Archives for August, 2008

Dog Care and Training

Do you love your dog? Of course you do . Proper dog care and training will ensure you and your dog spend many precious years together. Proper nutrition and exercise will help your dog live a long and fruitful life. You wouldn’t feed yourself garbage, would you?
The same goes for your dog. Reading the labels on the dog food will make sure that your dog is getting the best nutrition, which is important to good health. Exercising is paramount to keeping your dog young. A daily exercise regime keeps your dog healthy and happy. Taking your dog out for a daily walk does both you and your dog good.
A well trained dog lessens the stress level in both you and your dog. A dog that barks, is aggressive, pees in the house, runs out open doors,etc. causes stress on both of you. If you want a healthy and happy dog then proper training is a must. The old adage
“you can’t teach old dogs new tricks” is not correct. Bad behavior can be unlearned and replaced by good behavior. Dogs yearn to be loved, and will try to please, so it is easy to train your dog if you know how. To have a happy and healthy dog, proper dog care and training is a must. For a more comprehensive must have manual on solving bad behavior check out dog training.

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Aug 13, 2024 | 0 | dog care and training

DOG CARE

Dry Vs. Canned food

These types of food materials are different with different grades of liking by the dogs. Dogs like dry foods only if they are tasty only and however, on comparison, the dogs prefer only the canned food items. Reason for such preference by the dogs is that in case of canned food items, the moisture is about seventy to eighty per cent but in case of dry food, it is only about ten per cent.

However, if you view it in terms of nutrients, often the dry food contains nearly ninety per cent nutrients whereas the canned food items contain only less per cent of nutrients most of the times. It is only soy products that are structured so well to look like meat pieces.

Hence, to make up the nutritional balance in the body systems, the dog has to eat more amounts of canned food materials than the dry food materials. Hence, just compare the cost factor related to this feature by you. Many dry food items are soybean and rice based.

Now some dry food items are based on corn. Sometimes, beef based or chicken based food items come in the cans along with mineral and vitamin supplements suited for the upkeep of the dog’s health status. Larger dogs that weigh more than thirty pounds need to be fed with semi moist food items or dry food items in most of the occasions.

This is to satisfy the food receptors in the stomach. This is due to the fact that the larger dogs need to eat plenty of moist food or the canned food items to satisfy these criteria. But it may not be practically possible in these larger dogs. The small sized dogs may have a satisfactory level of nutrients if fed even the moist food items.
However, the caloric density of the dry food should not be forgotten. Enriched dry food items are highly welcome ones than the non -enriched food items. Home made diets

Home made diets are important in the dog feeding. Many a times, the commercial diets consist of food items that have artificial coloring agents and flavoring agents that are harmful to the dog’s body. Home made food items have the guarantee of freshness in the preparation unlike the ready-made commercial items.

The preservatives added in the commercial food items may not be the suitable ones to the dogs from the health point of view. Even in case of renal diseases in dogs, the home made diets may be made with ground beef, slices of bread, calcium carbonate, boiled eggs etc.

The purpose is to have the restricted protein supply in the feed items prepared. This should be carried out with home made diets prepared exclusively for the dogs suffering from renal diseases. Water is added in sufficient quantities to help the proper metabolism in the digestion-impaired renal cases.

The dog may have allergic symptoms like severe itching, which may not get corrected by different kinds of medications employed over a period of time. Such cases may get easily treated once the dog food is changed from the commercial type of food to the home made food items.

Often, the home made food items are prepared using the freezing procedures to kill the germs or by adding grape seed extracts to provide sufficient antioxidants to the home made food items. Food grade vinegar is also added in many times to the meat pieces prepared in a fresh manner. All these can be enriched with vitamin supplements that are available in fruit essences, fish oil etc.

Cranberry juice, bananas, fish and meat are prepared in a quality manner and no preservatives are added during the preparation of these kinds of food items and the dog becomes more active after the consumption of such food items.

How much should I feed my dog?

Many people will give different types of answers based on their experience with their dogs. However, the scientific facts related to the feeding aspects in case of dogs need to be given emphasis during the feeding activities maintained in case of dogs.

Usually the puppies should not be separated before they are eight weeks old. However, some times the orphaned puppies may exist. Usually about five percent of the body weight may be taken as criteria for the quantity of food to be given to the puppies. However, the amount that is consumed by the dog varies with size of the dogs also.

However, one can have a thumb rule of feeding the puppy goes until you see visible fullness of the abdomen to a moderate degree. If you are going on feeding the animal without giving emphasis to the animal’s stomach appearance, then the puppy may experience some kinds of digestive upsets and the diarrhea may occur in them.

This may cause many inconveniences to the owner as well as the puppy. Unlike adult dogs, the puppies need to be fed with restricted amounts of food but in more frequencies. However, once the age advances, the amount may be increased to some extent but the frequency of feeding is often decreased in many occasions.

A dog on a raw diet may consume only two to four percent of their body weight. Just observe closely the feeding pattern of the dog and the body condition of the animal. If the dog becomes obese, just reduce the quantity of food and if the dog becomes thin, then have an increase in the feeding items.

As mentioned earlier, puppies and adolescent dogs eat more than the adult dogs. Likewise the geriatric dog eats less than the adult dog due to the reduced movements of the dog. However, remember to restrict the amounts of protein during the feeding of diet to the aged dogs.

FOODS TO AVOID FEEDING DOGS

Many people foods are highly toxic to dogs. Even a small amount may cause serious complications, even death. Most dog owners know these foods to avoid, however some may surprise you!

CHOCOLATE - Dark chocolate is the worst for dogs. Chocolate contains a substance called “THEOBROMINE” which is similar to caffeine, which in toxic doses can cause heart attacks. As little as 2 oz. of dark chocolates can be fatal to a small dog. Call your vet immediately if you suspect your dog has ingested any chocolate.

GRAPES/RAISINS - I have seen these two items listed on a number of poison foods for dogs. Apperently they have a toxin that can cause acute renal (kidney) failure. I personnally have a 100 lb. husky shepard mix that just loves grapes. I don’t know if I have been lucky or if this is inaccurate. It may depend on the size of dog as to how toxic grapes and raisins may be. If in doubt err on the side of caution.

ONIONS - Disulfide. a substance in onions is toxic to dogs. It causes hemlytic anemia. As little as two slices per week can damage red blood cells, impairing their ability to carry oxygen. Garlic also has disulfide, yet I have seen many home-made dog receipes include garlic.

LIVER - Taken in small amounts it is good for your dog. Large amounts of liver cause vitamin A toxicity. This can lead to bone problems, weight loss and anorexia. Always cook liver before feeding it to your dog.

BONES - Raw meaty bones and chicken bones can splinter and lodge in the throat or intestine. If it lodges in the intestine and perforates the lining, you dog could have internal bleeding and die. If you want to feed your dog bones, ask your butcher for soup bones and cook the bones for at least 20 minutes.

RAW EGGS - Raw eggs contain a protein called “AVIDIN” which depletes your dog of vitmin B. Also raw eggs may contain bacteria such as Salmonella. Always serve your dog cooked eggs as it helps growth and coat condition.

RAW MEAT/POULTRY - Bacteria is the major problem with raw meat. If you serve meat, cook it first.

MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS - If your dog presently drinks milk and has no problem, then there is no problem. If your dog appears to have gas, diarrhea or abdominal discomfort, then he may be lactose intolerant. Fifty per cent of dogs ARE lactose intolerent.

NUTS - Walnuts and macdamians are poisonous to dogs. Peanuts in small quantities are not harmful.

POTATO - Cooked and mashed potatoes are good for dogs. Raw potatoes, especially green potato skins are toxic.

RHUBARB - Oxalates are present especially in the leaves. It is best to avoid completely.

TURKEY SKIN - Is known to cause acute Pancreatitus in dogs.

SEEDS AND PIPS - The seeds and pips from apples, pears,plums, peaches and apricots all contain Arsenic.

NUTMEG - Is a hallucingenic when ingested by dogs.BROCCOLI - Is very good for dogs but should never exceed 10% od the animals diet. The toxic substance in broccoli is isothiocyanate and can cause gastrointestinal irritation.

It is best to get to know your dog, his eating habits and signs he may be ill. Dogs are like humans and can suffer from human like ills. If your dog eats some thing and it causes problems no matter how small, eliminate that food from the diet. 

 

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Aug 25, 2024 | 2 | dog food

Introduction to Dog Training

If you have a dog that has obedience problems it can be quite stressful for both of you. Proper dog training will improve the relationship you have with your dog. We will deal with some of the more common dog problems. Dog owners feel frustrated and embarrassed when dealing with dogs that have bad habits. Once you deal with teaching your dog to listen to your commands the both of you can put your energy into a fulfilling relationship.

STOP YOUR DOG FROM JUMPING UP

The dog that jumps is a universal problem that can be cured if you understand what is motivating that behavior. The most common problem is a dog that jumps to greet someone. This is usually caused by being excited. Dogs have an inbred instinct to jump. They lick each others faces as a greeting and jump over their siblings as puppies to get to their mother. The jumping behavior may also be reinforced by the dog owner himself. When greeting your jumping dog you, praise him, feed him, walk him or play with him, you are only reinforcing the jumping behavior.

The second reason for jumping may be establishing dominance. Dogs rest their head or paws on the shoulder of a dog they want to dominate. They then exert downward pressure (this is known as teeing off). A dog will also do this to people but because of our size it is more difficult to do. It is important that you see this behavior in the broader context. If they don’t listen to you, they may have decided not to recognize you as the superior one in the pack hierarchy. If a dog has bad behavior and doesn’t listen it may be a sign of Alpha dog. Some dog owners don’t mind if their dog jumps up to greet them. The last thing we want to do is convince our dog that they have no reason to get excited to see us. But when the same dog jumps on others, it can be awkward and even dangerous.

Lay down the rules. During greeting put your hand or hands in front of you and hold still. With repetition a well trained dog will be able to respond quickly to this gesture.When the dog begins to learn the behavior, then you can add a verbal command like “down” to the gesture. It will take a puppy longer to learn this command. Don’t be overly enthusiastic when greeting a puppy that jumps. Also don’t push the puppy away as they will think you are playing. When you push a puppy away, they will push back instinctively. Patience is the key word. Dogs learn through repitition. Another good way to teach your dog not to jump is to turn your back and ignore him. You then calmly ask him to sit. When he has calmed down the greet the dog. If he starts jumping again, repeat the process. Once your dog has learned the behavior of not jumping and remains calm, it is best to greet him on his level. Squat or kneel and open your palms toward the dog. This is none threatening and puts you on the same level as the dog.

If you have established yourself as the dominant member of the pack, your dog should never be allowed to position himself in front of you when you open a door to visitors. If the behavior continues then you need training to establish yourself as the Alpha dog. If all the dog training still has not helped then a final solution is exercise. A tired dog has less energy and is better behaved. Whether its a long walk or a vigorous game of fetch,exercise is good for both of you!

For a more complete dog training experience check this out.

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Aug 17, 2024 | 0 | dog training (jumping)