March 9th, 2010
Dog Quote: Man is an animal that makes bargains; no other animal does this….no dog exchanges bones with another. ….Adam Smith How much food does your dog really need? Along with the general population of people, dogs are also suffering from obesity from eating the wrong food and eating too much food. It is relatively easy to control the amount of food your dog is eating and it is essential that you gauge its weight on a regular basis to ensure that it doesn’t get obese. Dogs can suffer from many different ailments due to obesity including diabetes. There are an increasing number of dogs suffering from this disease and in most cases this could have been avoided through the correct nutrition and monitoring the amount of food the dog has been eating. More Information: Dog Training Tactics Having a dog with diabetes will necessitate the injection of insulin or in some cases taking of pills to assist in the maintenance of the correct sugar levels in their blood. Obviously this involves additional expense and inconvenience and there is also a danger that should the insulin level be incorrect your pet could die. It makes sense then that your dog should only eat what is good for it and in quantities that won’t result in it developing health problems later in life. Working dogs will need more food for the energy that they will expend in the course of the day but a dog that lays around the house all day and doesn’t get any exercise will not need to eat the same portions of food. You should weigh your dog on a regular basis and see whether it is gaining or losing weight and adjust the amount of food it is eating accordingly. More Information: Dog Training Tactics -
Dog Quote: A dog is the only thing on this earth that loves you more than he loves himself. ….Josh Billings The Command to Come when Called. One of the most basic and important commands that you will need to teach your dog is to come when called. No matter what else happens, if you have taught your dog this command you will always be able to maintain control whether at home or in public. Should your dog ever get off it’s leash or escape from your property you will know that when you call it that it will come back and this certainly makes life a lot easier for the dog owner. More Information: Dog Training Tactics For working dogs, this is a vital skill as a handler needs to know that at any time they can get the dog back beside them and ready for their next command. When you are comfortable that your dog knows the commands of ’stay’ and ‘come’ you no longer have to be as concerned that it needs to be kept on a leash at all times. This allows both the owner and the dog to have a lot more freedom. Generally, this command of ‘come’ is incorporated when teaching the dog to stay, as these two lessons work hand-in-hand with one another. The dog is first taught to stay and then the owner will teach the dog to come, while still on an extended leash. After gaining success in getting the dog to come, while still on a leash, the owner can then teach it to do so without the leash. Obviously for an untrained animal this would be better taught in an enclosed area until the dog has learned to respond to that command. More Information: Dog Training Tactics
