I was at a Home Dog Training session with a new client in Gainesville yesterday. Christmas was just here and they were now getting ready for New Years.  They were having some behavior issues with their two year old Irish Wolfhound named Cedric. Cedric was just big and energetic.  He had never been given any rules or told he wasn’t “the boss of the house”.  After a few hours, he clearly understood what he could and couldn’t do.  He also understood that he was not the boss and that he needed to respect and obey my clients.  He seemed happier and my clients were definitely pleased with the results. 

Create meaningful and productive New Years Resolutions for your dog to keep him safe, happy, and healthy

As we were finishing up, somehow the conversation turned to “New Year’s resolutions”. They joked that they always make so many New Year’s resolutions every December and never, ever keep them!  I suggested that a great way to make sure you keep them is to have a friend help or to help a friend.  Why not engage Cedric in the process?

EXERCISE: “I am going to exercise and loose all that extra weight this year!  This is a great idea and why not have your dog help you in the process.  Take long walks with him.  Get out in the back yard and toss the Frisbee or just throw tennis balls.  If your dog is up to it, go on bike rides with him or roller blade with him.  This builds your bond and gets you both into shape!

START EATING RIGHT: The new year is a great time to start respecting what we put into our bodies, as well as what we feed out dog.  Throw away and forbid the chips and the cookies.  Avoid the fast food drive through and do not “Race to the Border”. 

Also, review the ingredients in your dog’s food.  You want to see a meat as the very first ingredient and don’t want to see “by product” following the meat.  You don’t want to read corn in the list of ingredients.  If your dog’s food fails these two tests, “you are racing him to the border”.  We suggest that you choose a healthy, natural food with all ingredients from the USA. We feed our dogs a great food that has kept hem healthy for over ten years.  Please learn more and order it at Really Good Dog Food

ENTERTAINMENT: Let’s get out to see some of our favorite movies, or get to the stadium to cheer for our favorite sports team.  Let’s do anything that gets us out of the house and into the “real world”.  What a wonderful thing to start for our lives in 2020!

This is a great thing for us, but we need to make sure that our dog has the opportunity to enjoy the same quality of life.  Let’s make sure that we start to socialize him by going to Panera Bread or Dunkin Donuts. Let’s take our dog to the local Doggie Day Care for a morning or afternoon of socialization visit.  We can also mix exercise and entertainment by joining a canine agility club. These things are entertainment diversions that we can share with our dog.  Let’s make sure that we put them in motion and enhance our dog’s lifetime experience!

HEALTH:  We all procrastinate about going to the doctor.  With us, we may have a “little hurt” here or there, feel under the weather every once in a while, or notice a little rash or bump now and then.  We actually “know we need to see a doctor” and decide not to go.  Cedric can’t tell my clients that he “has a boo-boo” and needs to see the vet.  He may not have been to the vet for a long time and just needs a check-up.  Let’s use Cedric’s inability to make the vet appointment as our excuse for everyone to “see the doctor”.  Call the vet and then call your own doctor.  Try and make the appointments close together so that one appointment will be the reminder for the other.

Please call Robin or me at (770) 718-7704 if you need any dog training help.  We are blessed to have been your local dog training professionals for over fourteen years.  We have trained over 5,000 great dogs and loving families and are ready to help you.