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!
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.
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:
Positive Barks:
Negative Barks:
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.
Ticks have eight legs instead of six and are a cousin to the spider, not the insect. There are several species that feed on dogs, including the wood tick, the brown dog tick, and the deer tick, and they all thrive in tall grass, shrubby areas, and woods.
Ticks can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, encephalitis, tularemia, tick paralysis, and Lyme disease, so it is important to prevent tick infestations in domestic dogs.
The tick is a slow mover and can easily be picked off the dog with tweezers as it crawls about looking for a feeding spot. So, after a walk in the woods, check your dog and yourself for ticks from top to bottom.
Embedded ticks should be removed immediately. Protect fingers from the tick's body fluids with surgical gloves or a plastic bag, grasp the tick firmly, rock it back and forth a few times, and pull it out. If a patch of skin comes along, it's unlikely that any of the tick's head has been left behind.
To control ticks in the environment, keep grass trimmed and control the spread of shrubbery and tall weeds.