Dogs and Car Travel

Keeping pets safe is a priority at UniqueDogHouses.net, so read the next article for safety tips.

Unless you are lucky enough to live out in the countryside with lots of private grounds you will have to travel to get your dog to a space open enough to give it a good run. Of course if you are in walking distance of a dog friendly park you can simply pop on a lead and go, but for many dog owners living in a busy town centre or city, a daily car journey is a necessity.

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It is important that your dog is safe and comfortable during any length of car journey. This is a list of car accessories for dogs

Dog Safety

Dog travel cages or cages specially adapted for cars not only makes your car journey safer for you but also for your dog, it also helps the dog feel more secure. Imagine how frightening it might be to your dog looking out the windows of a moving car!

It could be there is no room for a travel cage or that maybe your dog is taken out in more than one car, in which case a dog harness with seat belt adaptor is a good alternative. This is a highly recommended multi purpose accessory for your dog!

Word of warning: For those who think these are extreme, imagine what would happen if you were to have a car accident. Your frightened dog if unsecured will instinctively want to get out of the car and possibly run right onto a busy road.

Dog Comfort

A car boot isn't designed to be comfortable so if your pet has to travel in the boot dog beds are much nicer to sleep on.

It is also a good idea to keep a dog blanket in your car especially if you are planning a long journey in the colder months. (Keep a blanket for yourself too in case of break downs!)

Food and Water

Your dog will get hungry and thirsty during a long car journey and will certainly need to quench his or her thirst after a long run. It is essental to keep water handy and for the bowl, consider disposable or re-usable material travel bowls that fold up neatly instead of the standard bowls that are bulky and take up more space.

Handy hint: The car engine might need water too! Keep a supply of water in your car for both dog and car engine especially during the hotter months. Large plastic milk or juice bottles are ideal for this. If you are out in the country you can re-fill at a fresh water river or stream.

Shade from the sun

Drivers and human passengers have visors to protect them from the glare of the sun so don't forget your dog and fit a car window shade where appropriate.

Tip: If you also have children you may already have car window shades that are just as suitable for your pet!

Dog Ramps

A dog car ramp can be a godsend! You can lift smaller dogs into the car but what if you have had a particularly muddy run or if you have an older heavier dog that can't jump up? A number of dog ramps for cars are available that fold away neatly when not in use.

Pet First Aid

As exciting as running in the countryside can be for your dog, there can also hazards including barbed wire, broken glass and sharp sticks. The first aid you apply to your dog if it gets a nasty cut will be vital in its recovery and if you are out in the middle of nowhere it could be a while before you can get your dog to a vet. Pet travel first aid kits often come complete with gauzes, wipes and bandages and fit in most glove compartments.

For more dog and pet products please visit swellpets.co.uk

Technorati Tags: cars, dogs, pets, safety, travel

Dog Training

Though dog-human interaction goes back thousands of years, communication between the two is still sometimes rough. The human half of the pair is usually the smarter party, but watching the usual training sessions one can have legitimate reason to wonder.

Dogs understand and respond at roughly the mental level of a human two-year-old, but there the similarity ends. Their senses operate differently - their color vision has a different response pattern to reds and greens, for example, and obviously their noses are infinitely more sensitive - and their minds process information differently as well. Anyone training dogs has to take this into account in order to avoid human frustration and canine misbehavior.

Dogs are pack animals by nature. Descendant from wolves - where even the 'lone wolf' is an anomaly - they're social and function best with active interplay and within a strict hierarchy.

So, set aside half-an-hour per day, an hour would be better, for at least the first few months of training. Start training your dog as soon as possible. Puppy training sometimes can be started as early as four weeks old.

Elimination ('potty') training details we leave for elsewhere, but all training follows similar guidelines.

Establish your pack dominance early on. Dogs have a natural hiearchy- there are alpha dogs, beta dogs, and the bottom dog is the omega. For a sane household, and a well-adjusted dog, the human (whether male or female) must always be the alpha male of the pack.

Depending on the breed, this will be either more difficult or easier. Like humans, some are simply more assertive than others. Leashes, collars, commands and other training aids are all highly useful but most important is attitude. Never let your dog be the boss.

Physical force is not necessary to enforce your dominance. Sometimes, used appropriately, that will be necessary. Usually, simply being firm and willing to wait for compliance will be enough.

For many, placing them on their backs when young and placing a firm hand in the middle of the chest until they lower their paws - a sign of submission - will be enough. With some, reinforcing this by putting your face close to theirs, emulating dominant dog behavior, can help.

Keep the leash short to discourage your dog to run, and pay attention to you. Allow plenty of time for free running behavior, essential to dog health, but that's before or after training, not during. At least, not at first.

Start simply by choosing short, clear commands that sound distinctly different: sit, stay, down, come. Use a firm voice when addressing your dog. You're in charge, but not angry. Avoid double-word commands like 'sit down' or 'stay down'. This sounds too much alike and may confuse your dog. Like we say at Unique Dog Houses.net, if it confuses you it will confuse your dog.

Be consitent with each verbal command by using the same tone, look and hand gesture. Eventually these can separate, but at first it's essential to provide the simplest, most consistent form of communication.

Just like two-year old humans, dogs have limited capacity for grasping the subtleties of language. Assist their understanding by rigid consistency. Don't use a single command word to mean more than one thing. 'Down' can mean 'don't jump on me or anyone else', or it can mean 'get on your stomach', but it has to mean one thing only.

Be clear, be patient and be committed and the result will be a dog who trusts and listens to you. And that makes it worth the effort. Find more on dog training at Luvurdog.com/dogtraining

Technorati Tags: dog training, dogs, obedience training, potty training

Recently I've had people ask me why I am promoting the Frontline and Advantix, etc. anti-tick products when I don't use them on my own dogs. Well, there are a couple of reasons.

First, my dogs don't seem to need them. We check our dogs every day for ticks, and only occasionally find one burrowed into the dog's skin; when we do, we just pull it out.  Our dogs are very involved in our family life and we are always touching their coats, so we can easily find anything that shouldn't be there.  I am also lucky because all of our dogs have short hair. It is obviously easier to spot and/or feel a tick when you don't have to sift through a thick coat. Finally, and in my experience the most important reason, is that we are not afraid to take the ticks off the dogs.  As a groomer, I've found that  75 percent of people are afraid to yank a tick out of their dog, cat, child, whatever.  For this reason alone, many people use tick medicine. (As a side note, I am going to make some instructional videos on nail clipping,etc... and one of these videos will be "how to take a tick off.")
My reluctance to use chemicals on animals is this: If I am supposed to put gloves on before I apply it to my pet, why is it OK to be applied to my pet's skin, where it is absorbed into his/her body..( It works by its active ingredient, fipronil. Fipronil is absorbed through your pet's skin and into its oil glands. This allows Frontline to be released to your pet's hair follicles and skin every time the oil glands are activated.)   Just on principle this does not sound safe to me, so, since I don't have to use it, I don't.

That said, I totally understand why some people do use the tick products.  If your dog is going out and getting 20 ticks a day and depositing some in your house, on your kids , and in your bed, your dog needs something to deter the ticks. The last thing you want is a tick infestation.  Also, obviously, it is not good for the dog and the humans to be exposed to ticks and the diseases that they can carry. Lyme disease can be transmitted to humans and dogs, as can Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis, and Basesiosis.  The results of having these diseases can be quite devastating, so ticks are not pests to be taken lightly.

I guess it is up to each pet owner to balance the benefits and the risks of using preventive tick/flea chemicals.

Technorati Tags: dogs, Lyme Disease, ticks

Dog show is one of the most fascinating show in the dog-lover countries, such as USA and UK. From the dog show competition, the proprietor of a dog which becomes the champion of the show will not simply get much money but also honor and prestige. Related to the cisrcumstence, usually the fans of dog will do their best in order to get the top breed of their dog in order to participate and become the winner of the show. This circumstence, in reality will also develop the willingness of the dog breeder to mix the breeds of dog to get much better dog breeds. Thus, the show and also the breeding immediatley could reduce the extraordinary breeds of dog from extinction.

The Standards for the Breeds

The dog show champ is determined by the judges who are knowledgeable enough about the breeds of the dog competing for in the show. There are some standards which require to be met in order to be the champion of the show. The most principal and most original standard for the breeds is it has to be best fixed to the closest standard based on the conformation list used by the judges.

The Judges of the Dog Show

The judges are people who are incredibly professional about the breed of dog they are judging. Favoritism and even bribery are also believed to exist in the competitions. The dogs compete in various dog shows to gathers points and get the title of champion. Every time a extraordinary dog wins a dog show the dog is rewarded points that go towards winning a championship title. The number of points that a dog collected is determined by the level of the dog show that it was opting as the champion, the number of dogs that were in the show and whether the dog show was considered to be a major competition or a minor one.

It can be sum up that the more superior the point, the bigger the dog's chance to be the winner of the dog show contest. However, each country will also have its own winning standard or instructions. Thus, to be the victor the dog has to meet all the standards chosen by the country. So far, being a champ is not the most significant thing since from the dog show we can still learn much to obtain much more eminent knowledge, increase our relationship to the others and we can also meet many people from many backgrounds of life.

So, do you desire to get more than fun? Find anything about dog show secret here, join the competition and let your dog compete!

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Dog owners love their dogs.  But with Dachshunds that devotion reaches new heights.The reasons are not hard to understand.They are special in many ways.

Translation from the German "badger dog" shows just one of those ways.  Bred in the early 1600s to hunt those ferocious little animals, the Dachshund became ferocious himself.  That assertive and fearless attitude remains today.

That feisty nature can be a negative or positive.

Dogs that are independent can make great companions, being as that also makes them exploratory and playful.It gives the dog a willingness to try new things and lots of energy.It also means that skill and extra patience are required to train them.Dachshunds are more inclined than many other breeds to strive for alpha status in the household.Reminding them that the human is alpha may require a long struggle.

That training has to be appropriate to the breed's physical and mental attributes.

They weigh between 10-30 lbs and are 9 inches high at the shoulder.Toy varieties are quite a bit smaller, often only 5 inches high and under 8 pounds.They have an average lifespan of between 14-17 years.

They are much more prone to spinal problems than other breeds due to their short legs and long bodies.Serious problems can be caused by rough handling.

At the same time, because they are assertive, simply screaming won't work.At best that produces a fearful dog, at worst, they can become aggressive and hostile in response.  They may look at their trainer as an enemy badger.Owners should be prepared due to barking being more common in Doxies, too.

With the right approach, though, they make for excellent companions and pets.

There are three basic varieties - Long-Hairs, Smooth-Coats, and Wire-Coats.The difference goes beyond the type of fur they have.  The personalities of the three types tend to follow a pattern, as well.

Smooth-haired Dachshunds more often attach themselves to a single family member.They tend to be wary and stand-offish of other animals but will tolerate other humans.The Wire-haired is usually more outgoing and playful.Long-haired Dachshunds tend to be a little more placid.  Though, like any Dachshund, they are up for a game of fetch whenever the opportunity exists.

Apart from spinal problems, they less often suffer from diseases that are more prevalent in other breeds.Abdominal cancers, diabetes and other disease are possible but much less common in this breed.Stones or urinary tract problems can occur, but they are more likely in special varieties such as Double Dapples and those with blue eyes.  These types tend to have more eye and hearing problems, too.

Raising a happy and healthy dog is a challenge.Doxie owners commonly report that the rewards in their case are especially large.  Dachshunds are highly affectionate and very loyal.  The people who live with them tend to return the favor.

Dachshund supplies and gifts can be found at Ony-Dachshunds.com

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