Dog suppliments–do you use them?

Our dog, Vance, is getting a little older (he’ll be six this year), and since he’s a big dog (a yellow Lab), I worry a little about his joints and wonder about the effectiveness of vitamins for dog. I want to make sure that he has plenty of mobility and pain-free joints as he gets older.

I’ve been looking into dog suppliments and thought I’d post here to ask if any of your use them with your dogs. If you do, what do you use? And does it seem to be making a difference? If you don’t use vitamins for dogs, is there any particular reason? I’ve always believed that a healthy dog food would mean there was no need for dog suppliments, but now I’m not so sure.

I’m looking forward to knowing the approach you take with your dog and I’ll be sure to share what I turn up in my research about vitamins for dogs along with what we decide to do for Vance.

How to housebreak a dog

Our neighbors just adopted an adorable rescue terrier. She’s such a cutie, and Vance is already smitten. (He sits at the fence, waiting for her all day, and when she finally comes outside, he runs to the back door to make sure that I know “She’s out! She’s out! Let’s play with her!”) The vet thinks she’s probably five or six, but she’s always been an outdoor dog (and sadly, seems to have been pretty badly neglected), so she’s not housebroken.

Ick! It’s driving them a little crazy. Fortunately, she’s a fast learner, and I’m sure they’ll have her housebroken in no time. But, in the meantime, I wanted to share how we got Vance housebroken in just three days and he never again had an accident inside the house.

Granted, I work from home, so this was a lot easier for us with a puppy–if you have a puppy and work outside the home, you’re going to come home to accidents. Puppies simply can’t “hold it” until they’re a certain age (what age that is depends on their breed–small dogs take longer than big dogs) so if you can’t let the puppy out every hour or two, don’t scold. Just prepare the area for those accidents, and help your puppy do the best he can.

If you have an older dog or you can let the dog out every hour, housebreaking is really easy (and tedious). Simply set a timer and every hour, on the hour, outside the two of you go. Go together so that you can go crazy with the cookies and the love every time your dog goes outside. Also, take the dog outside when:

• He gets a drink of water (about 5-10 minutes later, outside you go)
• He eats a meal (immediately, and just hang out outside together until you discover how long it takes–with Vance, he always wants to go out within 30 seconds of finishing his dinner)
• He finishes playing
• He wakes up from a nap
• He asks to go out (even if he’s just bored, take him outside, you want to reward the asking)
• He starts sniffing for a place to go
• He’s already starting to go to the bathroom, and you see him. Say a sharp No! which usually stops a dog in his tracks, then carry him straight outside. No hitting, no yelling, just a “hey, that’s not where we do that, buddy” and move right on with your day. Resist the urge to glare as you mop up.

By following this play, you’ll housebreak a dog very quickly. You’ll also spend more than half of your life taking the dog outside or being outside with the dog. But, trust me, this phase only lasts a week or two and in no time, you’ll have a housebroken dog and you’ll only have to let the dog out every few hours.

Dog bark too much? Here’s how to fix it

If your dog barks too much and drives you crazy, there is hope! But first, you have to do a little sleuthing.

If your dog barks because he’s bored, keep him entertained with a Kong or other toy. How to tell if it’s boredom barking? Usually, he’ll either bark unfocused-ly (like he can’t see anything to bark at, but he wants to be ready) or he’ll bark just once every few minutes.

If your dog barks because he’s highly reactive and *everything* needs to be barked at (including the shadows in the living room), train the Quiet command and get in the habit of stopping the barking after no more than 30 seconds with a sharp, “Quiet” and then a treat when he shuts up.

Finally, if you live on a busy street, or somewhere where there really *is* a lot to bark at, block your dog’s view a bit. It’s stressful for your dog to feel like he’s in charge of the neighborhood watch, so make sure to give him just enough to look at. (If the neighborhood kids walk past your house each day at 3 and that sets off an hour of barking, feed your dog dinner at that time, in the back of the house so he can’t see them.)

In all three cases, training the Quiet command will really help, as will minimizing things to bark at. You don’t want your dog to stop barking altogether–most of us appreciate that our dogs can alert us to someone approaching the house–but you do want to keep your dog’s barking from getting out of control and the quiet command will help you do that.