Dog Nutrition & Health

Dog Nutrition

Dog food nutrition is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle for your pet. Dogs, just like everyone else, have specific nutritional needs. Dogs lack the ability to communicate their problems, so it's up to their owners to determine how healthy they are. Diet directly affects your dog's skin and coat, weight, energy level, and gastrointestinal function. Diet, environmental toxins, pharmaceuticals and stress all play a part in the health of companion animals. Dog nutrition influences overall health, including skin and coat condition.

Feeding your dog can be done in three different ways: dog food purchased at the supermarket, dog food made at home or a combination of both. If you do decide to purchase commercial dog food I would suggest doing some reading up about it, in the past few years many commercial dog foods have had to be recalled due to contaminants that are found in dog food. Many dog owners are increasingly choosing holistic dog food, over the commercially available pet food, in a bid to introduce their dogs to a healthier, more balanced diet. Dog food should contain little or no fillers at all, but most of them do so your actually not giving your dog the correct diet it needs to be healthy. Many recipes can be found on the Internet for dog meals you can make from your home.

Aside from what you choose to feed your dog it is important to ensure that your dog is not be given access to food all the time. This can create obesity, which can create a variety of different illness for your dog. Free-feeding is also very unhelpful for the training of meal times in puppies and leaving food out in hot summer months can bring flies, mites and other various rodents out of the woodwork. It is suggested your dog is on a feeding schedule and remember to only give the amount prescribed by your vet, too much food can also create obesity. Remember, dogs are scavengers; an empty bowl is often a trigger for pleading or browsing behaviour and does not mean that your dog is starving.

Feeding your dog table scraps can also be a bad training and nutrition habit. Your dog will beg while you eat your dinner, which can be uncomfortable for guests but also human fats, and foods are not always good for your dog as they are for you. I suggest feeding your family while your dog eats his food in another room. This way he won't feel left out.

Dogs have shorter digestive tracts than humans and larger chunks can upset your dogs' stomach. Your dog needs a meat-based diet, high in protein (which isn't stored as fat) and fat and low in carbohydrate. Nutrition isn't always about diet. Good nutrition leads to good health and so do many other things, such as exercise, keeping its weight down (through good nutrition and regular exercise) keeping its teeth clean (next to obesity, periodontal disease is the one most commonly seen in the vet's office) getting it to the vet for regular check-ups being observant about symptoms that might indicate a health problem and getting prompt and appropriate veterinary attention (information below).

You might also want to consider alternative treatments for any sickness or allergy your dog has. These may include nutrition, herbs, acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage, as well as traditional medicines. These alternatives are all natural and better for your dog's body than chemical drugs and have no side effects at all. As more people understand the importance of nutrition to their own health, they're starting to consider what's in their dog's food bowl as well. Maximum nutrition dog food can do a lot for your dog's well being by improving its appearance, energy level and general state of health.

Learn what you should be feeding your dog at every stage of its life. By understanding what puppies eat in the wild, you will learn valuable clues as to what you should be feeding your domestic pup. The degree to which modern dogs experience ill health reflects the degree to which they are subjected to biologically inappropriate methods of feeding and exercising. If your dog constantly leaves some food in the bowl, you are probably feeding too much food. Maintain your dog's nutrition, food, diet, and eating habits and he/she will live a joyful life with you and your loved ones.

Dog Health

Providing shelter and food for your dog is not your only duty as a dog owner. You need to take care of a whole lot of things to make sure your dog stays hale and hearty and enjoys a long, happy life. Basically, it is all about knowing what is good and what is bad for your dog's health.

The need to know about canine health
As a dog owner, the last thing you want to see is your dog suffering from various health problems. Unfortunately, pet dogs are vulnerable to a lot of health problems - right from bacterial infections to cancer. Given below is a list of things you can do to prevent these health problems and keep your dog healthy for a long time.

Healthy Dog Diet
Feeding your dog a healthy, balanced diet is the simplest way to prevent most dog health problems. Be sure to provide your dog with an AAFCO certified food. According to Consumer Reports, who interviewed many veterinarians, price is less important than certification. If you dog is healthy and doesn't require any sort of dietary restrictions, then a commercial diet from a known company is fine. In general, the average companion dogs need the following nutritional profile per pound of body weight.
Nutrient
Energy 10 kcal
Water 10 ml
Protein 1 gm
Sodium 10 mg
Phosphorus 20 mg

Water
Like people, have a constant supply of clean water to drink is essential. Give your dog the same water you give yourself (filtered etc.). To encourage drinking and urination, consider providing more than one water bowl in the house and take your dog for frequent walks if possible. Urination is natures way of cleansing the urinary tract and for keeping infection and stones from taking hold.

Exercise
Do not let your dog stay dormant all the time. Physical inactivity tends to affect its physical and mental health badly. So, make sure it gets enough physical exercise. There are plenty of good exercises for dogs like walking, swimming, fetching, and stairs climbing. Regular exercise prevents stress, makes your dog active, increases its metabolic rate, strengthens its joints, and improves its overall health. So, if you want to prevent dog health problems, make sure your dog stays active. Activity can be enhanced with a fetch ball or a kong toy that causes your dog to solve the puzzle of how to release food that is hidden inside.

Grooming
Contrary to what most people think, grooming is not just about making your dog look good. It helps prevent bacterial and viral infections that commonly affect dogs. So, make sure you bathe your dog regularly. Clean its ears from dog ear wax and teeth on a regular basis. Brush it at least twice a week and clip its nails regularly.

Cleanliness
According to pet health experts, exposure to harmful chemicals is one of the main causes of canine health problems. So, limit the use of pesticides, herbicides, and weed killers to the extent possible. Second hand smoke is harmful to your dog's health as well. So, make your home a no-smoking zone.

Health supplements
Consider giving your dog a natural health supplement. According to homeopathic veterinarians, these types of products can be a helpful was to strengthen the body's natural immune response to disease. You can give supplements that contain herbs like Huang Qi, Mistletoe, Milk Thistle, and Indian Ginseng that are known for their ability to treat and prevent various dog health problems.

These herbs can boost your dog's immune system, improve the functioning of its vital organs, keep its blood pressure levels under control, increase its energy levels, and support a healthy appetite and vitality. Since these canine health supplements are 100% natural, there are no risks of side effects at all. To get the best results, you can make them a part of your dog's regular diet.

Love and care
You didn't think I was going to finish this article without mentioning this, did you? Dog health does not mean just physical health. It also means mental health. It is about keeping your dog happy. How do you keep your dog happy? It's simple - by loving him. Your dog needs your love and attention more than anything else. Pat your dog. Reward him whenever he does something good. Make him understand that you love him. Pamper him and make him feel good. It is one of the simplest ways to keep your dog happy and active.

Dog Training / Discipline

Whether you already have experience of dog ownership, are a new dog owner or are about to be a dog owner, then training your dog is one of the most important aspects you need to consider. Likewise if you currently have a dog with behavior problems, then dog training is essential.
However, knowing you need to train your dog and actually training your dog are two entirely different things. Just where do you start?
To successfully train your dog, you need to consider and understand some key facets of dog behavior. Knowing and understanding these 5 facets will greatly improve your dog training.
1. The origins of dogs. Dogs are in essence descended from modern day wolves. While domestication has dampened or eliminated many traits, some key natural instincts still remain. Like wolves, dogs are pack animals. What does this mean?
Well, there are several traits that derive from being a pack animal. The important ones when it comes to training are dogs are naturally sociable, they are used to routine and they are used to a social structure (i.e. the famed alpha male).
As sociable animals dogs thrive on the interaction with other dogs. A dog does not consider you as a human but rather a funny looking dog. Therefore, dogs thrive on the interaction with you. Just like a wild wolf, rejected by the pack, if you starve a dog of this interaction, they will become unhappy and very agitated.
When it comes to training, you can use this to reward or punish your dog. Interacting with your dog (e.g. patting, encouraging/excited talk, etc) can be as much of a reward as treats of food. Similarly, ignoring your dog (e.g. turning your back, stern talk, putting them in another room, etc) can be a harsh punishment for a dog. Its definitely better than smacking them.
As with all animals (including humans), dogs thrive on routine. If they know what and when they are likely to be doing certain things, then they are relaxed and comfortable. They know what to expect and are not confused by ever changing circumstances.
Training should also stick to a routine. Decide when the best time of the day is best for you to train your dog and stick by that time as rigidly as possible. Your dog will soon get into a routine of expecting to be trained at say 3pm every day and will be prepared for when training time comes. If your dog is ready and expecting to be trained, then it goes without saying that they will actually train better.
Within a pack there is always the alpha male. The dog that leads the pack, protects the pack and ultimately ensures the pack is fed and survives. As mentioned, a dog sees you as a funny looking dog and not a human. To be a good dog owner you absolutely need to be the alpha male. How many nature programs have you seen where the alpha male is being challenged by one of the other would be alpha males? Likewise, your dog will be challenging you to be the alpha male - this is a natural instinct for them.
You must establish yourself as the alpha male from the beginning. Providing food, interaction, punishing bad behaviour, body and vocal language all go towards asserting yourself as the alpha male. If your dog does not consider you as the alpha male, then they will not listen or act on your training instructions.
2. A dog's memory. We all know that goldfish have short memories. However, you may be surprised to know that dogs also have short retention memories. If you could tell your dog something, it is likely that by the next day or a few hours later, they will have forgotten. On the other had (or paw) dogs do have incredibly good associated memory. This basically means that if your dog can associated something with what you tell it then it will likely remember what you told it for years to come.
For example if you told your dog (assuming you could speak doggy language) that the chocolate biscuits were in the cupboard your dog would probably forget this within a few hours. However, if you showed your dog where the chocolate biscuits were, repeating the words 'chocolate biscuits', every time you said 'chocolate biscuits' it would probably go straight to the cupboard. It may also search the cupboard every few hours for the rest of its life looking for the chocolate biscuits but that's not the point.
Therefore, when training your dog you need to associate the training topic with something. For example: if you are teaching your dog to sit. If you associate the word 'sit' by getting your dog to physically sit and then giving them a reward. Repeat this a few times and soon your dog will associate your command 'sit' with it physically sitting and then getting a reward. The difficult bit is disassociating the reward - ask yourself why almost every dog will naturally sit when you have food in your hand?
3. Doggy language. Despite comments above, we cannot speak doggy language and dogs cannot speak our language. This is important when it comes to training. You have to choose words for commands that both you and your dog will remember. Be careful not to choose very common words or else your dog will be easily confused when this word keeps appearing within the middle of a sentence. A common word often used in training dogs is 'come'. For this example, it may be better to use a slang version or combine 'come here' into a single short word.
The important thing is that when you decide on a word for a command to stick with it and be consistent, otherwise your dog will become confused.
I know it can be difficult, especially if you come home to your new TV pulled off the cabinet, to always use pre-selected words when talking to your dog. Your dog does not speak human language and will only know what those few words you have trained it with are (and the tone you have used). So if you start using other words or different tones your dog will not understand.
For example: imagine someone speaking to you in a foreign language asking for directions to the city hall. You can't understand a word they are saying yet they get more and more frustrated, talking in a louder and quicker language. Is it your fault you can't understand them? Why are they getting angrier when you have no idea what they are saying? What is their problem? What will I do? Similarly, if you haven't trained your dog to understand what 'sit' is and you start shouting 'sit', 'down on back legs', 'down', etc is it your dog's fault it is looking at you confused and increasingly scared.
4. Puppy behaviour. Just like babies, puppies do not know how the world works or how they are supposed to behave within that world. They need to be taught and learn what is good, bad, right or wrong.
A healthy and happy puppy will be a bundle of energy, desperate to explore as much as they can as quickly as they can. Dogs do not have good eyes that can see things or hands that can feel the intricacies of objects. Instead they have noses that can smell things and mouths that can chew objects.
While this can come through training and general maturing, the importance of this is that you must be patient and understand where your dog is coming from and why it does what it does.
5. Structure and enjoyment. While I have in a round about way touched on these two above, no dog training information would be complete without mentioning these two aspects on their own.
However you decide to train your dog, as with routine, you must have a structure to your training. If you have never trained a dog before, how do you know when your dog can start learning to sit, stay, etc and when it can run down to the local shop and pick the paper up for you?
You need to know what it is you actually want to train your dog to ultimately be able to do and what steps you need to take to get to that point. Personnel dog trainers, dog training classes and dog training guides can all do this. Personally, I prefer to train my own dogs and believe that in the end you develop a much stronger bond with your dog. Also, your dog is more obedient to you rather than the trainer. However, at the very least, and particularly if you have never trained a dog before, I would recommend purchasing a dog training guide.
The small amount of money for a dog training guide, compared to the time you would waste searching for free online tips that will be a mix match of training and will not provide the structure, is just not worth it. More than that, the time saved in training and the end result of a properly trained dog for the rest of its life (around 15 years) is worth many times more than the cost of even the most basic training guide.
If you, and more importantly your dog, do not enjoy training then you will never properly train your dog. Training will take longer and be much harder. When you start training your dog remember they are most likely to be a puppy and at that age all they want to do is run and explore their new world. Be flexible with the time you plan to spend training. Try and keep training short but if your dog appears to be really enjoying it then be prepared to train for longer. Likewise if your dog will just not focus, then maybe leave it for a bit before going back to it. With a routine and structure to your training, your dog will soon learn that when it comes to training they need to focus for a short length of time and will be better able to do so.
I hope the above has been helpful in your desire to train your dog. By knowing why and how your dog does what it does, you should be able to understand it's behaviour much better. By using this understanding you can better bond with your dog and train your dog. A good training routine and structure as well as plenty of patience and eventually you will have a well trained dog. Always always always make sure training is enjoyable for both you and especially your dog.

Dog Grooming

If you have a dog, then you are already familiar with the art of dog grooming. If you are just considering a new pet, there is plenty to think about and this includes their appearance. Some dogs are easier to care for than others, including ones with shorter hair. A dog with long hair requires daily brushing and sheds constantly, which can make for a long day of vacuuming. Dogs with short hair, on the other hand, can be brushed several times each week and their fur will not fill up your vacuum as quickly.

A part of proper dog grooming is finding the right hair brush for your pet. Gentle strokes will allow your pet to get used to the idea of being brushed, which can make them anxious at first. A regular bath is also a part of dog grooming, which can sometimes be the messiest. In the beginning, pets are often resistant to the idea of a bath. It's best to start as early as possible in teaching your dog how to act, which can be done by bathing your puppy early in his/her life. When they are able to run and play, they are able to have a bath and will probably even grow to enjoy it after time. If you have a friend or relative who is willing to help you, invite them over. While one holds the puppy, the other can wash him/her with a washcloth.

If you are unable to handle dog grooming, there are businesses that can take care of it for you. A local veterinarian or animal hospital is likely to have grooming services, along with businesses specifically dedicated to this purpose. In exchange for a fee, your pet can have his/her nails clipped, be given a bath and get their fur brushed all in one afternoon. This process isn't necessarily a lengthy one, but it's best to make an appointment before showing up for dog grooming.

The proper dog grooming techniques will make your pet to feel better overall and will make you happy to see that your pet is in good spirits. Even though they love to dig in our yard or investigate every hole that they find, dogs love to feel good and a part of that means being clean and well groomed. Dog grooming is also a reflection of how much you care for your pet, so let the world know how much you love them.

Dog Disease - Addison's Disease

Addison's disease (canine Hypoadrenocorticism) is a condition in which, due to malfunctioning of our pet's adrenal glands, insufficient cortisol or aldosterone is being produced. Proper functioning of the adrenal gland is very important, as this gland produces many other hormones essential to your pets health. It's malfunctioning can lead to several severer complications. Since this dog disease gives birth to many other health problems, it's early diagnoses and treatment is a must. Yet since it's symptoms are commonly present in many other diseases the condition is often misdiagnosed. This results in delay of the proper treatment. Once diagnosed the disease is easy to treat , even though your pet would have to remain on lifetime medication.

The disease is present genetically in most canine breeds but Great Danes, Standard Poodles, Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers, Bearded Collies, and Portuguese Water Dogs are more prone to it. Dogs of both sexes can develop this condition at any age, but it is more common in middle aged female dogs. Some dogs may develop this condition after undergoing surgery close to the the pituitary gland. In such an eventuality the disease is termed as secondary Addison's .

The symptoms of this disease are:

• Hyper pigmentation.
• Lethargy.
• Muscular weakness.
• Muscle tremors.
• Lack of appetite
• Shivering.
• Pain in the joints.
• Diarrhea and vomiting.
  

Should you notice any of these consult your vet for an immediate examination. Early diagnosis and treatment will help eliminate severe complications which develop if treatment is delayed.

In case your pet is found to be suffering from Addison's dog disease, you have many options for treatment. These include synthetic cortisol or intravenous saline injections, hydro-cortisone tablets, prednisone or fludrocortisone acetate.

Your vet is the best person to decide on the treatment and dosage.Remember, an early diagnosis and treatment plays an essential part in ensuring an active and normal life for your pet; even though he would be placed on life time medication.