Make a dog smarter!

Did you know your dog can learn approximately 100-200 words? That’s the equivalent of the vocabulary of a 2-4 year-old child. Pretty amazing, right?

But, what’s even more amazing is that you can make a dog smarter. Just like you can get smarter by exercising your brain, so can your dog. In a previous post, I talked about fun games to play with a dog and that’s one great way to make a dog smarter–by playing games that keep him engaged and learning.

Another fabulous way to make a dog smarter is to play the “Guess what I want” game. Now, ordinarily, you should be really clear with your dog about what you want him to do and when. (If you want your dog to be sitting quietly instead of jumping on you, tell him to sit.) But, when you play the “Guess what I want” game, the object of the game is for your dog to try and read your mind and guess which of his dog tricks you’d like him to perform.

When I’m playing this game with Vance, I say, “What else you got?” meaning, what other tricks do you know. And he knows that’s his cue to cycle through everything  he can think of until he comes upon the dog trick that I had in mind. Sometimes its uncanny how quickly he guesses each dog trick in a row. Other days, there’s obviously a wire short circuited somewhere between the two of us because it’s the last trick he knows several times in a row.

So, those are my two favorite ways to make a dog smarter–what are yours?

Free Dog Toy Giveaway Update

Hey guys, I’m so excited to see the entries rolling in for the free dog toy giveaway! Remember, you have to comment on the giveaway post with your dog’s favorite toy to be entered the first time and then you can either subscribe to the site by RSS/email (the links are in the sidebar at the right) or help me promote the contest by linking to it on your blog or at Twitter. With these bonus entries, it’s possible to have four entries in all, but please only enter once per household (so, one household, up to four entries).

I especially loved the comment Clenna in NH left about her Golden Retriever loving to play with rocks. Vance is a big rock fan, too, and he knows the difference between “inside toys” and “outside toys” ;-). So, keep those favorite dog toy entries rolling in and make sure to check back on the 7th to see who won the first drawing.

Oh, also because a couple people have emailed me to ask asked, the prize is the Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball in the *Large* size. This one:

So, remember: Comment on the Free Dog Toy Announcement post to enter and then you can also subscribe to the site by rss/email, Tweet the contest, and/or post it to your blog. And check back on the 7th to see if you (and your dog) won!

Heartworm treatment for dogs

So, I’m sitting out on my back deck with the laptop (yea! wireless!), and Vance is laying in the grass. Though it’s early in the season yet, we’re in the south, so mosquitoes are already a fact of outdoors life. I’ve killed six already and we’ve only been out here for a half hour or so.

The reason I bring all of this up is that Vance has had a few mosquitoes on him, too, and it reminded me that I wanted to talk about heartworm protection. If your dog isn’t currently on a monthly heartworm prevention pill, he should be–you don’t want to mess with these creepy crawlies.

Vance used to be on a heartworm prevention and also on a flea medicine, but the flea medicine was applied to his skin and caused a really bad allergic reaction. So, he now takes Sentinel instead which is a little more expensive than one or the other (heartworm prevention or flea protection), but less than the two of them together and it does both. I really like only having to give him the one monthly pill, and I love that he no longer gets a serious rash at the base of his tail (I think he likes that, too).

Lest I sound too much like an infomercial for Sentinel, it has one serious drawback–it doesn’t protect against ticks, so I have to perform a weekly check. Since he used to get the occasional tick on the previous stuff (Frontline), and I’m brushing him every few days anyway, this isn’t a serious hardship, it’s just a minor annoyance. And, truthfully, I’m not sure I don’t prefer fewer chemicals coursing through his system anyway.

If the smell of Frontline bothers you, or applying it topically is irritating your dog’s skin, I highly recommend checking with your vet to see if Sentinel might be as good for your dog as it’s been for Vance.

And, this is a really good time to say: It’s the first of the month. Heartworm day. (I’m totally stealing that from the Jet Dry commercials, but around here we do indeed give Vance his heartworm prevention pill on the first of the month, so it’s perfect.

What do you give your dog to protect against heartworm and fleas? I’d love to know what works for you! And, don’t forget you have until the 6th of June to enter for a chance to win an Omega Paws Tricky Treat Ball. With so many ways to rack up points, I hope you’ll enter more than once (remember, your first entry is a comment, then your other entries are to spread the word about the contest via Twitter and your blog, and to subscribe to this blog by RSS or email).