Stop Dog Digging: How to Stop a Dog From Digging

Digging can be a very destructive and dangerous behaviour. You don’t want your dog escaping into the street or destroying your newly planted garden. But, many are at a loss when it comes to how to stop a dog from digging.

Whenever you are trying to change a dog’s behaviour it is important to understand why he is behaving the way he is. Looking at things from the dog’s point of view will often save you a lot of time, money and headaches. Read more

Bathing A Dog

All dogs need to have baths. Some more than others. Most dogs do not need to be washed more than once every couple of weeks because bathing a dog to often will dry out his skin. Every breed is different, so it is important to find out how often your particular breed should be bathed.  But there always is that extra bath, the ‘what did you roll in bath‘.

As an owner you want to make the whole process of taking a bath as easy and as painless as possible for both of you. Bath time should be, if not a happy time, at least not a total war zone. Read more

Is My Dog Pregnant? How to Tell if Your Dog is Pregnant.

The sooner that you are able to discover whether or not your dog is pregnant the better. And, the sooner you will be able to get her any pre-natal care that she may require. If you have been attempting to breed the dog, you are almost certainly going to know when conception took place. About three weeks after an attempt at conceiving your pet’s doctor should be able to tell you if the attempt was successful.If it is an unexpected pregnancy, then it will probably be at least six weeks before you will be able to tell.  Read more

How to Stop Your Dog From Chewing Up Your House

Every dog likes to chew things. It is up to you to teach your pet what he is and is not allowed to chew. You do not want this behaviour to become a problem. If want to know how to stop a dog from chewing the first thing you need to understand is why dogs chew.

Dogs chew for a variety of reasons. If they are young they may be teething, which any owner will tell you can be a trying time. Some dogs chew out of boredom or loneliness.  Once you have figured out why your dog is chewing you can start to correct, or at least curb the behaviour.

Make sure that your dogs has chew toys. These are his toys that he is allowed to play with and abuse. Read more

Dog Leash Training – Getting Your Puppy Used to The Leash.

Once you have picked out a proper leash you will probably want to start training your puppy to walk with it attached. This is not a difficult thing to do and you should begin your training as soon as possible. Not just for you, but to make sure that puppy doesn’t get into danger. The last thing you want is puppy running on the road or eating something dangerous.

Start by getting the new family member comfortable with his collar. Put it on him when he is in the house playing. Be sure that the collar fits correctly. Your dog may try rolling or pawing to try to get it off. Being able to put two fingers between his neck and the collar is usually a good measure. Watch to make sure that he cant get it off. Some dogs are real escape artists. Try and keep him distracted, and give lots of praise. Make it a positive experience.

The next step is to attach the leash. A short, light leash is the best to start with. Let the puppy smell it and get used to it. Allow him to drag it around the house. He will soon loose interest in it. Make sure that you do not leave the animal alone with his leash dragging.

Once you have gotten him used to the leash, pick it up. Remember, this is not a game of tug of war. If your puppy starts to pull, STOP. Do not move. Call the dog and get him to focus on you. Do not pull back on the leash but don’t move. Once you have the puppies attention continue moving. Keep treats handy during this stage and give lots of praise as the dog follows you around the house.

If your puppy decides to sit down, don’t start yanking on him. Call his name and reward him when he comes to you. If you have to get down to his level and have a treat or toy handy. Keeps these initial session short and fun. There should be no pulling done either by you or the dog. If he starts pulling, stop. Call his back and praise. You want him to learn that walking with a loose leash close to you is when he gets rewarded.

Training the Family as Well as the Dog

You have added a new member to the family, a bouncing little puppy, congratulations. Now that he is home it is up to you as an owner to start training him. But before you can even start house training a dog you have to train the rest of the family. This is especially important if you have young children in the house. Puppy training can be relatively easy but everyone in the family must work together.

In order for your puppy to learn anything he has to be given clear, precise and consistent commands. This applies to everyone in the house including the children. You will also have to get everybody in the family to treat the dog the same way. You will probably find it harder to train the human members of the family than the dog.  Read more

How to Clean a Dog’s Ears

Despite the fact that ear infections in dogs are preventable, it is still one of the most common reasons for a visit to the veterinarian among dog owners. In order to save your dog (and pocketbook) some grief, make sure you devote a little time each week looking at your dog’s ears.

The sense of hearing is very important to dogs and therefore when you clean your dog’s ears, you need to make certain you are doing it the proper way. Both the inner and outer parts of your dog’s ears are very sensitive, so it is crucial that you abide by proper cleansing procedures. The following tips will assist you in keeping your dog’s ears clean without doing harm: Read more

Puppy Leash Training – Getting Started

So it’s time to start leash training the new puppy.  But before you begin you should make sure that you have the right dog equipment for training.

The first thing you are going to need to begin dog leash training is a proper collar for your dog. Before going out and buying a choke or pinch collar see how well your dog adjusts to simply using his everyday collar during training sessions. Some larger dogs or difficult to train dogs may require a gentle leader, haltie or choke collar for training but, you may find out that this is not the case with your pet. One thing to remember is that you should never leave a training collar on your pet when you are not around. Always be sure that you put their regular collar back on when the training session is over. Read more

Best Way To Remove a Tick From Your Dog

If you have discovered a tick on your dog, yourself or worse yet, your youngster, I’m sure you know that you simply cannot disregard it. It might be an objectionable experience, but unless you want to risk a case of Lyme disease, the tick had better be addressed. Lyme disease is a disease stimulated by a bacterial infection; the bacterium is channelled by certain varieties of ticks in several parts of the country, including but not limited to New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island, California and Minnesota.

If this Is not the first time that you’ve had an experience with ticks, you may have been originally introduced to either the “smoldering” or “smothering” technique for getting rid of these bothersome brutes. The smoldering process requires bearing a lit match up to the tick, in hopes that the tick will be responsive to Read more

How to Give Your Dog Medicine

The easiest way to give any medication to your dog is orally. If you are really lucky you can hide the medication in a piece of cheese or a scoop of peanut butter. If not, you are going to have to make your dog open his mouth and take his medicine.

If you are giving the animal a liquid you need to get the medicine into the buccal pouch. This is the space between the lips and teeth, sort of a loose pocket. Use one hand to apply gentle pressure to both sides of the dog’s mouth. You want to press the dog’s cheeks against his teeth just enough so that the dog will start to open his mouth. With your other hand pour the liquid slowly into the dog’s buccal pouch. Do not tip the animal’s head to far back. You want him to swallow voluntarily.
This method also works with pills. Make sure you get the pill as far back into the dog’s mouth as you can or he will spit it back out.

With any medicine make sure that the animal has swallowed and does drop it when you are not looking.

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