Household Tips for Dogs continued
TIP #4 Shredding the valueless
instead of the valuable
If you've come home to a puppy who has chewed every leather item you own, you may want to
consider giving in to him. What's that you say? Puppies chew on things just as
surely as they wag their tails. The idea is to have him chew the acceptable items.
He doesn't come into the world with a calculator so he can't predict (and therefore
avoid) the consequences of chewing the $2,000 leather chair and the $300 Ferragamo
shoes.
We have golden retrievers who have large, soft mouths and like large, soft
things to chew. We took large, brown corrugated packing boxes and tore them
into their individual panels. We hand rolled some of them into tubes and left
others flat. The dogs were really happy to help and we played
tug-of-war for a few minutes. They then understood that it was A-OK to chew
these panels. We also tossed them a few nylon bones, sterilized marrow bones
and other items just for good measure.
The one thing to remember is, don't leave around any corrugated cardboard
panels that you want to keep! One panel is pretty much like another so don't
rely too heavily on your dog's ability to discriminate.
Each dog has its own chewing characteristics.
Our other set of staff dogs, the Keeshonds (fuzz balls with ears that started off as
Belgian boat dogs) have really delicate intestinal tracts and don't tolerate the cardboard
well. Please check with everyone: your vet, your spouse, the kids, your roommates,
your nosy neighbors before you toss things to your pet.
TIP #5 Tape That Hair!
We just load up and holster our trusty packing tape gun and go off to do battle against
the dog hair monster. This is the 2" wide clear packing tape that you can find
in office supply stores. We like the dispenser (our gun) with the long handle and
the sharp serrated cutting blade (cut and use tape carefully, this is not a toy!) We
peel off a couple of feet of tape and lay it firmly on the offending dog hair. Rub
the back of the tape gently and peel off. Repeat as often as necessary.
A note to the novice! Please do not use
packing tape on your dog. Use the packing tape only on the dog
hair that has already been shed onto the furniture or carpeting. Packing tape also
works wonders for taking hair off your clothing. It's relatively inexpensive and
very effective.
TIP #6 Yummy Dogsicles Looking
for a cool treat for your pooch? Try freezing applesauce or apple juice in
ice cube trays or plastic popsicle forms. Pop them out on a hot afternoon for an inexpensive and yummy treat.
TIP #7 Va-va-vacuum! Try
adding cut up pieces of flea collars to your vacuum bag. When you swoosh up those
fleas and other bugs, make sure they don't thrive in there! If you have a
heavy infestation, remove the bag immediately after vacuuming, seal it in a plastic bag
and dispose of it.
TIP #8 Wipe and repel hairs! Try using a fabric softener sheet,
the kind you use in your dryer, to wipe off the tops of electronic equipment.
Try this tip on your PC monitor, VCRs, DVDs, TVs and the like which get snuggled
by your cat or swiped by your dog's tail.
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