Brown Dog Blog

On June 5th we brought home our new baby boy Murphy. He is 8 weeks old and absolutely adorable!

Murphy on the ride home

During the 5 hour car ride home he was an angel. He allowed us to put on his Kurgo Tru Fit Harness without any fuss. This was perfect for keeping him safe during the ride and still allowing me to cuddle next to him on the back seat while dad did the driving. This was the first time I had the opportunity to try out the Kurgo harness and I have to say I was very impressed. The matching Wander Leash came in handy because we had to stop every hour to allow Murphy to relieve himself. The fact that you can unclip the harness from the car seat belt and clip on the Wander Leash made this very easy and very safe for Murphy. Even though Murphy is too young to know how to walk on a leash the fact that we always had him under control when stopping next to bury roads and highways was a blessing.

Another product we tried out was the Kurgo Wander Bowl. It is priced a bit higher than other travel bowls we sell, but we found this one does not leak at all whereas the two other travel bowls we tested leaked within a few minutes. I will not name them since we will not continue to sell them! I guess you do get what you pay for.

So far Murphy has been settling in to life at Brown Dog Treasures with ease. He took well to the crate training and has had less than a hand full of accidents right near the kitchen door. He already knows where he should do his business, sometimes Mom and Dad are just too slow in getting him out there!

We are encountering one common problem. On day 3 Murphy seemed to get the idea that humans were chew toys! We have had quite a hard time trying to convince him that he can not tear pants legs, jump and nip at us. Yes, we know all the usual corrections. We were quite  successful in breaking Guinness of this habit. We have even helped friends and neighbors overcome this problem, but for some reason Murphy is proving to be much more difficult in this area than any other pup we have encountered.

We are going to consult a professional trainer for advice on this and we will pass on any information to you. In the next several weeks we will be reviewing puppy training techniques. So if you need some advice on training your pup check back with us daily.

Our Walk Your Dog With Love harnesses have arrived!

As an owners of a VERY rambunctious 75 lb. chocolate lab I can’t tell you how happy Bryan and I were to find this harness.

As a puppy our Guinness was very hard to manage on his walks. It wasn’t that he meant to be disobedient, he was just so full of joy every waking moment. It was if he couldn’t wait to get down the street and around the next corner. He just needed to see everything and say hello to everybody. It was really more like Guinness dragging me around the neighborhood rather than Guinness going for a walk! Guinness is 11year old now and a little easier to manage. But if he spots a squirrel or a baby carriage or a neighbor he likes, we are off to the races again!

Over the years we have tried many types of collars and harnesses. We started with those “chokers” that were recomended by a local trainer. Well that was just not a good idea. First of all a chocker is exactly what it says it is…it chokes your dog into submission! I just couldn’t stand it!

Then we tried the type of harness that goes over the muzzle. Guinness hated it. He became so distressed he didn’t want to walk at all. He felt he was somehow being punished. I do know that some people use these with sucesss, but I think they do look rather foolish.

We shelled out big bucks on training. We took Guinness to private Obedience classes. He was took excitable to take a group class. Well that worked just fine…as long as he was at class. As long as the teacher was present, Guinness was a model student. He even obeyed off leash commands on a busy city street. As soon as he got home he went right back to pulling me all over town!

I guess I wasn’t calm and assertive enough! Well the good news is I have something that works! The Walk your Dog With Love Harness is very simple, very reasonably priced and works instantly. I no longer have to be a “dog whisperer” top take him on a walk.

You can find out more about how it works by watching this short video below.