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The importance of vitamins and supplements for dogs
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Proving your dog with proper nutrition is important for your dog’s long and healthy life. In fact did you know that most veterinarian visits are caused by poor nutrition and / or poor dog food? Even if you use a high quality dog food, just by the simple fact that there is not variety in the dogs diet, your dog will most likely lack nourishment from certain minerals and vitamins.
It is easy to take care of this problem by simply providing dog supplements daily to your pet. In fact 3 out of 4 pet owners provide daily vitamins and supplements to their dogs! The next question is what to provide? Before we go there let’s start with the dog food, make sure you provide a high quality dog food; stay away from the common brand names as these mass produced products have many fillers, preservatives, and often lack the broad spectrum of nutrients that a dog needs. Just about everyone I have spoken with feels that Organic Dog foods provide the best overall nutritional value.
Pet and Dog owners care very much for their loved ones – after all they are family. As a general rule only, a healthy dog is characterized by good looking shinny fur. While it is not fair to say that a dog with shinny fur is always healthy, you can be almost certain that a dog with a poor quality of coat is lacking some sort of vitamin or mineral. Remember not to get a dirty coat mixed up with a poor quality, dull coat. You can also check to see if there is some natural oil on the dog’s coat. It won’t be much, but enough to protect the outermost portion of the hair strands.
Now we can look at supplements, as the food alone is not enough for a dog. Pets needs vitamins and minerals as part of their diet in low but constant concentrations. Having a deficiency can lead to large-scale anabolic deficiencies. As simple rule, some of the more important vitamins in a dog’s diet include: Dog vitamins A, D, E, K, B6, Riboflavin and Niacin. Omega 3 for dogs is also quite important for a dog, especially to control allergies and promote a healthy and shinny coat. Besides these, some of the other important minerals required in dog’s diet are calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and iodine.
Remember in the past dogs would eat other animals, plants, and just about whatever they could find in nature. Thus they had a balance in the omega 3 to omega 6 ratios. Today that is often not the case so the balance is off. This is why it is essential to provide omega 3 as we discussed earlier. When Omega 3 is left out many health problems can occur like inflammation which in turn causes other problems like joint problems, loss of alertness, itchy skin, stomach problems, skin infections etc. Good luck caring for your dog, remember to lover them as much as they love us!:)
Training A Dog to Sit
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Training a dog to sit is usually the first command you teach a dog it is easy for even the youngest of pups to learn and it is the basis for many other obedience commands.
Informal training may begin when the pup is only six or seven weeks old and still at the breeders. Every time the pup sits, say good sit. He may not know what you are saying but the happy tone of voice will let him know he did something good and eventually he will begin to pick up the words through repetition.
More formal training can begin soon after when a pup is seven to eight weeks old; it may not be a perfect sit right but the speed in which he picks up the new command might surprise you.
The simplest way to have a dog sit on command is to use their own natural body movement to your advantage. Put a small treat in your hand a few inches in front of his nose and let the pup sniff it. Once his attention is on the treat, say Fido sit and draw your hand slowly up and back over his head. His natural tendency will be to sit down which, once he does, is when you congratulate him, let him have the treat and say good sit. Try it a few times and then give him a break for a while as three short sessions a day are better then one long one when working with a young dog.
Once he has figured out what you are asking of him, you can stop moving your hand with the treat and see if he still understands. Continue this way until he now understands the verbal cue but still give him the treat when he successfully sits on command.
With all training, do not overuse the command word. Say his name as a cue that you are asking something of him followed by the word once then give him a moment to figure out what it is you want him to do. Too often new owners repeat the word over and over again and the dog either does not understand the command yet or, more likely, the overuse of the command has dulled their desire to perform as the newbie wishes.
Training sessions with any age of dog are far more successful if you bring the right attitude to the session. A happy, smiling, consistent attitude will soon have your dog joyfully executing your every wish! Dogs can read body language better then verbal commands and getting frustrated or just generally being in a bad mood will only confuse the dog and ruin the session. Dogs are much like children in the way respond to praise and begin to shut down if there is only negative feedback.
Once your dog is consistently sitting on command, begin removing the treat as part of the reward from time to time. Eventually you want your dog to sit on command because you asked him to not, because of the food reward. Treats are a great training tool but for day to day obedience, it is preferred to not have to carry a bag of Roll-Over with you whenever the two of you are together!
Once sit is mastered, its time to move onto to down, stay, rollover and so on. Have fun with the training and your dog will pick up the commands quickly and love the work. A well-trained dog is a happy dog and the owner reaps the eventual reward of a dog that is a pleasure to have in any situation!
Dog Training – The Secret To Loose Leash Walking
Posted by: | CommentsDog Training Equipment and Tools
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There are some tools that every trainer needs to do his job. There are a number of purposes that dog training equipment has, but in general it has specific functions to make the dog perform certain things, to get control over him or to train him faster.
1. Collar
Besides using normal training aids, a dog trainer will also use collars in the training process. There are a wide variety of types of collars, sorted by appeal, materials or their functions. If we’re talking about classification by functions, collars can be spoke collars, chain collars, electronic collars, martingale collars or shock collars.
Usually, dog collars are made of nylon, leather, metal or fabric materials.
2. Harness
Something that can be used as a leash alternative, a harness is a device used for training, either replacing a dog collar or using it together with one. A harness can be used so that the pulling force is distributed more equally, so that the dog doesn’t choke. A collar also brings with it the risk that the dog will slip out of it.
Dog harnesses aren’t used to train a normal dog though. They”re usually preferred when it comes to training assistant dogs or service dogs.
3. Leash or lead
The lead, or leash, is made usually out of rope or leather, which helps restrain or control the dog when it’s attached to the collar. Some leashes are made so that they loop around the dog’s neck, so the collar isn’t needed. The length can also be a way to choose a leash: it can be short, very short, extended webbing leash or webbing leash.
The length matters because different training exercises will require leashes of different sizes, keeping the dog at a distance or close to you. Use long leashes for distance training or tight leashes for the best control.
4. Muzzle
If the dog has the habit of barking or biting, and you want him to stop doing it, you can use a dog muzzle. This dog equipment is very important, especially for dangerous or aggressive dogs that you want to prevent from doing any damage.
You place the muzzle on the dog”s mouth, so he can”t open it and bite with it. You can use dog muzzle to vary how much freedom the dog has. You can also choose one depending on its shape or material. Materials used for dog muzzles can include leather, wire, nylon or plastic.
5. Bait Pouch
The bait pouch is putting a dog treat in your pocket, and it”s a method that many dog trainers use. There is a disadvantage to that though, the fact that if you take some extra time to get the reward, the purpose of giving the dog a reward is a bit lost on him.
It”s recommended to buy a special bait pouch if you want to use one for training. It”s just like a normal pouch, but made from canvas. It”s kept at the trainer”s waist, so that he can access it easily.
6. Halter
The halter is a training gear similar to a collar, and it”s used by trainers to guide or train pets, making it easier to control it. It goes over the dog’s muzzle and fitted to the back of his head. By pulling the head, the trainer signals the dog to change his direction.
There are plenty of types of dog training equipment, by name, construction or purpose. You can”t do everything with just one type of equipment. Decide what you want it to do before you buy it.
