30Jan
I was lucky enough to be able to test a dog IQ game- I chose the Dog Brick, and I took it home.
Wow, I really can’t believe how much fun it was! Quick and Nova both loved it. Nova became obsessed. Have you ever seen a hard-core person playing bingo or any kind of gambling game? Where they’re stamping all the dots very very quickly, intense concentration on their face? So focused you could set off an alarm and they would keep playing? Nova was just like that with this game! She absolutely loved it, and begged for more when I put it away! I laughed so hard as she snuffled and pawed at the board. She’s really very cute! She got the concept right away.
Quick was a little more difficult, but he enjoyed it too! I had to make sure he found at least one treat very quickly, or he got frustrated. However, I intend to slowly work up his endurance with this toy. It’s low-key to play with- lots of fun, quite easy if you want it to be- so that’s good. I plan to slowly lower the reward rate so he has to work harder for his treats. I think that’s a good thing, because he really needs to learn that it is okay to not get the treat within a few minutes.
I haven’t had this much fun with my dogs since Quick was introduced to his first tunnel. Nova, Quick, and I had a real blast with these toys, and I hope you try them out for your dogs- let us know if they’re as much fun for you as they were for us!
Tags: agility oddities, dog products, dog tricks, simply funny
01Dec
I know my least favorite chore related to being a responsible pet owner- it’s poop scooping. I have two very large dogs, and they leave piles appropriately sized in the yard. As distasteful as I find this chore, I do it anyway, especially when we are out walking, because leaving the poop there is just very irresponsible! Recently I found an article on the internet about poop- and using a dog park’s methane output to make a light!
That’s really, really neat. I wouldn’t even mind picking up if I could do something that cool with it. Can you imagine apartment complexes having a unit like that for dog and kitty waste? (you would have to use biodegradable kitty litter, but that isn’t very hard to come by any more). It’s a ‘cool’ way to get people to WANT to clean up after their dog, and I think it’s one of the neatest ideas I’ve seen in a while!
Tags: dog products, Events & News, Inspirational
26Nov
Winter is fast approaching here in New York. It snowed this week! Time to bring the agility equipment in, or at least batten it down!
How do you winterize your course?
- Take stock. What do you have? Write it down and put it in your record book or agility journal so in the spring you’ll know where it is- or so you know what to ask for christmas
! (quick note about that- keep an eye on affordableagility.com, we’re having great holiday sales!)
- Do repairs before putting it away. Did your dog knock a fitting loose and you just haven’t fixed it? fix it now so it will not be lost in the spring.
- Care for your Contacts. Now is also the time to recoat or repaint your obstacles if you’re going to do it- consider rubber coating if your A-frame’s looking a little weathered. If you cover a contact obstacle with a tarp for the winter, make sure water doesn’t just puddle and ruin your obstacle.
- Check all metal for rust. If your obstacle has gotten rusty, sand it off and use rustoleum on it. Store it where it won’t get wet.
- Bring bars inside. If you’ve been meaning to do some decorating, bring your poles and bars inside to tape during the winter.
- Store it together. Try to keep obstacle pieces together as best you can. Many times when you open your shed first thing in the spring you get PVC blind and have forgotten how everything goes together. It’s much easier if you keep things together to start with.
- Tunnels do best if they’re brought in for the winter. Collapse them as small as they get, and use twine to keep it tight or store them in their bags. Put it out of reach of rodents and bored dogs.
- Decide what goes in the living room. No, really! You can’t just quit for the cold months. Figure out what equipment is unobtrusive and useful indoors. My personal favorites are multitasking obstacles, or difficult obstacles. Conditioning obstacles are also a good idea. Make sure it doesn’t take up so much space it overtakes your house, though.
- Put all your ribbons away in a safe place. Not necessarily part of your course, of course, but if you’re like me, you’ll want to see them again, and it’s very disappointing when ribbons have been crushed. They’re very hard to get right again! (note: an iron set on its’ very lowest setting, on the ‘wrong’ side of the ribbon worked very well for me- or ironing through a moistened towel.)
Winterizing your course makes everything easier in the spring, when it’s time to set things back up, or even a big warm spell in January and you want to just get a few things out to work with.
Tags: agility obstacles, agility safety, dog products
20Oct
Thinking of throwing an Agility Halloween party?
I came across this great recipe on the internet for pumpkin dog treats. I like to feed my dogs food in-season, so right now they’re enjoying apple slices and over-grown zucchinis. Try out this recipe and let us know what you think! I also boil the pumpkin into a ‘mess’ and pour it on top of my dogs’ food. They enjoy the treat!
PUMPKIN WAFERS DOG TREAT RECIPE
- One 15 oz. can mashed pure pumpkin (NOT the spiced pie filling)
- 3/4 cup cream of wheat (or rice cereal if wheat-sensitive) You can mix this dry–no need to cook it first
- 1/2 cup dry powdered milk
Directions: Preheat oven to 300 F.
Mix all ingredients together. Drop small spoonfuls (I use about half of a tablespoon) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
If you’d like to make bite sized cookies for small dogs, training rewards or just small treats, you can use a pastry bag
and squeeze out rosettes about the size of a dime for tasty bite sized cookies!
Tags: dog products
03Sep
Hiking is a great way to exercise and get out, and here in Upstate New York, we have some gorgeous hiking trails! We went hiking the other day, and my dog carried his own weight with a backpack. He had two water bottles, the car keys, his treats, my sandwich, and my cellphone in his backpack. I would never have been able to walk up and down the hills for as long as we did if he hadn’t carried the backpack. The nice thing about a big dog is they don’t know they’re carrying five pounds!!! My favorite part about carrying water for the dogs and myself is that halfway through the hike the water is drank, and thus the weight is halved before the walk back to the car. Has anyone else noticed the walk back is longer?
The backpacks we carry here at Affordable Agility are perfect saddlebags for starting your dogs in the wonderful world of carrying. You can use backpacks around the house for fun. Train your dog to carry items to family members in the backpack. Make sure they get a treat for being such a good deliverydog!
Tags: dog products
I was lucky enough to be able to test a dog IQ game- I chose the Dog Brick, and I took it home.
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