Mann's Best Friend Pet Services

14/01/2025

Snow and Ice Paw Care for Dogs: Essential Tips

❄ Protect Your Dog’s Paws This Winter! ❄

🐾 Trim Paw Fur
Keep the fur between your dog’s paw pads neatly trimmed. This prevents ice balls from forming, which can be painful and uncomfortable.

🐾 Paw Balm
Apply a pet-safe paw balm before walks to create a protective barrier against ice, grit, and salt. Reapply as needed after walks. This is a good one https://www.northumberlandhoney.co.uk/shop/nose-and-paw-balm-dog-paw-balm

🐾 Wipe Down After Walks
Always rinse or wipe your dog’s paws with warm water after a walk to remove salt, grit, or de-icing chemicals that can irritate or damage their pads.

🐾 Avoid Rock Salt and De-icers
Watch out for areas treated with salt or chemical de-icers, as these can harm your dog’s paws and are toxic if ingested. Use pet-safe alternatives for your home.

🐾 Invest in Dog Boots
Boots are a great option to protect your dog’s paws. Choose a pair that fits well and give your dog time to get used to them before heading out.

🐾 Check for Cracks
Regularly inspect your dog’s paw pads for cracks, redness, or dryness. Use a dog-friendly moisturiser or paw wax to keep their pads healthy.

🐾 Shorter Walks, More Often
In extreme cold, opt for shorter, more frequent walks to reduce exposure to freezing conditions. Smaller dogs might be prone to frost bite.

🐾 Carry Essentials
Bring a small towel and paw balm on winter walks to handle any issues that may come up.

Pro Tip: Keeping your dog’s paws clean and protected will make winter walks more enjoyable for both of you!

🐾How do you keep your dog’s paws safe in winter? Share your tips below! 🐾

14/01/2025

There is often a discussion of certain training practices providing "safety" for dogs. Particularly in the use of shock collars, that shock collars provide 'safety' for a dog being off a leashed line. The truth of the matter is that these things fail, often in spectacular, dangerous fashions. But the key that is missed in these discussions is that physical safety is not the only priority in dealing with our dogs. Emotional/Mental safety are JUST as important. Some might argue in many ways they are even more of a priority.

The feeling of being safe, emotionally, reduces reactivity, aggression, distraction, and things like bolting/disappearing/escape. It is not enough that our dogs are just physically safe, we need to ensure they FEEL safe as well. For me my top priority is always; everyone is safe. First and foremost. But in that umbrella I consider the emotional well being of the animals and their human counterparts as just as significant as the physical safety of their dogs. Because when we feel safe, confidence, exploration, bonding, and strong relationships follow.

It is not possible for a living being to feel safe in an environment where physical harm for 'wrong' action is ever-present. That is not how punishment avoidance works. (The brain cannot seek to avoid punishment AND seek reinforcement, it can only do one at a time.) As part of my commitment to Safety First I actively avoid punishment techniques, force and coercion in teaching, because it allows my learners to always feel safe with me.

Safety First: Physical. Emotional/Mental. For everyone involved.

14/01/2025

One the hardest parts of behavior change, is understand that it takes as long as it takes, and that progress is not always going to be forward. As humans we tend to want our trajectory to go forward, always. Always better, always more. And this is not only a harmful ideology for ourselves and our own mental health (and kindness to ourselves) it is a good way to expect and put too much pressure on our dogs. Change is not always forward. Oftentimes when working on challenging behaviors (be they skills based, or emotional regulation based) we need to step back, and go back to the foundation in order to make progress. If you find you and your dog are stuck, unable to move forward, things are falling apart ... Go back. Go back to your foundations, to the exercises and skills you learned at the very beginning of your skills/behavior journey. Rebuilding, re-establishing and re-affirming those foundations, even though they are 'behind you' is very often the best way to move forward.

26/09/2024

One question I hear often from people who live with a deaf or blind/deaf dog, is "But, how do I tell him no when he can't hear me?"

26/09/2024

Change is not easy. I know that. I've made some whoppers of change in my lifetime so far; expect more to come.

So, what helps anyone change? First, respect that change is an intensely personal response. How much change is possible, and how quickly it can happen varies wildly.

I am reminded me of all the times earnest folks told me, "Smoking is so bad for you!" I often wondered what rock they thought I lived under? Hard to escape the information! Until *I* was ready to change, you could have woken me up every freaking morning with a stack of studies, and I still would have pushed them aside to light the morning cigarette.

The awareness comes first, long before the change (generally speaking -- always the possibilities of epiphanies!), and in fact, awareness is considered the first step in the change process.

I want to keep making people aware of what is possible between people and animals. We need to do it in a way that does not make them defensive. You know, the way we try to help dogs make changes?

In my mind, I'm wondering how many ways big and small we can raise awareness. Those who want to can join the chorus (not the villagers with pitchforks and torches!) to sing a song that makes people stop and listen, watch and wonder. It is possible. Let's share ideas

Gandhi said it best: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

26/09/2024

26/09/2024

I’m often asked if deaf dogs can enjoy off leash playtime and freedom. Two key ingredients for any dog to be given off leash freedom are teaching the dog to pay attention to us and to come back to us when we ask.Deaf dogs can learn these skills too. The tricky part can be getting a deaf dog’s at...

26/09/2024

Speaking out loud to deaf dogs can enhance our communication in surprising ways.

26/09/2024

I’m often asked what I think are the most important things to teach to deaf dogs... my Top 5 Must-Haves for Deaf Dogs.

20/08/2024

HALLELUJAH! I AM FINALLY HOME. I was away for 17 days of pet sitting. Today was my first day to decompress and enjoy being home with my family. I LOVE MY JOB. I'm grateful to all of my loyal clients, but I'm thankful to be home. Woo-hoo!

15/08/2024

It’s much easier to get through difficult procedures if we feel we have some kind of control.

Sometimes we need to go ahead with things our dogs find uncomfortable because it’s a case of welfare. And we shouldn’t feel guilty about that. Dogs are amazingly forgiving and if we put enough good stuff in, the bad stuff has less of an impact.

But providing more choice and control for our dogs in as many areas we can. Can make getting things done much less traumatic for both of us.

A few of you asked to know more about consent handling and start/stop buttons after I shared it in my story. If you would like to watch my free video explanation, comment CONSENT and I’ll DM you the link.

15/08/2024

If you want to know why a dog humps, pay close attention to context—who the dogs are and when it's happening.

15/08/2024

Yes you can poison your recall☠️ and it is very common
Recall (having your dog come to you when called) is one of those cues in training that depends heavily on your relationship together. 🤝🙂
However, there are other things we can inadvertently do which damage a good recall and we often don't even realise we do this.
One of the advantages of having an In Home Trainer is we see all those little things that make SUCH a big difference.
Calling your dog to you when you are about to do something unpleasant to them (or they view as could be a negative experience)....even for the best of intentions, can poison recalls.
Calling them to their dreaded bath.
You know they dislike having their nails cut, but they are called to you.....usually ignoring your calls and then finally skulking slowly forward... with their head down low.
Calling them to you when you have the ear drops in your hand.
They will start to make associations with recall and what you actually want them for.
The opposite (calling away from fun and positive experiences) is also true.
Constantly calling your dog away from fun and positive experiences is a recall destroyer.
One of the biggest destroyers of a recall is calling them to you and clipping their lead straight on and leaving the fun area.....have a play with them first, clip on the lead and continue to have fun for a few minutes. This is a little thing that turns that negative association into a really positive one..
So DON"T call them when they may view what you are wanting (or importantly needing to do)....go and get them.
If you need to groom, please take the time and look into cooperative care, it makes SUCH a difference.
Recently I worked with a Pitbull that was in a desperate situation with their claws.
No-one would do them, not their veterinary clinic, no groomer...no-one...even with a muzzle. He is classified by our council as a menacing dog.
It took 2 half hour sessions with some very easy steps that the motivated guardians did a few times a day for a minute or two.......The result.
Nails done....with no muzzle......and NO stress.
A pleasant experience for everyone.
One of the other issues we picked up on was he was called to them for everything , including being called away from positive/fun experiences and for what he may view as negative.....and it certainly affected their recall too. The recall was about 30 %.
So if your recall is more miss than hit....look at when you actually call them too you and why.
If you change little habits you can make some very big differences.

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