It's Dog or Nothing

All Things Great Pyrenees

focus

WINPRO Blood Protein Supplements for Dogs

1 Comment

WINPRO Blood Protein Supplements are nature's best weapon against inflammation. They can help with immunity, focus, mobility, training, and allergies. We tested Focus for Mauja's anxiety and Allergy for Kiska's skin issues.

I’m going to be honest. When I first heard about blood protein supplements for dogs, I was a bit turned off.

Blood protein.

Just the name gave me a weird feeling. But I started doing some research, and realized just how widely back blood protein supplements are.

So when I was contacted by WINPRO to try their blood protein supplements, I was intrigued.

WINPRO Blood Protein Supplements are:

  • created specifically for dogs
  • produced in the USA
  • fast-acting
  • proven to reduce inflammation

There are five different WINPRO formulas to help with a variety of needs:

We had the chance to try WINPRO Focus for Mauja’s anxiety issues, and WINPRO Allergy for Kiska’s skin issues.

WINPRO Focus for Calming

Watch how Mauja responded to WINPRO Focus

If you’ve been around awhile, you know that Mauja has some anxiety issues. We’ve been working on them since she was about 8 months old.

We don’t know exactly the cause, but we think we moved from California to Montana during a fear period. She would go out with us a lot in Cali, but the first place we went to in Montana resulted in this:

Great Pyrenees | It's Dog or Nothing

We’ve worked diligently with her since, but haven’t made much progress. She’s currently taking Prozac and several CBD supplements to help calm her mind while we work on triggering situations.

Unfortunately, we have to switch up products a lot because they stop working for her after a few weeks. So, I was really excited to learn about WINPRO Focus.

WINPRO Focus contains a blend of animal blood proteins and other key ingredients to help reduce anxiety, improve mental calmness, and maintain mental alertness.

WINPRO Focus helps:

  • reduce anxiety
  • promote mental calmness
  • promote attentiveness—without the Benadryl effect
  • improve behavior and responsiveness

Mauja has responded extremely well to WINPRO Focus. I even took her to work the other day! That’s something we couldn’t have done before—thanks to WINPRO.

WINPRO Allergy for Healthy Skin & Coat

Watch how Kiska responds to WINPRO Allergy

Itching, and scratching, and licking—oh my!

Allergies are definitely an issue in this house, especially for Miss Kiska. Girl is allergic to so many things.

So far, we know she’s allergic to grains, chicken, turkey, and pork. And I’m sure there’s still triggers we haven’t figured out yet.

Trying to feed her is always a challenge, and our cabinets are always stocked with Benadryl.

(That may be because I am also allergic to everything)

There have been many days where Kiska and I have passed out for hours mid-day because we needed a Benadryl dose to avoid scratching our skin off.

WINPRO Allergy has been a game changer for Kiska.

WINPRO Allergy helps:

  • reduce itching and scratching
  • provide relief for issues relating to allergies
  • promote healthy skin and coat
  • ease negative effects of environmental toxins
  • support seasonal and ongoing allergies

Kiska has been on WINPRO Allergy for over a month, and her allergy issues have improved so much.

When we go to pet stores, employees often want to give her treats. I either have to politely decline (which leads to disappointment), or I have to ask a million questions to make sure she won’t be miserable for the next several days.

Now, I don’t worry if someone offers her a treat. She can tolerate small amounts of her trigger foods without an issue.

It has taken so much of the stress away, and I’m sure she feels much better!

Use code “FLOOF15” for 15% off your first order!

Do you think your dog would benefit from a WINPRO product?

WINPRO Blood Protein Supplements are nature's best weapon against inflammation. They can help with immunity, focus, mobility, training, and allergies. We tested Focus for Mauja's anxiety and Allergy for Kiska's skin issues.

Disclaimer: It’s Dog or Nothing was compensated for sharing WINPRO products. Don’t worry—we’ll always share our honest opinion to give you the best information possible.

Handling Stressful Vet Visits

2 Comments

img_9239
Practicing “focus”

Between the issues both Mauja and Atka have been experiencing, we’ve been at the vet a lot. Atka doesn’t mind vet visits. In fact, I think he enjoys them. Any situation that offers him snuggles and treats is great in his mind!

Unfortunately, Mauja doesn’t share the same level of enjoyment in vet visits. To her, they are pretty much the worst thing ever. She pants, whines, and makes noises I never knew a dog could make. Obviously, vet visits are something we will never be able to avoid completely, so I had to figure out a way to survive these visits.

When Mauja’s anxiety was at its peak earlier this year, it was impossible to get her to focus on anything when she was in an uncomfortable situation. This made training and desensitization extremely difficult. She wouldn’t take treats and praise didn’t phase her. Eventually, we made the decision to start her on Prozac so we could actually reach her brain. Since starting the medication, we’re finally able to work through difficult situations.

If we're not working, she's distracted by even the tiniest noise.
If we’re not working, she’s distracted by even the tiniest noise.

The best way that I’ve found to survive these stressful situations is to keep her mind busy so she can’t focus on the extra stimuli. I keep her busy and distracted by “playing games” and doing basic trick training. Now, Mauja definitely isn’t a “trick dog”, but she does know a few basics.

We try and find a quiet corner in the waiting room to sit and work. I always go to the vet with a bag full of because I know I will be using a lot as we wait! Some simple tricks we use include:

  • Sit
  • Down
  • Stand
  • Shake
  • Touch
  • Leave it
  • Focus

“Leave it” is a very versatile game because it’s easy to mix it up and it’s also the one we play the most. Mauja knows how to leave treats on her paws, my hand, my legs, the bench, and anywhere else I can come up with in the waiting room.

Our second favorite is “focus”. For us, focus means to look at me until I give the release. In very stressful situations, I’m thrilled to get just a few seconds of uninterrupted focus from Mauja. One year ago, I never would have gotten her to look at me.

Not the best picture to tell, but here Mauja is displaying "whale eyes" Whale eyes are a commonly overlooked sign of stress where the dog shows the whites of her eyes.
Not the best picture to tell, but here Mauja is displaying “whale eyes” Whale eyes are a commonly overlooked sign of stress where the dog shows the whites of her eyes.

This technique, if you can even call it that, can be used in so many different situations. This was one we frequently used at BlogPaws this year to survive really busy events. I’d love to hear if you use this method to decrease your dog’s stress as well!

How do you handle stressful situations with your dog?

Positive Pet Training Blog Hop


Great Pyrenees Therapy Training with VetriScience Composure

4 Comments

During our therapy dog training we've been using VetriScience Composure to help my Great Pyrenees focus.I wrote earlier this week about how Atka passed his Advanced Canine Good Citizen test this past weekend. Since then, I have received numerous emails and messages from Great Pyrenees parents wanting to train their pyr for therapy. I was so excited by the emails because I truly believe pyrs are one of the best breeds for therapy work. They’re incredibly loving, tolerant, mellow, and who wouldn’t want to snuggle with all that fluff?! The problem arises with the obedience portion of therapy work. That is where most people struggle with their Great Pyrenees.

Great Pyrenees are independent thinkers which doesn’t translate well to traditional obedience. However, with lots of practice, patience, and a sense of humor, you can achieve great things with your Great Pyrenees.

Focus

Focus has been the most beneficial skill for our training success and it’s one I recommend teaching right away. If you’re a pyr parent, you know how hard it is to keep the attention of your Great Pyrenees. There are always people to meet, things to guard, and well… more important matters to attend to. Teaching focus helps to work through these obstacles.

When you start training your Great Pyrenees, treats are not optional! You need a variety of high-value treats to keep your pyr interested in what you’re saying. My treat bag is always mixed with several types of soft and freeze-dried treats; like a trail mix for dogs!

When Atka and I first started working on “focus”, he got a treat every single time he looked at me, regardless of whether I asked him. I want looking at me to be more exciting and rewarding than the other stimuli in the environment. We’ve been working on this for over a year and definitely aren’t perfect, but it has helped tremendously in our therapy training. We had a huge victory two weeks ago when we were walking through the store and a dog lunged and snarled at Atka. I immediately asked Atka to “focus”; he looked up at me at trotted past the other dog. It was treats GALORE after that!

VetriScience Composure

During our therapy dog training we've been using VetriScience Composure to help my Great Pyrenees focus.Atka will be 2 next month, which for a giant breed is still very much puppy. Giant breeds don’t become an adult mentally until around 3 years of age. Puppy brain coupled with pyr personality can be a definite training challenge, which is why I wanted to give VetriScience® Composure™ a try.

Composure is a chewable calming supplement for stressed or nervous dogs. While Atka isn’t stressed or nervous in our training sessions, he can still be excitable at times. I sometimes tell Atka he has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. He can be absolutely perfect one day and then a squirmy, wiggly puppy the next (which is why even though I know he could pass the therapy test, we’re going to wait a bit). I was hoping the Composure chewables would help Atka focus a bit more in our training sessions.

Composure is “a calming formula providing C3™ Calming Complex, L-Theanine (Suntheanine® brand), and Thiamine to support balanced behavior”. They are tasty chewables that I had no problem giving Mauja and Atka; they definitely thought they were getting a treat! The dosage for their size is high, but that’s typical of any supplement or medication for giant breeds.

I’ve been really pleased with the use of Composure in our training. We only use it on his “Hyde days” to help take the edge off so he can process the high levels of stimulation more effectively. My next step is to try Composure to help Mauja’s anxiety in buildings. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes!

During our therapy dog training we've been using VetriScience Composure to help my Great Pyrenees focus.
Pin It!

Want the chance to try Composure for your dog? Enter the giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclaimer: It’s Dog or Nothing is being compensated to help spread the word about VetriScience Composure. Don’t worry – an advertiser will never influence the content of this blog and It’s Dog or Nothing only shares products we believe in and feel you would enjoy. VetriScience is not responsible for the content of this article. Thanks for supporting It’s Dog or Nothing!