Oops! Simon the Cockapoo Dog Ate an SOS pad!

More accurately, Simon shredded an SOS pad.

Can't blame the pup - I left the cabinet door open to the cleaning supplies.

What Happened
So Simon the thief stole a used mini SOS pad wrapped in a paper towel and shredded it on the living room carpet. He did NOT eat an entire pad (some larger dogs will swallow a pad whole).

Oops! Instant panic . . .  Is the soap toxic? What will happen if he ingested steel wool?

What To Do First
Call the vet. The vet tech who answered the phone suggested calling the poison center.

I figured out during my web surfing that the soap is an irritant, but not toxic.

The steel wool is a problem if a dog vomits the pad or pieces of it OR it gets stuck in the intestinal tract OR it pierces delicate tissue.

The Prognosis
Simon appears to be okay 24 hours after the incident.

You have to monitor the dog's condition and hope that there's no blockage (no pooping) or bloody stools. I read about one dog who had surgery to remove a pad. I'm sure that was painful for the dog.

I read about another pup who started shaking - probably because the steel wool was causing pain.

Lessons Learned

• Some dogs will eat anything.
• Call your vet as soon as you discover the problem.
• Keep an eye on the dog for excessive drooling, watery/bloody stools, and obvious pain symptoms.
• Button up the kitchen supplies! 

Stopping the 3 Most Annoying Puppy Behaviors - Part III

In the first post on the topic of stopping the 3 most annoying puppy behaviors , I mentioned puppy biting and mouthing.

The second post discussed jumping up on people.

This post talks about stopping (destructive) puppy chewing.

You know the story - the puppy ate the furniture, cell phone, shoes, socks, electric cord, whatever. I'm the PO'd owner of Simon who at 8 months of age managed to chew through the electric cord of a brand new laptop. One minute it was intact and the next second - it was chewed in half.

Why puppies chew
They're teething, bored, need exercise, or are exercising their natural tendency to chew. Puppies do not know what's appropriate to chew and what's inappropriate to chew. You have to show them.

How to Stop puppy and dog chewing

Take a look at these Seven Ways to Stop Dog Chewing.

Make sure you puppy-proof the house. Keep the puppy away from temptation, give him chewing toys, and his lesson learned (eventually) will be to stop destroying your stuff.

THE Best Chew Toy
Want to get your pup started on the right track? The single best chew toy is called Goughnuts. Alvin the super chewer has one and in two plus years, has failed to destroy it. He plays with the thing every day.

Note that he methodically dissects normal toys in under 15 minutes. So, why not not buy Goughnuts from the start? There is a smaller product called Goughnuts .75 for small dogs. Here's where you can buy Goughnuts:
Goughnuts, the Superior Dog Chew Toy.

Stopping the 3 Most Annoying Puppy Behaviors - Part II

In the previous post, I mentioned the 3 most annoying puppy behaviors - biting and mouthing, jumping up on peeps, and chewing.

flickr.com: Mt. T in DC

This post focuses on the whys and hows of dogs jumping on people.

Why Puppies Jump Up on Peeps
Clearly, jumping up on people is a seriously annoying behavior that puppies do quite naturally. A small pup sees you walk through the door, wants attention, and the next thing you know, the paws are digging into your legs and the back of your knees (that was Alvin's fav trick).

Think about it - they are small, you appear monstrous, and the natural behavior is to do ANYTHING to get attention. Jumping seems to work, so the puppy gets into a pattern of doing that behavior. 

When we broke Simon of jumping (way past puppyhood), he cleverly found another attention-getting behavior - gifting. So now when we come home, we get a waggling Simon carrying around one of his toys. Not a bad substitute behavior!

How to stop dog jumping
Simple in concept, breaking this habit requires persistence, patience, and consistency.

Here's how:
Walk through the door.
Totally ignore the pup for 5 minutes, even if he jumps.

Do it consistently, every day until the jumping stops. It may take weeks or just a few times.
At this point, I got Alvin and Simon to sit and stay on command (they had learned these commands as young pups).

Reasons why ignoring a puppy won't work

• You're not doing it consistently. You need to ignore the dog EVERY time.
• You allow the dogs to jump up on visitors. If he can jump up on visitors, why can't he jump up on you?
• All family members won't ignore the puppy when they walk into the house. There's always one jerk who thinks yelling and flaying arms works better. Guess what! That human behavior actually encourages jumping!