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Category Archives: Bourbon and Couture

Separation Anxiety

You are getting ready to go to work like you do every morning, you have gone through the normal routine with your dog. He’s been let out, maybe had a walk and ate his breakfast. Everything is calm. Just before you leave you always give your dog plenty of cuddles and attention, you don’t want him to feel forgoten. And than you leave as he follows you to the door. By the time you get to your car you can hear the howling and barking begin, you sigh and wonder why he does this every time you leave….

You get a new dog, you do everything right, your taking them to puppy class, you socialize the dog, spend lots of time getting used to your routine and the neighbours kids. You have done everything right. When your home our pup is perfect, no accidents in the house,  he never gets into anything, and the pup is more than happy to lay on the floor next to the family when it’s movie time. To your surprise, every time you leave your house for the day and the pup is left home alone, you come home to a massive mess. The dog gets into the garbage, throws the couch pillows all over the floor, pooped on the front carpet and ate your favourite pair of running shoes. You ask yourself… why is he so bad!?

Separation anxiety is a condition that affects dogs of all sizes and many breeds. Most pet owners know of separation anxiety and many have faced the challenges it can create. What some dog owners may not realize is that this behaviour can be something you taught your dog without even realizing you did it.

The examples of separation anxiety I gave are just a sample of the types of behaviours you may see with separation anxiety. Some of the behaviour may be more severe in some dogs while others are a little more discrete. Either way, they are indications of the stress level your dog is facing when you leave them at home every day.

How does separation anxiety start?

Well one of the big one’s is a behaviour you create by the way you leave you your dog and how you act when you come home to them. When you first get a new puppy it is very important to condition them not to fret when you leave. You can do this by practicing leaving the pup for short periods of time randomly through the day, the time of day and the length of time you would leave the dog will need to vary. What you are than starting to teach the pup is that you will leave, but you will always come back.

A behaviour you want to refrain from doing yourself is getting your pup all excited and happy with cuddles right before you leave. When you do that you are leaving your dog in an elevated drive state, and they carry that level of drive while you are gone, eventually turning into destructive anxiety. And than when you come home, your so excited to see your pup you go to them right away and build up that drive all over again. It’s not good for your dog to do that to them.

Try something different, just as most things in their lives, there should be a routine and lots of obedience. When you are leaving for work for the day, if you must give cuddles and so forth do it about 30-40 min before you leave, this way your dog has time to calm down before you leave for work. And than as you are leaving don’t say anything at all, if your dog is laying down quietly on the floor, don’t disturb that, that’s a good thing, you are leaving your dog in a calm mental state, this will help minimize the anxiety. When you return home, do the same thing, don’t rush to your dog and get them all excited with cuddles and attention right away. Come in, take your shoes off call the dog to go out for this pee, and after about 30-4o min, than if you want to get them excited and happy and give them cuddles, go for it. By doing this you are using your dogs mental and emotional stability in a more positive way to avoid imprinting anxiety like reactions.

What if it’s passed this stage?

If you are dealing with a teenage or adult dog with this behaviour it can and will be much more challenging. The first step is going back to the basics with strict obedience. Dogs love obedience, well most dogs, small toy breeds are a whole other set of rules. Back to the basics of obedience is the beginning of rebuilding a strong foundation. A foundation that is about conditioning your dogs proper behaviours and asserting yourself as the alpha in the house.

At first you may feel there is a point of regression where the behaviours are almost getting worse, that can happen as your dog is adjusting to the new rules and obligations in the home. After that you will notice a pattern of two steps forward and one step back until finally your reach a point where your dog starts to fall into his new pattern of obedience, and obedience becomes part of their new routine and structure.

Be prepared, not all the behaviours may be corrected. Depending on how long these behaviours have been going on for, your dog may be imprinted with it’s behaviours. Not to say you won’t see some success, you just may not get all the success you were hoping for.

Don’t give up

Consistency is key. Asserting yourself as the alpha in the house through positive reinforcement will support your dogs needs of being part of a pack and their natural desire to serve. Dogs like to have a job, it is not mean to incorporate high level obedience in their every day lives.

As I have mentioned many times on this site, I have a Cane Corso, he is in high level obedience all the time. It wasn’t always like this, there was a time when Bourbon was confused about who the alpha was, I wasn’t inserting myself in the right way with him so he started to think that he ran the house. This confused him and frustrated him, he started to have bad separation anxiety, he was getting into things in the house, tearing up the couch, he ate the blinds one day, he used to go into our laundry and take all the socks. It was getting out of control.

I started high level obedience, and just as I said earlier, I noticed the behavior increasing a bit before it started to decrease to a more manageable way. I thought that letting him do what ever he wanted to do, and offer more love and support meant I was giving him a good life. I was wrong, my actions had the opposite effect, my dog was stressed out and unhappy.

Now in the home, obedience is a part of every aspect of his day. From a down stay in his bed while we are watching TV, to waiting to eat his food until I tell him it’s ok, to only entering the home when he is told to. High level obedience at all times. You may be thinking its a lot of work, and it is at first, it’s hard work for you and your dog. But than it becomes part of your routine, I use lots of positive reinforcement and food as part of my training. Bourbon loves training, he loves obedience, he loves the attention he gets from doing things right, he thrives off of it so much, he constantly wants to do the things I tell him to because he knows food or cuddles comes with it. He’s at the point now in his training that he looks for the next command, he wants to work all the time.


Since this new structure, he doesn’t eat the blinds or the laundry, his separation anxiety still exists but not even close to the extent that it was. He is so much calmer in the house, I could have him in a down stay in his bed and put my super on the table in front of him, I could leave the room and come back and he would still be in the bed and my food untouched. The obedience has been a major bonding exercise for Bourbon and I. I highly recommend it for your dog.

If you truly want to give your pet a forever home do it right. To many dogs end up in shelters because of errors we made when we first brought them home. Don’t get a dog unless you are prepared to put in the work. Its hard work at first but it’s well worth it in the end.

 

What Does it Mean When a Dog Pees Brown?

I had a bit of a scare with Bourbon my mastiff… My mom takes care of Bourbon while i’m at work. When I went pick him up she told me that he had some dark brown urine today… As a pet mom I was worried about him and wanted to know what was causing it. 

Why Is My Dogs Urine Brown?

There are actually a number of different things that can cause your dogs urine to be brown in color. The first is something that happens when their liver creates to much bilirubin. When this happens the body will excrete it through the urine turning it brown in color. So what is bilirubin? Bilirubin is a yellowish pigment found in the bile fluid that the liver creates, an increased red blood cell break down can cause the liver to create this fluid in access. 

Another potential cause of the brownish color in your dogs urine is when there is the presence of a protein called myoglobin. This protein is created and released into the dogs muscles when they are stressed or if they are injured. The coloured urine could also be a sign of kidney stones or an indication of old blood from a trauma or the kidney stones themselves. 

If you notice a pink or red tinge to the urine, that is an indication there may be a current active bleed, and your do is passing new blood. 

Discolouration can also be caused by your dog being dehydrated and not drinking enough water. It is very important that your dog always has a supply of fresh water available to them. If you every have any concern it is always a good idea to check with your vet…

Ideally the color you want your dogs urine to be is light yellow. This is a good indication your dog is getting the fluid it needs to keep hydrated and healthy. Try to keep an eye out for things out of the ordinary, sometime it will be nothing, other time they may be signs of something more serious happening with your dog. 

What Happens At The Vets?

If you make the choice to go to the vet, you may be wondering what they will do… The vet can check for sensitivities indicating possible trauma or internal bleeding, swelling and other physical signs something may be wrong. They will want to know how much water your dog is drinking and if it is available to them all the time. Depending on the concerns they may want to get more information and possibly do some tests, in this case they will ask for a sample of your dogs urine to do a urinalysis.

It can be done a couple ways. There is the non invasive and the invasive way to go about it. The non invasive is the good old ‘pee in a cup’ method, you will need to collect  a fresh sample of urine using a sterile cup or bag, your vet can usually supply you with this, the sample you get will need to be tested within 2 hours if not refrigerated and within 6 hours if it is. Timing is important in order to get the most accurate test results. The invasive way involves your vet putting pressure on the kidney forcing the dog to pee, or using a needle and syringe to extract the urine from the kidney itself. Both of those methods are very painful for your dog and if you can I would avoid them. 

The urine test when it is completed will give the vet any indication of infections or other things that could have caused the discolouration. They will be able to diagnose and give treatment options to you if it is needed. Some vets even recommend doing urine tests yearly to keep on top of your pets health, and prevent infections from growing and spreading if there are any. 

There are a lot of health concern that can be related to discolouration on the urine, if you have concerns always talk to your vet, don’t brush these sign off. Your dogs life could depend on it. 

Thank goodness Bourbon only had the brown urine one time… I couldn’t even imagine the mission that would have been trying to gather a urine sample while he was taking his morning pee. I  don’t know what would have collected more urine, my arms or the container…

Pet health 101 starts with a healthy and balanced diet, exercise and a lots of TLC. 

I have a close eye on Bourbon right now, just to be on the safe side. And of course a check up with the vet. 

Caution With Rope Toys

Almost all pet parents including myself have bought their pups a rope toy or two… Most dogs love them, I know mine do. They throw them around, they play tug-a-war, or they just sit there and teeth on them for a while.

The caution I wanted to share is what happens when they break through the knot and the strings become loose… Some dogs get really excited as they start to chew into things, they get this motivation to keep going until they destroy it. As a pet parent with two very big busy mastiff’s, having their minds occupied for a couple hours chewing on their toys is a wonderful break. It is really important though to still keep an eye on them.

I experienced a potential close call a few times with my puppy mastiff. Bourbon is a serious chewer, sometimes I think he should work for a dog toy company as a tester to see if their toys are really chew resistant lol… I’m serious, almost every toy that a pet store has said is made for major chewers, usually lasts a day or two, sometimes less…

His first big knot rope toy was like christmas day for him. He was throwing it up in the air, he was rolling on it, and finally he found a spot on the couch and just went to town chewing on it. This was a routine for him for a few days, after play time he would get the rope toy and spend some time on the couch trying to rip through it. this routine worked well until one day I noticed he had pulled some long strands off and then he ingested them. I tried not to get to worried, I called my vet and he told me to keep an eye on him. The next day while he was going to the bathroom he was having a hard time pooping, he started freaking out… Turns out the string was stuck causing problems for him, and he didn’t k now what to do. I had to help him and pull it out, he laid on the floor for a bit after and didn’t want to move, I through out the rope toy. I spoke to the vet and he told me a was lucky, that a long enough strand could get trapped in his body as he passes it through… I was pretty shocked when he told me this. Bourbon is okay, he was back to normal after about 10-15min and I haven’t had any issues since. The vet also did tell me that although it is a caution, it’s not something that happens often, I just need to keep an eye on him when he plays.

That was not his last rope toy, he has had a few more since then, I just make sure I take them away from him before he can ripe off long strands of rope.

Rope toys come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I strongly caution you to get the right size for you pup. I only get the biggest toughest ones I can find, this way they will last a bit longer and the risk is reduced. For a medium breed I would look for one that is better suited for a larger breed, and for a small breed use the size that is best suited for a medium. That or only use these toys on supervised play time.

       

 

I pulled a few examples of the variety you can get rope toys in now. Just click on any of the images and it will take you to the full page with details and pricing for each. The great thing is, you can get these toys almost anywhere that sells pet supplies.

I really hope I was able to illustrate some caution that should be taken when we give our pups new toys. It’s great to give them things to stimulate their minds and to keep them busy… Stops them from looking for your shoes or socks to chew on. Just keep an eye on them, and it they were to ingest something they aren’t suppose to at least then you will know and will be able to act accordingly.

 

Puppy Play Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I know it doesn’t look like it… But this is my ‘puppy’ Bourbon. He’s 18months old and 145lbs baby. Play time is his favourite time of the day. I try to play with him every night just before dusk, it helps him relax before bedtime.

During the winter months we all don’t get much time outside to play and just enjoy some fresh air. Play times are few and far between, and walks are about a quarter of the time… Trust me a get it. But now that the weather is a lot nicer and we all want to be outside enjoying the fresh air, a really good idea is to take some extra time to play with your pup.

A tired puppy is a happy puppy. Or should I say a happy pet parent.

Bourbon is playing with his new Mammoth rubber tire I just got him. He loves it, I started by having him out with just a squeaky ball, but he went back in the house to get the tire to play with. Finding him toys that last more then 5min is tough, he’s a big dog and a major chewer, but so far this seems to stand up.

Name: Mammoth Tire Bitter

Price: $13.14

Website: Amazon.ca

Description: Its a non toxic rubber chew. The toy is advertises that its good for all ages. the inner layer is a two ply flossing nylon. the toy is available in three sizes, 6″, 8″ and 10″.

So far I’m really happy with the toy. Bourbon seems to love it, and he had my other mastiff playing tug a war with it and  its still in one piece. Thats a plus in my books.

 

Sad Puppies

These two are something else to live with…. Every time I go to clean the floor the puppy tries to chase the swiffer.

Well today was no different. I got mad at him of course, imagine a 145lb dog trying to catch the head of the swiffer as your trying to collect enough hair to make a small poodle.

As I’m telling Bourbon to leave it! I just want to clean, he can see I’m upset, he looks up at me with this sad look on his face like I broke his heart for not wanting to play… Then the older one Couture, like the man of the house he is comes over to give the puppy crap. Well that just turned into a major play thing. Puppy grabbed a toy and the two of them start running around through everything I just gathered…

They drive me nuts sometimes…

I finally got them to calm down and kicked them out of the room. After I was done cleaning I couldn’t find them anywhere. I look to the staircase and see two sad faces staring at me waiting for me to finish so they could come back down… Dogs, what little bums they are.

Whats Your Favourite Breed?

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