Posts from — April 2006

If at any time you’ve been nipped by a young dog or puppy, you’ll know that those teeth can be as knife-like as ice picks.
Depending on their breed, dogs typically possess a pretty impregnable hide and can nip and be nipped with comparative impunity, but we humans are not so lucky. And yes, a puppy’s nip can definitely pierce the human hide!

So how do you put a final and permanent stop to your young pup’s nipping habits?
Primarily, it helps to appreciate that he’s not gnawing on or chewing your leg maliciously! Chewing, mouthing and gumming are ordinary activities for puppies and young adolescent dogs.

They instinctively nip when playing alongside their siblings. This is the way they communicate with the universe and the environment about them. If uncontrolled by his less close family and “pack” members, a young dog would, in a second, be taught by his mother and siblings to manage his chewing.

But the majority of puppies are separated from their mothers and family prior to the time when they’ve had an opportunity to take this skill and understanding on-board; hence, it remains “unlearned”.

So, what to do? First, you need to let him have fun and mix with a group of other dogs.

Puppies adore jumping about, to fall and tumble and having fun. If your little bundle of fun becomes a bit too boisterous in the presence of different, unknown dogs, the other members of the crowd will rapidly address his improper and unnecessary behavior!

As basic as it is, this socialization alongside different dogs is hands down the simplest way for him to discover to manage himself when he’s tempted to nip.

There are additional benefits to allowing our pup to socialize in this way. He’ll discover not to be nervous or to have any fear of strange new dogs. He’ll get rid of his surplus vitality. And you’ll see that he interacts more calmly when amongst other members of your household.

Puppies that forgo this socializing aspect are often inclined to be over-active, wild and destructive, perhaps demonstrating a range of different difficult behavioral patterns.

Additionally, dogs without any canine social skills generally tend to react unnecessarily aggressively to new situations.

So, any efforts you can engender to introduce your young dog to new and unknown dog, as well as new human beings (particularly the youngest members of your household) should pay huge dividends in numerous areas of your pup’s growth and development.
This can be especially useful if you there are very young children in the family.

The young are closer in weight, bulk and size to dogs, and they frequently possess that selfsame puppy-like vitality that can be interpreted as belligerent by a dog.

So, during the period when your puppy is relatively youthful (four months old or less), this is a sensible period to ensure that he frequently interacts with family in an appropriate way that causes neither your dog or the offspring to become too over-excited! This can be particularly significant if your pup is from a species of big or quarrelsome dogs.

The second way to try to train your young dog to drop his nipping and gnawing habit is to work to elicit his confidence and esteem.
This can go a long way to ensuring that all subsequent training becomes easier and that the effects of all your training efforts are permanent, notably if you’re striving to manage and then rectify difficult or unmanageable behavior.

How do you garner your young pups esteem? By treating him with exactly the same levels of respect and consideration that you expect from him (or her).

Whether you’re teaching your puppy or only playing, try to handle him with consideration. This entails no hitting or slapping of your puppy, even when in situations where you’re attempting to rectify and deal with seriously improper behavior.

Tangible physical discipline (or abuse) can not only ruin the confidence and admiration of your pup, it’ll almost guarantee that he is scared him of you. Moreover, it’s frequently ineffectual and counter-productive to act this way. Reprimanding your puppy does not prevent him from nipping and chewing. In all likelihood, it’ll do nothing more than flummox him.

By using positive support, usually involving the giving of treats and an abundance of compliments, you should be able to train him infinitely more quickly faster and far more effectively, whilst getting the pup to understand that it is possible to have fun without nipping!

A young dog that bites can mature to be a grown dog that continues to bite unless you instruct him otherwise. Untended, these antagonistic and aggressive behavioral patterns will almost definitely become worse and increasingly less manageable over time.

So, act to deal with them ahead of time, emphatically but fairly, and you’ll lay down the necessary corner stones for a caring, vigorous and trusting partnership with your young pup for the rest of his days.

By Steve Cowan

For more dog caring and training hints, tips and suggestions, visit my site at webbiz99.com/dogtraining/ webbiz99.com

Steve Cowan is an Asia based businessman and writer, as well as an international racing driver and full time father. To read more on this subject, visit his site at webbiz99.com/ webbiz99.com/

Your pet depends on you for feeding, playing and discipline among other things and you as a pet owner depend on it for companionship and a connection with the animal world and in case of dogs, for household security and protection. Your pet is very special to you as you are to him. For these reasons and more, you should protect your pet from harm, and yourself from loss, by getting him a tag, lest it gets stolen or strays.

A pet tag is generally a small flat tag worn on collars or harnesses by household pets like dogs and cats, usually with identifying information such as the owner’s telephone number so that the owner can be notified if the dog is lost or strays. Dog collar tags hang on your dog’s collar and provides all the necessary information for calling your dog, contacting you as the owner, and alerting people to your dog’s dietary restrictions if it gets lost or strays. Some dog tags also include vaccination information, such as when your dog last received shots and when is the next one due.

Once you’ve settled on what all information to put on your pet’s tag, it’s time now to pick out a tag that suits your style and needs. If you’re just looking to tag your dog with basic information, a plain plastic tag will do. But if you want to add a personal touch, consider getting your dog silver, jewel, gold, or even a diamond dog tag. You can even have your dog tag customized and shaped exactly the way you want. Dog tags were traditionally worn on a chain, rope, or collar around the dog’s neck. Gone are the days of bland and functional tags. These days, dog tags can make a fashion statement. Some dogs wear harnesses instead of collars, so tags might be attached there instead.

Tags are made of many different materials. Metal tags usually have the information embossed or etched onto the surface, and might also have electronic chips embedded. Plastic chips can be etched or printed, come in many colors, and are often highly reflective to make the dog more visible if it gets loose and runs into the street after dark.

There are various types of pet collars and tags. They can be made of durable nylon and may be embroidered with your pet’s name and your phone number. Pet collars and tags are also made of stainless steel and these are the most durable. These stainless steel tags are specially polished, and the engraving is deep and filled with a black lacquer for easy reading.

Choose the best possible tag for you pet suiting your style and need. It would be an ideal companion of your pet. Just think of the peace of mind knowing that your lost or strayed dog’s identification and medical information is always available on your pet’s collar. These pet collars and tags make a great pet gift, are made to last for a long time, and will probably be the only dog identification you will ever need.

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We have an elderly Siamese cat named Dugan. He’ll be 17 this summer (that’s 84 in human years), but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. Other than a slight heart murmur, and some kidney function issues, which only his vet can detect, he doesn’t appear to be a day over 10 – and we fully expect him to have a few more good years left of living.

Dugan has had quite an adventurous existence, and we know for a fact he’s lost at least three of the nine lives he was born with – and probably more, we just don’t know about them. He cashed in on the first life when he was about three years old. I always liked to make visual contact with Dugan before leaving the house for work in the morning, just to make sure he was okay. One morning I couldn’t find him anywhere in the house, and after checking every closet and under all of the beds, I started to call for him. I could hear him answering me, faintly, but couldn’t determine where he was. I could hear him best in the family room, over by the fireplace. I opened the glass doors on the off chance he’d gotten in there somehow, and heard him louder than ever.

After determining that he wasn’t sitting in the fireplace, or outside of the house next to the chimney, I figured out that he was in the wall next to the fireplace. Evidently, during one of his early morning adventures, he’d found his way up into the drop ceiling in our unfinished laundry room, and traveled along the duct-ways for our furnace, coming to the end of the trail at the far end of the house, and falling down between the outside wall and the inside drywall in the space next to the chimney.

My husband was out of town, so I called the local animal rescue agency to see if they could help get him out of the wall. They tried to pry open the metal chimney guard, but to no avail – and after they left, his meowing was noticeably weaker. My father suggested putting tuna fish near the opening he’d crawled into, thinking he’d smell it and crawl out to it, but that didn’t work because the space where he’d fallen had no way for him to climb out.

Finally I called a neighbor who came over and cut a ten-inch hole in the drywall, just above the mantle of our fireplace. Using a flashlight and mirror, we confirmed that Dugan was, in fact, trapped below the mantle, next to the bottom of the fireplace. By this point he’d been trapped for at least eight hours, and was desperate to get out. But the space he had fallen into had drywall on two sides, metal flashing from the chimney, and outdoor paneling on the third side – all straight up, with no place for him to get a good grip to climb up and out. And he was too far down for an arm to reach him. So we dropped a rope down, with a noose at the end, hoping we could ease it down over his shoulders and under his arms. Which of course, we could not manage, because he was a mad, tired, hungry, thirsty cat, unwilling to cooperate with our plan.

So my neighbor informed me that he did have the noose around Dugan’s neck, and the only thing he could think of to do was to pull him quickly out of the hole by his neck, and remove the noose as soon as he came out, before he choked to death. I agreed to the plan, because it did seem to be the only way, and so he pulled the noose a little tighter around Dugan’s neck, and then, on the count of three, hoisted him as gently as possible up out of the wall.

Our plan was to pull him out and remove the noose quickly – however we weren’t prepared for the whirling dervish of snarling teeth and claws that came out of the hole in the wall. Dugan was so terrified and angry that he came out with all guns firing, and my neighbor dropped him before either of them was injured. Dugan took off up the stairs, with the noose tightly around his neck – and I was afraid he’d choke to death before I could find him. So I did the first thing that occurred to me and stepped on the end of the rope, which stopped him cold. Then I quickly ran to him, removed the noose, and watched him run back to the laundry room – where he appeared intent on climbing back up into the drop ceiling. Luckily, I was able to foil his plans for another trip inside our walls…

About a year later he had another adventure, this one outside of the house, but which cost him another life. Evidently Dugan liked to climb into a different neighbor’s boat and sleep during the day. They had a cover on the boat, and he’d climb up inside and snooze in the cool shade of the boat. The only reason we know this is because one day, our neighbors came over with Dugan in their arms, asking if we’d been missing him. To be honest, we hadn’t, because he took off often during the day – but we thanked them for bringing him home, and then asked what happened.

It seems they had decided to take their boat out on the river that day – so they hitched the trailer to their truck and drove the five miles to the put-in spot. The mom, dad, two girls, and dog, then set out for a nice boat ride up and down the river, with a picnic lunch and some water skiing mixed into their fun day together. At some point in their river journey, Dugan popped out of a small space next to the motor. Their dog went nuts, Dugan went nuts, so the girls grabbed Dugan and wrapped him in a towel and tried to keep him calm, while the father worked on taming the 80-pound angry Labrador. Suffice to say, their lovely day on the river was now over, and they returned to shore, loaded up the boat, drove home, and presented us with our cat.

I say he lost one of his lives that day because, had any other person found a cat on their boat while enjoying a lovely spring day on the river, they would likely have thrown him overboard and continued their fun. Then, when asked later if they’d seen Dugan, they would say no, they hadn’t, and offer to keep an eye out for him. Heck, I’m a cat lover, and I might have been tempted to do the same. But no – these wonderful people rescued our cat from the river and their angry dog, wrapped up their boat ride early, came home, and gave us our cat, laughing happily as they told their story.

The third life he lost wasn’t as exciting – our 7-pound, declawed, neutered cat decided to take on a neighborhood tom cat at least twice his size, and though he gave it a valiant effort, he lost, and ended up at the vet with an infection and 30 stitches. It was at that point we closed off the laundry room, and made him a permanent indoor cat, much to his chagrin.

A few months ago we thought we might be close to losing him. He wasn’t eating or drinking as much, and seemed more lethargic than usual. (Yes, I know lethargy is hard to diagnose in a cat, since most sleep 23 hours a day anyway. But in this case, he seemed even more so than usual.) We took him to the vet, where they ran a complete blood panel – and determined that perhaps he was beginning to lose some of his kidney function, which is normal in a cat of his age. They suggested changing his food to something restricted in protein and phosphorus, and a perpetual fountain-like drinking dish – and now he’s a new cat.

Ready to use up the rest of those lives over the next several years, I’m sure!

Susan Ryder is an animal lover and creative writer. This article has been submitted in affiliation with ( PetLovers.Com/ PetLovers.Com/) which is a site for PetLovers.Com/ Pet Forums.

Many people own pets for companionship, protection, child training, etc. With pet ownership, comes a great deal of responsibility to care, feed, shelter and groom our four-legged friends. As we anticipate rising temperatures in the summer months, we need to be reminded that when the temperatures increase, the need to take additional precautions to care for our pets also increases.

When people think of summer and its impact on our pets, they automatically think of water. The need for more water to battle dehydration is imperative to your pet’s life. On the contrary, water can also be a hazard and safety measures should be taken. Many of us forget that children are not the only ones susceptible to drowning, causing a need for prevention and safety since household pets are also a sad statistic in pool drownings. Though largely unreported, it is estimated of the millions of pets, that almost 1 in 1,000 drown each year. As the pet population grows and the number of new pools built grows, fatal pet drownings will also increase each year as well.

While most animals have an inherent ability to swim, many of them are unable to successfully navigate to the appropriate area of escape to save themselves. They often swim directly to the closest edge of a pool or lake and struggle to paw their way out. Even if an animal is trained to locate the stairs in their pool, the panic that sets in after a fall or the low water temperatures can often lead to exhaustion, thus preventing even a trained animal from finding their way. While it’s a tragic and real dilemma, prevention is not hard to come by. Prevention products like the Skamper Ramp and PetStep II flotation device featured on Floppyeargear.com is a sure way to direct pets to the appropriate place to get out of any body of water.

Another consideration to take during the summer months is the impact that heat has on our four-legged companions. Pavement becomes increasingly hot and the pads of our animal’s feet can not withstand the hot temperatures, much like our own. Be sure to protect your pet’s paws by either covering them with dog booties or paw wax, which not only conditions them, it helps protect paws from gravel, asphalt, rocks, salt-treated roads and hot pavement. As a rule of thumb, if it’s too hot for your feet, it’s too hot for your pet’s paws. Products to protect paws can also be found on Floppyeargear.com.

So remember, the summer heat poses threats to your pet’s safety that are not always obvious. Take the time to ensure that you are not careless with your pet during the careless summer months, to make the season the best it can be.

My name is Mona Valdez and one of my businesses is working as SVP of Public Relations for a company called RNR, Inc. They have 2 great on-line shopping websites called FloppyEarGear.com FloppyEarGear.com and rocknrebates.com rocknrebates.com

The West Highland white terrier is a smart, loveable, active and fun loving animal. I am kind of biased, being the author of Mad About Westies. To be honest, I preferred larger dogs until we got our westie puppy called Pepper. Now I am completely won over.

I find him such great fun, especially when playing soccer. He is just great in dribbling the ball around. They make great guard dogs (ask my neighbour) and will announce to the world the present of any stranger to the house.

Our own Westie loves riding in the car; like most dogs and just goes crazy when I get out the lead to take him a walk. It’s hard to imagine how small he was, when he first entered the house. He still chases our poor cat, though lately it has been giving him a swipe, just to let him know that she was in the house before he arrived.

When the westie dog is fully grown it has a height of around 10-11 inches for the male breed and slightly smaller for the female. The weight can range from 14 -20 pounds and if looked after with regular health checks, it can have a life span of 15 years.

The madaboutwesties.com” target=”_blank westie has it’s origin in Scotland, as can be guessed from the name. It was originally bred to hut vermin, but will turn out to be such a great companion dog. From my own experience, I reckon it still thinks it is a large dog in small body. I have also found it will rarely back down from any dog.

Introduce your Westie puppy to the grooming cycle as early as possible. If you brush the coat on a regular basis, this will get rid of any dead hairs on the coat. When he grows to adult, it is recommended that you try and get his coat cut every 6 weeks, especially during the hot months.

Overall you will have a loyal friend and great companion if he is treated with love and respect. They also need to know that you are the boss ( alpha dog). Whatever your reason for acquiring a westie puppy or dog, you have to remember that dogs are animals, not human beings. Actually for some owners that is a hard bridge to cross, because their dogs are their children.

Dogs by nature are pack animals and In every pack there is a leader, which is known as the alpha dog. This alpha dog makes decisions for the entire pack and everyone else in that pack has a place and knows their place. If you do not take on the role of the leader, the Westie will usually try and step in to try and fill this roll of alpha dog. This is when the problems start.

**********************************************
Jeff Cuckson is webmaster of “Crazy About Westies”
Membership site for Westie lovers from all over the world.
FREE “5 Day Westie Secrets Mini-Course! Go NOW To:
crazyaboutwesties.com/ Crazy about Westies
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Keeping your golden retriever healthy is of primary concern to all dog owners. As a dog owner, you need to ensure that your dog’s immune system is doing well. You need to keep your dog healthy and happy. It is your duty as an owner to make sure that your dog’s constitution is strong and can ward off any disease or sickness easily.

There are many ways of keeping your golden retriever healthy. The most important aspect of keeping your dog healthy is to give him a home-made food diet. Home-made food is far better than canned food. In fact, it has been known that most commercial dog food is made up of waste animal fat content or unusable grains, not fit for consumption by humans. Hence, it makes a lot of sense to give your dog fresh food consisting of fruits and vegetables and fresh meat like chicken, mutton and beef. For water, you should ideally use spring water or filtered water instead of tap water. This is because tap water may contain traces of Lead and Mercury. Giving your dog fresh food will ensure that he gets the nutrition he deserves.

Bones by themselves are very good for your golden retriever, and will help them develop a strong set of teeth. Get him used to chewing on bones and make it a treat for him by leaving some meat on the bone. Golden retrievers are gifted with a great set of teeth. Chewing on a bone will really help in developing jaw strength. Alternatively, you can also give him chew toys to chew upon. Either way, make sure that he doesn’t end up chewing on your slippers or your curtains!

Anticipating health problems in your golden retriever are an essential part of keeping your golden retriever healthy. If you’re careful, you will not need to go to the vet much. Lay special emphasis on any reproductive disorders, which you think your golden retriever may have. Don’t neglect these, as they can sometimes be fatal. Neutering your male golden retriever is a good idea if you don’t want him to have too much contact with female Golden retrievers or are not trying to breed. Besides breeding, this will also help reduce any other problems related to tumors and tracked diseases your dog may have later on in life.

Keeping your golden retriever healthy also means having him around for a longer period of time. It is sad when your dog is old and falls sick. If you look after his health well, he will have a healthier life when he grows older. Make sure your golden retriever has an excellent exercise regime. Keep your dog active and take it for walks, three to four times a day. If you have a yard let it run around as much as it can. This is the best exercise it can get. Taking him out will also get you some exercise. The better health he has, the longer he is going to stay by your side as your faithful companion – keeping your golden retriever healthy will ultimately work in your favor!

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Nursing bottles for orphaned Shih Tzu puppies can be obtained through the veterinarian, pet supplier, wholesale catalogs or the internet. You should purchase several nipple styles to see which works best for you and your Shih Tzu.

Shih Tzu puppies can become colicky just like human newborn babies. Be careful about allowing a Shih Tzu puppy to ingest air when either tube or bottle feeding. Always turn the bottle and nipple end down, before offering it to the Shih Tzu puppy. All the air in the bottle will rise to the solid end. When the Shih Tzu puppy is nursing freely bubbles rise in the bottle. The bubble flow should be fairly rapid, small and uniform in size, rising in even response to the Shih Tzu puppy’s nursing. If the bubbles are large the Shih Tzu puppy may also be ingesting air. Check the nipple cap.

Occasionally remove the bottle from the Shih Tzu puppy’s mouth to allow a return passage of air back into the bottle. A return passage of air occurs either through turning the bottle upright or by momentarily loosening the cap. Do not abruptly pull the bottle from the Shih Tzu puppy’s mouth. Place a finger in the corner of the Shih Tzu puppy’s lip to break the nursing hold.

Some Shih Tzu puppies may instinctively resist the unnatural feel of a manufactured nipple.

1. If the dam is available, rub the bottle and nipple and a towel over her mammaries.

2. Drape this towel across your stomach and lap.

3. Hold the puppy on your lap against your abdomen.

4. Express a small amount of formula from the bottle and wipe it over the nipple.

5. As you introduce the bottle’s nipple to the Shih Tzu puppy’s mouth, move your legs slightly, jiggling your lap.

6. Also jiggle the bottle up and down in the puppy’s mouth using tiny motions. The movements re-create the dam’s breathing and Shih Tzu puppy’s nursing position on the dam that should cause the Shih Tzu puppy to instinctively and reflexively latch onto the nipple.

7. Have lots of patience.

You will need to burp the bottle fed Shih Tzu puppy after each feeding. Do not allow the Shih Tzu puppy to nurse the bottle dry to avoid a colicky baby. You can burp your Shih Tzu puppy the same as you would a newborn human baby on your shoulder with gentle pats and rubs between the shoulder blades.

Connie Limon is a Shih Tzu breeder. She publishes a FREE weekly newsletter with a focus upon health and wellness for you and your pets. Designer pet clothing is available on the website. Discounts are offered to subscribers. Sign up at: stainglassshihtzus.com stainglassshihtzus.com

You should pay attention to nutrition balance of your dog food. In some cases, obesity has become serious problem. This is caused by imbalance nutrition consumption and less exercises. You can combine fresh food rather than canned food for daily consumption.

Obesity can short your dog’s live. Anybody wants his dog live longer 9 – 13 years, but right handling to take care of dog is a must. Normally, dog body weight increases after puppy delivery, but sometime obesity relates to the metabolism problem. You can see dog responses if you take for exercises: slow responses and lazy, even dog is breathing hard.

Nutrition composition is very important. Protein is useful to form cells and body tissues, metabolism, body essential and immunity. Dog’s ability to digest protein is about 50 – 90%. Lowest food digest is beans and the highest is milk and egg. Lack of protein consumption can influence dog growth and other problems such, easily get sick and dull hair.

Nutrition composition are as follows:
 Carbohydrate is a component that need to be suited to dog age. Inside the dog’s body, carbohydrate is changed as glucose. Glucose is a ready source of energy, used to support daily activity, exercise for instance, or otherwise it can cause obesity.

 Calorie to each dog will not be same, depend on dog sizes, weather or other certain conditions. Sometimes your dog wants more food even though you add 30 – 50% more portion than his normal portion, but remember that too much food can result negative impact to dog growth.

 Fat is a source of energy too, it is cheap and easy to digest up to 90%. Besides, fat is good for skin health, hormone for metabolism. For sure, fat plays an important rule to absorb vitamins A, D, E and K. Balance food should contain minimum 20% fat, but this depends on your dog activity.

 You can see vitamin and mineral composition on canned dog food, these should be balance in order to avoid deficiency effects and able to cure body cells function.

 C vitamin will protect your dog from diseases and optimize health, strengthen immunity system and as an antioxide. Veterinarian suggests to have 25-500 mg/day of C vitamin, but if your dog in stressful condition, you can increase the dose, but please consult with your veterinarian. C vitamin is safe for consumption and easily absorb by the body.

 A vitamin is useful for optimizing dog growth, eyes and skin problem.

 D vitamin is very important for puppies to support the optimum growth and strong bones. Lack of D vitamin can cause cracking and broken teeth.

 E vitamin is much needed for female dog for fertility and body immune

 B2 vitamin is useful for leg muscles and skin, such skin problems are reddish, dry and cracking

 Less calcium and phosphorus can cause cripple and stiff muscle

 Potassium is useful for body balance and motion reflex

 Dog’s optimum growth needs sufficient magnesium and avoid stiff muscle

 Less sodium consumption can cause loss body weight and hair falls

 Iron is to avoid anemia

Now we understand and be more alert that food is not just a food, there are important factors we need to look at and how important these vitamins and minerals for dog’s health and his optimum growth.

Other interesting tips and information about dog and other pets, please visit our website at all-for-pets.com www.all-for-pets.com

Lanny Sanggaya

A dog’s way of communicating is with their bark. This is perfectly normal behavior. Excessive or loud, unwanted barking is not appropriate and can be annoying to you as well as others. There are all kinds of reason why a dog barks. He may be alarming you that something is on or near his area. It could be cats, squirrels or even your neighbors. They don’t like their space to be invaded. They could be trying to tell you they want attention and feel frustrated. Maybe they are just having fun. The list goes on and on for reasons your dog barks. You wouldn’t want to train your dog to stop barking completely but they can to be taught to control unnecessary barking. It will increase your dog’s ability to communicate with you if they learn to bark at the proper time. They need to know how to act if there is a real problem. It takes patience to stop unwanted barking. Remember that different types of dogs bark more than others.

Making sure your dog gets enough exercise is one way to start getting his barking under control. Lack of exercise will cause poor conduct, including nuisance barking. Walking around your yard is not enough. They should have brisk exercise every day. Mental stimulation is also very important. When dogs are in training they actively are figuring out problems. They are learning obedience, listening to cues and putting them into action. If they are bored, they will bark more. Stimulation will curve the boredom and the barking.

Sometimes your dog will bark uncontrollably when you go away. This is called separation anxiety. Take small trips at first and let treats or toys with him. This will teach him to behave when you are away and not feel so anxious. The more his behavior improves the longer you can stay away. Crating your dog is another idea. Crates are a safe environment once he gets used to it. They actually start to view it as their hideaway or haven.

It is very common for dogs to bark when someone comes to the door. Teach him to do something different and re-enforce it when he barks. You could try using a “down” or “sit” command. This will show him what you want him to do.

Another option is to keep your dog from things that trigger his barking. Play music or turn on the television to cover outside sounds. Don’t let him have access to the windows. If this doesn’t work than allow him to bark three or four times and say quiet in a normal tone of voice. Then shake a can of marbles or money. This should make him stop. Call him over to you and ask him to sit. Offer him a treat.

If none of this works than you probably need advice from an animal or veterinary behaviorist. As a last resort you could use a bark collar. It has a vibration sensor that only picks up the dogs barking. It may squirt citronella spray, give off an ultrasonic piercing sound or mild electricity shock. The collar is effective and should correct excessive barking.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to dog-training-guided.com/ Dog Training

While walking in the street you found a stray dog. What is the first thing that you will do? Are you going to scream because it could bite you or bring the puppy to your home? You have two options. But what if you happen to be generous enough and took it along with you?

How you will take good care of a newly found dog? Well, you are going to consider two important things: to take care of the dog and return it to the owner or make its own shelter…

Any type of dog breed whether you just found it somewhere or you bought it from a friend needs proper care. In the first place, it will already become your own pet sooner.

Taking care of a dog is not as easy as it is told. It requires maintenance particularly when it comes to the dog food, shelter, medicine and the payment for the veterinary if in case it gets sick and a lot more.

Allergy particularly for the stray dog is a big problem. It is important that you know how to take care of a dog if in case it has allergy. Here are some tips that can help you:

• Check for some allergy symptoms in your dog. The common signs are sneezing, coughing, and watery eyes just like the allergy in humans. Rashes can also be major signs of allergy.

• Consider the season as well. Most often there is also a flea season for the dogs. Avoid exposing your dogs to allergens.

• Bring your dog to a veterinarian after seeing all the symptoms.

• Follow the instructions given by the veterinarians including the application of the medicines prescribed for the dogs.

• Minimize its contact to the possible allergens that could worsen the medical condition of your dog. Consider switching to other dog food if the doctor identified that the food is also the cause of allergy.

If you really want your dog to become healthy you should do all the necessary precautions for preventing diseases that could attack them. Proper food and a comfortable shelter will help.

Remember that your dog is also your company that can protect you from harm. In return, it should also be given enough care. Like human beings your dog has also its need that must be satisfied. Take the necessary steps for proper dog care.

Khieng ‘Ken‘ Chho is author and owner of Online dog-care.onew3b.net Dog Care Resources. For related articles and other resources, visit Ken’s website: dog-care.onew3b.net dog-care.onew3b.net