guide | Ammo the Dachshund

Last week I took a short stay-cation in my hometown of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. While I didn’t actually travel anywhere exotic or new I did get to have a whole bunch of brand-new adventures. I hope you’ll come along for the ride with me this week, as I have lots to share!

One of the first things I did on my vacation was to go stand up paddleboarding (also called SUP or stand up paddle surfing) at the Marsh Creek Boat Rental.

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

Visiting the lake isn’t new to me, as I’ve been known to zip around on a motorized row boat with my mom and dad, but SUP was something I have never done before.

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

I was so excited when I saw the paddleboard come out that I couldn’t wait to hit the water, especially on this super hot day.

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

I did end up swimming A LOT while I was on the water, sometimes by accident because I was standing too close to the edge while some turbulent water knocked me in, and sometimes because I wanted to take a trip over to visit dad in his canoe.

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

Luckily I do know how to swim, and my new life vest kept me even more afloat – and made it easy for mom and dad to scoop me back onto the board.

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

I’m pretty sure I was the talk of the lake that day and I enjoyed waving at all the other people out enjoying the cool water.

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

This may have been my first time paddleboarding, but it certainly won’t be my last! Especially if this heat wave in Pennsylvania keeps up!

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

Tips for Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog

Before visiting a lake rental spot make sure that they allow dogs on their rental boats and boards
Make sure your dog has a properly fitted life vest – keep a leash attached to it so you can quickly grab your dog should they go overboard accidentally
If you have never been on a paddleboard yourself, practice paddling on the lake without your dog first, it will be much harder to maneuver the board with a dog on it too
Allow your dog to get used to the board near the shore first with you standing in the water
Be prepared to get wet – very wet (but that is the point isn’t it?)
Don’t bring a dog paddleboarding that doesn’t know how to swim, it is pretty likely that at some point they will go overboard especially if it is windy out
If your dog has a strong herding instinct it is best to have only one “member of the pack” out on the lake at a time, otherwise your dog will be upset when his “pack” isn’t close together, causing him to jump overboard or panic
Have as much fun as possible!

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

And the icing on my cupcake…..according to Shape Magazine I burned 500 – 700 calories every hour I was out paddleboarding (although mom says she’s pretty sure they mean it’s her that’s burning those calories), but regardless it’s also apparently the new “celebrity trend” – with paddleboarders like Jennifer Aniston and Kate Hudson testing them out too.

Stand Up Paddleboarding with your Dog - via Ammo the Dachshund

So considering I’m probably just as famous as those big celebs (right?) then it must be the super cool new thing to do! Not to mention I look awfully sexy doing it! *wink*

So what do you think? Is your next big adventure going to be paddleboarding with your dog? Or do you just enjoy living vicariously through me? Or better yet – have any suggestions of new adventures I should try?

Make sure you stop by the blog tomorrow to hear all about my adventures on my very first airplane ride!

Nail Trimming, it’s the arch nemesis to many of my four-legged friends – including myself. According to my mom it is a necessary evil to prevent ingrown nails, and trimming them allows me to put my full weight on the ground – instead of my nails, which could cause a deformed gait.

ammo's guide to nail trimming for dogs

So despite the fact that I really don’t like to have my nails trimmed I’m here to share with you my opinion on some of the best and worst nail trimmers out there.

Below is a break-down of some of the tools I have tried.

ammo's guide to nail trimming for dogs

1. Guillotine style nail clippers*

2. Scissor Style Nail Clippers*

3. PediPaws nail trimmer*

4. Dremel*

*contains affiliate links

ammo's guide to nail trimming for dogs

The guillotine style nail trimmer is my least favorite type. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but it makes me cry! Mom also says she finds it awkward to hold and get into the right position and it doesn’t seem to make a clean cut, perhaps that’s why it hurts when it trims my nails.

ammo's guide to nail trimming for dogs

The scissor style trimmer is at the top of my list because it’s quick and painless as long as you don’t trim the nails too short.

ammo's guide to trimming dog's nails

The particular scissor style trimmer that I have is made by JW Pet Company and also has a protective guard on it to help avoid cutting anything else (like little doxie noses).

ammo's guide to nail trimming for dogs

The PediPaws nail sander works fairly well, but I’m not a huge fan of the way it vibrates my nails. I can only tolerate it for so long before I just won’t sit still any longer. It also seems to take a long time to trim the nails. The one nice thing about the pedi paw though is that it has a guard on it with an opening just big enough for a nail to fit through. This helps to make sure nothing else accidentally gets sanded.

ammo's guide to nail trimming for dogs

The dremel tool isn’t something sold specifically for trimming dog’s nails but it’s practically the same thing as the PediPaws. The only difference is that this sands the nail a lot faster, but this also means it spins at a higher rate (and without a nail guard) so you have to be extra careful when trimming with it.

ammo's guide to trimming dog's nails

Now if it was up to me, I’d be trimming my nails myself.

ammo's guide to trimming dog's nails

But, you’d be surprised at how difficult it is when you don’t have opposable thumbs.

ammo's guide to trimming dog's nails

So to get my fabulous mani/pedi look, this is how my mom does it for a difficult nail trimming patient like myself…

She’s super sneaky and waits until I fall into a deep sleep then quickly and quietly snips some of my nails with the scissor style trimmer, making sure to cut my all black nails just before they begin to curve as to not cut the quick. If I happen to wake up (which I always do for my front nails) she feeds me some cookies and leaves me alone until I fall asleep again or sometimes waits until the next day to finish my nails. If she thinks some of her snips weren’t quite short enough, then she’ll break out the dremel or pedipaws to sand them down a bit further. I typically only tolerate the sanders for about 5 minutes so sometimes this is broken up over several days as well.

ammo's guide to trimming dog's nails