New Toy For A Maine Winter!

Oh yeah! I got me some sliding snowshoes!!!!! These bad boys are a cross between Backcountry skis, and Snowshoes. In my zeal for bad ass dog activities under ANY circumstances, I’ve run into some snags with the tapering period before and after the snow season. My kicksled, is awesome for when it’s been snowing regular. But, if you hit patches …

Missed Thanksgiving Because Of The Dog

Listen, I’m not bagging on you. I was you. Hell, I AM you. We can’t leave town. Not unless we take an RV and put all five dogs in that bad boy! Look, I know there are a lot of people out there who are totally bummed today because they had to tell their family they couldn’t come to Thanksgiving……. …

Vet’s Sing The Praises Of Exercise!

Vetinfo.com has published an article pronouncing the benefits of exercise for your dog. It’s definitely worth a read. As always, we’re here to help you give your “difficult” dog the workouts, and experiences they need.  This excerpt is taken from the article “The Benefits Of Dog Exercise”. Check it out. Minimize Unwanted Dog Behavior Dogs like to chew and dig. …

Endurance Pulling Sports

The ones that we take part in are: Bikejoring Scootering Kicksledding We talked about Canicross in another post, because you have to run to keep up. But, basically, all these are, is attaching your dog to a typically “human” powered vehicle, and holding on! Ok, there’s more to it than that. The commands needed to take part in these are …

We Walk DINOS!

Dinosaurs? No D.I.N.O.S. It’s a concept founded by Jessica Dolce, author of the blog; Notes From A Dog Walker. Here’s her description: What is a DINOS? DINOS™ are Dogs in Need of Space. DINOS are good dogs that need some space while they’re out on walks. They might be DINOS for a variety of reasons, such as: •service and working dogs …

Who Rescued Who?

I’m actually not being cliche. Science suggests this is an actual question now! The common theory is that we humans saw these canines scavenging around the outskirts of our fire eating the bones that we were tossing over our shoulder. We noticed this and used our immense intelligence to “train and domesticate” them. Well, a scientist has recently done a …

In Defense Of Bully Breeds

At Next Level Dogs, we don’t deal exclusively with Pit Bulls or their derivatives. But, we are certainly HUGE advocates seeing as how almost all the dogs in are personal pack are Bulls!!! And while we work with ALL breeds, we spend a fair amount of energy trying to change public opinion on these often misunderstood dogs. The one thing …

Tug…. The Right Way

Everyone has advice on playing tug with your dog. Some say never do it at all, because it encourages aggressiveness. Some say it’s ok to do it with some dogs, but not dogs that are dominant, because they will learn it’s ok to challenge you. But then there are a whole slew of professionals that use tugs to create amazing …

What is Exercise Therapy Anyway

There is a “Biologically Appropriate” amount of exercise that all animals need to achieve optimal physical and mental health. No animal can reach their full potential without it. Dogs are no different. The problem is, in balancing a dog’s need for exercise with a dog’s need for structure. To rehabilitate a dog, they need to have extremely tight structure for …