Tails from the trail and tips on training your human

Clean Environment | There’s a common misconception among the masses about how certain animals are built in a way that they can survive under any given conditions. This is because we often come across stray animals living in below-par conditions, and we think to ourselves that it may be true. However, just like us, our pets also need a clean environment to live a healthy and happy life. If you’re a pet owner, ensuring a safe and healthy environment for them should be your top priority.

Why Is It Important to Maintain Cleanliness for Dogs?

Keeping your dog’s functional space tidy allows them to stay healthy. Dogs, just like any other animals, are also susceptible to parasites and diseases. Moreover, if catching diseases isn’t the major concern, your dog is likely to get injured with unwanted things lying around. Hence, a clutter-free area is a must to ensure that your pet dog is thriving and living its best life.

Maintaining Indoor Hygiene

A clean and healthy environment is not only limited to the outdoors, but it’s also important to sustain indoors. Here’s how you can ensure that your dog’s health remains up to par inside your home.

Ensure Clean Bedding

If you’ve had a pet dog for long, they likely have some form of bedding to sleep on. However, unlike ours, your dog’s bedding will have a lot more dirt, dander, and fur collected over time.

This means more bacteria, mites, and fleas and a greater chance of catching diseases. Therefore, it’s important to vacuum their bed weekly and also wash it every other week. Make sure to wash any other thing that may have in contact with the dirty bedding too.

Wash Their Toys

Toys are one of the biggest sources of germs, and if they’re shared among all the pets in the house, they may cause bacteria to spread. Toys are known to have mold, yeast, and coliform bacteria on them. Therefore, make sure to clean them frequently since your four-legged friend often uses its mouth to play with them.

Keep Their Bowls Clean

If toys can be a source of harmful bacteria for your dog, then so can their food bowl. Both water and food bowls can harbor bacteria like salmonella and e.coli, and they can cause illnesses among both pets and people. This is why make sure not to let the bowl sit out for long, especially if you have just used it to feed your dog.

Ensure a Clean Litter Box

If your dog is habitual of a litter box, make sure to maintain its hygiene too. A dirty litter box can be a source of parasites like roundworms, hookworms, and toxoplasma gondii.

Moreover, your pet may avoid going into a dirty litter box. This means your pets may prevent themselves from urinating, causing further problems for them. You can easily prevent problems as a result of a dirty litter box by simply replacing it regularly. However, it also depends on the type of litter you use.

Keep Their Collars Clean

Most people don’t pay much heed to it, but your dog’s collar is also a major source of dirt and germs for them. Moreover, since they have it around their necks most of the time the chances are that those collars are always carrying dirt. Hence, anything your dog comes into contact with regularly should be washed thoroughly.

Maintaining Outdoor Cleanliness

If you’re a responsible dog owner, you must already be aware of the importance of keeping the outdoors as clean as indoors, especially when it comes to your dog’s health. To ensure your dog gets a good mix of indoor and outdoor activities, you must display a sense of responsibility when taking them to dog-friendly areas such as parks, for example.

Avoid Taking Food Outside

Even though many parks are dog friendly and may allow you to bring snacks along, avoid doing so. This is because food is one of the most common sources of litter in parks. Even if you dispose of all the waste responsibly, food remains can still be there and maybe a nuisance to other dogs in the park.

Clean Up After Your Dog

No matter how well-trained you think your little buddy is, you can never be too sure when it comes to them urinating or releasing feces in an open area. Both could be a source of diseases for other dogs playing around, so never feed them too much before taking them out. If you do suspect that they may release feces regardless, make sure to take the cleaning essentials like waste bags and gloves along.

Can Vaccinated Dogs Get Sick?

Most owners believe that their dog is safe from every illness just because they’re vaccinated. However, that’s far from the truth. Dogs can get sick even after getting vaccinated, mainly because of how more and more variants of an illness keep developing.

Hence, the way we treat the environment determines how the environment treats dogs. This is not to say that vaccines are entirely ineffective, but you cannot expect them to work for your pet in extremely unsanitary and unhygienic conditions.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that your dog deserves a healthy and happy home where their needs are met, and their spaces are maintained. An unclean environment both indoors and outdoors, especially with pet dogs, can have serious implications. In worst circumstances, they may also get seriously sick and die due to an illness that may have resulted from environmental bacteria.

All in all, the goal is to provide a healthy environment for all dogs, no matter what breed they are. A well-maintained environment implies that everything in your dog’s environment, including objects they play with and things they interact with, should be kept clean and dealt with, with utmost care.

Your pets are more susceptible to catching diseases than you would like to believe. They’re as sensitive as any other living being when it comes to their health and wellness. Your animals can easily catch infections and diseases from their immediate surroundings. This is why cleanliness for your pets takes priority.

by Maria A Davidson

We are in business to provide great products for the outdoorsy hikers, campers and their dogs; and to help clean our parks, rivers and oceans for a better planet earth for hikers and their dogs.

Parks Clean

Parks are high-traffic areas in most cities. This means that trash is bound to show up in and around your park and playground.

When discussing ways your family can help clean your local park, don’t overlook a literal cleanup! Picking up trash will make a huge difference in the appearance and vibe of your park. A clean area will encourage others to keep the park pristine. When picking up trash and debris, make sure to wear gloves to protect yourself, and put trash in appropriate receptacles or lawn bags. You can also contact your local trash company to schedule a pickup when you are finished.

Rivers Clean

The storm drain on your street collects the water from your roof, driveway, and sidewalk and funnels it directly in your local lake or river. Nutrients from grass and leaves, pet waste, and fertilizers “enrich” our lakes and streams — feeding algae blooms and harming fish. Chemicals from washing your car in the drive and household chemical spills add up, taking a nasty toll on our favorite swimming areas and fishing spots. Soil can also be picked up by runoff, reducing the clarity of water and hurting fish.

So as you prepare your lawn and garden, here are a few helpful tips to keep our lakes and rivers beautiful and safe for all of us.

Use mulch and vegetation to keep soil from washing away.
Sweep or rake grass and leaves away from street curbs.
Mulch and compost grass clippings and leaves.
Keep paved surfaces to a minimum.
Capture water runoff with a rain garden and rain barrels.
Wash your car on the grass, where the water will get filtered.
Keep chemicals away from storm drains.
Collect your pet’s waste.
Aim your rain-gutter downspouts onto grass.

Beaches Clean (do it for the ocean)

In 2007, the United States Senate and House of Representatives passed the National Clean Beaches Week Resolution to recognize the value of beaches to the American way of life and the important contributions of beaches to the economy, recreation, and natural environment of the United States.

Clean Beaches Week, celebrated annually July 1-7, offers the perfect opportunity to encourage stewardship and volunteerism along our coastlines. But where do you even begin? Follow these tips to get started.

Identify a clean-up site. Choose a place that needs some TLC, making sure that volunteers can safely access the site. Get permission, if needed, for your clean-up event, perhaps from the local parks agency.
Choose a site coordinator. (That might be you!) A beach clean-up takes a lot of work and needs an organized person to keep everything on track before, during, and after the event.
Visit the site in advance. The coordinator will need to know where to set up a volunteer check-in station, where to leave trash and recyclables, and what area(s) volunteers will clean.
Gather supplies. Depending on your location, you’ll need supplies such as trash bags, a first aid kit, hand sanitizer, wipes, and large coolers of water. You should also provide (or ask volunteers to bring) items such as reusable work/garden gloves, reusable water bottles, sunscreen, and bug spray.
Plan how to handle the recyclables. Reach out to recyclers in your area (and perhaps your community’s solid waste departments) to make arrangements for accepting any glass, plastic, and aluminum that you collect.
Line up event partners. Contact local businesses for donations of drinks, food, and supplies. Ask a local solid waste hauler to donate their services for trash removal.
Plan for handling hazardous waste. Determine how you’ll dispose of any medical and sewage waste you might find. One solution: A wide-mouth container with a tight-fitting lid, such as an empty laundry detergent bottle. Clearly label that it contains hazardous waste.
Get volunteers to help. Recruit friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors. Create an event on Facebook and ask volunteers to sign up online. This will give you an idea of how many people to expect and will help communicate event details.
Stay safe. Be prepared for a variety of health emergencies, from minor cuts and scrapes to heat stroke.
Take photos! Post pics online to share the success of your event and recognize volunteers for their hard work.