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Universal K9 Turns Pit Bull Death Row Into 2nd Chance

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Originally published Sept. 18, 2017
Universal K9

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Universal K9 is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in San Antonio TX and Richmond VA that pulls dogs from kill shelters and rescues and trains them to work with police officers as narcotics dogs, pursuit & take-down dogs, or as dual-purpose dogs.

They also train dogs to work as business drug/explosives/weapons search dogs. These are useful in airports, jails, schools, oil fields, warehouses, trucking companies, and similar.

They have a special program for veterans on the GI Bill to attend a two week Dual Purpose Handlers course. All students who complete the course are eligible to receive a FREE single purpose narcotics or explosive dog.

Universal K9 Favors Pit Bulls

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Canine Fostering: What It Is and How It Works

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Originally published August 3, 2017

Before I get started, let me just say that what I’m about to say will also apply to fostering other animals: cats, rabbits, horses, guinea pigs, whatever you have a heart for will have organizations trying to save. I’m involved in canine fostering, have been for a long time, so that’s the soap box I’ll stand on to pontificate, educate, and encourage others to get involved.

What Is Canine Fostering?

fostering, rescue, canine, dog, JosephineFostering is the short term care of an animal you don’t own. Programs vary: some will provide everything you could need: equipment, bedding, food, medications, everything. Some provide only veterinary care. Most are somewhere in between these. Before joining a fostering program ask what is provided to you and what you need to cover. Get it in writing.  Also ask if they have written procedures that you can study to see how they do what they do, and who is responsible for what within the organization.  Any organization that is not organized is going to be difficult to get along with.

Purposes of Fostering

There are four main flavors, or purposes, of fostering programs:

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The Phases of Canine Rescue

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canine rescue

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I have on occasion heard dog owners proudly state, “Oh, yes: we rescued  this dog. She was going to die in a shelter.” Sometimes this statement is perfectly true: they went to a kill shelter, adopted a high-risk dog, and trained her: thus rescuing her. Many other times people adopt a dog from a canine rescue agency. In this case, the story is far more complex — and interesting. While the adopter may claim to have rescued the dog, that credit must be shared with many who played a part along the way.

Where Canine Rescue Begins

Canine rescue almost always begins with someone being a jerk.

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Frozen Yogurt Dog Treats Recipe

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Originally published June 19, 2017 by Grit Magazine Online

When it’s summer time and the heat of summer is upon us once again, your fur-friends will appreciate this treat.  They don’t like the heat any more than you do, so as a special treat on those hot days, try making up a batch of these frozen yogurt dog treats.

Makes 30-40 Cubes or around 12 Dixie cups

Ingredients:

4 cups yogurt, plain
½ cup creamy peanut butter (Xylitol free of course!)
2 tablespoons honey
1 ripe banana, mashed
Pkg thin chew stick treats (optional)

Directions:

frozen yogurt dog treats
Dixie cup version

Melt the peanut butter in a microwave for about 30 seconds.

Place all of the ingredients into a blender, mixer or food processor and mix until smooth.

Pour into ice cube trays or Dixie cups – depending on size of dog(s).  Add a piece of chew stick to use as a handle.  Freeze until firm.

Pop out of the tray (you may need a table knife if using an ice cube tray) or peal the paper cup away and let your dog enjoy this frozen yogurt dog treat!

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Flip, Flop, Flip

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You may have noticed that you have received several notices that the Luna page has been published.  That is not wonky software this time, it’s me trying to make things better.  Let me explain.

When we first started posting information about the foster dogs, it was to Facebook.  I started with one FB page for Cochise, and he posted updates on all the foster dogs.  But that quickly became unworkable as people tried to filter through the posts looking for info on ONE dog.  FB filters stuff and does not show everyone all that is available.  Then I built each dog an FB page of their own so people who were interested in that dog could go find photos and short stories.  That worked okay.  But it was a lot of work, and each time we started a new dog it took a lot of time to make people aware that this dog/page was available and build traffic to it.  And … there ARE actually a few people out there who do not do Facebook!

So I started a blog as a section under my DougBittinger.com web site.  Again I posted one page per dog and added stuff to it as things developed.  That actually worked better than Facebook.  The only down side was that I could only publish a dog page once, so only one notice could go out to subscribers — I could not notify subscribers of updates.

So I started adding separate posts with updates and Doggy Tales, which notify readers when published.  Each of these linked back to the dog’s main page, so interested parties could go check out the dogs details.  The problem came when someone wanted full details on a dog, but did not want to sift through a dozen articles on a tag list to get them.  They preferred the “everything on one page” format.  (sigh)

Also, having the foster care blog as a section of my personal/professional blog made it difficult to send people direct links to specific pages and posts.  That involves DNS addressing issues, and I won’t go into that.  But a stand-alone blog for Piney Mountain Foster would solve that problem.  So I built one, and am now in the process of moving all content over to the new home and (this is the time consuming part) checking and fixing links and photos that still want to point back at the old location and will disappear when I delete those old locations.  I do not want half the site going blank all of a sudden!

The new installation of my e-mail subscriber notice sending utility DOES have the ability to let me re-publish things, so a notice is sent when I UPDATE a page – if I want it to.

Given that ability, I am going back to keeping almost all of the content on each dog in one place.  Yes, the page gets long on some dogs because they’ve been here a long time or because a lot has happened, but it is easy to find by rescues who are considering accepting one of our dogs.  Long doggy tales are spun off to a separate post, but I include a summary blurb on the main page with a link to the full Doggy Tale.

Therefore, if you see an e-mail notice that the same page has been published a couple of times this week, it’s not a melt-down but something new I’m trying.  If that proves too annoying to you: my subscribers, please do not unsubscribe, but let me know.  I’ll add updates to pages as they happen but only send out notices once a week.  Just let me know your preference.  Thanks!

Doug

Cutting the Cost of Heartworm Prevention

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Originally published in a magazine July 14, 2015

Doug
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Heartworms are a serious threat to dogs. The heartworm larvae are carried and transmitted by mosquitoes: mosquitoes are everywhere, even in our home at times. Keeping your dog from being bitten by a mosquito is almost impossible, therefore heartworm prevention is important to keep the heartworm larvae from developing in your dog’s blood stream.

Heartworm prevention medications can be pricey since they need to be given every month, year round. One very popular brand is Heartguard: a chewable treat for your dog. It is reliable and well liked by veterinarians and dogs alike. Pet Armor is the same formula but is less expensive. If that is still too much for your budget, there is another option.

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The Gate Escape

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The “Outside Dogs” were in their kennels this morning after breakfast. I was in my den working on some stuff. I heard Selma chittering and working on the chain link of her kennel. I was not too concerned: she does that, until I heard a suspicious “clink” and got up to look out the window to see what she was doing. I saw per push her gate open and stroll out into the play yard.

I ran out to collect her.  When I got there, she was hunched up, making a pile.  “But DAD, I had to GO!”

She IS housebroken and has kept her kennel clean when she’s outside.

When I set up a new kennel I always replace the light duty gate latch that comes with it with a heavy duty latch, and I add a second latch down low because some dogs are powerful enough to grab the gate and just yank it into the kennel, spinning the one standard latch enough to pop the gate open and get out.  A second gate latch helps prevent that.

These latches are special kennel latches with a tab and slot arrangement that is supposed to prevent a dog from flipping the latch open with nose or paw, like they can a standard gate latch.  Its a nice plan, but it still doesn’t always work.

So I add a clip that snaps into a hole just above the pivot tab and locks the tab in the down position.  I do this on the lower latch.  And for those real powerhouses (of which I have had several) I attach the clip to the kennel with a length of sturdy chain that can wrap around the door post and door frame, then clip to the latch as extra, added insurance.  With this arrangement, I’ve been able to contain even the most determined escape artists.  Unless I forget to use the clip, which apparently I did this morning.  Selma is a clever girl and was able to flip both latches and open her gate to go out to poop.

Or unless they go through the roof.  A couple of them have done that.  I found ways to beat that too, but that’s another discussion for another time.

Go to Selma’s Summary Page

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Cleaning Your Dog’s Ears

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Dogs, like people, get ear wax build up.  This alone can cause pain, decreased hearing, and dizziness.  But add to that the increased risk of a yeast infection, bacterial infection and even parasites in the ear and you can see that inspecting and maintaining your dog’s ears is important to their overall health.  This is especially important for dogs with floppy ears.

Ear Anatomy

A dog’s ear canal is L shaped with a vertical canal that connects to a horizontal canal deeper withing the skull.  Dirt, wax, and parasites such as ear mites can hide in the horizontal canal.  We cannot access that canal, so we need to use regular flushing to remove debris that may cause a blockage. We also don’t want to risk damaging the tympanum by poking implements such as Q-tips down there.

How Often?

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Homemade Disinfectants for Animal Crates

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Crate training a dog is an important part of housebreaking a dog.  But a crate can become unhealthy if it is not cleaned out regularly and disinfected occasionally.

You will start by laundering the bedding regularly — how often depends on how clean your dog stays, whether he eats in his crate, and if he leaks urine when he gets excited.  If he wets his bedding, wash it right away.  If he’s a messy eater, every few days.  If he’s a tidy boy and you just need to get the funky smell out, every 10 days to two weeks works well.

Be sure to launder plush toys too.  Hard toys can be washed in a sink of soapy water, add just a dash of bleach for better disinfecting.  Rinse thoroughly.

When it comes to the crate itself, here are some general purpose cleaners you can make up at home.

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A Trick for (giving) Treats

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When training a dog, I find that giving SMALL treats as a reward for proper responses speeds the learning process and makes the session far more enjoyable for the dog and for myself.  But what do you do when you have a dog that is so eager to get that treat that she’ll take your thumb and finger with the treat if you hold it between them?  Here’s my Trick for Treats:

When a dog is gentle about taking treats, this is not an issue — like Ugg:

When giving larger treats (not training treats) presenting them sideways to the dog helps prevent the dog from taking your hand along with the treat:

When NOT to use treats in training

When I first start training a dog that has been living on the streets for a while, I don’t use treats at all.  These dogs are often so food-centric that as soon as they discover I’m carrying food they will do anything — including knocking me over and tearing open the pocket or pouch — to get it.  They have no idea about doing what I want them to do to get the food doled out to them a morsel at a time.  They want the food, they want all of it, they want it NOW.  That can be dangerous.

So instead I reward these dogs’ good behavior with head scratches and neck rubs.  And that may take some work too.  Dogs that have been abused or neglected for a long time are not accustomed to being touched except in violence and will be skittish about it.  Be patient.  Take it slow.  Earn his trust. Use a soft voice, and stay as low as possible so you are not towering over the dog.  That’s intimidating to them.  Also avoid staring at her eyes: her instincts tell her this is a challenge and hostility.

Once he’s adjusted to the idea that touching is pleasant, petting will serve as reward enough until you’ve gained enough respect that he will trust you to give out the food treats as they are earned.

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