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.

Feeding Your Labrador Retriever: Part 2

January 25, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Many Labrador Retriever owners feed their pet semi-moist foods because they are easier to prepare than canned food and usually more delectable than regular dry food.

Semi-moist foods are usually packaged in easy-open pouches or as “hamburger patties.” The semi-moist foods contain much less water than canned foods, but they are expensive and loaded with sugar, preservatives, and additives.

These materials can sometimes produce allergic reactions that commonly result in skin biting or scratching by the sensitive Labrador Retriever. Though there are some semi-moist foods that are more nutritious than others, it is best to limit their intake to no more than ¼  of the dog’s diet, with the remaining ¾  being a quality dry food.

The dry-food category spans a large spectrum of quality, mostly commercial and professional. Most of the popular brands that are seen in supermarkets fall into the first category. The main problem with these is the amount the dog needs to consume daily in order to attain proper nutrition. Often, it is just too much, and leads to excessive elimination.

Check the recommended feeding amounts on the bag and apply it to the weight of your Labrador Retriever. If the suggested amount turns out to be more than your dog can easily eat in one meal, choose another brand. A second drawback of this type of dry food is that the mixture of ingredients often varies from batch to batch, due to fluctuations in which crop such as soy, wheat, oats, etc. is available at what time.  Therefore, the nutritional value may differ somewhat from bag to bag.

The “professional” meat-meal blends offer some improvement. These are the high-quality dry foods that are sold primarily in pet shops, specialty stores, and online catalogs. They offer a nutritious, balanced diet in an easily digestible form. The makers retain a standard blending procedure from batch to batch to insure a uniform product.

The suggested feeding amounts are adequate to fill a dog up without overfeeding him. Although such products may cost a little more than the regular dry food, in the long run they are no more expensive than brands that require more to be eaten.

A quality meat-meal-based dry food has also been shown to aid in the housebreaking a Labrador Retriever because this type of mixture usually contains bran or fiber in amounts that help to produce firmer stools.

Filed Under: Dog Information Tagged With: Allergic Reactions, Balanced Diet, Canned Food, Canned Foods, Drawback, Dry Food, feeding your labrador retriever, Food Category, Hamburger Patties, Labrador Retriever, Labrador Retriever Owners, Meat Meal, Nutritional Value, Oats, Online Catalogs, Pet Shops, Pouches, Preservatives, Proper Nutrition, Specialty Stores, Uniform Product

Dog Training: Basic Equipment Needed To Train Your Family Dog

July 31, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Dog Training Basics

You will need three specific pieces of equipment for proper dog training: a training collar, a leather training leash, and a 15-foot length clothesline rope.

If you’re already thinking that your dog’s present leather collar will work, and that his 4-foot chain leash will suffice, you may as well stop reading this article and save yourself and your dog weeks of discomfort and hardship.  There simply is no substitute for the right training equipment. A training collar is a slip-chain type made of metal. Don’t substitute one that’s made of nylon.

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Dog Training Tips To Get Your Dog To Obey!

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The Hands Off Dog Training Method

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One of the many things your dog is going to learn is to have confidence in you. But he will never develop that feeling of confidence if you substitute improper training equipment that will not be effective. Where there’s no confidence there can be no respect, and no respect means no desire to please. No desire to please means no willingness to learn. Add them all up and you have an uncontrollable dog that will never achieve his rightful place in human world.

The Proper Leash For Dog Trainng

Your leash should be of the regular five to six foot leather type with a hand loop at one end.

Training collars and leather training leashes are available at pet shops and via online catalogs. Training collars are sometimes called choke-chains, which is incorrect.

While it’s true that a training collar can choke, if it’s worn on the dog correctly and used properly, there’s no way it can be a choke-chain and cause harm to your pet.

The Right Collar For Dog Training

The collar should be large enough to slide over the dog’s head comfortably, but not so large as to fall over the ears if the dog should lower his head.

A good rule of thumb to follow is to place the collar on the dog and cinch it up tight for a moment and observe whether you have three inches of chain left over.

If so, you have a fairly good fit. It is better to have a training collar that’s slightly too large than one slightly too small.

Final Dog Training Necessities That You Cannot Find In A Store

The remaining equipment that you’ll need cannot be purchased at any store, but without them, you cannot successfully execute dog training.

You must love and care for your dog! You must have patience and exercise patience while your dog is learning. A shallow patience mixed with a short temper will ensure complete and utter failure.

To lose your cool and blow up means the end of dog training, so here’s a little tip that might help you keep your cool:

It takes 4 to 5 days for an average dog to learn the average thing. Do not expect your dog to perform like a professional the first few days of teaching him something new. It just doesn’t happen that way. If you lose control of yourself, you have lost control of the situation. When this happens while dog training, your dog loses confidence in you.

Filed Under: Dog Training Tagged With: Cause Harm, Chain Leash, Clothesline, Dog Obedience, Dog Training, Dog Training Basics, Family Dog, Foot Chain, Foot Length, Hand Loop, Leather Collar, Leather Type, Many Things, Online Catalogs, Pet Shops, Puppies, Rope, Rugs, Rule Of Thumb, Six Foot, Training Collar, Training Collars, Training Leashes, Urinating, Willingness

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