Top 10 Dog Myths You Must Read

This post talks about the commonest dog myths that people around us believe in. The deadliest myth is dogs are born biters. Don't believe in such cynophobic and baseless ideas. Apart from this there are other dog myths that most dog owners believe in. Here are the top 10 dog facts that are just myth. Believing these myth may put your dogs to problems.

Suggestion: Understand and Implement.

1. Garlic is good as flea prevention : This is the biggest myth I have ever come across! Researchers have proved that too much of Garlic in your dog food may be dangerous for your dog. Garlic contains natural chemical that affect the Red blood cells that can get ruptured and become incapable of carrying oxygen effectively. However, some dog owners have been giving garlic to their dogs without no issues, but some dogs are more sensitive to garlic toxicity than others. How much is too much for dog is not known yet. Toxicity level varies from dogs to dogs.Garlic has immense benefit to us humans, but is a NO for dogs.
Both garlic and onions contain natural Thiosulfate, which is toxic to canines.

2. Dogs that wag tails are considered happy : This is true, but not always. Even non-friendly dogs wag their tail too. It is important to study other body languages and facial expressions that are cumulatively considered as the indication of a dogs state of mind.

3. Mixed breeds are always sturdy than pure breeds : Not necessarily true.Both pure and mixed breeds can be equally healthy and unhealthy depending on breeding strategies, care and nutrition. Mutts are usually not prone to specific disorders that are typical to certain pure breeds. However, conditions like bloat, dermal problems, heart problems etc. can be seen in both mutts and pure breed dogs.

4. Dogs with warm nose are ill : This is an old school of thought that dogs with warm nose have health issues like fever. This is a myth. The only best way to know if your dog has fever is to check it by thermometer. Normally a healthy dog should have a body temperature of around 102.5 degrees F.

5. Eating grass is an indication of sickness : This is not true. Dogs have descended from the wolves that used to eat all parts of their prey. They also ate the stomach and its content which included grass that the animals ate. This ways grass was the part of the diets of any animals of canidae family. Dogs eating grass is quite normal, if they do not eat it in big volume.

6. Household pet dogs do not require to be vaccinated against rabies : Myth it is always important to vaccinate your dog. This is an indication of responsible ownership. Vaccinating your pet dog against rabies is a precautionary measure for both you and your pet.

7. Female dogs do not cock their legs while urinating : Not always true! Females can lift their legs while urinating and in certain cases they can even exhibit the half sitting-half cocking position while urinating. Check out why do female dogs cock their leg.

8. Dogs are carnivorous animals and should always be kept only on meat : Myth Dogs are actually omnivorous animals like us humans.They need veggies too. Fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat are some of the important ingredients of a perfect holistic dog food. Related Read (though not related to food): Does your dog need vitamins?


9. Dogs love tasty food : Not true. Remember your dogs taste buds are not as strong as yours. Dogs primarily loves food based on smell.

10. Dogs always need high protein diet : Big No! Your dogs diet management should be made on the basis of the amount of calorie it is exhausting each day. Obviously a working dog should be kept on higher protein and carbohydrate as compared to a domestic dog. However, low protein diet also makes low quality food. Right kind of ingredients is essential.

11. Dog understand human language : Not true. You say sit and Rex will sit. This doesn't mean your Rex understands the mean of the word in English. He only knows what to do he hears the particular sound. He acts on the sound.

Here are just a few of thousands of doggy myths. Responsible ownership also demands that you know the correct things related to dogs and not believing the hypes. Stay tuned Up next more talks about dogs.

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Puppy Socialization Checklist

Socialization has always been the most talked about topic in the dog lovers communities across the globe. While many dog owners are adequately experienced in socializing their puppies, others may have many questions, the most common of which are: why socializing my puppy is a necessity? How to socialize my puppy? What should my puppy be socialized to?


When you bring your puppy home the first couple things that need to be kept in the forefront of your mind are... a healthy and hygienic environment for your puppy and yourself and a scientific bring up strategy. Now what does this scientific bring up strategy stands for? Well, by this I meant to indicate a bring up method for your puppy so as to give him/her a balanced life, with proper health and right behavior.


Teaching "right behavior" doesn't only mean teaching your puppy not to greet his loved ones by jumping on them, or to act as you desire on commands. The idea is a little more broad than what you may think of. A dog will be considered to have a "Balanced" and "Right" behavior if he/she is taught to consider certain situations as harmless and non-challenging, and when shows calm and relaxed behavior. This is something that cannot be achieved in a fortnight. Throughout your bringing up process your puppy should be socialized to as many adversities (situations, sights and sounds) as possible. Socializing you puppy is essentially an integral part of an organized bringing up process and should be started out at a very early stage - preferably at an age of 4 to 12 weeks.


Your goal in socializing your puppy


As the basic puppy care tips I would wish to say The goal that you need to set is to give your dog a perfectly balanced life through making him understand that certain situations, sights and sounds are harmful and/or challenging. This can be done through properly exposing your puppy or dog to those factors (situations, sights and sounds). The goal should be to help your puppy or dog to get conditioned to those factors by helping him or her to gain experiences, thereby learning to consider those factors as harmless.


Debunking a few common myths about socializing your dogs

As the goal is to share your life with safer, more relaxed, enjoyable and truly dependable canine companion, it may sound a little hard, and too technical for common dog owners to understand the methods. The fact unleashed: socializing is a very natural process where, as a leader of the pack, your primary role is to plan on what you want your dog to be socialized to. Secondarily, you need to introduce your dogs to those situations continuously and consistently until he/she start considering those situations as friendly.

However all you need to remember that the situations, which your dog is put to, must not be overwhelming for him/her. Remember, puppies have comparatively lower stress bearing limit than their adult counterpart. Canine senior citizens also have comparatively lower stress bearing limit. The introductory process needs to be very natural, calm and SHOULD NEVER BE FORCEFUL. Force will only worsen up the situation for your puppy and you cannot socialize him/her. Each time your puppy is exposed to something, he should not be overwhelmingly stressed.

Say, if you want to socialize your puppy to a group of children and noise created by them, then he/she may cower back in the corner. Do not apply force to take him near the kids. Remember, you need to be a very good observer, and you must keep a constant and close eye on your puppy’s behavior towards a specific situation. Some situations or sounds may prove to be overtly stressful for your puppy, while others may be quite smooth for him/her. If you find your puppy getting excessively stressed out, you should calm him/her by toning down the stress factor.

Although at the very early stage (3 to 12 weeks old) a puppy tends to be quite inquisitive about gathering new experiences - especially smells and situations, this may something turn out to be quite scary for them too. If you notice your puppy getting timid, and showing shyness and lack of confidence to certain new experience(s), start introducing him/her in a very gradual way and progressively. A sudden exposure to a frightening experiences should be avoided, as it will only worsen up his/her experience and he/she will never learn to consider it as harmless. 


What type of situations should your puppy be socialized  to?

There could be innumerable experiences that a owner may like to socialize to. However, some of the most come experiences.

Humans:

People of disability, and/or in wheelchairs and crutches
Older people  - senior citizens who cannot walk normally
Crowd, group of kids or adults, playing and making noise
Men with unusual  mustache and/ or beards
Person carrying certain things, like umbrellas, helmets, masks, hats, sunglasses, strollers, wagons, parcels, sack etc.
People: Bikers - Bikers, cyclists, skateboarders
People in usual garments


Non-Humans
Vehicle horns
Thunder claps
Fireworks and crackers
Loud sound
Running vehicles
Darkness
Separation for few hours
Other animals and pets
Conditioning to grooming sessions


Puppy socialization classes in your location may be safe and organized means of socializing puppies. However, try to get as much information as possible before you enroll your puppy's name in any socializing classes. Canine behaviorists have associated many dog attack incidences with lack of socialization. Understanding dog attacks is hence important for any dog owner.

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Puppy Care Tips for Dog lovers

Looking for puppy care tips? Raising a puppy is an art. Strengthening your bondage with your puppy can be a solution to most wrinkled situations.Loving him, keeping him abreast and making him feel familiar & cozy is the starting point!

First off, congratulations for the new addition to your family. Doesn't really matter what your breed is. Whether Mixed Breed Dogs or a pure breed, there are just a few rules of thumb for puppy care. Responsibility towards a puppy is immense and that starts from prior to bringing in the puppy. If you have not yet brought your dream pup, and if you are on the planning phase, make sure that you make all the arrangements to keep your puppy healthy. Treating his room to make it germ-free is a must. Make sure you wash the his room a few time with disinfectant solutions before bringing him is of utmost importance. Keeping yourself well equipped with adequate information on puppy care is another very important thing. Puppy care is a huge episode that includes everything - starting from bringing him home safely to helping me know you and your place, training him, feeding him good and a lot more! This post is targeted to provide with essential puppy care tips that goes here...

First puppy care tips after bringing him home, is to make sure that your training process should start from day #1. Yes, helping him know his potty place, helping him know his feeding time, and helping him know his pack members (your family) all comes under the training session, which must be a pleasant experience for both you and your puppy.

Second most important tips for effective puppy care is to help him grow with fun and love. Play with him; give him small tidbits for doing desirable things, and you will be able to strengthen your bonding with him, as well as training him to know what's desirable! "Positive reinforcement" is one of the most effective tool to teach your pup desirable things. Although it's not too early to start training him for good behavior at the age of 2 months, but its to be kept in the forefront of your mind that abusive dog training should be avoided throughout his life! Training can be made effective if its a fun session. Just be patient; by making haste in training your pup will not be of any help for you and your puppy.

Thirdly, the diet has a very important role to play. Apart from pure love, fresh water and right medication, he needs completely balanced diet. He should be kept on special nutrition with right quantity of vitamins, fats, protein and minerals.

Fourth most important puppy care tip is to put emphasize on his exercise. Correct type and right volume of exercise is of prime importance on a regular basis. Over exercise is as harmful as not letting him play. Let him play on the grass as much as he can bear. As long as his tongue gets hanged out he should be allowed to run around off-leash. It is unwise not to stop him running and playing around even after his tongue's carried out. Over exhaustion may prove to be detrimental for his growth.

Fifth very important thing is sleep. Sleep is a very important component in the entire puppy care session. Your puppy with sleep longer than  any adult dog. A deep sleep after a good meal will have a very positive affect on his health. 

Sixth is vaccination! No one can deny the importance of annual vaccination. Your puppy should be fully vaccinated against all viral and infectious diseases. Your vet is the most important source of information on puppy vaccination. Vaccination largely depends on what part of the world you live in, though there are some common disease that your puppy should be immunized against. These are however, Distemper, Canine Adenovirus, Parvo, Rabies, Kennel Cough, Coronavirus and Canine hepatitis. You vet is the best person to guide you on more vaccination if needed. I have come across people several times who against vaccination, because they believe vaccines have side-effects.  The fact is... puppy vaccines are generally very safe for dogs, irrespective of breed, until the vaccines have not crossed the expiry dates and your puppy is healthy at the time you are vaccinating. Very mild reactions like fever, loss of appetite, dizziness etc. may be noticed, which usually gets resolved within 24 - 48 hours without any major treatment.        

Seventh... "socialization". When it comes to puppy care, you have to be very serious about socializing your puppy. Socializing a puppy means helping him mingle to the external world that is composed of various weirdness and strange things like sound, smell, people, other animals, incidences and different textures of situations!  Take him out and get him exposed to different incidences like a flying bird, dropping leaves, screeching car breaks, blowing horns, barking dogs, approaching strangers, playing kids etc.  BUT, taking him out is always recommended after the first course of vaccinations are over.

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Tips on Raising a New Puppy

Raising a new puppy has always been an issue of worries for many around me. Interestingly I know many dog lovers, who haven’t adopted a dog yet, because they think that raising a puppy isn’t a simple task. If you are among those few people, who have such a wrong notion, then you are quite unfortunate to miss something really precious. Yes, a pet’s love is priceless… don’t miss it! All you need is to choose the right thing and make the right decision while raising a puppy; and things will become pretty simple. A responsible dog owner tries to make things simple, instead of thinking things in a complicated way. Here's how to raise a puppy in simple ways.

While raising a dog, the first thing that’s to be decided is what your dog’s life is going to be like. Remember, dogs are happy when they are kept as dog; and responsible owners demands to make your dog’s life happy. Three things are needed for a dog to thrive well and obviously essential to raise a puppy…1) Good Food, 2) Fresh Water and 3) Pure Love.

Good food doesn’t only mean right quantity, but quality too. Dogs should be provided with large qualities of protein and high carbohydrate diet. Your dog can convert the protein and carbohydrate into energy. A puppy’s diet can be as complex as yours, although apparently it seems to be quite simple. It is absolutely essential that you should hit all of the vital nutritional bases while planning your puppy’s diet. A deficiency or over administration of certain vitamins and nutrients may lead to certain problems like tummy upset, brittle bones, overly oily or dry skin, over weight or under weight, and unsatisfactory growth. Plan your puppy’s diet to include all the major sources of the most essential minerals such as Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium and Iron, Copper, Zinc, chloride, Iodine, Manganese and Selenium.

Raise your puppy in love. And if you really love him, you will surely try to make his life happy and healthy. Socialization is one very important part of raising a puppy. Proper socialization will make both your and the puppy’s life happy. Confidence building can only be done through properly socializing your puppy.

Puppies may find teasing to be either unpleasant or enjoyable. Right way to raise a puppy is to train him up to enjoy good-natured teasing. Make him feel that it’s just a game to be enjoyed. Malicious teasing hereby refers to cruelty to animals; so avoid it straight way.
Puppies love to chase. Chase and be chased; make him feel that the game is non-threatening, secured and enjoyable so as to let him know that he’s loved. Try to communicate with him; know him better and let him know what you think. Read out HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH DOGS.

Don't feel guilty since you are confining him occasionally. We put infants in cribs, because we think about their safety and security. Remember, you are intelligently using his “den instinct” by confining him at times, and he feels good to be enclosed. This is another way of building confidence too. Keeping him alone and confined and staying away from him periodically will teach him that loneliness is non-threatening.

Toy addiction is common in puppies. Apart from high quality food, lot of sleep, routine exercise or play, you need to be quite serious about his toys. He tends to chew up whatever comes in his way. Take care that his toys are safe.

Keep your puppy away from poisonous materials. Read out what are POISONS FOR YOUR DOG and their symptoms when ingested.

At the bottom line, remember raising a puppy is all about a responsible ownership. If you are responsible enough, you can guarantee a super quality life of your dog by simply following these tips on raising a new puppy. Irresponsibility is going to make simple things really complex.

Read out DOG CARE TIPS.

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