Archive for the 'Dogs' Category
Christmas is the time of year when sweets and chocolate that are scarce at other times of the year suddenly appear in an abundance of brightly coloured paper. The smell of them is enough not only to make your mouth water, but also your dogs, and that’s where the problem starts.
Most dogs love chocolate, and like children, have no idea about limitations and so if they see it, they want it – even if they’ve just eaten. Although eating too much chocolate can be bad for your child’s weight and teeth, it can be much worse for your dog however as chocolate is a toxin to dogs. It contains something called theobromine which in large enough quantities can poison your dog. The worst offender surprisingly enough is baking chocolate so even home-baked chocolate muffins and biscuits aren’t safe to share with your pooch either!
When it comes to sharing the Christmas joy, make sure that you have a supply of special canine chocolates and sweet treats to hand so that when you are enjoying your favourite chocolate nibble, you can give your dog one of his own and everyone’ll be healthy – as long as you don’t nibble too often, and remember to clean your teeth –and your dogs!
What would be better however would be to have a supply of rawhide treats, or dog biscuits to give your dog at a time you are likely to be passing around the chocolates. That way they’ll perhaps sulk as they gnaw their way through whatever you’ve given them, but not only will you be ensuring that they aren’t poisoned, but also are helping them to maintain good dental health.
One thing that you must watch out for is gifts that contain chocolate. Dogs have an amazing ability to sniff out things that attract them, and chocolate attracts them! If anyone has given you what appears to be chocolates in a container that could be scratched or bitten open, don’t put it under the tree! Instead place it (and any open chocolates) in a cupboard that’s out of your dog’s reach, otherwise an otherwise nice present could be reduced to a pile of ribbons and paper by a determined dog on a mission to find the source of that enticing smell!
This entry was submitted by Aaliyah Atkinson, she is a contributor to UK property market and the marketerers rag. Aaliyah is fast becoming an authority on non surgical treatments.
Dogs need exercise. The younger and/or larger the dog, generally speaking the more exercise they need, and the more energy their owner is going to need! If you are considering adding a dog to your family then you need to assess how much spare energy you have and choose a breed of dog that matches!
If you are someone who loves being outdoors and have an abundance of energy, then you’ll be fine with a larger breed dog. Even those that are high maintenance in the grooming department shouldn’t be too stressful for you – although you need to take into account how much grooming time you have available as even though you’ve got plenty of energy, you may be short on the amount of time you have for brushing your dog and keeping his coat healthy. You also need to think about how you would lift a full size dog of this breed if you needed to – if he were sick for example.
For someone who hasn’t much energy, a smaller dog is a much better choice – better still, a smaller older dog that is already past its puppy exuberance stage and is now settled into a more sedate middle age! This kind of dog will allow you to get out and exercise, but won’t turn each walk into a cardiovascular workout! A short haired dog needs to be brushed, but nowhere near as vigorously as a longer haired breed and so again is easier on your physical energy. Smaller, shorter haired dogs are usually a better choice for anyone with a busy schedule also, as they are much lower maintenance all round – shorter walks, less grooming, etc – although they do need as much affection as their higher maintenance larger friends!
When considering which breed you want to buy, don’t be lured by a pair of sad brown eyes, or a cute fluffy fur-ball – check out what size the breed usually grows to, and what kind of coat it has as an adult (fur-balls don’t always stay that way!), and then seriously consider if he’s going to fit into your lifestyle, and just as importantly, if you are fit enough for his!
This entry was submitted by Alex Thomson. Alex also regularly contributes to the Webmasters Desk and has started to become a authority on the topic of horse liability.
Having a dog with bad breath is no laughing matter – especially if your dog is one for panting lovingly in your face when you go anywhere near it! There are things you can do however that can improve the situation and as they are more about changing habits of various kinds, they don’t take a lot of additional maintenance.
The main cause of smelly dog breath is because to poor dental hygiene. Fragments of food from your dog’s meal get lodged in his teeth and decay creating the smell. Soft dog meat such as canned foods are the biggest culprits for this and so changing your dog’s diet to dry dog meal instead of canned is an easy step towards improving his breath. Many of these dry dog foods are enriched with supplementary vitamins so it’s also good for his overall well being. When using dry dog food however make sure that you always leave a good supply of fresh water for him to drink as dry food tends to make a dog thirstier than tinned dog food.
Things that your dog can chew on will also work on any remaining plaque on his teeth. Dogs usually love to gnaw on rawhide type snacks and so giving him one of these will not only keep him busy for a while, it’ll also help him improve his dental hygiene! If you usually give him dog biscuits as a treat instead of raw hide ones, then try to ensure that you give him a black one every day (just one though, too many could cause other problems) as these contain charcoal which helps with the digestive system and therefore diminishes any bad odours that are around that area.
Of course what you should also do is to incorporate a regular tooth brushing session into your dog’s grooming schedule. This isn’t easy to start, especially with a dog who is a little older and hasn’t experienced this before, but if you start very slowly to first introduce the toothbrush to your dog, and then get it close to his mouth – do this for a few times over the course of a couple of weeks, and then try to insert it into his mouth. When he’s comfortable with this, try putting some water on it and see if he’s going to accept you rubbing the water on his teeth. Once he is, try a tiny bit of dog toothpaste – NOT your toothpaste, special dog toothpaste – and see how he reacts to it. You could even try introducing the toothpaste on your finger first, and then combine toothbrush and toothpaste together. If you can’t seem to get him to accept it, talk to your veterinary at your dog’s next schedule check-up and see if he can suggest something that will work.
Once you fix your dog’s mouth hygiene, you’ll find that while his breath may not be as “minty fresh” as you’d like, it’s still a vast improvement on how it used to be.
This entry was written by Hannah Panayiotes, she's also a author on Metro Male and Harry-nomics. Hannah is a noted specialist on the topic of botox injection.
I have given myself a challenge. Basically I want to write a guide to being a competent SEO in 400 words or less. I want to get my first shit hot SEO document printed and I think the market that I would like to go for are people who want to do SEO for a small website. I think I never read article that the complete layman can actually use. 400 word I think is steep, since not only will this require enough description so that people can continue, but it will need to provide you with enough information that the people can follow the step by step instructions. It's going to be a challenge because I'm not really know for being brief, since for example this post up to this point is 134 words. Which is coming up for being half the document already.
Soooo Watch this space. I'll post up a link once it is done.
Finally we seem to be progressing with the site.
Helen has completely re-designed the overseas investment property for sale page
Ever wondered what your dog is trying to say to you when he barks… Well here's your answer!
Alert Barks:
- Fast and long barking means: Somebody is coming!!
- Slow and deep barking means: Somebody is approaching! Get ready to protect!
- Fast barks with breaks every few seconds mean: Somebody is approaching. Need more information.
- A single bark at normal volume means: What was that?
Positive Barks:
- A couple of short high volume barks mean: Hello in doggy language.
- Short high pitched barks mean: Surprise!
- Two short high pitched barks mean: Check it out! Look at this! Let me out!
- Short normal volume barks mean: I’m happy!
- A bark that appears to falter at normal volume means: Please play with me??
Negative Barks:
- Long–stretched barks at a high volume with breaks between mean: I'm soooooo lonely that it hurts!
- A short bark or even how at a very high pitched volume means: OUTCH! That hurt!!!
- Many high pitched howls in a regular pattern mean: Extreme pain or fear.
- High pitched, urgent and desperate sounding barks with no apparent reason usually mean: Don’t mind me; I’m just getting rid of some energy by being silly.
This entry was submitted by Joseph Stringfellow. Joseph is also one of the main writers on Webmastersdesk Blog and has been quoted often concerning oak masters.
Sometimes dogs lose one or more of their senses but they are much more adaptable than people are, though of course they do need a level of protection. If you house is on more than one level then the stairs need to have a child gate fitted so if the dog does become disorientated they cannot fall down the stairs. They need to know where everything is in a house and that the floors are not going to be cluttered. Dogs have smell and memory to back up their loss of sight and with care they can even be taken to new areas to exercise. Most blind dogs react well to a harness rather than a lead, that way they have more body contact with their owner. If you have had, the animal for a while before it goes blind you will have built a natural trust and bond and most owners of dogs find that they will follow their owners.
Deafness in a dog is a more profound challenge. They can no longer go out without supervision, you cannot call them back or alert them to a danger and of course, they cannot hear the dangers of traffic. Deaf dogs still respond to vibration, as they have not lost the sense of touch. It does need a little imagination to alert the dog but you can stamp your foot in the house, the dog is capable of detecting the movement.
As dogs age like humans the health does deteriorate but you still should have many happy years left with a dog, albeit a blind or deaf one.
This post was written by Mya John, she's also a author on Metro Male and Pathetic Cosmetic gossip and beauty news. Mya is a noted online voice concerning microsclerotherapy.