Archive for February, 2009
If you are a first time dog owner you're aware that you'll be training your puppy and making sure that he behaves himself. But have you thought about the need to train yourself before training your puppy? The truth of the matter is that you are going to be going through a period of adjustment, just like the new puppy, and the better you prepare yourself for it, the easier the transition is going to be! When you are thinking about what kind of training you need before you bring your puppy home, there are a few things that you should keep in mind.
The first thing that you have to be prepared for is the lifestyle adjustment. Puppies are a large responsibility and not only do you have to have the funds to take care of him, you also need to make sure that you are going to have the time to see to his needs. For instance, a new puppy that is not house trained or crate trained should be taken out at least once every one to three hours. Is there someone in your household who can see to that?
You also need to think about the level of activity that goes with getting the puppy that you are bring home. For instance, if you are bringing home a husky or a Labrador or especially a Jack Russell terrier, you should be ready for a very active lifestyle!
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- Examine your dog using good lighting.
- When is tick is found embedded in the skin, use a fine pointed tweezers at the point of attachment, and grasp the tick head firmly. Wear latex gloves if possible when doing this (especially if you live in a high-risk area).
- Using slow, steady, and firm traction, pull the tick straight out from the skin.
- It is critical to NOT squeeze the tick body at any time — this can inject more potential pathogens in to you or your pet while the tick is embedded.
- Cleanse the skin with mild soap and water.
- If a small part of the tick breaks off, you can try to remove it as you would a splinter, but it is probably best to leave it alone. The body will 'eject' it in time. If you live in a high risk area you should contact your vet and ask their advice about partially remaining ticks.
- Place the tick in a jar of alcohol, noting the date, in case of future illness. Tick identification and location of tick infestation will be important in case of illness.
Important things to remember:
- Do NOT use a match or caustic materials to try to smother the tick or get the tick to 'back out'. This doesn't work, and may be causing the tick to regurgitate more saliva (and potential pathogens) into the skin.
- Talk to your vet about effective tick control.
- Check pet daily, especially in the spring when ticks are most common.
This note was originally posted at the Labrador Retriever Chatboard in Health Section of the Forums. Please visit the chatboard community for more information on Labrador Retriever dog health, diet, nutrition and training.
Fleas
Dog fleas are different to those which infest humans and cats. When a flea bites, it injects saliva to stop the blood clotting whilst it sucks it up. The saliva contains chemicals which often cause an allergic reaction in the dog.
The signs are :-
Bites which look like small red pimples.
Black, gritty material in the coat, and areas of inflammation on the animals back.
Scratching.
What is the treatment ?
Spring-clean the house and treat the dog's favorite places with a suitable insecticidal spray. Flea tablets or collars are a good extra precaution, and spray badly affected animals frequently with insecticide during the summer months. (the flea season)
Ticks
The common tick seen on dogs is the sheep tick. this has a large abdomen that stretches as it fills with blood. It hangs on to the dog's hair and sticks it's mouth parts through the skin to suck blood.Ticks are usually found on the underside of the dog, under the forelegs and on the head.
What is the treatment ?
Try to remove every tick when you see it. It is important to extract the head, otherwise an abscess may form. If the head is left in, warm compresses help draw out the infection, combined with antibacterial washes and creams.
Removing a tick.
A good method is to get the tick's head to relax or die by dabbing it with alcohol. Wait a couple of minutes, then use fine-pointed tweezers to extract the tick. Grasp it near the mouth parts, and give it a sharp jerk. This should dislodge it.
Alternatively, flea sprays can be used locally on ticks. The tick will then die and can be removed the following day. Regular use of a flea spray in tick areas often keeps them away.
When my own dogs have suffered with ticks or fleas in the past, I've always managed to deal with them myself, but if you've any concerns at all with your own dog, then consult your vet as a precaution.
Author John Moore ..please use my link
http://www.pet-dog-cat.com
Hip dysphasia is a crippling and painful disease seen most often in larger purebred dogs, such as Golden Retrievers, German Shepherd, St.Bernard's, and Labrador Retrievers. The occurrence in German Shepherds alone is almost 80%.
Classified as an arthritic condition, it is usually hereditary and presents itself in one or both hip joints. The cartilage lining of the hip joints wear down due to a partial and sometimes complete dislocation of the hip joints.
Signs of hip dysphasia may appear as early as 4 weeks of age, with most appearing around 8 to 12 months. Early warning signs are posterior pain, difficulty rising from a prone position, and a general hesitance to move or exercise. A definite diagnosis can only be made by an x-ray from you veterinarian.
Surgical techniques have been developed to help relieve the pain and lameness caused by the disease. In severe cases hip or joint reconstruction and or replacement has been done, with the best results seen in smaller, younger animals. Since hip dysphasia is an inherited disease, infected dogs should be neutered to prevent spreading to further generations.
In older dogs, anti-inflammatory drugs such as prednisone and aspirin can be used to relieve the pain, as older dogs aren't good surgical candidates. Reducing the affected dog's weight with a strict diet and moderate exercise can also go along way in reducing the pain and discomfort. With any debilitating disease, early diagnosis and treatment are extremely important. You should seek veterinary care at the first signs of pain and loss of mobility.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Randy Jones and his partner Brent Jones have been in the pet industry for a long time. Recently they formed Joncopets.com. On the site, customers can read articles about anything pets as well as shop for the latest dog clothes, dog collars, dog carriers and more for their best friend. Feel free to check out the site at www.joncopets.com Submitted with Article Distributor.
"Magoo was a big, playful Labrador retriever who often got himself into sticky situations…" So begins a story in the latest report from the ASPCA on foods that may be toxic to dogs. It turns out that Magoo got into the pantry and snagged himself about a pound of raisins. He ate the whole thing, of course. The ASPCA never mentions Magoo's fate. But they do tell us that as little as a handful of raisins can impair a dogs health and has been fatal for some. Ditto for the grape.
Who Knew? Growing up, I regarded our family dogs as "the first cycle of the dishwasher". They were good about waiting their turn for whatever we left on our plates, and we weren't too concerned about offering them "people food". It never crossed our minds that our dogs health could be affected by a few measly table scraps. What was safe for us, we figured, was safe for our pets. What's more, whenever I ate grapes, I liked to give one or two to our German Shepherd "Tiffany". The grapes always popped out of her mouth when she tried to bite into them and Tiffany, ever the good sport, refused to give up until she'd squashed each one into submission. It guaranteed at least 60 seconds of harmless fun. Tiffany was also fond of chewing gum (she chewed it — wrapper and all — but didn't swallow it!) We had the sugarless kind, which is often sweetened these days with xylitol. Little did I know that I might have been poisoning our family pet! (More on xylitol below).
Why are grapes harmful? As far as grapes and raisins go, no one is sure why they're harmful. It's been confirmed that even grapes grown without fertilizers or pesticides can be toxic to dogs. But not to every dog, and not every time. It's also not known whether small amounts eaten over a long time period could have a cumulative effect.
Positive dog training was developed under the principles of Skinner's operant conditioning. While it's not a new technique, it didn't get enough popularity until the nineties.
Former students of Skinner, psychologists Keller and Marian Breland, pioneered commercial applications of operant conditioning when they created Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) on 1942. ABE was the first company that offered positive training services.
The huge popularity of traditional training prevented ABE to succeed in dog training. So, the Breland's company was forced to look for new niches and ABE got focused on training animals for TV shows and commercials. Keller and Marian also pioneered dolphin training for aquaria and US navy.
Positive reinforcement is the main teaching way of these techniques. Positive reinforcement is not the same as reward, though this is a common misconception.
Positive reinforcement is the process that strengthens a behavior because a pleasant situation occurs as a consequence of that particular behavior. For instance, if you give a food treat to your dog when he lies down, he will tend to lie down more frequently to get that delicious treat. Thus, your dog will be learning to lie down through positive reinforcement.
On the other hand, if your dog lies down and you reward him after 10 seconds, he may not associate the action of lying down with the reward. He may think you gave him the treat because he was looking up, or moving his ears. So, you rewarded your dog but you didn't reinforce the desired behavior.
Some people think that positive trainers never teach to the dog that a particular behavior is unacceptable. This is a common and big misinterpretation. Practitioners of positive training do teach this to dogs, but they don't use punishment or negative reinforcement for that.
Clicker training is the most popular of these techniques in many countries. It is the same technique used by Keller and Marian Breland, and was popularized by the biologist and dolphin trainer Karen Pryor.
The main difference between clicker training and other positive techniques is the use of a clicker in the former. A clicker is just a small device that emits a click-click sound when squeezed. It is used to mark the exact moment in which the dog performed a desired behavior.
The absolute absence of negative reinforcement, punishment and training collars (choke, prong or shock) make of positive dog training a very friendly technique to both dogs and owners. This could be the main advantage of this kind of training.
Other advantages are that positive dog training is easy to understand and fun to carry out. Besides, these techniques are not only focused on obedience exercises. Instead, they are widely used to solve behavioral problems.
Detractors of these techniques claim that dogs trained in a positive way won't be able to respond properly unless they can see (or scent) a food treat. These people also claim that positive trained behaviors are not reliable under variable circumstances.
Although very common, those claims are not true. The efficacy of positive training is demonstrated each day by hundreds of service dogs for disabled people, police dogs, competition dogs and performing dogs.
About The Author
Rodrigo Trigosso is a biologist and professional dog trainer. His website http://www.dog-training-tutorial.com provides great info on canine training and behavior.
