Tonight I found all these cool stinckers from  REDBUBBLE.COM. I'm a weirdo for my age, I still like putting stickers on my car, partially because it's OLD and needs them so no one think I don't *KNOW* that it's a bit of a wreck, and secondly it just reminds me of being younger. Conversely I *HATE* buttons, like the kind with sayings and photos- absolutely HATE them. Thank god these aren't buttons!

BEST PUG STICKER EVER~

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE "RETRO" 70s..

WORD!

SUMO DOGS....
but they are FRENCHIES? Shouldn't this have been two SHIBA INUS? .. *IF* we are being authentic here.

Click here to download:

EODfireworksFAQ.pdf (1.46 MB)

(download)

Click here to download:

EODfireworksFAQ.pdf (1.46 MB)

Instead of just doing an article this year, I was inspired by Sophia Yin's Body Language Poster that was eminently sharable and made a FIREWORKS pdf that's sharable with some ideas for keeping your dog calm and relaxed this July 4th. It's by NO means the final source of all good ideas, so let me know what else has worked for you along the way and I can add it NEXT YEAR..or maybe tihs year if I'm super industrious [fireworks 2.0?]

That's my dog holding the sparklers!

(download)

Click here to download:

p285.mov (595 KB)

He came in as the most shy dog in the class, and is slowly warming up and coming out of his shell. Small dog class is a great way to remedially socialize small dogs with other dogs of a similar size so they are "less scary" and then you can slowly work up to more interactions with larger or mulitiple dogs. Small dog class also help focus on some of those annoying small dog centric issues like EXTENDED housetraining issues, barking and hand shyness.

Jumping through the arms is a great trick to reduce fear of proximity to people's hands/arms and LOOMING OVER-which is a BIGGIE.

IN case you've never seen a circus-y dog show, you can get some trick ideas HERE

This TRICK  is surprisingly easy to teach. Next week I'll show the steps to this trick!

xoxoxo Denise

This fall Empire of the Dog in Brooklyn is proud to host THE PIT BULL GURU, Drayton Michaels.

Drayton has petitioned tirelessly for the cause of Pit Bulls. His documentary The Pit Bull Hoax is available online and he operates PITBULLGURU.COM.

This fall we will host Drayton for a very special seminar in BROOKLYN at our EMPIRE of the DOG studio in WIlliamsburg. We are very excited-stay tuned for details. In the meantime, prove to yourself the difficulty with BSL [Breed Specific Legislation] by taking the CAN YOU SPOT THE PITBULL quiz online.

A question many new [and seasoned even] dog owners often ask me is, "Is that play TOO ROUGH?", in regard to their dog's play style or the style of a play partner for their dog. Sometimes what they mean is "Is that play too LOUD?". It's true that rough play can often accompany loud and growly play. However, more often than not, loud play is simply that-LOUD PLAY. A great way to try and look at dog play without being negatively biased by the sound is to turn the volume down in your head and focus on how it looks rather than how it sounds.

Banjo [ shown here in Australian Terrier Red] and Truman [ a pretty picture in Mixed Brussels Brown] engage in some growly but mutually satisfying consensual play. There is 'turnabout', meaning that they each swap 'dominant' or rather PUSHY roles if you will, and each is in turn the 'chaser' and the 'chasee'. If everything "looks" good, you can often chalk up the sound to preference or personality, but not "intention" to do harm or it being TOO rough.

(download)

Click here to download:

IMG_0275.MOV (1.63 MB)