grooming – YourDesignerDog

Sadie’s Dock Dog Daydream

yourdesignerdog — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 05:00:29 +0000

Have you ever heard of Dock Dogs competitions? I’ve been watching some videos lately of these fun events where dogs leap into the water to see who can jump the highest or the furthest or fetch a toy the fastest. These competitions seem like they would be a lot of fun for athletic, high energy dogs. Unfortunately, neither of those adjectives apply to Sadie. In fact, Sadie feels uncomfortable doing any jumping and I’m not even sure if she can swim. The closest Sadie and I will come to dock diving is the time we spend daydreaming on the cute little dock in these photos. Sadie and I recently discovered this floating dock on a small lake near Sadie’s groomer. It’s a nice place to go and sit in the sun together, especially as Sadie can usually use some time to relax after the stress of a grooming appointment.

This post is part of the BlogPaws Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

Dog House Bath

yourdesignerdog — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 07:15:26 +0000

This weekend Sadie had her first outdoor bath! Normally Sadie uses the bathtub, just like the rest of the family, but this time I decided to take advantage of the last official weekend of Summer and the really warm weather to try something new. Her dog house pool seemed like the perfect place for outdoor bathing. I filled the pool from the hose and mixed in some warm water that I brought out from the house in a bucket. Sadie’s big dog was very helpful in holding all her bath supplies. I let Sadie splash around in the pool for a bit before we got down to business. The bath went very well. Sadie smiled the whole time, which rarely happens in the bathtub indoors. I feel like I got more soaked than usual, but it was hot so I didn’t really care. After everyone dried off we deflated the pool and put it away until next Summer. It’s sad to see the Summer end, but now I know that bath time can be more fun for Sadie next Summer in the dog house pool.

This post is part of the Monday Mischief Pet Blog hop hosted by Snoopy’s Dog Blog, Alfie’s Blog, and My Brown Newfies.

Twenty Sixth Time’s the Charm

yourdesignerdog — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 09:00:30 +0000

Clearly I wasn’t paying enough attention when taking photos of Sadie after her grooming visit this weekend. It was hot and sunny, the ground was full of sharp, pointy rocks, there were bees, excuses, excuses. Honestly I was just being impatient and trying to snap a quick photo. But as usual, if I try to do something quickly, it just takes longer to correct all of my mistakes in the end. It took me over twenty five tries before I finally positioned myself, the camera, and Sadie correctly to get the above photo. Here are six of my first attempts, which I find funny because they are so bad, followed by two photos that actually turned out pretty well.

This post is part of the Monday Mischief Pet Blog hop hosted by Snoopy’s Dog Blog, Alfie’s Blog, and My Brown Newfies.

Preparing Your Pets For Meeting Children

yourdesignerdog — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:00:14 +0000

If you live in a household without any kids, than your pets may not have spent much time with children. Sadie, for example, has played a bit with one little girl whose parents work next to our office, but she hasn’t had any experience dealing with multiple little kids. But with the holidays approaching, I know Sadie will be meting a number of little relatives for the first time. So we’ve been doing a few simple exercises to try to prepare for little kid behavior.

The number one problem between pets and children has to do with rough handling. My first memories of a dog come from my Mother’s dog Pixie, who died when I was three. I remember loving that dog and always feeling safe with her. But I also remember Pixie hated my cousin, who was also three at the time. My cousin used to hug the dog way too hard and pull Pixie’s tail, so Pixie would always growl when my cousin was around. My cousin had no idea that she was hurting poor Pixie and didn’t realize Pixie was asking her to stop. This is typical behavior from children, especially kids who haven’t grown up with pets. Some kids don’t realize that you can’t treat a real dog the way you treat your dog stuffed animals.

Since many children, like my cousin, try to grab animals by the tail, our first exercise helps to get your pet used to being touched in that area. I’m not suggesting you go around pulling your pets’ tails exactly, but more handling of the tail in general would help desensitize the area. A daily tail brushing would benefit your pets’ fur, as well as getting them used to some pulling sensation in that region.

With all the running around children do, they are more likely to accidentally step on your dog’s paws. You don’t want your dog to react harshly if this happens, so it’s best to prepare him or her for this possibility. Again I don’t recommend stepping on your dog’s paws yourself, but just handle his or her paws more frequently. This is also helpful for getting your dog more used to grooming and vet visits, as their paws are usually handled in both places. Some experts suggest that lightly squeezing or pinching your dog’s toes helps to simulate getting stepped on by a child.

If you have access to a talking or crying baby doll, you can use that to get your pets used to child-like sounds. Set up the doll on a couch or chair and allow you pet to sniff it. Don’t allow your dog to grab the doll with his or her mouth, as you would not want your dog to grab onto a real child.

Because of the unpredictable nature of little kids and pets, it’s always best to supervise any interaction between the two to make sure neither the child nor the animal is acting too rough. But it’s also good to practice some sample behavior to prepare your pet just in case. That way everyone can have a safe and more relaxed holiday season.

This post is part of the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie, Love Is Being Owned By a Husky, and M.K. Clinton.

This post is also part of the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like A Dog.

Bad Hair Day – Black and White Sunday #34

yourdesignerdog — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 11:00:42 +0000

Looks like Sadie needs some serious combing after her bath today!

This post is part of Nola and Sugar‘s Black and White Sunday blog hop.