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General Tips

• To keep your dog off the sofa, cover it with a pile of coat hangers. Entwined coat hangers are difficult for dogs to remove.
• If your dog rolls in something unsavoury (and let's face it, this has happened to all of us at one time or another) wash the offending area first with cold water and copious amounts of dishwashing liquid (a quality brand such as Fairy or Persil work best). Follow this up with a bath using regular dog shampoo.
• If your female dog comes into season and is driving other males in the house mad take a teaspoonful of Vicks (the chest rub for humans) and mix it with a little warm water. Apply this around her back end to mask the smell that the males find so attractive. This still does not make it safe to walk her in public places while she is in season.
• When shampooing your dog to make shampoo go further dilute it 50/50 with water prior to application, and rub it in using one of those nylon shower scrunchies which are sold fairly cheaply at most chemists.
• A good, cheap ear cleaning alternative to doggy ear wipes is human baby wipes (the ones impregnated with baby oil work best).
• When travelling or boarding your dogs away from home make them new tags for their collar using a plastic key ring with removable paper slips.
• If your dog has an injury on his main torso area that is difficult to keep covered put an old T-shirt over him, and secure any excess above his back with an elastic band.
• If you have a dark coloured dog or a large back garden and you find you tend to loose track of them when you let them out at night, clip a flashing light (the type sold in cycle stores work well) to his collar.
• Within a few days of bringing your new dog home take the time to get a couple of very clear pictures of it. A head shot, and a profile of each side is best. These are not meant to be pictures for the family album, but are the sort of ID you will need if your dog ever goes missing. I have spoken with several kennels, and they say so often when a dog disappears the owners suddenly realise that a picture of little FiFi curled up on the sofa looking cute, will not help strangers in the street identify their lost pet. Put these pictures in a folder somewhere, along with other important details about your dog. If the worst should happen and you lose your pet, you will save a lot of time having this information to hand.
• If your dog likes to chase the local wildlife when let out into the garden, attach several metal tags or a small cat bell to his collar so everyone can hear him coming and get out of the way.
• After a walk in the rain to avoid your living room smelling like wet dog, first of all towel the worst of the water off your dog and then rub him all over with a scented tumble dryer sheet.
• When clipping your dog's nails first of all wipe a little baby oil onto each nail. This will make the quick easier to see (although it obviously won't work on totally black nails!). Also keep a piece of candle, or a bar of soap close by. If you do cut the quick and the nail starts to bleed dragging it across the soap/candle will stem the flow.
• If your dog raids the bin or chews specific items in the house try rubbing them with a little Clove Oil (available from most chemists and health food shops). Most dogs hate the smell, and won't go near anything that has been treated.

Protective collar for injuries

If your dog has an injury and is recommended one of the large 'Elizabethan' style cone collars, consider making your own, less intrusive, model. As long as the injury is not on his legs, a stiff cardboard neck tube (if properly fitted) will prevent him licking and chewing.

All you need to do is measure from behind the ears to the base of their neck (measurement A),

and then around the middle of their neck like you are measuring for a collar (measurement B).

Cut a strip of cardboard (corrugated cardboard from a box is best - it doesn't work with cardboard from a cereal packet) that is not quite as wide as measurement A, and about 2 inches longer than measurement B.

Now you have a long, narrow, rectangle in front of you. Round off the edges a little so they don't dig into the neck, and wrap it around the dog's neck (not too tight, but it must not be able to come up over their ears).

I didn't have a piece of cardboard long enough to make one strip, so it is actually two strips joined together which works just fine. It doesn't look fancy, but it does do the job, is cheap, and can be made to fit any dog you need.

Attach with a few strips of masking or packing tape (regular sellotape doesn't seem to work so great on cardboard).

Tegan wearing the collar. In this picture the collar is clearly not wide enough for her (but she is the best dog I have for taking pictures like this with!). If I were making one for Tegan I would cut it at least an inch wider (measurement A), so it sat higher up behind her ears.

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