toxic foods

We answer a lot of questions about what you should and shouldn't feed your dog.

With hundreds of brands of kibble, canned food, and raw diets to consider this can be a very confusing subject! We recommend you look at the ingredient list of various foods and choose a brand that has meat as the main ingredient. Avoid brands that have Corn, Soy, and Wheat on the top of the list as a dog's digestive system does not know how to process these. Spend some time doing research online and in a pet store and you can find a food that fits both your budget and your dog's needs.

A lot simpler is to list the foods you should NOT give your dog. According to the ASPCA national animal poison control center these are the foods that are toxic to dogs:

Onions or onion powder

Chocolate- especially dark or baker's chocolate

Coffee and all coffee- related products

Chocolate covered espresso beans

Tea

Alcoholic beverages

Macadamia nuts

Hops (used in home brewing)

Grapes and raisins (including all associated products such as juice or wine)

Tomato foliage (leaves and stems)

Green parts of potato (green peelings, sprouts and foliage)

Rhubarb leaves

Avocados

Pits and seeds from fruits

Bitter almonds

Moldy or spoiled foods

If you want to feed your dog well stay away from the foods on the toxic list, keep table scraps and salty foods to a minimum, and take some time to choose a good quality food from the many commercially available.

The Dark Moon Puppy Project is working on AKC Canine Good Citizen Certification(CGC). We would like to invite members and friends of the Puppy Project to join us for training sessions designed to get you and your dog ready to pass the CGC test!

The CGC program is designed to promote good basic manners in dogs and responsible ownership for their people.  We think that everyone should be comfortable taking their dog out in public. Passing the CGC test proves that you and your dog can handle situations that commonly arise when a dog goes out for fun or to the groomer or vet. The program lays the foundation for other activities from therapy certification to competition obedience to dog sports like lure coursing and agility. When you work together well enough to earn your CGC certification you can be proud to take your dog with you whenever you go out!

There are 10 test items that a dog must be able to handle gracefully to pass the CGC test:

1. Accepting a friendly stranger
2. Sitting politely for petting
3. Appearance and grooming(allowing the groomer to do her job)
4. Out for a walk(loose lead)
5. Walking through a crowd
6. Sit and Down on command and Staying in place
7. Coming when called
8. Reaction to another dog
9. Reaction to distraction
10. Supervised Separation

You are invited to join us as we work on these skills over the next few months. We will finish by taking the test with a qualified CGC evaluator to see if your dog can be a Canine Good Citizen!

If you and your dog would like to join us for our CGC training sessions contact Asia at:

phone (702)480-8918

email sunhorse1@att.net

5 months old...

At 5 months the puppies are as adorable as ever.  Ghost and Traveler still manage to fit on the little hassock comfortably.  They now weigh about 30 pounds and we are really seeing the benefits of their early handling!  They have all their shots and can safely go out in public where they get lots of comments about how well behaved they are.  All but Runner and Ghost have found families of their own.

We are getting together with the litter and some outside friends every week for puppy class.  In this class the puppies, dogs, and their people can get together to play and work with Judith to keep their manners and socialization current. The last few weeks we have been meeting at Sunset Park where there is a nice fenced dog park and lots of other dogs and people.  We are working on the basics of leash walking without pulling and on recalls- getting the dog to come to you when you call their name.  We would like to get all of the puppies certified as AKC good citizens.

The pups really enjoy seeing the people and dogs they grew up with!

 In one of their favorite greeting rituals Auntie Freyja sings her husky song and shows her teeth while Cookies checks to see if she brought her any food and shows proper puppy/submissive body language.

Bandit and Cookies were very happy to see Lucia this week!

One of the things I like about this litter is how connected they are to their people, especially to Judith who they seem to regard as their mother.  In this photo you can see how each puppy is connected to her in their own way.

Bandit and Cookies are very happy to stay with their person Travis as they walk around the park too!

Puppy class!

 

In this photo you can see me-Asia- with adult mix Corey, Chihuahua Mayet, and an adult Dalmatian/Heeler cross who was boarding with us last week.  Her name is Sophie.  See how much Sophie and the black-eared puppy Traveler look alike?  Buddha and Tank wanted to get in the picture too...

However, this post is not about the eternal cuteness of puppies, it is about our puppy classes!  Now that the puppies are 4 months old they are all receiving their final sets of shots.  That means they have good immunity to the diseases like Parvo that are common killers in this area, and THAT means that they can go out in public!  We want to invite all of the puppies that live in vegas to join us for a socialization class once a week. We introduced the puppies to lots of different people and dogs as they grew up. At four months of age they are starting their shy phase, so to keep them from learning to be afraid we will take them out to see all the things the world has to offer. This 8 week class will keep them in the socialization loop through their shy phase so they can face the world with confidence like Shadow and Freyja in this photo taken in front of Caesar's Palace. 

Judith has lots of fun outings planned.  The plans range from informal dining at Sonic's outdoor tables to puppy parades in Home Depot, attending First Friday's pit bull parade, dealing with the crowds on the strip, and training sessions at the park. This puppy class will take place once a week and should start March 8th.  We are asking a small 10$ donation from each family that comes to a class.  This will help cover our travel expenses. We welcome other dogs, so if you have another dog living with a dark moon puppy or a friend with a dog they can come along too!

Chew toy training

Your puppy needs to chew on things.  For dogs, chewing develops the body, keeps them mentally occupied, and cleans their teeth.  Chewing is such a part of what a dog is that if they can't chew they will actually become mentally ill.

To keep them from chewing on the wrong thing you need to puppy-proof your house before you bring your puppy home.  Just like when you have a toddler, anything that will be within reach needs to be put away.  

You also need to make sure they have good things to chew on.  We cut up old clothes and tied them in interesting knots to make inexpensive chew toys.  We also give them Kong toys, sticks, dried bamboo from the garden, and stuffed dog toys. 

We are always careful to get toys without squeakers if we are going to let the puppies play unsupervised because they like to dig the squeaker out and eat it.  This can result in a trip to the vet if you are unlucky!

Our older dogs generously offer to be chew toys as well.

Ghost: the Deaf Puppy

Ghost is turning into a very special puppy.  

He is deaf.  

  

 Deafness in dogs and cats is associated with the genetics for the color white.  The simple way it was explained to me is that when there are two copies of the gene that causes white color on the eardrum, it interferes with hearing.

We called him Screamer when he was younger because he would make more noise than anyone else. This was our first clue that he was different from his littermates.  If you don't watch him very closely you can't tell any difference.  He has days where training is easy and days where it if hard, just like other puppies. 

 He plays with other dogs just like the rest of the puppies.  He loves to cuddle and follow you around just like other puppies.  But when you call him he won't come unless he can see you.

Since the puppies came back from their christmas vacation on the ranch Ghost has become one of my favorites.  Last night he slept in the bed with me, cuddling all night long.


He is one of the gentler puppies in his litter and he is always paying close attention to me.

Look at this sweet face!  Judith would like to use a vibration collar on him.  We would train him that when the collar vibrates he should look around for his person.  Then we have a way to get his attention without depending on our voice. 
We have had several deaf families contact us about providing a home for him.  Wouldn't it be great if he could learn sign language with a family that understood his world view so intimately?

vote for your favorite pic!

We are making a new version of the Dark Moon Puppy Project calling cards.  We are using these cards like business cards so people we meet can look up the blog when they get home.  

Six of the puppies are looking for their forever home and these cards may help them find it!

Which picture is the best illustration of the puppy project?  

 

#1:  The Pied Piper

#2:  Puppy Collection

 #3:  Sweetiepie the Second

 # 4:  Attentive puppies

 #5:  The Pile

 

Post your comment and tell us which one you like best!