Dog barking is an indication that they want to tell their owners something, communicate with other fellow dogs, or express an emotion. All of you must have noticed that the pattern and style of dog barking is different when he wants food or when he is playing with other dogs or when in company of a stranger.Dogs always bark for a reason. Studies have even shown that different barks express different emotions (though a few breeds, like the poodle...more
Author: Michael Hrynewich As dog owners, we understand grooming is part of caring for our four-legged family members. We brush them, bathe them, and clip their fur but when was the last time you brushed your dogs teeth? Humans brush their teeth everyday most twice daily as well as visit the dentist at least twice a year. Generally, for our dogs, they only get their teeth cleaned when they hit the six or seven year mark and by then it can be too...more
We tend to forget these days that dogs are pack animals. Many of us may have just one dog, or even two. But we don't see them as they were in nature. Left to their own devices, dogs join up into a pack, often of related animals. Like their wolf cousins and ancestors, dogs have a hierarchical structure to their packs, with leaders, assistants, subordinates and followers. In nature dogs would learn everything they need to know, including dog manners, from their mother and other pack mates.To live in our world of cars, buildings and cell phones, we have taken dogs almost completely out of their natural world. In many places they exist without even having fields and forests anymore to share with their humans as they did only 100-200 years ago. The only way they can exist in our world is if we teach them the skills they need to understand it and to thrive in it. This means we have to socialize them to the human world and to the people in it.Socialization means much more than learning a few commands. Socialization is learning, from birth, to accept humans. Good breeders begin socializing puppies from the day of their birth, picking them up and holding them, stroking them and...more
You hear it all the time. If you spend time talking to dog owners they will start telling you that they have a dog that's itching and they don't know why. There are numerous reasons why a dog may itch. Let's look at a few of them.FleasIf you have an itchy dog one of the first things to check him for is external parasites. That means fleas and...more
Dogs have never been more popular than they are today. More than 44 million households in the U.S. have at least one pet dog. They are beloved by people of both sexes and of all ages. But when you stop to think about it, maybe we've gone a little overboard. People walking down the street hold umbrellas over their dogs and get wet themselves. ...more
Hip dysplasia is a complicated disease that affects both cats and dogs. It is considered to be an inherited disease but it is polygenic -- that means that it is not a case of simply breeding parents together who don't have hip dysplasia and producing puppies that don't have the disease. There are many factors that can affect whether or not a dog develops the disease, even if he has parents with or without hip dysplasia.Hip dysplasia results when the cartilage around a dog's hips shows signs of breaking down. This can happen for several reasons. There may be bony projections in the hip joints. There could be shallow hip sockets. There can be evidence of bone changes called "remodeling." All of these indications are bad because they lead to the breakdown of cartilage in the hip area. Cartilage is necessary to cushion the hips when a dog walks or moves. Without proper cartilage the dog begins experiencing some degree of pain.The breakdown of cartilage leads to various stages of arthritis in the dog's hips. This arthritis can be diagnosed by a veterinarian as degenerative joint disease, arthrosis, osteoarthrosis. These are all painful conditions and can eventually lead to a...more
Clicker training is a relatively new approach to training dogs but the ideas behind it have been around for a while. The idea of "positive" dog training dates back to the 1940s when Keller and Marian Breland started a company hoping to teach dog...more
Whether your dog loves going to the vet and seeing the staff or you have to drag him into the office, there are some things you can do to make your trips to the vet's office easier for all concerned. With so many strange sights, sounds, and unknown...more
One of the most basic ideas in dog training is to reward a dog for doing what you want him to do. In many kinds of training, such as clicker training and other forms of positive reinforcement, people use treats and other kinds of food as the reward,...more
People love their pets so much. They treat their pets as a member of their family. They think that their family would not be complete without their pets. Many of us take care of dogs. We love them so much that we treat them like human beings already....more
One of the most popular toy ranges for this Christmas has to be the Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters, but what exactly are they? They've been kicking up quite a fuss in the toy industry, in stores and online, and are this year's must have toys for...more
When I was a child dogs rarely wore dog coats. There was a wide spread myth that a dog's fur was enough to keep them warm on cold winter days. Clearly, this was false as some dogs are simply not naturally suited for colder climates. The dog coats...more