Thursday, October 25, 2007
Our Customers Are The Best
As most of you know, BigWag is a family business. From the outset, we wanted to create a comfortable, homey atmosphere where you could bring the furry members of your family and get quality treats that would be just like the ones grandma made. (If grandma had baked cookies for the dogs!) We knew that as we added employees, we wanted them to become members of our family, not just paid help. We wanted to be that little corner shop where they actually know your name, or at least your dog's name. What I never expected was the outpouring of generosity we get from our customers. Sure, I quickly learned no one ever buys their dog treats when they're in a bad mood, which makes working here a joy. But I never expected people to respond so warmly to us and especially to our dogs. A few days ago one of our regular customers stopped by Andy's and picked up puppy cups for Sam and Hannah. (They thoroughly enjoyed them by the way! I'll post the pictures later.) Another customer and I were discussing the difficulty of finding somewhere to board the dogs at Thanksgiving, and she offered to watch them for us if I couldn't find anywhere. I was totally blown away at this extremely generous offer. And there are countless other examples that I can't even begin to completely list here. The numerous customers who donate treats to the Humane Society. The customers who put their spare change in the bottle to help defray vet costs for rescue animals. The customers who made our angel tree a huge hit last year at Christmas time. The customers who advertise for us, taking business cards or treats to their friends, family and co-workers. The ones who post fliers for our events at work. We even had a customer write about us on her own blog, complete with a link to our website! (You can visit her blog by clicking the link to Scott and Kelly under our favorite blogs) It means the world to us that our customers love us so much. So, I just wanted to take a few moments to tell all of you how much all of these gestures mean to us and that we do notice all of them. And we want to say thank you for embracing us so completely.
Friday, October 12, 2007
How To Crate Train Your Dog In 30 Minutes
I hear complaints of people who can't potty train their dogs, or they destroy furniture at night, or the sleep in their bed with them and become aggressive if the owner wants them down. The simplest solution to all of these problems is to crate train your dog, but how do you do that? they ask.
First step is to buy a dog crate. I got mine from Wal-mart. I like the metal ones with the slide out plastic liner to make accidents easy to clean up. The only trick here is to make sure you get the right size. You don't want too small, but too big, and they will feel like they can use the bathroom at the other end of their "house". It needs to be just small enough to where they won't want to go to the bathroom - dogs have a natural sense to not potty where they sleep. If they do use the bathroom and then sleep in it, I will address that at the end.
The second step is easy. Now, your job is just to make the crate a fun place. I usually place it in the living room, or someplace they are familiar with, and let them be around it for a little while. Let them smell it, walk in it if they are brave enough, explore it, and become comfortable with it. Then, once they have had a chance to become familiar with it, I try to entice them into it with a treat. I try not to push them in - I want it to feel like their choice. Once they go in, I give them a treat, call them out, and hug and praise them a whole bunch. I repeat this, using the phrase "Do you wanna go to bed". This does two things. First, it associates the crate with someplace fun, where there are treats involved, and lots of praise. Second, it gives them a verbal cue "Bed" that they know with the crate, and the associated treats and praise. This usually takes about 30 minutes, maybe a little more with reluctant or scaredy cats.
Dogs are natural den dwellers. Sometimes draping a towel over the crate will make it more appealing. I like to put a towel with my scent on it (I rub it all over my body) and place it with a favorite toy at night so they feel close to me. Overall, the crate makes them feel safe. They will run to it when they are scared or frightened. All I have to do is mention the word "bed" and they are racing down the hall to see who can be first in their crate.
If they are young, especially puppies, they may not want to remain in their crate throughout the night. You have to determine if this is just because they want out, or because they really have to use the bathroom badly. If they just want out, then I would ignore them. They should eventually quiet down. I have used a glass of water thrown on them so that a really stubborn dog knows this is unacceptable behavior.
What you want to avoid is having them use the bathroom and then lying or sleeping in it. If this happens, you can undo any good crate training cold do. It's like it psychologically damages the dog, so that they will urinate on themselves and not care anymore. It can undo pottie training they may have mastered. I use the rule of thumb that for every month the puppy is old, they can go an hour before needing a bathroom break. Hopefully, by a year old they should be able to go all night without a problem. I have a dog that can get so distracted on their end-of-the-night outside trip that he forgets to go to the bathroom. Each dog is a little different, and you will have to find that balance and learn with them.
Getting this technique down is a great way to potty train a dog too. When you let them out in the morning, have a treat ready, and go out with them. They will more than likely have to use the bathroom if they went all night without going outside. As soon as they start, start praising them (but don't touch them - let them finish their business) and then when they are finished, give them a treat and praise and hug them. This will reinforce going outside is good. It's about the only time of day you know with 100% certainty that they will go to the bathroom, and it's really a slam dunk. The more you praise them for going outside, the faster they should catch on.
First step is to buy a dog crate. I got mine from Wal-mart. I like the metal ones with the slide out plastic liner to make accidents easy to clean up. The only trick here is to make sure you get the right size. You don't want too small, but too big, and they will feel like they can use the bathroom at the other end of their "house". It needs to be just small enough to where they won't want to go to the bathroom - dogs have a natural sense to not potty where they sleep. If they do use the bathroom and then sleep in it, I will address that at the end.
The second step is easy. Now, your job is just to make the crate a fun place. I usually place it in the living room, or someplace they are familiar with, and let them be around it for a little while. Let them smell it, walk in it if they are brave enough, explore it, and become comfortable with it. Then, once they have had a chance to become familiar with it, I try to entice them into it with a treat. I try not to push them in - I want it to feel like their choice. Once they go in, I give them a treat, call them out, and hug and praise them a whole bunch. I repeat this, using the phrase "Do you wanna go to bed". This does two things. First, it associates the crate with someplace fun, where there are treats involved, and lots of praise. Second, it gives them a verbal cue "Bed" that they know with the crate, and the associated treats and praise. This usually takes about 30 minutes, maybe a little more with reluctant or scaredy cats.
Dogs are natural den dwellers. Sometimes draping a towel over the crate will make it more appealing. I like to put a towel with my scent on it (I rub it all over my body) and place it with a favorite toy at night so they feel close to me. Overall, the crate makes them feel safe. They will run to it when they are scared or frightened. All I have to do is mention the word "bed" and they are racing down the hall to see who can be first in their crate.
If they are young, especially puppies, they may not want to remain in their crate throughout the night. You have to determine if this is just because they want out, or because they really have to use the bathroom badly. If they just want out, then I would ignore them. They should eventually quiet down. I have used a glass of water thrown on them so that a really stubborn dog knows this is unacceptable behavior.
What you want to avoid is having them use the bathroom and then lying or sleeping in it. If this happens, you can undo any good crate training cold do. It's like it psychologically damages the dog, so that they will urinate on themselves and not care anymore. It can undo pottie training they may have mastered. I use the rule of thumb that for every month the puppy is old, they can go an hour before needing a bathroom break. Hopefully, by a year old they should be able to go all night without a problem. I have a dog that can get so distracted on their end-of-the-night outside trip that he forgets to go to the bathroom. Each dog is a little different, and you will have to find that balance and learn with them.
Getting this technique down is a great way to potty train a dog too. When you let them out in the morning, have a treat ready, and go out with them. They will more than likely have to use the bathroom if they went all night without going outside. As soon as they start, start praising them (but don't touch them - let them finish their business) and then when they are finished, give them a treat and praise and hug them. This will reinforce going outside is good. It's about the only time of day you know with 100% certainty that they will go to the bathroom, and it's really a slam dunk. The more you praise them for going outside, the faster they should catch on.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Owning a dog is not a spectator sport
I was chatting with someone this week who had no idea what a puppy mill was. I guess I take it for granted that everyone knows what a puppy mill is, just like everyone knows what Wal-mart is. It really kind of dawned on me what the true meaning of being a responsible dog owner is. It is continuous education about your dog, and helping in the education of those around you. This would have been a great message for "Responsible Dog Ownership Day" that the AKC sponsors in Sept, but it's better to be late then never, right?
Ok you couch potatoes! October is the mega "Pet Event" month of the year. There are at least 10 events that you can go to with your dog in Northwest Arkansas this year, and those are just the ones I am aware of. Taking your dog to a pet event may sound a little absurd to some of you, but the main reason you should participate in these is that this helps in the continuing education of your dog ownership skills, and may even present an opportunity to help educate those around you, with stories on how you pottie trained your dog, or how you keep them from chewing your slippers. The most comprehensive listing of pet events in NW Arkansas can be located here:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=jk2nb44v141rb7r29boddrh2u0%40group.calendar.google.com
So, besides the education reason to attend some of these, there is also the fact that these generally help a cause. Many good folks dedicate even more hours to help rescue stray dogs, to keep them from being euthanized, to mobilize legal actions for governments, and to provide enrichment activities for you and your dog. Often proceeds go to help with vet bills for dogs that have been abandoned, food and supplies for no-kill shelters, gas to transport dogs to far off places where there are homes waiting for them. or to cure cancer. I want to cure cancer too! If I can help cure cancer and walk my dog at the same time, gee, thats a no brainer.
Finally, the last reason to attend one of these, is that they are just plain fun. There are often games and goodie bags to take home, you get to mingle with fellow dog lovers, swapping funny stories, making new friends, two and four legged. Dogs need socialization just as much as people do. Events like these help them keep alert, give them something new and exciting to experience, and a new rear end to sniff. I'm sure sniffing the same ole rear ends day after day gets a little old.
Ok you couch potatoes! October is the mega "Pet Event" month of the year. There are at least 10 events that you can go to with your dog in Northwest Arkansas this year, and those are just the ones I am aware of. Taking your dog to a pet event may sound a little absurd to some of you, but the main reason you should participate in these is that this helps in the continuing education of your dog ownership skills, and may even present an opportunity to help educate those around you, with stories on how you pottie trained your dog, or how you keep them from chewing your slippers. The most comprehensive listing of pet events in NW Arkansas can be located here:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=jk2nb44v141rb7r29boddrh2u0%40group.calendar.google.com
So, besides the education reason to attend some of these, there is also the fact that these generally help a cause. Many good folks dedicate even more hours to help rescue stray dogs, to keep them from being euthanized, to mobilize legal actions for governments, and to provide enrichment activities for you and your dog. Often proceeds go to help with vet bills for dogs that have been abandoned, food and supplies for no-kill shelters, gas to transport dogs to far off places where there are homes waiting for them. or to cure cancer. I want to cure cancer too! If I can help cure cancer and walk my dog at the same time, gee, thats a no brainer.
Finally, the last reason to attend one of these, is that they are just plain fun. There are often games and goodie bags to take home, you get to mingle with fellow dog lovers, swapping funny stories, making new friends, two and four legged. Dogs need socialization just as much as people do. Events like these help them keep alert, give them something new and exciting to experience, and a new rear end to sniff. I'm sure sniffing the same ole rear ends day after day gets a little old.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
