With the holidays approaching, it’s a good time to think about protecting your dog from eating bad stuff — like tree ornaments and fruit cake.

Callie, just eleven months old yesterday, scares me, because she’ll eat just about anything. When she plays soccer, she takes advantage of every opportunity to eat a little grass. This isn’t really terrible, but it’s symptomatic. Same thing when we walk near the golf course; if there’s a divot around, Callie will take a stab at it. This could be more serious because of the fertilizers used to enrich the grass. So far, we’ve kept her from eating anything really horrible, but we worry about it. The other day, she ate a hamburger-sized piece of an exotic rug. She’s also tried to eat a few of her favorite toys recently — although she continues to spare her most favored “stinky” and a few other special toys. Here’s Callie with her “stinky,” a favorite security object that she is careful not to damage.

Not all dogs are so fortunate. Here’s an article about a Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Disa who ate a ten-inch long tent peg. She’s OK, but what a nightmare. This article also talks about dogs eating fish hooks, condoms, bras, coins, socks, baby booties, and a sewing needle. Don’t these animals have any limits? Deefer, a bull mastiff, chewed through 20 pairs of underwear in 12 months.

It gets worse. Here’s a story, from the BBC, about Taffy, an 18-month-old springer spaniel who swallowed 40 pairs of pants, 300 socks and 15 pairs of shoes. It was the last pair of pants that caused Taffy to need some surgery, which, happily, was successful.

So much for dogs eating “stuff” they find around the house or out and about. What about food they find? There are some foods that can be dangerous to dogs, but some things — like chicken bones, turkey bones, chocolate, mistletoe, and poinsettia plants — are more likely to be around during the holidays.

Here’s an article from twodogpress.com about foods that can be hazardous, and even fatal, to dogs. Some of these, like onions, raisins, grapes, walnuts, and macadamia nuts sound pretty harmless, but even in small doses they can lethal for dogs.

So how do you deal with this? How do you stop your dog from eating all this junk?

Well, the first step is that you just can’t let your dog out of sight if there is truly lethal stuff around. You have to keep “man’s best friend” out of trouble. Also, you can try to dog-proof your house, just like you child-proof your house when there’s a small child around.

But you can also work with your dog on the “leave it” command. Here, from lockergnome.com, is a good article on how to teach your dog to “leave it.” “Leave it” means “don’t pick that up.” The article makes an interesting distinction between “leave it” and “no.” “No” means “stop — something is wrong.” But you don’t want your dog to stop every time you walk past something dangerous. Actually, you want to keep going and have your dog “leave it.” So “leave it” is better than “no.”

Our dogs are very special friends, and there’s nothing better than sharing experiences with them, helping them do the things they like to do, and nurturing their personalities. But there are also times when they depend on us in a very critical way to protect them from themselves.

Hi, it’s Callie again. Fred’s travelling, so I’m filling in.

You probably know there are lots of things you can do with a dog. But just so you’ll know how a dog thinks about it, here are my “Top Ten Things to do with Your Dog.”

1. Take a walk with your dog. Here, from RubyGlen.com are “8 tips for a better walk with your dog.” This is all the stuff you should think about when you’re getting ready to take your dog for a walk.

2. Go jogging with your dog. I’m not old enough to jog yet. My vets says I need to be about fourteen months old, so I don’t beat up my hips. But I’m really looking forward to being able to jog instead of just walk. Here, from paw-rescue.org, is a pretty neat article about jogging with your dog.

3. Play soccer. See some of Fred’s earlier blogs for video of me playing soccer. Also, take a look at the link to the all-animal soccer time. I’m not the only dog who likes to play soccer.

4. Get into competitions with your dog, like dog shows or agility training. My Dad, Cutter, is an Agility Champion. I hope I look this neat when I grow up.

5. Buy toys for your dog. Actually, I think it’s great fun to go to the toy store. But read Fred’s blog about “The Doggie Toy Mystery,” before you buy a lot of stuff. I (and some of my puppy friends) take great pleasure in destroying “indestructible” doggie toys.

6. Give your dog a massage. Fred does this for me sometimes, and I really like it. I find it very calming. Here’s an article about some of the benefits of doggie massage.

7. Take your dog to a dog-park and meet other dogs and people. I don’t have a dog-park real close, but I enjoy meeting the other dogs at my puppy kindergarten.

8. Have a meaningful conversation with your dog. You might be surprised how understanding your dog is. Pay attention to your conversational style and try to communicate how you feel with the tone of your voice.

9. Let your dog sleep with you. Dogs can be really good snugglers. I still sleep in my crate, but I know Jamie slept with Fred and Barbara and I look forward to the day when I’ll get to do that.

10. Work with your dog on obedience and tricks. It’s fun for the dog, and it shows them (I shouldn’t admit this) who’s boss.

11. (For good measure) Dance with your dog. Yep, dance with your dog. If you didn’t see Fred’s post on Sunday, November 25, you should check it out. Lots of people are taking dancing lessons with their dogs!

Have fun with your dog! Your dog will appreciate it, and you’ll learn a lot about your dog.

See you next time!

Hi, Callie here again. Fred just got back from his travels, but I had this blog all ready to go.

I thought I’d give you a little status report on my puppy crate training. Actually, all things considered, I’d say my strategy is working pretty well. I keep finding more and more ways to earn puppy treats, and, at the same time, Fred and Barbara are giving me a little more free time out of my crate.

For example, I’ve learned that if Barbara lets me run loose in the kitchen, I get a puppy treat once in a while, as long as I don’t get into the trash or eat the newspapers in the storage bin. It’s pretty neat. Barbara is especially easy to train; she’s the main puppy treat person. Fred doesn’t use them as much; with him, I just get to hang out in his office more if I don’t mess things up.

Don’t misunderstand. I really like my crate. It’s a great place to relax and eat my meals and sleep at night. But it is really nice to get out of it during the day, so I can spend more time with Fred and Barbara.

If Fred’s working at home, he usually closes off the the other part of the house, so I can just be in the hallway or in his office. So I have my water dish in the hallway and some of my favorite toys. I know Fred’s pretty busy, so I try not to bother him too much. But once in a while he seems to like it if I take one of my toys to him and play a little “give and take.”

“Give and take” is a good little game that I invented. I present one of my favorite toys to Fred, like I want him to take it. But if he really tries to take it a away, I grab hold really tight so he can’t. Then he gives it back to me, and I give it back to him. And we go back and forth. I don’t think he wants it to turn into a game of tug of war; that’s why he always gives it back to me. I really like it, because he’s paying attention to me, and we’re doing something together – with a toy that I really like.

The rest of the time, I take turns playing with my toys. Or sometimes I just munch very gently on one of my toys – sort of just gumming it. This is really mellow and relaxing for me. Sometimes it makes me so relaxed I just fall asleep and take a nap.

I especially like it when we’re at Lake Arrowhead, because the house there, at least the upstairs, is more like one big room, with a door out to the deck. And it’s pretty puppy-proof. So Fred and Barbara let me go pretty much where I want. I really like that, and I’m looking forward to when they will do that at our other home.

So I’m working real hard at just chewing on my toys and not on Barbara’s rugs or plants. I have a couple of nice, hard chewy toys now; that makes it easier to stay away from rugs and plants.

See you next time!

Hi, this is Callie writing. Fred’s in Philadelphia for a few days, so I’m filling in.

Here are ten ways that owning a dog can make you a healthier person:

1. Dogs need daily exercise. So if you take your dog for a walk every day, you’re getting your own needed exercise, which helps you manage your weight and stay healthy.
2. Busy people are happy people. Sure dogs take some time. But it’s good discipline to manage your time better.
3. A dog will lick your wounds and help them heal. A dog’s saliva contains some anti-septic stuff.
4. Dogs help you make friends. It’s pretty hard to take a cute dog on a walk without meeting new dogs and people. Everyone likes to stop and say “hello” to a dog. You’ll meet more people, too.
5. Dogs are good psychologists. Ever notice what good listeners they are? And don’t you feel better after telling your dog about your problems?
6. Remember, dogs are “Man’s Best Friend.” It’s healthy to have friends – people friends and dog friends.
7. Some people need to learn how to train their dog and work with it. Going to a puppy training class can be a great experience. You meet new people and dogs. And you learn a lot about dogs. And we all know that learning is healthy.
8. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll write a book about your dog, like Fred did.
9. It’s healthy for people to have other people – or dogs – to care about. It gets them outside themselves a little.
10. Play keeps you young. Playing with a dog will help you stay “young at heart.” It’s really good for Fred to play soccer with me.
11. (For good measure) If you really “listen” to your dog and understand what it’s telling you, you can have a “meaningful relationship” with your dog. This means you’re both involved and benefiting at an emotional level. And that’s really healthy!

Until next time. Listen carefully to your dog today!

The more I read, the more ideas I get about how to work with Callie (a nine-month old Golden Retriever puppy) to help her calm down. As I said before, I don’t expect her to act like a mellow old dog, but she does get a little frantic sometimes — in spite of getting a three mile walk every morning.

Monday night, Barbara had a meeting, so I ordered a pizza and caught up on the TV news, which was mostly about the Southern California wildfires. Callie was out of her crate, in an attempt to give her a little more freedom around the house.

Well, having Callie around with a pizza on the table was probably my first big mistake. She wasn’t trying to steal the pizza, but she kept sniffing and bouncing off four walls and a pizza box at a very rapid rate. She would jump up on the sofa (which we’re allowing) and then jump down to go get a toy. And then back up and back down, up and down at a frantic pace.

Finally, I decided it wasn’t working and put her back in her crate. Trust me, I hated to do this, because I didn’t want the crate to seem like a punishment. So I got a bunch of her favorite toys and some fresh water, and she was happy enough to return to her beloved puppy home.

But later I felt really guilty. And defeated. I thought, “There has to be a better way to handle this.”

So I decided to try the T-Touch massage technique I mentioned the other day. Here’s a different description of it.

What you do is make gentle circular massage strokes from the dog’s head to its tail and keep repeating the cycle. I did this for about ten minutes with Callie, and she seemed to like it. For one thing, she sat still for it. And it clearly did help her calm down a bit — even though this was the first time.

After her massage, Callie went back to bouncing off the walls, but maybe only two walls at a time instead of four. She was noticeably calmer. And eventually she did switch into “get ready for bed” mode and she started gumming her favorite toys.

I feel good enough about the experience that I’ll keep trying it. The result was a great improvement.

As I write, Callie has been in my office for about forty-five minutes. We interacted for about five minutes. She brought me a few of her toys and we played our little “you hold it — no you hold it” game for a few minutes. Then Callie settled down and started entertaining herself with her toys. Right now she’s chewing softly (not hard enough to do damage) on her Legless Dodo Bird (legless because Callie unraveled the twisted-rope legs, so we had to cut them off). But she loves what’s left of the Dodo Bird and shows no sign of destroying it.

Sometimes having a special relationship with Man’s Best Friend is a lot of work!