Housebreaking is the most indispensable thing your puppy must learn. Common sense should tell you why. Do you want your house to stay spic and span? Handle your puppy’s housebreaking well. Aside from the maintenance of your household hygiene, trained dogs are happy dogs. As creatures of habit, it’s in their nature to keep schedules as pack animals. Here is how you should housebreak your puppy:

Ideal Housebreaking Age

When your puppy reaches the age of 8 to 12 weeks old, it’s high time to begin housebreaking. Remember the saying that old dogs can’t learn new tricks? It is true so why take chances?

Training Your Puppy Using A Crate

Dog trainers suggest using a crate in housebreaking your puppy. A crate is like a cage, with see-through bars and a locking door. Its size should accommodate well the dogs size for it to move around in. It should be used like a dog’s bedroom. It is advised to not confine your puppy in his crate for more than two hours at a time.

Crate training is used for training because dogs generally will not soil their sleeping area. Puppy’s at the age of 3 months old will have to eliminate every 3 hours, therefore, you should take your puppy outside more often. If you leave the puppy in the crate longer than that, he is sure to have an accident.

Rountines Are Important For Your Puppy

When it is time to take your dog out doors to eliminate be sure to use one door only. This way he will use that door to let you know he needs to go outside.

Taking the puppy out at the same time everyday will help your dog to get into a routine. This will help him to learn to hold it in until you are available.

Look For Clues

In order to accomplish this goal, you must pay attention to the signs that your dog is giving you when he needs to go out. He may scratch on the door, starting at the door, circling in an area or he may be constantly sniffing. That is your clue to let him out.

Patience is a Big Virtue

Like any training endeavor, housebreaking requires a lot of patience. If you definitely despise cleaning your dog’s waste off your Persian carpets on an hourly basis and having your whole house smell like a public bathroom, you want the housebreaking to be successful in a wink of an eye, if not sooner.

Using Your Common Sense

Common Sense will help you and your dog while housebreaking. Stick to a routine, do not give him water before bed, to not ignore the clues.

In order to succeed in housebreaking your puppy patience and consistency is of vital importance. If for some reason you are not able to stick to the routine and your puppy has an accident don’t blame him just get back into that routine as soon as possible. It will take a lot of time and commitment on your part but don’t give up.

Stay Consistent!

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Ear infections are a common ailment for many dogs. From struggles with ear-mites, fungus, and allergies, to more serious inner ear infections, some dogs seem to fight a never ending battle that has them – and their owners – constantly scratching their heads. Many common outer ear problems can be prevented with a little extra effort and vigilance.

Veterinarians use antibiotics to treat severe ear infections, these may include antibiotic/anti-fungal/anti-inflammatory medicines like Otomax or Malotic. Some owners also choose to take a more holistic approach to dealing with their pups infections before resorting to medicines

Keeping the ears clean and free of debris is the simplest way to help stave off an infection in your pet. Keep the hair around the ears, clean and trimmed and check the ears periodically to make sure they dont have a buildup. Dogs with long floppy ears seem to pick up more debris than those with pricked ears. Be especially sure to do a quick cleaning after a hike or a trip to the beach.

Washing the ears is the next level of prevention. A simple solution of diluted white vinegar is a great way to eliminate common allergies. Use a solution of 1 part vinegar and two parts water to rinse the ear thoroughly before rinsing again using plain clean water. A 1:1 Hydrogen Peroxide/water solution also makes a good rinse and will sting less if your dog has been doing a lot of scratching. Be sure to dry your pups ears gently after youve cleaned them.

Commercial ear cleaners are often a step up from home-made solutions and for troublesome infections may go a step further to help keep your dogs irritations at bay. Many of the commercial varieties also come with an applicator which can make ear cleaning much easier on both the dog and their owner. Check with your local pet store.

One of the easiest ways to reduce all types of infections is to improve the quality of your dogs food. The fillers often used in cheap big brand dog foods offer little to know nutritional value. In addition to sometimes triggering allergies, non-nutritional fillers do your dog no good and only serve to add bulk to the product – and ultimately to your dogs too. Treat your pup to a healthy lifestyle by starting with a high quality dog food, check with your local specialty pet center for quality brands.

In spite of looking and smelling terrible, most ear infections only affect the outer ear. Keeping the ears clean and groomed will help reduce both the discomfort of common problems as well as the risk of greater infection. More serious infections to exist and you should be aware of the symptoms. If you notice your dog tilting their head more than normal, walking in circles, or showing signs of general clumsiness, it may be a sign of a more serious condition and you should schedule a trip to your local vet.

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Some dogs can go through their whole lives without so much as an itchy ear, while others have a never ending struggle with ear-mites, fungus, and allergies that have them forever scratching their heads. Many ear problems only affect the outer ear, and with a little effort you can greatly reduce the frequency and severity of your dogs infections.

Veterinarians use antibiotics to treat severe ear infections, these may include antibiotic/anti-fungal/anti-inflammatory medicines like Otomax or Malotic. Some owners also choose to take a more holistic approach to dealing with their pups infections before resorting to medicines

The easiest way to reduce the number of ear infections your dog has is to keep the ears clean and free of dirt and other gunk. Especially for long haired dogs, keep the hair around the ears trimmed and clean, Long hair can be a magnet for debris which can get carried into the ear canal leading to infection. Dogs with long, floppy ears are also at a higher risk of picking up dirt than are dogs with pricked ears.

Some dogs seem to always have stuff in their ears. For them a rinse made of a simple 1:2 solution of white vinegar and water may help stave off infections. Use the solution to rinse the ear, massaging gently with a towel, then rinse a couple more times using plain filtered water. A 1:1 hydrogen peroxide/water solution also work well. Try the Hydrogen Peroxide solution if your dogs ears are tender from a lot of scratching as it will sting less than the vinegar.

Commercial ear cleaners are a step up from simple vinegar. Most large pet stores will have several to choose from and many come with simple applicators as well which make treatment easier than trying to pour a vinegar/water solution into a wriggling dogs ear.

One of the easiest ways to reduce all types of infections is to improve the quality of your dogs food. The fillers often used in cheap big brand dog foods offer little to know nutritional value. In addition to sometimes triggering allergies, non-nutritional fillers do your dog no good and only serve to add bulk to the product – and ultimately to your dogs too. Treat your pup to a healthy lifestyle by starting with a high quality dog food, check with your local specialty pet center for quality brands.

Most ear infections only affect the outer ear in spite of smelling and looking bad. By taking the time to practice good hygiene you can greatly reduce the incedence of common ear problems. More serious symptoms including head tilting, walking in circles, and general clumsiness can be signs of a more serious inner ear infection and are best handled by your local vet.

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A very unusual combination, the Brazilian Mastiff is in fact a mastiff/bloodhound mix. They have traits of both breeds; including the famed sense of smell bloodhounds are so well known for. They also have the protectiveness and gentleness with children so common in mastiffs. Hailing from Brazil, they are known (in Portuguese) as Fila Brasileiro. Formerly employed as guards for plantations, they found their way to North America with conquistadors.

These gentle giants can easily weigh over 100 pounds, and stand up to 30″ tall. Having the flabby neck and long face of bloodhounds, their fur varies in color from reddish to black, even yellow. Brindled specimens are the most popular however.

As most of their cousins in the Mastiff family, the Brazilian Mastiff is very loving in nature. They can be aggressive as well. They are gentle with children and very protective of them. Mastiffs are very obedient to their masters and very easy to train as well. The have great pride and courage.

Brazilian Mastiffs still are seen in hunting, being as good at the job as their bloodhound relatives. They specialize in tracking down and catching prey while waiting for their owners to catch up; in fact, the “Fila” in “Fila Brasileiro” is from Portuguese and means “hold”.

These are an athletic breed although some Mastiffs are not athletic at all and they even are known to become obese. Again they get their athletic abilities from the bloodhound side. The guarding side comes from the Mastiff. Mastiffs are very watchful dogs and although they aren’t aggressive in nature, they will guard their family.

A downside to the breed is that they are not good at dealing with strangers. They have been known to attack strangers with no provocation or warning. For this reason, they should be kept locked up if say, a repairman is coming.

The best way to get and stay in a Brazilian Mastiffs good graces is to spend time with it from puppyhood until it is an adult. They are loyal to a fault when it comes to their families; they have even become aggressive towards judges while entered in dog shows.

Remember to be careful as you choose your new Brazilian Mastiff puppy. You want to make sure that the breeder is a good and trustworthy one. Some breeders have other agendas when selling their puppies so it is wise to get references first hand.

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Springer Spaniels are extremely smart and learn very quickly. The Springer is the right choice for either a city or country home because they are so eager to please, loyal and like people. Playful and energetic, the Springer Spaniel can bring its owner many hours of amusement. Springers are excellent all around dogs. Good training can bring excellent results in many fields, including agility, tracking, retrieving, obedience, hunting, and field trials. They are the perfect choice for families because they are so wonderful with children. Adult supervision of children around any breed of dog is necessary to ensure the dog doesn’t become irritated.

Springers are quite friendly, and eager to please their owners. Some people have compared their temperament to the popular Golden Retriever. They are happy to go home and lie around the house if that is what their families are doing at the time. Human contact helps them to adjust and adapt to different levels of activity. Being a long breeder of a variety of puppies, we can attest to their absolute friendliness.

As a breed, the English Springer Spaniel is a medium sized sporting dog, and can weigh anywhere from 35-55 pounds at adulthood. They are generally very strong dogs that live anywhere between ten and fourteen years. There are two types of Springer Spaniels, those that are field bred, and those that are show bred. The field bred variety has a shorter coat and a more active temperament than the show bred variety. All Springers have their tails docked shortly after birth, but the length of the tail differs between two “lifestyles.” The tails are docked shorter for Springers who are shown, whereas the working, field-bred Springers have longer tails so as to be an efficient signal for hunting.

A purebred English Springer Spaniel has a coat color of either liver and white or black and white. There does exist a tri-color combination in the breed where the coat is black, liver, and white, but it is much more rare and generally requires both the sire and dam to be tri-color also. These are easily recognized by the white flash that runs down the middle of their faces.

If you need a good hunting dog, with plenty of energy, who is ready to sniff out some ‘game’, English Springer Spaniels are the breed for you. Springers are happy to spend all day outside with their masters, they love water and are not particularly sensitive to weather in general. Because they are an old breed, they have been a favorite canine for many years. They are one of the oldest and best established hunting and gun dog breed.

So I hope you can see why we think Springers are a wonderful fit for many different situations, lifestyles, and families. We certainly believe and have experienced how these loving animals can find a place in anyone’s heart and home.

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Dog behavior modification can be confusing. Canines are communal creatures and as such delight in being with their humans. When left isolated they often become distressed, suffering from an attachment disorder, recognized as separation anxiety. Dogs who suffer from separation anxiety often communicate their anxiety by excessive, barking, whining, digging, gnawing and soiling.

The notably effective cure for separation anxiety contains dog behavior modification. There are couple manageable tips that can help.

1. Crate training is undoubtedly efficient in separation anxiety. Many canines respond well to confinement in a small space because it makes them feel secure. Bear in mind, the crate or “safe room” is an a space where the pet feels protected and content; never use the crate or “safe room” as discipline.

2. Notice the hints of distress. Owners need to spot the warning hints of distress: panting, pacing, whining, trembling, digging, declining to eat, ears tucked down and back; all these add up to anxiety.

Owners can’t reward these behaviors by saying “You’re okay!” Before the dog becomes bothered, owners should calm the behavior by talking to the canine, massaging it or brushing. If the pet still becomes fidgety when the owner exits, they must ignore the action and not make a big deal over the pet. Fussing or empathizing unintentionally rewards the restless action.

3. One of the best tricks for dog behavior modification is exercise. The more you exercise your canine, the more nervousness is relaxed, hence, the less your canine will gnaw your furniture when you are away. There is an absolute correlation with anxiety minimization in people and exercise. The same goes with dogs. Take your canine for a long, and I mean a LONG walk. It will be a great nervous tension help for you and your pet. Think of the relationship you will have and the amazing health benefits!!!

Separation anxiety can be managed with dog behavior modification. Separation anxiety can be severe and all-consuming to some dogs. Other dogs can adjust with just a couple tips.

If you find your pet is a an extreme case, seek a veterinary evaluation by a behaviorist. They may need pharmacological assistance in addition to the dog behavior modification. Hopefully, the above tricks will benefit and in no time your pet will be relaxing while you are away.

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Call it what you will — potty training, house training or house breaking — potty training a puppy is one thing that most new dog owners don’t look forward to. This is probably because they’re not sure where to start. After all, each person you ask will probably give you different advice on how to potty train your new dog.

Don’t despair. I’ve got six tips that you can use to make the house training process a lot easier on you and your new puppy.

Tip #1: Feed Your Puppy At The Same Times Each Day

A lot of dog owners prefer free feeding to set feeding times. Free feeding means leaving a bowl of food out all day so your dog can eat whenever he gets hungry. This can work well with older dogs, but when you’re house training a new puppy or dog it’s much better to feed him a specific times, following a set schedule.

Most dogs need to go potty after eating. By having a set schedule, you can control when your dog eats and know when he will need to go potty. You’ll have fewer accidents if you follow this important tip.

Tip #2: Help Your Puppy Succeed By Following A Potty Schedule

Following a feeding schedule will help you get started with this. You should take your new puppy out after every meal, and also a few more times each day. If possible, try to make these extra potty trips at the same time each day.

By following a potty break schedule, you’ll remember to get your new puppy outside during the day. Puppies thrive on schedules because they give them a real sense of security. When they don’t know what to expect from day to day, puppies become anxious. This anxiety can easily lead to digestive problems – and that makes the whole house training process much harder.

Tip #3: Choose A “Potty Time” Command

Pick a command word that you are comfortable using — no matter where you are or who you’re with. Here are a few common commands: “potty” “go potty” “go peepee” and “tinkle.”

Once you choose a command, start saying it every time you want your new dog to go potty. In the beginning, don’t say it unless you are standing right where you want him to go. As he grows, you can open the door and give the command. He’ll run outside all on his own and go potty right where you want him to.

Tip #4: When Your Dog Has An Accident, Don’t Scold Or Yell At Him

You have to be realistic. Every new puppy will have accidents – some more than others. When it happens, it’s important to remain calm. You shouldn’t yell at him and under no circumstance should you rub his nose in it. This is an “old-school” technique that we now know does NOT work. It just confuses your puppy.

Making your dog feel that going potty is bad isn’t going to help. Your dog can’t help himself – when he’s got to go, he’s got to go! What you need to teach him instead, is that good things happen when he goes potty in the right place, which leads us to the next tip

Tip #5: Always Praise and Reward Your Puppy When He’s Successful

It’s just as important to reward your puppy when he goes potty correctly as it is when he does a “sit” any other command.

It’s a good habit to combine sincere praise with some kind of reward. Rewards can be showing him love and affection, giving him a tasty treat, or spending a few minutes playing with him. Whatever you choose, it’s vital that your puppy is rewarded immediately so he remembers that going potty means getting a reward.

To start, be sure to praise him verbally while he’s actually going potty. Use a friendly, happy voice and say “Good boy! Good potty!” As soon as he’s finished, immediately give him the reward. You can toss his favorite ball for a game of fetch, or if you’re on a walk, bounce it and let him catch it. You could also give him a treat or belly rub.

Again, be sure to reward him immediately. Praise combined with affection, treats or play will make your puppy happy – and he’ll soon associate going potty at the right time and place with happiness and joy.

Tip #6: Crate Training Your Puppy Means Less Accidents

Crate training is a topic all on it’s own, but here is why you’d be smart to consider it when house breaking your puppy

When you crate train your puppy, you’re able to kennel him when you can’t watch him yourself. Dogs are den animals, and they don’t like to soil their dens. This means your puppy will “naturally” wait until you’ve taken him out of his crate before he goes potty.

There are two important things to remember: First, never leave him in his crate for too long. Second, always take him out to go potty as soon as you let him out of his crate. Most of the time, your puppy will already have to go potty. With your help, he’ll be going go potty exactly where you want him to go!

Your new puppy is going to love you unconditionally. In return, you should do your best to train him properly so he’s always a joy to be around. Potty training a puppy is a very important step in raising a dog that’s happy, healthy, and easy to love.

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Do you own a pet dog? If you do the following article will be helpful to you. As you might already know dogs actually do suffer from allergies just like we do. There are a lot of remedies for such dog allergies. One of the remedies is to use honey.

But a note in advance: The use of honey to treat dog allergies usually works only for seasonal-induced or environmental allergies. Meaning allergies that are triggered during certain times of the year ” like winter or summer or caused by the environment like fleas or dust mites.

Ok so why is honey so effective in treating certain classes of dog allergies? Firstly, honey contains local pollen which in small doses allows your pet dogs to consume it without risk. This is akin to how antibodies work in vaccines. Small exposures of pollen to the dogs immune system will help to build up resistance against seasonal/environmental induced factors.

Secondly, honey by itself has the ability to heal. For us, when we have a sore throat, what do we do? Thats right; we drink a warm glass of honey. Many people have also used honey to recover from wounds and various skin problems, either by consuming it or applying on the affected areas.

Of course it is not so simple as to just buy honey off the market-shelf, start to feed your affected dog and volia the allergies disappear. It is a little more complicated than that. The key factor that makes the use of honey effective against these kinds of dog allergies is to let your pet consume honey produced from your area. Let me repeat that again: Get honey that is grown and produce from where you live. The simple reason being that honey grown locally has the pollens which is native to your dogs environment. This will then really build up resistance against allergic agents where your dog lives. It makes little sense to feed your dog honey made from the other side of the globe. Unless you are planning to bring your dog for a vacation there that is.

Some more tips for feeding your dogs honey: remember that if your dog is larger in size they may need greater quantities of honey for it to work. General rule of thumb is one tablespoon for large dogs and less than one tablespoon for small dogs. You can even mix the honey into your pets food if they dont like licking off a spoon!

Give it about a months time and the effects of the honey should start to work. Hope that helps.

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If you are the neighbor of a barking dog, there are steps you can take to keep your neighborhood peaceful.

First, contact the dog owner and ask him to do something about the problem. Sometimes the owner may not be aware of the problem and will take steps to stop the barking right away.

If this does not work, then call your local humane society. They will want the name and address of the dog owner, and they will need your name and address too. They will also want to know when the dog is disturbing people.

Typically a letter from the humane society is sent to the pet owner and this takes takes care of the barking issue.

In spite of this, if the dog continues to bark, a call will have to be made to the humane society again. A complaint will most likely be issued with an officer delivering it to the dog owner.

A complaint must be signed by neighbors within a realistic distance of the pet owner. If the dog owner still does not do something about the barking, they may have to appear in court.

Dont forget, if your dog is doing the barking; steer clear of any unpleasantness for your neighbors and yourself with some easy and sensible training for your dog.

Finally, if you are end up being a neighbor of a barking dog, keep in mind that you can do something about it. Most states and counties have noise laws on the books.

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I hope you enjoy reading this article on Yorkshire Terriers.

Yorkshire terriers are considered by many people to be a very intelligent dog, and they are also considered to be extremely loyal to their owners. I’m sure that comes as no surprise to you if you already own a Yorkie. They are indeed a most wonderful dog.

Some tests were carried out a while ago by a Stanley Coren, an animal intelligence expert, and this showed that Yorkies are indeed above average in intelligence. The Yorkie came 27th out of 132 breeds, not bad for a little dog! But not only can Yorkies obey simple commands, like most dogs, they can also respond well to long and complicated commands.

You may be tempted to think at times that your Yorkie knows and understands all that you’re saying. Well if you think this it’s probably because you’re absolutely right. Yorkies are indeed perfectly capable of understanding all that you say and mean.

For example, when you hug and kiss your Yorkie, and tell him, verbally, that you love him, he will come to understand that those words mean something good, even if he doesn’t understand fully what they mean. However, when you tell your Yorkshire Terrier to get his ball, he will understand exactly what you mean, and he will be able to pick that ball out of a toy box full of other toys and bring it to you. When you ask your Yorkie if he wants to eat, he associates the word ‘eat’ with food, and he will respond in his way.

Well now, we know that Yorkshire Terriers are intelligent dogs, but are they Loyal? I say that yes, they most certainly are, in fact they are fiercely loyal. OK, so they will run off and chase squirrels and rabbits and ignore your commands to return, but what do you want, a dog, or a robot. Its natural for them to chase, but as soon as the chase is over they will be back at your side again.

Would you believe it if I told you that history is full of instances of brave Yorkshire Terriers defending their owners in the face of all sorts of dangers. Can you imagine the bravery of a little dog facing grave dangers and enormous opponents all to defend their owners? Well believe it or not, its true.

So, if you are looking for intelligence and loyalty, don’t disregard the Yorkshire Terrier, mistakenly thinking that he is no more than a pampered lap dog. You will be pleasantly surprised to learn that he is among the most intelligent, and the most loyal, of all canines.

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