Clicker Training For Your Dog? What is it?

Hi, lets touch on another common Housebreaking method for dogs today.
It is called the Clicker Training.

So, what is Clicker Training?

Clicker training is a method to train animals which has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Its popularity is due to its gentle nature and its proven results.

Clicker training stems from studies in psychology and is based on what is known as operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning is based on the idea that a dog tends to repeat an action that wins him or her positive reinforcement and does not repeat actions that receive negative reinforcement. This is certainly true of friend's dog, Elvis.

Elvis is a lively little beagle who loves people and loves to trot around the yard with his nose just an inch or so off the ground.

I wanted to teach Elvis to play dead and am proud to say that he can now do that on command. To teach him this trick, I used the clicker method.

The clicker is a small plastic box that you press with your thumb to make a sharp clicking noise. The advantages of the clicker are two fold; for one thing, it makes a sharp noise that is distinct from the human voice or any other house hold sound. Secondly, it is immediate, and, therefore, can positively reinforce behavior as it is occurring.

The real trick to clicker training is to get your dog to associate the clicker with positive reinforcement.

The clicker is known as a conditioned reinforcer and it must be matched with a primary reinforcer, such as food, treats or a nice scratch on the belly. Whatever your dog typically responds to best, whatever it is that he or she likes the most, should be paired with the sound of the clicker in the dog's mind, so that the immediate sound of the clicking can elicit the best response from your dog.

As mentioned before, I used clicker training to train my friend's beagle Elvis to play dead. This trick, of course, has to be taught in steps, like most other tricks.

· First, I wedded the conditioned reinforcer, the clicker, with the idea of getting a treat.

· Over time, I was able to give him fewer and fewer treats and just use the clicker as the main reinforcer.

Then I told Elvis what to do, “play dead,” and I showed him how to do it. I even moved his body through the steps and into position a few times. That does not work with every dog, of course, but Elvis is small and extremely friendly, so I was able to get away with it. My neighbors, once again saw me doing this and really thought I was nuts!

Then, I would tell Elvis to play dead. At first, if he sat down, I would click the clicker to let him know that he was moving in the right direction. Occasionally, I would give him a treat, just to make sure that the clicker remained the conditioned reinforcer.

After a while, Elvis began to get really low on all fours and rest on his stomach. For this, I would click, to let him know that he was doing the right thing. At that point, I would no longer positively reinforce him if he merely sat down.

Eventually, after a little more rolling on my back, Elvis began to roll on to his side. By clicking the clicker, I positively reinforced this behavior. As he did this more and more often, I would only reinforce the behavior if he maintained the position.

Now, Elvis will play dead on command without the clicker; though I do miss rolling on my own back to show him. :o)

Crate Training For Your Doggie?

I discussed about Crate Training at my last post, lets talk about the benefits of Crate Training today.

When I got my first puppy, Tymmie, I was not too sure how to train him. He was a little Maltiese and was as cute as a button. That made it even harder to try to discipline him. My friend, who has owned several dogs, suggested crating. When he mentioned this training tool, I was not too sure what crating was, but I did know that I did not want to do anything cruel to my little puppy.

When I first read about crating, I had some trouble with it. For one thing, putting Tymmie in a box sounded mean. For another thing, I was not entirely sure that it would work. But, thanks to a little more prodding from my friend, and a few more accidents around the house, (YUCK!), I decided that it would certainly be a good idea to give crating a try.

I bought Tymmie a crate that was just the right size. He was able to stand up and turn around in the crate, and was able to get very comfortable. But, it was not long enough to allow him to use one end as his bathroom and the other end as his bedroom. In short, it became a perfect den for him.

Within a week or two, Tymmie was going to his crate alone to rest, sleep and made it as his home. It was so cute to see that Tymmie would put himself to bed at 8:00pm! He would hop along to his crate, make himself all comfy, chew for a few minutes on his bone, and be in dream land with 20 minutes.

The crate is a perfect den, because the owner can move it, it does not take up too much space, and the pup gets very comfortable with the crate as his or her home within a home.

By placing Tymmie in the crate whenever I would not be around to supervise his behavior, I was able to make sure that he did not get away with anything or hurt himself. This correction is important because if your puppy misbehaves and you are not there to discipline him immediately, he or she will not know what they did was wrong.

When Tymmie was outside of the crate, I was always watching him and monitoring his behavior. I was able to discipline him immediately; I was able to catch him red pawed!

There were some things I had to do to make the crate a comfortable environment for Tymmie and to make sure that the crating method of training worked.

· Cleaning the crate often to allow comfort

· Cleaning with natural products like Nature’s Miracle

· Taking the puppy out often enough that he was never forced to use the crate as a restroom
· Sticking to a schedule and keeping track of the amount of hours between the last time the pup went out.

It was also a challenge to make sure that I never used the crate as punishment, because it was important that Tymmie did not look at the crate as a negative view.

Doing all of these things helped me turn Tymmie into a well adjusted housebroken pup. As he grew older, I made sure to put him in the crate every once in a while so that he would always be accustomed to it. That way, when we traveled, he was comfortable and relaxed in the crate.

That's all for today, folk. Shall discuss about other common training method at my next posting.

Ciao.

Basic Housebreaking For Your New Puppy

Hi friends,
Sorry for not writing for the past few days.
Reason being I was asked by couple of people to share my experience of housebreaking my dogs, so I went to do some research as well as recalling how I trained Tymmie and Cocoa.

Though I have not finished my research, I think I better share what I have learned and practised, else you guys will have to wait for long time.

So, as and when I have some material, I shall share it here.

Okie, today lets start with some basic housebreaking (or some call it potty training, toilet training) for your new puppies.

Many new dog owners may not realize the time and effort it takes when becoming parents to a new puppy. On going training and corrections need to be consistent and every member of the home must follow the same training pattern.

When a puppy is brought into its new home, many are no more than eight weeks old, just weaned from their mother and litter mates, and barely trained. Consider the pup like a baby; time and patience from the owner and of course a little crying may occur from frustration, but that is totally normal!

One common method, which we practiced with our new puppy, is called crate training. This means the puppy stays in the crate when the owner is either not home, not playing with it, or when the owner cannot give the puppy their full attention. Giving a puppy free roam of the house is not a good idea and does not teach boundaries.

A few techniques we used while crate training to help Tymmie understand where to go to the bathroom are listed below.

• When it is time to take the puppy out to the bathroom, do not allow it to walk out of the crate.
  
• The owner should pick it up from the crate, click on their leash, and not place them down till they are outside.
  
• This teaches the puppy the place to do their business is only outside.
  
• Using the same technique, if the puppy has accidents in their crate, some owners will take a paper towel which was used to clean the crate, and place it outside so the puppy smells its own pee and relates going to the bathroom outside.

Remember, puppies need to be taught what correct behavior is and the only way this can be done is through their owners.

Housebreaking does take a few months and eventually the puppy will learn to tell you when it needs to go out but for the first few months, the owner needs to be patient with their corrections.

The more a pup learns at a young age, the easier it is to continue training as an adult.
Any time Tymmie went to the bathroom outside, in a friendly high pitch voice, we told him he was a “good bog,” pet his head, many times gave him a hug and kiss (yes our neighbors already know we are little insane), and sometimes reinforced him correct behavior with a small treat.

Okie, that's all for today.

Will definitely share with you more Housebreaking ideas at my next posting in the next two days.

Ciao.

Does Your Doggie Whine, Bark or Howl as and when He or She Likes It?

Alright, lets move on to another common doggie behavoral issue, that is "Whining".

A whining, barking dog can be very frustrating for the whole neighborhood and, normally, the owner of a loud dog does not like it either.

To do your neighbors, yourself, and, really, your dog, a favor, you should work with you dog when he or she is most open to learning; when your dog is a puppy.

When an older dog whines, it is because, as a puppy, he or she did not learn that whining, barking and howling are not acceptable forms of communication. In short, loud vocal communication on the part of your dog is a bad habit that was allowed to develop when he or she was a puppy.

A lot of older dogs use barking and whining to manipulate their owners, to get what they want. In short, it is almost like doggy blackmail.

So, if you currently have a puppy who whines, barks or howls, you need to nip it in the bud so that the problem does not rear its ugly head as your dog gets older.

There are certain steps you can take to put an end to your puppy's whining, and there are also some things not to do.

Correction behaviors for whining which are helpful at the puppy stage
· When the puppy whines, do not acknowledge them since that is what they want.

· If the whining becomes too much, take the puppy immediately outside so they relate their whining to being taken out to the bathroom and that is all whining will get them.

When Tymmie my Maltiese was left alone in a small room, I would not check on him if I heard whining; I would take him directly outside so that he could go to the bathroom if he needed to. This showed him whining meant out to the bathroom and that was it.

To ensure that Tymmie did not develop some form of separation anxiety, I would make him get used to being alone, even if I was in the next room. This let him get used to being on his own and, again, showed him that I would not give in to his whining and howling (though later I bought Cocoa the Miniatuer Schnauzer to accompany him). This is a hard stage; its like when your baby is crying and all you want to do is go and pick them up and hold them BUT this is also a very important part to training a puppy to not whine.

It is important to make sure your puppy is not whining for a legitimate reason; I always made sure TYmmie was healthy, well fed and watered but, beyond that, I would not run to his howling.

Once you have made sure that your puppy is healthy and well fed, teach him not to whine in the same way you would teach him or her to do anything else.

To make sure that whining does not persist:
· Never give into your puppy's whining or reward him or her for bad behavior.

· Do not hesitate to discipline your dog when he or she whines unnecessarily.

· Do not let you dog feel abandoned, even though you do need to leave him or her alone sometimes so that your puppy grows accustomed to separation.

Even though it is hard to hear your baby cry, sometimes hours at a time, stick to your training routine. If you follow these rules, as I did with Tymmie, your puppy will grow into a quiet, pleasant dog with great communication skills.

But one barking I like about Tymmie is every morning He without fail barks at 8am to inform me to bring him out for his business, so if it happens that I intend to stay on the bed a little bit longer during weekend, I have not choice but to pull myself out of the bed to attend to him which I am most happy to oblige.

Good dog Tymmie. :o)

Don't Let Your Dog Chew Your House Down!

Today, let's talk about a common dog behavioral issue.

Most people have a friend who has a dog that just will not stop chewing things.
A friend of mine had to buy a new couch and a new comforter for her bed because of the actions of her dog.

Furthermore, the dog would only bite and chew things while she (the owner) was away. Because of this, she could never catch her dog, Simon, in the act of destroying furniture. If she could not catch Simon in the act of biting and chewing, she knew she could not correct the behavior by scolding or disciplining.

Ceila told me her problem and I told her that I would do some reading and get back to her.
One technique I found interesting was based on the idea that the dog was only acting up because of separation anxiety.

I knew there was a good chance this was true because Simon would never bark when people he knew were around, but when he was alone, a neighbor complained that he barked from time to time and would sometimes even wake him up.

So, I suggested trying the technique I read about. I told her to do her best not to pay any attention to the dog in the five or ten minutes before she left and in the five or ten minutes after she returned home. Celia knew it would be difficult to ignore her sweet little doggy, but she agreed to give it a shot because she did not want to have to pay for new furniture.

After following the rules of this technique for only about a week, Celia noticed that her dog would no longer chew on things. The premise of the technique is that by being around the owner but being ignored, the dog's separation anxiety is lessened. It is like a stepping stone to being all alone in the home and it makes the dog's transition a little bit easier.

As encouraging as Celia's story is, it would be even better to flat out prevent the destructive chewing that forced Celia to buy new furniture.

That is why, when I first got my Maltiese, Tymmie, as a puppy, I knew I wanted to make sure that he did not chew on things, or at least not on my brand new shoes!!!

It is natural for dogs to chew on things and it would be very difficult to teach them to do otherwise. But, there are some steps you can take to stop them from chewing on everything.

· First, I made sure there were some things around the house that Tymmie could safely chew on.

· I gave him his choice of a fake bone (not raw hide, as this can be bad for the dog), of a tennis ball, a racquetball, and some toys I purchased for just that reason.

· When I saw him playing with and chewing on these items, I would praise him tremendously so that he knew he was doing the right thing.

· If I saw Tymmie starting to chew on something that he should not be chewing on, I would give him one of the items that he was supposed to chew on, and then I would praise him when he made the switch and began to chew on the tennis ball or the toy.

These simple steps caused Tymmie to grow into a dog that never chews on anything except his toys. I still have the same tennis ball and it is pretty gross from the slobber but if I throw it out, Tymmie gets very upset. So I deal with the stinky ball; it is better than destroyed furniture!

Protect your furnitures by training your dogs the correct chewing habit when they are still puppies.
Unless you enjoy refurnishing your house every now and then. :o)

Feeding Time For Your Dogs

Yes, I promised I will talk about diet today.
Let's begin.

There are as many different ideas about proper feeding practices as there are breeds of dog. They range from very strict feeding models, which involve feeding the dog a measured amount of the same food at the same time every day, to more freeform feeding practices like leaving food out at all times and giving the dog table scraps.

My friend loves to tell the story of how she used to take her Boston Terrier out for a hamburger every Sunday. :o)

Many dog owners will feed their dog a form of hard food and some wet or canned food. Companies like Eukanuba, Nutro, Science Diet, and Wellness are a few major brand names our vet has recommended for our dogs.

We feed a cup and half of hard kibble to Cocoa and a cup of hard kibble for Tymmie once a day. We have always believed in balance meal, so we feed them with fruit and vegetable too.
Of course, human food shouldn’t be used as a substitute for a high-quality kibble or soft dog food.

Most commercially available dog foods contain all of the necessary vitamins and minerals to keep your dog healthy.
Specialized blends are available for puppies, older dogs, dogs who are overweight, small dogs, and large dogs.

Some veterinarians recommend feeding your dogs at the same time every day, and only after you have eaten. The idea behind feeding the dog second is that your dog needs to know that you are in charge, and that you have a higher rank in the pack than they do.

Treats are important for variety and training purposes. They should be used as a reward when your dog exhibits positive behavior. I give my dogs treats after they have gone outside for potty breaks or when I am teaching them a new trick. Biscuits are great for everyday rewards; richer treats, such as fake bacon or sausage, should be saved for special occasions.

Hm.... lets get something to eat now. ;o)

Your Dog Is What You Feed Them!

Since we were talking about my two hungry dogs last week, lets talk about food and diet today.

There are many arguments over feeding a canine a raw diet versus hard kibble. Each pet owner ultimately makes this decision but what are some reasons behind the raw diet craze.

We started feeding Tymmie and Cocoa with cottage cheese and yogurt since these two foods contain a healthy bacteria which will help begin to replenish the lost antibodies the antibiotics have striped away.

Besides this, sometimes we feed them boneless chicken breast meat. Boneless chicken breast cooked is fine but never give a dog cooked bones, it might hurt their mouth and throat.

Chicken soup is also very good with plain rice when your dog is feeling under the weather helps their bodies with dehydration and getting well.

Besides the meat and dairy, we began making a vegetable puree of sweet potato (great for vitamin A), spinach (antixodants), a little avocado, carrots, and apples.
We change the vegetable around every few weeks and mix this with the yogurt and both Tymmie and Cocoa love it! We also will feed Salmon as it contains all the essential oils a dogs body needs.

Of course many of these vitamins and minerals can be found in pill or liquid form but it seems both my dogs enjoy eating these than the pill.

One thing I noticed is the shine on their coat sparkles and we are also convinced taking out the hard food which contains the products of grains and wheat where dogs don’t usually eat in the wild had a lot to do with it.

But there are a few things to remember:
NEVER feed a dog:

• Chocolate;
• Onion or anything cooked in an Onion broth;
• Cooked Bones.

Hm.... we shall continue more on feeding at my next post.

Hungry Dog Is An Angry Dog

My Miniature Schnauzer Cocoa, loves eating!
He is a vacuum cleaner and his weight is totally normal due to his crazy activity level.
He gets 5 soup spoon full of dry kibbles and some fruits. Of course, every once in a while I give him a treat or two when he sits or is a good boy.

My first Maltiese puppy Tymmie never wanted to eat and we would have to sit on the floor with him till he would eat his breakfast and dinner. Feeding time was not easy for Tymmie or us, especially when we had plans to go out for the night.

Meal time is very special to puppies and they often look at the person who feeds them as the dominant figure. This stems from the same territorial instinct that causes a dog to mark his territory and that makes crating an ideal way to help house break a dog.

So, to make sure both Tymmie and Cocoa understand that my family and I are humans who dominate the house with authority, we take turns feeding them. By doing this, we want Tymmie and Cocoa to realize we are both the ones in charge and we feed Tymmie first, as he is older.

There are never any worries about Tymmie attacking Cocoa over food, we free feed Tymmie so he knows if he wants food, there is never an issue.

Cocoa is the one piggly wiggly runs over to Tymmie’s food trying to scarf down both his own and Tymmie’s food during breakfast and dinner!

The trick to not have food dominance is as a puppy, the owner should perform certain tasks.

· Put the food down but do not allow the puppy to run over and begin eating till you give the OK.

· In the middle of the feeding, stick your hand by the food. If the puppy growls or tries to bite you, take the food away and let the puppy know you are in charge.

· Always remember, the owner is in charge and the puppy needs to understand this.

I knew that there would always be people, sometimes children, around both Tymmie and Cocoa, even when they are eating.

By practicing with the two of them as young puppies, it alleviated any worries that if my niece or nephew stuck their hand in the dog’s food bowl, they would get bitten.

Of course I can’t say the same thing for my niece and nephew when the dogs try and beg for their food!

Walk By Me, Darling - Don't Let Your Dog Pull You!

We have all seen those people who are out walking their dogs who do not even have the control over their animal.

The dog is pulling at the leash constantly, trying to run, and the owner is just being dragged along for the ride. In fact, I hate to admit it but Tymmie was this kind of dog and I was that owner.

Tymmie would get so excited when he got outside he would pull me around the block!
Tymmie is a very sociable dog and he has doggie friends in our complex so he would use all of his strength, literally drag me down the block to see if his friends were out to play. (then of course look at me and whine if no one was out as if it was my fault!)

We tried the chain choker, nylon choker, spike choker, harness, and eventually the Haltee.
It looks like a muzzle but doesn’t stop the dog from opening its mouth. It can if you pull hard enough but the main purpose is for the owner to have complete control over their pulling dog. All the strength of a dog is in their chest and neck, the Haltee sits on the snout where no power of the dog is.

The first time using the new leash was amazing! Tymmie did not pull, he tried but instead of me being dragged down the road, I could walk him with one finger! That is how amazing the difference was.

Tymmie felt weird since when he saw his friends his head would go down and he would just stare at the ground. To make him feel better, I would switch to his regular leash so he could jump around and play, since Tymmie is the socialite of our complex.

At first many dogs do not like this harness type leash on their face but eventually they get use to it and works as a great training tool.
Tymmie learned quickly not to pull and once in a while we will still use the Haltee to remind him if he pulls, he gets the funny looking leash on his face.

You are the master, so don't let your doggie pull you.

Teach Your Dog To Sit and Not Jump On You.

Lets continue with teaching your dog another trick today.

Yeah, lets teaching your dog to Sit.

One of the basic commands that people give their dogs is sit.
It is a short, concise command and it is very useful because it stops the dog from jumping up on people. It is a command to get your dog to cool down when he or she is getting riled up and excited. Another advantage of the sit command is that it is very easy to teach to a puppy.

There are many different ways to train a puppy to sit, including demonstrating the action and even moving him or her into position. However, the easiest way to train a dog to sit down is to use treats, praise, verbal, and hand signals.

We trained Tymmie by using the word “sit” and snapping our fingers and showing our index finger. Training for a puppy does not last more than 5 to 10 minutes at a time but can be done 4 to 5 times throughout the day.

One hand would show the hand signal while the other hand held a treat above her head. By moving the treat, it is possible to get a dog to sit down naturally and then, of course, you have to reward your dog with the promised treat and a lot of praise. That is how I trained Tymmie and now Cocoa.

Start the training:
· By getting a treat in my hand to entice him.
· Once he starts following the treat with his eyes, put it in front of his nose and let her sniff it.
· Move it back and forth in front of his eyes a few times to make sure that she is following it closely with his head.
· Then move your hand, the one holding the treat, back over the top of puppy’s head and towards his neck.

As he began to stretch his neck backwards to reach for the treat, I would say "Sit” and show my index finger. He was almost sitting, and I kept encouraging him by shaking my head and telling him “good boy.”

When I moved the treat a little farther back, Tymmie sat down to reach it. I gave him the treat and told him he was a good boy. I petted him and gave her a big hug and kiss jim. Tymmie loves to be hugged.

I repeated the process a few times, and then had everyone in the family same thing with Tymmie.
Eventually, Tymmie would just sit when anyone said sit. Of course we still had to praise him and pet him when he sat, and occasionally, we would still give him a treat just to reinforce the behavior.

Now, he sits on command and even sits when he meets new people instead of jumping up on them. This surprises many house guests and now Tymmie just needs to teach Cocoa the sit command.

Lets try it out yourself. :o)

Never Believe Your Dogs Can't Fetch Just Because They Are Not Retriever!

Hey, lets do something fun today.

Lets teach your doggy friends to Fetch. :o)

Having a dog around the house is great fun and is very fulfilling. Puppies are fun to play with and petting a dog always makes me feel good.
I love just being around dogs, taking them on walks and I like when they cuddle up and sleep at the foot of my bed.

But I have always wanted to have a dog that could fetch, that would engage in more structured play. I wanted to teach Tymmie how to fetch, but was not too sure how.

As a young puppy, he always enjoyed running around with toys, sticks and balls in his mouth. My friend told me that this would make it easier to teach him how to fetch, but I still had no idea how to go about it.

I decided to do some reading and some research to figure out how to train Tymmie to fetch.
He would be my little guinea pig, but aren’t they all? I found one method that I thought was fairly simple and straightforward, and I decided to get started with Tymmie right away.

Since there were many days of rain during the first year of Tymmie’s life, I did a lot of playing inside with him. First it started with a flying disc called “Chuck-a-Duck.” Till this day Tymmie stills loves his chuck-a-duck!

· I would have Tymmie sit next to me on the floor.
· Then I would throw it down the hallway and tell him to go get it.
· When he wouldn’t move, I ran to get it and Tymmie would follow.

By following me back and forth, Tymmie eventually figured out that if he brought back the toy, I would throw it.

Inside the house, Tymmie was great at fetch! Then we went to the park where other dogs and people were playing.

I brought Tymmie’s chuck-a-duck and a tennis ball. I threw the toy and Tymmie ran after it, would pick it up, and on his run back, drop it!
Another dog owner made a comment, “Tymmie is a Maltiese, he’s not a retriever!” I did not respond since I felt the other owner didn’t know my Tymmie and how smart he was.

We tried again and this time Tymmie brought his toy back! Then of course I had to say something to the other owner. “Any dog can retrieve and play fetch!”
I was so proud of Tymmie and we played for another half hour of fetch and the other dog owner left.

Never believe a dog can’t fetch just because they are not a Retriever.
· Be patient.
· Get excited.
· And PLAY with your puppy!

Have Dog Will Travel Even More and Further

Here it comes for the next tip.

If you are on long distance traveling that requires stopping and staying in a hotel, you should research extensively to find out which hotels allow for pets and which do not before starting the trip.

· Many hotels do not allow dogs since previous guests have abused this opportunity. Be prepared for extra costs and fees for the hotels and motels that do allow pets.
Keep in mind it is assumed and expected that your dog will not be up barking and disturbing the other guest, so be mindful of the kind of dog you have and if his normal behavior is appropriate for hotel arrangements.

If you do decide to let your dog join you on your road trip just know planning should be done in advance.

A well heated or well air-conditioned car would be a good addition to help make your dog comfortable and avoid car sickness.
The dog should be seated in the crate he uses at home to keep your dog safe while in the car. Supplying him with a secure familiar place is a must!

It is essential to plan routine stops along the trip just as you would routinely take your dog out at home.
Planning food stops is also important. Instead of eating in a restaurant it would be wise to stop at a grocery store and buy food for the day, this way you will not have to leave your dog alone in the car.

Ensure that the dog has enough food and water of his own and try not to change his eating schedule too drastically as this could upset the dog and cause sickness.

As long as this road trip is carefully planned you and your dog can have a great time together on the road.

Happy Travelling with Your Dogs.

Have Dog Will Travel More

As mentioned yesterday, lets talk about "Precautions and Planning for Traveling With your Dog" today.

It only takes a jingle of the keys for your dog to know you are going for a car ride, and many times the circling and whining begins.
Trips to grandma’s house and to Uncle Joe’s are fine rides for your dog, but what about when you are traveling long distances. Should you leave your dog pouting by the door or should you allow your dog to accompany you on a road trip?

The thought of it sounds like great fun for both you and the dog, but there are many things to consider before you and your best friend head out and hit the road.

Where will your dog stay when you stop to eat or sleep?

· It is not a good idea to keep your dog in the car while you eat. This can be dangerous. Weather conditions can change drastically from the time you leave the dog in the car until you come back.

Leaving the windows down for should not be an option, as this can lead to being stolen, or the dog escaping. If you must leave your dog in the car, try not to keep them alone for too long. Leaving the window slightly cracked can be somewhat helpful.

Hm, I shall leave the rest of the tips to tomorrow.

See ya.