Dog nutrition has to be the most important element to successful dog care
that you the dog owner need to be aware of. Dog nutrition contributes
largely to the life span of your pet and the quality of life that your
pet leads. It is such a huge topic of interest right now that finding the
right food and following the correct guidelines can be quite a challenge.
Many dog food owners complain that they need to be scientists to
understand the dog food labels!
Because there are now a vast amount of different dog breeds, pet food
manufacturers have developed different types of food best suited for
optimum dog nutrition for the specific breed of dog. Being aware of your
own dog’s specific nutritional requirements can be a difficult task in
itself, and if you are not sure you can always speak with your Vet who
will advise you on the best avenue to take.
Dog nutrition will change depending on the dog’s age, the possible
developing of bad health, etc. This said, providing the utmost
nutritional base for a dog that is going through a difficult stretch for
whatever reason is very important. Your Vet will be able to best help you
in determining the appropriate food for your pet in cases such as this so
be sure to check with him or her.
Below I have listed some general tips to ensure that your dog gets the
most out of whatever food you do offer him/her:
feeding at the same time each day
When you bide by a feeding schedule, you can ensure that your dog’s food
is always fresh. Dog food that is filled in the bowl first thing in the
morning is exposed to air and so will not be as fresh. Also, allowing for
the food to be down all day, means that your animal can just eat all day
long and we all know what that can lead to!
how much food your dog needs
This fact can be tricky. There are multiple factors to consider when
trying to figure out the appropriate amount of food to feed to your dog
daily. The activity level of your dog, your dog’s metabolism, and
genetics, are all factors to consider. What you want to attempt to do is
feed your dog enough to maintain his ideal body weight. For information
concerning the ideal body weight of your dog, consult your Vet.
feeding table scraps
Under no circumstances should a dog be fed table scraps. Not only will
this develop into a habit on your part, but your dog will never leave you
or your family alone while you are all at the table. Furthermore, certain
foods are very bad for dogs to ingest, and can lead to toxicity and
severe illness for your dog.
exercise
Simply exercising your dog can help to control excess weight gain if your
dog is prone to this. Another suggestion for controlling excess weight
gain is to put your dog on a low density calorie dog food. Your Vet will
be able to assist you in deciding if this is an appropriate option.
You may think that it is cute to have your dog on the chubby side,
starting as a pup and then on toward adult form, but, it is not healthy
so be sure and take your feeding your dog seriously.

Dog training could be done in a number of effective ways. There are those that require the owner to be committed and patient while others require the use of harmful treatments. However, for a relatively reasonable and safe way of training a canine, professionals recommend the use of dog training using treats.

When using this method, the owner could chose either of the two rewards or punishments using the dog treat. When a behavior is favorable or a command is correctly demonstrated, the owner should give the dog a treat as a reward while punishment in the form of denying the dog the treat should be used only when the dog misbehaved or did not follow the command. The dog should get used to this kind of training until he learns to associate dog treats with pleasing behavior.

Uses
As part of a reward or punishment, dog treats could serve the following purposes:

• Encourage the dog to perform as commanded so that he would receive the reward.

• nEncourage active attitude, obedience and interest on the training in expectation of the reward.

• Praises, when used in conjunction with dog treats, will make the training a lot easier.

• This serves as a literal representation that the dog was able to please you.

• When praising does not work well with a specific dog, he might respond to dog treats.

When to use them
The best time to use treat training is immediately after the dog follows a certain command and exhibited a favorable behavior. He should learn to make a connection between good behavior to praises and treats. Over-using treats will usually spoil its uses and will make him dependent on it.

To make the most out of this technique, the dog should only be given treats during the learning phase. If he is not being trained, it is best not to give him the same treats as used for training sessions.

When teaching the dog a certain command, say “down”, the treat should be placed right on his nose while moving it slowly down the desired direction in accompaniment of the word “down”.

If he performs the command, the treat should be given to him as a reward plus a pat or an encouraging word or phrase, for example “good boy”. Repeat this routine until you could see that he already understands the use of the treat.

As you advance with the training though, you could try replacing the use of dog treats with praising or patting. The aim here is to make him follow the directions. You could use dog treats once in awhile but assure to it that he is not seeing the treat before he performs the command.

Types
There are dog treats that are as plain as cookies and used only for the purpose of reward. But there are special treats that could help in improving internal health, for digestion and even for cleaning the teeth of the dog.

Where to buy them
Dog treats could be bought in food stores, groceries, some specialty stores, pet shops and online vendors. These should cost anywhere from $5 to $30. There are very expensive treats though and some discount bulks that are nearly as varied as human snacks.

However, it could also be home prepared with recipes available online or from books.

A dog owner should set his mind in the right frame if he wants to train his dog. This would prevent him from violating any dog rules, an act that could really detriment the dog’s interest on learning.

Following the rules of training will also prevent the owner from doing the things that could harm his relationship with the dog. There are certain rules in training that must be followed including the following:

Stay focused

Incompletion of a task usually leads to confusion. Ensure to it that every time you give the dog a command, both of you will follow through it. Refrain from being distracted every time you give a command.

Say you are asking your dog to sit. Once you give this command, be sure that both of you will see the end of it. Do not tug on the collar of your dog and stop halfway and be distracted. Always finish one command first then move on to the next.

The dog should sit completely and not just bend his rear legs. If you do not make this happen, the dog will think that next time you give the command it would be okay for him not to complete the task or to ignore it completely. Always stay focused, this way, you would eliminate the possibility of confusion and maximize the obedience to a command.

Rewards and punishments

Many owners are anxious to let their dogs hear a string of praises or be rewarded with several cookies instead of one whenever a command is accomplished. On the other hand, a lot of owners give too many punishments on a single wrong thing that the dog did instead of punishing him just once. Both could adversely affect the training of the dog.

Never over do the rewarding or punishing of the dog’s behavior. If you are using praises as reward, do not over praise the dog. Single “good boy” praise will do to recognize that you are in favor of what the dog has done. This should be said immediately after the command is accomplished.

In the same way, a single pulling of the check cord will be enough if the dog did not follow your command. This would send him the signal that something is wrong.

Overdosing the dog with either rewards or punishments will distract him from learning. He would only remember the praises or the punishments and not the thing he did or he did not do.

End with a positive note

For every training session, make it a point that the training will end with a positive praise. This would make the dog look forward to the next training since the last session fulfilled her need to please you. Also, ensure to it that the last command was accomplished correctly so that the dog is oriented properly to following commands.

Never lose your patience

Often when trainers don’t get the results they want, they get impatient with the dog. Then they do something really stupid that could spoil the training.

Training should be an enjoyable experience for you and your dog. If it starts to make you lose your temper and your dog a lot more disobedient, you should try to assess your pitfalls.

Dog training is really a difficult business. If you are not prepared for it, you could get help from dog training classes and instructors.

What is the difference between commercial and premium dog foods?

The difference between commercial dog food and high quality dog foods is
quite extensive however, there are easy methods that we as dog owners can
take advantage of to ensure that we offer the best possible diet to our
faithful companions.

Commercial Dog Food
The commercial dog food market is heavily relied upon by wholesale and
commercial stores as it is this type of product that contributes widely
to the success of these consumer franchises.

For the production of a commercial dog food product, dog food
manufacturers use a lower quality ingredient structure. This includes
animal by product. Animal by products contain little nutrition and are
thought of as fillers.

By doing this, the cost of production is low. The profit is high due to
the public buying the product at a reduced price than that of the premium
product. Most pet owners are not concerned with what the label on the bag
reads. Many just buy their dog foods blindly and feel happy enough with
what they are feeding their pet. Fillers (cheap additives) are included
to make the food taste good.

Premium Dog Food
Premium dog food is exactly what it says it is. These are good,
nutritious products that are safe to feed to your dog. They are good
because they are:
- Products that are manufactured with your dog in mind instead of the
dollar.
- Products that are properly nutritionally balanced.
- Products that contain high quality ingredients.
- Products that take due time to be created allowing for proper research
to be conducted
- Extensive product testing, example, Taste trials.

Commercial dog food manufacturers gain from our ignorance! Would you as a
parent feed your new baby a low quality formula, or would you go with the
more expensive yet far superior brand? A good pet owner will opt for the
latter every time! Knowing how important a healthy diet is to the present
and future longevity of one’s dog makes the point for feeding premium dog
food very well.

The below list is a simple guide containing things to consider the next
time you go to purchase dog food for your dog:
- Commercial products are sold in commercial establishments such as
grocery stores.
- Premium products are not sold in grocery stores.
- A lot of commercial products list whole meat of some kind as their
first ingredient. This is misleading due to the measurement being taken
before the meat is cooked, reducing it drastically.
- Premium products will not list whole meat as their first ingredient.
- A lot of premium products contain specific breed formulas best suited
for your breed of dog.
- When buying a premium dog food, you will pay for what you get. In order
to ensure a quality product money is spent to research, test and tinker
with the product to create the finished product.

Premium dog food is worth it’s weight in gold to your dog!

As a rule, agility training should start while the pet is still a puppy. However, owners could still facilitate training with older dogs. The question “when is the dog considered old for agility training” is central to choosing when to start training the dog.

Being “old” greatly varies from dog to dog, from the extent of a dog’s experience to the innate and natural tendencies it has. In short, there is no specific age at which the dog should be restrained from training.

However it is always far easier to start training with much younger dogs since their learned behaviors are still not rooted into their habits.

For choosing old dogs for training, the handler should not create the impression that the dog would no longer learn so there’s no need to waste time. The attitude of the dog as much as that of the trainer is both highly essential to faster learning. The more dedicated and patient the owner is the faster the dog learns.

There are several approaches to starting training for agility. A few of which are discussed here briefly:

Physical exercise

The introduction to agility training should start with physical exercises. If the handler has enough interest to dedicate on training the dog, the age will no longer matter for it is the condition that will rule over. Simple exercises like jumping or hopping may agitate the dog and encourage him to move a little bit. For puppies, these exercises are much easier to do since they have enough energy to use.

Let him play around

Like teaching little children, the easiest approach to agility training for younger puppies is to turn the exercises into a series of games. The majority of puppies are capable of passing through tunnels and chutes so take advantage of this chance and introduce the tunnels, obstacles and the training area itself as huge play ground.

This approach will create positive impressions on him which will also prepare him for future training.

Promote his agility

If you don’t have a sufficient area for setting up obstacle courses, it is best to use certain games that also encourage agility. Simple equipment like improvised tunnels or walls could be made to augment training.

Keep it short

Dogs don’t experience passion when it comes to activities but they have the innate desire to please their owners. This means that they don’t get devoted unless they are rewarded for good actions they have made and that you show your favor for their actions. Their attention span is also very limited so they could not continue training for extended hours.

If you want to start training your dog for agility, establish the rule that you should keep each training session and each lesson as short as possible. You don’t have to finish everything in one sitting. You should divide each exercise into sections that the dog could easily understand. Also never end with a negative note. Always ensure that the dog finishes each exercise with praise.

Training your dog for agility does not lie on how old or young he is, it lies in the foundation of responsiveness, independence, drive to work alone and to follow the command, and your desire to work with him with enough patience and knowledge of his capacities.

When feeding your dog, think about the following:
- The size of your dog
- The daily activity level of your dog
- The life stage of your dog
- Any health conditions that your dog may have.

If you don’t take into account all of the above, you can be setting your
dog up for a major crash that you could surely avoid by being smart and
attentive to your dogs needs.

Too many dog owners care little about the foods they supply. They buy the
cheaper brands, which have little nutrition. They feed their dog table
scraps, which are poisonous to their dogs and they just don’t seem to
care, either.

When your dog is fed all of these substandard foods, they are set up for
all kinds of sickness. Your dog can become lethargic and lack energy.
They can be listless and stop being frisky. You might think your dog is
tired, so resting more when in fact your dog could be sick. It is so
important that you feed your dog right if you want your dog to be healthy.

The size of your dog will determine greatly the amount of food that you
should feed him. For proper feeding regulations the bag will list
approximate amounts, however if you are an experienced dog owner you will
find that these recommended portions are not always appropriate for your
specific dog. The label on the bag is just a guide, a little more, or a
little less will not hurt based on your opinion. Trust your judgment when
reading the label and do what you decide is best.

Your dog will have individual needs. No two dogs are exactly the same.

Certain breeds of dog have specific nutritional requirements that must be
met in their diet for them to live an optimum lifestyle. Knowing this,
dog food manufacturers have started to produce breed specific dog foods.
Royal Canin is the leader in this regard and have a great line of breed
specific dog and cat food products on the market.

A high energy dog will need a high energy diet. Calorie rich food will
benefit a dog that is highly active, for example a working dog, needs a
high calorie diet, due to their active days assisting their masters to
perform important daily tasks.

Choosing a dog food according to your dog’s stage of life is very
important to your dog’s health. Your dog’s nutritional needs will very
depending on his stage of life and depending on your dog’s size. Puppies
need a high protein, high calorie diet. Adults need a balanced blend of
all of the necessary elements, and senior dogs have specific food
products with extra additives to take care of their special needs some of
which being but not limited to joint maintenance, immune boosters, and
ostio strengthening.

Regardless of what your dog’s special needs are there is a dog food that
fits. Your job is to find it!

Men rely on hunting dogs to retrieve their kills. Without them, the hunter will have to do all the work with no the assurance that they will be bringing something home at the end of the day. To make the work easier, the hunter requires the help of a well–trained hunting dog.

However, not all dog breeds could be adapted to hunting works and only specific trainings that promote hunting capabilities would bring out the best in a hunting dog.

But hunting dogs are not garden varieties that you could have whenever you want. They are trained and trained well for the demands of hunting. And oftentimes, training for the hunting dog breeds is a tedious and extensive process that requires knowledge and patience from the trainer and appropriate attributes from the dog.

What is the right breed?

As said earlier, not all dogs are fit for dog hunting. There are actually dog breeds specializing in this work and have long history of the particular service for men. In short, they are well adapted to the kind of works usually needed in hunting.

A hunting dog which will respond best to training are breeds like retrievers, spaniels and pointers- each of which have capacities that are unique to their breeds. It is up to the trainer to hone their capacities and use them for their right purposes.

In general, hunting dogs have excellent sense of smell for tracking purposes. Also, hunting dogs should be fit for outdoor activities and could easily be conditioned for training. The best candidate for dog training on hunting is a dog that has all of the said characteristics. The most common choices as hunting dogs are Labradors, Beagles, Bloodhounds and Dachshunds.

What dog to get?

One just can’t get a full grown dog and expect him to respond well to training. The best choice is a puppy since it has just started forming its behavior. Also, you need a dog that has affinity to his handler. This would not develop on its own. So you have to personally train your dog or at least train alongside your dog with a professional trainer.

What tasks are usually involved in the training?

There are six basic tasks that a good hunting dog should master. These are as follows:

a) Retrieving
b) Marking
c) Quartering
d) Shaking
e) Following hand signals
f) Steadying

What about gun fire and scent?

There are dogs that are sensitive or scared at hearing gun fires. So it has to get acclimatized through training. Typically, this is accomplished by conditioning the dog through a procedural way of introducing gunfire along with game birds.

This training will let the dog associate gun fire with game. If the gunfire is heard, the dog will know that there is a game. After retrieving the game, the dog will expect the next gunfire.

On the other hand, tracking is based on following the scent. There are as much scent as there are games so be sure to train your dog on a particular scent. If you want him to hunt deer you should get him used to deer scent.

Dog training for hunting is much harder than other forms of dog training. However, if your passion is hunting you would undoubtedly require the services of a well-trained hunting dog.

Dog is man’s best friend for so many reasons, among them is the animal’s ability to be of great help during occasions of emergency. Like obedience training and agility training there are several principles from various types of dog training must be observed when considering rescue dog training.

Obedience Training

Rescue dogs should be obedient at all times since any misbehavior could lead to defeating the purpose of rescuing. The practice of commands like heel, sit, come, stay, and jog exercises should be satisfactorily accomplished to help ensure the obedience of the dog to the handler and his commands.

Agility Training

Agility training is not only valuable for sports dog, it is also very useful for dogs that are intended for rescue works. In its basic sense, agility training helps develop the dog physically, allowing him to perform very difficult tasks that might also be encountered during rescue operations. With the aid of a good trainer, the dog should be able to negotiate a number of hurdles included in any agility training exercises.

Retrieving

Rescue works require relatively large exercise of retrieving capabilities. In fact, it is basically retrieving a person or items that needs saving. In order to practice the dog in this type of work, he should undergo a series of retrieving exercises that might include recovering wood, leather and other objects using the “fetch” command.

Right positioning while in training

Positioning in rescue training basically conditions the dog’s response in relation to the requirements of a specific exercise. This could be facilitated by using a good combination of inductive and compulsive training.

Training for positioning should start early while the dog is still a puppy. There are two kinds of positioning- the heel and front position. The former basically means that the dog should stand parallel to the trainer’s left foot while the latter means that the dog should stand in front of the handler while following an imaginary line passing between the legs of the handler.

There are two methods of training the dog for the right position to take. The compulsive method and the inductive method. The compulsive method, when used for the front position, will literally guide the dog to stay in front of the handler.

When used in conjunction with another command, say “sit”, the same principle applies- the handler should help the dog stand and sit in front of him parallel to his left foot when the heel position is being asked.

The inductive method, on the other hand, requires the use of dog treats or food in conditioning the response of the dog for both positions. For example, a handler could offer a treat to a dog before giving a command. If the dog is ready and takes the incentive, the handler should give a command first such as come, sit or down first before giving the dog a treat. However, this should only be given as a reward for following the given command.

While physical guidance is used in the compulsive method, it should only be administered firmly and gently but never in a harsh and injuring manner. Any harsh manners could become counterproductive for the training.

Rescue dog training is not just a single training; it requires the dog to master all types of training while being able to use the learned behavior as second nature.

Usually, most dog owners take good care of their dogs and they are pretty
careful about what they feed them. When it comes to feeding your dog
you’re your dinner table, though, there is much to be considered such as
how sure are you that what you are feeding your dog is good for it?

It does not matter if you feed your dog from the dinner table only on
occasion or on a regular basis – there are dangerous “people” foods that
should NEVER be fed to your dog because some of these foods are like
poison to your beloved dog.

Feeding your dog should be a careful affair. You should know that every
morsel that you feed it is nutritious and safe. You can only do this by
reading the labels of your dog foods, plain and simply.

Let’s take a look at some of the considerations we should be discussing
when it comes to feeding your dog table food.
- As a rule of thumb, usually any food that is acidic is not a good food
to be offering your dog. Acidity can damage the GI track of the dog,
leading to a number of nasty side effects some of which include;
vomiting, panting, fever, restlessness, the list goes on.
- Grapes and or raisons are terrible for dogs and kidney failure has been
documented in dogs that have ingested this fruit so stay away!
- Onions are also extremely poisonous to your dog as they affect the
balance of red blood cells in the dog’s body.
- Coffee will elevate your dog’s heart rate; can lead to anything from
seizures, to GI track difficulties.
- The second most common cause of canine poisoning in the world today is
ibuprofen. Dogs love the smell of this drug and will do anything to get
at it if a bottle is around the house and not securely locked away.
- The most popular treat people want to give their dogs is chocolate.
This is a big no-no! As with coffee, chocolate contains caffeine that
will elevate your dog’s heart rate and can promote seizures.
- Always be sure to keep your animal away from rat poison! This is the
world leader in canine poisoning and can be prevented if we take care to
ensure that the rat traps are not where your dog can get at them.

Feed your dog properly and leave the “people” food to the people. Select
a dog food that contains proper nutrition is balanced and is prepared
just for canines. If you have any doubts about what you should be feeding
to your dog, check with your Vet for a professional opinion and then
follow what your Vet says to the leather. Even an occasional something
from the table can be poison to your beloved dog.

There are three types of assistance dogs- the hearing dog, the guiding dog and the service dog. All have the same purposes, to help people with disabilities with their life’s daily tasks. Service dogs go beyond helping people with hearing or sight impairment.

They could also be trained as seizure response dogs or mobility assistance dogs depending on the special training the owner needs. However, dogs could only accomplish such services if they have received proper service dog training.

TRAINING

There are two forms of training service dogs: self-training and program training.

Self-training, like most kinds of dog training, is facilitated by the owner themselves. While it could be harder than hiring a professional dog trainer, self training could enhance the relationship and interdependence of the owners and the dogs.

A number of dogs could be trained for service works. Some people choose to train their old pets as suitable partners especially f the dog has shown some tendencies to become good in medical condition assistance. However, some people obtain their dogs from dog breeders with training the dog for service in their minds.

Handlers of dogs could research on several techniques and procedures for training a dog for this particular purpose. There are a number of online resources and written literature on how to train a dog for service works. However, some people choose to hire professional organizations specializing in this field to do the work for them.

The main disadvantage is that the dog would learn on a faster pace due to highly developed techniques that these organizations have. However, training stops when the dogs were sent to their owners unless the dog owners are knowledgeable in this type of training. For owner-trained dogs however, training never stops.

Nevertheless, if the owner buys a dog from a breeder with the intention of making a service dog out of it, the breeder would first give prior training on basic commands such as sit, come, stay and no. Then, the owner would fill in the newer commands that he needs such as opening the door or turning off the lights.

On the other hand, program-trained dogs are especially bred and trained for service works. Normally, these dogs are trained for more than a year to get acclimatized on special situations and people to whom they are trained to respond.

Training could be administered in a number of ways. In United States, training could be administered by select prison inmates. This process has been proven to be of great value since inmates could facilitate proper training while improving their socialization skills in the process.

To avail of a service dog, the applicant must undergo an application and evaluation process. After this, the future owner will have to be listed on the waiting list while a dog fit for the specific services is being trained. Such dogs could be given without charge while some organizations will require the handler to pay some fees with or without financial assistance offered.

Once the owner obtains his dog, he has to work with the dog for sometime to get him used to the way the new handler deals with training. This could take a few weeks up to months. The dog needs to be sent back to the training organization to update training.

Service dog training does not only produce dogs that could be of good assistance to those people with disabilities. They are also good emotional supports and companions.