When she was small, we used the Yak milk chews. Wonderful things. She loved them. But as she grew, they didn’t last as long because she would bite off chunks and then barf them up.

Then we switched to Benebones. They were lasting a long time and The Boys liked them, too. They’re not exactly edible but as long as the dog is able to chew off only rice-sized pieces or smaller, all is well.

Except for Quinn. She’s always had a sensitive stomach. She started eating dirt. And was almost frenetic about it. Even if we went somewhere, the first thing she would do is look for dirt to eat. We put her on a vitamin for a while and that seemed to work. But then she took up the culinary arts of eating raw grass.

Then we had the accident. Quinn was put on an eye drop antibiotic in NJ but when we got home, our vet (Charlotte Street Animal Hospital) switched her to an oral one. The first antibiotic our vet gave her made her sick so they switched to yet another. Then she started vomiting almost every night between 1 and 4 am. Nothing in it, just the usual stuff. No grass even though she was eating it and dirt again.

Took her back to the vet and we opted to put her on two things: FortiFlora (probiotic) and Pepcid (20mg BID). Slowly the grass eating decreased as did the vomiting. We eased off on the FortiFlora. All is well. Eased off on the Pepcid. Not so much. Our vet (Dr K) believes Quinn is ulcer prone. That’s why she wanted the dirt and grass. Then the accident (high stress), the antibiotic switching, and more anxiety from other events, and Quinn had an ulcer. Dr K believes that when Quinn laid down to sleep, all that acid just sat there in her stomach. A few hours later, up it comes. So giving her a treat every night gave the acid something to do. And it works.

Back to the Benebones. Quinn’s stomach was doing relatively well until we got new Benebones. We’d not had any for various reasons and the dogs were happy to get them again. And the nighttime vomiting started again, too. We took them away and after a few nights, the vomiting stopped.

Two weeks ago, Quinn found one in the dog lot and had fun with it. And that night vomited. Our assumption is the hard tiny pieces she is ingesting is irritating her stomach. There’s nothing wrong with Benebones (as far as I can tell and I’ve done a LOT of research). We got this Nylabone antler shaped thing and gave the dogs that. They love it. And no barfing. She can chew on one for hours and there be little to no change in the shape of it.

I suppose this is a very long review! The Himalayan chews are fantastic IF you have a soft chewer. A dog who finds pleasure in the chewing (Mike), not the breaking it up (Sam). They are edible but should be taken away if they get too small for the dog. Allegedly you can put the pieces in the microwave and they bubble up into another treat? I’ve never done it.

The Boys did not have any problems with the Benebones and neither does my brother’s family dogs. I highly recommend them. I do NOT recommend the figure-8/tug toy shaped one. Quinn almost got her lower jaw hung in it.

I’m not a fan of Nylabone but these antlers are good. The dogs all love them so much, we had to get 3. Mike doesn’t normally chew things but he likes these.

FortiFlora is available without a prescription. Quinn will be getting it any time she has antibiotics (which has happened several times since the accident).

I don’t recommend you give your dog Pepcid without consulting your vet. The amount a dog can take varies on the weight and reason. For example, Quinn takes 40mg a day total. Sam, who also sometimes (once every 3 yrs or so) gets acidic and drools. He only takes 10mg a day and outweighs Quinn by about 10lbs.

By the way, please get your dog treats, chews, and toys locally from an independent supplier. I only gave the links above as reference. Buying local helps the small business owner which is good for the local economy. We go to the Weaverville Pet Pantry and Asheville Pet Supply for almost everything.

1 can plain pumpkin
1 can’s worth of yogurt (it may have been plain vs vanilla)
3/4 can’s worth of water (use to rinse out can before adding)

Put it in my blender and made a gross smoothy. It was thinner than I wanted but it still works. Next time I won’t add much water.

I then poured some into an ice cube tray and put the rest in the rinsed out yogurt container since I’d emptied it.

I gave Quinn some of the leftover. She snarfed it then went nuts for more. I didn’t give her any because I’m mean.

The next day, I popped out three of the ice cubes and gave them to the dogs. They loved ’em. Even Sam, who is hard to get to eat veggies and fruit. He’s a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy.

Dogs can have about 1-4 tablespoons per day. It adds fiber and can help with both diarrhea and constipation. You don’t want to give too much or it can cause both issues. It isn’t supposed to be given every day, not a spoon of it straight from the can with each meal. It can be a diluted treat like I did or just use it once or twice a week. And if used for constipation or diarrhea, if the problem isn’t fixed within 24hrs, go to your vet!

Quinn has a sensitive stomach (hard to believe but yeah) and I’m trying to come up with treats for her. One ice cube is not much so I can treat them twice a day, making them feel special.

Sources:
(both links became broken. ah well. just take my word for it)

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal can only be a dog (and some miniature ponies) and must do at least one trained task that assists the person with the disability. Carrying a backpack is not a trained task since it doesn’t take training for it (unless the dog hates it and you have to work with them but that’s not “training”, that acclimatizing). So simply having a dog carrying your books in a dog backpack is not a trained task even if it helps. Pushing a door button so it opens, yes. Picking up your bag, yes. Handing you something you dropped, yes.

The wonderful thing about breaking down a task into bits is those bits can go into other tasks. TOUCH for example is the basics for a lot of tasks. You teach TOUCH in order for them to understand this is what we are working with. I want you to touch it (over and over). Once Quinn had the basics of TOUCH down, TAKE was easy(ish). So will be pull, push, open, and close. Each task can be broken down into bits. But more on training in another article.

(italics means she knows this!!)
Retrieves:
– specific object by name (get my shoe; get the phone; get your leash)
– person (go get Lorna)
– dropped object (get it/that)
– targeted object (get that thing I am pointing to)
– next object (get the next one; not that one, the next one)

Directions:
– Get behind (get behind me or my chair)
– Go around (go around from one side to the other)
– Look at me (focus!)
– back up (go backwards)

– Give (give me what you have)
– Take (take what is in my hand)

Situational
– pull sock (take off my sock; which also teaches “the next one”)
– push button (power entry door button)
– get drink (open cooler, take out container, close cooler, bring container to me)
– carry (keep what you have in your mouth and bring it along)

Regular obedience
– sit (butt on the floor)
– wait/stay (when I am training a dog, they are the same thing)
– down (lay down)
– free (release)
– leave it (don’t touch it, lick it, pick it up, just leave it)
– off (get off whatever you are on)
– easy (don’t bite; be gentle)
– drop it (whatever you got in there, let it go)
– up (jump up onto something)
– out/outside (go outdoors; also part of cue to do business)
– hurry up (do your business)

May or May Not Teach Her
– Pill alarm or alarm clock? (nudge me? go get water bottle?)
– Help to stand? (she’s up curb, I pull on harness)

As we continue to learn together, I’ll add to the list on the tasks page (to be made but look for it the top or side menu).

There are some foundation bits that are used a lot such as SIT and TOUCH. With TOUCH, I can link it to TAKE then to PULL. And soon we have Quinn taking a rope and pulling the laundry basket.

Gail Hubbard from A Good Dog’s Life made a video with her dog, Tayt. She’s teaching him a trick. She breaks down the trick into small bits and slowly gets him to do the entire thing. I’ve put the video below but go read the post to learn what she is doing and why and how to do it yourself.

In another video, Donna Hill of Service Dog Training Institute teaches a dog to touch then flip a light switch. Watching it is both boring and exciting at the same time. I will be adapting this to teach Quinn to push buttons. I don’t *need* her to do light switches but we may do it just for another notch on the cape belt. Donna Hill, who is legendary for her training, has a bunch of videos on stuff from agility to bird dogs to service dogs.