The Benefits, Commitment And Responsibilities Of Owning A Dog

Owning a dog can be an amazing life experience. Dogs have earned their place as men’s best friend, thanks to their loyalty, unconditional love and their great ability to fill our lives with lots of fun and joy.

Furthermore, dogs can enrich our life in many ways, they protect us, work for us, give us their companionship, and even teach us some important life lessons. Owning a dog is a great experience loaded with great benefits for everyone in the household from babies to seniors.

However, bringing a dog into your home and providing him with proper dog care is not easy, that is why owning a dog is a decision that needs to be made carefully.

The first move you can make towards becoming a responsible dog owner and making sure your experience owning a dog is a positive one, is to find good information on dog care, not only about the benefits of owning a dog, but also the added work and responsibilities involved in raising a healthy and well behaved dog

Learning about what you are getting into before you jump into dog ownership is essential to make smart choices and avoid unexpected troubles and headaches in the future; and most importantly avoid finding yourself in the position of making decisions that could compromise your dog's life. No dog deserves to pay such a high price for you mistakes.

But don't worry; whether you are considering owning a dog or already are a dog owner, you are in the right place to look for great dog information and advice to help you become the best owner you can be and fully experience the best about owning a dog.

Although, owning a dog is a big commitment with plenty of responsibilities, the benefits and joy of sharing your life with your best friend are far more rewarding.

Lets take a quick look at some of the many ways owning a dog can enrich people's lives.

* A Dog Can Make You Happier
A dog can fill your life with laughter, fun, companionship, unconditional love and give you more attention than anyone could.
Furthermore, your dogs need for exercise will take you outdoors, giving you a daily opportunity to relax, get some exercise, enjoy nature, meet people and even make new friends.

And it doesn’t stop there; your dogs ability to get you in a better mood and make you feel good; will help you prevent and fight depression, loneliness, stress and self-confidence problems. Resulting in a happier you!
Just give your dog the opportunity to show you how rewarding is to make time to enjoy the simple things in life and share them with your best friend.

* A Dog Can Make You Healthier
Having a dog in your life has great health benefits, whether you are trying to prevent health problems, improve your health or recover from illness,

Exercising with your dog not only provides health benefits for your dog, but for you as well. No matter how intense your exercise routine is, getting out with your dog will help you lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, reducing your risk for heart disease and cardiovascular problems; and even better? it will help you loose weight and get fit.

Even just spending time with your dog or petting your dog can help you lower blood pressure and make you feel better.
Furthermore, studies have shown that patients recovering from illness or surgical procedures, recover faster and cope better with their period of convalescence if they have the companionship and positive energy that a dog bring into the picture.
* A Dog Can Keep You Safe
It's natural for a dog to bark when a stranger comes into his territory, they do it to alert you and discourage intruders from stepping into your property. No matter how big or small your dog is, barking is always a big deterrent for burglars. What’s more, if someone ever tries to hurt you, your dog will protect you by barking, attacking or simply alerting everyone of danger.

When it comes to protection and security, of course the presence of a big dog is more intimidating, but the noise a little dog can make will also keep someone from breaking into your house or choosing you as a victim, just like an alarm system would.

Those are just some of the great reasons why dogs have made their way into human households and hearts, becoming closer to our families than ever before.
However, we can’t talk about all the benefits of owning a dog, without making you aware that the benefits and enjoyment you can get from the experience of owning a dog are going to be proportional to your level of commitment and your ability to build a strong connection with your dog.

Owning a good dog is not a matter of luck, it's a matter of how committed you are to ensure your dog is healthy, friendly, well behaved and happy, pledging to do whatever it takes to make sure your dog lives a quality life and never give up on him as challenges come along.

When you bring a dog into your home, your dog's life is in your hands and you become responsible for his well being, physically and mentally; and also for the safety of everyone around him.

The best way to determine if you are ready to take on this big commitment is to learn about the added work and responsibilities involved in raising a balanced dog, ideally before you get the dog, although is never too late to learn how to improve your dog's life and make dog ownership a wonderful life experience for you, your family and your dog.

The first and most important step towards becoming a responsible dog owner is to become knowledgeable about your dog's needs to be healthy, happy and safe, understanding that it takes hard work, dedication and money to provide proper dog care.

* Keeping Your Dog Healthy
- Quality food and clean water are essential to keep your dog healthy and strong, providing proper dog nutrition is indispensable to prevent health problems and ensure longevity.
- Dog vaccinations are necessary to protect your dog from diseases that can be life threatening, like rabies, infectious hepatitis, distemper, para influenza and parvovirus.
- Daily exercise is key to keep you dog strong and healthy. Just like for humans, dog exercise helps build strong muscles, joints, bones and prevent health problems like heart disease, obesity and many others.
- Veterinary care is indispensable to maintain your dog healthy and provide proper treatment when your dog is sick or injured. Although veterinary care can be very expensive there are many animal welfare organisations that provide affordable veterinary care and financial help for dog owners in need; you can check with the PDSA, your local dog shelters or look online for help. Remember that failing to provide veterinary care for a sick or injured dog is animal cruelty.
- Fleas and ticks prevention is the best way to keep these parasites away from your dog and your family. They transmit diseases and also cause serious health problems that can be potentially deadly for your dog, you and your family.
- Spaying or neutering your dog not only has health benefits like cancer prevention, it also improves your dogs behaviour and helps control the ongoing overpopulation problem that causes so many dog to die every day.
- Grooming is important to keep your dog’s skin, coat, ears and eyes healthy, preventing infections and parasites.
- Protection from the weather is a must, especially if your dog is an outdoors dog, cold or heat can cause your dog to die, if you don’t provide proper shelter.
* Keeping Your Dog Friendly And Well Behaved
When it comes to your dog's behaviour it's crucial that you control it from day one, using tools like obedience training, dog behaviour knowledge and daily exercise to prevent the development of behavioural problems that could potentially become dangerous for people or other dogs. This is the best way to make your dog happy.
- Obedience training is a very valuable tool that creates a clear way to communicate behaviour guidelines for your dog to follow.
- Understanding dog behaviour gives you the ability to get the real message behind your dog’s actions, a skill that allows you to prevent, identify and effectively correct problem behaviours and also build trust and respect through mutual understanding.
- Daily exercise offers an outlet for excess physical energy, preventing and correcting behavioural problems fuelled by build up energy, frustration and boredom, resulting in a calmer dog that can easily follow directions, obey commands and have better social interactions with people and dogs.
- Socialization with other people and dogs is a needed opportunity to communicate to your dog how you want him to behave in social situations, being respectful, friendly and well behaved; and also gives your dog the fulfilment that only comes from interacting with its own kind.
* Keeping Your Dog Safe
- A safe enclosure for your dog is a must, whether it's your yard, back garden, a kennel, a crate or your home; it must prevent your dog from escaping and getting lost, running into traffic or getting attacked by other dogs.
- Dog Tags and a dog microchip are the best way to ensure your dog gets back to you in case he gets lost and someone finds him.
- Keeping your dog on a lead in public areas is the best way to keep your dog safe and out of trouble while out. Stopping him from running away, into traffic or running up to people or dogs that are not dog friendly, remember that not everybody likes dogs and not every dog out there is friendly, however everyone has the right to go outside and you must respect that.
* Keeping Your Dog Balanced And Happy
As much as dogs enjoy living close to us, our love and the pampering we provide, they need our leadership too, to fulfil their need for the structure and rules that avoid conflict and confusion in your dog mind.
All dogs also need the opportunity to enjoy life as animals to find balance and be really happy, which means that we must provide them with opportunities to be in contact with nature, interact with other dogs and an owner that understands normal dog behaviour.
* Respecting Your Community
While you are out in public places with your dog you must take responsibility for the impact you and your dog create in your community. Respecting people, other dogs and property whether it's private or public; also ensuring the safety of everyone around your dog.
By making a good impact and being a good example you are not only helping yourself and your dog become more valued and respected as members of your community, you are also helping dogs in general by doing your part in the creation of a dog friendly community.
So before heading out with your dog, consider these recommended rules of conduct:
- Don't allow your dog to approach people or other dogs without making sure it's ok with them, many dogs and people don't like to be approached by unfamiliar dogs, so you must learn how to keep your dog away when not invited.
- Don't allow your dog to destroy landscaping, public or private.
- Always pick up after your dog.
- Keep your dog on a lead and under control at all times.
- Don't allow your dog to destroy or urinate on private or public property.
- Don't allow you dog to display dominant behaviours towards other dogs like mounting or being pushy, that's provoking other dogs to fight.
- Be aware of your surroundings, use common sense and keep your dog close to you.
Owning A Dog Can Be One Of The Most Rewarding Experiences In Your Life... It's Up To You To Make It Happen. Choosing A Dog That Is Right For You
Evaluate all the aspects involved in choosing a dog compatible with you, your family, your lifestyle, financial situation and plans for the future.

Why You’re NOT Doing a Good Deed When You “Rescue” that Pet Store Puppy

If you think that puppy mills are so horrible, why aren’t you buying these dogs and rescuing them from the awful situations they’re in? Why aren’t you encouraging your clients to buy them so they don’t end up in shelters or rescues?” This is a summary of a comment left on one of my previous Dogster posts about the behavioral effects of puppy mills.

It’s rare for me to respond to comments on the Dogster blogs I’ve written (time is a precious thing when you’re an entrepreneur like me!), but I felt this particular comment needed addressing, since it taps into what I find to be a very pervasive myth — that you are doing a good deed when you purchase a dog from a pet store or “rescuing” this dog from the puppy milling cycle.

Buying a puppy from a pet store is NOT “rescuing” the puppy from the mill cycle; it is making a cash contribution to the perpetuation of a cycle of greed which sees puppies as commodities. Puppies are big business to all millers, and like all businesses, puppy milling operates on the supply and demand principle. No business stays open without client support. Each pet store puppy purchased positively reinforces the pet store and miller for inappropriate breeding practices.

Of course, I hate seeing a single dog suffer for any reason. I really hate seeing millions of dogs suffer for a single reason — lining the wallets of individuals who prey on the pain of sentient beings.

It’s hard to see a 6-month-old puppy, too big for its crate, with its large, sad, brown eyes begging you to “please take me home. Get me out of here.” But essentially, taking that dog only frees up that crate for the next 6-month-old dog who has missed the opportunity to spend its critical stages of development with a family who will treat him well. Eventually, another well-intentioned dog lover will feel pity for him and take him home. The cycle continues, ad infinitum.

I hate the puppy mill industry on two levels. I hate it for the dogs — I hate that mill-breeding dogs are made to live in squalor their entire lives, never seeing a moment of compassion, never knowing what it’s like to feel grass on their feet, the fun of learning a new trick, the pleasure of a deep sigh on a warm bed after a great hiking adventure.

I hate that these dogs are given inadequate medical care and inappropriate nutrition and have substandard living conditions. I hate that puppies are taken from their litters too early, transported during critical fear periods, and are placed in environments which are dangerous to their physical and behavioral development. I hate that my new client’s Chihuahua mix, recently purchased from a local pet shop at 5 months old, is terrified of children and most adults, and has already learned that biting hard is a very effective strategy for creating space, already drawing blood daily, nearly every time someone tries to touch him.

I hate the industry for what it does to pet owners, too. The mill industry is a scam, and its employees are con artists — selling dog owners and their dogs a lifetime of frustration for exorbitant prices. My new client wanted a cute and wonderful puppy. She loves dogs. Her heart melted when she saw a puppy cowering and trembling in his crate, and she took him home. Now she’s afraid of her puppy, and her puppy is terrified of life. She didn’t get a pet, she got a behavior modification project; likely the result of a combination of poor genetics and extremely poor experiences during critical socialization periods. She wanted to take her new doggy to new places, new experiences, to give him all the opportunities he’d been denied in early puppyhood. She won’t be able to do that for some time, and is likely looking at an extensive training investment (financially and in terms of her time), plus a lifetime of careful management.

People who buy puppies from pet stores are not bad people. I would venture to say that virtually every person who purchases a puppy from a pet store a) doesn’t know about the mill industry or b) does know, falls in love, and honestly wants to help this one dog have a fantastic life with a loving family. But how we as pet owners invest our money is bigger than us, bigger than this one dog on this one day in this one pet shop.

Will the investment you make the next time you bring a dog into your home break or perpetuate the cycle?

View the original article here

Shopping for Puppy Supplies

Owning a young pup can be both a challenge and a happy moment in your life. Consider the fact that a puppy is in many ways similar to a young baby and he will have various needs to tend to. You will have to master all the information regarding canine ownership before actually taking home a furry little puppy. Certain items will need to be purchased ahead of time so that the pup has everything he needs to live a comfortable life. You should investigate ahead as to the number of items and the type needed before completing a final shopping list that concerns your canine companion. Stock up on supplies and make sure your budget can cover this many expensive items.

The main thing to purchase is the leash/lead. This is useful to control you dog in public when you take him/her on walks. He/she will learn how to stay close to you instead of leaving your side and wandering into the road where he could be hit by a car. The leash/lead will determine the territory in which your dog will be allowed to move and he/she will learn this and adjust to it accordingly. You can save ahead of time and invest into the training of your dog by enrolling him into a dog training school.

The next item on the list is the clicker. This can be used to issue auditory signals which can be related with verbal commands so the dog can adjust a lot faster to his training. At this step you should implement a reward system that offers doggie treats for good behaviour and properly executing commands. Pylons and flags may prove to be useful when owning a dog. There are great visual aids in a dog's training and are used for support and teaching the dog movement commands as well as special exercises.

The market intended for dogs is packed with multiple items each in turn useful for something. Dog training can benefit from the presence of toys and different styles of collars and leads.

When choosing your puppy's first bed, it should be big enough for your puppy to stretch out, but not much larger. This is because your puppy will at all costs avoid a toilet in his / her bed, but if desperate, the opposite end of his / her bed would make the ideal place to do what little puppies need to do. If you already have your puppy's bed you can resolve this issue by blocking off the majority of the space and adjust this as your puppy grows.

Your new puppy will also need a bowl for food and a bowl for water. Plastic bowls are a great asset for a new born puppy, however as a puppy grows bigger it will be necessary to change the dog bowls for a larger and more substantial ones.

A dog bowl that is made from plastic is inexpensive but there can be health and safety issues with plastic dog bowls. It is common for a dog to suffer from skin irritations with a plastic dog bowl; sometimes the plastic can cause loss of pigmentation on a dog’s nose. Plastic is a porous material therefore dirt and unwanted bacteria can fester, and they can cause a dog to become ill. Dog bowls that are light in weight can tip over; in some cases they even become a toy for a dog that is feeling bored or playful.

An good idea is to choose two stainless steel dog bowls, these are great as they are easy to keep clean; they do not become rusty with use and will last for a long time.

A mature dog may have to have his dog bowl replaced with an elevated dog feeder that contains 2 dog bowls. The idea of raised dog feeders is that an older dog that is suffering from joint problems in the neck and shoulder area will not have to bend down to eat and drink.

All the above items can be purchased from http://www.glitzydog.com or http://www.glitzydog.co.uk

Make Dog Training Fun

What is the Secret to Dog Training? Domesticated dogs have been known as “man’s best friend” for years and years. Before a dog reaches maturity, an active puppy hood must be dealt with. Dog training is essential it forms the basis of all future learning. Initial lessons contain learning to come when called, understanding the sit command, and dropping items on command. We’ve all been frustrated by our dog’s wandering attention while we try in vain to teach it something new. Exasperating as it might seem, it is not fair to blame the dog, given that their natural tendency is to be curious is explore its surroundings. The trick to grabbing all this unfocused power and putting it to excellent use is to engage the dog in a little game. As you play dog obedience games with your dog, you’ll find that it not only learns new things, but it is also too engaged having enjoyable with you to tinkle on the rug or chew the couch.

Have you ever attended a dog training class with your dog? If you have you’ll see that the endless repetition training of ‘sit’, ‘stay’, and ‘come’ is draining both you and your dog. Although training your dogs via such repetition methods can be effective, they can get extremely dull for all involved. A bored dog will not stick about, it will run off to locate one thing more interesting to do than listen to you witter on about staying and fetching. When you use dog obedience games as an alternative form of dog training you will notice that the dog is a lot more engaged and really interested in what you are trying to teach it. What’s more, you yourself will be having enjoyable!

There are several dog training techniques out there. Integrating fun doggy games with teaching methods can be an successful way to train your pet. Not only is your dog a lot more engaged, you get to spend quality time with it as you teach it new commands and habits. Check the library or bookshop for books with more info on dog obedience training games. You can even check dog owner forums on-line to discover about the games and strategies used by other dog owners.

Many trainers these days are using visual and audio aids to help them train the dogs brought to them, and one of the most well-known is dog clicker training. This clicker is created to make a tiny abrupt click when pressed, and the dog will understand that it is with this cue that they are to do as requested by the trainer. Often the trainer will incorporate a treat with the clicker to get the dog to respond, and this is another good way to have the dog cooperate. This method has turn out to be 1 of the most consistently employed, and well-liked methods to train dogs today.

It would not hurt to have a dog clicker training device for your own house, as it will continue to aid in the training for the dog. I can vouch for this method myself as I have used it with my two dogs, Marco and Ollie with great success.