Doggy Anxiety. D.A.P & Rescue Remedy

Isabella has suffered from anxiety and neophobia since puppy-hood. The strangest things make her uncomfortable. In particular, new things brought in to the home; furniture, blinds, pinwheels and on one occasion, my nephew's pumpkin for Halloween.

I've spent a lot of time desensitize her to new things. She trusts me, but everything new takes time and lots of rewards. (She received a small pool for her birthday last summer and it took me almost an hour to get all 4 of her feet in at one time. Once in, she loved it.) In her classes there was initial trepidation with tunnels, chutes, and hula hoops. She eventually overcame those fears, but has yet to claim victory over the stair/ramp combo. She loves to learn, but sometimes getting to the point where she is successfully engaging in an activity with props can be tough.
In addition to her uncommon phobias, she has a strong sense of anxiety. New situations throw her in to a  tizzy. (An "Izzy in a Tizzy" if you will.) She loves nothing more than riding in the car, but if it comes time to get out of the car, she sometimes is leery of my intentions. (Weirdly, she has no fear of her veterinarian(s), shots, or exams. The scale that weighs her though? Forget about it.)

In my attempts to ease her anxiety I have tried a couple things.
In this entry I will share with you two of my experiences in trying to calm down a fussy, skittish pup.

First up, D.A.P. Dog Appeasing Pheromone.
I wish I could say this made a difference in her behavior, but it didn't seem to.
I also tried it on Angel, who hates riding in cars. Okay, hates is an understatement, she totally and completely despises car rides. D.A.P made no difference with her.
It was pretty costly, considering it had no noticeable effect on either of them. I tried it out at different times, typically using the ol' "spray a bandana" trick. The only difference was the adorable accessory they were sporting. I tested it during Isabella's "settle" times (code for a doggy time out,) by spraying her beloved blankey with it. Comparing it to when she only has her settle down toy, I can't say there was any real change in behavior.
Long story short, this product mostly sits on a shelf. I sometimes spray Angel's bed with it...just because..no real reason. I may as well use it, and it's likely not hurting anything.

Next...Rescue Remedy.
The pet formula. Not to be confused with the human Rescue Remedy.
This product is a liquid that comes in a small brown bottle with a dropper. I found that dosing wasn't an exact science for us. I started out with about half a dropper for Isabella before we encountered a stressful or excitable situation. Then a little more later, as needed. I don't know if she just acclimated quicker for some reason, or if it truly was/is the rescue remedy helping. I know several dog parents who swear by it though - and I personally did notice a small difference in her about 15 minutes after administering it. It has been helpful with our walks in the past, too.
I can't say I saw as big a change in Angel's demeanor. Maybe ever-so-slightly. Her total freak outs in the car turned in to more of a whine-fest, but still, it was no miracle worker.
I keep this one around, and I do toss it in to my purse (or the dog bag) when we hit the road.

So there you have it - two calm down methods.
Truthfully, I find doggy massage more effective than either of them, but Rescue Remedy, combined with that, seems to be a great combo for soothing Isabella.

(These are my opinions and personal experiences. It is not intended to be a replacement for medical care. And in the case of R.R, you may want to run it by your veterinarian before giving your dog any new substances.)

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Make Your Own: Sweet Potato Treats

I enjoy making my own dog goodies. In fact, I think I probably enjoy it more than making people food. While flipping through Modern Dog I came across a simple recipe for making sweet potato chews and decided to try it out. I grabbed a sweet potato at the store last week, but it was a busy week. So today was the first chance I got to start the endeavor.

First, I got my oven preheating to 250° - then I scrubbed the potato up. It is not necessary to peel it.

Although I skimmed for one I didn't see a potato that was a relatively normal shape, so I just found one and went with it. Next up, slicing.

Now I do have a mandolin, but I chose to forgo that and use a plain ol' knife. (Mostly because I wanted different thickness levels.)

Thicker pieces are going to need a little more cook time. Or, bake time. Whatever. There are some dog safe spices that you can use. For this test batch I only used cinnamon on about 4-5 pieces. (Again - test process.)

Arrange them on a plain, untreated cookie sheet. In a single layer. (You'll notice I have a variety of shapes and sizes. This is largely for test purposes. Also, I hate being wasteful.)

The recipe said about 3 hours cook time. Only the thickest pieces made it that long.

Pop them in your oven, and do not set and forget! Please keep an eye on things, especially if you're doing thinner pieces. I set a timer for 90 minutes and wandered back around the 60 minute mark to check on them. At that point, some of my smaller, thin slices were actually ready to come out.

At the 90 minute mark, a few more came out, but the rest stayed another 90 minutes.

Seemed to me like Miss Isabella & Angel preferred the chewy, thicker variety - while Ebony tended to enjoy the crunchier, thin pieces. To each dog their own, I guess.

Either way - they were winners. I look forward to making more of them. In larger batches, of course. (Angel took her snack to the other room and I didn't get a photo of her eating it. Sorry!)

Isabella, and her snack.

Ebony, investigating first - then later, eating.

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Review: Natural Defense Flea/Tick Treatment

I don't consider myself a super green person, but I do try and stay as green as I can possibly be.
I admit to having always used Frontline-type flea/tick treatments on my dogs, but we found that one of the dogs was allergic to an ingredient in them and it would (seemingly) cause her a great deal of discomfort.
Despite her being a full on drama queen, I am inclined to believe something irritates her about these products. So I went on the search for something else to use. 

This was a few years ago, during a particularly bad flea problem in this area. Most years we had no real issues, and didn't bother to treat the animals themselves regularly. (Didn't seem necessary. No point in treating a problem we didn't have.) I don't know what has changed exactly, although I tend to blame it on the two stray-ish cats I see wandering around. One is about as nasty looking as can be. I imagine if any living creature was carrying bugs, it'd be him.

This product has been described by some as having a "Christmas" like smell. I really don't know. It's strong though. We suspect that maybe it works by simply choking the fleas to death. For the first 24-36 hours she was almost unbearable to be around. No lap sitting for her. No thanks..
It's cinnamon, and clove, and lord knows what else. The smell isn't awful. It's just strong. A lot to take, especially after the initial application.

Sentry has an entire line of "natural" flea and tick products. Although at this point we have only tried out the squeeze-on treatment and the household spray. (Made that switch, too, as the chemicals in whatever we had been using before made my throat burn and had me coughing like nobody's business.)

Like normal, if you read reviews, you're going to get some mixed ones. I read up before I ordered and saw that the largest amount of complaints seemed to be relating to the smell (gasp) or on lighter dogs apparently this stuff can leave some discoloration in it's wake (ruh-roh.) Seemingly, most people agree that they have fewer or no issues with fleas after application though. 


We still treat our other dogs (not year 'round), as well as our fenced area and just outside the fence. In the past it seemed that she would pick up a flea some place and end up scratching like the devil though the other girls were fine. Since using this product she has not picked up any fleas, so, for whatever reason, I am inclined to believe it works.
After using this for a while, I began to buy it for Cleopatra as well (in the cat type, of course.)
This spring it should be about time for another round of treatment - I'm thinking of biting the bullet and treating the whole pack with Sentry's Natural Defense.

Has anyone else tried natural flea treatments? (As in, the type you apply to your dog.) I'm curious. Tell me all about it if you have!

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(Canine) Escape Artists

One of my more frustrating issues with Isabella has been that she is one heck of an escape artist. It's crazy, really.
Flat collars don't stand a chance. (They're fine for inside, but if we're going out other measures must be taken.)
Harnesses? Nope. Over the head, step in..doesn't matter. She's outta there.
Gentle leader? Well, if you give her half a second she uses her dew claws as thumbs in order to remove the loop off her nose.

How you ask? I have no real clue. She seems to have this magical ability to back and wiggle her way out of everything. After her trainer witnessed her freeing herself from a "no slip" (HA) harness she shook her head, and mumbled "Man, she is a smart one.."

Isabella is a fearful little thing, so her goal behind getting free is typically because something has scared her (strange car, certain people, kids, a stroller, large branches..) You never know with her. Other times I sense she just wants to show off to me that she can get out, no matter what dear ol' Mom does. Especially since it isn't like she takes off from me. Her main goal in life seems to be gluing herself to my side, actually.

Problem number 2? She is a puller. Only when she wants to be.

The gentle leader worked at first for the pulling. Unfortunately she quickly discovered that if she were to drag her face along the ground (concrete, in particular) and bloody her nose, that Mom would just take it off. *Loud sigh.*

I tried the easy walk harness. No dice. It had zero effect on our walks, and she can indeed free herself from it. Eventually, our trainer introduced us to the Sense-ation line of harnesses. She loaned us one to try during a class, and it worked! She responded very well to the harness. I bit the bullet (even after spending more than $100.00 on various types of harnesses and collars by this point,) I figured what's a little more... When the harness came in the mail, I fit her for it and got her ready for a test walk in a low traffic area. A quick loop around a quiet area. It worked! IT WORKED!

Let me say that for you one more time: IT WORKED!
She was totally under control and didn't seem at all bothered by the harness. In fact, she actually appeared to be enjoying herself. I was ecstatic! Proud even.
Granted if we are taking a trip and I don't trust her, I still toss her gentle leader in my bag...just in case. However she really doesn't seem to need it much anymore. I can say... I'm very happy with this harness. I only wish I'd found it sooner.

Due to her awesome Houdini-like talents though, we have to double clip her lead to be sure if she slips free from one device the other still holds tight. (Just for safety's sake. When she gets frightened, which is frequently, she will do anything to get away.)

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