Darf Blog

Teach your cat to do tricks!

What reward works with your kitty?

Yes!  You can teach your cat to do tricks!  We’ll describe how to do the tricks in later posts.  Your cat can learn to do tricks if you choose a time and reward that works for your kitty.  If edible rewards are used, choose a time when the cat is hungry.  Also, make sure your cat is well rested.

Before your begin, find out what your cat considers a reward.  Some cats like tuna fish or cat treats.  Some cats like toys or catnip stuffed toys.  Our cats like attention (they don’t respond to treats).

I test my cat to see if she is ready to learn by calling her.  If she comes she’s awake and wants something.

Housebreak your dog with an iPhone or iPod

iPottyTrain Main Screen

The new iPhone/iPod Touch App called iPottyTrain really works!

You can housebreak your puppy or to schedule potty breaks for your adult dog by using the app’s scheduling, alarms and log.

iPottyTrain tracks a dog’s daily intake and elimination routine.

This great app helps you understand the relationship between your dog’s food and water intake and his/her potty breaks, you can successfully schedule your dog’s potty breaks.

Features:

- Visual and audio potty break alerts

- Alert intervals can be set from 1 – 8 hours

- Logs dog’s food, water and potty routine

- Comments can be added to log

- “Dog whimpering” alarm can be muted

- Alarm can be set to repeat every 5 minutes

Available at fingertappers.com or at the iTunes App Store.

Get your dog to go potty on command

Fergie, a 15 year old Yorkie who had very lax housebreaking habits, now has become a very reliable and housebroken dog. How? We made her go out more often than she needed to and told her to “go potty”. When she did we gave her a tiny treat. After one  month, she became very reliable.She gets it and will now go out and pee. Come in for her treat. Then go out again to go poo and come back in for a treat. She knows what she’s doing.

We HIGHLY recommend this solution for anyone having housebreaking challenges.

How to get your dog to shake

Have your dog sit.

Ask her to shake. Lift her paw. Give her a treat.

Do this 5 more times. Let her rest for at least 30 minutes.

Try again. Offer her your hand, ask her to shake. If she will does it without you lifting her paw, treat her. If she doesn’t lift her paw, ask her to shake again, lift her paw and treat her.

Soon, she will lift her paw to shake when you ask her. When you feel like she shakes on command, only treat her for shaking once of every 3-5 times she does it.

How often and how much to treat your dog

Dogs don’t care about the size of the treat you give them…they care about getting the treat. So, treat your dog more often with very small morsels.

One big treat each day, teaches them that they get one big treat a day. When you give your dog smaller treats each time they do something good they learn that good behavior elicits a reward.

If you want to give your dog a treat,  make him/her do something for it. Each time you reward her for an accomplishment, she learns something.

What sized treat should I give my dog?
Give toy-sized dogs approximately a 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch treat.

Give big dogs just enough so that he can tell you’ve given him a treat. Try a 1/4 inch x 1 inch circle.  Go as small as you can.

Remember, treat LESS more OFTEN!

Hello Dog and Cat Lovers!

Welcome to Darf’s NEW Blog where we discuss everything dogs and cats.  Your source for information, entertainment, fun and games and fabuous products.