Last week we were on vacation. The boys have a pet sitter that comes in twice a day, but we knew that that would never work for Chester — he’s still going out about 6-7 times a day, most days.

We looked at a lot of different places, but we finally settled on a woman who boards dogs in her home. As my husband put it, Chester probably thought he was in summer camp, or doggy heaven, depending on how you look at it.

We live in a large city, and there are many, many different boarding kennels here. We probably looked at 4 or 5 different kennels, as well as looking at the Websites of another 10 or so. We asked at our vet, where it turned out one of the techs did in-home boarding. We ended up not choosing them because they lived quite a ways out of town, so it was difficult for us to go and visit their home.

You have a lot more choices of when it comes to dogs:

• In-home boarding
• Boarding at vets
• Boarding at kennels

It’s a good idea to go and visit any place you’re considering first. We found that with larger facilities, it’s a good idea to drop in unannounced. Often they have drop off hours, and you may not be able to see their facility outside those drop off hours, so it’s a good idea to check their policies first. We found one place that had no one watching the dogs, who weren’t kenneled, when we dropped by (even after being told that it was okay to just drop by anytime).

In-home boarding is my ideal. That way your dog is in a somewhat familiar environment and has lots of room to roam. They’re not stuck in a small kennel with maybe two excursions outside each day. You do want to make sure that there’s a reasonable ratio of people to dogs, however. Two of the in-home boarding places I looked at had four dogs of their own, and will take on a maximum of another four dogs.

Boarding at a kennel is probably the next best option. Not all kennels are alike, though. Some charge a fee for boarding, then additional fees for additional services (additional playtimes, kongs, cuddle time, etc.). Some don’t let the dogs socialize, some do. Some take the dogs out frequently, some only a couple of times a day. Some have a person onsite at night, but not all do.

I’m not sure that I would ever board Chester at the vet, although we have close friends that board their dogs at the vet, and they say their dogs love it. Their vet happens to be open 24 hours a day, though, so at least someone is there all the time (most vets do not have any staff on at night).

Whatever you choose to use to board your dogs, make sure to do several trials before you leave. Try a daycare day first, then an overnight. That way you’ll feel easier about leaving your dog, and your dog will already be more used to their new environment.

Cats are more difficult. While there are catteries, most cats do much better in their own home. And that means getting someone in to look in on them at the very least once a day. I really believe twice a day is necessary, even though it is expensive. Cats can get very, very sick in a frighteningly short amount of time.

Neighbors and friends are certainly a cheaper option than a pet sitter, but you want to make sure that they know the signs of a sick cat. Some may not realize that a clean litterbox is not a good sign, for instance. Or they may not realize that cats shouldn’t go more than 24 hours without eating.

My parents say they can’t have animals because they travel too much. We travel, too, although I’ll admit it’s not as much as they do. It costs more for us to travel — in fact, it costs us roughly $40/day for our animals — but it’s worth it to me, to know that they’re getting the best care I can provide, even though I’m not there.

Technorati Tags: vacation, pet sitter, boards dogs, kennels, vet, in-home boarding, Cats, pet sitter

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. . . or I’ve been working on the kongs. That’s what it feels like every morning.

Kongs come in a variety of sizes and strengths: from puppy to Xtreme, and from small to king in sizes. The different strengths are for different strength chewers. The Xtreme, for instance, is supposed to be virtually indestructable — if you have a labragator, for instance. Luckily, so far, Chester doesn’t chew that enthusiastically. The puppy and small classic kongs work fine for him.

Basically, a kong is a cylinder that is hollow in the middle, and narrow at the bottom, but wider at the top. You stuff the middle with just about anything: treats, regular dog food, cream cheese, peanut butter, etc. You can serve as is or freeze to make them last longer. The idea is that it’s going to take your dog some time to get at all that good stuff — so he doesn’t eat his meal in 2 seconds, for example.

This is very helpful, for instance, when you want your puppy to be quietly in his crate while you’re eating your dinner, or anytime you want to occupy them without exhausting yourself.

It took Chester a while to warm up to Kongs. He doesn’t, for instance, like peanut butter (which many dogs do). And at first he wanted to grab his kong, take it out of the crate & chew on it. But I just kept putting it back into his crate, and he got the idea eventually. He gets very excited at the sight of a kong, now.

Technorati Tags: Kongs, chew, crate

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NOT! Puppies are a lot of work, but add trying to integrate a puppy with your 2 resident cats and it can be overwhelming.

They all have their moments, but I feel like the only time I can let my guard down is when I’m sleeping. No, neither the boys nor Chester have been hurt in their 2 1/2 months of cohabitation. Seems like a miracle, though.

I would give a lot to just sit down and read a book, or sit down and knit for half an hour, and not have to referree between the three of them.

I know some people say just put them together and let nature take care of it. The cats will teach Chester who’s boss. But I would really love for them to at least get along, even if they never do snuggle up together — to the point where I’d feel comfortable leaving them all alone together. I don’t yet.

I read one post on Chihuahua People where the person wrote that her Chi puppy was chasing her cat, but she hoped they’d learn to love each other.

Hello!? If someone entered your home, took away some of your attention, and chased you around the house, just what do you think your feelings would be? I doubt it would be love.

Now that Chester is off leash except generally outside, he does chase the cats sometimes. Of course, they chase him sometimes, too. I try to make him come, sit, and stay when he even looks like he’s going to chase, but it’s difficult. It’s a good thing he’s so much smaller than they are.

I started writing this post a while ago. Since then, Simba has head butted Chester a couple of times, and even tried to give him a lick or two. I could probably leave them alone together. Simba is amazingly tolerant of Chester.

Gizmo is a different story. He’s doing okay, but he’s made it clear that he doesn’t like Chester. And Chester knows it, too. When Gizmo is laying on one of his beds that happen to be on the floor, Chester will try to illicit play from him. When that doesn’t work, he’ll growl at him. He rarely does this with Simba.

It drives me nuts that the boys have lots of places where they can get away from Chester, but Gizmo often chooses to be on the ground when Chester is in a nutty mood.

Still, I suppose it’s payback time. The boys did chase Puss when they were kittens, and Puss did not appreciate it. Now they’re getting a little taste of what it’s like to be bothered when you’re not in the mood.

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I think Chester is actually a little too smart for his own good.

We have several cat beds from Siamese Rescue. The cats have one that they use, and now Chester uses the other three. After all, he’s cat-sized.

He loves his bed. We’ve done a fair amount of training with him in the bed, so he’s gotten lots of treats in it. Lately he’s taking to chewing on it and dragging it around, though.

The other night I caught him chewing on some batting, and I thought that maybe he’d finally torn a hole in it. When I grabbed the bed to look at it, the zipper was open. I zipped it up, and put it back down. Where I watched him grab the zipper and proceed to unzip it! Out came the bitter apple.

I swear that on our walks he will pick up pieces of garbage, and then drop them, in the hopes of getting a treat — not because he wants the garbage he’s just picked up, but because he knows I’ll tell him to leave it and then he gets a treat. The reason I think he’s doing it on purpose is that he’ll pick something up, immediately drop it, then look at me. Not that I’m complaining about a dog who will drop things (sometimes, anyways, there are definitely times he picks things up because he wants them).

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The boys came through their dental with flying colors (I was a basket case, but that’s a different story). Hopefully, they shouldn’t need dentals again for several years.

I do brush their teeth, as I mentioned. Brushing teeth is as important for our animals as it is for us. Simba and Chester are no problem; they think eating the toothbrush is great fun and they’d both come back for seconds if given the opportunity.

Gizmo is a challenge. I used to be able to brush his teeth, too, but somewhere along the line he became real skittish about it. It’s even harder, now, because he hangs out in his crate at night instead of hanging with us.

I’ve taken to using my finger to brush Gizmo’s teeth. I put some toothpaste on my finger, and let his start by licking some of it. Then I gently try to wipe it onto his teeth. It’s not as effective as brushing, but it’s better than nothing.

Since I use an enzymatic toothpaste, it’s supposed to have some benefits even from just coming in contact with the teeth.

Of course, Gizmo is a gentle soul (to us, anyway — the vet tech might have a different tale to tell), so I don’t have to worry about losing any fingers.

Most animals, though, go nuts over the poultry-flavored CET toothpaste. Both Simba & Chester would happily line up for seconds. Many vets carry it, but you can buy it online, too. When people say they have trouble brushing their animals’ teeth, my first thought is toothpaste.

Technorati Tags: dental, Brushing teeth, toothpaste, enzymatic toothpaste

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The differences between cats and dogs are interesting to ponder.

Take this picture, for instance. The common wisdom about dogs is not to let them get up on furniture, particularly high furniture like a bed, because they’ll become dominant.

A dominant dog will supposedly lead to all kinds of misery, such as the dog preventing you from sitting on the couch or laying on the bed, and trying to bite you if you dare to try and remove him.

Yet cats feel secure in high places, and no one thinks they’re going to take over your life just because they’re higher than you are (or maybe it’s just that people already assume that the cats are above you, anyway).

In fact, cats are often able to get enough exercise in small spaces because they utilize not only horizontal space, but vertical space as well.

According to “When Two Cats are Better than One”:

Space is an absolute necessity for multiple cat homes. The Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition found that cats housed in groups are less likely to exhibit aggressive or anxious behavior when each cat has at least 1 m2 of floor space and 2 m of vertical space, such as window sills and shelving.

“Sharing the Turf” goes on to say that:

The wild counterpart of the domestic cat has a large territory, with males patrolling about 150 acres and females, about 15 acres. With the provision of food by humans and the elimination of the mating behavior (by spaying and neutering), the territory of our house cats can shrink to a fraction of the space utilized by their country cousins.

and:

Make use of the vertical space in your home by adding floor-to-ceiling cat trees, window perches, and kitty condos. It has been observed that cats living in groups are more comfortable if they can “layer” themselves.

I am, as always, just fascinated at the differences between cats and dogs.

Technorati Tags: differences between cats and dogs, dominant, dominant dog, vertical space

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Yesterday Chester had his “graduation” from puppy kindergarten. They even have to take a “test”.

The first part of the test was to do a sit-stay for 30 seconds while music was playing, treat them, keep them in the sit-stay while you jumped up once, and then release them.

I wasn’t sure Chester could hold it for 30 seconds, but he did.

The second part of the test was to sit, go to a line on the floor, do one puppy pushup, come back to the starting line, and sit. While several other dogs do it at the same time.

Our group included Chester & two of the largest dogs in our class. Chester finished first, and he finished first by a lot! And that’s from a dog that initially wouldn’t do a down at all at Petsmart; he didn’t like the cold floor.

So I took him to both Petsmart and Petco several times, and we worked on it while in the store. I also had him do his puppy pushups (sit, down, sit) on our patio in the mornings (cold concrete).

The winners from each group (the second group had a tie) had to go again against each other. This time we had to do two puppy pushups. Chester won again, again by a lot! He’s come a long way in 2 months.

Although I know a little bit about training, it was definitely helpful to take a class. I hadn’t heard great things about Petsmart’s classes in general, but it was one of the few places having a puppy kindergarten at this time of year, and I knew that the socialization was really critical at this point in Chester’s life.

I wasn’t completely happy with our trainer, but we did eventually talk to her about what we disliked, and she did improve. It really helped to have structure — each week you had different things to work on. There are so many things we need to teach Chester, that sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start, and the classes really helped with that.

With my cats, I didn’t have anyone to actually show me how to teach things. Chester has learned much quicker than my cats. Is that because of dogs’ need to please, or did observing someone else really help? I think it’s the latter.

We got a certificate, and everyone got the opportunity to take a picture with their dog in a cap. Our trainer even had a little cap & gown for Chester. I do have a picture, but I’m having some computer trouble, so I’ll update this post with the picture later.

Technorati Tags: puppy kindergarten, sit-stay, release, puppy pushup, down, training, socialization

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Being the alpha dog was paramount in dog training circles for many years; in some, it still is. So much so that trainers may still recommend you do alpha rolls with your dominant dog.

With the rise of positive training methods, it’s now more recommended that you be a benevolent leader. In fact, most trainers who advocate positive methods say that’s what alpha dogs are anyway.

So just what is a benevolent leader? According to “Taming the Dominant Dog“:

Being the “Alpha” does not mean acting like an ogre with your dog. In fact it’s your responsibility as a pack leader to treat your dog humanely and fairly, and to protect him from physical and emotional harm. Being an effective pack leader means being authoritive without being harsh, gentle and kind without being over-permissive. Like a good parent, being “Alpha” means combining the best traits of a guardian, teacher, ally, friend and benevolent leader.

But if you’re a novice dog owner like me, sometimes it’s hard to determine just what your dog is. Is he dominant? Chester likes to jump up on the couch, for instance. And yes, we sometimes carry him around, which is said to give dog an inflated view of their own worth.

Yet Chester gets off the couch when I tell him to. And he’s not allowed on the couch unless he sits & stays. That’s part of being a benevolent leader.

Is he submissive? He sure looks it sometimes when I get angry (yes, I try not to, but I’m human): ears down, tail slightly tucked. He’ll do a submissive roll when he first starts to play with new dogs, but then he tries to hump certain dogs — which is said to be dominant behavior, but also can just be excitement.

And part of being a benevolent leader is about controlling resources (food, toys, petting, play, etc.). From “Leadership, respect . . . and the dog food bowl“:

Part of good leadership and respect habits branch from the control of resources: food, water, rest areas, and access to outside. A good leader provides an adequate amount of each; not too much, and definately not too little. Leaders in the canine pack let the others know when they can eat, drink and sleep. We, as human leaders of dogs, don’t need to be so strict, but letting dogs know where the food comes from does help with leadership symbolism.

But I often find myself with first parent jitters. I’m trying so hard to raise a happy, healthy dog who’s self-confident. I know for sure I don’t want the stereotypical chihuahua, the kind that nips, growls, and humps everything in sight (hopefully, neutering will help curb that tendency).

But I’m human! Sometimes I lose patience, even though I know I shouldn’t. Animals are so forgiving, though, and that’s one of the things I love about them.

Hopefully I’ve become a mostly-benevolent leader. Chester mostly seems like a very good puppy, and I’m sure he’ll be an even better dog someday — some of it due to me, but most of it probably due to his own good nature and his foster mom’s great work with him.

Technorati Tags: alpha dog, dog training, alpha rolls, dominant dog, positive training methods, benevolent leader, novice dog owner, submissive roll, controlling resources, chihuahua

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When we got Chester, his foster was using puppy pads in his crate at night, so we did the same. We were lucky, though, he was able to hold it all night (well, at least until 4 am), so he never actually used it.

For a while we set up an exercise pen near our kitchen table, so he could be in there while we ate. We put a puppy pad in the back.

As I began to read more, though, some people were very anti-puppy pads.

The problem with puppy pads:

• It teaches your dog it’s okay to go in the house; especially on paper

• They don’t teach your dog to hold it, since they can go whenever they want. If you ever have to take a long trip, you’ll have to deal with the puppy pads if your dog has never learned to hold it.

• You have to deal with puppy pads throughout your house, and the bulk of used puppy pads in your garbage.

As Kathy Diamon Davis writes in “Am I Confusing Him?“:

Using papers can confuse a dog, if what you really want is for him to use the outside. When he uses papers, he is, after all, relieving himself in the house.

I decided somewhat quickly that we would get rid of the puppy pads. I don’t want to deal with puppy pads for the rest of my life. I was very attracted to the idea of a litterbox, I have to admit. After all, my cats used litterboxes so I’m used to scooping every day, and I’m already bagging poop outside anyway.

In the end, though, we’ve had success with taking Chester outside. I wouldn’t say he’s completely housetrained yet; there are still occasional accidents. But usually weeks go by with no accidents. We do, however, still have to take him outside 6-8 times a day. Technically, he should be able to hold it longer by this point, but every dog is an individual. Some dogs are housetrained in 1 week. We weren’t that lucky.

Some people seem to have the idea that chihuahuas can’t take the cold and shouldn’t be forced to do their business outside. I’ll admit, we live in an area with warm winters, although we do get some freezing temps, too. So yes, it makes it easier.

Chester clearly isn’t much thrilled when the temperature dips. But he’s learned that that simply means he needs to get his business done quickly. He gets a treat afterwards, but I learned that it’s very important to make sure you give the treat while he’s still in his toilet area — otherwise, he associates the treat with going inside, and that’s not what you’re trying to reward.

Puppy pads aren’t evil. If you live in an apartment, and it takes a long time to get outside, they might work for you. Just be aware that you may always have to use them. Some people are fine with that.

Technorati Tags: puppy pads, exercise pen, housetrained

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I am currently reading “Sight Hound“, by Pam Houston. It’s my first Pam Houston novel, but I suspect that it won’t be my last.

The reviews of this book over at Amazon are incredibly mixed, and I can see why. I do find it a bit hard to follow: there are a slew of characters, and it can be difficult to remember who’s who at times. Yet it still manages to draw me in, despite the fact that I’m nothing like the main protaganist, except for our mutual love of animals.

One thing that’s resonating with me right now: one of the underlying themes is that animals are sent to us at certain times of our lives to teach us something. And that’ s something I believe.

Cleo & Puss taught me about love, about ignoring the odds and fighting for what you want, and about how to say goodbye. Not only that, I learned a great deal about cats in the process.

The boys have taught me that cats are much smarter than most people give them credit for, and much more social, too. They’ve taught me a great deal about cat nutrition.

I’m not sure what Chester is here to teach me yet. Obviously, I’m learning more about dogs in general. I’d been researching dogs for a while, but there’s nothing like owning a dog to give you a crash course.

We couldn’t resist this picture. No, we didn’t go out of our way to get Chester near a Taco Bell, but since we were there . . .

Technorati Tags: Sight Hound, Pam Houston novel, cat nutrition, dogs

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