Some Tidbits

Shadow spent much of the beautiful 80-plus degree weekend outside, learning to play fetch (pictures tomorrow) and still trying (ugh) to eat dandelions.

Here are a few discoveries I've made that new dog owners might find helpful:

- A good hand lotion is a must. Even obsessive compulsive hand washers do it more often once the dog arrives, turning even spring or summer hands into sandpaper.

- Dogs dream, and in Dream Land they often bark, "run," and spasm. The first day Shadow came home, this caught me off guard and I feared something was wrong. However, as is also the case with people, there is a clear difference between sleep spasms and seizures.

- The area rug my husband had for three years lasted an entire week under the wrath of Shadow. In addition to accidents (which are hardest to clean on rugs), he saw it as a toy to be pulled up and unraveled. In its place, we invested in a cheap interlocking exercise mat. Not only does it protect the wood floor, it's soft to sit on and individual squares can be removed for cleaning after accidents.

- Baby oil works great to remove sap from dog hair.

- Filled hollow bones are the canine equivalent of babysitters. I have a few already stuffed with peanut butter and kibble (there are also pre-filled ones, but DIY is cheaper) sitting in a plastic bag in the freezer. This was an ingenious tip passed on to me by a family friend. Shadow thinks he won the lottery when he gets one, and the fact that it's frozen inside buys me more time as it takes him longer to lick out all the filling.

- I'm in the process of finishing two puppy playlists (without ultra loud noises or things that will scare Shadow).. When I'm finished, I'll have one playlist full of songs I will actually enjoy listening to while he's around, and another of soft (sappy, boring) songs that would drive me crazy on repeat but are soothing to Shadow when he's alone.

- There are hundreds of toxic plants out there, and many are in our yard. As soon as Shadow began feasting on all the dandelions, I got the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) application for my iPhone so it would always be with me. There are many other resources as well, but the app I have was free, lists every plant that can hurt your dog (or cat or horse), and includes both descriptions of symptoms and photos of the plants.

- Shadow sleeps a lot, but because I have to be on guard as soon as he wakes up, finding time to exercise is a harder than I'd expected. Sometimes I can manage to get in a 30-minute run, but otherwise I use the 10-Minute Solution DVDs. Each contains five 10-minute workouts, so I can do 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 minutes... depending on what Shadow allows!

- We didn't want Shadow to be too focused on food, so Chris and I initially rewarded his bathroom achievements with praise and affection rather than treats. After too many bouts of leash tugging and puppy freak outs, I threw my hands up last week and began giving him just half a treat immediately after each time he goes outside. It's made a huge difference; I only wish we'd done that from the beginning.

* If you have a tip of your own you'd like to add, please send it to LauraShadow219@gmail.com, along with your first name and the name and breed of your pet. I'll collect them and use the results in a future post.