Interesting toys to Entertain a Lonely/Depressed/Bored Dog

When you are away on a trip, do you leave your pet at home? Are you gone for long periods during the day for work or play? If so, have you ever come home to find some of your things (couch, clothes, walls, etc) torn up and you just don’t know why? I mean, you left a plush dog toy, food, water, and even went as far as to leave the television or radio on. So, why did your pet act up? Well, maybe you just didn’t leave the right dog chew toy for your pooch to play with while you were away.

Finding interesting dog chew toys to keep your dog entertained or happy while you are away can be a challenge. But, it is not impossible. There are actually some great dog chew toys and plush dog toys that are on the market today that can help any pooch that is lonely or spends any time away from you. It all depends on the breed and the age of your pet as to which dog chew toy or plush dog toy is right to keep your “other” child happy.

If you have a puppy, a great option are the new plush dog toys that can be warmed in the microwave to impersonate the feel of their siblings. These plush dog toys are about the same size as a normal size puppy, and the warmth can help to soothe a puppy to sleep or to help keep him company while you are at work. There are also some other great plush dog toys that have a small blanket attached to the body for your pup to snuggle with when he is sleepy or lonely. Another great option to leave out for a puppy are the indestructible dog toys so your pup can play and have a good time, without tearing up anything!

If you have an older dog, you can also find great plush dog toys that will help your pooch to relax when you are away for long periods of time. These plush dog toys come in all sizes and can give your pet something to snuggle with when they are lonely or scared. Some dog experts even suggest spraying a squirt of your perfume or cologne on the plush dog toy so it will smell like you and help to relax your pet even more. Rope dog toys are also great playthings for your older pet while you are away, as it gives them something to play with, without tearing up your things.

Before you head out on your next trip, take some time to head to the local pet store and find a great dog chew toy and a snuggly, plush dog toy to help keep your pet company while you are away. If you truly put some time and effort into selecting the right plush dog toy for your pooch to snuggle while and the right tug dog toy for him to play with, you will come home to find your things intact and your pet happy.

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Visit http://www.PetsEverywhere.com for more fun ideas to spend time with your pets.
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Warning: These Foods Are Toxic For Dogs

18 Household Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog.

Does your dog eat table scraps? Does he beg for food (successfully) while you’re having a meal? Do you put the remains of your family meal into his feeding bowl?

Some of these foods can kill your dog!

NOTE: You will see that many of these foods cause similar symptoms, so it can be difficult to identify which ingredient is the culprit, especially if you feed your dog assorted table scraps or servings of meals which you eat yourself. Many of these foods cause damage to the liver and kidneys and may also affect the heart.

Chocolate: Most dogs love chocolate. It’s so easy, when you’re eating a chocolate bar, to give the dog a piece, just as a reward for being your friend. I’ll bet the kids do the same.

Chocolate contains caffeine and bromethalin, both of which are poisonous to your dog. Dark chocolate is more dangerous, because it is more concentrated. A dog can consume milk chocolate and appear to be fine because it is not as concentrated, but it is still dangerous. Dark Baker’s chocolate is the most toxic to your dog.

Symptoms of chocolate poisoning include difficulty in breathing, vomiting, arrythmia, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, tremors, staggering, fever, increased heart rate, and can result in seizures, coma and death.

Grapes and Raisins can cause acute renal failure in dogs. Just one serving of raisins can kill a dog. Symptoms include diarrhoea, abdominal pain and lethargy.

Mushrooms can be deadly. Never feed your dog pizza or any other food containing mushrooms or let your dog chew on mushrooms found in your yard. Mushrooms can cause a wide range of damage, including abdominal pain, drooling, liver damage, kidney damage, vomiting diarrhoea, convulsions, coma and even death.

Coffee, Cocoa and Tea and indeed, anything containing caffeine (like chocolate). Symptoms are similar to those for chocolate and include staggering, laboured breathing, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, tremors, fever, heart rate increase, arrythmia, seizures, coma and death

Xylitol is an artificial sweetener even a small amount can cause liver failure and death. Dr. Eric Dunayer, who specializes in toxicology at The Animal Poison Control Center of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that dogs ingesting substantial amounts of items sweetened with xylitol could develop a sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in depression, loss of co-ordination, and seizures.

“These signs can develop quite rapidly, at times less than 30 minutes after ingestion of the product. Therefore, it is crucial that pet owners seek veterinary treatment immediately,” Dr. Dunayer said. He also said that there appears to be a strong link between xylitol ingestions and the development of liver failure in dogs.

Pips and kernels of various fruits can contain cyanide! Whilst the fruit itself is perfectly good for dogs, care should be taken that they do not consume the pips and seeds. Pear pips, the kernels of plums, peaches and apricots, apple core pips all contain cyanogenic glycosides, which cause cyanide poisoning.

Tomatoes can cause tremors and heart arrhythmia. Tomato plants are the most toxic, but tomatoes themselves are also unsafe.

Onions and Garlic can cause oxidative damage to the red blood cell membrane, resulting in hemolysis, or the rupturing of red blood cells and causing difficulty in breathing, diarrhoea, liver damage, vomiting and discoloured urine. Although garlic has the stronger taste and smell, onions are much more toxic but both are very dangerous.

Pizzas can be potentially dangerous because most of them contain either onions, or tomatoes or mushrooms, or a combination of all three.

The dangers of excessive salt in the diet of humans are well recognized and documented. With a much smaller body mass, dogs are particularly vulnerable to the same sort of cardiovascular problems and also to kidney damage.

In the same way that excessive salt is harmful to both dogs and humans, animal fat and fried foods are hazardous. Excessive fat can cause pancreatitis.

Macadamia Nuts and Walnuts: Macadamia nuts can cause weakness, muscle tremor and paralysis. Limit all other nuts as they are not good for dogs in general, their high phosphorous content is said to possibly lead to bladder stones.

Nutmeg can cause tremors, seizures and death

Avocados: The fruit, pit and plant are all toxic. They can cause difficulty in breathing and fluid accumulation in the chest, abdomen and heart.

Antifreeze is certainly not a food but it has a smell and a sweet taste which is palatable to dogs. It is very toxic to dogs and just a small amount can cause renal failure. Dogs should be kept well away from any suspicious looking spills of liquid, particularly in any garage areas.

Some Commercial Dog Foods contain toxins and poisons which are not neutralized in the rendering process and which are prohibited from human foods. A full report, from vets and other authoritive sources can be found from the link below;

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Ken Charles is the GPS webmaster at http://www.allabout-dogs.co.uk which covers all aspects of dog ownership, including Dog Foods, Dog Breeds, Dog Training and Dog Health.

Learn how NOT to train a dog!

Dogs “walking” their owners, pulling and straining as if they’re pulling a cart. Dogs who pee in other peoples houses (it happened to me) Dogs who run off and won’t come back. Big dogs who jump at little ones as if they want to kill and eat them for breakfast (and maybe they do) Small fearful dogs who howl, bark and go crazy at anything. And of course dogs that jump up at you - or worse strangers and worse still stranger children. Then worst of all dogs who bite or shall we say “nibble” allsorts of things - at best your shoes. At worst other people . and that can mean death for the dog in some situations.

Just about every dog owner truly wants to train their dog well. But a nearly equal number will underestimate the time, skill and elbow grease it takes to do it as it needs to be done - Especially if they are a new dog owner and have bought a high energy breed when they should have gone for a lower energy submissive type. The result is often a common catalogue of errors that can be, with more or less effort, headed off before they begin.

Lets get one thing carved in stone right away - Dogs are not hairy fluffy kids. We can wish it were so but it’s not and never will be! Though the average grown dog has a mental development someplace approximately on the level of a human two year old, there are more deviations than there are similarities. Dogs can be amazing at understanding spoken communication. But they don’t reason out or get context the way humans do. They don’t associate cause and effect in the same way.

As a result, it can be frustrating to repeat the same command over and over, only to have the dog apparently ignore you. Most times, they are not ignoring the command as much as failing to understand it. It seems it should be obvious - they’ve done the action with success many times before - but today they are just ‘being obstinate’.

Some dogs likely are what would, in humans, be called obstinate. But they can be easily distracted, or fail to associate today’s case of ‘come’ with yesterday’s action and subsequent reward. There are alternate explanations for their behavior.

Patience is the number one required quality, therefore. You have to be geared up to repeat the same order, day in and day out, and occasionally not get the same outcome. Many dogs take two years to learn anything beyond the easiest basics to the point that it consistently sticks.

Part of that patience means keeping your temper when you would like to lash out physically. It’s easy to use physical punishment as the first route of correcting a dog’s behavior. But that’s reserved in the wild for only the most severe circumstances. So, the dog hasn’t evolved to understand why you’re hitting them. It instills fear, not trust. Just don’t EVER do it. It’s totally counter-productive and won’t help anyway.

Dogs, like humans, much more readily follow those they trust than those they fear. The latter they do only when they have no choice. But dogs make choices very differently from people. They will usually just endure the punishment without learning anything. Physical punishment just isn’t an effective training technique.

So, here’s how NOT to train your dog:

- Forget that your dog has a nature unlike yours. Talk to them like they were a human child. Call them and act to them like “my baby” ahh my little soldier etc. Would mummys little man like a sweetie? STOP - It’s a dog - Do wild dogs treat each other like that? No they don’t. So stop acting against nature and learn to treat your dog like wild dog pack leader treats pack.

- Believe that the dog can associate consequences across time and conditions, then draw the same conclusion you would. Except that is - ironically - bad lessons. Dogs learn to associate bad things very well which is a fast route to creating a fearful and dangerous dog.

- Get impatient and frustrated when they don’t behave as you want them to. Punish them for not behaving the way you want. As with above, impatience and punishment create fear . Fear creates aggression and/or neurotic behavior.

Follow those futile techniques and you’ll harvest the pay back of a neurotic dog and you will be an unhappy owner. But if these are not the results you desire, be prepared to change YOUR behavior, before you try to alter the dog’s.

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From London originally, Nick now lives in Stockholm with wife Lena and Gunnar, an 18 month old Border Terrier. wine refrigerator He likes long forest and lake walks, is learning Swedish, sells on ebay and publishes Dog help websites, for example - http://www.nicksdogland.info which is stuffed full of dog training tips and other things doggy.

Dogs get into trouble all of the time. For starters, they can turn your squeaky-clean pad to a total mess in no time flat. But how can you find it in yourself to scold them when they amble up to you with remorseful, innocent, puppy-dog eyes?

Here’s how. How to keep him from chewing the wrong things: For starters, pups tend to gnaw on anything and everything they see. This can be remedied by crate training, or by placing your dog somewhere away from any areas that might be potentially harmful for him (like electrical wiring).

You can also provide chew toys (some are edible) and let him know which things are okay to gnaw on. Do not give him old things like shoes or socks to chew on. This might give him the idea that it’s also okay to chew on your “other” shoes as well.

Remember that puppies don’t differentiate between things that he can chew and those that he shouldn’t. Anti-bite liquids, which are available in pet shops, can be sprayed onto items he shouldn’t chew ‘ these liquids are bitter and will often keep him away from the item after a quick taste.

How to keep him from straying during walks: During walks, your dog may yank the leash to get closer to spots that interest him. To avoid being “dog handled,” stand still and do not reinforce the dog’s direction. As soon as he is settled (he comes close enough to have a slack in the leash), praise him for his good behavior.

How to keep him from making a fuss when you leave or arrive: Since he usually becomes agitated before you leave the home or after you return, your dog may be overly frantic when he sees you. When you see the signs of separation anxiety, take five minutes to just sit and ignore his pawing, whining, or any other attention-seeking action. Don’t speak or look at him. After five minutes, go ahead with what you plan to do with your day.

How to keep him from greeting guests too enthusiastically: Similarly, he may become overly emotional when it comes to greeting guests. One technique would be to let your friends visit your home often. When your dog starts jumping around, both you and your friends should ignore him. This way, your pet can practice curbing his tendency to become very overwhelmed. When your dog has calmed down, ask your friends to praise him.

How to keep him from being rowdy for no reason: Sometimes, dogs can appear to have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) too. Behaviors like chasing inanimate objects or persistent barking for no reason are a few manifestations of doggy OCD. This usually means the dog is bored, or has energy that he’d like to find an outlet for. This is remedied by taking him out for exercise more often ‘ twice daily should be enough.

These are only a few examples of bad behavior in dogs. If he has other behaviors that bother you, check with his veterinarian for advice. Vets can help you train your dog to be the best friend you want him to be. Orovo detox

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For more information go to http://www.petclips.tv

Dog Agility Training

The question is just who needs dog agility training? Isn’t it true that dogs are just naturally fit and agile, able to run, jump, chase Frisbees and balls.

The truth in part is that dogs are naturally gifted athletes by their very nature. Most dogs have very muscular bodies in proportion to their weight. Because of this they are able to run very fast, jump high (you ought to see Mandy, our German Sheppard), and perform many types of spectacular stunts. The fact is, however, that dog agility training involves more than just training a dog to run or jump.

Dog agility training involves teaching your dog how to perform particular stunts and tasks on your command. It may include improving their time over an obstacle course. You can also teach them how to perform certain stunts in a special manner.

The type of dog agility training to which I refer would typically apply to show dogs. Show dogs need to run, jump or keep a certain pace according to to the show’s requirements. Besides that, those dogs also need to keep in step with their owner or trainer. They have to be able to follow an obstacle course in a specific order.

Your dog being able to learn how to perform all these things is only half the experience. Your dog needs to learn how to do these skills in a certain way, at a specific speed and when give a hand signal or a vocal command.

It is always fun to watch dogs who have undergone dog agility training. Before you embark on training your pet this way or consider enrolling them into a school for such training you should stop and consider certain things.

First, many schools that specialize in this type of training will only accept dogs that are at least 18 months old. There is a good reason for this. Younger dogs are still growing. If you try to force them to learn advanced or difficult tricks or routines, it is possible that you will stunt their growth or cause some long term damage.

Second, it is important to keep the dog’s physical makeup in mind. Obviously, small breed dogs with their shorter legs cannot always perform jumps. Larger dogs, on the other hand, may have difficulty with tunnels. When you find a good school that provides dog agility training, they will take all of this into account. A good school will provide a curriculum that is appropriate to your dog’s breed and size. It is important for owner’s attemptimg to train their own dogs to take this same factors into consideration.

It is a common mistake to assume that dog agility training includes punishment for your dog when they do not perform as expected. Many experts say otherwise. It is much more effective to reward your dog when it performs well. Different trainers use various methods when training dogs. One can use treats, clickers or positive reenforcement for training a dog. Do your research and discover which method appeals to you. Keep in mind that dog agility training should be fun for both the dog and the owner. Dog training should not be a chore or a trauma for either one of you.

It is also important to remember that not all dogs will respond in the same way to dog agility training. The plain truth of it is that some breeds are simply too skittish or hype to respond to commands. Do not allow your expectations to spoil your friendship with your dog.

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Kathryn Soloff has a special Free Report about Training Your Dog.computer memory
Click here to download your Free Report=>
http://www.dog-training-course.net/dogs/dogtrainingreport.pdf
For more useful dog training tips, advice and articles visit her Dog Training Course blog here=> http://www.dog-training-course.net

We have been back to the new vet again this week, and sadly my ear had stopped improving. On Monday when Mum went to bathe it I winced and there was some bleeding. I think the vet was even more upset than us! The penicillin based treatment had worked well at first so now we have changed to another antibiotic. Let us see: he was also concerned that I had lost a little weight. Unlike a lot of dogs round here I am never likely to need any top diet pills to keep slim