners who routinely overfeed and under-exercise their dog or cat. These same owners are also unaware of the debilitating and expensive-to-treat health problems brought on by overweight pets, including:

  • Diabetes
  • Arthritis
  • Kidney failure
  • High blood pressure
  • Cancer
  • Significantly shortened life span

According to Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI), in 2010 their clients paid out $25 million in vet bills for obesity-related conditions like asthma, disc disease and ligament ruptures. Another pet health insurer, Petplan USA, considers five of the most common insurance claims they receive as problems stemming specifically from obesity.

Per WSJ.com
Read the rest of the blog article



Enjoy your training and if you need to contact your neighborhood pet care expert then Fetch Your Local DogSmith . You can also get daily DogSmith updates by following us on twitter or face book.


  


  




Niki Tudge
The DogSmith Founder
www.DogSmith.com
1-888-Dog-Smith  (364-7648)

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DogSmiths About Town


The DogSmith of North Tarrant County will be assisting with the Bedford Animal Shelter's Pet Adopt-A-Thon taking place April 30th from 10:00AM until 2:00PM at the Animal Control Shelter 1809 Reliance PKWY
Bedford, TX 76021
Phone: (817) 952-2191
Fax: (817) 952-2398.  There will be free food and fun games for the whole family. Plus loving animals looking for the right home.
Pet product Review - Thinnies
 

Ideally, the toys you give your dog should be designed to relieve boredom and to keep your dog from inappropriate chewing or other undesirable behaviors especially when you aren’t there to supervise.  Giving your dog interactive toys is a great way to keep them occupied and burn off excess energy when they are alone. 

Our dogs have always loved dissecting soft stuffed toys so we became accustomed to cleaning up the stuffing mess after a play session and often re-stuffing the toy (it was too expensive to replace the toys at the same rate they could destroy them).  When we discovered stuffing free toys, first on TV and now available from a variety of sources and companies, we were not sure they would be as popular with our dissectors as the soft stuffed toys they usually chewed up.  But we had nothing to worry about. 

The stuffing-free soft toys are fantastic for our dogs from the biggest to the smallest.  You can get them in versions with or without squeakers, they are machine washable and there is no mess to clear up eliminating the risk of dogs swallowing the stuffing.  The stuffing free toys also make great tug toys!

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