Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

How To Use Your Power In Finding The Right Veterinarian (3)

September 25, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

The Right Veterinarian – Part 3

You may have heard that finding the best veterinarian means you may have to work a little. I’m not talking about hard work, rather, I mean putting in a little effort to get to know the doctor and to start asking the right questions, both for the veterinarian and yourself.

You can, of course, pick the closest veterinarian that has an office in your area, do whatever he or she tells you to do after taking your dog or puppy for visits, and just hope for the best (which is the case with most dog owners who fail to realize the importance of changing their roles with the typical doctor/patient expectations).

Part of this partnership-building process requires you to be clear about what matters most to you. Let’s look at a hypothetical self-analysis, which might go something like this (ask yourself the following questions):

1) Is my dog an important companion and an essential part of my life, or does he occupy a different role (wedged somewhere in between raising the children, working hard to pay the mortgage, and the other animals that are running around the house)?

2) Do I have a negative opinion about annual vaccinations for my dog, that they are a waste of time and money? Do I feel the same about yearly heartworm testing? Veterinarians differ in their degree of “belief” regarding matters of necessary and appropriate care – be sure that your own beliefs and your veterinarian are in perfect harmony.

3) Do I need lots of time with my veterinarian? Does the clinic have 15-minute appointments or 20-minute appointments? Will I be able to see the same vet each time I bring my pet in?Does the office staff schedule the veterinarian to spend all of that time with me, or will a technician conduct the bulk of the visit?

(Cultivating a relationship with a good technician is a great idea. Technicians can be better communicators and educators than veterinarians, and clients are more often comfortable voicing their concerns to the technician than the veterinarian.

4) If and when I have an old or infirm dog, will I feel that any suggestion to diagnose or treat is guilt-inducing pressure to do so? What do I consider “heroic” medicine, and how do I feel about it?

All of these questions are designed to help you really start thinking about what you need to consider when forming a relationship with the right veterinarian. They are just guides, and more can be added to the list, but all are important so that you can better understand how to communicate with your veterinarian while at the same time helping the vet communicate better with you as well.

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Here’s Dog Trainer Chet Womach On How To Save Money By Handling
Basic Vet Issues At Home

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To discover how to treat your dog at home with over 1000 at-home veterinarian health remedies, Click Here.

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: Appropriate Care, Asking The Right Questions, Belief, Communicators, Companion, Doctor Patient, Dog Owners, Minute Appointments, Office Staff, Patient Expectations, Perfect Harmony, Puppy, Self Analysis, Staff Schedule, Time And Money, Vaccinations, Vet, Veterinarian, Veterinarians, Waste Of Time

Your Dog Care Tips: Keep Your Dog Safe in Your Backyard

April 25, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Keep your dog safe in your backyard. All dogs suffer when it is too hot. Some are particularly vulnerable to heatstroke. If you are in a hot climate, make sure you have a shaded area or a porch where the dog can get out of the sun.

It is vital they have a secure source of fresh water; by secure we mean he can’t easily tip it over.

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Training Tips To Get Your Dog To Obey!

If you’d love to discover EXACTLY how to get your dog to stop urinating on your carpet and actually ring a bell when he needs to potty. . .

Train puppies to NEVER chew on furniture or expensive rugs – even when you aren’t there to supervise. . .

Learn simple techniques for getting any dog to stop barking at strangers or from begging you to let him back inside – Plus a TON more step-by-step dog obedience strategies THOUSANDS of regular people are already using,
check out –
The Hands Off Dog Training Method

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Common sense is important when deciding whether it is safe to leave your dog outside: a short coated dog or a companion dog that is bred to spend his life indoors will not be able to tolerate being left outside in a cold climate. Your dog care tips include:

Securing Your Yard

It may not make sense to you that the same dog that is so happy to see you when you get home may want to find his way out of the back yard to freedom, but many dogs are lost each year because of this.

Most dogs do not have a good sense of the dangers cars represent. Once outside your yard, they may just follow interesting scents and be so focused on those they aren’t aware of approaching vehicles. They can also get frightened and run right into traffic. Many breeds are efficient diggers.

They can tunnel under a wooden fence with ease. A back gate that is not latched properly can also give your dog an escape route.

With smaller breeds, only a few inch gap between slats can be enough for them to squeeze through. Think of this in the positive way: your dog is not trying to escape from your house, he is perhaps trying to find you.

The first thing you need to do is check the perimeter of your yard for any gaps in the fence. One easy solution is to dig down six inches below ground and affix narrow gage wire fencing material to your existing fence. You can hold the fencing in place below ground by burying bricks, rocks or pavers.

This will make it more difficult for your dog to tunnel under, and have the added benefit or making it harder for rodents or snakes to get into your yard. You may also want to padlock your gate.

A strong dog may try to push open the gate, and some gates with loose latches can even be blown open by the wind. Keeping your fence in good repair is important.

If the dog can find a loose or weak slat to chew through, he will.

Safety Inside The Yard

Your beautiful back yard with the trees, flowers, grass and vegetable garden may seem like paradise to you, and your dog will certainly enjoy romping around back there, but there are safety considerations as well, and you will want to make sure your tender plants are protected from your dog.

Again, dogs love to dig. Some breeds, in fact, simply have to dig. For them, it is part of the joy of being alive. They don’t care if what they are digging up is a prized flower garden, or the spinach crop you have been carefully tending since early spring.

And a dog doesn’t at all mind taking a short cut through the flower beds trampling them as he goes. You may want to consider fencing off areas of your yard to protect your plants. This is particularly the case with frisky young pups.

As your dog grows you will be able to train him to stay out the flower or vegetable garden, but to a puppy, it all looks like a playground.

Your dog care tips will keep your dog safe in your backyard.

Find more about your dog care tips. Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books and the novel “Over Time.” She is the proud companion of Rose, the Irish Setter, and Kate the English Springer Spaniel. Read Rose and Kate’s blog.

Article Source: ArticleSpan

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: Back Yard, Bricks, Carpet, Cold Climate, Common Sense, Companion, Dog Obedience, Dog Training, Dogs, Easy Solution, Escape Route, Fencing Material, Fresh Water, Gage Wire, Gap, Good Sense, Inch Gap, Narrow Gage, Padlock, Perimeter, Porch, Puppies, Rodents, Rugs, Scents, Six Inches, Slats, Snakes, Urinating, Wire Fencing, Wooden Fence

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