Tons of people ask me, “What do you feed your dog?” They see the way that my dogs’ coats are so shiny and feel how they are so soft!

I feed a food called “Taste of the Wild”. There are three different flavors of this food, but they are really all the same in nutritional content. Taste of the Wild (TOW) is a grainless diet, meaning that it is made without the corn and rice fillers that are found in most shelf brand foods (such a IAMS, etc). The ingredients only include materials that are highly digestible and useful to your dog’s body.

Since this is a high quality food, it is slightly more expensive than your average brands, however you end up feeding MUCH less because it takes less to give your dog all the nutrition his body needs. The foods are designed for all stages of life, so it is appropriate for puppies on up to older adults.

Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids are added to the food blend, to give your dog the shiny coat and nice skin that he was born to have! Take a look at the website for more information about the nutritional content. In addition to the plus side of having a healthy coat and skin, your dog’s “output” will be much smaller and easier to pick up! This is because he is now absorbing more of the ingredients, and leaving very little behind.

Currently, TOW comes in only a dry formula, but is working on a canned version of its popular food. It’s important to give dogs, especially little dogs, crunchy kibble as part of their diet, to assist in keeping your pooch’s chompers healthy. If you decide to give canned food, be sure to mix it in with the kibble so that your dog is getting the best of both worlds. I recommend a brand called “Wellness” that is also a grainless formula, and can be purchased at Whole Foods Supermarkets.

I highly recommend Taste of the Wild for your dog, I’ve personally seen a HUGE improvement in the condition of all three of my dogs, to include coats, skin and energy endurance within three weeks of switching from IAMS to TOW. I’ve even started feeding the feline food to my cats!

The best place to purchase this food is at a local pet boutique called “Doggie’s Style” located at the Aspen Grove Shops off Santa Fe Drive and Mineral. It’s a great family owned and run boutique that is sure to help you out in spoiling your pet! Their very friendly staff are always ready with a smile and are extremely helpful!

When you do go, tell them that Kate sent you!

Congratulations on your new puppy!

Housebreaking is usually on the top of the list of “things to teach the puppy”. It can usually be completed fairly quickly if you follow a few simple tasks, and put forth the effort it takes to train your puppy right.

House breaking a puppy requires a combination of routine, management systems and supervision. The more consistent you follow these guidelines, the quicker your puppy will understand where to appropriately eliminate. This is the same for both puppies AND adult dogs who are not house trained.

Routine:
• Create a food and water schedule for your puppy to establish an elimination pattern. Free feeding and watering makes house breaking more difficult by unpredictable elimination.

• Take your puppy out regularly. He should be let out to eliminate when waking up, after eating or drinking, and after playing.

• At the beginning, be consistent with the location you want your dog to eliminate

• Tell your puppy to “go potty” or whatever command you want to use, while he is eliminating. The “go potty” phrase linked with the action of going to the bathroom will help him understand to eliminate on command later.

• Praise your puppy when he is done.

Supervision:
• Watch your puppy at all times.
• Look for your puppy’s elimination signs (sniffing, spinning, squatting, etc)

• If you catch your puppy in the act, startle him and bring him outside immediately and tell him to “go potty”.

• If you cannot watch your puppy closely, put him inside his crate. Most puppies will not eliminate in their crates, provided that the crate is not too large for the puppy.

• If you find an accident, that means you weren’t watching your puppy close enough. Do NOT rub his nose in the mess as he will not link the ACT of the elimination to the actual mess. He will only see the mess after the fact and become afraid.
o Be sure to clean the area thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaning solution.

Troubleshooting:
• Your puppy eliminates in his crate:
o Make sure that the crate is not too large for the puppy. It should be large enough so that he can turn around , but not so large that he has roaming space.

• When catching the puppy “in the act” you take him outside and he will not eliminate:
o Put your puppy back in his crate for a few minutes, then take him outside again and give him the command “go potty”. You may need to do this several times until he eliminates. Do NOT let your puppy play before eliminating – use play time as a reward for proper elimination.

• You find a mess on the carpet and your puppy looks as if he “did something wrong”
o At this point it’s too late to show him where he should eliminate, so clean up the mess with a proper enzymatic solution. If you have scolded your puppy in the past for eliminating in the inappropriate place, he knows that the elimination itself is wrong, but does not know that the ACT of the elimination is the source of your disproval. Start over and keep an eye on your puppy for future “signs”.

• Teaching your dog to go within a boundary:
o If you want your puppy to go to the bathroom in a certain spot in your yard, you must keep him on a leash and take him to the appropriate area that you want him to eliminate. Give him the command “go potty” and wait until he complies. If he does not eliminate, put him in his crate for a few minutes and try again. Be consistent and wait until he complies every time before removing the leash.

• Teaching your dog tell you when he has to go outside:
o This one takes a bit of consistency, but can be very easy to teach. Hang something like a bell, on your door, and every time you take the pup outside to “go potty”, ring the bell as you open the door. Encourage the puppy to ring the bell himself before you take him outside. This associates the “need” to go outside with the bell, which is something that can be easily heard throughout the house.

It’s a beautiful evening for Fireworks! Enjoy the cool air and drive safely home.

I’d like to thank all of those who serve and who have served our great country and remind you that Military members ALWAYS get a discount on training.

For those currently deployed, know that we are always thinking of you and look forward to your safe return. For those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, we will never forget you.

We can’t thank you enough for what you do for us, and we are forever in debt to you for the Freedom we have today!

Many people ask when they call for information on our programs - “What’s the purpose of the Demonstration and consultation? Can’t you just tell me what options you have?”

There are several reasons for this, and the first, most important, reason of all is that we at Sit Means Sit would like the opportunity to both demonstrate our dogs and show you the quality of the training and to have one-on-one time with you and your dog to discuss your training goals.

We want to be sure that you feel comfortable with us and our training style. We don’t just SAY we can train, we SHOW you that we can by putting our money where our mouth is! The demonstration is very important because we want to show you that we can train our own dogs, so you can be sure we will be able to train your dog!

During the consultation portion, we discuss your training goals and also do an evaluation of your dog so that we can help to both recommend a training program for you and help you customize a program to suit your needs. We prefer that all family members are present, to answer any questions that may arise while discussing training options and goals.

We realize that every dog and their owner are unique, and so to give you the utmost in customizing YOUR training, we give you many options from which to choose. Just as you can go online and custom-build a new car, you can custom-build your training. What you choose will depend on the evaluation of your dog, your training goals, and a thorough review of all the options available to you. Since there are so many ways to string them all together, it’s much easier to go over them in person.

The best part is that the Demonstration and Consultation is totally FREE and you are under no obligation at all. And it is both fun and informative! We come to your house, so there is no driving involved on your part, and is a comfortable atmosphere for you, your family and your dog. It usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes, and there is a whole packet of information that we will go through. Setting this much time aside on the phone is difficult, and could be somewhat frustrating when you don’t have the information right in front of you to look through.

Setting up the demo/consult is very easy, just send me an email at KateFerencik@SitMeansSit.com or call me at (720) 289-STAY (7829) and say “I’d like a Free Demo” and I’ll put you on my schedule! I work seven days per week, and work late, so I can usually fit even the most packed schedule into mine.

When looking for a trainer, it’s very important to meet that individual you are contemplating working with and ask for their qualifications, experience and also to see their dog in action. It’s also very important to feel comfortable with that trainer, as he or she will be spending a lot of time with you and your very loved pooch!

It’s also great to talk to many different trainers, as each has his or her own approach to training and personality. Ask for a list of their clients that you could call and talk to about that particular trainer’s classes and/or lessons. If after all of your research, you have a great feeling about a particular trainer - go for it!

After all of your hard work, you will enjoy a well-behaved companion to enjoy for the years to come!

Come meet Rocky, Lidas and myself at the July 4th Celebration at Highlands Ranch Town Square. We will have a booth and will be there from 9am to 9pm showing off some of our “stuff”, giving out information and setting up FREE Demonstrations and consultations for the upcoming weeks.

We will be doing limited demonstrations while at the Celebration, but will be focusing more on keeping the dogs cool on what is sure to be another hot day.

Stop by and say “hi”, we will be very happy to see you!

Whew! It was a great weekend spent at the beautiful shopping center of of Aspen Grove. We had a nice corner booth with great exposure to the shops and the people milling about. I got a chance to talk to a lot of people about their dogs, who all sounded very loved indeed!

The best of the fun was working with Rocky, who is always the crowd-pleaser! We spent the weekend doing several short spurts of obedience work, showcasing our training and having a ton of fun at the same time. Rocky loves meeting new people and getting pats, hugs and kisses from all, young and old alike!

The heat didn’t keep us down, for every two minutes of obedience, the dogs got 10 minutes of playing and 48 minutes of nap time in the shade of the tent. Not all of that 48 minutes was napping, however, as there were frequent visitors wanting to get a pat or two in on the pretty pooches we had!

Lidas was a HUGE hit with the general public, and drew lots of oohs and ahhs from everyone. When guessing her breed, a few were right on, but most had never heard of a Catahoula. The most frequent response was “a cata-what!?” It didn’t matter her breed anyway, they all just wanted to love on her and rub her belly.

One person who knew a lot about the breed (and was able to tell me more about the dogs he has a huge spot in his heart for) happened to be a fellow exhibitor named Jim Tunell, who spends his life pursuing his passion: photographing the “Vanishing West”. His images of Cowboys, Indians, horses and dogs are captivating, thought provoking, and simply breath-taking! It seems he really has a knack for catching the “moment” and the true spirit of the West. Each picture has a story behind it, which Jim is ready to share with the viewer. I couldn’t help but buy a few of his pictures because I just couldn’t put them down (especially after hearing the stories and letting my imagination running with them).

Take a tour through his website at The Last Frontier

Thanks, Jim, for sharing your passion for the Catahoula breed, as well as the beautiful pictures!

This is one of the pictures I purchased from Jim Tunell. Here’s its story in Jim’s words:

“Taking place in the White Mountain Apache village of Cedar Creek, this image captures the the funeral of Apache Cowboy and artist Curry Klawson.

The three graves that bear his name are surrounded by this fence because along with Wallace in one of those three, are his riches…in cash. Who says you can’t take it with you?“

Thanks for taking the time to check out our website! Be sure to watch some of the amazing videos and read through our testimonials!

My name is Kate Ferencik (that’s pronounced Fren-chick) and I have two dogs, Rocky and Lidas (lee-dus). Rocky is a 6 year old Australian Shepherd and has been my faithful companion for 5 years. Rocky is a sweet gentleman that loves other dogs and especially people! When my husband and I first rescued him, he was a holy terror! He ripped up our couch (to shreds!) and he was extremely aggressive when on the leash.

We are big time hikers and backpackers and after our first trip up the mountain with Rocky was a disaster, we found a local Sit Means Sit trainer to help us! They came out to our home for a Free Demonstration, and to evaluate Mr. Rocky-dog and within 30 seconds transformed our out of control pup to an angel! We decided right then and there that we wanted to keep that Prince Charming, signed up for one of their lifetime programs and the rest is history!

On to Lidas. She’s a 5 month old Catahoula Leopard dog - they are bred for wild boar hunting and cattle herding - and is also the State Dog of Louisiana! She has the confidence of her breed and is quite a little pistol! I got her about three weeks ago, and have started her training. She’s incredible, and I’m very lucky to have her. Within one day she learned “come”, “sit”, “down” and “take a bow”.

If you see us out on the road, give us a honk and a wave! If you see us out and about, or if you see me practicing with the pooches, please feel free to stop and ask how our day is going - we always appreciate a time out to say HI to you and your family. (Plus, the dogs enjoy the hugs and kisses they get!)

Remember that we will always give a FREE Demonstration AND Consultation for you and your dog. If you ever have a particular day and time in mind for your Free Demo, please send me an email and I’ll call to confirm.

Have a wonderful day!