Posts Tagged ‘pets’
A safe place for your dog in the winter.
Now that winter is upon us here in the Pacific Northwest and our first measurable snow amount has fallen, please take the time to make sure that your pets have a safe place to stay warm.
If your pet is accustomed to staying outside, be aware that the temperature can fluctuate from morning to night. A cold north wind can make the temperature fall to a single digit number and then add a 20 mph wind and the wind chill is easily negative twenty. What will your pet do if there is no place for them to get out of the elements and find shelter of some sort.
Stand outside and get a feel for what option A safe place for your dog in the winter.
s your pet might have in finding shelter. Is there a dog house for them to retreat to? A secure location with a roof and sides to protect them? Your pets are trusting you, as their owner, to take care of their needs. We feed and clothe members of our family. Why is it so different to also take care of the pets that we have chosen to be included in our family.
Ways to keep your pet out of the elements could be as simple as obtaining a large cardboard box, cutting a door on the side and lining it with bedding. Make sure to keep the box under cover as any amount of moisture falling on it will make it of no use to your pet. Another way is to build or purchase a wooden doghouse available at any Wal-Mart store or to get materials at a lumber yard and build it yourself. Your pets shelter does not have to be fancy, just secure enough for them to enter and stay warm.
You may choose to search on Craig list in your area for any used dog houses from owners who are no longer in need of them. You might find a quality shelter for a great discounted price. Your pet would appreciate it as would the prior owner with a few extra bucks in their pocket. Plus it can be a great way to “recycle”.
When deciding on a size for your shelter, make sure that your dog has enough room to stand up and turn around in but not to large that your pet cannot retain body heat. Do not forget to add some dry bedding such as hay or cedar shaving on the floor of your shelter. An old flannel sleeping bag works great. Keep their bedding clean and dry to prevent dampness and mold from growing.
Take the time to keep your pets safe during these winter months. Your pets will love you for it.
By Jeffery Hughes
You should never yell your dogs name in anger and here is why. Imagine you see your dog Jake digging up your freshly planted flower garden. You yell JAKE!! COME HERE NOW!! Jake does not respond so you yell louder and he still doesn’t respond. You go over and grab his collar and scold him. From that day on Jake is going to associate you calling his name and the word “come” with being punished. This is going to make it very difficult to call Jake to you when you need him to come.
Dogs do not understand english or any other human language, however it’s amazing how fast they learn to associate certain words with actions and if the action he associates a word with is not pleasent, he will do his best to avoid you when he hears you speak that word.
Bad deeds must be caght in the act in order to correct your dog. If you need him by your side for a negative reason, you should give him a strong “SIT’ command and go to him. When you call your dog to come to you use a friendly pleasent voice and be sure to praise him when he comes.
One key to a well trained, well behaved dog, is training him to associate the correct words with the correct action.
Before you start beating yourself up for doing everything all wrong and feeling guilty for dooming your dog to an unhappy life. Let me explain something; we all make mistakes with our pets. But most of the damage done by those mistakes can be reversed. You can have a very well trained, and happy dog. And you don’t need to spend a fortune on a professional trainer; in fact the best person to train your dog is you. After all your dog needs to learn to take commands from you; not someone who he will be with for a few weeks and then never see again.
You don’t need to be a professional trainer to have a well trained, well behaved dog; nor do you need to hire one. You CAN train your dog and it’s not difficult, expensive or time consuming.
Daniel Stevens is a professional trainer and the best in the business, at training people to train their dogs. Daniel will teach you how to train your dog like a professional trainer, so you can have your dog obey you no matter what the situation and solve any specific problems that you may have with your dog – this is truly cutting-edge material!
About the Author: get on over to Daniels website at http://www.sitstayfetch.net/?hop=fishhound1 and get your dogs behavior problems solved today. Daniel will show you just how close you really are to having a well trained, well behaived best friend. Jeffery Hughes is a dog lover and writer. Jeffery has been raising and training dogs for more than 30 years.
Source: www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=50828&ca=Pets
Should Dogs Take Supplements?
Posted on: January 29, 2011
By Lori Matthews
It’s no mystery why we take supplements. The body is a complicated mechanism that fights every day to preserve its own well-being. Therefore, the body needs plenty of nutritional support that foods can’t always adequately provide. Because of high starch content, bleaching and over processing, many foods don’t contain enough minerals to adequately support the body. A deficiency of just one or more nutrients can leave the body vulnerable to disease. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that we each have biochemical individuality, so our bodies require different things depending on our age, environment, activity level and genetic makeup. The same goes for our pets. Every dog and cat is unique and requires specific increases in nutrients for many reasons.
Also, our pets’ demand for certain nutrients fluctuates. Vitamin B is great support to the body during stressful periods and additional zinc is a helpful nutrient for many breeds; such as, huskies. No matter how well a diet is formulated, there are always nutrients, which are not in the diet. The body knows what it needs and it has its ways of communicating these things to us. It is up to us to pay attention to our animals’ behavior as well as their appearance to make sure they’re getting all the nutrients they need. For instance, is your cat sleeping more than usual these days? Or does your dog have less of an appetite? Perhaps they need supplements. It doesn’t hurt to try supplements to see how your pets respond to them. You may see a drastic change in their mannerisms or their appearance. When we give our pets supplements in conjunction with healthy well-balanced meals, their bodies intelligently draw what they need from the supplements and allocate them properly. Rather than taking a specific vitamin or mineral in calculated amounts, herbs deliver many nutrients in various amounts to the parts of the body that require it.
Chose a dog supplement that contains the rather unusual Ester C (Calcium Ascorbate), which is non-acidic, rich in calcium and other minerals and better absorbed than regular Vitamin C. It is usually not added to dog foods because it was once thought that dogs don’t require C because they manufacture it in their liver.
This way of thinking about dogs is archaic because we must now consider the way dogs’ eating habits have evolved from years of domestication. Out in the wild, dogs ate prey that had intestines filled with grasses that contained C. Now at home, they eat the foods we give them and they occasionally take a bite out of the neighbor’s lawn. Now, it seems as if dogs aren’t getting enough C. Vitamin C, considered a vital antioxidant, supports the bone, teeth and gums, blood vessels and the immune system. Nutritionists consider it a “conditionally essential” nutrient, meaning that it is needed in higher amounts during certain times in the animal’s life such as sickness, separation anxiety, stress from shows, visits to vets and confinement due to long distance trips.
Just like humans, it is recommended all supplements be taken along with plenty of exercise and proper diet.
About the Author: Lori Matthews studies health, nutrition and wellness. Enjoys writing articles on health for both people and pets. Please visit Lifes Abundance Dog Food for more information.
Source: www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=56770&ca=Pets
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