Category: Dogs

Posts just about dogs.

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We Like: Roger Abrantes’ 16 Things To STOP Doing To Be Happy With Your Dog

16 Things You Should Stop Doing In Order To Be Happy With Your Dog. (via Dogwise)  What a great approach to improving your relationship with your dog!  Instead of starting something new, stop doing things that don’t help.  Roger Abrantes is well respected in the world of animal behavior, especially canine behavior.  And he should be—he has a degree in Philosphy (yea!) and PhD in Evolutionary Biology & Ethology.  Abrantes also teaches, publishes, and advises on animal behavior in a number of capacities.

I really like all of Abrantes’ 16 suggestions, but these are my favorites:

2. Stop being too serious—have a laugh

If you don’t have a good sense of humor, don’t live with a dog. Dog ownership gives rise to many mishaps where laughter is the best way out…

5. Stop believing in old wives’ tales—be critical

The world is full of irrational, unfounded old wives’ tales. These days, the Internet provides us with quick and easy access to a lot of valuable information—and a lot of junk as well: bad arguments, bad definitions, unsubstantiated claims, fallacies, emotional statements, pseudo-science, sales promotions, hidden political agendas, religious preaching, etc….

10. Stop feeling bad—act now

If you’re unhappy with any particular aspect of your life with your dog, do something to change it. Identify the problem, set a goal, make a plan and implement it. Feeling bad and guilty doesn’t help anyone—it doesn’t help you, your dog, or the cherished ones you share your life with.

12. Stop dependency—untie your self

…Have a life of your own and give your dog some space. You and your dog are two independent individuals. Enjoy living together as free agents, not being addicted each other. Stop projecting yourself onto your dog.

15. Stop wanting what you can’t have—be happy with what you’ve got

…It’s amazing how dog owners say they love their dogs and yet they spend most of the time trying to change their behavior. Focus on what you do have, not on what you don’t, appreciate it and be grateful for it.

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DIY: 3 Different Cooling Collars

The Pacific NW is about the only place in the U.S. right now that isn’t blisteringly hot.  Not great for my tomato plants, but much easier on our pets.  For those of you who are roasting, check out these 3 different tutorials for making cooling collars.  Keep your pups comfortable and, most importantly, keep them safe!

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This first cooling collar is probably the simplest.  It’s a long, fabric sausage (with water absorbing crystals inside) that you tie around your dog’s neck.  If you have a bigger dog, you’ll need to make it longer.  Once it’s finished, soak the collar in water and let evaporative cooling do it’s thing.  The collar can be reused indefinitely.  (While water absorbing crystals (polyacrylamide) is considered non-toxic, I still wouldn’t let my dog eat it.  So use some common sense.)

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Cooling collar #2 is a collar in & of itself–it has a buckle–and is for a Lab-sized dog.  It could easily be downsized for a smaller dog.  This design uses either a strip of small ice packs or regular ice for cooling.  I like that it has a buckle—seems more secure.  This cooling collar is also reusable.  (Like with anything, you want to make sure your dog isn’t able somehow chew on the collar or another dog’s cooling collar.)

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I think cooling collar #3 is my favorite design.  It uses your dog’s own collar to secure it.  It too uses a strip of small ice packs, but isn’t usable with ice.  Make sure to loosen your dog’s regular collar before sliding on the cooling collar.  Then place the cooling collar so the ice packs are next to you dog’s skin with her regular collar on top.  This collar is reusable.  (Again, make sure your pup isn’t chewing on her cooling collar or another dog’s cooling collar.)

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DIY: Distance Logging Via GPS Dog Collar

Dear Internet, I freakin’ love you!  Through you I find fascinating people, learn cool things, and find neato-keen projects.  This geeky, crafty, cool dog collar has all three things going for it.  Yea!

Check out this nifty DIY dog collar project.  You get to solder AND sew!  Please note:  This collar is not for finding your lost dog because the collar doesn’t have a transmitter.  It is meant to track you & your dog’s progress & distance on walks.  You can map your walks or if you have a large property you can see where your dog spends her time by downloading the GPS data from her collar at the end of the day.

Here are the supplies and tools you’ll need.  Ladyada also has detailed information on the code & wiring used in the project.  And there’s a pdf of all the tutorial.  When you purchase from Adafruit Industries you help support open-source hardware.

The tutorial is by Limor Fried aka ladyada.  Limor is an MIT educated electrical engineer and owner of Adafruit Industries, supplier of parts & designer of kits for DIY electronics projects.  She’s an big advocate for open-source hardware.

Her user-name, ladyada, is a reference to Lady Ada Lovelace, a super cool woman in her own right.  Ada Lovelace was a mathematician, writer & translator in the mid 1800’s.  She’s widely attributed with writing the first “computer program”.  Awesome stuff!

 

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