Dog Insurance – Puppy Insurance
Why having dog insurance is important
To have a proper insurance for the dog is a very important issue for every new dog owner.
While most dog owners firstly think about health insurance plans, good public liability insurance, covering every kind of accident or injury is much more important. Even the smallest dog may cause a car accident by running on a road, make somebody fall and break his leg, damage someone else’s property, or bite the postman to defend his home.
Make sure the maximum cover is high enough to pay even for a heavy car accident and long term rehab. Most insurance plans have a very low coverage that is no help at all. There is many insurance companies specialized on pet insurances, so take your time to compare their plans and packages.
The Basics of Leadership
Leadership Basics
There are three basic aspects to leadership:
– Control of or undisputed access to resources
– Proactive intervention
– Ability to control, direct or inhibit the behavior of others
Behaving like a leader means that you must demonstrate – to the dog’s satisfaction! – that your behavior is that of a higher status animal. Each dog will have different criteria for what constitutes adequate leadership skills on your part. And his expectations may change considerably as he grows & matures, requiring that you also make shifts in your approach.
Directing, Controlling & Inhibiting Behavior
From the dog’s perspective, only someone they respect has the right to control, direct or inhibit another dog’s behavior. Turned around the other way, this means that if you can’t control, direct or inhibit your dog’s behavior (especially at critical or highly exciting times), your dog is making it quite clear that he does not consider you higher status – in other words, he doesn’t respect you, a clear sign that your leadership is inadequate for that dog (though it may be quite adequate for another dog with a different personality.)
Hunting Dogs Training
The Training of Hunting Dogs
In the long history of the relationship between dogs and humans, the idea of the dog as pampered house pet is a rather new idea. Dogs were partners in some of the most important jobs that our ancestors had to accomplish. Assisting on the all important hunt for food was one of those jobs. Until the very recent past in the time line of humans and dogs, failure on the hunt meant more than simple disappointment at a recreational activity that was not as satisfying as it could have been. It meant starvation.
Hunting is for recreation now, and the dog has become more of a companion and pet than an essential element to our survival. Yet deep inside many humans and inside their dogs is still this primal urge to hunt. There are many theories on the proper training of a hunting dog, and debate rages about such diverse issues as the best breeds and if the hunting dog can also double as the family pet. Many people claim that the training should start as early as possible while others swear that it is better the let the animal get the “puppy” out of himself before he can even begin his training as a hunter.
Clicker Training
The Theory behind Clicker Training
Operant Conditioning is the name given to the way that an animal interacts and learns from its environment. This applies to any animal including human beings. Put simply, it means that they will repeat an action that results in a positive consequence and not repeat an action that results in a negative consequence. This principle can be applied to the training of your dog in both ways. If you reward the dog, he will do it again. This is positive reinforcement. If you punish the dog, he won’t do it again. This is punishment.
Most training professionals suggest positive reinforcement or reward as the better method of training. In either case, the problem is that the dog does not understand English, and so you can not sit him down and have a long talk explaining the reason for the reward or the need for punishment. The only way either is effective or understood by the dog is if it takes place at fairly close to the exact time the behavior takes place.
If you tell your dog to sit and he does so, you can not then run into the house for a dog treat and expect him to associate the treat with the behavior. Many trainers feel even the short delay in getting the treat out of your pocket and into his mouth might be too long for true positive operant conditioning to take place.
The solution is to find a conditioned reinforcer. This is something that the animal would not normally consider as a good consequence and would not work to receive. A primary reinforcer is the food or treats that the dog would be willing to work to receive. So, the conditioned reinforcer is coupled with the positive reinforcer and in the dogs mind they become equal. This is where the clicker comes into play. A clicker is a tiny metal toy that makes a clicking noise when pressed and released. It is the toy that used to be called a cricket. At the same time that the click is sounded, the dog is given a treat. When this has been done for a length of time, the dog will associate the click with the treat. The conditioned reinforcer has become a primary reinforcer. In other words, the click has become a reward.
Dogs need different diets at different ages
Feeding your Dog
Dogs need different diets at different ages. Yes. This is true. For example, the puppy needs milk as the major food item while an adult dog may need beef or chicken in addition to the boiled egg and milk. So depending on the age factor, the diet schedule varies in reality for the dogs like any other species.
Puppies need greater amounts of protein, fat and carbohydrates than an adult dogs. Furthermore, puppies need more frequent feeding schedules in a day, unlike an adult dog. The movement based requirements of diet are more in the case of puppies, since they are often more active than the adult dogs.
Elder dogs need restricted protein but the protein needs to be easily digestible and easily assimilated in the body. The diet schedule should have ample supply of water for them. Feeding aged dogs too much protein may finally lead to over burden to the renal structures and ultimately, the dog may end up damaging filters in the kidney.
This is true especially when the immune system of these dogs is compromised due to many factors. Similarly, the elderly dogs need less food only because the movements of the adult dogs are highly restricted and hence, they have to spend a limited of energy.
Female dogs in the pregnancy stage need not be fed a full stomach since it may cause some discomforts to the animal. However, the pregnant animal and the nursing animal need special type of food items that deliver a balanced type of nutrition with proper supplementation of vitamins and minerals.
The nursing animal with puppies need to be fed with enough amounts of calcium and hence, there will not be any calcium based deficiency and the bones of the puppies will be strong without any curving.