Dog B.O.N.E.S.

Holidays are for celebration and gatherings. Oftentimes people travel and stay at a friend's or family's homes. This can stress out, not only homeowners, but their pets as well. We have a couple of solutions to help your dog. Remember a Bizzy Dog   will stay out of trouble.  Always have a dog emergency box prepared for your dog. This box keeps your dog busy when you have an emergency and cannot interact with your dog much. Check out our article about Dog Emergency Boxes . Not only will you want extra, of your dog's favorite treats handy, but new fun toys as well.  If you buy a toy to use for Halloween or Thanksgiving, just put the toy up after everyone has gone home until Christmas. You do not want your dog getting bored with the toy before the next holiday and then not be interested. Sniff mats are a terrific way to not only keep your dog busy but rewarding them for being good or stuck in a room all day. One thing that is great about Sniff matts are that you can get them i

Fourth of July, thunder storms, or the garbage truck on Monday will give your dog a lot of anxiety.  Put your dog in a closed room with music or the television on. This blocks out the sound but remember dogs can hear better than humans can. They can even her sounds we can't.  Giving your dog a stuffed animal so they don't feel alone can help as well. Probably will not work so good with big dogs.  Purchasing some calming dog treats or making your own may be the way to go. Make sure to test your dog to see if they work before the loud noise event will happen.  The last resort is Benadryl or anxiety medication. Benadryl and anxiety medication will make your dog sleepy but please talk to your vet before administering. 

Dogs anxiety can be the lack of stimulation. I do not understand why anyone feeds their dog in a bowl. Dogs can be made to work for their food.  Placing hard dog food around the house and letting your dog sniff for it is a great way to feed them.  Putting the food in a bottle with the lid off or in a conge that they have to move around to get the food to come out is another good way.  Dogs need to chew and lick so having food to like on a licking matt is great way for your dog to get stimulation. Check out stuffing a bone.   Chewing a bone or licking yummy food like peanut butter or cheese from the bone or even a conge is a great activity for your dog.  Puzzle games where you put the food in a space and the dog has to move an object or push a button to get to the treat is another awesome way to give your dog stimulation.  Stuffed animals are a great toy for dog. Yes they can be messy. You can also get an animal shaped toy with a rope toy inside the object for you dog to chew on. 

  In ABA therapy, you want to look at a behavior and what brought about the behavior you don't want.  So you will break the behavior down to three parts easily remembered by "the ABC of behaviors." A stand for at antecedent or in other words, what happened before the behavior. (The dig was laying on the bed.) B stands for the behavior. When their was a knock at the door, (the dog started barking loudly and jumping around.) C stands for consequence. If no consequences or reward given, the behavior continues. If you reward this bad behavior you don't want, it will continue, as the dog has no clue you want a different behavior.  (Telling your dog to come to your side and reinforcing that behavior with a treat, praise, or clicker.)

  What is the best way to encourage pets to not sit or scratch on furniture or other places? Aluminum foil!  If your pet has made a home on a couch, chair, bed, or other area that you prefer he/she didn’t, cover in foil for a few days.  The sound irritates cats and dogs enough that it can be a great tool teach animals to stay off or out of where you do not want them. 🐕Wrap foil on seats, cushions, legs to discourage scratching or biting. 

  Today I was leaving and picking up all of Truffle's toys and tossing them into the bathroom before I left. I didn't have anything he could really chew on. As I was picking up a small bone, I thought about putting a dog treat inside. This would keep him busy until I got back. It worked!!!! I broke the treat in half, stuffed in the bone, and he loved trying to get the treat out!!!  Truffles has tried to get the inside of the treat out for a few days now. He is even trying to toss the bone in the air to see if the treat will come out.  🐕 I also put these treats in the Tire Toy so Truffles has to work to get the treat out. 

Treats that enforce good behavior in your dog really depends on your dog. We're taking about food treats. Some dog owners only use praise or a clicker for their dog's. Truffles is a very picky dog. He didn't like peanut butter or cheese. He didn't like the first three bags of dog treats I bought. I had to buy dog treats with at least three different flavors to find out what he likes. When we go for walks, Truffles could care less about treats and wants to sniff the bushes. I'm going to have to do a treat test so I know what he will eat too reinforce his good Behaviors while on walks. Basically. what I will do is put out several treats while the dog is in a different room. Then let him out and see what treat he like best. That treat will be my reinforcing treat for good behavior only when on walks.

  Today I took truffles for a walk. It's the third time he's gone up and down the stairs. He waits for me and always stays to one side. Today, Truffles got excited hearing the kids and other dogs, and in a hurry went to the wrong side of the stairs. I stopped and didn't move. When Truffles went to the correct side I said, "Good Boy." Truffles understood it was good what he was doing. Then we preceded. While on walks we started playing the Stop and Go game. He is getting the hang of it really quickly. Now when we go up the stairs, I tell Truffles to stop and he waits nicely.  Both of these "cues" lets your dog know what you need them to do. The more you communicate with your dog what is good, the more you will get good behavior out of them. Once your dog knows what you want them to do, the less frustrated as a dog parent you are.  Praise the good behavior and ignore the bad behavior is a motto in the would of autism. 

  Make your own crinkle toy, that your dog will love out of an old sock.  Take an old sock and your dogs treat bag.  Cut the top of the treat bag and place inside the sock.  Do not clean out the bag. The smell makes your dog enjoy the toy even better. Place the treat bag inside the bag and fold the top of the sock inside.  Sewing with string the top of the sock closed making sure to go through the dog treat bag.  Sewing the dog treat bag will help to keep it in place.  Here is a picture with Truffles in his Lair with the toy. He loves it.  🐶We do not get any financial compensation for showing the Nike sock or the Canine Carry Outs dog treats.  💋Truffles played with this sock until it was in need of being thrown away. We did not even get a chance to wash it before it was destroyed. 

  One of the things I did with parents of autistic children is come up with a list of what their child loved doing the most for long periods of time without a lot of supervision. When parents are busy and need to keep their children even busier with little supervision, they pulled out the list. These activities were not something the child would do daily or all the time. It's was for those emergency situations. You can do the same with your dog. Place items on a box and when an emergency arises, get the box. Place in the box: 🐶Special bone 🐶Special toy 🐶Special flavor to lick 🐶Special Crinkle Toy 🐶Special Puzzle Box The special item has to keep your dog busy for at least a half hour. Truffles box has a buffalo bone, a licking matt that I put cottage cheese or yogurt on, and an interactive treat toy.

The best way to use crinkle toys is at bed time!  If your dog sleeps with you, and may not be tired when you are, a crinkle toy might be the best option. Crinkle toys are: Not annoying, the sound doesn't bother most. Washable, so just toss in the washer with the sheets. Inexpensive, so get lots of them for your dog to choose from. Keep a few on our around the bed and if your dog can't settle down, offer the toy. 🐶

Truffles loves to "find it." I place treats hidden around furniture etc when he's not in the room. Then I bring him in the room and say find it. I will walk to an easy seeable treat, snap my fingers at it and say, "find it." This way he knows something is there if he doesn't see it. You do not have to use treats, you can use your dogs favorite toy.  * Be careful as this could also make your dog want to go to the bathroom. 🐶 *Remember dogs are colored blind. I used to tell Truffles to get his blue monkey. Then I remembered he can't see colors. If your treat is the color of your floor, they can't see the treat and have to use there since of smell.  Dogs possess only two types of cones and  can only discern blue and yellow  - this limited color perception is called dichromatic vision.

  Playing this game with autistic children was helpful for walks, stopping a child from running up the stairs, and stopping from running away from a parent or me! While going for a walk, you randomly day STOP. Make the child stop. When the child stopped you have praise. When ready to go you can say go or in a fun, cartoon way day, let's go! (Did anyone else hear Donald's or Goofy's voice? You can do the same thing with your dog. Then when you need your dog to stop, you can give the command. Once the dig gets the command try going to stay. Have your dog stay by giving a command and a have gesture. I put my hand out like saying stop. Eventually, I want to give had gestures to Truffles and not need to say a command. Now we know why ABA therapy is a lot of sign language. 🐕You don't have to train with food, you can train with praise. Dogs love praises and attention. 

If you live in an apartment, you may not want to take your dog outside all the time for walks. Their are two options, the sandbox and the grass pad.  Truffles uses what I call the "sandbox." This is an oversized box with kitty litter in it. You can, scoop the poop, and then toss in the trash or flush the toilet. The kitty litter gets stuck in Truffles paws so I got a matt that collects the clay. He also likes to put his paws in the box and then pee. I put the edge of his blanket that he lays on just under the box. This has stopped him from doing this.  There are also grass pads that you can use. They say you can wash them, but I do not use them. If you use a grass pad on the balcony and then carry through the apartment to get to a bathtub to wash, I don't think I would be a fan.  When Truffles goes potty in the sandbox, I reward him by voice and get really excited.  To teach Truffles to go in the sandbox, I would clean up his urine and feces and put them in the box at fir

My puppy Truffles loves to chase after the empty water bottle, with holes in it, and have the treats roll out on the floor. I bought some small apple juices to get the containers to use just for this. When someone knocks on the door, I have an important phone call, or I am busy and he wants to play, he gets one of these already made up.   Purchase the bottles:   Cut holes or use a solder gun: (Tip) Don’t cut holes to far at the bottom or the bottle or on one side. This way you don’t have treats or dog food spilling everywhere. (Tip) I cut triangles in the bottle because it is easier to do when making holes with a knife. 🐕This can be dangerous as it is hard to control the sharp knife or scissors.