For the past two years, Austin Fit Magazine has held a contest to find Austin’s Fittest Dogs.  All of the 18 dogs featured in the write up exemplify health and fitness and have an active and outdoor lifestyle; you know, all the things that dogs love!  Just like last year’s winners, there are some Unleashed Unlimited clients’ dogs in the on the 2010 Austin’s Fittest Dogs winners list!

So what does it take to be one of Austin’s Fittest Dogs?  Besides having an active lifestyle and a love for the outdoors, off-leash control is probably the most useful.  We all know that dogs really can’t have fun on a leash, I mean when was the last time you saw a dog catch a Frisbee, do agility, or go swimming while on a leash?  If you are looking for off leash dog training in Austin, contact Unleashed Unlimited, we can help get you and your dog off leash and having fun!

To see all of Austin’s Fittest Dogs, be sure to pick up the March 2010 issue of Austin Fit Magazine, and if you enjoyed this entry, don’t forget to subscribe to our dog training blog.  You will be automatically notified as soon a new entry is made.

I’m sure we have all heard the term less is more.  So staying with that theme, if you could only pick two skills to teach your dog (any two skills at all), what would you teach and why?

Feel free to leave your responses in the comment area of this post, and in our next post I will post and explain my answer and discuss some of the other submissions as well.

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Check out one of Pedigree’s newest ads; it’s a great little commercial shot in super slow motion. Enjoy!

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Obesity in our dogs is a very serious medical problem.  All of that excess weight take a big strain on our dogs’ heart, lungs, joints and hips.  Overweight dogs are more like to have complications during surgery and are much more at risk for respiratory problems during warmer weather.

Recognizing an overweight dog can be very easily spotted as an outsider, but it’s often harder for owners to recognize obesity in their own dogs.  Take a look at the chart above, where does your dog rank, and what do you think is the ideal body shape?  Feel free to leave your response as a comment below.

Stay tuned for an upcoming entry that will provide the correct answer and a lot more information about obesity and dogs.

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For the past few weeks, Tracey and I have been working on putting together a complete training manual that is totally focused on puppies, and we are proud to announce The Puppy Manual.

The Puppy Manual is composed of tons of useful training information that is aimed at getting puppies and their owners started off on the right foot.  It’s filled with pages and pages of useful training tips, drills, protocols, and scenarios that are geared at turning your puppy into the dog you want him to be!  Take a look at the video that provides a ton more details.

If you would like more information on the puppy training instructional guide or would like to purchase The Puppy Manual, you can visit The Puppy Manual page.

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I am sure we are all aware of the different levels of quality that exist across the board when it comes to consumer goods.  I personally know the difference between a pair of speakers and a good pair of speakers, the difference between pizza and good pizza, and most definitely the difference between dog training and good dog training.

The exact same thinking applies to breeding dogs; yes, it goes way beyond simply breeding two dogs because they are both purebred.  When considering getting a puppy from a breeder, here are some of things you will want to look for:

• They interview you to see if they want to sell you a dog, a good breeder will not sell a puppy to anyone simply because they have money
• After doing a lot of research and planning, they have matched the mother and father up for specific reasons
• They keep the pups with their mother and litter mates 8 weeks or longer
• They select a puppy for you that will best fit your lifestyle and needs
• They start handling and socializing the pups very early
• They don’t breed 10 different types of dogs at their facility
• They require that you return the dog only to them if the dog ever needs to be re-homed
• They don’t constantly have litters available, and don’t have multiple litters at one time
• They discuss the potential drawbacks of getting two dogs from the same litter

There is so much to think about when selecting a dog from a breeder, and from a shelter.  A responsible breeder doesn’t have to hit every single one of these points on the above list, but many of them should be covered.

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The Mattel toy company is gearing up to release a new product that will attempt to cash in on the social media craze, the new product is called Puppy Tweets.

Here’s how Puppy Tweets will work – a tag attaches to your dog’s collar and randomly generates one of several hundred pre-written puppy tweets when it detects barking or movement from your dog.  The tweet is then automatically sent to a USB device in your computer and is then posted as an update to your dog’s Twitter page.

Because the Puppy Tweets are pre-written, the status updates that are sent out by your dog will most likely not accurately reflect what your dog is currently doing, but nevertheless it may be entertaining.  According to Mattel, Puppy Tweets is set to hit toy stores and other retailers in the fall of this year and will sell for $29.99.  Oh, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

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One of the most memorable ads during this year’s Super Bowl definitely belongs to Google.  If you haven’t seen the ad yet, you can watch it here. We liked it so much we decided to put our own spin on the ad, enjoy!

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Many dog training programs are structured and held once a week for a certain duration of time, usually in the neighborhood of 6-10 weeks.  While all training programs require practice and consistency in between lessons, what happens when you are finished with your 10 lessons?

While this approach is fairly typical and has worked in the past, Unleashed Unlimited offers a variety of training packages, most of which include unlimited lessons!  Here’s why we feel that unlimited lessons are a better solution for most:

All dogs and owners learn at different rates - Taking a cookie cutter training approach to every dog just doesn’t seem advantageous.  Unlimited lessons allow us to work the pace of you and your dog.

We have other things going on in our lives - Committing to every Saturday afternoon for the next 10 weeks is difficult for some.  This is not a problem with unlimited lessons, simply jump back into classes when your schedule frees up.

A higher curriculum takes time – Because we take our training to a very high level, we are not going to rush through the different skills.  Unlimited lessons allow us to move our clients and their dogs on to the next level when they are ready.

Training is an ongoing process - Just like with us, our dogs’ skills can get rusty with time.  Our unlimited lessons allow you to attend “brush up” lessons as you see fit, no matter how well behaved our pets are, there is always opportunity to sharpen our skills.

If you are currently shopping around for an Austin Dog Trainer, give Unleashed Unlimited a call!  Not only can you get unlimited training, but you can also get your dog training for free!

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With all of the Christmas puppies coming into their own, we have recently been getting a lot of calls relating to typical puppy issues.  This is such an important time in those young dogs’ lives; so much of what they are learning, or not learning, is shaping them into the dogs that these puppies will become.

When seeing an older dog with fear issues, human aggression, nervous tendencies, handling issues, and other similar traits, it may be common to assume that the dog was abused when they were younger.  I have heard countless people ask, “I wonder what happened to that dog when he was younger that can explain these behaviors.”

Often times it may very well be a case of abuse that can be responsible for these behaviors, but more times then not, as a trainer, I find myself asking, “I wonder what didn’t happen to that dog when he was younger that can explain these behaviors.”

It’s this type of reasoning that is the focus of our Puppy Consultations and our upcoming puppy e-book – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  If you are the proud owner of a new puppy, now is the time to get started exposing him to the necessary drills and situations that will help shape him into a steady and social dog.

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