Doggy Links

Happy National Dog Day!  Here are a few of our favorite discovered posts of the week:

A random pic of Athena and B to go along with these random links of the week!

How To Get Your Dog To Sleep In His Own Bed (Oh My Dog!) A great post about training your dog to sleep in their own bed throughout the night.  Bed size, placement, comfort, and training are discussed.  We found this post to be very helpful as we train Athena to love her own bed and not want to try sneaking into ours each night!

Nosework (The Second Hand Dogs) As we have been thinking about the great benefits of starting agility with Athena in the coming months, this post has us also thinking about the benefits of nosework.  The shelter that we adopted Athena from offers a nosework class and we have wondered if honing in on this skill would boost Athena's confidence.  This blog posts talks about the great benefits of nosework in comparison to agility training.

When Grandma Doesn't Know Best (StubbyDog) There are many people out there that have misconceptions about pitbull type breeds.  This blog post on StubbyDog talks about a grandma's fear of her granddaughter's pitbull-- something that A can totally relate with as she works to change her own grandma's misconceptions about Athena.

Caution: Too Much Of A Good Thing? (Wilde About Dogs) A blog post about being cautious when introducing your dog to unknown dogs at dog parks or when out on a walk and how caution can often be more harmful to our dogs than we may think.  We are totally rethinking our caution with Athena as we have been VERY cautious about letting her meet dogs while we are out and about because of her shelter label of "dog aggressive."

The Gift Of Learning To Relax (Two Pitties in the City) A very inspiring story of a Chicago Sociabull's participant Honor and her human and how they have been working on learning to relax.  This story reminds us all too much of Athena's leash reactivity (although hers is much more mild than Honor's) and has given us hope that with patience and practice, Athena will someday be able to relax too!

-A & B

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Doggy Links

I am always on the prowl for blogs and websites that have excellent doggy info.  I will admit that there are a few blogs out there that I have discovered and read in their entirety in a matter of hours.  I don’t really mind reading blog posts that are days/months/years old as long as the information is pertinent and interesting.  I also love it when I see an update that one of my favorite blogs has made a new post!

Here are a few of my favorite discovered posts of the week:

Stuff Your Dog Should Wear If...(Notes From A Dog Walker) A list of different products to put on your dog to cure some common behaviors such as if your dog has lots of energy, if they need a confidence boost, if they need to get adopted, and more!  I love the idea of putting your dog in a tutu if they need to get adopted or if walking in a parade.

Does Your Dog Participate in Agility or Other Athletic Events? (StubbyDog) A poll of StubbyDog’s Facebook friends who say why their dogs participate in agility/athletics.  I liked reading this because Athena needs to gain some more confidence and I have been thinking that agility training would help her with this.

Bonding With Dogs or Not... (Wilde About Dogs) This blog post is so honest and really hit home with me.  It is so refreshing to read a blogger actually talk about their REAL struggles of being a dog owner and how this has affected their relationship with their dog.  She also gives ideas on how to build a stronger bond with your dog such as participating in agility sports (see, I knew that Athena should start in agility some time soon!), training, and noticing the things that your dog enjoys.

The Mirror Method: An Interview with Nora Vamosi-Nagy (Life With Dogs) A very interesting interview with dog trainer Nora Vamosi-Nagy on the Mirror Method of dog training.  “The main idea is that everything is up to the owner,” she explains. “So, if you have a dog who’s not behaving or if you have a problem, then you should look at what you are doing wrong, rather than blaming the dog. A dog is a mirror in this whole process; he reflects what you are doing well or poorly. In our school we teach in groups of twelve, and the dogs are off-leash.”  While reading this I found myself saying “Yeah!” “That’s Athena!” “Uh-Huh!” over and over!

-A