Yes, it is important to love your dog. But love alone isn't going to prevent aggression, rotting teeth, safety, or simple boredom. I am a very careful dog owner, and I try extremely hard to care for all aspects to owning a dog. Here I present things I commonly use in and outside of the house that are must haves when owning a dog (especially one like mine). If someone was to get a new dog, these are things I would suggest they get prior to welcoming the dog home (other than the obvious such as a collar, ID tag, water bowl, bed, leash).
1. Gentle Leader Head Collar
If your dog is pulling, or even dragging you into a bush or lose control when they see another dog, you should invest in a head collar. A head collar, such as the gentle leader, controls the dog's head rather than control their entire front body. A dog's head is much more sensitive than their necks. When used correctly, the gentle leader allows the owner to control the dog with much ease and better control of the dog lunging and allows the dog to focus on the owner. When you purchase the gentle leader, please watch the instructional DVD that comes with the product to know how exactly how to use it. Do not put tension on the gentle leader when going on walks, make sure you're always walking on a loose leash. Note: the gentle leader is NOT a muzzle. The dog can still pant, bark, drink, and eat with the gentle leader on, so he can for sure still bite if he wanted to!
Gentle Leader Head Collar sold by Premier Pets- $13 on Amazon
2. Buddy System Hands-Free Leash
There are many types of leashes out there, but this one works very effectively in many situations. First, this leash help to train dogs how to heel. Your hands are free to treat your dog, and your dog cannot pull you as easily because the leash is attached to your waist, instead of in your hand. Second, it is an excellent tool to jog with your dog. It is awkward to run with things in your hand, so this hands-free leash allows to have your dog tethered to your during that morning jog.
3. Collapsible Water Bowl
This nylon water bowl is cheap, very versatile, and easer to carry around than a metal or plastic bowl. I keep it in my car because it is spill proof. I can always dump out the water, collapse the bowl, and put it in my purse. I carry it on outings and it takes up almost zero space in my bag.
4. Treat Bag
For training purposes, I don't walk my dog anywhere without a treat bag. As a matter of fact, when I run out of food, I head back home as fast as I can to prevent him from doing something that I cannot have prevent him from doing. A good treat bag is useful because it is secured to your pants, and if there is a closure, you can run without treats falling out.
5. Toothbrush & Toothpaste
Many owners neglect to see that as a necessity, but as all veterinarians stress, canine dental hygiene is essential as anything else. It's always easy to ignore dental hygiene when you've got a young pup and his teeth are spotless and white. But as they age, you start to notice the heavy plaque and tartar built up on your dog due to years of oral hygiene neglect. Think about it; what would your teeth look like if you never brushed, rinsed, or took care of your teeth in any way throughout your whole life? Your teeth would be rotting out of your head...which is exactly what happens to most senior dogs. You may find that there are numerous products such as mouth rinses, oral additives, oral gel applications sold at pet stores. However, the physical brushing of the teeth is the most helpful tool. But getting your dogs to like a plastic rod sticking in their mouths is the challenge. Treats combined with positive reinforcement will eventually lead to their acceptance. But make sure that you take precautions to make sure you don't get bitten. First, put the toothpaste on your finger so your dog can taste them. Then I try a variety of toothbrushes, beginning with a finger toothbrush to a regular human sized toothbrush. Every time you put the toothbrush in their mouth for a while, give lots of praise reward them with a dental treat.
Various types of tools for tooth brushing left to right: Dog toothbrush, human toothbrush, human Phillips sonicare brush, finger toothbrush
The C.E.T. toothpaste has certain enzymes that soften plaque
6. Bob-A-Lot Interactive Toy
This toy allows kibble to be put into the toy, and has two compartments where you control how much kibble falls out; one at the cap and one at the side of the toy. The dog tilts the toy and kibble falls out, but the toy rights itself in the upright position due to the nature of the heavy bottom. The dog has to figure out that food only comes out if he moves and tilts the toy.
7. Crate
Having a crate can help you in several ways:
Potty training: You can crate you pup to avoid accidents in cases where you cannot watch them while you're in the bathroom, or simply going to get the mail.
Riding in a car: If you got into a car accident and your dog is not secured, he is certain to fly out the window during the collision. Even if it is not a huge accident, you don't want him to freak out and run out of the car into traffic, or bite the person coming to see if you're ok. Also, if you have a reactive dog and you get pulled over, how are you going to explain to the officer that your dog is about to bite the officer's head off?
Friends/family coming to your house: If untrained dogs are too large and excited, they might jump and knock over elderly or young children, If the dogs do not have impulse control, it is best to crate them for safety reasons. In the same concept, if the dog is aggressive to people coming to his house, you wouldn't want the greetings to be unpleasant for either party. In this case, crating is a good option for avoiding bites.
With that said, you should never use force by pushing them or throwing them in the crate. This creates negative associations with the crate, giving them more reasons to hate the crate when you try to coax them in. Instead, associate the crate with good things like toys and food. Start by throwing food in the crate, then once they are in the crate, give them more food. Close the door for a few seconds, open it, then treat them again. Put some toys and a stuffed Kong in there, close it, walk away for a few minutes, come back, open the crate door, and treat them again. Soon, they will make positive associations with the crate and will go there on command once they learn to that going in the crate means rewards.
8. Kong
The Kong is perhaps the most versatile toy yet! It is cheap ($8 on Amazon), and used for mental stimulation of figuring out how to get food out of the toy, or training dogs that the crate is a good place because they get rewarded with the toy. You can have various creative ways to put treats in the Kong for hours of entertainment! Here are some examples:
Put kibble in the Kong and seal off the end with peanut butter
Put peanut butter towards the smaller end of the Kong
As a dog owner, I want the best for my dog, such as good dental hygiene, nutritious food, frequent toenail trims, etc. But I also am obsessed about the aesthetic things such as good looking collars (among other things). Yes, I am obsessed with dog collars. I'm a frugal person, so I also only buy collars if they are on sale. So here is a collection of two years worth of collars I have gotten Riley to rotate in (also beneficial when I need to temporarily provide collars for foster dogs).
Personalized English Bridle Leather Dog Collar with Nameplate, $29-$34 from DogIDs.com
Leather collar called "Swirl," on sale $20 by Paco Collars
Paisley nylon collar, on sale $6 at Petco
Riley's first collar: red nylon collar, $3 from Walmart. I still have it, and it's by far the most useful collar :)
So how do I manage to switch tags back and forth from collar to collar so easily? I use the collar tag changer that can remove tags easily by unclipping the buckle. $3 on Etsy.
I don't know Riley's past, but based on his reactions towards dogs he doesn't know, trainers have pointed out that he is fearful of new dogs due to improper socialization with dogs when he was a puppy. Dog who were not exposed to a variety of dogs during their learning period (up to 3months of age), develop fear of meeting new dogs, and that fear may easily turn into aggression because they want to protect themselves from the new dogs. In their minds, "Offense is my best defense." So that exactly describes Riley. He is fearful of new dogs, especially ones that are bigger than him. However, after a day or two of socializing him with another dog, he can live peacefully with them in our small one bedroom apartment. I foster dogs for non-profit organizations (Scooter's Pals and PROS Pug Rescue of Sacramento) that saves dogs who have lost their homes or about to be euthanized. I do admit, one of the reasons I foster is to get Riley more accepting of new dogs. I never force the dog on Riley, and I never put the foster dog in any danger. Of course, we are constantly trying new ways to improve his behavior in hopes that he can shorten his adjustment period of a new dog. Here are some ways I've been socializing Riley to new foster dogs:
Meet in the neutral location such as a park for greetings.
Keep them in separate rooms when the foster dog arrives inside the house.
Tether the foster dog, walk Riley into the room and have him focus on me so that the new dog isn't scaring him
Walk Riley back and forth until he's comfortable with the other dog in sight.
Have them greet for 2 seconds on leash, then call him back to me so he doesn't get too scared when too close to the new dog for a long time. The next time, I have them greet for 4 seconds instead of 2 seconds.
I repeat this until Riley offers to play with the dog.
At first, it took him more than a week for him to get along with the first foster dog I ever had. Over a year has passed and 10 dogs later, he is able to get along with a dog within a day (situation and dog dependent). So it's not the foster dogs who need to thank me for saving them, it's them that I have to thank for improving Riley's behavior towards dogs. Here are Riley's foster siblings in order (fostered non-concurrently):
Roxy, 5 year old Lab/Terrier Mix
Milo, 2 year old Queensland Heeler Mix
Mercury, 8 year old Rat Terrier Mix
Daisy, 6 month old Jack Russell Terrier Mix
Pico, 2 year old Toy Fox Terrier/Chihuahua Mix
Toby, 1 year old Chihuahua/Terrier Mix
Sedrick (not a foster but stayed for 1 month), 13 year old Yellow Labrador
