Have you ever heard the tires squeal?  Perhaps you have seen a car that swerves in the road to miss the animal that is in front of them?  Whatever the reason you hear the tires squeal or the car swerve nothing can come of the situation that is good when you hear the thud of the car and dog meeting each other.  Legally or not the dog owner is responsible for their dog.  Dog owners that don’t take the correct precautions for tying up their dogs are the ones at fault for any car and dog accident.  The dog doesn’t know any better in most cases not to chase a car.  You wouldn’t blame a child for being hurt if the parent wasn’t responsible enough to teach them better.

Dogs do have some ingrained behaviors that can be hard to change.  Part of the problem is the thrill of the chase.  Dogs have always chased things, they were bred to chase animals and therefore it is a strong instinct.  You can’t always correct this behavior, but letting the dog run without a leash near traffic is not their fault, you as the owner need to know how to control them better.

In fact if you have ever had children and a dog you have probably warned your children not to run while the dog is around.  This tends to trigger the natural instincts the dog has for chasing things. The instinct to chase is from survival.  For dogs to survive in the wild they needed to be able to give chase for any food that happened by.  This is one of the reasons it is so strong.

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You need to understand what the chewing is a result of.  What is your puppy or dog chewing at?  Is your puppy getting their teeth?  Most of the time chewing is an oral fixation.  It feels good to their gums so they will chew on any soft object to make them feel better.  There is a list of different factors that could have your dog chewing through your home.  We have listed them below.

Puppy chewers
Spiteful chewers
Jealousy chewers
Boredom chewers

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The facts discovered during the later seventies and early eighties is that any dog with hip dysplasia didn’t have to be euthanized. Instead the dogs could lead a pretty normal life if the diagnosis was made as a puppy. As a puppy the canine would need some corrective procedures so that as an adult the dog would not suffer. Many vets began researching the type of surgery that would be needed to correct the problem in a younger dog. Unfortunately many found that in some cases correcting the dog while he or she was still young could create hip dysplasia by harming the tendons. Vets have offered surgery on many dog breeds that are subject to hip dysplasia. In some cases they have actually removed the dog’s tail or shortened it in order to keep hip dysplasia from happening. By changing the weight that is placed on the hips it has been thought that the hips will not hurt as much or end up in a position that is uncomfortable.

At the moment it is uncertain if hip dysplasia in dogs is genetic. Many believe it is genetic because certain breeds are more affected from the disorder than others. A common breed is the English Sheep Dog. English Sheep Dogs tend to develop or are born with hip dysplasia. A Swedish study done on 11,036 dogs resulted in information that hip dysplasia is not necessarily genetic. The study was completed on German Shepherds over a ten year period. In fact they tried selective breeding to reduce the occurrence of hip dysplasia. In other words they breed dogs that didn’t show the traits of the disorder in their bones were breed, yet their off spring still had the disorder. This led the Swedish to believe that it is not influenced by genetics. There were other findings with the pelvic inlet that showed the rate of bone maturation could be the cause of the hip dysplasia.

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1. When you become the proud owner of a new puppy or an adult dog you will have so many moments of enjoyment.  You automatically shower the new family member with lots of love and attention.  However, spending all your time with your new pet can create problems when you have to return to your normal routine and may well be out of the house at work for hours on end during the day or night .

This is why it is important to get the balance right from the beginning.  Whilst showing your new pet lots of attention also get the dog to accept that some time has to be spent on his or her own, even when you are there and if this is done gradually it will ensure a less traumatic time when you have to leave the dog to go out.

You could begin by going into another room, closing the door as you leave the dog in the first room on his or her own. Carry out this routine several times each day and then try leaving the house for five minutes, then ten, then fifteen until both you and the dog feel comfortable about the pet being left on their own.

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Like many other people you may adorn the inside of your home with plants such as elephant ears, caladium, a few philodendrons, alocasia, and a sprinkling of skunk cabbage to add a bit of sparkle.  Ask yourself - could there possibly be anything to fear in this beautiful setting?

All of the plants mentioned above contain a substance called calcium oxalate which is in a sharp crystal form.  When your pet takes a bite of these plants he or she will not only feel soreness from the crystals sticking in his mouth but the swelling of the tongue, preventing the dog from breathing in a normal way is highly likely to cause suffocation and the dog may die as a result.

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Although this vision you are seeing may seem like perfection it is potentially fatal for your dog.  One little sip from the bowl with the floating leaf and your dog could be dead in less than an hour. There are coming up to a thousand different plant species which are poisonous for household pets and this figure is just for North America alone.

On several occasions when a pet is taken to the vets due to an unexplained sickness,  the vet will reveal that the dog has been poisoned and the owner will automatically think that someone else has tried to poison their dog, when all along it is probably their own fault.  At least 95% of visits to the vet with an animal suffering sickness are as a result of the owner unknowingly poisoning their dog by the products of their garden such as bulbs of hyacinth and daffodils and other common plants which are deadly for animals.

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Agility: This is a popular dog sport and it has gained recognition by the United Kennel Club (UKC). and the American Kennel Club (AKC). A course of obstacles such as ramps, climbs, tunnels, jumps and much more present the challenge the handler has to successfully direct his dog through.

It is a fun sport as the handler and the dog get to work as a team. The speed and accuracy with which the dog completes the course are the skills the performance is rated by. The dog is off the leash throughout the procedure and is dependent on the verbal direction and body signals of the handler so the ability to follow instructions and be on best behavior is essential.

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If this kind of hobby appeals to you, you will be happy to know that there are many sports activities that you and your dog can  participate in together.  Obedience trials, agility tests, musical freestyle ,field trials, disc dog and many more are becoming increasingly popular amongst dog enthusiasts, for the following reasons:

1. These type of sports are an excellent way of keeping your dog in great physical shape.

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There are many styles of body harnesses to pick from, but most of them have a basic metal D-ring on the strap that runs down the dog’s back into which the leash is clipped. A harness provides a much safer environment than a standard collar when the dog attempts to pull away.

This works by the puppy receiving the tension from the leash instead of all the pull being on the neck area which could result in spinal injury. Puppies in particular are prone to running and dashing about at every opportunity, whether on the leash or not but this will help to control him.

Other Types Of Body Harnesses

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