Organizing A Multiple Dog Household

I get lots of comments and questions on my social media accounts about my organizational abilities. Organizing is a hobby and a passion for me, as well as a survival standard. Many of you may not be aware that my husband and I are the parents of seven (yes, SEVEN!) children. We were foster parents and adopted several of the children we were caring for, as well as two biological sons. So, for many years we had six children that had a wide age spread and our household was very, very busy. We adopted one of our grandchildren a few years ago and she is now seven years old and the only one living at home with us as the others are all adults and some even have families of their own. If I hadn't been organized through those years I literally would have gone insane!

So, having five dogs now doesn't seem so bad, huh?

Because I get a lot of questions, I have decided that I will start an organizing series to share what I do to keep our house running smoothly, as well as not look like it is being run by the dogs.

Firstly, being organized is more for my sanity than the dogs. I have two great passions in my life: a clean, organized home and dogs. Those two battle each other on a daily basis. 

To start this series, I am going to share with you a cupboard in our kitchen. This cupboard did not originally start out as The Dog Cupboard, but has evolved over the years.

It is an unassuming looking cupboard next to the trash compactor. (Please note the chewed corner of the cupboard to the left, proof that we have indeed been growing out three puppies in the last two years. There are several corners that look that way). Behind this door are three drawers that keep the bulk of our dog necessities.

Because I love to label things, and because we have a vinyl lettering machine, you will often see that there is rarely confusion over what goes where.

The first drawer is, obviously, the dog food. This is the kibble that is the base of our dogs' daily meals, to which I add various homemade supplements (that is a whole other blog post!). The kibble is stored in this drawer, while the homemade items are kept in the refrigerator.

This bank of drawers and cupboard were built by my husband, lovingly referred to as Shawn-the-Wonder Guy. This first drawer is divided into two sections. I am currently trying to treat a possible food allergy to chicken protein with two of our dogs, so they are eating a salmon based food, which is in the back section. The front holds the food that the two other adult dogs currently do well on. Usually the puppy food is in the back, but has been moved down to the next drawer until I can get this situation resolved.

This is the second drawer. Another thing I am greatly fond of is baskets. I like to corral things together and not have a drawer of chaos rolling all over. One doesn't have to spend a lot of money on baskets. These two came from the Target Dollar Spot and were $3 each. You can also find great ones at The Dollar Tree. A cut down to fit box works just as well also. The Baggie on the right has Finn's puppy kibble. The front basket holds everyone's go-to walking harnesses. Underneath them is a plastic box that holds my grooming supplies of brushes, nail clippers, scissors, etc. 

The second basket has the tiny harnesses for Finn and Tallie. It has been a challenge to find ones that fit them, but I am very pleased with the Lil Pals brand! I believe Finn will mature into a size that fits the Puppia ones that the other adult dogs wear, but Tallie is only 3.2 pounds and the smallest size Puppia is still too large for her, so the Lil Pals is working great.

Within this basket is a smaller basket in the back that holds the tooth brushing supplies, the pill cutter, a travel pill box and various other items. The little oval blue basket holds some Cranberry pills left over from a bout of UTI that one of the dogs had last year as well as some tiny collars, again for Finn and Tallie. You will also see not one, but TWO bottles of Bitter Apple. Refer to earlier statement of three puppies in two years....

The last drawer holds clean dog blankets and potty pads (again, three puppies, two years. I should buy stock in these things).

We have a very large kitchen/dining room open floor plan and the dogs are primarily in this area, so to have all of these supplies there makes sense. I realize that I am very blessed to have a large enough kitchen that I can dedicate a whole cupboard to dog-related items, but if you think outside the box, you may find solutions for your needs. Free standing drawers that are available in anything from plastic to wood are available and can sit in a corner.

This is an idea from Pinterest. It looks like it might be in the garage. The supplied link on Pinterest goes to a dead address, so I cannot provide any other information, but I have seen similar type drawers at Ikea, Target, and Walmart.

via A Polished Habitat

This cupboard is located in a laundry room. The link for more info about it is below the picture. 

Obviously, since I have five dogs, the amount of space I need to store their items is greater than a person with one dog. My hope is that this gives you some ideas, as well as an insight into how I have organized for our household.

As this is the first of a continuing series, I would love to hear from you on anything specific that you would like for me to address. I am always happy to talk dogs or organizing!

Does My Couch LOOK Like a Fire Hydrant To You???

Life with male dogs can be fun. It can also be very frustrating if your dog is 'marking' the furniture and walls of your home. Today I thought I would address the subject of male dog marking.

Marking in the house is usually done to an upright surface such as a doorway, table leg or piece of furniture. Dogs often mark on objects. Quite often the object is something new or different with unfamiliar smells that has come into the house.

Dog urine marking is not a toilet training issue but rather an issue concerning a whole range of instinctive behaviors. Your dog may be fully house trained and would never think of peeing in the house, but to a dog, lifting his leg to scent mark is not the same as wanting to have a pee.

If you have a female dog in your home that has come into heat, you may find that your male dog, if not neutered, will start marking on  furniture and walls as his testosterone reacts to the girl.

We as humans tend to think of dog urine as something unpleasant but to a dog it is something of great interest. A dog leaves it's scent in urine to tell other dogs a message. This message could be about whose territory it is, about the dog's social order or advertising mating availability. Dogs use urine marking to show their dominance or to claim something as belonging to them. Dogs with feelings of insecurity or who have separation anxiety may also mark, as territory marking builds the dog's confidence.

Interestingly, this is not completely a male dog only trait. Female dogs will urinate on a spot that another dog has peed. I see this some days when I take my girls out to potty. Most days they will roam the yard and find their own spot, but if they have been having 'issues' with each other on a particular day, I watch them run over to the spot where the 'offender' just urinated and they will urinate on top of that spot.

Sort of a "Ha! I'll show you!" type attitude. I have mentioned that they are Divas, right?

Dogs who have never had a problem with marking in the house before can suddenly start doing it if there is a change in their environment such as a new dog, or new person that has come into the home, even a new baby's arrival. If there is a big change in their environment, this will make a dog insecure and can bring on the marking. We have even seen Cooper doing some marking lately, since we brought a male puppy into the house this last month. Kind of unusual as he has been neutered for a very long time now.

But, what can you do? For most dogs, early neutering is the best way to prevent it from ever occurring in the first place. Those macho hormones never get the chance to develop if the dog is neutered at an early age. This is not always a guarantee, but if is the best deterrent. If you have had another dog in your home that previously marked furniture, doorways, etc., it will encourage future dogs to do the same.

Kind of a "Oh! This is what we do here." attitude. We like guests to feel comfortable in our homes, just not THAT comfortable.

Some dogs will mark when you take them to visit in another home. This can be very embarrassing for you and doesn't put you and Fido high on the invitation list.

A popular way to prevent this bad habit from becoming a problem is to have your dog wear a Belly Band. Belly Bands are made of a thick absorbent type of fabric, such as fleece. They are wrapped around the dog and fastened by means of a velcro strip sewn at each end of the wrap. Usually a good fitting belly wrap requires no elastic and will stay in place quite well. The idea behind wearing the belly bands is that when the dog releases urine to mark on something, it instead is retained in the fabric of the band. Dogs usually do not like the feel of the wet fabric against them, so they learn to quiet marking. 

You can also use a self adhesive feminine pad inside the belly band. These will hold more urine than the belly band alone, and you won’t have to launder as often. Belly bands should be machine washable and reused as needed.

Belly Bands are a very popular selling item at Cody and Company Pet Products as more people are learning of their great value. We design them to be a pleasant fashion statement as well as a training aid. Many people have had success in ending the problem completely after their dog has worn them for a while.

Dogs get very used to wearing them and it solves a lot of problems!

Our good friend, Kilo, from The Cheeky Chis (found on both Facebook and Instagram), always looks so dashing in his belly bands. Or wrestling trunks, as he prefers to call them.

Some other good friends, the Stardom Chihuahuas, (also found on both Facebook and Instagram - go check them out!) look great in their belly bands too!

We will never completely eliminate the marking that the boys do. It is a dog's form of communication. However, it is something that can certainly be left for the outdoors!

A Day At the park

We took Tallie to her first official event/outing today. It was a fun doggie event held at a local park. It was put on by Natural Pet Foods Solutions, a local Portland boutique. They were promoting a new monthly subscription box that they have started. Each box comes with toys and treats made exclusively in the USA,many from local vendors right here in the Portland area. They are calling it Dog Is My Religion.

We first went to the table that had sample boxes of their premiere box that launched this month. We thought the Buddha-dog was pretty cute. Tallie proved all morning that she is a natural poser.

While our Tiny Human got her face painted, Tallie and I walked around to see the displays and talk with people. They were having a raffle with some really nice prizes. We purchased some tickets and Tallie posed with some of the prizes while I filled out the tickets. The proceeds of today's events were being donated to our local Clackamas County Dog Shelter!

She was quickly becoming the hit of the event. How could you not love that face???

One of the reasons I was excited to take her to this event was the chance to socialize and meet all kinds of people. We have plans on getting her certified as a Therapy Dog, she has the perfect personality for it! A huge part of her early training is to get used to being handled by all kinds of people, as well as to learn to be comfortable in all kinds of situations. She got the chance to be held and petted by lots of people today!

I really loved the Puppachino bar they had! So cute!!

Another way to win a prize was to guess the number of dog treats in this jar. It was as big as Tallie!! She was willing to briefly pose next to it, but was very interested in all the other dogs that were there. Her little head was swiveling back and forth!

We went to the photo booth, where she sat and posed for pictures without me! That's fine, she is much cuter than I am! We talked to some dog food vendors and got some samples to bring home and try. Tallie watched everyone while I visited.

Next, we tried our hand at the little agility course they had set up. She thought I was a little crazy as I tried to get her to go through the weave poles, but humored me anyway.

Once she got into the tunnel, she became very brave and had to bark ferociously (in her mind if was ferocious anyway) at a large dog that was walking by. That was the only time she barked through the whole thing. I guess she felt pretty protected in there!

It took some coaxing to distract her and get her to come back through the tunnel, but she finally did it. We have a larger tunnel at home and she loves to run through it, so I don't think she really knew what this smaller one was all about.

The people who put this event on were very clever with their play-on-words for everything. The BBQ menu was adorable!

When we sat down to eat our lunch, Tallie made sure to give me the sweet face, making sure I was going to share.

Pretty much impossible to say no to that face, huh?

It was really a great first event for Tallie. I was super proud of her and how well she behaved. She was a wonderful ambassador (or is it ambassadress?) for the Chihuahua breed. Lots of people are not aware that they come in a Long Coat variety.  Others were impressed with how friendly she was, not shaking or growling. While I was proud of her, it makes me sad when people have that impression of Chihuahuas.

In the end, we won a prize in the raffle!! We brought home the bag of food that she posed next to earlier!

*****************************************************************************

This next Monday is the big Solar Eclipse. We live in Oregon, which is in the path of totality, and has brought nearly 1 million visitors to the state! We are staying home to watch it from our own yard, but I decided to have a little fun and took some pictures of Scarlett wearing the safety glasses. She was such a GREAT sport, considering you can't see anything but blackness when you wear them.

She even got her picture on a local news station's Facebook page! We are trying to not let it go to her head though. Haha!