Puppy In Training

How To Find A Puppy

Colby — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:51:02 +0000

After thinking long and hard you’ve finally decided to take the plunge and get a puppy, but now you’re wondering how to find a puppy that is perfect for you. I started the very same journey over 7 years ago an during that time I have had the opportunity to bring home many different puppies and today I’d like to go over how I’d proceed if I had to find a puppy for me.

If you’ve been following the blog for a while then you probably already know a little bit about my background. My first dog, Linus was rescued from the Carson Animal Shelter as a puppy. After Linus I volunteered at a local animal rescue and fostered over a dozen puppies of various breeds. Finally, after fostering for over a year I began raising guide dog puppies for Guide Dogs of America and I’m currently raising my fourth puppy, Apache – a Golden Retriever.

So those are my credentials as of today and after much experience in the puppy world here’s what I would do and consider when confronted with the question “How To Find A Puppy”

How To Find A Puppy

Yep, that's our first puppy, Linus

The journey started for me over 7 years ago. I had always wanted a puppy of my own, but I never really felt like I had the time to take care of one. That all changed on my 32nd birthday. That was the day that my girlfriend stopped by the house and took me to several local dog breeders and told me that she wanted to get me a puppy for my birthday. I didn’t actually find a puppy that day, but it put the idea in my head and made me actually think long and hard about the process of finding and taking care of a puppy. After much reading, research, and thought, approximately 1 month later I was able to find me a puppy through PetFinder.com, an Australian Shepherd mix we named Linus.

The story doesn’t just end there. As I mentioned I’ve gone through the process of raising a puppy many times over since I brought home Linus. I’d like to share with you the different ways I’ve learned you can go about finding a puppy that is perfect for you.

Adopt A Puppy

This is what I did with my first puppy Linus. At the time I was contemplating buying a puppy from a local breeder, but for some reason it didn’t sit right with me and I felt like I should adopt a puppy instead. If you live in the United States probably the best way to find a puppy for adoption is to check out the Petfinder.com website. Petfinder.com has a great search engine with many filters that makes it easy to find a puppy near you. Many animal rescues and animal shelters list their available puppies on Petfinder.com with pictures and detailed information about the puppies. In fact, I found Linus through the Petfinder.com search engine.

I found Linus at one of our local animal shelters. However, if I were to adopt a puppy tomorrow I believe I would try and go through a local rescue versus a shelter. What’s the difference and why would you go to a rescue versus a shelter?

Animal Shelter – an animal shelter is government funded like the Riverside Animal County Services or the Irvine Animal Care Center. Here’s a good definition from the Recycled Dog:

Shelters are typically buildings that contain multiple kennels or dog runs as well as catteries that can house many unhomed animals at a time. Some municipalities operate their own shelters but many shelters operate as 501c3 non-profit organizations and are subsidized by contracts with local municipalities. These contracts provide for incoming animals picked up by local municipal animal control officers to be housed and managed by the shelter. Shelters typically offer pet lost and found services, adoption services, low cost veterinary care services, and animal surrender intake services for the communities in which they are located.

Animal Rescue – animal rescues take on the expenses and receive most of their funding through charitable donations. A good example of an animal rescue is the Cuddly Canines Rescue I volunteered with a few years back Here’s a good definition from the Recycled Dog:

Rescue groups were created by necessity with the intention of pulling animals targeted for euthanization from shelters in order to give them substantially more time to find a new home. Rescue groups typically operate as 501c3 non-profit organizations staffed primarily by volunteers.

Now to answer the question of why animal rescue versus shelter? This is merely personal choice. I rescued Linus from the Carson Animal Shelter and rescued several puppies from Riverside Animal County Services as a volunteer foster. I then adopted out those puppies to loving families. After those experiences here’s what I found:

Rescuing from an animal shelter is much cheaper…initially…it cost me $37 to rescue Linus from the Carson Animal Shelter. However, he was infested with fleas, worms, and mites. He was anemic. He had a stomach infection. The total for his first vet bill was well over $300. As well as a follow up vet bill hovering around $200. Finally to get him neutered was another $300. Finally there were follow up vaccinations that probably ran somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 The total first months cost were close to $1,000!
Rescuing from an animal rescue can be cheaper even though the initial expense is higher. At Cuddly Canines I had to keep each puppy for at least 14 days to screen them for health issues. I gave all the pups in my care flea and worm medication and checked for mites. I started them on their vaccination series and had them spayed/neutered before they went home with their new families. The initial adoption fee from the Cuddly Canines Rescue was $300. After adoption you have to complete the vaccination series which might cost an additional $100. All in all the total first months cost should be under $500 from a rescue.

After experiencing both Rescues and Shelters I’ve found that the rescue with an initial adoption fee of around $300 can still be less expensive then going with an animal shelter’s $37 adoption fee in the long run. The other advantage is that you do not have to deal with the gross parasites like fleas, ticks, mites, and worms. And if the rescue is similar to Cuddly Canines then any other diseases have been identified during the 14 day period in foster care. Believe me when I tell you these are huge advantages after going through all the early medical issues with Linus.

So if I were to adopt a puppy today I would try and find a nice animal rescue and work with them to find a puppy. Make sure you do your research and find a good reputable Animal Rescue like Cuddly Canines before adopting a puppy.

Foster A Puppy

As I mentioned before I was a guide dog puppy raiser I fostered puppies for a local animal rescue called Cuddly Canines. If you ever have a chance I highly recommend fostering for a local animal rescue.

Now you might be wondering, but why is fostering a puppy listed in this article about “how to find a puppy“?

Simple, fostering a puppy is a great way to find a puppy. As volunteers at the local animal rescue I fostered dozens of puppies. As a foster I got to see all the different personalities. This would have been a perfect chance to match the perfect puppy personality with my lifestyle if I so chose. In the end I never adopted any of the puppies I fostered, but as I mentioned it is a perfect opportunity to test drive a puppy without committing to keeping him for his lifetime.

One of Our Adorable Foster Puppies, Blondie!

Raise A Puppy

I’m currently a guide dog puppy raiser for the organization Guide Dogs of America. Raising a guide dog puppy is a huge commitment. As a puppy raiser I receive a puppy from the guide dog school when the pup is 7 weeks of age. I then raise, train, and socialize the puppy until he is 18 months of age. At that time I return him to the school where he starts formal training for 6 months. Finally at around 2 1/2 years of age he is matched with a visually impaired person and together they become a guide dog team.

That’s how it works when everything is perfect. However, everything is not always perfect. My first guide dog puppy in training, Stetson went all the way through the first 2 months of formal training and then he was dropped from the program when he was just under 2 years of age. Once a puppy is dropped from the program he is considered a career changed puppy and the original puppy raiser is given the first option to adopt him. In Stetson’s case I adopted him after he was career changed. If the puppy raiser does not adopt the puppy then he enters the guide dog adoption program. There is currently a 6 year wait list for these puppies and our school is not currently accepting new applications.

If I were to consider adopting another puppy I would probably just adopt one of my career changed guide dog puppies like I did with Stetson. After all, I already took him through all the training and socialization.

Puppy raising is something your may never consider when you’re trying to find a puppy. However, long ago I decided puppy raising was something I wanted to do to give back to the community and it resulted in me finding a wonderful black Labrador Retriever puppy named Stetson!

My first guide dog puppy, Stetson!

Buy A Puppy

Way back in the early days, when I first started looking for a puppy I considered buying a puppy from a local breeder. However, I soon decided it was a much better idea to rescue a puppy from my local animal shelter. However, this is not for everyone and some may still want to purchase a puppy from a breeder. By the way, there are breed specific rescues that often times have puppies so please check for a breed specific rescue in you’re area at Petfinder.com.

If you do decide to buy a puppy from a breeder make sure you find a reputable dog breeder. While I am not very experienced in this area I did receive some pointers when I was trying to find my first puppy.

As I mentioned check for breed specific rescues at Petfinder.com and see if they have any puppies available.
Ask your veterinarian if he can recommend a good breeder.
Ask your local dog trainer if he can recommend a good breeder.
Email the American Kennel Club and ask for the parent club of the breed your interested in. Ask that club about good breeders in your area.
Talk to friends and family and see if they have any information.
If your in Southern California try visiting the Orange County Pet Expo and talk to the different breed specific exhibitors at the show.
Attend a dog show and talk to some of the dog breeders.

Of course once you find a few breeders that you think are reputable your job is not done. You now have to evaluate all of these dog breeders with questions, observations, document inspections, and more. However, I’m going to save dog breeder evaluation for another post.

Wow! That was kind of a long post! I guess in 7 years time I gathered quite a bit of information on how to find a puppy. Hopefully this helps you out a little bit when the time comes for you to find a puppy.

So how about you? What did you do the first time you tried to find a puppy? Did you adopt a puppy, foster a puppy, raise a puppy, buy a puppy, all of the above, or none of the above? I’d love to hear what you did when it came time to find the perfect puppy. Tell us about it in the comment section below.

Post from: Puppy Training

How To Find A Puppy

How To Find Guide Dog Information With Twitter

Blog Paws 2012 – Pet Blogging And Social Media Conference

Colby — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:47:53 +0000

I love learning about all of the new internet marketing technology as it applies to pet bloggers. One of the doggy blog websites I visit regularly and subscribe to is the Blog Paws Website. If you’re a pet blogger and you want to learn more about getting traffic, internet marketing, or you just want to be a part of pet blogging community the Blog Paws is the place to go.

Here’s a little excerpt from the Blog Paws Website on exactly what they are about:

BlogPaws is an online community site for pet bloggers, pet enthusiasts, pet people on Twitter and Facebook and brands eager to tap into a growing, vibrant, vocal community of serious writers, bloggers, tweeters. We are the go-to resource for pet people and brands to partner on projects and campaigns, to be educated on social media, and to arrange face-to-face meetings all over the country.

Over the past few years Blog Paws has held an annual conference gathering Pet Bloggers across the country.

Blog Paws 2012

It is an event I’ve wanted to, but haven’t had the opportunity to attend. However, this is my year for Getting Things Done. In the past I’ve:

NOT gotten involved in the pet blogger community as much as I’d like
NOT gotten as much traffic as I want to my pet blog
NOT created as large a community using Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube
NOT fully setup my Autoresponder
NOT created an e-book
NOT created a membership site

In accordance with My 2012 Goal Post I plan to reverse all of the above “NOTs” and check them off my list. One of the items not listed above is to attend this years Blog Paws 2012 conference and that is what today’s post is all about.

Blog Paws 2012

What: Blog Paws 2012 – Pet Blogging And Social Media Conference

Blog Paws Conference

When: June 21-23
Where: Sheraton Salk Lake City
150 West 500 South. Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Registration Fee: $199.00 for full conference pass

There are several options for registration including student, company rates, and individual day registrations.

A couple of keynote speakers have already been announced including Betsy Saul co-founder of Petfinder.com and popular blog paws speaker Lena West. Keep up to date on the latest news regarding the 2012 Blog Paws event by visiting they main 2012 Blog Paws Conference Page.

I plan on getting things done with the Puppy In Training blog this year and that includes trying to lift the blog to the next level by attending this years Blog Paws Pet Blogging and Social Media Conference. What about you guys? Are you attending Blog Paws 2012? Have you gone in the past? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Post from: Puppy Training

Blog Paws 2012 – Pet Blogging And Social Media Conference

Orange County Pet Expo 2012

Colby — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:48:58 +0000

It’s early, but I’m already getting excited for the Orange County Pet Expo 2012! It’s one of my favorite events of the year because they always have awesome new dog toys and products, great demonstrations and events, as well as tons of wonderful informational pet booths across the Orange County Fairgrounds. Not only is the OC Pet Expo a ton of fun, but for the past 3 years I’ve also worked the Guide Dogs of America booth with my Guide Dog Puppy In Training (this year I’ll probably work the booth with Apache).

Also at the Orange County Pet Expo are hundreds of local animal rescues with puppies, kitties, dogs, and cats. We even saw rescue pigs at the pet expo last year.

In case you didn’t see our OC Pet Expo Video from last year here it is:

I hope that little Puppy In Training TV video got you pumped up for this years Expo!

Lets check out the details for this years OC Pet Expo 2012.

Orange County Pet Expo 2012

EVENT: America’s Family Pet Expo
WHEN: April 20-22, 2012
HOURS: Friday, 10AM – 6PM; Saturday, 10AM – 7PM; Sunday, 10AM – 6PM
WHERE: OC Fair and Event Center
88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Show Prices:

General Admission – $12.00
Seniors 60 & over – $10.00
Children 6-12 – $6.00
5 yrs and Under – FREE

Here’s a little excerpt from the America’s Family Pet Expo:

See more than 1,000 animals including dogs, cats, equine, birds, fish, llamas, pot bellied pigs, goats, rats, reptiles, rabbits, miniature horses and more on display in fun and interactive stage shows, competitions and demonstrations. Featuring over 400 exhibitors and rescue groups including Bow Meow Pet Products, No Stray Left Behind, Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary, Southern California Labrador Retriever Rescue, and more!

Last years Orange County Pet Expo was a lot of fun. If you watched the video then you would have seen that Dublin and I worked the Guide Dogs of America booth, checked out the many different animals, and watched a couple of demonstrations. We even came home with a few goodies for Dublin, Stetson, and Linus.

I know it’s a few months out, but don’t forget to mark your calendars and let your friends and family know that the America’s Family Pet Expo is coming to the Orange County Fairgrounds April 20th – 22n. This is a don’t miss event if you’re a pet lover and live in the Orange County, California area.

How about you? Have you visited the OC Pet Expo in the past? Are you going to the Orange County Pet Expo 2012? Let us know in the comment section below.

Post from: Puppy Training

Orange County Pet Expo 2012

Puppy Bowl 2012

Colby — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:25:39 +0000

Most of us have finished our fantasy football season and now that it’s over the final thing to look forward to is the Puppy Bowl 2012! I know some of you might be interested in a little thing called the Super Bowl, but over here at PuppyInTraining.com we cherish the opportunity to see Puppy Bowl 2012!

This is Animal Planet’s eighth puppy bowl and seeing that they’re in their eighth season it must be a successful TV show…DUH!? Anyhow, I always flip over to the Puppy Bowl and it will be no different in 2012. As exciting as the Superbowl can be and with many wonderful commercial my eyes are still drawn to adorable puppies running around on a fake football field.

So what do we have in store for Puppy Bowl 2012 aka Puppy Bowl VIII. Here’s a little information from Animal Planet on this years event.

Puppy Bowl 2012

What: Puppy Bowl 2012
When: Sunday, February 5th, 2012 at 3pm E/P
Where: Animal Planet – You’ll have to figure that one out with your local cable or satellite provider
What’s new this year: Meep the Bird who will tweet all the action from inside the stadium and piggy pep squad that will “ham” it up on the sidelines and squeal with delight for their favorite pups.

One awesome thing to note about the Puppy Bowl 2012 is that all the pups participating in the event have been selected from rescues and shelters across the United States with the help of Petfinder.com…AWESOME!!!

Here’s a sample of one of the pups in the starting lineup this Sunday:

Aberdeen - Australian Shepherd Mix

Name: Aberdeen
Breed(s): Australian Shepherd Mix
Sex: Male
Age: 10 weeks
Fun Fact: Saving to buy a sailboat
Adoption Organization: Sullivan County SPCA

Linus will be cheering for Aberdeen. Both Linus and Aberdeen are Australian Shepherd mixes!

Check out Animal Planet for the entire starting lineup for Puppy Bowl 2012. By the way, there’s tons of great video footage from Puppy Bowls past on the Animal Planet Puppy Bowl Page. You can see scenes from Puppy Bowl VII as well as the Top 10 Puppy Bowl moments. This page is a must see for the Puppy Bowl enthusiast.

So what do you have in store for Super Bowl Sunday? Is it going to be another boring blow out as the New York Giants take on the New England Patriots? Or is it going to be scintillating end to end action as adorable puppies leave it all out on the field in Puppy Bowl 2012?

Post from: Puppy Training

Puppy Bowl 2012

What Should I Do For My Puppy’s First Day Home?

Colby — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:53:52 +0000

My puppy’s first day home was definitely a whirlwind the first time. The second puppy was no different. The third puppy was the same…There’s so much excitement every time you bring home a new puppy that whether it’s your first, fifth, or fifteenth puppy you’re so excited you almost forget about all the little things you should be doing on your puppy’s first day home to keep him comfortable. It’s one of the most common questions I get asked and that is “What Should I Do For My Puppy’s First Day Home?”

Golden Retriever Puppy, Apache's First Day Home

Of course you already handled all the pre-puppy stuff (hint-hint) that we talk about in our picking up your puppy video so we won’t even cover that. Now you’re wondering what can I do to make my puppy more comfortable that first day.

As I always say every puppy is different, but here are a few pointers from the GDA manual on what we as puppy raisers are told to do on the first day(s) with your new puppy.

Up to this point your puppy has been with its mother and littermates in a comfortable setting. Therefore, your puppy’s first week at home should be a quiet one. The puppy should be allowed to explore and meet his new family. You should now start teaching the puppy his name. When you first arrive home give your puppy a chance to relieve itself in the area you have designated for that purpose.

Take your puppy out on leash (without his bib on) and repeat “Get Busy”. (Remember, this maybe the first time your puppy has heard these words). Allow your puppy 10-15 minutes, if he hasn’t relieved, take him inside. Try again in 10 minutes. If the puppy does relieve itself in the proper area, give him lots of praise. Then let him explore the house (remember to supervise- don’t let him out of your sight). Afterwards you may take it inside, but remember to supervise the puppy; do not let it out of your sight. Talk to the puppy when it explores to make it feel more at home.

There’s plenty of great pointers you should take away from this excerpt that will help your new puppy better adjust to his new home environment.

Your puppy’s first day/week should be a quiet one. This is important for everyone not just puppy raisers because we are so excited to introduce them to everyone and everything, but temper your excitement for now and keep it a quiet first week.
Teach Your Puppy His Name – yep, we wrote an entire article on teaching your puppy his name. Go check it out! How to Teach Your Puppy His Name
Give your puppy a chance to relieve himself when you first arrive home – It’s important to get your puppy to start relieving in his spot and not in the house. A good start is to show him his spot when you first arrive home.
Constantly supervise your puppy – make sure you don’t let him out of your sight as he could eat something he’s not supposed to or have a potty accident.
Talk to your puppy to make him feel more at home – you want your puppy to get used to your voice and have it be a soothing sound to him.

There’s a lot going on that on your puppy’s first day home, but you have to remember your puppy has just been pulled away from his mother and littermates, it’s his first time on his own without any of his original family members, he’s only about 8 weeks old, and he’s in an entirely new environment. Take it easy those first few days. Get him used to his environment. You have his entire life to show him off as a proud new puppy parent. Now that the your got that first day out of the way here comes the hard part: Puppy’s First Night Home! If you’re not sure what I’m talking about then fast forward to the 2 minute and 29 second mark of our picking up your puppy video.

What about you? What do you like to do on your puppy’s first day home? Let us know in the comment section below.

Post from: Puppy Training

What Should I Do For My Puppy’s First Day Home?

My 2012 Goal Post

Colby — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:01:05 +0000

It’s a month late, but better late than never! Actually this past month gave me a chance to take in and see some of the things my fellow pet bloggers plan on accomplishing in the coming year. PuppyInTraining.com participated in the 2nd annual Pet Blogger Challenge (PBC) on January 10th and so did 94 other pet bloggers. At a snails pace I read each and every PBC post which gave me inspiration for my 2012 goal post!

My 2012 Goal Is To Be Big Like You!

This is the first year I decided to share my goals for this blog publicly.

Why?

I’m sharing my goals with you today because it’s a way to keep me accountable for meeting those goals. Many of you probably aren’t interested in my goals, but the fact that I’m posting them here on the Puppy In Training blog gives me motivation to complete those goals and also put together a nice report for the beginning of next year.

So lets get started with Puppy In Training 2012 Goals!

GOAL: 366 Days of Blogging

For some this is easy for others (like me) this is a beast. The closest I’ve gotten was way back in 2008, my first full year of blogging. I hit 196 blog posts that year and it was by far my biggest growth year. I only blogged for 5 months in 2007 and received a paltry 1,528 page views (probably all from me and my mom). In 2008 that number jumped to 294,607 page views. I’m not even going to calculate the percent increase, but it’s big.

Since then the growth of this blog has ranged from 30-60%. Okay, but not great. This year I’m going to strive for greater things. Reach for the stars! And 366 Days of Blogging is going to get me there!

By the way this year 366 days = 1 year so we’re going above and beyond your average joe and doing 1 more day then everyone else does in a regular year!!!

GOAL: Write 52 Articles For My Autoresponder by March 31st 2012

I’ve been saying this for a while, but now I have a measurable deadline. I’m really just letting my email subscriber list go to waste by not creating a sequence of emails for my autoresponder. I’ve got over 3,000 subscribers! That’s a potential 3,000 extra people viewing my content on a weekly basis. Time to start working on getting you guys valuable content through my autoresponder.

By the way, another reason why I should be working on this is because each subscriber is costing me precious $’s. If I’m not going to use the list then I may as well stop paying Aweber.

GOAL: Attend BlogPaws and Barkworld Expo

The 2 major pet blogging conferences that I know of in 2012. I’d like to know more about my fellow pet bloggers as well as work on my pet blogging skills. These conferences will help me with both. However, one is in Salt Lake City, UT and the other is in Atlanta, GA while I’m in Irvine, CA. It will cost me a pretty penny to get out to these locations. However, I think this is the year I get it done. Plus I have old friends to visit in both cities

GOAL: Write An eBook by June 30th 2012

It’s been on my plate for years, but this is the year I write a companion eBook for this website. The goal is to put together a How To Train Your Puppy eBook by mid year and I’m going to make it happen. After all I can’t let that extra day go to waste (because of the leap year).

I’m pretty sure this is going to be a freebie, but I’m not entirely sure. There’s always something to be said for charging a little bit of money. When you pay for something you are more likely to read or use it.

GOAL: Build A Membership Site by January 31st 2013

This is the monster goal for the year. I have tons of ideas hopping around in my head, but until I actually accomplish some of the other long awaited projects (see above) I’m not going to touch this goal. If I can stick to the timeline then I definitely believe I will accomplish this one as well.

Another one of those things that might require fees. Again I’m not too sure on membership fees. I’ll look into it more after I start creating a timeline for the project.

GOAL: 2,000 Facebook “likes” by January 31st 2013

It seems realistic and unrealistic. Realistic because it’s really not that large a number. I’ve seen sites grow their facebook “likes” to 2,000 in hours/days/weeks. All I need is that one viral moment and I should easily breach the 2,000 “Likes” on the Puppy In Training Facebook Fan Page.

However, on the other side of the coin it’s unrealistic because if you ever watched the number of “likes” on the Puppy In Training Fan Page then you will know that it only increments about 1 new “like” per day. That means in 1 years time we’ll be lucky if we clear 1,000 “likes”.

I’m just looking for that 1 moment of brilliance. That 1 extra effort. That 1 time that will put us over the top. 2K is within reach, but we have to work for it!

*I think Google+ is going to be a big thing this year and I will probably set some kind of goal for the Puppy In Training Google+ page as well. As of this writing the page is dormant, but not for long.

GOAL: 250K Page Views a Month by January 31st, 2013

Since I’m starting in February my goal time line will be exactly one year. This is a monstrous goal with my top month in 2011 equaling 104,351 page views. That means I would need a 140% increase from last years total. However, lets take a look back and compare October 2010 and 2011.

October 2010 - 53,328 page views
October 2011 - 104,351 page views

That’s a 96% increase! That’s with no goals or direction in 2011. I think we can do better in 2012! A 250K page view month is going to happen in 2012! BOOK IT!

Things will inevitably change in 2012 and I may have to make a few adjustments to these goals, but here they are as they stand the first day in February 2012. My goal of goals is to hit a homerun on all of these and with a little bit of luck…I will.

What are your goals for 2012? Most of you probably already talked about your goals publicly and if so please leave me a link in the comment section below so I can check them out. If not, please feel free to leave a few of your goals in the comment section below…of course we’re going to hold you accountable once they’re posted to the blog

Post from: Puppy Training

My 2012 Goal Post

Another Post About Puppy Names

What About Elk Antlers For Dogs?

Colby — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:39:07 +0000

Today I started wondering “What About Elk Antlers For Dogs?” You might ask why are you thinking about elk antlers for dogs? Well, about a month ago I wrote a short blog post asking the question Are Deer Antlers For Dogs A Good Chew Toy? Check out the link if you missed the story. Up until recently I had heard lots of good things about antlers for dogs, but not long ago I had been made aware of some side effects from antlers as a chew toy and I was told by our guide dog school that “We do not recommend antlers as a chew toy/supplement.”

Reindeer Antlers For Dogs - Apache Christmas!

Since I had not ever purchased deer antlers for my dogs I figured it was not a big deal (being told that we could not give our dogs antlers). However, I wanted to let everyone here on the blog know that there was a concern and I was hoping to hear your feed back thus I wrote the initial post. Lucky for me we have an active audience that responded to our deer antlers blog post and left me some wonderful comments, answers, emails, and additional questions.

Here are bits of feedback we received from readers:

“I have had no problem and also purchase for my sons pup who also has no problems.” –Cheryl

“GDD where I am raising my puppy from right now, says they are fine for the dogs and they are great chew toys.” –Peggy

‘My dogs love the antler chews, however you have to be very careful about the ones you buy.” –Janice

“I just read your “deer antler” info and I am wondering if the elk antlers I have been giving my dogs are safe? THEY SIMPLE LOVE THEM AND I HAVE NOT NOTICED ANY SIDE EFFECTS. ” –JoAnna

After reading through comments and several emails I received after posting my deer antlers for dogs blog post I began to see a common theme. First, everyone who responded had mostly positive things to say about the antlers they purchased for their dogs. Second, it seemed that the most important point was to make sure you purchased your antler chews from a reputable source. So perhaps down the line I will buy antlers for my dogs, but I will be sure to do research to find high quality antlers.

What About Elk Antlers For Dogs?

A second question that came to light was what about elk antlers for dogs? are they potentially unsafe as well? Since I have never purchased any kind of antler for my dogs I wasn’t too sure. I went back to the original emails I received and conducted a little bit of internet research.

As someone who has not purchased, but only heard and researched antlers for dogs it seems to me that the worries from our deer antlers for dogs blog article are the same for all antler chews for dogs (deer, elk, moose, etc). According to our findings the majority have found antlers to be a great chew for their dogs as long as you get your dog the right size and purchase a high quality antler product from a reliable source.

Here’s a nice thread on Elk Antler Chews: http://www.dogforums.com/dog-food-forum/100618-elk-antler-chews.html. One person even mentions that his dogs love Elk Antlers even more than they love the Deer Antlers (which is a lot)!

I went ahead and dug even deeper into the antler for dogs market and found many different sizes and variations including deer antlers for dogs, elk antlers for dogs, reindeer antlers for dogs, and moose antlers for dogs. Here’s a short list of some of the antler products you can purchase from Amazon.com (Below are the highest rated by average customer reviews on Amazon).

Antlers For Dogs (affiliate link)- Both Deer and Antler Chews. Antler chews are natural, healthy, odor-free and long-lasting chew toys that will help keep your dog busy and out of trouble and will help keep his teeth clean. Our antler dog chews come right out of nature from North American deer and elk and are completely unprocessed!…[Read More]
Elk Antlers For Dogs (affiliate link) - Our Antler Chews are 100-percent naturally shed and foraged by hand from Colorado. No animal was harmed in the making of our antler chews…[Read More]
Moose Antlers For Dogs (affiliate link) - Our Antler Chews are 100% naturally shed and foraged by hand from the woods in Maine and New Hampshire USA. Our Antlers are foraged, pressure washed, and cutup…[Read More]
Reindeer Antlers For Dogs (affiliate link) – So you may have already guessed, but the commonly searched Reindeer Antlers For Dogs refers to the doggy costume you usually see around Christmas (check out the picture of Apache above). We got Apache his costume from Target, but you can just as easily order Reindeer antlers for you dog through Amazon.

After researching, feedback from friends and family, and finally from reader comments here on the blog I feel much more comfortable about purchasing antlers for my dogs. Although its something I cannot give to any of my guide dog puppies in training I may try letting my own pet dogs try the antler chews. If my 2 boys do try the antlers for dogs I’ll make sure to report back to you and give a thorough review telling exactly what we thought about the product.

I know a lot of you have already chimed in through last months article on deer antlers for dogs. However, now that the new year is upon us and many may have received antlers for our dogs as Christmas gifts what kind of experiences have you had with elk antlers for dogs? How about any of the other aforementioned antler for dog products? We’d love to hear about your experiences in the comment section below.

Post from: Puppy Training

What About Elk Antlers For Dogs?

Working Dog Postage Stamps Now Available!

Colby — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:21:32 +0000

It’s been a few years since I saw any kind of dogs on stamps. I don’t really know too much about the history of postage stamps or how they go about choosing who, what, where ends up on a stamp, but I do know that the United States Postal Service has released a set of working dog postage stamps.

Canadian Guide Dog Postage Stamps

Several years ago our friends, Anne and Jim visited Canada and returned with a special gift for me and the doggies. I was quite excited to find a set of Canadian Guide Dog Postage Stamps. They were super cool because not only did the stamps celebrate guide dogs with a picture of a working guide on the stamp, but it also featured Braille on the stamp. Here’s what the accompanying information pamphlet said about these guide dog postage stamps:

“The Guide Dogs stamp, the first Canadian stamp to feature Braille, is issued on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Montreal Association for the Blind.”

Here’s a picture of the Canadian Stamps:

Guide Dog Postage Stamps From Canada

Sorry for the lousy picture, but the stamps are pretty cool.

USPS Working Dog Postage Stamps

Now back to the aforementioned United States working dog postage stamps. Here’s what they had to say at the USPS website:

The U.S. Postal Service® celebrates the enduring partnership between dogs and people with this set of four different stamps depicting dogs at work: a guide dog assisting a blind woman; a military dog scouting and tracking; a therapy dog visiting an elderly woman in her home; and a search and rescue dog in a field, ready to tackle the next assignment. Artist John M. Thompson created original paintings for the stamps, which were designed by art director Howard E. Paine.

The stamp will go on sale nationwide January 20, 2012.

And here’s a peek at what they look like:

Working Dogs On Postage Stamps

Starting in the upper left hand corner of the image and going clockwise:

Guide Dog – I’ve been volunteering at Guide Dogs of America now for over 5 years and I’m hoping my latest guide dog puppy in training, Dublin makes it as a guide…hopefully 3 more months!
Therapy Dog – Stetson has already taken his first step towards becoming a therapy dog and passed his Canine Good Citizen test. I’ve been thinking about getting him involved with the Beach Animals Reading with Kids (BARK) group.
Military Dog – The dog in the image is scouting and tracking. Although we really don’t know too much about military dogs, Stetson has been working on his sniffer dog training at K9 Nosework classes.
Search And Rescue Dog – Some of the dogs from our guide dog school career change and become search and rescue dogs. In fact, one of our good pals, Nicholas is in the middle of search and rescue dog training. Go Nicholas!

The denominations for these stamps are kind of odd since the typical letter can be sent for 44 cents. Maybe if you have an over-sized letter you can put these working dog stamps to use. As for me I think I’ll pick some up at my local post office and put them beside my Canadian guide dog postal stamp. Hopefully in the coming years we’ll see something in the U.S. like they produced in Canada with Braille on each stamp.

I don’t recall seeing dogs on stamps too often. What about you? Are you going to go out and buy some working dog postage stamps? What do you think about the latest 65 cent stamps?

Post from: Puppy Training

Working Dog Postage Stamps Now Available!

Check Out These 5 Awesome Doggy Links

Colby — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:49:41 +0000

We’re always reading wonderful articles throughout the blogosphere and each week (at least each week we have time) we post our favorite doggy blog articles and post them here at the Puppy In Training blog. If you have an especially awesome blog post coming up please let us know about it and we will consider it for our weekly roundup.

This weeks cute puppy picture:

Derby - Yellow Lab Taking A Nap

Weekly Doggy Blog Post Roundup

Whale Poop Sniffing Dog Is Saving Killer Whales – If you know us then you’ll know over the past couple years we’ve been very interested in sniffer dog training. In fact, our black Labrador Retriever, Stetson loves our K9 Nosework training class and has an unmatched enthusiasm for searching and finding the different odors/scents. Obviously we have not worked on Stetson finding whale poop, but maybe it’s in his future!? Anyhow check out how a whale poop sniffing dog helps save killer whales.

Are Too Many Vaccinations Bad For Dogs – We’ve always wondered about over vaccination and this article discusses some of the things you might want to do when it comes to vaccinating your dog. We plan on visiting our vet and finding out his thoughts on the subject as well. I’ve always been worried that over vaccination could be harmful to my dog and agree with the article that “less is more”.

When Dogs Dig: How To Curb The Digging Habit In Your Canine – We haven’t had a digger in a while, but our old family dog used to love digging to hide his possessions. Anytime we gave him a treat he’d bury it in the side yard when we weren’t looking. If we stared at him for a couple minutes instead of burying his treat he’d just eat it. I wonder if he ever dug up those old treats when he was hungry?

GoPetFriendly.com Pet Blogger Challenge – This year we participated in the 2nd annual Pet Blogger Challenge sponsored by the GoPetFriendly Blog and the WillMyDogHateMe Blog. Lucky for us we barely got our blog entry into the blog hop and we were the 95th blog to participate. Here’s our Pet Blogger Challenge Entry. The challenge asks 8 questions about your blog that was a good exercise in looking at the past and future of our blog. If you’re a dog blogger there’s definitely some gold in these mines!

What’s the Story Behind Your Pet’s Name – I love hearing about how people name their pets…there’s always a story. We’re constantly thinking of new names for our puppies as we always seem to either be picking up new puppies or talking to our friends about their new pups. Here’s our page on puppy names that helps us get started when it’s time to name our next pups.

That’s it for this week. Remember if you ever have some awesome dog or puppy articles please let us know about it through our contact form or just leave us a comment in the comment section below.

So what about you guys? Did you come across any interesting doggy blog posts this week?

Post from: Puppy Training

Check Out These 5 Awesome Doggy Links

2nd Annual Pet Blogger Challenge

Colby — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:51:48 +0000

The beginning of the new year is a great time to reflect back on what you accomplished over the past year as well as look to the future. I’ve been thinking about this (my goals) a lot over the past few days and although I don’t quite yet have a clear picture of what I’d like to do with my puppy training blog in the upcoming 12 months I do have some general ideas.

This morning after browsing through my RSS Feeds I found a number of dog blogs participating in the Pet Blogger Challenge. After reading through a few Pet Blogger Challenge Posts I decided that this would be a great way to take a quick glimpse at things we’ve done on the blog in the past and what we plan to do in the future.

So we went ahead and visited this post: Pet Blogger Challenge, followed the rules, answered a few questions and voila…we have today’s blog post!

1. When did you begin your blog?

I published my first blog post on PuppyInTraining.com way back on August 1st 2007. My first post was basically the story about how I adopted my puppy, Linus from the animal shelter. I remember being very concerned with my blog design (I used a free WordPress template and made a few customizations) and using a bunch of pictures of my first guide dog puppy in the heading (actually 2 are of Stetson my guide pup and 2 are Linus my rescue pup). In fact I still have my original wordpress theme. Here’s what it looked like:

This is the first Puppy In Training Blog theme

Since then I’ve published over 450 blog posts and changed my theme I believe 4 times. My current theme is using the Genesis Framework (affiliate link).

2. What was your original purpose for starting a blog?

My original purpose for starting a blog was to document my journey raising a guide dog puppy in training. I originally set it up to keep friends and family up to date on my first guide pup, Stetson’s progress on his way to becoming a working guide dog.

3. Is your current purpose the same?

Since I started the Puppy In Training Blog I’ve raised 3 guide dog pups and I’m currently raising a 4th. The purpose of my blog has evolved a little bit since it’s beginnings and as technology has changed so has the purposed of my blog.

If not, what’s different?

As I mentioned the blog has evolved. My main purpose and goal today is to offer “Puppy Training Tips From My Experiences As A Guide Dog Puppy Raiser”. As I mentioned as technology has changed so has my blogging. Today, I report a lot of my puppies activities using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube rather than my blog. For instance I post a lot of my pictures from outings on the Puppy In Training Facebook page. I post short little tweets about what we’re doing on our Twitter page. On YouTube we started our Puppy In Training TV channel and also post dog product video reviews.

The blog really brings everything together and as I mentioned today we use it to share our experiences in order to help others with their puppy training problems.

If so, how do you feel you’ve met your goals?

My friends and family still interact with me on the blog and also now on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube so I guess I did meet my original goals by keeping them up to date on our journey as guide dog puppy raisers. The coolest part are the thousands of other people who also follow along and learn the in’s and out’s of raising a puppy.

4. Do you blog on a schedule or as the spirit moves you?

Recently it’s been “as the spirit moves me”, but in the past I’ve tried several different scheduling techniques.

If the former, how often — and what techniques do you use to stick to it?

As I mentioned in the past I’ve tried different scheduling techniques including blogging Monday thru Friday. I also tried posting every day of the month. We’ve even worked on posting only 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). However, in the long run we haven’t stuck to any specific schedule. In my experience I’ve had the best success sticking to a schedule by following this list:

Decide on a schedule (3 days a week, 5 days a week, every day in a month)
Brainstorm for ideas on a weekly or monthly basis
For each idea create an initial topic/title
Schedule the topics/titles for specific days using your blog software
Expand each topic/title into a blog post before the scheduled publish date.
Keep a back log of blog posts for busy days, vacation days, sick days, etc.
Repeat the following week/month

I’m in the process of putting together a new schedule for my blog for the year.

If the latter, do you worry about… well, whatever you might worry about (e.g. losing traffic, losing momentum)?

I’m not good when I’m not on a schedule which is how I’m currently operating. However, I don’t worry too much about losing traffic (a lot of my traffic comes from Search Engines), but I do worry about losing loyal readers. I took a look at some of my numbers for the past few years and here’s what I found:

Google Analytics Stats 2008 -196 blog posts

Google Analytics Stats 2009 - 106 blog posts

Google Analytics Stats 2010 - 58 blog posts

Google Analytics Stats 2011 - 81 blog posts

My first post was on August 1st 2007 and I received virtually no traffic during those first few months besides the occasional visit from my mom, dad, and a few friends. I didn’t even have Google Analytics installed until February 2008. However, I did have Google AdSense installed during those early months and according to AdSense I received 1,528 page views from 25 blog posts during the time period: August 1st, 2007 – December 31st, 2007.

As you can see over the years my traffic has steadily climbed, but none more than in 2008, my first full year as a blogger. I really stuck to a good schedule in 2008 and produced 196 blog posts and that’s what I’d like to get back to in 2012.

I’m going to try and be an overachiever this year and focus on producing on average 4 blog posts a week. That means I should end the year with 208 blog posts and hopefully my most productive year as a blogger. This goal is definitely attainable especially given the fact that it’s a leap year and I have an extra day to complete the task!

5. Are you generating income from your blog?

Yes, we actually made almost enough money to buy a cup of coffee in our first year of blogging. We feel very lucky that we receive a little bit of money from our Puppy Training blog which helps to cover our hosting costs which shot way up this year thanks to a few traffic spikes back in April 2011 that forced us to move off our shared hosting plan. Bluehost refused to reactivate our account so we moved to a HostGator (affiliate link) Virtual Private Server. However, our income still exceeds our costs and this allows us to make more donations to some of our favorite non-profit organizations including Guide Dogs of America and Cuddly Canines Rescue.

If so, how (e.g. sponsor ads, affiliate relationships, spokesperson opportunities)?

The Puppy In Training Blog has actually been producing income starting in it’s first year, 2007 (although we didn’t receive an actual check until a few months in to 2008). Way back in 2007 we made just over $1 with Google AdSense. Since then we’ve made a little bit of money every month using mainly Google AdSense, Amazon Affiliates, Chitika, and a few other affiliate programs. We’ve also dabbled in sponsored ads, posts, and text link advertising.

According to our Amazon Affiliates account we’ve sold over $25,000 worth of products since 2007. However, it doesn’t amount to a ton of money since our commission is usually between 4% and 8% (usually closer to 4%).

Our Google AdSense Ads produced some of the highest single day earnings in 2011 and we nearly broke the $100 mark one day. However, on average we receive much less than $100 a day.

None of our other forms of income individually produce more than $50 a month on average. I made a few changes to this section of the post (1/21/2012) and it’s a little more vague then I’d like, but if you’re interested in chatting further on this topic then please feel free to contact me through our contact form.

If not currently, do you hope to in the future — and how?

We have a few plans to try and diversify our income in 2012 and hopefully should announce a few things in the coming weeks.

6. What do you like most about blogging in general and your blog in particular (bragging is good!)?

Some of our favorite things about blogging are:

Making relationships with other bloggers.
Helping people with their puppy training issues.
Being part of an online community.
Helping some of the organizations we volunteer for with monetary donations produced from the blog.
Keeping connected with friends and family through the blog.

7. What do you like least?

Feeling obligated to write a blog post
Managing the technical aspects of the blog. This seems to get worse as the blog grows.
Dealing with negative people who visit the blog.
Not having enough time to read and comment on other people’s pet blogs.

8. How do you see your blog changing/growing in 2012?

I’m hoping that 2012 will be a big year for the Puppy In Training blog. A few of my goals off the top of my head are to:

Create and maintain new relationships with other pet bloggers
Work on my email newsletter
Create an e-book
Create a puppy training membership area for new puppy raisers

Thanks to Edie of Will My Dog Hate Me and Amy from the Go Pet Friendly Blog for hosting the 2nd Annual Pet Blogger Challenge. We really got a lot out of not only thinking about our own blog, but also reading through the many other blogs participating in this years challenge.

How about you? Did you participate in this years Pet Blogger Challenge? What is the most interesting thing you learned from someone else’s Pet Blogger Challenge post?

Post from: Puppy Training

2nd Annual Pet Blogger Challenge