tips

The primary function of the dog’s hair is as a protective and insulating coating. But if the eyes are the gateway or the window to the soul, the skin and hair are both gateway and window to the embodiment of an animal’s inner health and well-being. Shiny hair, that is, a hair coat that exudes a healthy and lustrous sheen, is an indicator of overall health of the animal. In contrast, a dull coat that lacks luster is an indicator that the animal isn’t as healthy as she could be.

It’s a never-ending quest – like looking for the Holy Grail – the search for the perfect piece of humane equipment that will teach your dog not to pull on the leash. Here’s a tip: it doesn’t exist. Any piece of equipment is merely a tool that opens a training window for you. To use it correctly, you must take advantage of that open window to reinforce the behavior that the tool encourages the dog to offer. If you fail to consistently reward the desired behavior when it happens, the tool becomes a crutch that you rely on to make the behavior happen. In worst case scenarios, the dog learns to ignore the tool and reverts to his former behavior even with it on. What you want, instead, is for the dog to learn the desired behavior – not pulling – so you can wean him off the tool and still have him offer the desired behavior, independent of the presence of the piece of equipment.

Organs are an important part of a raw diet. Liver and kidney in particular are nutrient-dense and provide a great deal of nutritional value. These foods should make up about 5 percent of the total diet. Note that they may cause loose stools if too much is fed at one time. It’s better to feed smaller amounts daily or every other day than to feed larger amounts once or twice a week.

Living with multiple dogs brings a whole new set of challenges. Adding a second (or third, or fourth) dog means more fun, more love, more joy and more wonderful doggy companionship. But it also means much more from you: more time, more money, more energy, and more working through problems.

There are a host of other things you can do to lower general stress in your dogs’ environment. Exercise can be immensely helpful in minimizing overall tension. Physical activity uses up excess energy that might otherwise feed your dogs’ aggressive behaviors, (a tired dog is a well-behaved dog).

Living with multiple dogs brings a whole new set of challenges. Adding a second (or third, or fourth) dog means more fun, more love, more joy and more wonderful doggy companionship. But it also means much more from you: more time, more money, more energy, and more working through problems.

You’d better get out there and get started! There’s no such thing as overkill when it comes to properly done socialization. You can’t do too much. Pups who are super-socialized tend to assume that new things they meet later in life are safe and good until proven otherwise

Many people worry about the amount of salt in canned fish. It is true that canned fish is salty, but dogs require a certain amount of salt, and a homemade diet is naturally low in salt, so the amount in canned fish that is fed once or twice a week should not be a concern. If your dog suffers from heart disease or needs a low-sodium diet for some other reason, you can rinse the fish to remove most of the salt.

There’s a common misconception that dogs jump on people to establish dominance. Balderdash! Dogs jump on people because there’s something about jumping that is reinforcing for the dog - usually the human attention that results from the jumping. If you want your dog to stop jumping on people, you have to be sure he doesn’t get reinforced for it.

We do know that aggression is caused by stress. With the very rare exception of idiopathic aggression – at one time called “rage syndrome,” “Cocker rage,” or “Springer rage” and grossly overdiagnosed in the 1960s and ’70s – aggression is the result of a stress load that pushes a dog over his bite threshold.

The primary function of the dog’s hair is as a protective and insulating coating. But if the eyes are the gateway or the window to the soul, the skin and hair are both gateway and window to the embodiment of an animal’s inner health and well-being. Shiny hair, that is, a hair coat that exudes a healthy and lustrous sheen, is an indicator of overall health of the animal. In contrast, a dull coat that lacks luster is an indicator that the animal isn’t as healthy as she could be.

You can reduce the risk of damage to occasional ill-gotten items by teaching your pup to exchange toys for treats, using something he loves that he's allowed to have, such as a favorite chew toy or a food-stuffed Kong.

The key to this game is he learns that if he gives something up, he gets something better in return and he gets the original thing back as well. Two rewards for the price of one! Then, when he has a forbidden object, he's more likely to bring it to you to trade than to drag his prize to his cave under the dining room table for a leisurely chew. The rare occasion that he doesn't get "the thing" back won't be enough to overcome the programming you've done by playing the "trade" game with him frequently.