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.

Behavior Problems: Dogs That Lick Too Much

May 19, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

The first licking experienced by a puppy comes from its dam even before the pup’s eyes are open. Licking is used to groom the pup and, after feeding, to cause urination and defecation. It is doubtful that a young pup consciously considers licking a dominant behavior. However, the act of licking can acquire various other meanings to puppies as they mature and gain feedback from other animals (including people) they lick. Licking by neonatal pups is usually aimed at the dam’s mouth and, at least in wild canines, elicits a gratifying regurgitation of food by the dam for its offspring.

Licking another animal can broadly be classified as care-seeking behavior. However, in some females and apparently “feminized” males, licking may occur as a genuine mutual grooming gesture, which could be considered dominant behavior in such situations. When one dog tries to lick the genitals of another, the behavior is considered submissive. This is usually practiced by submissive pack members toward their dominant counterparts.

Licking seems to acquire different meanings when the puppy is brought into the human group. The significance of licking then depends on the type of feedback provided by the pup or its owners. The old idea that dogs lick our hands to benefit from the salt on our skin rarely applies to licking problems. Rather, the problem generally involves a submissive dog and a permissive owner. In these cases, early episodes of licking are permitted (some people feel genuinely flattered when their dog licks them) and the dog appears to enjoy the owner’s response.

In many cases, licking is a factor in another type of problem behavior. These usually involve the dog’s use of licking to dominate the owner’s attentions or to demonstrate its dominant feelings relative to the owner.

How Can Licking Be Prevented?

Licking is a problem only when the owner is present. Therefore licking is usually easily stopped merely by telling the dog not to do it or by moving away and avoiding it. After a few days or weeks of this rejection, the problem disappears. However, this procedure does not correct the basis of the problem, that is, attempts to dominate the owner.

In addition to discouraging licking, the dog must be taught to respond to commands, and owner adjustments made if the dog is “coddled” or otherwise doted on. When it seeks petting or tries to dominate the owner, it should be given a simple command, such as Sit, and then petted briefly as a reward for obedience.

It is recommended that you use some intervening stimulus when the dog begins to pester you. Whether this involves introduction of a chewable toy that the pet is urged to fetch, or a sharp sound, the goal is to divert the animal’s mind off licking and onto something else. During the initial stages of correction, there may be seen many types of substitute behavior, such as whining, pacing or self-licking. If ignored, this behavior usually disappears in a few days.

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: Attentions, Behavior Problems, Counterparts, Dogs, dogs that lick too much, Dominant Behavior, Feelings, Females, Feminized Males, Gain Feedback, Genitals, Gesture, Human Group, Offspring, Pack Members, Problem Behavior, Pup, Puppies, Puppy, Regurgitation, Wild Canines

How To Keep Your Dog’s Feeding Area Mess-Free

May 17, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Unless you are cooking your dog’s meals instead of serving them from a bag, box, or can, after-meal cleanup should not be complicated. But let’s face it, some dogs, like some people, are just sloppy eaters.

Instead of trying to improve your dog’s mealtime manners, try some of these suggestions.

1. To make cleaning your dog’s food bowls easier, coat them with vegetable cooking spray to keep food from sticking on the bottom.

2. An alternative to using cooking spray on your dog’s bowls is to purchase nonstick bowls for him. Nonstick bowls are available in kitchen stores or housewares departments.

3. To keep food from flying onto the floor around your dog’s food dish, place the dish on a tray instead of a place mat.

4. Plastic salad bar containers with lid and bottom still connected can become food and water dishes or a tray on which to place your dog’s regular bowl to keep food and water from spilling.

5. If you are caring for a litter of puppies that have been weaned, competition for food may become intense. Instead of giving each one a separate dish, try feeding them from a muffin tin to keep cleanup chores to a minimum.

Filed Under: Dog Information Tagged With: Chores, Cleanup, Containers, Cooking Food, Dog Bowls, Dog Dish, Dog Food, Dogs, Face, Food Dish, Housewares, Kitchen Stores, Mealtime Manners, Muffin Tin, Place Mat, Puppies, Salad Bar, Water Dishes

Incredible Dog Training Tips That Work!

April 24, 2011 by admin

In dog training, the most simple acts often produce the best results. In any dog pack, the alpha sets the rules and the rest follow. Therefore, by establishing yourself as the alpha, you can be sure that your obedience training sessions will be that much more productive. The following is a list of 8 simple things you can do to teach your new puppy or unruly dog that you are the alpha in your pack.

1. Never feed your dog from your plate while you’re eating. A dog must learn that your are the alpha and that it can only eat when you are finished with your meal.

2. Never allow your dog on the sofa or on your bed. And if your dog sits on your path, gently shove it out of the way with your foot. By setting boundaries, you will instill in your dog that it must obey the alpha.

3. Never allow your dog to chew on your towels, socks, shoes, or clothing. Use bitter apple to discourage these behaviors.

4. NEVER HIT YOUR DOG FOR MISBEHAVING. Instead use the tone of your voice and a collar/leash to teach and make corrections.

5. Never allow a puppy to chew on your fingers. Otherwise, it will become a habit that will be very hard to break when it becomes an adult. Spray you hands and fingers with bitter apple and then allow the dog to proceed. The dog will learn not to bite your fingers without associating any negative thoughts about you as the alpha.

6. Never leave a hyper dog unexercised. Playing ball before you leave for work and after you return can help alleviate your dog’s pent-up energy.

7. Never keep your dog alone in a yard for days at a times. Without proper socialization your dog will become aggressive towards other dogs as well as other humans. A dog needs contact with its own species in order to learn how to behave in a dog pack equally as well as it must learn to behave in a human pack. A dog left alone for long periods of time will believe itself to be the alpha and try to dictate to its master instead of the other way around.

8. Never allow your dog to jump on you or your guests. Its fun when your dog is a puppy, but it isn’t fun when it becomes a 100lb behemoth. Practice with a collar and leash and set up situations where a neighbor rings your doorbell while your dog awaits their entrance. Make a sharp correction and command your dog to “sit” when as your neighbor enters the house. And, of course, don’t forget to praise the dog as soon as it follows your command. Once the dog knows what to do, try the same thing off leash, but this time use a water spray bottle and spray your dogs face with water as punishment for jumping with a stern vocal correction of “NO”. Proceed to praise your dog once again when your dog obeys your command. This way, it will learn to associate praise with correct action.

By following these steps, you will establish yourself as the alpha. And, you will have a head start in training your dog because it will have already learned to respect your authority as its leader.

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Article Source: Incredible dog training Tips That Work!

Filed Under: Dog Training Tagged With: Acts, Alpha 3, Bitter Apple, Dog Training, Dogs, Habit, Hands And Fingers, Long Periods Of Time, Misbehaving, Negative Thoughts, Obedience Training, Proper Socialization, Puppy Dog, Sessions, Setting Boundaries, Shoes, Socks, Sofa, Tone Of Your Voice, Towels

Dog Training – A Vital Component of Your Dog’s Life

April 11, 2011 by admin

A dog is one of the best pets anyone could ever own. They are a companion, a friend, and most importantly a huge part of your family. It is extremely important to train your dog right in order to get maximum enjoyment out of your dog. Here are some tips below on how to help you easily train your dog!

1. Trainer Awareness

When you are training your dog it is a MUST to give your dog your 100% attention when training them. Focus 100% on your dog with minimal multi-tasking. If you can give your dog 100% while training them, you will get much quicker results.

2. Control Your Voice

One of the most important parts of training any dog is voice control. The trainer of a dog MUST use his/her voice in order to train a dog properly. To get a dogs attention the trainer must use a short and firm command mixed in with excitement in you trainers voice to get the dog to come to you. Use of a quick command will get your dogs attention and should be used for that purpose ONLY! Once you establish voice control, it is smooth sailing with training your dog. It is important to show your dog who is boss right away, otherwise the dog will not obey you one bit.

3. Body Language

One of the most important things to use when training a dog is body language. Using hand signals will help your dog understand the command you are telling it to do. Eventually you can do away with the hand signals and use only voice commands. When starting out, hand signals definitely make it easier to train your dog. For example, a proper hand signal to get your dog to speak is a slight twitch of your wrist. By slightly twisting your wrist, your dog should be able to speak on command.

4. Treats

One of the best ways to train your dog is using treats as a reward for a job well done. The use of treats can have a great effect on training your dog. When training your dog, you should NEVER feed them before training them a new trick. They need to be hungry and want that treat you are going to give them for listening to your command. Treats are one of the surefire ways to get your dog to listen to you in a heart beat.

Many trainers fail to use treats as a means of positive reinforcement for your dog’s good job in obeying a command. Out of all the different dog training techniques, using treats as a positive reinforcement for a job well done is the best and easiest way to train your dog. If you ever take your dog to a dog training school to get your dog professionally trained, you will see that treats are the main ingredient being used in your dog’s proper training success.

I wish you the best of luck in training your dog and if you use these 4 techniques listed in this article, you definitely will have great results!

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Article Source: dog training – A Vital Component of Your Dog’s Life

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Filed Under: Dog Training Tagged With: Bit 3, Body Language, Boss, Companion, Dog Training, Dogs, Excitement, Hand Signal, Hand Signals, Important Things, Job, Maximum Enjoyment, Multi Tasking, Pets, Sailing Training, Smooth Sailing, Twitch, Vital Component, Voice Commands, Voice Control

7 Effective Dog Training Tips

April 4, 2011 by admin

Many people feel that dog training is a challenge. They try to prepare for the many obstacles they feel lay ahead. The good news is, dog training can be an easy, fun, and positive experience. Just follow these 7 effective tips, and you will see.

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Dog 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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1. When training your dog, give him praise when he does it right. When you show your dog that you are happy with his efforts, he will be more inclined to want to please you. As you progress and reach harder milestones, you may want to wait a little longer to give the praise. In the beginning, however, it is good to do it right away.

2. Use treats. After he has worked hard, has done a few tricks, to sit or to lay on command, or has been a good sport, it is fair to reward your dog with a treat. Like people, dogs need incentive to work.

3. Do not yes or hit your dog. This is extremely ineffective and will not produce the results you want. Like people, dogs respond negatively to such abuse, and it will more than likely increase the chances that your dog will rebel. This will only make for a frustrated owner and an angry dog.

4. Be firm but gentle. Give the commands firmly while gently moving your dog into the position that you want him. The firm but gentle tactic shows your dog that you are the boss: but, it also shows that he is loved.

5. Train your dog for a couple of minutes each day: but, do not go for too long as it will overwork the dog and cause him to feel stressed. Like people, dogs need repetition in order to grasp a new concept and can become stressed when overworked. Not to mention, if you work with your dog a couple of minutes a day, this will strengthen your friendship.

6. Help your dog to associate action with command. The way this can be done is as soon as you see your dog sit, say the word sit. Do the same thing if he is lying down. This will help him to know that these certain words are associated with these actions. Do this until he gets the hang of it.

7. Do not pay attention to your dog if he is misbehaving. If you give him attention only when he is running with toilet paper in his mouth, getting in the trash, or causing any other mischief, then this is letting him know that he can get your attention when he is doing something bad.

When you train your dog, this allows your dog to feel safe and secure. Also, when your dog knows you are his leader, this can prove to be a happy environment for both you and your dog!

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Article Source: 7 Effective dog training Tips

Filed Under: Dog Training Tagged With: Boss, Carpet, Couple Of Minutes, Dog Barking, Dog Obedience, Dog Tips, Dog Training, Dog Treat, Dogs, Friendship, Furniture, Good Sport, Love, Many People, Milestones, Moving, Obstacles, Puppies, Repetition, Rugs, Step By Step, Tactic, Train Dog, Training Dog, Training Your Dog, Urinating

Dog Health Symptom: Does Your Dog Itch Like Crazy But Has no Parasites?

April 3, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Many of us dog owners get really amazed to see our dogs scratching away to glory in spite of the fact that there is not a single flea on its body! This is one thing that most dog owners will know. Many a time, our dogs just keep on scratching their skin although they do not have fleas or any other parasites. This is one thing that all dog owners have to be careful about. Continuous itching without any reason might have larger health implications.

————————————————————–

Dog 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

————————————————————–

This incessant itching can highly be an early symptom of dermatitis. Dermatitis is similar to fever in human beings. When we have fever, we just start sneezing like crazy or have congestion. But in case of dogs, their skin becomes itchy and they keep on scratching their skin. Fever in dogs happens generally when they inhale a large amount of pollen.

If you notice, you will see that your dog starts itching more during the months of August and September. This is a time when you need to take extra care of your beloved pet. Pets become especially sensitive to things around them during these months. Thus, this is the time when you have to look out for Dermatitis because your dog will be highly susceptible to it.

The other months when your dog will start itching indiscriminately are March and April. Since these two are the pollen months, dogs become very likely to catch hold of Dermatitis during this season. The grass pollen season of May, June and early July are also particularly troublesome months.

This dog health symptom is something that affects your dog particularly badly. Once your dog gets affected by Dermatitis, it will practically suffer from scratching problems throughout the year. This gives rise to another problem of increased sensitivity which means that something like dusting your sofa will also make your dog uncomfortable and scratchy.

The owners who have a dog who is less than six months old are lucky because young dogs do not get Dermatitis. It is a disease seen in dogs that are three or more years of age. Also, almost every breed of dog can get Dermatitis as it is not a breed specific disease.

However, despite of not being a breed specific disease, Dermatitis is something that affects certain breeds of dogs, like Dalmatians, West Highland White Terriers, White Haired Fox Terriers and Poodles particularly badly. Dermatitis is something that should be treated immediately because it can make your dog suffer a lot and live in great discomfort.

As for the treatments of Dermatitis, you must consult your dog’s vet. There are multiple treatments available but you have to choose one that suits your dog’s breed and age, so it is best to go for whatever your dog’s vet suggests.

Apart from the treatment, you also need to take care of the fact that your dog gets regular grooming so that its skin remains in perfect condition. If your dog is not groomed regularly, it might suffer from skin problems that are extremely uncomfortable.

Article by Kelly Marshall of www.ohmydogsupplies.com – the place to find free shipping on dog toys in over 100 different models

Article Source: Dog Health Symptom: Does Your Dog Itch Like Crazy But Has no Parasites?

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: August And September, Beloved Pet, Congestion, Dermatitis, Dog Health, Dog Obedience, Dog Owners, Dog Training, Dogs, Extra Care, Fever, Fleas, Grass Pollen Season, Health Implications, Health Symptom, Human Beings, Indiscriminately, Many A Time, Parasites, Pet Pets, Pollen, Puppies, Rugs, Six Months, Sofa, Spite, Urinating

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