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.

Crate Training Your Golden Retriever

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A lot of people normally have the wrong conception when it comes to crates and your Golden Retriever.

This conception leads people to believe that crates are a punishment for dogs, and therefore they won’t use them.  Much to the contrary, crates are actually one of the safest places you can put your Golden Retriever, which also gratifies his natural instincts to situate himself within a den.

If you have a crate and leave it open, your Golden will start to go to it when he gets sleepy or when he gets confused.  Although Golden’s tend to like crates, you shouldn’t overuse one by allowing him to spend hours at a time inside of one.  While you should be training him to get used to the crate, you should never allow him out if he is barking.  Once your Golden starts to appreciate the crate, you can leave him in it for a few hours here and there – such as when you are away from home.

When you get your puppy and bring him home for the first time, you should already your crate there and situated where you want it to be.  You should set the crate up in a central area, but never in areas that have a lot of traffic.  Most people who use crates tend to leave them in the kitchen near a door, so the Golden can go outside whenever he needs to relieve himself.

Once you bring the puppy home, you should put him inside the house and allow him to start searching for the crate.  Leave the door to the crate open, and the Golden puppy should start to wander in and out of it.  You can also put a toy or dog treat inside the crate, to give your puppy extra incentive to enter.  Once he goes inside praise him, and let him know that he is doing the right thing.

If your Golden Retriever stays in the crate on his own, praise him for it.  Once your puppy starts getting in the habit of going into the crate on his own, you should place a new toy or treat inside for him to play with.  After a while, you can close the door and see how he reacts.  If he starts to whine, you can talk to him and put your fingers through the door, although you should never immediately take him out – instead wait for him to settle down.

Even though it may take some time, crate training is great for your Golden.  You can use the crate when you need to leave, when you have family over, or for when your Golden has a medical condition such as diarrhea.  If you use a bit of patience and never use the crate for punishment – your Golden Retriever puppy should catch on to the crate pretty quick.
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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’s-
Hands Off Dog Training

Breeding Golden Retrievers

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Golden Retrievers:  Easy To Breed?

For beginners, breeding Golden Retrievers is nearly impossible.  Breeding can be very complicated, although it can be easy as well.  You should never attempt to breed unless you know a lot about requirements for hobby breeders, as it is simply unfair to the breed if you have a litter of puppies that simply aren’t what they should be.  People who look to buy Golden Retrievers only want top quality, which is why you shouldn’t attempt to breed just have a puppies or make a few bucks.

Breeding Golden Retrievers is a very serious hobby, one that should be left to those who know how to make the right choices.  There is a certain amount of cost and care involved with breeding, especially if breeders of Golden Retrievers are going for a certain quality.  There is also a lot of responsibility involved as well, which can take quite a bit of time to say the least.

Motivation for breeding Golden Retrievers

Breeding can help to fulfill the need of a Golden, although the dog still has no knowledge of it missing, no regrets, or no guilt towards living a life without having been breed.  A pregnant Golden Retriever female doesn’t gain anything in regards to health, as it instead causes problems.  Female Golden Retrievers that have been spayed on the other hand, cannot be bred.  If you have chosen to have your Golden spayed, always remember that she will be unable to breed.

When looking to breed, quality breeders will have a lot of choices in front of them.  They will need to determine the pair, such as the mother and the father.  To get the highest quality possible from the litter, the breeder will need to determine the traits of both dogs, temperaments, and how well they seem to react to one another.  The breeder will also need to determine in either of the dogs have any type of health problems, to prevent any diseases or ailments from being passed on to the litter.

Sometimes, when breeding Golden Retrievers, the mother of the litter will prove to be unfit, which requires more work for the breeder.  If the mother isn’t doing her job of nurturing her young, the breeder will need to do it for her.  This can be the most time consuming aspect of breeding, as the breeder will have to feed the young and make sure that they turn out as healthy as possible.

Aside from that, breeders also face quite a bit of costs as well.  The prices for daily care, food, and vet bills can be very steep to say the least.  When you crunch the numbers, you’ll quickly realize that breeders don’t make much money at all when they sale.  Most breeders do it for a hobby, not looking to make money.  Quality breeders of Golden Retrievers on the other hand aren’t concerned with money at all, as they are more concerned about the quality of their litters.  Quality is better than quantity, as even the best breeders out there have problems selling puppies from time to time.

Although breeding is fun for hobby breeders, it is something you really shouldn’t be doing if you don’t have the experience.  Although your Golden may get knocked up by a dog of a different breed without you knowing it, you should do your best to avoid it at all costs if you can.  A pure bred Golden Retriever should be bred only with dogs of her breed, to help preserve the breed and keep their bloodline going.

If you have thought about breeding in the past – you should really study long and hard before you actually make a reality of it.
————————————————————–

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 Retrievers-
Hands Off Dog Training

Making Your Home Friendly For Dogs

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Dogs have sharp claws, sharp teeth, and unlimited amount of energy and curiosity.  The combination can be very dangerous, especially when they are left unsupervised.  The following are recommendations that you can take to prevent accidents from happening and to keep your dogs safe around the house.

1.  Keep all garbage cans closed.  If possible, make sure that they are tightly closed and out of reach.  This includes garbage cans inside and outside of your house.  To dogs, the contents of your garbage cans are like a gourmet meal, the smellier it is, the more he will go after it. 

2.  Keep all household products and chemicals out of sight, especially antifreeze and pesticides which are very toxic to pets.  Clean up spills immediately before your dogs get a chance to clean it up himself.

3.  Dogs, especially puppies, will chew and bite into almost anything, including electrical cords.  It is very important to unplug appliances when you are not using them.  You should also cover exposed cords using a strip wide electrical tape which makes them harder to chew.

4.  Keep all medicines and medicine cabinets closed.  Remember that just because they are child-proof does not mean they are pet-proof.

5.  Keep your dogs away from water unless he is supervised.  Although he is capable of swimming, dogs have difficulty climbing back out if they fall.

Dog Training: Correct Heel Methods (5)

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Dog Training 101

When you feel that you have sufficient control of your dog while walking during your dog training session, usually within four days of his initial orientation to the leash, you are now ready to go to a higher level of control.

Give your dog the dog training command to heel and begin walking, remembering to start out on your left foot, in a straight line. Make a few right-about turns as necessary to make sure that you have his full attention. Then, as you prepare to come to a stop, shorten your hold on the leash just a bit. As you stop, not after and not before, pull up the leash with your right hand and press gently on the dog’s rear as you say the command “Sit”!

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As soon as he sits, praise him and give him a pat on the head. Remember, dogs learn by associating their actions with a pleasing or displeasing result.

Next, give the command “Heel” and begin to walk briskly in a straight line. As you prepare to stop, shorten your hold on the leash. When you stop, pull up on the leash, pressing gently on the rear with your free left hand, at the same time giving the command “Sit”.

Always follow a correct behavioral response by your dog with praise, even if you caused the behavioral response. Even though you are placing your dog in the sitting position, this should still be followed by warm praise.

This will be the pattern throughout the course. You will show your dog what he needs to do and follow it with praise. After the learning process has taken place within the mind of the dog, then will you correct for disobedience.

Your dog training program at this stage should still be limited to fifteen minutes per day and consist only of the commands “Heel” and “Sit”. Give the command to heel, walk about ten feet, do a right turn, then come to a stop, placing the dog in the sitting position while giving the command to sit. Follow each sit-placing with warm praise.

Dogs with above average intelligence will absorb what you are trying to convey in less than four days and will begin to sit by themselves before you have a chance to place them.

However, you must be firm with your decision that, regardless of how fast your dog appears to be catching on, you will continue to place him in the sitting position each time you stop for a period of one week during your dog training.

Nutrition – The Role Of Protein In Dog Health

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Protein and Dog Health

How does protein work in a dog’s body and dog health?

Picture a string of beads and each string is needed to produce a complete picture or an artwork.

The job of protein in your dog can be compared to this strings of beads. Each protein is similar to individual strings of beads.

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Just as these strings are put together in the right order to create a picture, different types of proteins have to go together to be able to produce a dog.

Each string is made up of different numbers of colored beads that are lined up in an exact pattern to produce certain body parts such as the hair, the nose, or the ear of the picture.

Dog Health and Amino Acids

The colored beads can be compared to amino acids, or substances that are connected to the strings to produce different proteins.

There are 23 amino acids that are the molecular building blocks of protein.  A dog can produce 13 amino acids inside his body while the other 10 amino acids must come from an outside source and has to be consumed.

A puppy will not grow unless he is supplied with the remaining 10 essential amino acids.

Without them he will become sick and will eventually die. Similarly, if an adult dog is not getting the proper amount of these 10 amino acids, he will become weak and suffer nutritional deficiencies.

These 10 essential amino acids can be acquired from meat and plants, which offer the best sources because they contain the largest number of essential amino acids.

Not all proteins are the same, as some are better for your dog than others. The amount of protein a dog needs depends on how much of the essential amino acids are supplied by that protein.

The protein’s ability to provide the dog’s Minimum Daily Requirement (MDR) of the 10 essential amino acids is referred to as its “biological value”.

Here are a few additional facts about the importance of protein for dog health:

1. Proteins are the building blocks of your dog’s body.

2. Proteins are necessary for all aspects of growth and development and are very important in structural makeup and the immune system.

In addition, they are burned as calories and can be converted to and stored as fat if needed.

3. They are required for healthy nails, skin, and coat.

4. They are necessary for the production of hormones in the bloodstream.

5. They provide a healthy immune system.

So now you know the importance of protein and dog health

How Dog Training Has Evolved Over The Last Few Decades

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When you look down at your brand new, small and tender puppy peacefully sleeping in its little bed, it’s hard to think that in just two to three months it may grow to be 40, 50, or even up to 100 pounds depending on the type of breed and how much effort you’ll need in dog training.

And although its behaviors may be cute at the moment, like jumping up and putting his front paws on your body, these actions will be far less enjoyable when your dog is all grown up and literally knocking you over;so the younger you start your dog training, the better.

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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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Your best bet is to start dog training your puppy from day one so that he can learn proper manners as he grows into adulthood.

Puppies that are not trained in this manner end up learning all of the wrong stuff and their owners wonder why they cannot seem to get their dogs to behave as they age.

Many years ago, when dog training methods used more punishment oriented (using harsh methods to train puppies), dog trainers typically required all puppy trainees to be at least six months old.

The reason was partly due to the fact that such physical correction protocols used could not be done with dogs that were too small or too young.

What is ironic about dog training in the old days is that by the time most puppies are six months old they are big enough and mentally stubborn enough to ignore commands and are altogether tough to train.

New Times Bring Better Dog Training Methods

Over the last 20 years or so, the dog training profession has embraced more friendly and loving training tactics for their puppy clients.  Most trainers now except puppies that are as young as 8 to 10 weeks old.

They are typically enrolled in socialization classes and puppy kindergarten.

Positive training is now used instead of the old-school methods of negative reinforcement. Puppies are taught to walk politely on the leash.

They learn the basic commands of sit, stay, lie down, and come. In addition to these simple instructions, other useful techniques are learned by puppies such as how to relax, give and take their paw, and polite greeting.

Dog Owners Are More Involved With Dog Training Today

Another interesting aspect of raising dogs that has been noted over the last couple of decades is that more and more dog owners have taken it upon themselves to train their puppies.

This is partly due to the fact that so many dog training publications and manuals have been written. Modern dog training programs are based more and more on scientific principles and psychological studies of animal behavior and temperament.

Simple dog training programs have taught dog owners to utilize techniques such as clicker training and luring.

Clicker training involves the use of a small mechanism that makes a clicking sound when pressed. When a dog hears the sound it will associate the click with whatever reward you give him. This tells the animal that something good is coming and he should repeat whatever behavior or action you have been teaching him.

Luring training is a very common form of dog training and is simply using food such as a dog treat, or even a toy, to induce the dog to display a specific behavior in order to follow the lure in hopes of getting the reward.

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