Dog Lover Community

If your dog is an important part of your life, you will want to provide the best of care for her so she can enjoy a long and rewarding life. A trip or two each year to your veterinary clinic does not guarantee that your loyal canine will maintain her healthy appearance and youthful spirit. It is you, the dog’s owner, who can make the difference between your dog living a long, full life or one of physical disease and health problems.

Many dogs are treated like they are immune from common heath problems - they are NOT! They suffer many of the same health issues that afflict humans; teeth and gum disease, ear infections, toe nail problems, and hair issues, just to name a few.

Well, don’t get discouraged, because a few simple and easy grooming practices can help you prevent the premature aging of your pet. Basic personal dog grooming is the key to early recognition of skin and tumor issues, dental problems, and mobility difficulties.

To help you establish a regular dog grooming regimen, the following tips are provided covering five key areas; brushing, bathing, nail trimming, ear cleaning, and dental hygiene.

Brushing Your Dog

Brushing, or grooming, your dog is a great time for bonding with her and providing the physical contact that all dogs desire. This practice promotes a lustrous shine on the dog’s coat, whiling eliminating dirt, debris, and dead fur.

This is also the perfect opportunity to examine your dog’s skin for fleas and ticks, lumps, cuts, or contusions. And while you’re at it, take a moment and examine her ears, eyes, teeth and nails.

Bathing Your Dog

Here is the good news - most dogs only need bathing once a month, unless she likes to play in the rain and mud. If she does get dirty on a regular basis, adjust your bathing schedule accordingly.

A prerequisite to bathing is a good brushing. This loosens up any dead hair or dirt and makes the bathing process much more productive. A good practice is to start bathing your dog as young as possible. Generally start when she is about 14-15 weeks old, or earlier, if they tend to get into messy situations.

Find a good location to bathe your dog, preferably one that is contained and has good drainage. Undoubtedly, water will be spilled or shaken near and far. An enclosed shower or tub is an ideal location, or if your dog is a smaller breed, the kitchen sink can also work.

Wet your dog thoroughly, avoiding her head to keep water out of her eyes and ears. Plug your dog’s ears with cotton balls if there is a risk of flooding the ears. Use a dog shampoo and lather up the dog. Be sure to rinse thoroughly and squeeze off the excess water. The face should be washed with a soft, damp cloth. Towel dry your dog, and blow dry if desired, but it is best to keep her confined until dry.

Trimming Nails

Nail trimming can be a traumatic experience for some dogs. So, it is best to start the nail trimming experience as early as 2-3 months old to let your dog become accustomed to the practice. For puppies, you can often use finger nail clippers to tip the ends of the nails.

If this is just too much for your dog or puppy to handle all in one sitting, you may start with trimming only one paw at a time, giving your dog an extended break between sessions. The key to successful nail trimming is providing your dog lots of praise when she lets you cut a nail. Kind, soothing words of praise will let her know that she is loved and this experience is nothing to fear. Of course, a few dog treats after the session is over can’t hurt either.

Cleaning Ears

Inspect your dog’s ears often, but only clean them when there is evidence of dirt in the opening or canal. Use a cotton ball, never a cotton swab, to clean the dirt out of the ear. Soaking the cotton ball with a good ear cleaning solution provides the best results. Hydrogen peroxide can be substituted for the cleaning solution, if necessary.

If you notice that the dog’s ears are red, swollen, or emit a foul smell, the problem might be more serious and demand veterinary attention. Yeast infections, ear mites, and other ear problems are more easily treated by medications only available from your vet.

Keeping a Bright Smile

As a dog’s life span has been extended over the years, it is even more imperative that your dog maintain healthy teeth and gum tissue. You can assist her by brushing her teeth regularly. Start as early in life as possible, to get your dog accustomed to the feel of your finger or brush in her mouth.

Starting with your finger, or a special dog toothbrush fitted for your fingertip, begin massaging your dog’s gums and gently rubbing her teeth. Once she has become accustomed to the practice, try using a dog toothbrush, or small soft bristled human toothbrush, with dog-specific toothpaste. Never use toothpaste designed for humans on your dog.

Continuing this practice throughout your dog’s life will ensure that she will avoid gum disease, loose teeth, and related eating problems.

These easy-to-follow grooming tips take very little time compared to the years of enjoyment your dog will provide you and your family. Take care of your loving “best friend” and she will certainly return the favor many times over!

Bill Wilcox is a long time dog owner and experienced trainer. He is an avid author of dog care articles and writes for superior-dog-supplies.com and smart-dog-training.com. For more information visit:
http://www.superior-dog-supplies.com

http://www.smart-dog-training.com

Tags: dog grooming, dog health, dog training, grooming, pet grooming, pet health, pet suppliesdog grooming, dog health, dog training, grooming, pet grooming, pet health, pet supplies

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All puppies chew. They need to chew on something to relieve the discomfort of teething. Well-behaved adult dogs will only chew on toys or bones, but some adult dogs will revert back to this puppy behavior when they are bored or stressed. Here are three things to do to break your dog from chewing your belongings:

1. Remove the temptation. Keep your shoes, clothes or anything else that you don’t want your dog to chew off the floor. Anything on the ground is fair game as far as your puppy is concerned.

Be sure to tape all electrical, telephone and cable wiring to the wall to

keep your puppy from chewing it. You can also use pet repellent on the

wires to keep your dog away. This is a potentially deadly situation, and it

must be done to keep your pet safe.

2. Make it taste bad. One pet product, Bitter Apple, works, and so does hot pepper sauce - it just may be a little messy on your fine furniture. Any non-toxic substance that tastes bad to your dog is fair game.

3. The water treatment. Anytime you catch your puppy or dog chewing a cabinet door or your favorite pillow, say “No!” and spray him with a spray gun with a tablespoon or two of vinegar mixed in with the water. Give him a toy to chew.

4. Leave toys for your dog to play with. When you buy your pet a new toy, be sure to play with it with him the first time. Tease him with the toy, roll it on the floor, spin it around - whatever gets his attention. Don’t have tons of toys for your dog - it confuses him if he has too much to keep track of and he may inadvertently play with something not his in the confusion - like your boots. Get him used to chewing on three toys, and then you can add more.

5. The tether technique. When you are home, clip your puppy’s leash through your belt so he has to be in your sight. Every time he looks like he’s going for something inappropriate to chew, give him a toy instead.

6. Confinement. If you are away during the day, confine your dog to either his crate or a room with his toys. Never let a dog with a chewing habit roam loose in your house all day.

7. Give frozen treats. Puppies in particular like frozen treats because the cold helps to relieve their teething discomfort. You can buy some particularly formulated for pets, or just freeze some peanut butter or some soup stock in ice cube trays.

Marilyn Burnham

Author: ‘Dog Owners Boot Camp’
The How To Guide, Dog Training Secrets Professional Dog Trainers Don’t Want You To Know!
For More Information On Dog Training

Marilyn Burnham was the owner operator of 4 successful dog grooming stores in British Columbia, Canada for more than a decade. To spend more time with her children Marilyn made the decision to sell her business in the mid 90’s. Get a copy of her book: ‘Dog Owners Boot Camp’ The How To Guide, Dog Training Secrets Professional Dog Trainers Don’t Want You To Know!

Tags: dog breeds, dog care, dog grooming, dog health, dog names, dog training, house dog trainin, pet caredog breeds, dog care, dog grooming, dog health, dog names, dog training, house dog trainin, pet care

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Dog grooming is relatively simple for most dogs. I have a greyhound and spend about 5 minutes per day on dog grooming. For dogs that have short hair, they need to be brushed, maybe once per week. For dogs with long hair, the grooming is more time consuming. This is an important consideration when selecting a breed. Beyond regularly brushing your dog’s coat and giving him or her periodic baths, you may want to consider a few other things.

Certain dogs’ nails grow faster than others and need to be clipped. It’s not enough to walk your dog on the street in hopes that the nails will wear down. If the nails get too long, it could be uncomfortable for the dog and might make it difficult to walk. Either clip the dog’s nails yourself, but be careful not to clip too much off, or go to your local groomer who will clip the nails for roughly $5.

Lastly, think about cleaning your dog’s ears every so often. Dust, dirt and wax can accumulate. Take a tissue and clean the ears, but don’t go too deep. This is also a good idea if you see your dog scratching his or her ears or shaking his or her head. Lastly, a few dog breeds are predisposed to having poor teeth, e.g., greyhounds and whippets. Therefore, brushing the dog’s teeth every other day is crucial. Otherwise, your dog might be uncomfortable and you may be facing some costly dental bills.

My above comments are focused on basic grooming, but you have to make sure you are providing your dog proper nutrition and medicines as well. With medicines, don’t forget to regularly get your dog inoculated - especially for rabies and don’t forget to give him or her monthly heartworm pills - if you don’t opt for a veterinary shot.

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Tags: dog care, dog grooming, dog health, dogs coat, dogs nails, dogs teeth, pet care, petsdog care, dog grooming, dog health, dogs coat, dogs nails, dogs teeth, pet care, pets

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