Cozy Caves for Christmas - 50% off today!

If you have a dog that likes to burrow, a Cozy Cave is a must on your pup's Christmas list. Luckily for you, they are 50% off today on Doctor Foster and Smith website! Click here to get this amazing deal! No, I don't get anything for promoting this, I just like to share my excitement because I need to get Bambi one for the boat too! The cozy cave is like a pita pocket for dogs. It keeps them warm and cozy during the winter months and ideally keeps them out of your bed, unless you want them there :)

Bam and Harley like to share a cozy cave, but assuming you only have one dog, I'd suggest a small for a frenchie sized dog, a large for a Vizsla sized dog, and an XL for a doberman sized dog. I don't know why they don't have a medium...

Go ahead and cross one thing off your holiday shopping list!

Tricks of the trade: follow the leader

Some of my avid readers (if such thing exists) may recall a blog I wrote months ago about when a puppy reaches the teenage phase. If you haven't, you can read the blog here, but this pretty much sums it up:

It’s that moment when the “teenager” stops a few paces short of the gate and stares at me that I realize he’s grown up. He realizes that he actually has a choice whether he follows me or not. It’s when he actually considers the fact that there might be better things in the world than the scraps of treat left in my coat pocket.

Sound familiar? Have you ever found yourself standing at the front of the dog park, ready to leave, hopelessly calling your dog who is essentially giving you the middle finger while running victory laps around the park? Have you yelled "Ok, Bye Fido, see you later...." hoping for a response? Well I have a little secret for you... they're on to you! They know your routine and they know it's time to go and they don't want to!

I've been very fortunate to have had so many puppy clients and been able to help raise and train them. Inevitably, puppies will turn into defiant teenagers, and well trained adult dogs will have a stubborn streak. It's all a part of the fun! I'm sure you can imagine what a mess it would be if all 8 of my dogs protested leaving the park at once (it's happened), so I have a few tricks to avoid this debacle that you can use on your own pup.

Always keep them guessing. I never walk in the direction at the park. Some days I walk straight to the water then come back to water bowls in front, then to the big field, then to the side field, then out the gate. Sometimes we go to the side field first, then the water, then the side field again, then the big field then the gate. You get the picture... I don't have an order of the way we walk the park, that way, just because we are playing close to the gate to leave, doesn't mean we are leaving. When I decide it's time to leave, I can start leashing up some of the ones who I know will protest, and then start walking to the gate with the rest.

Check in. I always like to work on recall with my dogs, even the older well trained ones, just to have them check in with me and know that I'm watching them. I often call them over and have them sit and wait for a treat. I pet them, touch their collars, and hold on to them just to get them used to it. This way, when I want to put them on leash, they aren't expecting it and are less likely to put up a fight (not literal fight, stubborn fight).

After party. When the dogs get to the gate and are ready to leave, I give them a treat (not everyone, just the ones who are new to the routine or having a hard time remembering why I am so convincing) and lots of over-the-top cheerleading praise. Leaving the park is just as much fun as going to the park, RIGHT!??!

Leash 'em up. If you have any doubt that you are going to be able to get your pup out of the park incident-free, just leash 'em up. Once they experience the thrill of the chase and the anger in your face, there is no going back, they will want to make it a regular thing. Once you've had enough successful exits and cheerleader praise, and you feel that you trust him a little bit more, you can try and get closer and closer to the gate before you put the leash on.

Some dogs this is never a problem for and some dogs this is such a problem that their owners never take them to the dog park and never let them off leash. That's no way for a city dog to live, in my opinion! I hope this helps! Remember, you always win! 

adventures of bwp: caught in a downpour!

I feel like I generally have pretty good luck avoiding major storms when at the dog park. More often than not, the weather either turns for the worse as I am just leaving the park, or happens to clear up just as I am arriving, as it did this morning. Apparently I jinxed us when I posted this pic of the clear skies when arriving at the park for the morning trip. The poor pups and I got absolutely nailed this afternoon! This afternoon I had Bailey, Sammy (Dobie), Gracie (Swissie), Josephine (Great Dane), Cooper (black lab) and Kato (Vizsla puppy). They're a pretty tough group and were playing hard all the way down to the water. When we were at the water it started raining a little, but not bad. When we got to the park it was 52 degrees and sunny, I wore my sunglasses into the park and debated not even brining my raincoat since I was already too hot.

As soon as we left the water and got through the gates, the downpour hit. It was like someone turned on a faucet. Sammy, the toughest looking of the crew, is a huge baby and is afraid of the rain. He started frantically spinning in circles looking for somewhere to take cover, but there was nowhere. Anticipating a Sammy meltdown, I put him on leash so I would have one less thing to worry about. A dogwalker a few feet ahead of us starts running with her pack. At the time, I thought that was a kind of unnecessary. Less than 30 seconds later the hail and wind kicked in and I was running right behind her.

Josephine was scared of the hail and wind, her eyes were huge and fearful and she was looking for cover too. The saddest of them all was tiny Kato puppy. He had no idea what was going on and was freezing. He was literally trembling as we ran. I actually considered for a minute taking off my coat to wrap him up, then I realized that was definitely taking it too far.

Right before the pathway to the water there is a small pagoda/shelter area. As soon as we got in there, I sat on the bench, Kato jumped into my lap, and I hugged him to try and keep him warm and stop his trembling. Sammy and Josephine huddled up next to us too. It's so funny that these huge tough looking dogs are actually such babies when it comes to something as simple as a little rain/hail storm.

After waiting a few minutes, and no improvement in the weather, I decided it was time to take our next sprint to the car. We took off running and everyone was great sticking close with by me. My sweet little Bailey was right on my heels, trying to trip me every 5th step. The last thing I needed was a face plant.

As we crossed the field I realized every single person in the park was huddled under one of the two shelters. There were probably 15 people and their dogs huddled under the shelter by the front gate. I've never seen that before!

When we got to the gate by my truck, all the dogs were lined up, eager to get into the truck. Except for one. I looked back and Bailey is standing about 10 yards away, in rain, hail and wind, with the ball in her mouth and her sad little puppy dog eyes begging me for some one on one time. Of course she would.

Everything was absolutely drenched. What a mess... As soon as we left the park and drove  by the U-village, I could see over Queen Anne it was nothing but blue skies... Guess you can't win them all! I don't know what exactly about that whole scenario was fun, I wouldn't exactly call any of it fun, but for some reason, it makes me smile, and I already know it's on my mental "best of the dog park" memories.

Hope you stayed dry today!!!

Cooper catching snowflakes!

ballwalkpark has a snow day at Magnuson park! Cooper had his first encounter with snow while on his park trip today. As you can see in the video below, he kept trying to catch the snowflakes! Treats falling from the sky?! What could be better!? Check out pictures from our adventure at the ballwalkpark facebook page

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU0Txw0c-kk]