For some of us, 2012 is going to be “the year”. The year to become a parent!

During this stage in life, common questions from our pet parents include, how can I be sure my pet is ready for our new bundle of joy? and how will my pet react to the new baby? No matter how much you plan, the addition of a new family member may be difficult for your pet.

Odds are if your a Floofins client, your dog or cat was your first “baby” and is used to being the center of your universe. With that being said, it is understandable that your pet may experience a sibling rivalry of sorts when you introduce a new human into the household.

As you read all of the baby books and plan for your new family member, you need to also plan for your pet and make sure they are ready for the new addition to the family. While you work on getting the nursery ready, keep an eye on the following suggestions from the Humane Society of the United States. Adding these steps to your nesting phase can make introducing your pet and baby safer and smoother for all.

Before Baby

Take your pet to the veterinarian for a routine health exam and necessary vaccinations.

Spay or neuter your pet. Not only do sterilized pets typically have fewer health problems associated with their reproductive systems, but they are also calmer and less likely to bite.

Consult with a veterinarian and pediatrician if the thought of your newborn interacting with the family pet makes you uncomfortable. By working with these experts before your baby is born, you can resolve problems early and put your mind at ease.

Address any pet training and behavior problems. If your pet exhibits fear and anxiety, now is the time to get help from an animal behavior specialist.  If your pet’s behavior includes gentle nibbling, pouncing, or swatting at you and others, redirect that behavior to appropriate objects.

Get your pet used to nail trims.

Train your pet to remain calmly on the floor beside you until you invite him on your lap, which will soon cradle a newborn.

Consider enrolling in a training class with your dog, and practice training techniques. Training allows you to safely and humanely control your dog’s behavior and enhances the bond between you and your pet.

Encourage friends with infants to visit your home to accustom your pet to babies. Supervise all pet and infant interactions.

Gradually accustom your pet to spending less time with you. Drastically decreasing attention and frequently scolding, ignoring, or isolating your pet after the baby comes home will likely make your pet feel stressed. If your pet is particularly attached to the mother-to-be, another family member should develop a closer relationship with the animal. That way, the pet can still feel loved and provided for while mom is busy with the baby.

Accustom your pet to baby-related noises months before the baby is expected. For example, play recordings of a baby crying, turn on the mechanical infant swing, and use the rocking chair. Make these positive experiences for your pet by offering a treat or playtime.

To discourage your pet from jumping on the baby’s crib and changing table, apply double-stick tape to the furniture.

If the baby’s room will be off-limits to your pet, install a sturdy barrier such as a removable gate (available at pet or baby supply stores) or, for jumpers, even a screen door. Because these barriers still allow your pet to see and hear what’s happening in the room, he’ll feel less isolated from the family and more comfortable with the new baby noises.

Use a baby doll to help your pet get used to the real thing. Carry around a swaddled baby doll, take the doll in the stroller when you walk your dog, and use the doll to get your pet used to routine baby activities, such as bathing and diaper changing.

Talk to your pet about the baby, using the baby’s name if you’ve selected one.

Sprinkle baby powder or baby oil on your skin so your pet becomes familiar with the new smells.

Plan ahead to make sure your pet gets proper care while you’re at the birthing center.

After Baby

After the baby is born have your partner or friend take home something with the baby’s scent (such as a blanket) for your pet to investigate.

When you return from the hospital, your pet may be eager to greet you and receive your attention. Have someone else take the baby into another room while you give your pet a warm, but calm, welcome. Keep some treats handy so you can distract your pet.

Bring your pet with you to sit next to the baby, reward your pet with treats for appropriate behavior. Remember, you want your pet to view associating with the baby as a positive experience. To prevent anxiety or injury, never force your pet to get near the baby, and always supervise any interaction.

Life will no doubt be hectic caring for your new baby, but try to maintain regular routines as much as possible to help your pet adjust. And be sure to spend one-on-one quality time with your pet each day—it may help relax you, too. With proper training, supervision, and adjustments, you, your new baby, and your pet should be able to live together safely and happily as one (now larger) family.

The snow bomb has dropped in Chicagoland and along with it comes that slippery substance our dog walkers avoid like the plague… ice.

While our staff is ready to roll in our ice pick shoes and puffy coats, you just want to get in and out of your house without falling down the stairs. When it comes to combating ice, what is your poison? Do you run for a bag of traditional rock salt, or do you look for a safer alternative?

Who Still Uses Rock Salt?

According to Safe Paw (which is Prissy and Portia’s product of choice), 60% of American households use rock salt and salt-based ice melt products during the cold winter months. An alarming 62% are unaware of the health dangers associated with the use of these products.

What Is So Wrong With Salt?

Rock salt and other salt-based ice melters contain sodium chloride or potassium chloride which can heat up to 175 degrees when exposed to water, ice, and low temperatures.

The problem is that when dogs are let out they frolic and eat the snow and many of the ice melt products sit on the surface of the ice. Dogs either ingest these ice melt pellets or they get frozen into their paws. Later on when they are inside the house in higher temperatures, the ice melts and dogs begin to lick their paws. The salt can heat up as high as 175 degrees and not only burn their skin and paws but their mouth and digestive system. Salt can also burn and irritate children’s eyes and skin and cause internal problems if swallowed according to pediatricians.

If is also not so great for the environment. Salt residue can cause damage to pavers, asphalt, concrete, wood decks, floors and rugs. It also seeps into groundwater supplies and can harm aquatic wildlife, kill plants, burn grasses and poison birds.

How Does Safe Paw Work?

Safe Paw is 100% salt-free. It is made up of a crystalline amide core infused with special glycols which is non-corrosive. There are a few other “pet safe” ice melters on the market, but for my floofins, Safe Paw has worked great and appears to be one of the safest on the market.

What Else Can I Do To Protect My Pets?

Unfortunately not everyone in your neighborhood worries about safety of our furry friends. When you are on walks, be aware of what your dog is stepping in. Think about using booties or at the very least, give them a good thorough paw wipe when they get home. If paws get dry, use a paw balm to moisturize dry and cracked paw pads.

I figured January would be a safe month to pull together a blog on keeping your pets safe in the upcoming cold winter weather. When I woke up this morning I felt like my work was futile because I let Prissy and Portia out potty and it already felt like spring!

As much as we want it to, it can’t last forever so I am sticking to my plan and sharing with you some “Cold Weather Tips” from the ASPCA. The following guidelines will help you protect your furry friends when the mercury dips.

1. Keep your cat inside. Outdoors, felines can freeze, become lost or be stolen, injured or killed. Cats who are allowed to stray are exposed to infectious diseases, including rabies, from other cats, dogs and wildlife.

2. During the winter, outdoor cats sometimes sleep under the hoods of cars. When the motor is started, the cat can be injured or killed by the fan belt. If there are outdoor cats in your area, bang loudly on the car hood before starting the engine to give the cat a chance to escape.

3. Never let your dog off the leash on snow or ice, especially during a snowstorm, dogs can lose their scent and easily become lost. More dogs are lost during the winter than during any other season, so make sure yours always wears ID tags.

4. Thoroughly wipe off your dog’s legs and stomach when he comes in out of the sleet, snow or ice. He can ingest salt, antifreeze or other potentially dangerous chemicals while licking his paws, and his paw pads may also bleed from snow or encrusted ice.

5. Never shave your dog down to the skin in winter, as a longer coat will provide more warmth. When you bathe your dog in the colder months, be sure to completely dry him before taking him out for a walk. Own a short-haired breed? Consider getting him a coat or sweater with a high collar or turtleneck with coverage from the base of the tail to the belly. For many dogs, this is regulation winter wear.

6. Never leave your dog or cat alone in a car during cold weather. A car can act as a refrigerator in the winter, holding in the cold and causing the animal to freeze to death.

7. Puppies do not tolerate the cold as well as adult dogs, and may be difficult to housebreak during the winter. If your puppy appears to be sensitive to the weather, you may opt to paper-train him inside. If your dog is sensitive to the cold due to age, illness or breed type, take him outdoors only to relieve himself.

8. Does your dog spend a lot of time engaged in outdoor activities? Increase his supply of food, particularly protein, to keep him, and his fur, in tip-top shape.

9. Like coolant, antifreeze is a lethal poison for dogs and cats. Be sure to thoroughly clean up any spills from your vehicle, and consider using products that contain propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol.

10. Make sure your companion animal has a warm place to sleep, off the floor and away from all drafts. A cozy dog or cat bed with a warm blanket or pillow is perfect.

Hopefully I didn’t just frighten anyone away by the title of today’s blog, but don’t be afraid of the term, it really isn’t that complicated! A stimulus can be anything that we have a response to, which can be learned or not learned. The sound of the doorbell is a stimulus which has a specific meaning to it; we learn that the bell means that someone is at the door. In training, we refer to our cues as a discriminative stimulus because the cue is a stimulus that has been learned and has a specific meaning. My dogs have learned that my hand spinning in a clockwise motion means that they should spin. That hand motion only means spin to them because it is different than any of their other cues and they are able to discriminate it from other hand cues.

So where does the control part come in? Stimulus control means that the behavior that is asked for happens immediately and correctly. Remember Gary Wilkes from last week and “It’s a no no to say it twice twice” ? Well, that goes right along with this stuff. The author of the book, “Don’t Shoot the Dog” is a well-known marine mammal trainer and dog trainer by the name of Karen Pryor.  In her book, she outlines for us her rules of stimulus control and they are recopied here from page 73 of her revised book:

• The behavior always occurs immediately upon presentation of the conditioned stimulus. (the dog sits when told to)
• The behavior never occurs in the absence of the stimulus. (during training the dog never sits spontaneously)
• The behavior never occurs in response to some other stimulus (if you say “lie down” the dog does not offer the sit instead)
• No other behavior occurs in response to this stimulus (when you say “sit” the dog does not respond by lying down or leaping up and licking your face)

In a nut shell, your dog should correctly perform what you ask the first time it is cued and not offer anything besides the correct behavior. I’ve included a video of me working with Buffy so you can see an example of stimulus control. Watch for my cues and how Buffy responds. And, if you’re interested in learning more about the science of training, make sure to check out Karen Pryor’s book! It’s easy to read and has valuable applications for training animals as well as everyday life situations.

Sometimes the wheels fall off the bus and some work has to be done to get it back to its full working order. Even solid, well known behaviors can deteriorate over time, which is why maintenance is needed in order to maintain these behaviors. An easy way to try and get the behavior back, is to regress or go back to a stage of the learning process of that behavior in which the animal can successfully complete. From here, you can work the behavior back up.

For example, if Buffy were to be confused by her roll over cue and not perform the behavior, I could back up to having her lay down and lure or target her through the roll. Once she was successfully doing that, I could re-establish the hand cue. As always, keep it positive and fun and I’m sure the behavior will be back in no time.

What if all of your dog’s behaviors are executed beautifully? If a behavior hasn’t started to fall apart, you can help to keep it at its prime by only reinforcing the best examples of that behavior!

Remember the saying “patience is a virtue”? Keep remembering that when training! All animals work and learn at a different pace so be patient with them. By being patient you are less likely to get frustrated with your animal which means that the chances that the training session will stay positive is greater.

Agility competitors know what I mean when I say, “enjoy the journey”. Or what about, “focus on the journey, not the destination”.  Enjoy the moments of success and challenges along the way because there is no rush when you are committed to your dog.

My little Gino is my greatest example of patience. When I first started competing in agility with him, he was so nervous and he would run out of the ring each time without doing any obstacles. It took me a year to get him to run a course! He loved agility outside of the competition setting which is why I continued to work with him to get him comfortable at the agility shows. Now, he’s my super star and so close to getting his MACH title (which stands for Master Agility Champion).

If you put the time, effort and patience into your dogs, you will see results too!

With National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week coming up in November, Floofins & Co., Chicago’s Suburban Kenneling Alternative, has joined forces with the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS) for their second annual “Presents 4 Pets” campaign, a collection drive to benefit pets in shelters and provide items desperately needed to help keep shelters operational, and animals comfortable and safe.

This national program, already underway, will run until mid November, coinciding with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week observed November 6-12, 2011. As part of this annual program, Floofins & Co. and other NAPPS members across the country are reaching out to their clients and community and encouraging them to collect and donate items such as dog and cat food, treats, kitten milk replacement, cat litter, toys, bleach, towels and blankets, leashes and collars and trash bags.

This is a great opportunity for all animal lovers to help provide for those animals often forgotten. In addition to offering support to our local shelters and shelter animals, we hope to generate awareness of community shelters and the important role they serve in our community

You can help by dropping the following items at one of our drop box locations:

• Dry Dog and Cat Food
• Canned Dog and Cat Food
• Dog and Cat Treats
• Whiskas/KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement)
• Cat Litter (Clay/Non-clumping)
• Dog and Cat Toys (Lightly Loved OK)
• Clorox Bleach/Trash and Ziploc Bags
• Towels and Blankets (Lightly Loved OK)
• Leashes and Collars (Lightly Loved OK)

Drop boxes are being sponsored at the follwing locations:

• Carol Stream Animal Hospital (140 W. Elk Trail, Carol Stream)
• TailGate (830 N. Addison Ave., Elmhurst)
• Pets Etc. (1299 S. Naper Blvd., Naperville)
• Coldwell Banker of LaGrange (219 W. Hillgrove Ave., LaGrange)
• UPS Store (205 E. Butterfield Rd., Elmhurst)
• Modern Dog Boutique (29 S. Prospect Ave., Clarendon Hills)
• Pet Necessities (4354 Johnston Ave., Western Springs)
• Natural Pet Market (263 Rice Lake Square, Wheaton)

This year’s donations will be benefiting Cat Nap From the Heart of La Grange, Du Page Animal Care and Control of Wheaton, Hinsdale Humane Society of Hinsdale, Naperville Area Humane Society of Naperville, and West Suburban Humane Society of Downers Grove. For more information, visit www.floofinsandco.com and click on P4P.

Floofins & Co. is  “A Kenneling Alternative” providing in-home pet care for busy pet parents. At Floofins & Co. we define “floofin” as a furry family member. While many of Floofins & Co.’s clients are furry, we also care for feathered, scaled and finned friends. They are all floofins to us. Bonded and insured, Floofins & Co. serves the townships of Addison, Bolingbrook, Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Elmwood Park, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale, La Grange, Lisle, Lombard, Naperville, Oak Brook, Oak Park, Riverside/Brookfield, Villa Park, Western Springs, Wheaton and surrounding areas.

NAPPS is a national trade association dedicated to promoting the concept of in-home pet care, supporting the professionals engaged in at-home pet care, promoting the welfare of animals and improving and expanding the industry of pet sitting. NAPPS provides valuable credibility, networking and education to help foster the success of their members.  The association also actively works to promote the value of pet sitting, and to advocate the welfare of animals.

In honor of October being Adopt a Shelter dog month, I wanted to share Buffy’s bio and how together we have promoted the use of positive reinforcement in dog training.

I was attending college in southern Indiana when I fell into volunteering at the local humane society. In a back room reserved for the littlest of puppies, was where I first noticed Buffy. She was definitely older than the other puppies kept there and unlike the others who had torn up their newspaper bedding and decorated their space with poopy paw prints, Buffy always seemed to be patiently waiting. She was calm, quiet and appeared to be house broken and I could only think that this seemingly great dog was being passed up for the younger puppies in the room.

Each fall, the humane society helps organize and run a haunted house that raises money to operate the facility. In order to keep people entertained while waiting in line to get inside the attraction, shelter volunteers would bring adoptable dogs to walk along the lines of people outside. The dog that I was planning on bringing got adopted before the event, so I decided to take Buffy. Since the event was taking place after the hours that the humane society was open, I had to keep her with me overnight and in that short time I got attached and here she is with me today.

Around the same time I adopted Buffy, a trainer I worked with at Shedd Aquarium, named Chris Dignan, was starting up The Dog Saving Network. The goal of the organization is to promote shelter adoptions and the use of positive reinforcement training. Knowing Chris for several years he knew my history of training dogs and doing agility, he asked if I’d like to be a part of a stage show with Buffy. So, very quickly Buffy went from the shelter to the stage and we haven’t turned back.

In 2009 and 2011 we performed in Chicago with other dogs that auditioned to be a part of the group and we’ve been teaching and inspiring people to use positive reinforcement ever since. Buffy has been a great ambassador for positive reinforcement and shelter dogs. Together, we’ll keep increasing awareness about training and about the millions of great dogs out there that need homes.