Almost a Year Old? Is Your Puppy All Grown Up?

Grown up or not? Now that your pup is nearing a year of age, is he grown up? When is he an "adult"?

The answer is…it's different for each puppy. Puppies mature at different times – it depends on the adult size of the breed. For example, toy breeds are often physically mature at one year of age, whereas a giant breed, like a Great Dane or a Saint Bernard, may still be very much "in process".

Growth patterns
Puppies are said to grow from the outside in. This means that the body parts on the outside – paws, tail and ears – grow to their adult size first. Think back to when your pup was 12 to 16 weeks old. He may have had adult, or near adult-sized, paws which likely seemed out of proportion with the rest of him. His ears and tail would have been the same – they sometimes grow to a startling length at an early age, and it can take a year or more for your pup to "grow into" himself.

Is he there yet? How will you know when your puppy is no longer a puppy? He'll start filling out. His chest will get larger and he'll put on some pounds. He may get a bit longer and broader. His head will fill in and he'll stop looking like he's all legs and start looking more in proportion. His back will appear more level, instead of sometimes looking taller in the rear than in the front.

From a behavioral point of view, his wild racing around the house may all but disappear. He'll calm down a bit – in proportion to his breed and who he is. Some pups calm down so much people worry they might be ill. Others continue on, energized and bounding, into adulthood and beyond. It's an astonishingly fast metamorphosis and once it's done, you'll look back at those puppy pictures and wonder, "Was he ever really that small?"

Although puppyhood can be trying at times, and although you have much to look forward to with your adult dog, most puppy owners feel a bit nostalgic for the time when their dog was still a puppy.

(picture courtesy of: http://www.dooziedog.com/dog_breeds/images/full/Siberian-Husky-Puppy-3.jpg, article courtesy of pedigree.com)

Funny Foto: Dazed and Confused

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas. May your holiday be filled with joy, love, and laughter - and your dogs tummy fully of treats!

Puppy Training: The "Off" Command

The "off" command

As your puppy grows, jumping becomes a bigger and bigger problem. What may have been charming in your 9 week-old pup may now be a real challenge with your older puppy. Luckily, jumping behavior is a fairly easy problem to control if you know how to approach it.

First, the command word to use is "off" as in "get off of me, please". Don't use "down" as in "lie down". Using the same command word for two different behaviors is confusing to your puppy.

The "off" command instructs your pup to put his four feet on the floor. Your job is to make sure you don't encourage jumping some of the time then get frustrated by it later. The key, as in most training, is consistency. You also need to stay calm and remember that your pup means no harm, he just needs direction from you. Teaching your puppy the "off" command should involve two basic things: practice and reward.

Practice
How often should you practice the "off" command? If your puppy jumps up on you every time you walk through the door there is no reason you shouldn't be just as consistent in your training.

Reward
What is it that you want your pup to do? In this case it is to sit instead of jump. Do you tell him that? Do you reward him for that? It helps if you do. Developing the desired behavior is much quicker and more fun than trying to eliminate the unwanted behavior. If your pup sits when you come home, then the jumping problem is solved. Best of all your pup will get what he wants – your attention.

How to teach the "off" command
Guide your puppy into the correct behavior: If your pup is a food hound or toy lover, use that to your advantage. Keep a favorite toy or treat outside the door. When you enter and your pup jumps tell him "off" and then "sit" and guide your puppy into the sit position by slowly raising the treat or toy back and just above his head. When he sits, give him the treat or toss the toy a short distance. Since a pup has to "off" in order to "sit", he will be learning both at the same time.

Ignore your pup: In some cases, simply crossing your arms and looking at the ceiling will cause the pup to stop jumping. He is trying to get your attention; if he isn't getting it, he may well stand and stare at you in puzzlement. The moment he stops, tell him "off" then praise him calmly. If he jumps, ignore him again. This may take a few minutes at first, but he'll get the idea quickly.

Clearly, this is not the technique to use with a large, powerful pup. Your pup is ready, willing and able to please you, he just needs you to show him how. Taking the time to practice, rewarding the behavior you want and using techniques that allow him to learn without becoming frightened or confused makes training a breeze for both of you.

(http://www.dooziedog.com/dog_breeds/images/full/Golden-Retriever-Puppy-7.jpg, content courtesy of pedigree.com)

Funny Foto: Better Than Peanut Butter

This looks like something my beloved Savanah would do....

Top 10 weirdest items removed from pet's stomachs

'The dog's eaten the underwear again...'

Underwear, a kitchen knife and a wig have made a list of the top 10
weirdest items removed from the stomachs of the nation's pets by an
animal charity's vets.

The list, released by PDSA, also includes a 10-inch tent peg, a
bell, a fishing hook and a rubber duck.
Dog rubber duck x-ray The dog that swallowed a rubber duck

PDSA senior veterinary surgeon, Sean Wensley, said: 'There is a
medical term for pets eating strange objects - pica.

'Dogs, especially puppies and younger dogs, use their mouth to
investigate objects as well as to eat. Sometimes a dog will swallow
an object by mistake, even though it had only meant to investigate
it.

'Owners should give their pets the chance to investigate new objects
by providing them with plenty of pet-safe toys to play with - that
way the whole family can enjoy the festive season safely.'

The top twenty list in full is:

1. Ten-inch tent peg
2. Christmas decoration (star shaped)
3. Kitchen knife
4. Alphabet fridge magnets
5. Man's wig
6. Ann Summers underwear
7. Bell
8. Fishing hook
9. Socks
10. Rubber duck
11. Baby's dummy
12. Golf balls
13. Coins
14. Balloons
15. Metal ball from a computer mouse
16. Shoe laces
17. Power ball
18. Corn on the cob
19. Needle and thread
20. Box of chocolates

PDSA provides free veterinary care for the sick and injured pets of
those unable to afford veterinary fees and promotes responsible pet
ownership.

This year PDSA PetAid hospitals and branches provided more than 1.8
million free treatments and more than 200,000 preventive
treatments, such as vaccinations, neutering and microchipping.

A Really Cool Tool - Calorie Counter for Your Dog

PR: n/a I: 2,010,000 L: 0 LD: 114,016,626 I: 79100 Rank: 7 Age: Oct 12, 1999 I: 0 whois source Robo: yes Sitemap: no Rank: 1179 Price: 1614189

Info PR: n/a I: 2,010,000 L: 0 LD: 114,016,626 I: 79100 Rank: 7 Age: Oct 12, 1999 I: 0 whois source Robo: yes Sitemap: no Rank: 1179 Price: 1614189 Links: 10|5 Density

Dog Calorie Calculator by TrainPetDog

Teach Your Dog To Get In His Crate On Command

This is a really great trick to teach your dog.

First, your dog should view his crate as a "safe place." A place
to go when he's tired, to take a nap or to just be left alone.

Here is the fastest and easiest way to teach your dog to get in his
crate, on command. It's especially useful for if you have
unexpected company and don't want your dog to 'get in the way.

Start by palming a cookie in your right hand. Put the training
collar and leash on your dog. Walk him up to the crate and make him
sit.

Now, say, "Get in the crate!" Toss the cookie in the crate, and
then pull forward on the leash, in the direction of the open crate.
As he moves into the crate, he'll automatically release the
tension on the leash.

Close the door to the crate, and tell him, "Good dog!" as he
munches on the cookie.

Next, open the crate door and tell him, "Free!" When he comes out,
praise him lavishly.

Repeat this exercise, four times. After the fourth time, open the
crate door, take the leash and training collar off, give him
another cookie and close the crate door.

In 20 minutes, you can return and repeat this exercise.

After you've done this a few times and see your dog start to
ANTICIPATE the command, the next thing to do is only give him the
cookie once every third time.

At this point, he'll likely begin running into the crate before you
even tell him to. You'll need to tell him, "No!" and pull him out
of the crate. No praise. Remember--he can go on the crate on his
own when you're not standing next to him, but as this is a formal
exercise, we want him to wait for the command.

This sounds confusing, and it is for the human mind. But it's one
of those things that your dog will understand naturally. Trust
me--I know this from experience.

After you've brought him out of the crate, he'll start looking at
you for the "Get in the crate" command.

Give him the command. Reward him this time with the cookie.

You'll start to see that he'll begin looking to you... waiting for
that magic command that allows him to dive into the crate and get
your praise. (Note: If your dog is more motivated by a toy or
something else (No, not the cat!!!) you can use whatever you want.
The idea is to use a motivator.

The reason you want to pull forward on the leash instead of just
throwing the food/ball/motivator into the crate is so that your dog
learns that you are actually making him do it. This is the
difference between using food as a motivator vs. using food as a
bribe. If the food isn't there, you're going to make him do it
anyway.

(photo courtesy of http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com/images/tips/big-dog-big-dog-crate-thumb.jpg, content courtesy of dogtraining.com)

This was in my inbox this morning from Dr. Andrew Jones - a great read that I wanted to pass along:

Good morning fellow pet lovers, and
generally all around nice people :-)

The whole food thing is VERY confusing.

What do you feed?

Kibble vs Canned?

Home Diets?

Raw?

The Pet Food Recall highlighted just how BIG and
UNREGULATED Pet Food Manufacturing is.

Who would have imagined that melamine made it's way
into many supposed PREMIUM Quality Pet Foods.

It *really* is hard to know what is BEST to feed.

SO here is my take on it.

1. Feed a quality, preferable holistic kibble-
but NOT exclusively and rotate brands.

2. Feed at least 50% canned to your cats

3. Consider incorporating Raw- I am feeding
my dog Lewis Raw once or twice a week

4. Make some diets at home- I am now doing this
at least once a week.

5. Feed a quality Dog Supplement.

---------------------------
If you really want to pamper your pooch, here's a recipe to try:

Fish and Sweet Potato Recipe (based on a 75 lb dog)

Baked Sweet potato 4 cups
Cooked Fish, trout, rainbow 1 1/2 cups
Salad or cooking Oil, vegetable, corn 5 teaspoons
One A Day Multivitamin/multimineral Supplement 2 tablets
Posture caplet (600 mg elemental calcium) 2 1/2 caplets
Morton Lite Salt Mixture 1 tsp

Cook Protein, Carbohydrate and Vegetables.

These recipes represent the amount to be fed per day and can
be fed in multiple meals.

More than one day's worth of the food can be prepared ahead of
time and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 weeks.

Prior to serving each meal and after warming, add the appropriate
amount of supplement to the food.

Mix thoroughly. Heating supplements that contain vitamins can
destroy their effectiveness.

The amount of supplement(s) shown above is the daily amount.
Therefore, please divide the amount listed by the number of meals
given a day.

Pet dog recovers from H1N1

CBC News

A dog in New York has been confirmed to have the pandemic
strain of H1N1.

The pet, a 13-year-old mixed breed, seemed to have caught
the virus from his owner, Michael San Filippo, a spokesman
for the American Veterinary Medical Association, said Tuesday.

It is the first reported case of H1N1 in a dog, but other
pets, including cats and ferrets, have caught the strain
from humans, veterinarians say.

In theory, the strain could be transmitted from a pet to a
human, "but so far it's really looking like a dead end in
pets," San Filippo said.

The dog came in for a checkup Tuesday and is "getting back
to his old self" but has not fully recovered, said veterinarian
Julie Steffens.

It is rare for pets to spread flu viruses, and people should
not be afraid to enjoy the animals, said Dr. Anne Schuchat of
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far, 111 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been made
available in the U.S., she noted.

"Surveys are showing that initial doses of vaccine were
relatively quickly taken up and they were going to the people
they were targeted for," Schuchat told reporters in a telephone
briefing.

The agency estimates that nearly 50 million Americans have been
infected with swine flu and 10,000 have been killed by it.
Seasonal flu results in about 36,000 deaths a year in the U.S.
and 4,000 to 8,000 a year in Canada. The death toll from swine
flu in Canada as of Dec. 12 was 367.

The World Health Organization cautioned Tuesday against making
comparisons between confirmed H1N1 deaths and seasonal flu deaths.
The comparisons can be misleading and don't accurately measure
the impact of the pandemic, given that H1N1 affects a much younger
age group, WHO said in a briefing note.

It likely won't be possible to accurately assess the disease and
death rates until a year or two after the H1N1 pandemic has peaked,
using methods such as those used to estimate deaths during seasonal
flu epidemics, the agency said.

Raising a Puppy: Training Your Puppy What to Chew

The dog is a social and inquisitive animal. He needs to do something, especially if left at home alone. What would you like your dog to do? Crosswords? Needlepoint? Watch soaps on the telly? You must provide some form of occupational therapy for your puppy to pass the day. If your puppy learns to enjoy chewing chewtoys, he will look forward to settling down quietly for some quality chewing time. It is important to teach your puppy to enjoy chewing chewtoys more than chewing household items. An effective ploy is to stuff the puppy's chewtoys with kibble and treats. In fact, during your puppy's first few weeks at home, put away his food bowl and, apart from using kibble as lures and rewards for training, serve all your puppy's kibble stuffed in hollow chewtoys-Kongs, Biscuit Balls, and sterilized bones.

For errorless chewtoy-training, adhere to the puppy confinement program. When you are away from home, leave the puppy in his puppy playroom with bed, water, toilet, and plenty of stuffed chewtoys. While you are at home, leave the puppy in his doggy den with plenty of stuffed chewtoys. Every hour after releasing the pup to relieve himself, play chewtoy games-chewtoy-search, chewtoy-fetch, and chewtoy-tug-o'-war. Your puppy will soon develop a very strong chewtoy habit because you have limited his chewing choices to a single acceptable toy, which you have made even more attractive with the addition of kibble and treats.

Once your dog has become a chewtoyaholic and has not had a chewing (or housesoiling) mishap for at least three months, you may increase your puppy's playroom to two rooms. For each subsequent month without a mistake your puppy may gain access to another room, until eventually he enjoys free run of the entire house and garden when left at home alone. If a chewing mistake should occur, go back to the original puppy confinement program for at least a month.

In addition to preventing household destruction, teaching your puppy to become a chewtoyaholic prevents him from becoming a recreational barker because chewing and barking are obviously mutually exclusive behaviors. Also, chewtoyaholism helps your puppy learn to settle down calmly because chewing and dashing about are mutually exclusive behaviors.

Chewtoyaholism is especially useful for dogs with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder since it provides them with an acceptable and convenient means to work out their obsessions and compulsions. Your dog may still have OCD, but a chewtoyaholic will happily spend his time obsessively and compulsively chewing his stuffed chewtoys.

Most important, chewtoy chewing keeps the puppy occupied and effectively helps prevent the development of separation anxiety.

What is a chewtoy?
A chewtoy is an object for the dog to chew that is neither destructible nor consumable. If your dog destroys an object, you will have to replace it, and that costs money. If your dog consumes the object, you may have to replace your dog. Eating non-food items is extremely hazardous to your dog's health.

The type of chewtoy you choose will depend on your dog's penchant for chewing and his individual preferences. I have seen some dogs make a cow's hoof or a compressed rawhide chewy last forever, whereas other dogs consume them in a matter of minutes. I've found Kong products to be the Cadillacs of chewtoys. Hollow sterilized long bones are a very close second choice. I like Kong products and sterilized bones because they are simple, natural, and organic-not plastic. Also, being hollow, they can be stuffed with food. Kong products and sterilized bones are obtainable from any good pet supply store.

Feed your puppy from chewtoys
Customarily, puppies receive their entire daily allotment of kibble at dinner, which often becomes a jackpot reward for boisterously barking and expectantly bouncing around. Moreover, if you allow your puppy to wolf down dinner from a bowl, he will be at a loss for what to do for the rest of the day. In the wild, dogs spend a good 90 percent of their waking hours searching for food, so in a sense, regular bowl-feeding deprives a dog of his principal activity-searching for food. Instead, your inquisitive puppy will search for entertainment all day long. Most likely you will consider your puppy's choices of occupation to be mischievous misbehavior.

Without a doubt, regularly feeding a new puppy (or adult dog) from a bowl is the single most disastrous mistake in dog husbandry and training. Although unintentional, the effects of bowl-feeding are often severely detrimental for the puppy's household manners and sense of well-being. In a sense, each bowl-fed meal steals the puppy's raison d'etre, its very reason for being. Within seconds of gulping his meal, the poor pup now faces a mental void for the rest of his day with nothing but long, lonely hours to worry and fret, or work himself into a frenzy.

As the puppy adapts to fill the void, normal behaviors such as chewing, barking, strolling, grooming, and playing become stereotypical, repetitive, and maladaptive. Specific behaviors increase in frequency until they no longer serve any useful function except to pass the time. Investigative chewing becomes destructive chewing. Alarm barking becomes incessant barking. Strolling from one place to another becomes repetitively pacing, or racing back and forth. Investigating a shadow or light becomes a neurotic fixation. Routine grooming becomes excessive licking, scratching, tail-chasing, head-pressing, or in extreme cases, self-mutilation.

Stereotyped behaviors cause the release of endorphins, perpetuating their repetition, and in a sense, the dog becomes drugged and hooked on mindless, repetitive activity. Stereotyped behaviors are like behavioral cancers; as they progressively increase in frequency and squeeze most useful and adaptive responses from the dog's behavior repertoire until eventually the "brain-dead" dog spends hours on end barking, pacing, chewing himself, or simply staring into space.

A vital facet of your puppy's early education is to teach him how to peacefully pass the time of day. Feeding your puppy's kibble only from hollow chewtoys-Kongs, Biscuit Balls, and sterilized bones-keeps your puppy happily occupied and content for hours on end. It allows the puppy to focus on an enjoyable activity so that he doesn't dwell on his loneliness. Each piece of extracted kibble also rewards your puppy for settling down calmly, for chewing an appropriate chewtoy, and for not barking.

Chewtoy stuffing
An old chewtoy becomes immediately novel and exciting when stuffed with food. If you use kibble from your puppy's normal daily ration your puppy will not put on weight. To protect your puppy's waistline, heart, and liver, it is important to minimize the use of treats in training. Use kibble as lures and rewards for teaching basic manners and reserve freeze-dried liver treats for initial housetraining, for meeting children, men, and strangers, as a garnish for stuffing Kongs (see below), and as an occasional jackpot reward for especially good behavior.

Kong stuffing 101
The basic principle of Kong stuffing ensures that some food comes out quickly and easily to instantly reward your puppy for initially contacting his chewtoy; bits of food come out over a long period of time to periodically reward your puppy for continuing to chew; and some of the best bits never come out, so your puppy never loses interest. Squish a small piece of freeze-dried liver in the small hole in the tip of the Kong so your puppy will never be able to get it out. Smear a little honey around the inside of the Kong, fill it up with kibble, and then block the big hole with crossed dog biscuits.

There are numerous creative variations on basic Kong stuffing. One of my favorite recipes comprises moistening your puppy's kibble, spooning it into the Kong, and then putting it in the freezer overnight-a Kongsicle! Your dog will love it.

Kong is king of chewtoys!
If from the outset you always confine your puppy with a selection of stuffed Kongs and Biscuit Balls, chewing these appropriate chewtoys will soon become an integral part of his day. Your puppy will quickly develop a socially acceptable Kong habit. And remember, good habits are just as hard to break as bad habits. Your puppy will now spend a large part of his day musing over his Kong products.

Let's pause for a moment to consider all the bad things your puppy will not be doing if he is quietly engaged with his chewtoys. He will not be chewing inappropriate household and garden items. He will not be a recreational barker. (He will still bark when strangers come to the house, but he will not spend all day barking for barking's sake.) And he will not be running around, fretting, and working himself up if left at home alone.

The wonderful thing about teaching a puppy to enjoy chewing chewtoys is that this activity excludes many alternative, extremely annoying puppy behaviors. A stuffed Kong is one of the best stress-relievers, especially for anxious, obsessive, and compulsive dogs. (A Kong for a dog is also one of the best stress-relievers for the owner.) There is no single device that so easily and so simply prevents or resolves so many bad habits and behavior problems.

Excerpted from Before You Get Your Puppy, by Ian Dunbar.
Ian Dunbar is a veterinarian and animal behaviorist, founder of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, and the author and star of numerous books and videos on dog behavior and training. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, trainer Kelly Dunbar, and their three dogs. The Dunbars are contributing editors to DogTime.

***photo can be found in its original format at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottkinmartin/2164078140/

Inflammatory Bowel Disease In Dogs

If your dog has been having diarrhea or has been vomiting a lot, he could have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The operative word here is "could," because it’s also possible that his condition may be caused by a food allergy or a different type of digestion-related issue. However, if your dog’s condition is chronic and other maladies have been ruled out, your veterinarian may decide to take a biopsy of your dog’s intestinal wall. This is the only truly accurate way of determining if his condition is, indeed, IBD.

What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
IBD is the general name given for gastrointestinal (GI) disorders in which the stomach, small intestine and/or colon is infiltrated by white blood cells that cause inflammation. These invading cells are responsible for the persistent diarrhea and/or vomiting associated with IBD. If the stomach and upper part of the small intestine are affected, the dog is more likely to exhibit chronic vomiting as a symptom. If the colon is inflamed, diarrhea is the more common symptom. In some extreme cases, the inflammatory cells may cause scar tissue in the dog’s GI tract.

What causes IDB?
Despite the fact that IBD is fairly common, we still don’t know exactly why the inflammation-producing white blood cells invade the GI tracts of some dogs. Since the white blood cells that cause inflammation are associated with the immune system, it’s possible that an abnormality in this system is to blame. However, other factors, such as the dog’s specific genetic makeup and his diet may be contributing factors.

Though IBD may afflict dogs of all ages, it is more common in mature dogs and in German Shepherds, Boxers, Wheaton Terriers, and Rottweilers.

Treating IBD
Though there is no real cure for IBD, in many cases the symptoms can be lessened through the use of diet and medication. If your dog has IBD—and other ailments have been ruled out—your vet will work with you to find an optimal diet for your pet. Hypoallergenic and high-fiber foods have been known to help many dogs. In addition, low-fat diets are generally tolerated better by dogs with IBD. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids are also recommended by many veterinarians. As you can see, there are many dietary variables involved in finding the optimum diet for your dog, so patience is needed. Your vet may also prescribe medications to help alleviate your dog’s symptoms if diet alone is not effective.

If your dog has been suffering from chronic diarrhea and/or vomiting, take him to the vet for an examination. The sooner your vet makes a definitive diagnosis, the sooner he can recommend effective treatments—and the sooner your dog can begin to feel better.

(original content courtesy of pedigree.com)