Pet Care Advice on Interpreting Nutritional Facts on Your Dog’s Food Label

Pet Care to Control the Noise

Are you tired of your dog barking, growling, or howling whenever guests come over? When the mail-person, or neighbors walk too closely to the yard, does this set off a barking marathon? Dogs are instinctively territorial. Their barking is a sign of alerting the pack that a possible predator may be near. Barking is the alarm. Some dog owners don’t necessarily need a guard dog to watch the house. This article outlines 5 tips of how to curb the noisy barking with proper pet care.

Plenty of Exercise

Barking is a sign your dog is bored. Dogs are intelligent animals and need plenty of exercise, mentally and physically. Dogs that wait by the window for someone to come by, only to bark incessantly are usually just bored. Territorial dogs like Bull Mastiffs, Beagles, and Golden Retrievers are more prone to barking. But all all dog breeds bark.

One of the first ways to calm your dog and yourself down is to go for a healthy walk. Breed determines how long you will need to walk your dog daily. Dogs like Dachshunds and Siberian Huskies will need 60 minutes of daily walking time. Smaller dogs like a Bichon Frise or Pomeranian will need only a 20 minute walk for proper pet care.

Once a dog is properly exercised, they will be less prone to barking. Always seek out veterinary advice when determining the length time of a walk. Your dog’s behavior is another way owners know when your dog has exercised enough for the day. After a walk, your dog should drink plenty of water and lay down to rest. Walking is an essential part of pet care.

Pet Care: Removing Temptation

Dogs hovering by the windows at barking at people on the street is nonconstructive behavior. Owners can try closing the curtains to obstruct the view. Sometimes even making furniture decisions is part of pet care. Rearranging furniture will also help impede your dog’s view of the street. You can also think about installing a fence or shrubs. This will help block the line of sight for your dog. What a doggie can’t see, they won’t bark at. S

Owners may also consider using a dog therapy music as part of their pet care. Dog therapy music plays specific rhythm based music that helps calm dogs down. Dogs hear higher pitches than humans. The therapy music is designed to play pitches and rhythms that appeal to dog’s ears. Barking could be a byproduct of owner separation anxiety. When you leave for work, play a playlist at a low volume that will help ease your dog’s stress. Pet care dog trainers also suggests using a white noise machine, a fan, or even turning the T.V. on. This noise helps stimulates your dog and keeps them calm to reduce barking.

Ignore the Bad Behavior

Many owners first impulse to stop barking is to pick their dogs up, or play with them. The aim is to try and distract their dogs from barking. This reinforces the wrong kind of behavior. Don’t pick them up.  Instead of petting them, or giving your dog attention when they bark, ignore the barking. A dog correlates appropriate behavior with the amount of attention you give them. Sometimes ignoring a dog is better pet care than inadvertently reinforcing bad behavior with praise.

Another mistake owners make is to coarsely hush their dog. Or vocalize misused quiet commands. If your dog does not know the command ‘quiet,’ yelling at them will not help. Your dog cannot correlate your words with their behavior. Hushing them may stop barking, but this will not work in the long term.

When your dog is barking, do not face them until they are quiet. Once your dog settles down, pet them and give them treats. This positive reinforcement helps build structure. Your dog will learn that barking will not get them attention, petting, or treats. But when they stop barking, they will get the treats and attention they deserve. This part of training is best taught during  puppy years. When you first introduce your puppy to the household is the time to begin training. But pet care and dog training can happen at all cycles of life if owners work hard. Stay consistent, stay calm, and be loving!

Channel Focus Elsewhere

Find out what is making your dog bark. In most cases it is because they see guests approaching, or neighbors walking by the house. Seeing another dog walking may also trigger them to start barking. Owners can close the blinds to block their view of the street. But this doesn’t address the underlying problem. What happens when you have guests over, and your dog goes berserk?

The key is focusing dog’s attention away from what is triggering them to bark. A good training method is to get your dog to return to their crate, or ‘go to their place.’ This is called incompatible behavior training. Use treats and a lot of positive praise to reinforce good behavior. Owners can use whatever phrasing or word they want as a prompt. These words are interchangeable. Stick to a specific word so you don’t confuse them.

First you will want to teach your dog to ‘go to their place.’ Use a reference place like a rug or their crate. Take treats in your hand to get your dog’s attention. Give the voice command. Then walk with your dog back to the intended spot. When your dog is calm, and in place, give positive reinforcement. This will take baby steps. But soon your dog will associate the treats and praise with the voice command. Hand gestures and pointing can also help to get your dog to learn ‘go to their place.’

Once your dog has mastered the training, have a friend help you with training. Your friend should be someone who your dog is not acquainted with. Have your friend walk by the house, come to the door, and enter the house. Ignore any barking. Assertively give the voice command ‘go to your place.’ Once they are in position and calm, reward them. Getting a dog trained take lots of love, patience, and treats, but it will be worth it to calm the barking down.

Teaching the Quiet Command

Dog trainers suggest teaching the ‘speak’ command before the ‘quiet’ command. This may seem illogical at first, but for dogs it is actually more intuitive. Owners can use whichever vocalization they choose, but the effect will be the same. Train them in a calm environment with no distractions.

First, get them to start barking with the voice command, ‘speak.’ This is the easy one. Whenever the dog barks, vocalize the command and praise them. Once they associate the command with the action, you can move on to the harder part–‘quiet.’

Instruct your dog to ‘speak.’ Then reward them. Then give them the command ‘quiet,’ and when the barking stops reward them. Repeat this process until your dog can discern between the two commands.

Like all training it will take patience. If your dog is too distracted, or not calm, it will be harder to train. Make sure all the variables are set for a good training space.

Puppies and Approaches

Dog owners understand that puppies are huge responsibility. The first few months of having a puppy in the home are important, and if a puppy is barking this is natural. Puppies and adult dogs bark to announce danger, protect territory, and display emotions. While puppy training will probably be the easiest method, you can still teach an old dog new tricks. Just remember dogs will not respond to frustration or harshness. Calm and direct training is necessary to get your dog to calm down, and stop all the barking. It may take all 5 tips to get your dog to relax, but it will be worth it. You will have a healthy, happy, and a quieter doggie.

If you are not aware, matting refers to fur that is densely tangled. This results in the fur clumping together. It happens when the dog’s coat is not properly maintained. In a mild form, these can be brushed out. However, if left untreated matting can harm the dog. Here are a few things you should know about matting and how it affects your dog.

What Breeds Have Mats?

This is most prevalent in dogs with longer fur during their shedding season. When the excess hair that is shed cannot properly be removed from lack of brushing, matting can become an issue. This is why brushing a dog’s coat is so important. Not only does it prevent mats, it also helps keep their fur healthy and shiny.

The Dangers of Matting

Many people think that matting is bad because it looks ugly. In reality, severe matting can be very painful to the dog. When the fur is this matted, brushing will only remove the live hairs which will cause even greater pain for the dog. It is important to note though that even mild matting can still cause a dog pain.

In addition, matting can cut off the blood supply to the legs and keep air from circulating properly.  When the skin does not get the blood or air flow it needs, it will become red and this can lead to sores. These sores can cause infection that causes foul odors. Even weeds, stickers and other materials can get stuck in the mats, along with feces and fly larvae. Not only is this unsanitary, but it can further irritate the dog’s skin. In some cases, the matting can be so bad that a vet will need to treat the issue.

How Mats are Removed

Chances are you have heard the term dematting. This simply means to remove the mats. There are some groomers out there who will rip the mats from the dog’s fur with no regard to the comfort of the dog. Here at Splash and Dash we take a stand against this cruel treatment of dogs just to make a buck. This is why we will not remove mats that will hurt a dog and we will not bathe a dog that has mats as this will only make the mats tighter. We ask that you respect the professional standard we have set by not requesting we do so. Severe mats will be shaved to get under the mat, though we will consult with the pet parent before doing so.

You should know that shaving mats is a slow process that can only be done by an experienced groomer. The dog’s skin is thin and even more fragile with mats, so it is essential that the groomer be even more careful when dealing with mats as they become loose. Additionally, clippers can cut a dog’s skin which is why it is important for the process to be done slow and carefully. Once the shaving is done, the dog may develop an itchy response to the shaving. Since the dog’s skin is already fragile at this point, it is important that the pet parent ensure that the dog does not itch after this has been done to prevent further irritation.

How to Prevent Matting

Regular brushing is the only defense against matting. This is even more important for long haired dogs during their shedding season. On top of getting rid of excess hair, brushing helps to aerate the skin and fur. Professional grooming is another way to help keep mats at bay as the groomer will bathe and brush the dog while paying attention to areas of concern with the matting.
Another way to prevent matting is to keep the dog’s fur at a manageable length. Grooming should be done every 4 to 6 weeks. When a dog goes 8 to 10 weeks between grooming sessions the coat can become unmanageable and matted. This varies depending on the lifestyle breed of your dog. If you want to save money on your grooming expenses, we recommend you join our Signature Service Unlimited Bath and Brush program.

August is the time of year when parents around the country start getting their kids ready for back to school. This is an exciting time for parents and kids alike. There is no telling what the new school year may bring. However, pets are not always as excited for the new year to start. They may feel scared at the chaos or nervous when the house is empty all day again. Here are a few ways you can get your dog ready for this transition.

Set a Routine

One of best ways to adjust your dog to the new schedule is to set a routine. If possible, start this a week or so before you go back to school. You want to make sure you give plenty of time for your dog to adjust to the new schedule of you being gone.

Try Faking Your Dog Out

One trick many pet parents swear by for back to school is faking their dog out. To do this, pretend like you are leaving for the day. Stand outside for a few minutes and then come back in. The idea with this is to keep your dog from associating you walking out the door with you being gone all day. It is designed to help minimize anxiety while you are gone.

Don’t Make a Big Deal About Leaving

Another thing to remember is that when you leave, you should not make a huge deal about going. This signals to your dog that they should be concerned about your absence. Rather, just say a quick goodbye and leave. This may be hard to do at first, but over time this will get easier.

Give Them the Attention in the Evening or Morning

Make sure that with the new schedule your dog is not getting left in the dust. You want to make sure that they still get the same attention they were getting before. If you want to ensure that they will be good while you are gone during the day, then maybe take them on a longer walk in the morning and spend a little time cuddling them while you drink your morning coffee and watch the news (or browse Facebook or whatever you do to wake up in the morning).

These are just a few of the tips you can use to help your dog transition to back to school when they will be home alone all day long. You can add in your own tricks for your dog or just use these. The idea is to make your dog as calm as possible. If you find that your dog is having a hard time coping with you being gone, then the best thing to do may be to talk with your vet about the options available to you.

We all know that we need to pick up our dog’s poop when we are out on a walk and not just because it looks and smells gross (even though this is the reason many people won’t pick it up!). The truth is that there are many diseases that can be hiding in the poop you may not even be aware of. Even if you have a perfectly healthy dog their poop can still hold these diseases, which can be harmful to you, other people and even other animals.

• Salmonella- This is the most common bacteria that is passed from animals to humans (or raw cookie dough). It can make you really sickwith symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, vomiting and more.

• E. Coli- This is another common bacterial infection that is passed to humans. While it lives in the intestines of animals and people alike, when it gets into the bloodstream it can be fatal.

• Yersiniosis- This is a bacterial disease that can infect the intestines and multiplies in cold water, such as lakes in early spring.

• Giardia- This is a parasite that is found in water and many dogs have this in their intestinal tract. They can pass it along through their poop. It causes a serious infection and illness in people.

• Tapeworms- These can transmit through the pores of your skin and once inside they travel to the intestines where they steal the nutrients from the host.

• Toxoplasmosis- While most people think of cats with this condition, it can also be passed along in dog poop. It causes flu like symptoms and for pregnant women the illness can lead to birth defects.

 
These are just a few of the many diseases that can be lurking in your pet’s poop. This is why it is important to pick up after your dog every time. Even if you let your dog out in the yard to relieve themselves, you should still make sure you are cleaning up the mess regularly. When left on the ground, it can leave a lasting effect and contaminate the ground for years afterwards. If you do not want to expose yourself or others to this, then it is best to clean up the dog poop. Just make sure you use a bag or gloves to clean up the poop and then wash your hands afterwards to avoid any contamination while cleaning the poop up.