From HumaneSociety.com
So, you've decided to get a dog. You're prepared to feed, exercise, train, clean up after, work through problems with, and love a dog every day for the next 10 to 20 years.
You've evaluated your lifestyle and know exactly what sort of dog you're looking for (e.g., a high energy dog to go running with, or a more sedate dog to lounge on the couch with), and you know that you need to seek out your desired characteristics in an individual dog, not a breed, because a breed is no guarantee of temperament or likes and dislikes.
Start at a shelter or rescue group
One in every four dogs in animal shelters in the United States is a purebred, and mixed breed dogs also make great pets, so start your search there. Not only are you likely to find a great dog, you'll also feel great about helping a homeless dog find a loving home. Most dogs lose their homes because of "people" reasons, such as cost, lack of time, lifestyle changes (new baby, divorce, moving, or marriage), or allergies, and not because of something the dog has done.
Say you've checked out the purebred rescue group for your breed, but still haven't found "The One." You don't want to buy a puppy from a pet store because you know that most of those puppies come from mass breeding facilities—better known as puppy mills.
In the end, if you've decided to buy a dog from a breeder, you'll want to support one who has their dogs' best interests at heart.
How to ID a reputable breeder
Good breeders don't sell their puppies to the first person who shows up with cash in hand. Too often, unsuspecting people buy puppies from puppy mills, or sometimes neighbors who breed their dog to make a little money or simply because they have a dog "with papers". Too often, the result is puppies in poor health or with temperament problems that may not be discovered right away.
A dog who has genetic health problems due to poor breeding practices or who develops significant behavior problems due to a lack of early socialization can cost thousands of dollars to treat—and result in grief and heartache as well.
Avoid the pitfalls
Download our "How to Identify a Good Dog Breeder" [PDF] checklist and take it with you as you visit different breeders. If the breeder you're working with doesn't meet all of the minimum criteria listed, The Humane Society of the United States advises you to walk away. Remember, your dog will likely live 10 to 20 years, so it's well worth investing some time now to be sure you're working with a reputable breeder who breeds healthy, happy dogs and keeps them in clean and humane conditions.
Get a referral
You can find reputable breeders by asking for referrals from your veterinarian or trusted friends, by contacting local breed clubs, or visiting professional dog shows. Remember, a reputable breeder will never sell her dogs through a pet store or in any other way that does not allow her to thoroughly meet with and interview you to ensure that the puppy is a good match for your family and that you will provide a responsible lifelong home.
Always visit where they were born and raised
Always personally visit a breeder's facility before buying a puppy. Find out where your puppy was born and raised. Take the time now to find the right breeder and you'll thank yourself for the rest of your dog's life.
This Is My Town USA is now publishing articles from a variety of local small business owners who love to share their wisdom!
Showing posts with label Pets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pets. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Dog Training: Sit Stay Exercise is Key
From Petplace.com
There is no single exercise more effective at gaining leadership than the sit-stay exercise. If you must constantly coax, cajole, and ultimately bribe your dog to obey the simplest command, you're lacking in leadership. The sit-stay command, properly taught, can single-handedly reverse this unfortunate situation.
Think about why the sit-stay exercise might earn owner-leadership with a dog. If you can convince your dog to stay in a seated position, against his own wishes, regardless of what is going on around him, and you can persuade him to do this without the use of pain, fear or force, what does that make you? The Alpha Dog, of course, the one who is strong of mind. The sit-stay exercise will crown you as the pack leader.
The sit-stay exercise makes specific use of language signals your dog is pre-programmed to interpret and understand. They are language tools used by the wolves and maternal domestic dogs, so your dog already knows them. From your dog's point of view, how much easier could it be?
From the human point of view, however, teaching the Sit-Stay may not be easy to begin with. Through learned behavior, adult humans are programmed to use nagging and force to get their way with dogs. We inanely repeat our words, push, prod, pry, pinch, choke and assault dogs to wring from them what we consider "obedient" behavior.
Wolves and dogs, however, are not capable of these physical manipulations; training tactics of pain, fear and force are not part of their repertoire when education is at hand. Canines must rely on encouragement, passive restraint, and passive intimidation to accomplish the education of their young. This is the basis of harness training.
Dogs talk to us in ways we must learn to recognize. A dog can easily put his rear to the ground and get a treat, or put his chest on the carpet to get a snack. He will do this whether you have leadership or not, simply because his actions serve to obtain one or more of his primary resources, in this case food. But for a dog to stay seated voluntarily at his owner's request with no goal objectives – food or touching – means that he acknowledges your position as his leader. By way of his behavior, your dog is saying to you, "I acknowledge and I accept your leadership at this moment. I see that you are my mentor, and I prove this with my willing cooperation," just as he would signal to a higher-ranking dog or wolf. For an owner to achieve this kind of leadership through one exercise alone is both appealing and astonishing. You earn your dog's respect. In turn, earning your dog's respect will cause most minor behavior problems to dissipate.
Keep in mind that stay is an abstract concept for a dog to learn and understand. Sit means put your rear to the ground; down means put your rear end and your chest to the ground; come means run to your owner; but stay ...? Technically, stay means nothing to a dog. There is no motor response to your request that he can act upon - it is essentially the absence of a motor response. When your dog at last figures it out, his self-confidence blossoms. Increased self-confidence in dogs resolves a myriad of behavior problems.
In teaching sit-stay on a harness, in fact in all obedience training with a harness, patience is the key to success. Patience is a virtue and wolves have an endless supply. Look how well their social system works. Their limitless patience is the reason. So learn patience, don't do anything you are not instructed to do, watch your dog learn to sit-stay in less than 10 minutes, and watch behavior problems disappear.
Editors note:
To teach Sit-Stay using a harness, simply apply upward traction to the lead attached to the harness. The harness will "tent" over the dog's shoulders. The dog will be amply aware of even gentle traction applied to its harness and will probably begin to look around anxiously, wondering what comes next. It may yawn (stress), it may lick its lips, thinking about submission, it may try to appear indifferent and try engaging in some displacement activity. You do nothing but wait. You certainly don't talk to your dog, look at it, or pet it at this stage. Basically, nothing happens. Eventually the dog gets fed up with standing there, unable to proceed, and it sits or lies down. Sitting is what you want so the tension would be released and the dog would be praised and petted. Lying down is not what you want, so the tension on the lead would remain. As the dog sits make a circular sweeping movement with your hand (a signal for stay). While the dog remains sitting, you keep bantering cheerfully to it and perhaps petting it. You could even give it a chest rub (massage). If he stands up again before being given a release signal, the tension is reapplied to the lead, and you become silent and aloof. This is repeated until the dog learns that sitting – and staying – is what you want. There is no way out for the dog. You mean business. But note, there was no yelling, no hitting, no forcing, no bullying – just time passing an patience – the essential ingredients of proper, non-intimidating training.
There is no single exercise more effective at gaining leadership than the sit-stay exercise. If you must constantly coax, cajole, and ultimately bribe your dog to obey the simplest command, you're lacking in leadership. The sit-stay command, properly taught, can single-handedly reverse this unfortunate situation.
Think about why the sit-stay exercise might earn owner-leadership with a dog. If you can convince your dog to stay in a seated position, against his own wishes, regardless of what is going on around him, and you can persuade him to do this without the use of pain, fear or force, what does that make you? The Alpha Dog, of course, the one who is strong of mind. The sit-stay exercise will crown you as the pack leader.
The sit-stay exercise makes specific use of language signals your dog is pre-programmed to interpret and understand. They are language tools used by the wolves and maternal domestic dogs, so your dog already knows them. From your dog's point of view, how much easier could it be?
From the human point of view, however, teaching the Sit-Stay may not be easy to begin with. Through learned behavior, adult humans are programmed to use nagging and force to get their way with dogs. We inanely repeat our words, push, prod, pry, pinch, choke and assault dogs to wring from them what we consider "obedient" behavior.
Wolves and dogs, however, are not capable of these physical manipulations; training tactics of pain, fear and force are not part of their repertoire when education is at hand. Canines must rely on encouragement, passive restraint, and passive intimidation to accomplish the education of their young. This is the basis of harness training.
Dogs talk to us in ways we must learn to recognize. A dog can easily put his rear to the ground and get a treat, or put his chest on the carpet to get a snack. He will do this whether you have leadership or not, simply because his actions serve to obtain one or more of his primary resources, in this case food. But for a dog to stay seated voluntarily at his owner's request with no goal objectives – food or touching – means that he acknowledges your position as his leader. By way of his behavior, your dog is saying to you, "I acknowledge and I accept your leadership at this moment. I see that you are my mentor, and I prove this with my willing cooperation," just as he would signal to a higher-ranking dog or wolf. For an owner to achieve this kind of leadership through one exercise alone is both appealing and astonishing. You earn your dog's respect. In turn, earning your dog's respect will cause most minor behavior problems to dissipate.
Keep in mind that stay is an abstract concept for a dog to learn and understand. Sit means put your rear to the ground; down means put your rear end and your chest to the ground; come means run to your owner; but stay ...? Technically, stay means nothing to a dog. There is no motor response to your request that he can act upon - it is essentially the absence of a motor response. When your dog at last figures it out, his self-confidence blossoms. Increased self-confidence in dogs resolves a myriad of behavior problems.
In teaching sit-stay on a harness, in fact in all obedience training with a harness, patience is the key to success. Patience is a virtue and wolves have an endless supply. Look how well their social system works. Their limitless patience is the reason. So learn patience, don't do anything you are not instructed to do, watch your dog learn to sit-stay in less than 10 minutes, and watch behavior problems disappear.
Editors note:
To teach Sit-Stay using a harness, simply apply upward traction to the lead attached to the harness. The harness will "tent" over the dog's shoulders. The dog will be amply aware of even gentle traction applied to its harness and will probably begin to look around anxiously, wondering what comes next. It may yawn (stress), it may lick its lips, thinking about submission, it may try to appear indifferent and try engaging in some displacement activity. You do nothing but wait. You certainly don't talk to your dog, look at it, or pet it at this stage. Basically, nothing happens. Eventually the dog gets fed up with standing there, unable to proceed, and it sits or lies down. Sitting is what you want so the tension would be released and the dog would be praised and petted. Lying down is not what you want, so the tension on the lead would remain. As the dog sits make a circular sweeping movement with your hand (a signal for stay). While the dog remains sitting, you keep bantering cheerfully to it and perhaps petting it. You could even give it a chest rub (massage). If he stands up again before being given a release signal, the tension is reapplied to the lead, and you become silent and aloof. This is repeated until the dog learns that sitting – and staying – is what you want. There is no way out for the dog. You mean business. But note, there was no yelling, no hitting, no forcing, no bullying – just time passing an patience – the essential ingredients of proper, non-intimidating training.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Keep Your Pets Healthy Through the Holidays
By Dr. Pam Pussich, DVM & Dr. Greg Abreu, DVM, Meadow Vista Veterinary Clinic
With the holidays quickly approaching just a friendly reminder of the potential hazards to your cats and dogs. With all the cooking that needs to be done during the holidays, there are lots of tasty treats for your pets to get into, with results ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to seizures in severe cases. Chocolate toxicity is one of the more common poisonings that occurs during the holidays. A compound known as theobromine is present in all chocolate, but in especially high amounts in baking chocolate; ingestion of milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate are usually only associated with GI upset, but care should be exercised nonetheless. If an animal ingests enough chocolate, symptoms can range from muscle tremors, excitability, irritability, restlessness, and diarrhea in low doses to seizures and cardiac depression in more severe exposure. While the toxic dose is fairly high, it is best to keep all pets, especially cats and small dogs away any chocolate, and especially so when baking.
Another common danger is found at Thanksgiving; turkey dinner and all the fixings. While there are no toxins associated with the dinner, the high amount of fat in the gravy can easily set off a case of pancreatitis, which typically presents as profuse vomiting, stomach pain, and diarrhea. Stuffing, cheese sauces, fruit salads, etc., can all set off a dog’s stomach, so it is best to keep Fido away from the turkey dinner. Cats are susceptible to pancreatitis as well, with symptoms being more subtle including weight loss and inappetance; so make sure Fluffy doesn’t run off with a large piece of turkey skin. Turkey bones tend to splinter, and can get lodged in the throat, esophagus or GI tract. These should be kept away from all pets, and disposed of in a sealed container after dinner is over.
Colorful decorations are always fun during the holidays, but tinsel is often a favorite for cats to get into trouble with. Tinsel can turn into what is known as a linear foreign body if ingested by cats, where it can work its way through the GI tract and cause an obstruction. If you notice a large strand is missing, keep a close eye on the litter box for normal bowel movements, and if you notice a piece of tinsel sticking out of your kitty’s bottom, DON’T PULL IT, leave it alone and call for an appointment. Occasionally, tinsel can bind up the intestines to a point where surgical intervention is required. Ribbon, string, or any other string-like material has the potential for obstruction, so use caution when opening presents and dispose of the wrap material in a timely manner.
Holiday plants such as poinsettias, mistletoe, and holly can all cause issues with pets if ingested. There are conflicting reports of the toxicity of poinsettias, but at the minimum they can cause GI upset if ingested, and irritation to the gums and gingival tissue, so it is best to keep the animals away from them. Mistletoe exposure can be associated with vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea if ingested, and cardiac depression (slow heart rate and low blood pressure) in higher doses. While mistletoe leaves are not extremely toxic, the berries do contain high amounts of toxin, and as few as one or two berries can cause severe symptoms. Holly is also know to cause GI upset in animals, and should be kept away from all pets. For you horse owners out there, keep the mistletoe and holly away from the horses, as exposure in small amounts can cause colic symptoms.
We hope you and your pets have a very happy and healthy holiday season!
Another common danger is found at Thanksgiving; turkey dinner and all the fixings. While there are no toxins associated with the dinner, the high amount of fat in the gravy can easily set off a case of pancreatitis, which typically presents as profuse vomiting, stomach pain, and diarrhea. Stuffing, cheese sauces, fruit salads, etc., can all set off a dog’s stomach, so it is best to keep Fido away from the turkey dinner. Cats are susceptible to pancreatitis as well, with symptoms being more subtle including weight loss and inappetance; so make sure Fluffy doesn’t run off with a large piece of turkey skin. Turkey bones tend to splinter, and can get lodged in the throat, esophagus or GI tract. These should be kept away from all pets, and disposed of in a sealed container after dinner is over.
Colorful decorations are always fun during the holidays, but tinsel is often a favorite for cats to get into trouble with. Tinsel can turn into what is known as a linear foreign body if ingested by cats, where it can work its way through the GI tract and cause an obstruction. If you notice a large strand is missing, keep a close eye on the litter box for normal bowel movements, and if you notice a piece of tinsel sticking out of your kitty’s bottom, DON’T PULL IT, leave it alone and call for an appointment. Occasionally, tinsel can bind up the intestines to a point where surgical intervention is required. Ribbon, string, or any other string-like material has the potential for obstruction, so use caution when opening presents and dispose of the wrap material in a timely manner.
Holiday plants such as poinsettias, mistletoe, and holly can all cause issues with pets if ingested. There are conflicting reports of the toxicity of poinsettias, but at the minimum they can cause GI upset if ingested, and irritation to the gums and gingival tissue, so it is best to keep the animals away from them. Mistletoe exposure can be associated with vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea if ingested, and cardiac depression (slow heart rate and low blood pressure) in higher doses. While mistletoe leaves are not extremely toxic, the berries do contain high amounts of toxin, and as few as one or two berries can cause severe symptoms. Holly is also know to cause GI upset in animals, and should be kept away from all pets. For you horse owners out there, keep the mistletoe and holly away from the horses, as exposure in small amounts can cause colic symptoms.
We hope you and your pets have a very happy and healthy holiday season!
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