You'll have to bring that new pup to our library for socialization - someone brought a service dog in training last week and the whole building stopped to ooh and ahh over her. :)

Neat! I use hotdogs all the time for Kyra, they are so cheap to buy on sale or bulk at Costco-type stores ... but they ARE slimy and gross. Never thought of dehydrating them in the microwave. Great idea!

I made this mistake with Kyra once. We were in a part of Patapsco where a lot of people let their dogs off, there's not many other people hiking this out-of-the-way trail. Kyra has a good recall and never leaves where she can see me, so like a dork we hiked with her off-leash, calling her back frequently and giving hotdog. What didn't I plan for? ... horses. I had no idea horses used this trail, we'd never seen them there before. The scariest minute of my life, she sees a horse and rider on a trail up on a hill ahead of us (pretty far, I had to yell to say sorry), barks and charges. Thank GOD, she only charges a couple feet, realizes the thing is HUGE, and stops to bark at it from a distance. I hook her back on her leash and apologize 100000000 times, as visions of thrown riders and kicked dogs flash through my head. Never never never will I do that again! I just bought a nice 50ft long lead for hiking. Learn from me - don't let your dog off-leash while hiking!