Dog Training Basics

Description: The Pug is a small dog, considered by some to be a dwarf Mastiff. It is a solid, compact animal with the dogs measuring 12 to 14 inches and weighing up to 20 pounds. The bitches are generally two inches shorter and have a weight of 13 to 18 pounds. The Pug is well known for its short, wrinkled face and curled tail that rests on its back. The baby Pugs are sometimes called Puglets. The Pug’s coat color can be black, fawn (often with a darker facial mask), silver, or apricot. Other names for the Pug include Mops, Chinese Pug Dog, or Carlin. The Pug can live for up to 15 years.

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Description: The Siberian Husky is a well muscled, medium sized dog. The dog will be between 21 to 23 inches at the shoulder, with the bitch an inch less. This dog weighs between 45 and 60 pounds for the male and 35 to 50 for the female. The Husky has a very thick double coat of medium length, which protects it from cold. The most common coat colors are black and white, grey and white, white, reddish and white, and silver. The ears are erect and furry. The eyes of the Siberian husky can be bi-eyed, where one eye is blue and the other brown, or parti-eyed, where each eye is half blue and half brown. This dog has an average life span of 12 to 15 years. It is also called Sibe or Husky.

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Many dog owners are seeking a cure for their aggressive dogs. Their questions usually focus around these three questions: Can you fix it? What do I have to do? How long will it take? Let’s take these questions one by one.

Can you fix it?

As much as everyone wants their dog to be friendly towards all other dogs, the reality is that not every dog that is reactive with aggressive tendencies can be rehabilitated. Here are a range of results.

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Description: The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is considered a toy dog. This dog stands 13 to 18 inches at the withers and weighs between 10 and 18 pounds. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has a long, silky coat with feathering on the legs, tail, and ears. The coat comes in four colors: Blenheim, ruby, tricolor, and black and tan. Although the tail of the Cavalier is usually left its natural length, it is sometimes docked by one third. This dog can have a life span of 9 to fourteen years. It is also called the Ruby Spaniel or the Blenheim Spaniel.

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Description: The Miniature Schnauzer is a strongly built dog that ranges from 12 to 14 inches height. Both sexes weigh from 13 to 15 pounds. This is a very square-looking dog with a long head and strong jaws. The ears and tail are usually cropped. The Mini Schnauzer has a hard outer coat over an undercoat which is soft. The usual coat colors for the Schnauzer are salt and pepper, black, black and silver, and occasionally white.

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Description: The Boston Terrier is a small, compact, muscular dog. It weighs between 17 and 25 pounds and is 15 to 17 inches at the shoulder. The Boston Terrier has a short, neat coat colored in seal, brindle, or black with white markings. This dog has a square head with medium-sized upright ears. The tail is naturally short and does not need to be docked. This is a very intelligent and sensitive breed and can be trained easily. Happily, this dog can live for 15 years or longer. It is also called the Boston Bull or the Boston Bull Terrier.

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Free radicals are the by-products of cellular metabolism. This process is also called oxidation. It means that any activity the cell does in the course of a day, produces a waste product. These waste products can attach themselves to healthy cells and create damage to cell walls. Anything that causes more for the cell to do will create more waste products and therefore more free radicals. So, whether your dog is out for a run with you or out chasing a stick, his metabolic rate increases. This means more cellular activity and more free radical production. We need to clean up these waste products of cellular activity. In come anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants mop up free radicals to prevent them from damaging cells. They are the housekeepers of the body and typically you will find far more of them in human grade dog food than typical commercial food.

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Description: Also known as the Alsatian, the German Shepherd is a large dog weighing between 77 and 85 pounds. The dog will measure 24 to 26 at the withers, and the bitch 22 to 24 . German Shepherds are agile and muscular dogs and well suited to all forms of energetic work. Three kinds of coat may be found on these dogs: straight-haired coarse (the most common kind), long straight-haired coarse, and long-haired wavy. The usual coat colors are tan and black or all black. Less seen colors are liver, blue, or white.

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Description: The Beagle is an active small to medium sized dog used as a companion or for hunting. The dogs stand up to 16 at the shoulder and generally weigh between 18 to 35 pounds. As with most breeds, the bitch is smaller. The Beagle has a strong head and floppy ears. The dog has a short-haired coat and many color variations can occur. The most prevalent is the tricolor Beagle with its black saddle, but lemon, black and tan, orange, or red and white are all acceptable.

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When we train our dogs, we teach them simple commands like sit, stay and down. Yet, there are other dog training tools, body language in particular, that is worth considering in your dog communications efforts. Begin with the basics and expand from there.

You should not have to constantly give your dog commands. He should know instinctively from your previous training that he should not do things like climb onto the furniture, scratch at the door when you go out, shred your personal belongings or bark at every sound he hears. Body language is a great way to let him know right from wrong.

When trained properly, your dog and you will have a better understanding of the rules and the messages being delivered between you. As you learn his body language, he comes to learn yours.

Like humans, dogs communicate with their bodies as well as their voices, but dogs rely a great deal on body language. A dog will whine, cry and bark to express himself, but he will stand a certain way, hold his tail in a certain position, and tilt his head as well. These body poses send specific messages designed mostly for other canines.

Humans have various ways of speaking that clearly indicate a particular frame of mind, whether the person is angry, relax or stressed. We will stand upright when we are confident, slouch when we are not, put our hands on our hips in defiance and fold our arms across our chests when we are not open to debate an issue.

Being social creatures humans and dogs will work to understand those non-verbal messages. Your dog will gradually know how to interpret certain poses that you take. Seeing this knowledge grow is very rewarding. Add positive dog training methods to magnify the results.

Dog communications benefit best with positive training methods

Perhaps the most important key to effective training is to use positive reinforcement when the dog responds correctly, and being patient and understanding when he does not respond to your commands. This means no yelling or hitting.

Remember that you are both learning each other’s language. The training process is for both of you, not just for your dog. The challenge is to overcome that language barrier. Once you overcome it, the rewards are amazing.

If you ever watch herding dogs at herding trials, you’ll see trainers using nothing more than hand signals and whistles. Once trained, dogs know what is expected of them and as soon as the signal is given, they will race off to get the job done. Better trained dogs need little else but a certain whistle or hand gesture from the trainer.

This is a perfect example of how non-verbal communications can work between an owner and his dog. It takes many hours of practice to reach this stage. It is not reached with physical punishment for non-compliance. Praise is far more beneficial and helps you to develop a closer relationship with your pet.

Owner and dog communications don’t have to be difficult, but it does take time, patience and repetition.

There are many more things to know about dogs that will help you with your training. We have put together a free special report, “How To Pick The Right dog training Tools” to help you. www.dogownersu.com/SylviaRecommends/howtotrainadog1.p” target=”_blank”>http://www.dogownersu.com/SylviaRecommends/howtotrainadog1.p hp?kw=SYA00001 . We also offer a Free Trial of our extensive Puppy Parenting Course www.dogownersu.com/SylviaRecommends/mydogtrainingTria” target=”_blank”>http://www.dogownersu.com/SylviaRecommends/mydogtrainingTria l1.php?kw=SYA00001

Article Source: Dog Training Basics

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Living with dogs with kidney disease is a bit of a roller coaster of emotion. Whether you are at the beginning of this journey, somewhere in the middle or through to the other end, the following words may help explain those bizarre, seemingly irrational feelings.

I believe the grieving process begins when you first get that queasy feeling that something is not quite right with your canine friend. You may blame his excessive thirst on the heat or the recent exercise. It’s then easy to deny the excessive urination because ‘hasn’t he just been drinking a lot of water due to the heat?’ How about the loss of his appetite? Probably a tummy bug. Surely the disgusting old chip wrapper he ate in the park could be to blame for the diarrhoea and vomiting? You know, the one you wrestled with him unsuccessfully, to remove. Except that this time, that is not what happened, is it? Ordinarily he would have wolfed it down before you got the chance to stop him, today, he just stepped over it. Slowly the thought that this may be kidney failure is forcing your denial of the situation, to slowly trickle away.

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Unless you are interested in breeding your male dog, most veterinarians recommend neutering your pet at the approximate age of six months. Neutering has multiple benefits for your dog, your family, and society as a whole, but many pet owners are understandably worried about the expense of the operation. Fortunately, people who protect their pets with pet health insurance and other health plans are often eligible for a veterinary discount to cover some of the expenses.

Why should you neuter your dog? To begin, neutered animals experience a number of health benefits. Neutering leads to decreased testosterone levels, which reduce the chances of several serious diseases and illnesses. With neutering, your dog has an extremely low risk of developing perineal hernias and penile tumors and absolutely no risk of developing testicular cancer.

Having your dog neutered through your pet health plan can benefit your family as well. Dogs with lower testosterone levels experience fewer territorial or aggressive behaviors. This means your pet will be less interested in "marking his territory" inside your house. Neutering can even decrease a dog’s aggression toward humans and other pets. For safety, you dog will now be less inclined to run away, as one of the main reasons pets stray from home is to mate. Last, neutered animals are less vulnerable to pet thieves, who usually target purebreds for the purposes of breeding.

As if these pet healthcare and safety reasons weren’t motivation enough, another major benefit of neutering your pet is that it will help control pet overpopulation. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 3 to 4 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters every year because they are unable to be placed in homes. By neutering your dog, you are eliminating the possibility of offspring and doing your part to help solve this serious problem.

These are all good reasons to neuter your pet, however for many owners the decision to neuter an animal comes down to a question of price. Fortunately, a pet health care plan can help you afford your pet’s operation, as well as assisting with the necessary followup care.

Basic neutering operations typically cost between $45 to $135 when performed at inexpensive animal clinics; the price is further determined by the size of the animal. Of course, not all clinics are created equal, and some employ the "assembly line" method of treating animals, meaning that individual dogs don’t always receive the care that they deserve. This is why many pet owners choose more expensive pet hospitals and clinics, where neutering can cost as much as $200 to $300.

If you can find a good cheap clinic in your area, you might consider paying the extra money with the help of a pet health plan. With the right coverage, owners are often able to receive immediate veterinary discounts, which means no more waiting for reimbursement checks in the mail.

www.petassure.com” target=”_blank”>http://www.PetAssure.com is the preferred alternative to insurance coverage for your family pet. Unlike pet insurance, all pets are covered; regardless of age, medical condition or any pre-existing condition. There are no exclusions, no deductibles and no waiting for reimbursement. Visit our blog at petassure.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank”>http://petassure.blogspot.com/

Article Source: Dog Training Basics

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If you think teaching your dog basic commands is enough, you might want to know that dog communication methods can enhance your dog training in many ways.

While it is true that you can manage if you teach your dog the basic commands such as sit, stay, down, come, and heel, you will be missing a lot if you do not take it to the next level. It depends on what you want to accomplish and what kind of relationship you want to establish with your dog.

…more about Dog Communication Methods: Problems Can Arise If You Don’t Know Them

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We all love our pets. We especially love our dogs. The reason for this is that dogs have the ability to make us smile more than (in this writers’ opinion) other animals because of their ability to be cute, be dopey, be clumsy, but most of all, be affectionate. Dogs just seem to know when their owners’ are happy, and when their owners’ are sad. I’m sure you as a dog owner have experienced your canine bounce up to you, feeding off of your good mood. Just as you have probably experienced your dog walk up to you tentatively, slowly, quietly, knowing your not in a good mood. Luckily dogs seem to know how to cheer you up too, placing their heads on you lap, looking up at you as if willing to make it all better. Ok, maybe I’ve gone to far. The point is it’s for these reasons that we love our dogs.

Owners want to keep loving them too. We don’t want to get angry with them when we have come home from a long day at work to find teeth marks in the designer furniture. We don’t want to punish them when we find our curtains in a heap on the floor. Believe it or not, our lovely doggies don’t actually want to ruin our living room or be in the ‘dog’ house. ‘Why?’ you then ask, has my beloved animal committed this destructive act? I can answer that in one simple sentence; your dog was bored!

Dogs of all ages, although more so with younger dogs, need fun. They need stimulus to keep their minds active. If they don’t get the fun and amusement that they so desperately need then they will create their own entertainment, which ultimately will result in your furniture and various personal items covered in dog spit and probably on the floor in a completely different place than the one in which they were left. Now this isn’t a big problem if there is someone who can be with the dog twenty four hours a day, but lets face it, in this day and age most of twenty first century families have both partners at work during the day, kids out at school, leaving the family pet at home at least for some portion of the day. So the answer to this question? Dog toys.

Seems simple but maybe too easy a solution you may think? But actually with the high number of dog toys available in the market place today, you will be sure to find the perfect dog toy for you. There are many types but one of my favourites is the rope dog toy. There are many reasons for this suggestion. The first is that the toy is traditionally cheap. After all it is just a type of rope, normally treated to make tougher and safe for the dog. However essentially it’s a rope and because of this the price is low. The other great advantage for the rope dog toy, is that it is practically indestructible. Even the biggest and most powerful dog jaws would have to really spend hours and hours in order to bite through this toy. Of course rather your dog spend hours and hours biting a relatively cheap dog toy, than you dog spending hours and hours biting through your sofa! It really is quite simple. The third reason for the suggestion of the rope dog toy is the opportunity for owner/dog bonding. Nothing is more fun than the traditional tug-O-war between you and your dog.

Of course there are many other types of dog toy, and most owners would have a selection to suit their particular pet, but as a sure firm favourite the rope dog toy is one that should really be considered if you haven’t yet bought one. No other dog can list the three attributes that were listed above. Yes there are various rubber dog toys, and interactive dog toys, many different types of cheap dog toys, but a sure fire winner, and dog toy that should be in every dog lovers home, is the rope dog toy.

Tom McGee The best deals, links and adverts for quality value for money rope dog toys and other dog toys. www.ropedogtoys.com” target=”_blank”>http://www.ropedogtoys.com

Article Source: Dog Training Basics

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If you are searching for a stylish way to keep your dog warm it is time you took a look at a heated dog bed or heated pad. Even if you are fussy about everything in your home having to match they are available in a wide and varied range of colors which makes matching them with the rest of your home decor easy. So whether your pooch prefers to sleep in the living room or in the bedroom color coordinating will not be a major problem.

There are also some practical reasons for using one of these special beds as well as the obvious reason that “you simply love your dog.” As dogs start to get older they can encounter joint problems and these beds are perfect for easing the pain. Perhaps your dog is quite a heavy breed and they are putting a lot of stress on their joints, in which case a heated dog bed would be a great way to help relieve some of the stress on those joints. Quite often dogs can become a lot less active due to developing sore muscles. If you use a heated dog pad you will find that the muscles can become more relaxed and soon your dog will be moving around a lot more easily again.

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