Shelter
Adoptions: How to Choose a Second Hand Dog
If you
think the only way to get a dog is to buy one from a pet store or
breeder, think again. There is an astounding variety of great
animals available at your local pet shelter. Contrary to what
some think, these aren't bad dogs.
Dog Adoptions:
Adapting Your Shelter Dog to His New Home
Why buy a
dog when you can bring home a new best friend from a local animal
shelter almost for free? Purebred dogs come with health
issues of over breeding and special grooming requirements - and
these issues are often totally absent among dogs of mixed
breed.
Give Your Dog a
Forever Home
Why do you want a dog? If it's
because you saw a cute puppy and thought pet ownership looked like
a fun thing to try – do the pet a favor and buy a plant.
Dog Training – Groom
Your Dog for Health and Beauty
Dog grooming is too
often treated as an occasional brushing or bath, but regular
grooming should be a part of the care of your new pet. Both
the comfort and the health of your pet are great reasons for
regular sessions of brushing, nail trimming and ear cleaning.
Dog Training: Do You
Go for a Walk or a Drag?
Taking a small puppy for a
walk is a stop and go experience. They must smell everything,
mark everything and will come to a dead stop when they see
something they don't understand. It's best to use a harness
for your dog walks rather than to constantly be pulling on the
pup's small neck or choking him with a slip collar.
Dog Behavior: Take
Your Dog for a Ride
Do you have a dog that goes
nuts when you take him to the veterinarian? Does he try to
get out of the waiting room or growl, bark or whine the minute he
realizes where he is? If so, he associates that with pain or
fear and while sometimes that can't be avoided but it can be
managed.
Understanding your New Dog -
Dog on Dog Aggression
Often we think of aggressive
or fighting dogs when we see one dog attack another - but we are
wrong in that assumption. Dogs trained to be companions may
often exhibit such behavior toward other dogs.
A Dog's Schedule - Time
for Play
As you get to know your new dog, you may
notice he has a specific schedule for his days. He will
arrange his activities around your own time frames if you live on a
fairly regular schedule yourself. Your pet is very
adaptable and will respond well to a semi regular schedule for his
daily activities.
Housebreaking
Your New Dog
Most dogs can be housebroken in just a
few days. The trick is to understand how a canine digestive
system works - and in being able to communicate your wishes to the
animal without confusing him or frightening him by shouting or
hitting.
Large Breed
Dogs: Training is Not Optional
If you are one
who thinks anything under 50 pounds is not really a dog, you are
likely to choose one of the larger canine breeds for a pet.
The beautiful eyes of a retriever, the alert stance of a German
Shepherd and the massive size of a Rottweiler appeal to large
numbers of pet owners. What is often forgotten in the
excitement of choosing a puppy is the reality that for large breed
dogs, training is not optional.
Tricks for
Teaching Your Dog to "Come" to You
There are few
things as frustrating to a dog owner as calling your pet "Fido,
come" while Fido totally ignores you or gives you a quick look and
then proceeds to continue with what he's doing. Using
traditional training methods, you can teach the dog what you want
him to do - but that doesn't mean it will happen. Your dog need to
first understand what it is you want when you say his name,
followed by the command "come" but he also must learn that it is
not optional.
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