Separation Anxiety

The Comfort Cuddler

You're getting ready to drop off your furbaby for a stay while you travel. One of your main concerns will be separation anxiety (probably for both of you).

Dogs become very attached to their people and if they're not used to staying with other people it can be stressful for the first day or two. For that reason we have always asked our first time visitors to bring something from home that has their scent. It's really easy, just wear an old T-shirt for a day or bring along a pillow case you've slept on. Your familiar scent will decrease your dog's anxiety at being away from you.

Recently, one of the charities we support promoted a really cute "toy" that accomplishes this.

Now you can reduce your dog’s anxiety in an extremely cute, very simple way. The Project Play™ Comfort Cuddler™ helps relax your pet during a stressful situation, like car rides, taking your pup to the dog sitter, crate training, or whenever he or she experiences separation anxiety.

How it works: Your dog LOVES your scent. The canine sense of smell is very strong and helps inform dogs of the world around them. Your smell is one of the most comforting things to your pup. The Comfort Cuddler features a pouch with a mesh window into which you can insert something that smells like you. The Comfort Cuddler becomes a pillow for your pup to relax with and feel soothed by your scent.

 Is this not the cutest thing? And purchasing from iHeartdogs.com helps shelter pets!

Hawaiian Girl

Gracie is all ready for her trip!

We really do go out of our way to help our loyal customers. A case in point is our customer, Michelle who moved to Hawaii a few months ago.

Hawaii has very strict rules for relocating domestic animals. I won't go into them all here but suffice it to say Michelle's dog, Gracie, had the choice of spending a few months in a fairly inhospitable kennel with only weekly visits from her mom or spending a few months with us while she was medically cleared to travel. Well, since we love Gracie the choice was obvious.

We worked with Michelle to provide boarding and care for Gracie until she was cleared to travel. Now that time has come. Gracie will be relocating next week to Hawaii to rejoin her mom.

We've really come to love her over the past few months. She's become my buddy and we spend lots of time together because she loves to sit on my lap while watching TV and loves to cuddle under the covers with me at night.

We're going to miss her but are so glad she'll be back with her mom and enjoying the island life! Aloha! Gracie, catch a tasty wave for me!

Mind stimulation for your dog

 By: Brigitte Synesael

Do you come home from work and find your garbage strewn all over the house? Are there holes dug all over the yard? Do you find chew marks on your furniture? Has the stuffing been pulled out of your couch? Are all of these and other naughty things being done by your lovable pet pooch? The cause is simple. Your pet is bored!

Now a more challenging question; what do you do about it? All dogs need to do more than eat, sleep and love you. All dogs need exercise to start with. A walk isn't just about having a pee or a poop. A walk is a fabulous way to build a strong bond between you and your dog, and an opportunity to demonstrate to your pet that YOU are the leader. As Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer, would say, "YOU need to be the Pack Leader". Remember that when you walk your dog, you should be the first one out of the house, the first one back into the house, and your dog should walk beside you or slightly behind you.

I know that we all love our dogs and often think of them as our children... our babies. Truth be told, in order to provide your pet with what he/she truly needs it is important that you think of your dog first as a dog, and then consider the characteristics of the breed. Then you need to remember that your pet is also an individual.

Teaching the "Drop" command

Why should I teach a ''give'' or ''drop'' command?

Some dogs may not readily give up objects, especially those that are novel or particularly motivating. This makes it difficult to play games such as fetch and may be counterproductive in games of tug-of-war where the dog consistently "wins" the game, and will not give up control of the object. In fact, some dogs are possessive to the point of aggression with some objects. Therefore in order to play with your dogs constructively and positively and as a means of retrieving objects that your pet should not have in its possession, the give or drop command can be extremely useful.

How do I teach the ''give'' or ''drop'' command? 


It is very useful if you can teach your puppy how to give up items with a command, but this is not always easy to train. For some dogs, it might first be helpful to teach the dog to take something that you have offered in its mouth. Remember that the goal of "give" or "drop" training is to achieve the desirable behavior so that if you initially give the dog something too desirable, you may have a difficult time motivating your dog to give it up. A rubber toy or wooden stick may work well. Keep your hand on the object at first and once the puppy has grasped the toy, say 'give', take it away and offer a special food treat. The purpose of this exercise is to get the puppy to open its mouth and release the item. At the same time you need to say, 'give it' so that the action becomes associated with the phrase. By repeated pairing of the words "give it" with the release of objects, the dog will learn the meaning of the words.