DogBoy's Dog Blog

1. How Much Time Do You Have For A Dog?

Before getting a dog, make sure you have the time for one. You should have a clear idea of your family’s activity level, and how much time you have to dedicate to training and enrichment activities. Examples of enrichment activities with your dog include:

• Exploring a new park together.
• Hiding their food bowl for dinner time.
• Teaching them new tricks and games.

You will want to make sure your dog’s energy and needs will be compatible with what you can give. Dog’s age, breed, and upbringing can contribute to their overall behavior.

2. Go Get A Dog Crate Immediately

The dog crate is AMAZING! It’s a great tool to help with housetraining young puppies as well as adult dogs. Crates also help keep your house safe while your new dog is adjusting to their new environment and learning what types of behaviors are acceptable in their new home.  You should treat any new dog in your household as if they aren't house trained initially.

I’m just going to say it: I am not a fan of dog parks. There, I said it. Here’s the reason: Typically, they are overrun with dogs with poor manners whose main exercise outlet is a weekly trip to the dog park. These dogs tend to be pushy and overly friendly.

Bath time with your puppy can be very stressful. It can be stressful for you, but it can be especially nerve wracking for your dog. There are several reasons for this:

• Some dogs don’t like getting wet.
• Some dogs won’t get in the tub.
• Some dogs had a bad experience with the tub previously.  
• Some dogs want to jump in the tub, AND bring you in with them.
• And, some just avoid it at all costs (kind of like most cats you know!)

Thankfully, there are some things that you can do to make bath time a little less stressful for your puppy. These steps apply to new puppies, old dogs, or dogs that simply aren’t super fond of baths. If you, or someone you know has had a frustrating time giving your dog a bath recently this list is for you.

10 Steps For Bathing Your Dog

There are plenty of advantages and joys to owning your own business, especially if you get to work at or very near to your home. One of the big ones is never having to commute. It's nice that I can just walk back-and-forth to work. If I forget something at the office or vice versa, I'm just a few steps away. So, walking back and forth between the office and the house to pick something up is a cinch. There’s a lot of REALLY nice things about living and working on the same piece property.

As a dog owner myself, I totally get the fear of your cherished puppy or dog falling ill when you have placed them in the care of a boarding facility. Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?

Texas Weather and Dog Boarding

If it rains too hard, freezes at all, or, heaven forbid, we see some snowflakes, many people in Central Texas have a bit of a meltdown. Especially in Austin, where inclement weather is definitely the exception to the rule. So, when there is extreme cold weather, by Texan standards, people don't know how to go about their daily lives at all. The roads get icy, everyone gets on the roads, and crashes into each other, I-35 and Mopac become even more treacherous than usual, and that causes a lot of problems like:

• Customers who have dogs at DogBoy’s call in worrying about their dog’s safety
• Our employees call saying that they can't make it in because it's just too icy
• People can't go to work, so they don’t bring their dogs in to DogBoy’s

In one of my last posts, I talked about a customer who had a not-so-great experience with her dogs at a local Big Box store that competes with DogBoy’s Dog Ranch. I wanted to go further into her story, and why these types of chain stores are not a good decision for dog owners or their dogs.

This long time client, let’s call her Jan, has boarded her dog, we’ll call her Sandy, for many years now.

As we were getting her checked out, she was telling me about her experience with a local Big Box dog boarding facility:

Jan: Ya know, I live in another part of town on the other side of the highway.
Courtney: I do know, and we are so grateful that you go out of your way to continue coming to DogBoy's.
Jan: I only bring it up, because I've been to your local big box competitor and, honestly, you know they're nice people, but they just don't know my dog and I don't feel very comfortable leaving my dog with them.
Courtney: Oh really? Why's that?
Jan: Well to start, there's no outside place for them to play. Everything is just indoors, the play areas, the tiny little pens they put them in, and you know, it's right by my house but I will just drive right by there from now on and never go back, because they just don't know my dog like you guys do.

I appreciated the feedback, but it did raise a number of concerns in me as a dog owner myself, and as the owner of a respected dog boarding and training facility. I just can’t stand it when I see dogs being treated like livestock instead of family. I didn’t want to pry into her experience, so I didn’t ask if she took a full tour of this particular place.

However, as a responsible dog owner and business owner, I have done my research on these facilities. This is not intended to be a slander of the business or industry, but rather a critique of the standards and practices at these types of stores that I feel are not at all in line with the well-being of the dogs they house and the services they claim to provide.

When it comes to holidays, our customers tend to board their dogs over the biggest travel holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, boarding a dog on Halloween seems to rarely cross anyone's mind. Halloween can be a nightmare for dogs. You might be thinking, "What? But Halloween is so fun! There's fun costumes. We get to dress up the dog. We give out candy. It's such a fun family time! Why would we board our dog on Halloween?"

Honestly, Halloween is one of the most challenging days of the year for your dog, right behind the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve. On Halloween, strangers are coming to the door all throughout the night and stimulating smells are everywhere. They might be forced to wear costumes if their owner decides they are going to play dress up with their dog. (Side note: Though costumes look super cute on dogs, most don’t really love that, so make it quick, okay?)

This Halloween, we want to highlight four main reasons why you should consider boarding your dog at DogBoy's, so you can both enjoy this night of trick or treating with peace of mind.

This story begins like many of my days. I’m standing in the office and a customer comes in to pick up his dog who had been evaluated for the very first time. The dog was...we might call her an old Golden Retriever (breed changed to protect the innocent). She was a beautiful and very friendly older dog. The owner was absolutely enamored by this dog; she was his pride and joy. He wanted to make sure that I knew she was a full-bred dog and that she was very special.

Of course, my business is dogs, so I take people saying this stuff to me with a grain of salt. I am more interested in what I can observe about you and your pet. To me, if an animal is that important to you, then you are mindful of their needs. You don’t have to say a word to me, I can see it in the way you behave together.

Let’s be clear, I don't start lecturing people when they are a brand-new client because I don't want to be like “Hi, nice to meet you! Here’s what you need to change.” Most dog owners don’t even realize what they are doing that we may disagree with, so I consider it an honor to be able to educate them.

In this case, the dog came inside with the customer. She greeted everyone and greeted him a little bit, and the first thing I noticed was that she was obese. Very, very fat. So heavy, in fact that I could not feel her ribs, or any loose skin.  She was just like a little pig about to burst. Get the picture? Here’s what I need you to know: