Kiddie Pool Success!

For a year now, we have had a couple of sad, unused kiddie pools just begging to be romped in but to no avail.  See, kiddie pools need to be filled up with the hose to be enjoyed on a hot summer day and folks, the hose is considered to be evil around our house.

Last summer was an epic fail in regards to introducing the pools to the dawgs.  Silly me, in my human overconfidence, assumed that dogs that love water + kiddie pools filled with water + hot temps would automatically = success.  Luckily, my dawgs were around to squash such overconfidence and completely shunned the pool.  This summer, I was determined to try again and this time, approach it as we do any training goal - by taking baby steps towards the end goal and using lots of extremely yummy rewards.

Can I haz yummy noms?

Here are the skills Hurley needed to be successful:
- "In" command - we clicker trained Hurley to get in a box when he was a (rather large) puppy.
- Love of Noms

Here are the skills Sadie needed to be successful:
- Desire to please Mom
(Sadie did not previously know the "in" cue but learned it as we trained getting in the kiddie pool)

Several weeks ago, I placed the empty kiddie pool in the middle of the backyard.  We clicked and treated both Hurley and Sadie getting in the pool.   Maggie looked at us like we were crazy as all get out (girl does not walk under, over, or through objects.  ever.).

Maggie worked up the courage to bob for ice cubes but that's about as close as she will get.

Then I put the dogs inside where they were not able to witness what happened next.

I filled the pool.  With the EVIL HOSE.  See, I thought that if they saw that the hose was involved, I would have no chance.  I also knew that Hurley would absolutely jump in the pool without realizing there was water in there if we had been practicing with a dry pool moments before.  I didn't know if he would then be OK with the water or if he would look at me like I had betrayed him.  He hated me for about 15 minutes after that.  (sorry, buddy.  I had to try!)

Sadie, however, was more than happy to jump in and out whenever I wanted.  She didn't particularly like standing in the water but hey, it makes Mom happy and that makes her happy.

This is where we have been for a couple weeks.  Until yesterday, that is.  I realized that my strategy to trick Hurley into leaping into a filled pool probably wasn't the best idea.  For whatever reason, he has some mild water apprehension and for known reasons, distrusts us in relation to artificial water sources. 

So I decided this time my only trick would be the super delicious treats I was using.  I loaded up my treat bag with beef liver sausage treats, grabbed the clicker and started from scratch.

We did it!

 Here are our steps to success:

1.  Click and treat for getting in the empty pool.  Because of the previous experience, Hurley was a little apprehensive about getting in the empty pool but after Sadie had tossed back several handfuls of beef liver, he was not about to let his sister get the rest.

2.  When the dogs are not in the kiddie pool, place the hose NEXT to it.  Ask for an "in" and click and treat several times.

3.  Again with the dogs out of the pool, place the hose in the pool (water off).  Click and treat several times for getting in and out of the pool.

4.  Now turn the hose on at a low pressure (you want the pool to fill very very slowly).  I had placed both kiddie pools next to each other at this point so at first, Sadie was the only one getting in the pool that was being filled.  I still worked Hurley in and out of the empty pool but gave bigger and more enthusiastic rewards to Sadie. 

5.  Get in the pool yourself.  Hurley absolutely refused to get in the pool that was filling until after I started getting in myself.  I stepped in to show him that it wasn't going to swallow me alive and for the rest of the training session, I was in the pool until the very end when he wasn't thinking twice about leaping in and out of the pool.

Hey, my paw is wet!  How did that happen??

6.  The very first time your dog dips a toe, immediately ask them for an "out" or call them away from the pool.  When you are asking your dog to accept something they feel is uncomfortable, use the concept of functional rewards to make them more comfortable.  Getting out of the pool is a functional reward for a kiddie pool suspicious canine.  So the first few times Hurley was brave enough to put one or two paws in, I threw a little party and immediately asked him to get out. He learned very quickly that getting in the pool is immediately followed by getting out and over a few repetitions began to realize the kiddie pool wasn't that big of a deal.

7.  When they finally place all 4 paws in, throw a treat party.  I slowly and continuously fed Hurley several handfuls of treats while he stood there with all 4 paws in.  After that, he had no problems showing off his wading skills.

I'm King of the Kiddie Pool!

Do you have a kiddie pool lovin' or kiddie pool suspicious canine at your home?  If you've been successful at encouraging kiddie pool love, what steps did you take? 

How to Get A Vegetable-Loving Dog

Here at Casa de Married with Dawgs, our crew loves their vegetables.  I often enjoy telling folks about Hurley's first encounter with kale or how I make "salads" for the dawgs when I make my lunch.

Most times I get the same response: "my dog would never eat vegetables" or something along those lines.

Our dawgs too have not always been the veggie lovers they are today.  If I had attempted to give cabbage to Sadie & Maggie years ago, I'm pretty sure they would have looked at me like I had two heads.  Going from eating only kibble & loving it to having the diverse diet they have today was a process, veggies included.

There are many reasons why having veggie lovin' dogs is a good thing:

1.  Fresh raw nutrition is best.*  However, many of us have to juggle the restrictions of our wallets and the other demands on our time.  Going raw or home-cooked for our dogs is not in the cards for many pet owners.  That's A-OK but for those folks, I recommend adding anything fresh to their dog's diet.  Veggies can be a great way of adding vitamins & minerals made by Mother Nature as opposed to factories in China (virtually all synthetic vitamins in commercial pet foods are produced in China).

2.  Veggies as treats are a heck of a lot cheaper than just about any high quality store-bought treat.

3.  Veggies are low in calories and when given as snacks, you don't have to worry about the extra calories.  This is important when doing tons of training with frequent reinforcement.  Those treats add up quickly and dogs often receive more than a meal's worth in one training session.  Going the veggie route when low value treats can be used is a great way to offset the calorie bomb that can be a standard training session. 

4.  A veggie-chowin' dog is always good for a laugh.  I love having folks over for BBQ.  I give the dawgs their carrot treat, which they race out to the backyard to find a place to enjoy it in peace.  The looks on people's faces when they realize the dawgs are going coo coo for plain ol' veggies is priceless. So is the astonishment I receive when guests witness our dawgs being all nonchalant when I'm prepping meat for the BBQ and then going all beggar-dawgs on us when the veggies get chopped.

Sure, that's all well & nice, Sarah, you say.  But do you seriously think my dog will eat veggies?

I'm not foolish.  I didn't get to kale-lovin' dogs instantly either.  Looking back at how I've been slowly incorporating vegetables over the past several years, I definitely took it slow, tried lots of different things and ultimately didn't give up.  Here are some tips to get your carnivore pooch to omnivore status:

1.  Start crunchy.  For our dawgs, we started with carrots.  I soon realized that Sadie will chomp on anything crunchy regardless of flavor.  But in the beginning, none of them would give green leafy vegetables a single lick.  So I went with it and crunchy we stayed for a while.

2.  Experiment.  Most of our veggie advances have happened on a lark.  As in, wouldn't it be hilarious to see the dawgs' faces when they taste asparagus?  celery?  kale?  I can't claim that the dawgs have liked every veggie they've tried but they do keep surprising me, especially when I'm utterly certain they will hate whatever it is that I just gave them.

3.  Use Peer Pressure.  It's amazing what a dog will eat when they see their sibling devouring it.  It's why Hurley eats poop and why Maggie has eaten any veggie I've ever given her.  I constantly use this to my advantage and I'm very lucky to have Sadie, who will eat anything Mom gives her because Mom gave it to her.  If you don't have multiple dogs, be creative.  Eat a carrot and then give them some.  If they see you eating it, it instantly becomes more valuable.

4.  Stick to Basics.  Did your kale experiment with your dog go horribly wrong?  If you are introducing your dog to fresh veggies, stick with the ones that most dogs enjoy in the beginning.  Carrots, sweet potatoes, & green beans are usually popular.

5.  Cheat.  I once "marinated" carrots in bacon to make them a higher value training treat.  My dawgs were already eating & loving carrots but I needed to make them higher value for a training class.  You can use the same idea for simply getting your dog to try a new veggie.

6.  Try Veggies BFF Fruit:  Fruit really is the gateway drug into dogs eating their veggies.  If the basic veggies are a no go, try starting with berries & apples.

7.  Trick 'em.  Boil veggies in broth.  Puree and mix in with kibble.  Scatter throughout a filled Kong.  Basically trick your dog into eating their veggies by finding creative ways to hide them in the things you already know your dog will eat.

8.  Break rules for veggies.  Do you have a no-feeding dogs from your plate or counter rule like we do in our house?  By breaking the normal food rules you may have in place to discourage begging, you may find that your dog will beg for veggies like ours do.

9.  Cook it.  Some veggies might be more appealing to dogs cooked rather than raw.  For instance, all of our dawgs love cooked asparagus but Sadie's the only one who will eat the raw woody end of an asparagus. 

Dogs eating vegetables is really not that foreign of an idea.  Look at the ingredient panel of your current pet food and you will find none other than vegetables.  Low quality foods may be full of corn and tomato or beet pomace while higher quality foods may contain peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, etc.  While dogs do need the majority of their diet to be meat-based, veggies are very appropriate for them to eat and can be nutritious and delicious to boot.

*In order for your dog to receive the maximum nutritional value of vegetables, they need to be pureed or lightly steamed.  Dogs do not chew food like we do and they are lacking in a particular amino acid that helps to break down the cellulose in vegetable cell walls.  Pureeing or steaming does that work for your dog so they can receive the most nutritional benefit from their veggies.  If giving veggies for a snack or amusement and not for nutritional value, veggies do not need to be steamed or pureed.  We do both here at Casa de NoPo Paws.  The dawgs will receive a dinner of steamed cabbage, mashed peas & chickpeas and beef tonight.  They will also probably get a whole carrot to chew on while I'm making everyone's dinner.