How Easy Is It To Adopt A Shelter Dog?

A great piece on MyDogMagazine.com called I want to adopt a dog, outlines 7 top tips for anyone considering dog adoption.

In the article:

Visit your local shelter and spend some time with the dogs. Donating some of your time to simply hang out and play with these canine residents can make a huge difference to their lives. Most of the time, shelter staff are very busy with their work and they do not have the extra time to interact with the dogs.

Shelter employees can always use the help of others to come and play and socialize with their residence. They are more than happy to show you around and figure out what you can do to help out.

Read in full: http://mydogmagazine.com/blog/adopt-a-dog/

The Amazing Rewards of Dog Training

Training a dog is an endeavor which requires a plethora of patience, but if done correctly is also immensely rewarding. In all my life I have known no feeling like companionship greater than that feeling I have with my two dogs. If you're interested in learning more, read this article.

Not showering your dog with enough positive reinforcement when he does good, will reduce the power you have over him in training. Since dogs love attention, giving them plenty of it, provides him with incentive to listen to you. If all he ever hears from you is what not to do, he is not getting any encouragement, only discouragement, so be sure to reward him with praise often.

When giving commands to your dog, never come down to their level. Maintaining eye contact and a fully erect, dominant stance imparts control to the dog. Your dog will be receptive to commands given from this posture much easier than a crouching owner who is seen as an equal or playmate.

Worth a read: Why does my dog ignore me?

Watch your demeanour when you are training your dog. You need to remain calm, but assertive at all times. Do not show anger or raise your voice. If you do this, your dog will require you to shout commands in order to follow them, if this is how he is trained.

Paper train your dog. If your dog is left home for long periods of time, he will need a place to go to the bathroom. With this housebreaking method, accidents do not occur in other areas of the house, and the dog learns the proper place to do his business.

Sometimes a dog trainer must punish their dog. Punishment does not eliminate the behaviour the trainer wants to discourage, though; it merely suppresses it. Canny trainers know that punishing a dog only encourages them to hide the behaviour for which they are being punished. It is better to entirely replace an undesirable behavior than to punish a pet for engaging in it.

If your dog is a fearful dog, you should address her confidence issues sooner rather than later. The fact is that fearful dogs can be very reactive, which spells trouble when you and your dog are out and about. Make positive associations with stimuli that make her nervous, and desensitize her to the spontaneous nature of the world around her. She will be thankful you did!

Affection makes a great reward, however, be careful not to turn it into play. During training sessions, physical rewards such as belly rubs or scratching the ears can easily be overdone and lead the dog to think you are entering a play cycle. Keep the rewards quick and allow your dog to maintain focus for more training.

If you're tired of the commands your dog already knows, try spicing up an old behaviour. A fun trick is teaching your dog to give either paw when asked. You can teach this a few ways, but try picking up the corresponding paw to your hand and treating and praising. When your dog gets the idea, treat and praise for successful raising of the right paw!

Some dogs are so scared of thunderstorms that they are literally a danger to themselves. If your dog has an extreme fear of thunder, speak to your veterinarian. Your veterinarian may recommend and prescribe a mild sedative to give your dog before a storm rolls in. This is often a last-ditch effort when behavior modification cannot handle the problem alone, but it is often beneficial to a dog's quality of life if the problem is severe enough.

Don't let your dog 'own' the furniture. To a bossy dog, the furniture is his fortress, giving him much more status than sitting on the floor. If your dog becomes possessive about the furniture, deny him access until he is ready to move for any human being, including a child or stranger. Stand with an erect posture and use a firm voice. Don't use food to entice your dog off the furniture if he has already growled, as he will think he has been rewarded. Wait until he gets off the furniture on his own, and don't allow him back up.

This article hopefully gave you some tips and ideas on how to train your dog. As they are still animals at heart it does take a little work, and a little technique. However, there is a lot of useful information from this article that can get you started on training your dog.

Consider protecting your pet for life, investigate lifetime pet insurance cover.

Health related article worth a look: cataracts in dogs - what you need to know.

Article syndicated by petbuzz

Outdated Puppy House Training Methods be Gone!

When it comes to puppy house training old fashioned, outdated methods are not the way to go. They can in fact make the house training process harder and, worse, can have a negative impact on your dog's trust in you.

Puppies are no more prepared to be instantly house trained than human babies are. A period of development needs to be reached before the puppy is ready to follow your requests and commands.

The puppy desperately wants to please you and doesn't understand why they're being punished. The old views of punishment as a means of potty training are as outdated for dogs as they are for children. It simply doesn't work.

Tip: If you're having puppy house training problems, consider crate training your dog.

Rubbing a puppy's nose in the faeces isn't a good approach. The dog only sees you as a tormentor and doesn't understand what you do want instead. There is a very real risk of serious illness to the puppy after getting a nose full of E-coli bacteria. If you're unhappy with the cost of having your rug cleaned, wait until you see the vet bill from an illness you caused!

Another type of fear-based potty training is to swat the dog with a rolled up newspaper after rubbing his nose in the faeces. If the puppy could speak, he would say, What makes you think Im going to potty on newspaper in the kitchen after you hit me with it? I don't want anything to do with newspaper! Hitting a puppy with rolled up newspaper merely teaches him to fear newspaper.

You simply have to accept that a puppy will make mistakes. Sometimes, you're responsible for those mistakes. When you arrive home late or sleep in rather than taking the puppy outside, what you do expect him to do?

Read more and learn the correct way to potty train your puppy....

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OMG! Dog Walks on Water

You have to see this, from Ryan O'Meara's blog

So dogs really can walk on water!

I knew it.

We all knew it.

Now there's proof!!

Dog Breed Insurance Help

(petbuzz, London, October 2011) - Dedicated information for dog owners seeking individual dog breed insurance information now has a new home thanks to pet insurance lifetime cover experts VetsMediCover.

In partnership with leading pet marketing provider, petbuzz, VetsMediCover has set up a dedicated website to cover dog breed specific insurance information.

The information contained on the website is designed to make it easier for caring dog owners to research and get fast access to dog breed insurance specifically related to their own type of dog.

Speaking about the initiative, Ryan O'Meara says:

"This service has been needed for a long time. Dog owners now are much more aware of the positive aspects of pet insurance. They have a greater understanding of the various elements of policy cover, claims issues, restrictions and the different types of pet insurance cover that different policies contain. 

By launching this site with VetsMediCover, we hope we'll be able to help dog owners by providing the most comprehensive, dog breed specific pet insurance resource."

According to a recent study carried out by K9 Magazine, 90% of dog owners questioned were completely satisfied with the quality of service provided by their vet, whilst the same proportion of owners, 90%, felt their vet was overcharging them for the services provided. 31% said they would be prepared to change their vet on account of the high fees being charged rather than the quality of service their dogs received.

As vet fees look set to continue to rise as pet health treatment becomes more sophisticated, dog insurance has never been so crucial for owners looking to minimise their exposure to unexpected costs.

Find out more: www.DogBreedInsurance.co.uk

Distributed by Taylor Guerney on behalf of petbuzz.

Clicker Training to Stop Puppy Chewing

Use the clicker method for training your dog. Clicker training is a form of conditioning that can help a dog to identify behaviour that produces praise or a reward. After your dog has successfully obeyed a command, use the clicker to indicate that he will get a treat. Your dog will soon learn if he isn't following commands or behaving correctly! Certain studies have shown that using a clicker reduces training time by one third.

When you are training your dog out of chewing inappropriately, remember to set him up for success. Furthermore, a dog that chews inappropriately needs to be kept away from danger. Hairbrushes, nylons, and other common household items pose a danger to dogs and can lead to choking and obstructions.

Dog Training Made Fun

Owning a dog can be one of the greatest joys in life. Pet owners are routinely found to have higher qualities of life than their pet less counterparts, however, an untrained dog will certainly provide you with many unhappy moments. This article serves to provide you with the tips necessary to start training your dog on your own.

Run away from your dog if he gets loose. It is easy to panic when a dog breaks loose from his leash or escapes the house or yard. Resist your instinct to chase the dog. Dogs love to play chase, and going after him will only encourage him to go further away. Instead, get your dog's attention, and then run AWAY from him. This uses the same instinctual love of the chase game to your advantage. Instead of you chasing your dog, the game becomes to chase you. Be sure to praise him thoroughly when he "catches" you!

The way to train a dog is to be consistent with your training. It is important to pick one style of training and stick with it. Consistency in the method of training is just one step.  You must also consistently train your dog. Taking long breaks between training confuses your dog and training will take longer.

If there is a behaviour you'd like your dog to be able to do on command, make sure you praise him whenever he offers this behaviour. This works well for tricks that you are actively teaching, as well as actions that he does naturally. For instance, if you think it'd be fun to teach your dog to sneeze whenever you ask, simply say, "Sneeze" and treat him whenever he does sneeze. Sooner or later, he will learn the association between the word "sneeze," the action of sneezing, and the reward.

It takes the entire family to train a dog. When you have a family dog it is important that all members participate in the training. This ensures that the message of what is right and wrong is consistent. Involving children in the training ensures that the family pet sees them as alpha members of the family.

When training your dog, make sure to enforce all commands you give. Do not repeat them over and over, but issue them once firmly, and make sure your pet follows through. Do not let your dog ignore a command, or else he will think you are not serious and will disregard most of the training session.

For a happy pup, it is important to start socialisation from an early age. During the first few weeks of life, a puppy should be exposed to new situations, people, and animals. This will help him to be better adjusted and friendlier later in life. This will also ensure that he will feel less stressed when encountering unfamiliar situations and things.

Never punish your pet for coming when called. According to Ryan O'Meara (K9 Magazine) a good recall command is essential, not only for obedience, but for your dog's safety as well. It may seem obvious that calling your pet to you for punishment is bad, however when you are angry at a dog who has darted out of the yard or refuses to come for a bath, it is easy to forget. By keeping their "come" command associated with positive experiences, you can be assured that next time they get away from you, they will reliably return when called.

All pets, and certainly all dogs, can be wonderful companions. For many people, the time and patience it requires to train you dog properly may discourage them from attempting it on their own. But by applying the tips in this article to training your dog, not only will you have an obedient companion, you will save yourself many headaches and provide yourself great joy in the long run.

Article distributed by Emily Sutton on behalf of petbuzz.