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.

Inside The Mind Of A Dalmatian

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Although a Dalmatian loves to ride in the car to just about anywhere, they’re not back-seat dogs in any other sense of the word.  Their inner world contains wonders around every corner and no dangers that are quicker, tougher or smarter than they are.  A Dalmatian is not a “porch dog” that sits and looks at a guest or visitor until some unknown cue prompts it to get up and investigate or greet.  They are instantly curious about nearly everything and won’t hesitate to go see what’s up.

The Dalmatian breed standard calls for poise and alertness, and a stable, outgoing, and dignified temperament.  You should understand that this translates into a dog that does not go wagging up to any stranger and lick them up one side and down the other.  This means that when a Dalmatian meets strangers, he usually prefers to go up to them at his own pace, investigating fairly thoroughly before becoming the wagging, silly bouncing friend.

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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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Many people are so taken with the dog’s looks and bright expression that they forget introductions and manners.  They’ll rush up to the dog, arms and hands extended, bending down, with body language that says to the dog, “I want to grab you and pet you and touch you.” The Dalmatian understands the body language to say “I want to grab you and hold you in one place and prevent you from moving around me and checking me out while I check you out.”

Throughout early history, the Dalmatian was bred to take control of the streets and make judgments on whether things were safe or not for the horses and masters.  You can’t make judgments while you’re being held in one spot and examined.  This isn’t to say that the Dalmatian’s instincts should dictate your routines, or that he can’t be trained to be appropriately sociable; however, they are more likely to meet someone by going through the steps of investigation and judgment before acting like a wagging fool.

What if they don’t like someone after investigation?  Sometimes this happens, and most of the time it’s for reasons the owners can’t comprehend.  When this occurs, it’s rarely an aggressive scene.  The Dalmatian’s reaction is more likely to be one of avoidance, perhaps a quiet grumble or groaning and a move to the next room, from which he can keep an eye on things until the stranger leaves.  Your first impression as an owner is to feel like scolding your dog for unsociable behavior the judgment of a Dalmatian has always turned out to have an element of soundness.

Feeding Your Poodle (Part 2)

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There’s no exact answer on how much and how often to feed your Poodle because it depends on the size, age, and activity level of each individual Poodle. Feeding amount and schedule also depend on which diet you’re using and how cold it is outside. (Dogs who spend a lot of time outdoors in cold temperatures require more food.)

Begin by following the feeding instructions spelled out on the dog food package. Realize that these instructions are a starting point, and apply to all breeds of a certain weight. Your Poodle is an individual and every dog is different.

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Following that, observe your Poodle’s body condition:

Too Thin: An overly thin Poodle will have visible or easily felt ribs and hip bones may be visible. The waist and belly are obviously tucked up when viewed from the side. Increase food.

Just Right: The ribs should have just a little fat over them; you should be able to easily feel them with slight pressure. Your Poodle should have a waist when viewed from above, and the belly should be tucked up when viewed from the side.

Too Fat: If you can’t easily feel your Poodle s ribs and can easily see fat covering them, he is too heavy. His waist is absent or barely visible when viewed from above, or his belly may hang. Decrease food.

How often you feed your Poodle depends on how old he is and his (or your) personal preference. Pups must be fed several times a day, usually three..The average adult Poodle
can be fed once or twice a day, in the morning, evening, or both. Many owners like the idea of feeding twice a day, while others find it inconvenient and opt to feed once a day. Toy puppies have a very rapid metabolism and may require four to six meals a day to avoid hypoglycemia, a life-threatening drop in blood sugar levels. By six months of age, most Toy pups can cut back to three or four meals a day.

Dogs are creatures of habit, and seem to enjoy eating at the same time every day. Feeding your Poodle pup at the same time every day helps establish eating habits and makes housebreaking easier. Pups usually need to urinate or defecate after eating. If you feed him at the same time every day, you can predict when nature calls.

Note: Free-feeding, leaving food out for the Poodle at all times, is not recommended because it can lead to excess weight gain.

Training Your Golden Retriever

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Golden Retriever Training

Your Golden Retriever isn’t like a human, so they need to learn in different ways.

Dogs don’t have human responses, meaning that they don’t operate with the principle of right or wrong.  Instead, they operate on a principle of response, guided by the actions you give them.

If their actions lead to a bad response from you, then they not that what they are doing is wrong and will avoid doing that type of behavior.
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The Best Basic Training For Your Golden Retriever

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

Learn simple techniques for getting any Golden Retriever 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 Chet Womach & Bauer the Golden Retriever-
Hands Off Dog Training

If your Golden Retriever does something right, he should be praised for it.  If your Golden Retriever is listening to what you say and doing well, you should reward him with a treat or praise.  Letting him know that he is doing good leads to positive response.  On the other hand, if he isn’t listening to you or doing the total opposite of what you say, you shouldn’t reward him at all – but instead scold him with a stern NO.

When training your Golden Retriever, timing is the most important factor.  If your dog is doing something wrong, you shouldn’t wait or hesitate to correct him. Doing so may send the wrong impression.  When your Golden Retriever is doing something wrong, you should correct him right then and there, so he will know without a doubt what he is doing wrong.

For example, if your Golden Retriever is chasing cars, you obviously want to stop this habit before it gets it out of hand.  The second you see him doing this, you should always stop him and let him know he’s wrong.  This way, he will know that chasing cars is something he shouldn’t be doing.  It may take a bit of time for him to realize this, and you’ll need to hold your ground and continue to correct him when he is doing something that you don’t approve of.

This type of theory is similar to that of praise.  When you see your Golden Retriever doing something right, you should praise him instantly.  If you don’t praise him instantly and instead wait until he has stopped, he will assume that you are praising him for stopping.  To be on the safe side and get the most from your Golden Retriever, you should always praise him when he is behaving in the right way, then correct him when he is behaving in a negative way.

If you take your time and show patience with your Golden Retriever, you shouldn’t have any problems training him.  The training process may take quite a bit of time, although it is more than worth it in the end.  Once you have trained your Golden Retriever, he will react to what you say, and avoid doing the things he has been corrected for.  Training is essential for Golden Retriever – and will make him a much better dog when he grows older.

The Combination Approach To Feeding Your Golden Retriever

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Although you can get commercial food for your Golden Retriever, the ideal way to feed is to use a combination approach of both commercial food and fresh people foods.  Most commercial food is good for your Golden Retriever, although it lacks nutrients and vitamins that fresh food has.  Vets will tell you that fresh food is good, providing you don’t overdo it.  Golden Retrievers love fresh food as well, as they can smell it a mile away. If it smells good to them – they’ll want it.

Most commercial foods will offer your Golden Retriever great sources of protein and vitamins, although fresh food contains far more essential sources.  Chicken and meat for instance, have far more protein and minerals than any type of commercial dog food.  Fish is another great choice, as it contains a lot of the protein your dog needs to maintain a healthy brain.

All dogs are well within the capacity of staying healthy, although you need to provide them with the minerals they need.  Each dog is an individual, meaning that you can’t continue to feed him the same food on a daily basis.  Golden Retrievers love people food, and they also love variety.  What they need one day may vary the next, so you should always mix it up a bit and give them something different each day.

To be on the safe side, you should give your Golden Retriever a little bit of everything.  This way, he will get everything he needs with his diet.  When you design the diet for your growing Golden Retriever, you should always make sure to include animal protein.  This is very important for your Golden Retriever, as he has to have it.  Without animal protein, your dog will find himself literally struggling to stay healthy.

To keep your Golden Retriever healthy, it is very important that he gets quality nutrition.  Although quality nutrition is very important, you should never him eat so much that he gains weight too fast.  If you monitor his diet and know exactly what you are feeding him, he should remain in his weight class.  Sometimes this can be hard to help though, especially if your Golden starts to develop allergies to a certain type of food.

If you ever have any questions regarding the diet of your Golden Retriever, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask your vet.  Your vet could make some recommendations for you, even tell you the best type of commercial food for your dog.  Depending on his individual needs, what he requires may be totally different than what another dog needs.  As long as you keep your Golden Retriever on a healthy diet and make sure he gets the food he needs – he should grow to be a healthy dog with plenty of energy.

Hip Dysplasia And Golden Retrievers

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The Golden Retrievers Major Health Issue

Hip dysplasia is a poor formation of the hip joints, which is a common growing disease with younger dogs of virtually every breed including Golden Retrievers .  With larger breeds, unsteady hip joints are common, although hip dysplasia can be a serious problem that will limit the physical activity of your Golden.  Although many Golden Retriever owners don’t realize it, hip dysplasia is something that dogs inherit from their parents, and gets worse with age.

The signs and symptoms of hip dysplasia is nearly impossible to detect with Golden puppies, although it will start to show once the pup has reached the age of nine months.  Even though you may take your Golden to the vet to have him looked at, your vet will tell you that you need to wait to see if the symptoms are there, once the Golden Retriever has reached a certain age.

The symptoms and signs of hip dysplasia vary, although the most common include crippling or the inability to walk properly.  This disease can get better once the dog gets older though, due to the joints stabilizing, the inflammation going down, and the muscles in the hips getting stronger and more mature.  Keep in mind however, that Golden’s who have hip dysplasia when they are younger will more than likely develop arthritis when they get older.

Golden Retrievers that suffer from hip dysplasia aren’t fit for breeding, although they can still live a long and healthy life.  There are certain drugs that your vet can prescribe to your dog, which will help him control his weight and help control the disease.  These drugs can also cut down on the pain as well, helping your Golden enjoy himself as much as possible.

Some Golden Retrievers that have hip dysplasia won’t begin to show any signs at all until they get a few years old, once the muscles start to wear down and the damage to the hip muscles start to become more noticeable.  Although your dog may be active and healthy for most of his puppy years, dysplasia can slow everything down and make your dog look as if he is old and is suffering from the physical attributes of arthritis.

To eliminate the pain of hip dysplasia, there are surgery options available.  Golden Retrievers have a high threshold for pain, and won’t normally show any signs of being in pain, even though you know they are.  X-rays won’t show any signs of pain, although the limping or slow walking will tell you that your dog is hurting.  Golden Retriever’s who have this disease won’t know it – which is why you should help as much as possible.

If you do your part and help your dog seek relief – he will feel better than ever before – although like all Golden Retrievers, he won’t let you know he hurt any at all.

Grooming Your Golden Retriever

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Grooming your Golden Retriever is a never ending process.  The entire process should be down once or twice a week, and will take you around a ½ an hour of time.  Brushing your dog while he is shedding will help to control shedding quite a bit.  While outside, if your Golden Retriever manages to get burs or other defects in his hair, you should instantly take a few moments of your time and get the burs or other matter out of his coat.

When you groom your pet, you should always start with a good brushing.  Brush his entire body, then once you have finished brushing you can switch to a comb to get out any loose hair that remains in the coat.  While you are getting out the hair, you can also inspect your pet for ticks, fleas, and other types of skin ailments.  If you wish, you can also check his ears and trim his nails as well.

Bathing your Golden is essential to grooming, and can be somewhat complicated.  Before you attempt to give him a bath, you should always brush him first, to get rid of tangles.  During shampooing, you should always use shampoos that are specifically for dogs, since human shampoo can dry a dog’s skin out.  You don’t need to bathe your dog often, once every other week is good enough.  If you properly maintain your Golden’s coat, you’ll find it’s much easier to clean.

To prevent matting, which is very common with Golden Retrievers, you should always make sure that you brush your pet on a daily basis.  Metal combs and brushes work extremely well, and will help you to get a great deal of the hair out.  Although some people choose to use scissors and cut the mats, you can easily injure your Golden Retriever if he happens to move or jerk.  Scissors aren’t recommended, as brushing and proper bathing will help to prevent matting of the hair better than anything else.

When you cut your dogs nails, you should trim them a great deal, all the while avoiding going down into the quick.  You should never let the nails of your Golden Retriever get too long, as long nails can easily take the shape of the dog’s foot, resulting in a splay.  Therefore, you should always check your Golden Retriever’s nails and trim them every few weeks.  If you trim them just right, you’ll have at least 2 weeks before they need to be trimmed again.  If you do happen to trim the nails past the quick, bleeding will occur.  To stop the bleeding, always keep some styptic powder on hand to make sure that you are prepared if you do make a mistake.

With other types of grooming, you should also make sure that you clean your Golden’s ears as well.  They can get ear infections quite easily, if you don’t clean their ears on a regular basis.  To get the best results and protect your pet from ear infections, you should clean his ears once a week using a quality cleansing solution.  This way, you can rest assured that your Golden Retriever has healthy ears.

Grooming is an essential aspect to the health of every Golden Retriever.  All it takes is a little bit of time from your day to groom your pet and keep him healthy.  If you don’t have the time to groom your Golden, you can always take him to a professional.  Whether you do it yourself or take your Golden Retriever to a pro – grooming is something that simply must be done.

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