Saturday 30 January 2010

Health Care for Dogs

Dog health care is such a vast domain that you would need really specific problems to focus on in order to cover the issues you’re interested in. Among the main dog health care problems we may say that the most frequent ones are fleas, worms and poisons. If these are not professionally taken care of, other very serious troubles may be expected. Worms and external parasites waste the dog’s body of nutrients and energy; plus dog health care providers insist that neglected dogs are full of toxins because of the parasite overgrowth.

Here are some dog health care tips to be used when dealing with worms, fleas or various poisons the dog comes into contact. Puppies need de-worming as early as two or three weeks with the procedure repeated at four or six weeks of age. Dog health care specialists claim that worm immunity in puppies doesn’t appear sooner than six months of age, and the worm larvae pass from mother to puppies. In order to meet the dog health care requirements you need to remove all stools from your garden, keep the lawn cut short and make sure you feed your dog on thoroughly cooked meat.

Fleas are the next dog health care problem under discussion here, and to a certain extent they are responsible for the possible tapeworms they may carry. Fleas and lice are easy to deal with; thanks to the many shampoos, collars or special drops, this dog health care issue has become piece of cake. Do not use human shampoo to wash your dog as it will completely degrease the fur and afterwards the dog’s skin would have to secret even more oil to compensate for the deficit. Anti-flea sprays, powders, collars or any other products can be purchased from any dog health care store. However, it’s good to ask the vet in the first place too.

Make sure that you keep your dog away from any potentially harmful substances that may lead to poisoning. Dog health care specialists point out that rapid intervention in the poisoning cases is crucial for saving the animal’s life. If you think your dog may have ingested some toxic chemical, try to give it some fresh milk as a first aid measure and call your vet immediately. For more dog health care tips you can visit www.dog-training-expert.com, a professional and resourceful site for dog owners and breeders.

Friday 29 January 2010

Are you going to train your dog?

“How does your dog sit when you tell him to and mine doesn’t?". “How can your dog heel to you like that?", “Wow! He comes when you tell him to” - Sounds familiar? If it does, you need to invest some time into a little bit of basic dog training. Starting to train your dog from a young age is crucial as the first few months of his life is when you will have the greatest influence on him; this is where he is shaped into the dog he is going to be when he is all grown up.

The most basic of dog training is to get your dog to sit and come. Teaching him those commands are essential for him to learn. These commands are used for various different reasons, if you are in competition, if your dog jumps making him sit will immediately get him off and "come" is the all important one. If you take your dog for a walk, you let him of the leash and you expect him to come back to you, not run around the park with you chasing after him shouting at him to “get here right this instance”. That would be just downright embarrassing!

To teach your dog how to come requires only the most basic of techniques but a lot of repetition. The simplest way to get him to come is have a toy in one hand and a treat in the other, when you are in the house simply walk away from him, hold out the toy and excitingly call him to you, when he comes over give him a treat, always use the command for come that you are going to use in the future. Doing this several times a day is a great way to teach him, but remember to have lots of long breaks so he doesn’t get bored and stop enjoying it, and don’t forget the treats!

Getting him to sit could be a slight bit harder but again only requires basic dog training. When you have mastered the come command call him to you, place your hand on the end of his back and say "sit" while gently pushing down on his backside, when he sits his bottom down give him a treat and a lot of praise. If you want him to sit longer just delay giving him the treat and the praise, get him to sit but take your time bending down to him and feeding him his titbit.

Basic dog training is simple and very effective. It should also be fun for you and your dog, it doesn’t have to be hours and hours each day just may be 5 minutes or so. Don’t forget to reward your dog and yourself for all the “hard” work though!