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.

Nutrition And Dog Health

July 26, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

When dogs were wild, or at least still hunted for their food, hunger may have been an occasional concern, but rarely were deficiencies or imbalances ever a problem when pertaining to dog health.

Dogs killed and ate almost all of their prey’s carcass including the entrails, skin, and even bones.

Domesticated and dependent upon their owners for food, today’s dogs are amply fed, right to the point of obesity, yet they often develop bad overall dog health due to a number of deficiencies from their improperly balanced diets.

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The advent over the past decade of nutritionally “complete” or “balanced” commercial dog foods, and their increasing acceptance by dog owners and veterinarians alike, has drastically reduced the incidence of dietary deficiencies. Today such nutritional problems are seen mostly in dogs who are fed homemade diets or a diet of table scraps and leftovers.

Poor nutrition, whether from dietary deficiencies or excesses, has a significantly negative effect on your dog’s ability to remain in good health. Resistance to infection is lowered, as is the production of antibodies, allowing infectious agents to multiply rapidly and spread.

The resulting fever, diarrhea, or other manifestations of illness, more than likely will make your dog less interested in eating, thus increasing the state of malnutrition and is concerning to dog health.

Filed Under: Senior Dog Information Tagged With: Advent, Antibodies, Balanced Diets, Carcass, Diarrhea, Dietary Deficiencies, Dog Food, Dog Foods, Dog Owners, Excesses, Good Health, Health Secrets, Homemade Diets, Infectious Agents, Leftovers, Malnutrition, Manifestations, Nutritional Deficiencies, Obesity, Poor Nutrition, Prey, Problem Dogs, Table Scraps, Veterinarians, Video Report

How To Stop Your Dog’s Possessive Aggression

May 25, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Possessive aggression is centered around a dog’s food, toys, treats, or any article that the dog may have stolen from you and this aggression should not be handled primarily with compulsion (negative reinforcement). It should be handled with positive conditioning.

The Scenario: A dog starts to growl when his owner approaches him while chewing his pig’s ear. You can correct this behavior when you are prepared to teach the dog to act in a less defensive manner around his pig’s ear. The technique requires you to first offer the dog his pig’s ear, then walk away. Get out one of your dog’s favorite treats, making it the best it can be, so it is much more appealing than the pig’s ear. Throw or drop the food directly in front of the dog and walk away. If the dog growls, however, as you approach him, walk away and leave no food. If the dog growled, you went too close to him and you should throw the treat from a distance, so as not to elicit any aggression from the dog.

You may decrease the space between you and the dog gradually. This process usually takes several weeks of slowly building the dog’s trust so that he understands you are approaching him to give, and not to take away from him. Generally, these sessions should be very short, but frequent. The treat is fabulous, but each repetition should only give the dog a small amount of food so as to keep him interested in learning how to earn greater rewards. Five or six repetitions per session with about four training sessions daily will generally do.

It is wise not to leave anything for the dog to “own” while you are training him. That includes toys, chews, beds, empty food bowls, and pigs’ ears. Provide the treats when you are practicing your approach conditioning. We will move along to the point where we drop the treats between his legs or have him directly take the food from your hand. We will proceed to the point where you can take his pig’s ear, give him a treat, and then return his pig’s ear to him to chew.

In this way you can functionally teach your dog to look forward to your approach when he has an object, and if necessary allow you to take the object with no anxiety or aggression from him. This will work only if you follow the procedure and do it slowly. After you have achieved success, continue this process intermittently forever. Also, note that a dog that knows how to drop something out of his mouth on command tends toward less possessive aggression.

It is critical that all members of your family participate in this program in order for the dog to generalize his correct behavior. Always be aware that this possessive aggression may arise again if an unforeseen incident provokes defensive actions on the part of your dog. Your dog’s aggression is an action that occurs in hopes that the target of his aggression will exhibit avoidance behaviors and walk or run away, therefore allowing him to fulfill his defensive drive.

Filed Under: Dog Information Tagged With: Act, Beds, Building Trust, Compulsion, Dog Aggression, Dog Food, Dog Toys, Dog Treats, Empty Food, Food Bowls, Food Toys, Legs, Negative Reinforcement, Pig Ear, Pigs Ears, possessive aggression, Repetition, Repetitions, Rewards, Sessions

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