Doggy Mentor

Archive for July, 2009

A British Bulldog’s medical history can actually be kept more or less spotless, but if there is one stubborn detail that bulldog owners will have to contend with, it would be the overheating. All dogs will have one way or another in dealing with heat, but bulldogs in particular cannot bear hot and humid conditions. Panting is every canine’s way of cooling down and getting rid of body heat. Dogs with shorter noses, such as bulldogs, take more time making the panting work for them. Still more bulldogs have a harder tiem breathing due to a small trachea, pinched nostril, or an elongated soft palate. The shape of their throat is also of little help in panting. One last obstacle in dealing with the heat is the dog’s heavy mass.

There are certain signs that you can easily check to find out if your english bulldog is down with the heat. One is a dog that is unresponsive, dry gums that may be dark red or pale, glazed eyes, irregular breathing, or vomiting. A dog already in the final stages of a heatstroke will either have convulsions or lapse into unconsciousness. In case you spot any of these symptoms and you suspect heatstroke, put the dog under a shade and splash cool water on its nose. Put it in a tub with cold water, and apply ice packs. It is good if the dog drinks water, but do not force if otherwise. Getting the dog to swallow some lemon juice has been said to be helpful. The last resort is a vet in case there is no immediate improvement.

No owner must miss out on knowing how their dog looks like and behaves when it is in the pink. It is critical that their normal body temperature, the color of their gums, and their normal behavior when healthy is noted in their records at home. This foresight helps very much later on in emergency cases, so that the vet will have a faster and more accurate diagnosis.

Together with knowing what to do in case the dog goes down with heatstroke, it also makes an awful lot of of sense to know what to do to prevent overheating. Always have plenty of shade for your dog when it is outdoors. Furthermore, do not take your dog out with you in warm weather unless there is really a big need for it. What feels like a warm day to us is a baking, near-fainting temperature day for dogs, above all for short-snouted breeds like the bulldog. If it is really necessary to take the dog outside, the least you can bring along for the dog is a sealed container of cold water in case of emergency. At home, ensure that your dog has enough water to gulp at all times. Finally, it really is up to you as dog owner to implement English Bulldogs training, or essentially to keep an eye on the dog’s activity level. We all know that if they are allowed to, bulldogs will just keep on playing without regard for their body temperature.

The British Bulldog is an enchanting pet to own. They are friends with everyone, and they love being around children. The moment they meet their master and family members, they immediately feel part of the family. The dog practically feels like just another person in the home! And sometimes, you get the impression that it is literally so, whenever the bulldog snores. Indeed, many things can prepare you for this cozy snorer, but nothing is as amusing listening to it!

When you hear a bulldog snoring loudly, and on most nights at that, you may wonder whatever made your watched and supervised bulldog so tired. But the secret is actually in the dog’s physical make up. At the root of their snoring is their very short breathing passages. In turn, its physical make up was determined by the dog’s working history, which was to bait bulls. Years and years of breeding have resulted to facial structures that helped the dog to have powerful bites. To be specific, the dog had to have a short muzzle and a wide lower jaw that enabled the bulldog to have a powerful hold on to the bull’s nose. The nose of the dog too, had to be upturned otherwise so the dog couldn’t breathe when he was holding on to the bull. All these factors make english bulldogs snore, since their facial structures have led them to breathe in a different compared to other breeds.

There is also another factor that cause bulldogs to snore. Sometimes they may be led to areas that are humid, or poorly ventilated. This results to an overheated bulldog and a dog without comfortable sleep. Not being able to sleep well often leads to a bulldog snoring.

But if the snoring gets way too loud, then action definitely needs to be taken. Some dogs suffer from laryngeal edema, which is a swelling in the airway, and makes sufferers produce sounds similar to snoring. The bulldog can also snore too much if it is weighed down by a laryngeal opening that is too small. Still other bulldogs may be suffering from brachycephalic upper-airway syndrome, which can lead to the collapse of the dog after a seemingly normal amount of excitement, exercise or high temperatures. Any of these can lead to the infamous bulldog snore. To sum it all up, snoring is common to all dogs, but once the intensity of the sound is above normal, a help from a vet may need to be needed.

What is surprising is that everyone claims that a bulldog snoring at home is really nothing to be annoyed about at all, and that English Bulldogs training is better off concentrating elsewhere. In fact, most comment about the pleasant effect they have grown used to hearing. Even this is very much part and parcel of the bulldog charm.

As much as our dogs have the “controlling stake,” as it were, on our hearts, they still have got this thing or that which never fails to irritate or annoy us to no end. In the case of British bulldogs, they have that near-endless drooling. Now plenty of dog breeds do drool, but the bulldog surpasses them all! Practically all english bulldog owners will wonder or ask sooner or later what is behind all that salivating and how can it be reduced.

Part of the cause behind the drooling of bulldogs is their wide faces and all the extra skin that hang on to their faces. It is true that all those extra folds of skin make them look cute, but the downside to all of that is that they drool all the more. It may sound unbelievable, but the drool trickle out of their mouths since there is not much flesh within to keep them there. So you can just imagine that whenever the bulldog takes a drink, they drool part of what they take. Many owners are skilled at drying their dog’s mouth to reduce the chances of a pimply rash.

Bulldogs whose drooling are not taken cared of end up with the lip-fold dermatitis, a disorder common among molossers (or dogs that have a hanging upper lip and lower lip folds. The root of the skin problem is the combination of saliva and foodbits several days old. The symptoms are a smelly odor on the lips and the skin around the mouth, and a greasy brown look to them. But drying the loose skin often will help halt this concern.

Thus we have just established that loose skin doesn’t just mean cuteness, but also, plenty of drool! What do people do to remedy this? Wiping the dog’s face again and again may not be the most efficient solution. Or you can try some english bulldog training that will train the dog to not shake its head when it is near you? Another step is to avoid giving the dog snacks so that it will not have to open its mouth and drool. Lastly, you can put a bandana on your dog, not for decorative purposes, but to catch some of the drool.

puppy training

For any dog owner the overall dog health issue is one that they face each day. There are a variety of diseases that can seriously affect the pet as well as cause death. Dog health maintenance is an ideal way to thwart any potentially deadly viruses they can contract. A veterinarian is the ideal source of all pet questions but there are other resources that work well too. Pets Mart is a great place to find dog books that can help you on your way to being a successful pet owner.

Dog health begins the very minute you take ownership of your canine companion. Before you even think about beginning puppy training you must make sure that you know what type of medication it takes to ensure dog health. Shots such as Distemper, Rabies, and Parvo are absolutely essential to a long and healthy life for your dog. There are other medications such as heart worm medicine and flea medicines that are important as well.

If you are unsure as to what is involved in dog health, check out dog forums for answers on some common questions. The best advice before buying or getting a pet is to do a thorough research to determine if having a pet is right for you. There are some questions to ask yourself before you commit to owning a dog or any pet. The first is how much time do you have to devote to the pet? Do you have enough space to accommodate a dog? Is the dog health absolutely important to you? Do you have the money to devote to puppy training and to making sure that he or she receives regular veterinarian visits to ensure proper dog health?

If you can answer “Yes” to these questions then you may be ready to have a dog. Dog’s can be your best friend and can be extremely loyal. They depend on you for everything in their lives, much like a child does. They look forward to being with you and want your love. In return you will receive unconditional love and your dog will be there for you.

Dog health is important to having a fully functioning family. Dog’s can bring many things to their owner. They bring love and unfailing loyalty. They deserve to have that returned to them by an owner that truly wants what is best for them. Before you go collect your new dog, take the time to become educated. You should talk to other pet owners and then make that life altering decision.

If you wish to help a puppy ditch the habit of nipping at your ankles or outstretched hands, try out the following tested and proven steps. Experts estimate that these steps will show the dog that there is no fun in biting you.

When the puppy is almost at your hand (but without waiting for the feel of its bite), sound off with an abrupt, loud, and piercing noise. This noise will be very similar to what all puppies make when a littermate or family member were to hurt it.

The expected result would be that the dog would withdraw its mouth, and give you a confused look, as if asking what it did to hurt you. At this point, offer the dog a toy it can focus on; praise the dog if it takes the ball. These steps will help your dog realize that it is no fun at all biting you.

Be ready to give the puppy some allowance of time before it catches on to your point. Aside from this, you will need to control your emotions too; your puppy would improve more rapidly if it does not see you in a fit just because it is slow to pick up. But the above steps would create an impact because they seek to tell your dog to stop doing something that hurts. Correction is never for scaring, but for shaping the dog’s behavior so it gets used to doing what is acceptable in society. Your efforts to stop biting puppies is just a case in point.

The problem with not taking action soon is that it simply paves the way to yet more bad manners. Puppies have a poor memory of things (even if only five minutes passed!), puppies are deprived of learning that nipping is not good. At the roots of puppy biting is instinct, and if this is left unchecked, a puppy starts nurturing a crude habit. So start stopping puppy biting as soon as you can!

The same idea of correction can get applied to other undesirable behavior. One worthwhile mentioning here is some dogs’ tendency to jump on people. Nothing could possibly be cuter than a puppy jumping to reach your leg; but it is not, in the case of a playful Great Dane, or a Pyrenees! So get your act together and just walk past the puppy or dog trying to rest its weight on you. This will encourage the desirable behavior, and teach the dog to wait for you to express your greeting.

Are you currently at odds with your puppy that is clueless as to how annoying and painful it is to be nipped? Is your high-energy puppy treating your hand, leg or ankle as some sort of bite-bag (vis a vis punching bag)? Worry not, because we will go over some facts and advice below that will illustrate how to get a dog to give up nipping.

In training puppy not to bite, you will need to be more firm in your word most of these days. Something that needs to stop must not be even encouraged in the first place. Your puppy needs to learn that putting its mouth to a human is a no-no. Some dogs actually have no qualms when owners put their hand way within the scary row of teeth, because the owners know the dog will resist clamping down. Some dogs are adults when they enter a household, and they bear the habit of biting, but through consistent training can overcome it.

In dealing with more depth to puppy biting, experts suggest a method wherein the biting puppy is startled. Just as the puppy digs into your skin, surprise the puppy with a quick, high-pitched, and loud noise. This is an exact copy of the noise the dog would make if its littermate bit it. You would know if it was performed properly of the dog instantly withdraws its mouth with a bewildered look on its face. At this point, offer the dog a toy that it can chew on (then praise it if it takes the ball). The successive actions just described will make the dog realize that there is no approval from you for biting you, but there is for taking the ball. You may need to do this several times to get the dog to realize the bigger picture. If making the noise makes the dog more excited instead of stopped, try a different tack.

Aside from the strategy of showing the dog that being nipped is painful, another method you can use is to show the dog that it loses friends if it keeps behaving that way. The next time the dog bites, leave the dog immediately (some insist, “dramatically”), sweeping out of the room. Children being plagued by the dog may want to use this method. Soon enough, the dog realizes that it loses friends and playmates if it keeps on behaving as such.

As you help your puppy to see that biting is not an acceptable behavior, you will need to stop playing tug of war with it, or chase, wrestling, or other things that will excite the dog and make it go after you. As everybody knows, physical punishment does not add anything constructive to the solution of this behavior issue.

Putting into action these tips for stopping puppy biting may seem like an uphill battle. But as the leader of the pack, you will of course carry them out with patience, determination, consistency, and hardwork, which means the teaching won’t last longer than what you think!

A puppy that likes to take stolen and sudden bites ever so often at its people’s hands, ankles or clothes is showing puppy biting. But this is no cute puppy stuff, since if left unchecked, the puppy will develop it as a bad manner together with a good host of other bad traits. On the other hand, you as dog owner have quicks ways within reach to stop this. In order to do so, let us start by understanding why puppies tend to bite.

Biting is a behavior normal among dogs, and more so in the case of puppies. These latter ones do so for the main reason of teething, and for other reasons like curiosity about some objects, or interest in playing or communicating. But if the dog’s or puppy’s biting exceeds the normal, you need to intervene and take control for the sake of those around.

To help stop puppy biting, you cannot simply tell the pet to “Stop that!” and expect the dog to get the drift. Yelling at a dog is more like frightening it into submission. Rather, the dog needs to be trained how to do things that are desirable, acceptable and show good manners.

So, the first thing you can do is to not encourage your puppy or dog to suck or “teeth” its fangs on your hand or fingers. If your puppy moves its mouth close to your hand with the intention of biting, say “ah” in a firm and strong voice. Then divert your pet’s attention away from your hand, and instead towards a chew toy. This will teach your dog to know what the acceptable chew toys in the house are.

Don’t encourage rough play between you and your puppy. Getting him excited especially with some chase game with exciting noises encourages him that everything is alright and there is no harm going on. Owners usually have themselves to blame if a dog ends up maturing with a bad trait.

Once your puppy gets home from the rescue or the breeder, resolving puppy biting can begin already. Waiting for the puppy to be older will mean more work from you, and also make it harder for you to turn around things. The ideal scenario to aim for is to teach the learning-ready puppy that biting is not good. And the teething period of its life is also no reason why it needs to lay its teeth on its master, or family members for that matter.

As we have mentioned earlier, biting is actually a normal tendency among puppies and dogs. So the solution is to channel the puppy’s chewing instinct into more suitable objects. While soft, squishy toys may help, dogs save much of the chewing energies for chewing hard things. Chewing actually calms and relaxes the dog, so it needs to be encouraged among the right toys. A nylabone is a good example of such a bite-friendly toy. Hard bones, aside from comforting the puppy, also help with their teething, and helps clean the teeth of older puppies.

Before we end, remember that the most effective help in training puppies not to bite is consistency in training. Don’t let up an inch when your dog starts chewing or mouthing you. Soon you will reap benefits in the form of a loyal and gentlemanly puppy.

A certified breeder of portuguese water dogs is the most reliable expert to count on when it comes to that dog breed. But if there is a something fishy with their breeding, then there is no sense in their being in the business! But considering how relatively small the community of portie breeders are, there is not much danger of a portie fan tangling with a defective puppy. And any portie breeder can definitely help out with concerns like what to do with the dog’s tendency to countersurf, or in the case of a puppy, to chew anything that catches its fancy? Below are a few issues that discuss how portie experts deal with some common portie behavior issues.

First of all, there is not much to worry about regarding portuguese water dog health. While porties are generally very healthy dogs, in the end, it is the vigilance of scrupulous breeders that help ensure many many years of fun together with this stellar dog breed.

The next concern is whether anything special needs to be mentioned about how the breed responds to children in the household, or the presence of other animals.

How the portuguese water dog welcomes the presence of “new” things around it will be heavily influenced by how it is raised. Therefore, the puppy that is introduced early on to plenty of people, animals, and things will grow up with a well balanced personality. Therefore, there is no danger of hyping training too much if we say that overlooking portuguese water dog puppy training risks harming the personality of the adult portie much later on.

Lastly, how does a portie fan or enthusiast know if the dog is not meant for him/her? No matter how cute the dog is or whether or not there is some sort of “inner voice,” it is ultimately all about a frank assessment of one’s free time for the dog, needs in a dog, and how much activities can be done with the dog. The potential owner needs to size up the dog’s appetite for skills and activity, and see how ready is he/she to provide the dog’s everyday quota of work-play tasks.

Something that skyrockets too fast into the national limelight is definitely not immune from misunderstanding. What is even more mystifying is that many an ignorant enthusiast or fan is usually the most guilty of this type of offense. Let’s take the portuguese water dog for example. While it may look like any other house dog, it is far from being a couch warmer; in fact, not much dog breeds can match what it is capable of!

That said, portuguese water dogs really end up out of place in the care of somebody who is too lazy to give these fellows their share of daily work routine, or queue up some “projects” for them to do. But it’s a joy in itself watching the dog process the things assigned to it. Easy to teach with plenty of space for still more learning, the dog grows into a dedicated member of the household. The ideal portie family helps their dog to be well-rounded through activities like water work, flyball, obedience, agility, and more. If you are considering getting a portie pup, you may consider it your hint to look for other dog breeds if you are not up to the demands of a portie owner-lifestyle.

Now, let’s tackle one issue that in one way or another every dog owner will have to answer: does a portie need crate training? The decision actually depends on whatever the dog owner and the dog breeder agree on. There are dogs that feel at home in their very own private space of peace and quiet. In case you as owner are not sure if they need it or not, complement whatever they are busy with through portuguese water dog puppy training.

Moreover, porties are masters when it comes to adapting to a variety of living conditions. With or without crate training, with or without access to their master’s bed, with or without doggie beds… A portie will grow accustomed to these settings, save one, which is having to sleep alone or without its master in sight. In fact, the portie will demand and insist that it only be allowed to sleep near its master. After all, it is a through and through people-oriented dog!

With the surge to popularity of the portuguese water dog breed, fans worldwide must now be “experts” in way of the general tidbits that need to be known about the dog breed. But porties (as they are affectionately called by others), are very brainy, high-energy and very talented dogs that are easy to misunderstood. And this is the “test” that will “test” how well Portie fans and owners want to tough things out with their precious Portie.

For example, among the many concerns that can be known about the breed, an important one is the degree of challenge in training a Portie. Is the portie open to being trained, or does it end up struggling against independence streaks?

Indeed, training a portuguese water dog is something not to take for granted. After all, the portie is one of the smartest dogs worldwide, and it has no patience for repetitive, lifeless lessons. So the portie is truly a trainer’s dream assignment, but trainers who become nervous, or erratic, lacking confidence or consistency, will soon see the portie grow inexplicably unresponsive.

Lest it be imagined that porties are schemers and four-footed cheats, porties are on the contrary only too anxious to please. Their day is made when they know that their master is happy with the way they do things. This encouraging thought drives them to finish what is asked of them. Another interesting thing about porties is that they are capable of sensitivity, like shelties. Thus nothing can be more effective in training them than “praise-based” training, which taps into their emotions.

Without a doubt, any dog breed will benefit from obedience training, or in the case of porties, portuguese water dog training. If you are a portie owner, or are planning to be one soon, and you are looking for somebody to consult on dog behavior issues, a veteran dog breeder is the authority to get your information from. This is a dog professional who will discuss with you, say, the portie’s propensity for loitering on couches and furniture, or its penchant for investigating things by countersurfing. Even in the event that you need some advice about your destruction-inclined dog, or how to protect their bones in their active years, or even just about house training, consulting with a dog breeder can help a lot. And it doesn’t hurt noting it down again and again that your dog needs (or will need) socializing!