There is no reason why clipping your dogs nails should be a terrifying task in the slightest. There is no need to regard it as any different to giving your dog a bath. Ideally you must start when your dog is young to get the dog used to having his feet handled constantly.

Desensitizing your dog to having his paws handled will have some other benefits too : it’ll make it simpler for groomers or your vet to handle your dogs feet and will also mean if your dog is injured you’ll be ready to inspect his paws easier. If it is your very first time clipping a dogs nails it may be a great idea to observe somebody else do it first.

Ask your vet or the groomer if you can watch while they clip your dogs nails. You’ll need a special pair of clippers for the purpose. Human clippers of scissors could tear the nail and cause agonizing torn edges. Ensure you get the correct size and kind of clippers for your dog. You may find a nail file helpful too. You may also wish to have some special clotting powder available in case you incidentally cut the nails too short and it starts bleeding. You can find all of these products at your local pet supply store. You may wish to clip the nails in a quiet place with minimal distractions. If your dog hasn’t had his nails clipped or is especially resistant you may want to ask somebody to help. You are after all poking at your dog with a pointy object and it might be deadly ! To avoid mishaps its best to slowly desensitize your dog to having his paws handled. This part should be straightforward. Take your dogs paws and massage them a bit. It makes the process less complicated if the dogs nails are softer. You can do this by showering the dog previously, massaging some baby oil into the paws or just dipping the paw into warm water. This has the twin effect of both softening the paws and cleaning the mud out from under the nails. Inspect the nails closely and try to find the cluster of veins. This is named the ‘quick’ and cutting this could cause your dog to bleed. If your dog has dark nails this is tough. The best policy here is to trim the nails bit by bit over a longer period. The fast will retreat over a period of time. Try to chop with the right hand and hold the paw forcibly. Employ a calm calming voice while you do this.

You do not want your dog to become fearful and make the clipping tougher. Attempt to cut at ninety degree angles. If you do cut too far – don’t worry! You may use some of the powder to stop the bleeding. Just spatter the powder over the areas affected or dip the paw into the powder. There are some other home goods you may use to slow the bleeding. You may use cornflower or ordinary powder in the same way you use the styptic powder. You may press the dogs nail into some soap. If the bleeding isn’t too bad – just simply applying pressure should slow the bleeding. If you have cut your dogs nails too far and they bleed – this may make the dog frightened of the nail clipping all over again. You’ll need to desensitize your dog again.

If your dog is really scared of having his nails clipped you need to gradually get the dog used to the method and the tools. Start again by praising and treating the dog while you handle his paws.

Then get the dog used to the clippers. Step-by-step desensitization joined with positive strengthening should ease your problem. If you can’t get your dog to behave long enough for a nail clipping remember – most vets will do it for you. Don’t be scared to ask for help.

While other trainers still work on these 2 steps, they try to show them all at the same time, which can confuse the animal and slow down results. Most trainers will verbally praise a dog for good behaviour, while at the same time motivating the dog to copy his actions. This may be a good technique, however it takes longer for the dog to appreciate which behaviors and actions caused the praise from the tutor. With the click and treat methodology, the techniques are simply taught.

In ordinary coaching, an individual would say good boy when a welcomed action happens and continue with giving a treat. The clicker becomes a substitute for oral praise and can basically catch the good boy behaviour faster than claiming it, letting the dog know precisely which behavior he’s being rewarded for. An alternative way to have a look at click and treat coaching is viewing it as a secondary beefing up, while food, water, physical sentiment and play ( things the dog wants ) become primary reinforcement.

When you take a dog for a stroll, the leash works as a secondary re-strengthening. It is apparent to the dog the leash isn’t taking him for a stroll, the owner is it triggers a reaction in the dog, enlightening him the leash will make sure he knows where he can go and where he won’t. And if he reacts to the leash with good behavior, his reward will be a pleasant easy going walk. Click and treat works the same way. When a dog hears the clicker, he’s going to know that he performed a good behaviour and so long as he keeps hearing a click, there’s a treat coming his way. So, the clicker works as a secondary re-strengthening, teaching him bounds and suitable behaviour. A pair blessings of the click and treat technique include, one ) Quicker reply than verbal praise. The clicker can identify the precise behaviour at the time it occurs.

Two ) It takes the place of treats. While motivating the dog to hear clicks, it’ll also teach him to work without the expectancies of having treats given to him every time he does something good. Three ) If the coach is working at a distance from the dog, the clicker will still work, without needing to be right next him. Are you prepared to try clicker training? The very first thing you’ll have to do is go to your favourite pet supply store and invest in a clicker. The clicker is nothing fancy and should just cost under 5 greenbacks. While you are there grab some pocket treats, little bits of dried liver work fine.

A good method to use when getting started with click and treat is to stand in front of the animal. Push the clicker and give a treat. Continue doing this for 20-30 mins, or till the dog becomes frightened by the sound of the click. This can familiarize him to the clicking sound, while teaching him that each time he hears it, he’s done something good. After he gets the trick down pat, start by adding commands, for example sit and stay.

Click and treat has proved to be an easy, yet consistent coaching strategy with fast results. So for the trainers out there who are on the lookout for a new and inventive way to incentivize and praise their animals, get out there, purchase a clicker and..click!

The principal worm species with which dog owners have to contend are round worms and tape worms. The first named commonly infest puppies and consequently are most dreaded by breeders. In shape and size these worms resemble common angle worms, but in color are lighter, being almost white or only a pale pink.

In adult dogs these worms, when full grown, are from three to seven inches long. In puppies they are about half that length, and as thick as common white string. Round worms live in the small intestines, sometimes coiled in such masses as to obstruct the passage, and occasionally they wander into the stomach or are passed by the bowels.

It is easy to understand that when one dog in a kennel is infected with worms, millions of eggs will be passed with the feces. These are scattered all over the floors, bedding, feeding and drinking pans. They get on the dog’s coat, are licked off and swallowed and in numbers of ways gain entrance to the digestive tracts of other dogs, where they soon hatch out and in ten days are fully developed.

This rapid development account for the popular belief that puppies are born with worms, for breeders who have held post-mortems on puppies scarcely ten days old and have found in their stomachs fully developed round worms could account for their presence in no other way. They overlooked the fact that the prospective mother, confined in a kennel infested with worms, would get these eggs attached to her coat, belly and breasts, and the young, as soon as born, would take these eggs into their stomachs with the first mouthfuls of milk.

Symptoms Of Dog Worms Attack
Dog worms are responsible for so much sickness and so many symptoms that it is practically impossible to mention all of them, but their presence can safely be suspected in all dogs which have not been recently treated for them, as well as in cases where the patient is run down, unthrifty and out of sorts.

Other symptoms are a hot, dry nose, weak, watery eyes, pale lips and gums, foul breath, mean hacking cough and a red, scurfy, pimply or irritated condition of the skin and harsh, dry, staring coat that is constantly being shed.

Wormy dogs sometimes have a depraved appetite and will eat dirt and rubbish. Some days they are ravenously hungry, the next day they will not eat at all; their sleep is disturbed by dreams and intestinal rumbling, the urine is high colored and frequently passed, bowels irregular, stomach easily unsettled, watery mucus is frequently vomited and the mouth is hot, sticky and full of ropy saliva.

Puppies which are full of worms bloat easily and are pot-bellied. After feeding their stomachs distend disproportionately to the amount of food consumed. Their bodies are also subject to scaly eruptions and their bowels to colicky pains; they do not grow as rapidly as healthy puppies should and instead of playing with each other they curl up and sleep hour after hour; they get thinner, weaker and more lifeless from day to day and if they do not waste away or die in fits and convulsions with frothing at the mouth and champing of the jaws, grow up coarse-jointed, rickety and misshapen. Puppies with worms are also liable to paralysis of their rear limbs and on removal of the worms the puppies regain control of the affected parts.

A wormy dog is usually an unhealthy and unhappy dog who leads a miserable life. It could even be deadly, especially so for young puppies. Bring your dog to a veterinarian if you are unsure. Your dog will certainly thank you for that.

A lot of the ideas about current methods of reward training go back several decades. But what we know as reward training today has only enjoyed its recognition for the past 10 or so years.

Most reward training proponents are not so eager about other methods of dog training, like the leash and collar style. It is likely, though, that the best approach to training your dog will be a mixture of leash and collar training with reward training.

Additionally, a certain training style might work great for one particular dog, but not for another. Some dogs who are not motivated by reward training but do well with the leash/collar method, and other dogs respond well to reward training while leash/collar training does not work at all. Fortunately, the majority of dogs fall somewhere in between.

One of the more popular methods of reward training currently is clicker training. While clicker training does not work for every dog, it can still be a highly useful method of training dogs. The way clicker training works is by teaching to associate a clicking sound with a positive reinforcement, such as a treat. When the dog does something well, the trainer reacts by clicking the clicker, then immediately offering the dog a treat. In time, the dog learns to react to the clicker only.

In reward training the most common type of treat is a food reward. Almost always, complex tricks or behaviors can only be taught using this type of reinforcement. In fact, trainers who train dogs for movies and television use food-based reward training almost totally.

Reward training is used for all types of dog training, including for police and military work. The majority of training in scent detection and tracking utilize a kind of reward training. You can also use reward training in teaching the basic dog training commands.

In reward training a lure is frequently employed to entice the dog into a desired position or stance. The lure helps to convince the dog to perform the sought after behavior of his own volition.

Getting the dog to carry out a behavior without being handled is important. The point of the training, in fact, is to get the dog to execute a behavior without any handling by the trainer.

Once the dog has carried out the commanded behavior, he is rewarded with a positive reinforcement, such as a food treat. Treats are often used in order to reinforce good behaviors, but other positive reinforcements, such as verbal praise, can also be used for reinforcement.

It is important that a reward-trained dog also be a reliable dog. If a dog is trained to do a job, such as police work or drug detection, outside distractions are to be expected. Therefore it is important to train the dog to work and be focused around diversions, as well as to socialize him with other animals and people.

Sometimes dog trainers only train the dog inside the house or back yard, only when the owner is there, free of distractions. It is important to take the dog outside of his comfort zone and introduced to new people and situations.

It is also important that the dog be trained to pay attention to the handler always. When the owner has the complete attention of the dog, he has complete control of the dog. When executed correctly, reward training is a very effective training method that helps to earn the respect and the attention of the dog.

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.

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

Here’s an example: If his mother barked to attract some attention, her puppies will probably behave in the exact same way. The experiences that occur between three and twelve weeks of age are crucial in the development of a dog’s personality.

The best time to get a puppy is when it is about eight weeks old. By making sure that it has as much varied experience as possible during the month that follows, you will lay the groundwork for easier, more productive, and rewarding training.

Meeting New People
You need to make sure that your new puppy meets as many different people as possible while it is still young. If you can, take him to work, take him out in the car, and take him to your friend’s homes whenever possible. Let the puppy play with dogs that you know are healthy, and introduce it to children and other adults.

Personal Investigation
Playing with toys will provide the puppy with mental and physical stimulation. Find out which toys the puppy likes (they often have favorites), but you need to make sure that the toys are unlike other domestic items, such as shoes. You can use his favorite toy as a reward during training.

Play Constructively
You can play active games with your puppy, but you need to make sure that it is you who is in control and ‘dominant’ in the puppies eyes. While you play, watch the puppy’s behavior, and if it is about to sit, issue the “Sit” command. This gives the puppy some early association with basic commands and what they mean.

Give Immediate Rewards
When the puppy obeys a command, you should offer an immediate reward, such as stroking or praise with words. Remember: You’re the dominant member of the pack, which means you should always be in control.

Early Habits Can Last A Life-Time
If you carry a puppy constantly when it is very young, it will expect similar treatment when it feels insecure as an adult. Bear this in mind.

Give Mental Stimulation
Puppies that are actively stimulated between the age of three and twelve weeks grow into adults that are good at both learning and problem solving. A puppy learns best by observing its mother’s behavior.

Understanding Fear
You must try to keep an eye on all of your puppy’s activities, to ensure that any frightening situations he may encounter are kept to a minimum. Fears learned at an early age can become lifelong phobias unless they are overcome with training.

Gatherings
All dogs must learn to behave properly, both with their own species and with others, especially people. This isn’t always an easy task, so the best time for them to learn is when they are still very young – less than four months old is best.

When it’s possible, make sure that the puppy meets other species such as cat’s horses when it is very young.

Here’s why: Early socialization to other species reduces the likelihood of future problems. With the advice of your vet or local dog training club, it’s a good idea to participate in supervised weekly puppy evenings. At these gatherings, puppies learn how to respond to other dogs and to strangers in a controlled way.

Social Deprivation
Dogs that lack early social experiences can sometimes become more difficult to train. Restricted contact with people when the puppy is young can cause limitations in the dog’s ability to obey commands.

Before getting a dog, find out as much as possible about its early experience. The more a puppy has been handled while young, the more likely it is to respond well to obedience training.

Puppies raised with hardly any contact with people can be very difficult to train for the average person without the help of a professional dog trainer. So remember to ask questions about the puppies experience with being handled.

Despite the importance of dogs, owners may find that there are many challenges in training and caring for them. While many people want to own a dog, few know how to train them properly. A dog which is not disciplined will not bring happiness to its owners. Too many people allow their dogs to develop bad habits

You want to make sure you purchase quality food for your dog, even if its a bit expensive. Cheap dog food won’t give your dog the healthy look it should have. You want your dog to have a shiny coat and bright eyes. Dogs are much like their owners, and will behave in many of the same ways.

Dogs are like small children, and should be treated as such. Dogs should not be left alone for long periods of time, as they are prone to getting into trouble. When dogs are left alone at home, they need to have a designated area with boundaries. Leave chew toys and other things that will keep them occupied.

When your dog behaves properly, you should always praise and reward him. This teaches him that good behavior leads to rewards, while bad behavior does not. When you do this, you will find that your dog behaves properly on a regular basis. When your dog doesn’t behave properly, you should also discipline him, so that he understands the difference between right and wrong behavior.

There is a difference between discipline and abuse. There are some dog owners that don’t understand this, and hit or kick their dogs in order to train them. This is abuse, and is not an effective way to train your dog, and may even cause your dog to attack you. You want your dog to respect you, not fear you.

A good way to discipline your dog without hitting him is to spray water on him and give him a verbal warning. This will get the message across in a non-abusive way. How you train your dog is very important. You want a dog which you can take out for a walk without worrying about him bothering others. You want a dog that will listen to your commands.