MALAMUTE Vs HUSKY - How to Choose

So you have decided to get a sled dog. Not particularly for pulling a sled but that style of dog... but what type exactly? And when we are speaking of huskies the argument typically ends up being a final choice between Malamute vs Husky. Both are outstanding animals although there are subtle differences between both. Understanding these subtleties goes a very long way towards making sure you, your family and your dog make the very best match!

Lets uncover some more about the Husky vs Malamute...

Black and White Siberian Husky
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Malamute vs Husky - Origins

To most of us, the Siberian Husky and the Alaskan Malamute are very similar dogs. And in many ways they are. However in other ways, these two fine animals couldn't be more different!

Both the malamute and the husky are Nordic breeds and companion animals to their tribes families. These majestic animals were also bred, trained and developed to pull sleds for their tribes.

The Siberian Husky hails from Siberian tribe the Chukchi. The Malamute stems from the tribe name of the Mahlemuit Eskimos in Alaska and is believed to be descended from the Arctic Wolf. Both animals have been developed for centuries.

Malamute vs Husky - Coats and Markings

Both these dogs exist in a variety of facial markings and coat colors. Interestingly, both breeds have shades of gray, silver, red and tan mixed with white however the only solid color is white. The malamute and the Siberian husky (also called a Sibe) have an amazing variety of facial markings to distinguish them. It is not uncommon for these facial markings to create "masks" and even "goggles" which not only gives them their own unique individuality but also creates some mischievous looks at the same time!

Alaskan Malamute
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Malamute vs Husky - Eyes

One of the most spectacular features of both the Siberian Husky and the Alaskan Malamute is their eyes. Both are dazzling but both are unique. While the eyes of the Malamute are usually almond shaped and brown, there are no color restrictions for a Sibe.

Siberian Huskies are known for their striking sky blue eyes but may also have green or brown eyes. Cooler still is the fact that a Sibe can be bi-eyed (different colored eyes) or even parti-eyed (different colors in the same eye.).

Malamute vs Husky - Size and Grooming.

This is where the main differences between these two breeds are found. The largest of the Northern breeds, the Alaskan Malamute weighs up to 95 pounds and can usually stand anywhere from 24 to 26 inches tall.

With an average coat length of 3 inches, the malamute will shed quite a lot and needs a good brushing at least every two weeks. Weekly is better. Evolved to easily track through the snow, they have large, wide and round paws, almost in the shape of a snow shoe!

Although still a fair size, the Siberian Husky is classed more as a medium sized breed. Standing at around 20 to 23 inches and weighing in anywhere between 45 to 60 pounds.

Grooming is the big difference between these breeds! Much like a cat, the Siberian Husky is a very clean animal and will bathe and lick itself almost relentlessly. This pooch really looks after itself and a good thorough brushing two or three times a year will be all you need!

The Sibe also changes it's coat with the climate to get ready for the next season.

Regarding the sizing of these animals, the details listed above are actual "show standards." Malamutes and Huskies bred as pets can often be a few inches taller and a few pounds heavier.

Malamute vs Husky - Temperaments.

The temperaments of both breeds are very similar. Considering that they are working dogs they need a lot of exercise and lots of room to move. Got an apartment or small yard? Then this is not the sort of dog for you.

The malamute and the husky are also tremendously loyal pack animals. They crave to give and of course receive love and attention. Social animals that they are, being alone is not a good match. Boredom and loneliness can trigger damage and destruction.

Malamute vs Husky - Final Say.

All things considered, both breeds are outstanding animals with many similarities. Both dogs require attention and love and loads of room to move and exercise. Both breeds have wonderful personalities and both will most likely steal your heart!

In the end, if you prefer a large playful pooch and have time for grooming then the Alaskan Malamute is ideal. Nevertheless, if you are considering a slightly smaller dog with less coat maintenance then the Siberian Husky is the breed for you.

The Husky is my absolute favorite breed of dog! Loyal, affectionate, exciting and just loves to run and have fun!

By Cameron Abel Article Source: EzineArticles

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Grooming Your GOLDEN RETRIEVER

Grooming your Golden Retriever is a never ending process.  The entire process should be down once or twice a week, and will take you around a ½ an hour of time.  Brushing your dog while he is shedding will help to control shedding quite a bit.  While outside, if your Golden Retriever manages to get burs or other defects in his hair, you should instantly take a few moments of your time and get the burs or other matter out of his coat.

Golden Retrievers being groomed before a dog show.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you groom your pet, you should always start with a good brushing.  Brush his entire body, then once you have finished brushing you can switch to a comb to get out any loose hair that remains in the coat.  While you are getting out the hair, you can also inspect your pet for ticks, fleas, and other types of skin ailments.  If you wish, you can also check his ears and trim his nails as well.

Bathing your Golden is essential to grooming, and can be somewhat complicated.  Before you attempt to give him a bath, you should always brush him first, to get rid of tangles.  During shampooing, you should always use shampoos that are specifically for dogs, since human shampoo can dry a dog’s skin out.  You don’t need to bathe your dog often, once every other week is good enough.  If you properly maintain your Golden’s coat, you’ll find it’s much easier to clean.

To prevent matting, which is very common with Golden Retrievers, you should always make sure that you brush your pet on a daily basis.  Metal combs and brushes work extremely well, and will help you to get a great deal of the hair out.  Although some people choose to use scissors and cut the mats, you can easily injure your Golden if he happens to move or jerk.  Scissors aren’t recommended, as brushing and proper bathing will help to prevent matting of the hair better than anything else.

When you cut your dogs nails, you should trim them a great deal, all the while avoiding going down into the quick.  You should never let your Golden’s nails get too long, as long nails can easily take the shape of the dog’s foot, resulting in a splay.  Therefore, you should always check your Golden Retriever’s nails and trim them every few weeks.  If you trim them just right, you’ll have at least 2 weeks before they need to be trimmed again.  If you do happen to trim the nails past the quick, bleeding will occur.  To stop the bleeding, always keep some styptic powder on hand to make sure that you are prepared if you do make a mistake.

With other types of grooming, you should also make sure that you clean your Golden’s ears as well.  They can get ear infections quite easily, if you don’t clean their ears on a regular basis.  To get the best results and protect your pet from ear infections, you should clean his ears once a week using a quality cleansing solution.  This way, you can rest assured that your Golden has healthy ears.

Grooming is an essential aspect to the health of every Golden Retriever.  All it takes is a little bit of time from your day to groom your pet and keep him healthy.  If you don’t have the time to groom your Golden, you can always take him to a professional.  Whether you do it yourself or take your Golden to a pro - grooming is something that simply must be done.

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Large GERMAN SHEPHERDS

Through breeding experiments, breeders have been able to create variations of the German Shepherd. Such experiments gave way to new kinds of German Shepherd dogs, one of which is the white German Shepherd. But in spite of these great results, there are some people who wish to stick to its roots by breeding old-style German Shepherds which are larger than your usual German Shepherd. These purists argue that though these experiments can produce German shepherds with special attributes, the qualities which gave the breed its reputation such as intelligence may disappear.

A German Shepherd yawning.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The different lines of German Shepherds

For those who do not know anything about German Shepherds, you may think that all of these dogs are one and the same. They are not. In fact, there are many lines of this breed and the old-style is just one of them. Each line was created for a specific purpose and these are:

- International working line. This line of German Shepherds is bred mainly to gain the working traits rather than the looks. Because of this, the appearance of these dogs may differ.

- International show line. This line was designed for breeders who are after the appearance of the dog rather than its working traits.

- North American show lines. This line was designed also more for the looks of the dog but with certain variations. These include sloped backs and sharper angulations. There are now debates on whether this line should be considered as a different breed of dog altogether. But breeders of this line argue that though there are great changes in the appearance of the dog, the working attributes have not been changed.

Appearance

Aside from the lines stated above, there is also another line which is called the old-style German Shepherd. The goal of the breeders of this line is simply to bring back the German Shepherd dogs to the way it was before. They aim to produce a line of dogs that looks and acts the same as its first ancestors. The old-style German Shepherd differs from the regular German Shepherd simply by its sheer size. A normal German Shepherd is around 24 to 26 inches tall. The old-style German Shepherds dwarf them by four more inches. So an old-style German Shepherd is about 30 inches in height and would weigh around 124 lbs. or 54 kg. Though the features on the face are the same with regular German Shepherds, the old-style dogs have larger heads. The other physical attributes of this kind of breed include a straighter back, big bones, and no extreme angulations on the legs, giving it a noble and more poised look.

By Ken Marlborough Article Source: EzineArticles

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Can an OLD DOG be taught new tricks?

A chihuahua "chipmunks" for a treat, a trick he's been taught and since learned was very successful way to influence humans. 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have you ever seen a well trained dog and thought, “I wish my dog could do tricks like that”?

It is probably the dream of most dog owners to be able to teach their pet to do some of the tricks they see other dogs doing, but there is one thing they must remember above all others before starting down the path of teaching tricks. The dog must have at least some basic obedience. There is not much chance of teaching it to do tricks if it is a badly behaved dog in the first place.

The basic commands such as sit, down, heel etc, should be known by your dog before trick training starts, as this will make life so much easier later on. Once these have been mastered you can begin to build on them and your dog will soon be amazing your friends with the following three simple tricks.

Begging

To start teaching this trick it is best to have your dog sit in a corner of the room with his back to the wall and you standing in front of him. The walls will support your dog and give him the confidence that he won’t fall over if he raises his front legs off the floor.

Take some small pieces of food and hold it above your dog whilst enticing him to reach up for it. Each time he takes the food, praise him and repeat the procedure slowly encouraging him to reach higher each time.

Whilst encouraging the dog to reach up for the food, you must make sure that he is keeping his haunches on the ground. This is achieved by moving the food back over his head slightly making the dog shift his weight back over his haunches and teaching him to keep his balance.

Once the begging trick has bee mastered in the corner of the room you can gradually begin to move away from the wall and practise the trick where the dog has no back support. You must expect at this stage that the dog will seem to go backwards in his learning, but this is to be expected until he can perfect it just using his own body weight.

Shaking hands

There are two parts of this trick for your dog to learn. A verbal part and a non-verbal part which both work together to give the dog a cue that you want him to perform the trick.

Firstly the dog should start off in a sitting position. Give him a single word verbal command such as ‘shake’, whilst at the same time reaching out with your right hand until it is just a few inches from your dogs’ right leg. Your outstretched hand is the non-verbal cue.

Initially your dog will probably just sit motionless unsure of what to do, so with your left hand, gently push or prod his right leg forwards until it rests in your right hand. When he has done this, praise him so that he knows he has done what you wanted him to do.

Practice this trick several times; praising after each successful result and gradually reducing the amount of left hand prompting until only the verbal and non-verbal cues are all that are needed.

Shaking the head: ‘No’

Before you can begin to teach this trick to your dog, you will need to find something which will make him shake his head naturally. Some things which may help are blowing gently on the ear, tickling the ear with a feather or even lightly attaching a paperclip to the ear – remembering that you should not cause the dog any pain.

Once you have found the method which makes him shake his head you will then have to decide on which verbal and non-verbal cue you want to use. A single word such as ‘head’ along with shrugging of your shoulders is just one idea.

Again your dog should start in a sitting position when first teaching him this trick. As in the shaking hands trick, use both cues together, along with the prod (tickling his ear, etc) in an effort to stimulate your dog to shake his head. Once he does, reward him, even if it is just a small movement.

This trick is best learned in short sessions with momentary breaks in between, so don’t try to repeat the exercise more that five times in one session or the dog will become confused and not learn.

Gradually reduce the amount of prodding so that all that are needed are the verbal and non-verbal cues. Once your dog has mastered the trick, he can be progressed to learn it in standing position and laying positions as well.

The main thing with training dogs to perform tricks is for the owner to learn that patience is a virtue and that the dog will learn in his own time. Do not scold the dog if he does not seem to be learning, it is always better to be patient and encourage him more.

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Your DOG Is HYPERACTIVE When You Get Home From Work... What Should You Do?

Dear Adam,

I am a member of the Bouvtrain list. That's how I got your name. I'm almost through your book and it has certainly given me some new ideas. Gypsy is a 1 1/2 year old Bouvier. She is very high-strung but we're working on it. You're absolutely right that it does no good to send your dog away to school. For $900 bucks she now does just what the dog trainer tells her to do. I'm getting a lot better, though.

Titanpit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here's my question. I exercise her in the morning. We play ball for 30 minutes and then we walk a mile practicing sits, downs and stays. At night we play ball for about 15 minutes. I work from 10am to about 7pm. She stays in the kitchen with a dog door leading to a large 6' fenced back yard. She sleeps almost all day and she doesn't sleep at night. She paces and barks. I make her stay in the kitchen (baby gates) so I can get some sleep. I don't know any other Bouviers so I don't know if this is normal or not. She has hip dysplasia and has had hip surgery. I thought it might be pain so tried giving her an aspirin at night. Didn't help. I tried getting up to correct her but she hears me and gets in bed before I get there. Right now I'm just trying to ignore her. The kitchen has a large bay window to the front of the house but there are curtains. She's been doing this for months and I haven't had a full nights sleep in months, either. Would crating her help?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Robbye and Gypsy

Dear Robbye:

Thanks for sending me this e-mail. It's a perfect example as to why simply "ignoring" bad behavior will never work on dogs that care more about pleasing themselves than anything else.

Here are some tips:

When she starts to bark, you'll need to yell, "No!" from your bedroom, and then continue saying, "No, no, no!" as you run to her and administer a correction. It doesn't matter if she climbs back in her bed at this point, as you've already used the word, "No!" as an event-marker. So she'll know what she's being corrected for. As long as you continue saying, "No!" you have an additional 7 to 14 seconds in which the dog will still associate your correction with the behavior.

Put a crate in your bedroom and let her sleep in it. Even though it doesn't seem like much to us humans, dogs think that sleeping together is quality time when they're not alone. This can help with some of her anxiety.

You may also try just putting her on a leash and attaching the leash to the foot of your bed. If she knows a down-stay, you can simply correct her if she gets up. After a couple of evenings, she'll learn that when you bring her into the bedroom and make her lay down, it's time to stay put.

If you don't feel that her hip is bothering her, I would recommend increasing the amount of exercise time. Feed her as soon as you get home from work and then take her out and play ball for at least 30 minutes. An hour would be even better.

If you can't play ball with her for a whole hour, then work her through a very intense obedience routine (heel, sit, heel, down, come, heel, etc...) for about 15 minutes and then play ball with her for another 10 minutes.

When I lived in Berkeley, California I had an American Pit Bull Terrier that was a very high-energy bitch. If I took her to the park on a Monday afternoon and played fetch for a whole hour, we'd later return to my apartment and within 20 minutes she'd be bouncing off the walls again.

However, if I took her out on a Wednesday and we simply did an intense obedience routine for 20 minutes, we'd return to the apartment and she would collapse under my coffee table and not move for the next 2 hours.

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A DOG Is For Life Not Just For Christmas

My family run an animal sanctuary in Birmingham, England. Even though we love what we do, we feel that some people need to realise that a pet should be a long term commitment. They should not be seen as just a bit of fun which they can then get rid of when they get bored.

Puppy in dog carrier
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many people arrive at the animal sanctuary with their pets, which are mainly dogs, with many excuses as to why they are no longer able to look after or care for them. I am sure many of their reasons are valid but am also aware that many others are just an excuse to offload them.

The excuses they give are varied:

I have recently divorced from my husband and can no longer afford to keep this dog as a pet

The dog has started to bite my children

The dog is too difficult to handle and is destroying my furniture

We have recently moved into a flat. One of their rules is that no animals can live in these flats

The dog barks to much and it is upsetting the neighbours

Our other animals do not like the dog

The dog is affecting my health

I am too ill to look after my dog

It is not our role to question these reasons but what we then need to do is to find another suitable home for the dogs. This is easier said than done as we need to ensure that the new owners will be able to care for them, for hopefully the duration of their life.

We also keep many of the dogs as our own pets, especially the ones which nobody else seems to want. One such dog is called Cassie. She is full of life and has been ill treated it seems when she was a puppy. Half of her left ear is missing and she is seemingly quite afraid of men.

Cassie is need of a huge amount of care and attention. She can be too lively at times which is possibly why three people who attempted to re-home her, have bought her back. She is not aggressive in any way but does tend to jump up at people.

What we did with Cassie and what we will continue to do, is to give her lots of love but also a little bit of training of what is good and what is not acceptable. It takes a long time, but she is now able to understand that the jumping is not wanted and that she needs to chill out at times.

Cassie is turning into a wonderful dog to have around the house and now feels for the first time as part of a family.

With a little more patience most other dogs can turn out this way. This is why we want more people to take more responsibility and to give their animals more of a chance to settle into their homes, and to get used to a new set of rules.

Having animals as pets can be very rewarding, nearly as rewarding as having a child. A dog however will rarely answer you back.

If you are having problems with your animals you can always phone up animal sanctuaries for advice and to hear about possible solutions. The people who work there are animal lovers and will help you as much as they can.

If you are unable to continue looking after the pet, the sanctuary should be able to take them off you.

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RAGDOLL CAT History is Stranger Than Fiction

Flame point Ragdoll kitten
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The origins of Ragdoll cats are full of myth and controversy. This cat’s history is often contradictory and confusing; some of the Ragdoll story is just not possible. Other parts we know to be factual. First things first: the Ragdoll cat breed started in California back in the 1960s. It was founded by a woman named Ann Baker. The very first cat of this breed was for all intensive purposes a regular cat named Josephine. Ann Baker noticed something special about Josephine and her offspring.  

She decided to breed for this characteristic. Ragdoll cats get their name from the fact that they go limp like a Ragdoll when held. Ann Baker went so far to trademark the term Ragdoll; anyone who bred Ragdoll cats had to pay her royalties to use the name. 

It is for this characteristic of the Ragdoll cat breed that Ann Baker made her unusual claims. 

Josephine was once hit by a car. On one account Ann Baker claimed she had taken the injured cat to a local University to have her patched up; she asked the University to give her cat new DNA and this is why Ragdoll cats came to be.

Another claim the breed's founder made was that Ragdoll cats feel no pain whatsoever. The reason she gave for this followed suite with her previous claims that the cats were genetically altered and that they were in fact, alien hybrids. Move over x-files, there have been alien-feline hybrids on earth since the 60s.

Other claims made about this breed of cat are that they felt no fear, they are the ideal cat for people with cat allergies, and they do not have cat instincts due to the fact they are alien hybrids.

When it comes to myths about Ragdoll cats, ragdoll history is truly stranger than fiction.

Author: Louie Latour

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How to Stop Your ROTTWEILER From Biting and the Importance Behind It

What’s the best way to Stop your rottweiler from biting?

Some rottweiler owners may need to find out how to stop their rottweiler from biting at some point in their dog’s lifetime and it can be very stressful trying to decide what it takes to avoid having a rottweiler that may be aggressive. A dog that bites is objectionable at first, but as they mature, they become dangerous, not only to strangers but your own family too. If your rottweiler bites at any stage of its life, it is imperative that you act immediately to stop this behaviour. It’s so important from day one of ownership that you don’t allow your rottweiler to become a dangerous dog in any way.

Rottweiler - Photo by El Coleccionista de Instantes 

How to Stop Your rottweiler from Biting as a Puppy

If you buy your rottweiler as a puppy then this is the best time to observe his behaviour so you can quickly pick up on any potential issues. A puppy under six months of age is especially easy to retrain because it is still in the formative years of its life, when dogs typically learn how to bite in the wild.

A common mistake that many rottweiler owns make is they believe that their puppy is simply playing or teething and not actually trying to hurt them. Unfortunately, what is really happening is that your rottweiler puppy is learning how to assert its position in the pack, using its teeth to demonstrate who is boss. You have to begin from day one, whilst your puppy is very open to learning to be able to stop your rottweiler from biting.

There are a lot of methods to stop your rottweiler puppy from becoming a dog that bites. Nearly all of them will mimic how the puppy would be treated with its litter mates and mother. A light nip on the neck, a whining sound when you are bitten, and replacement therapy where you hand your rottweiler a toy instead of your hand are all beneficial ways to demonstrate the dog that biting other people is not satisfactory. If you have problem teaching your rottweiler puppy to stop nipping, you should go to an obedience school or hire a trainer.

How to stop your rottweiler biting at 12 months of age.

At approximately 12 months of age your rottweiler if he has been allowed to continue nipping as a puppy, will then move on to play biting as a teenager. A lot of different things can contribute to this behaviour. You should stop playing physical games with you rottweiler dog right away. No wrestling, tug of war or other authority related games.

It’s also important to not let your rottweiler have the run of the entire house. Crate training can be a great method to restrict their range within the home giving them well needed boundaries. A good obedience training program can be hugely helpful with a teenage dog that bites.

How do we stop your rottweiler biting as they get older.

If your rottweiler continues to get away with their biting behaviour, in time it will turn into a huge problem as an adult. Your rottweiler may “turn on” you their owner, but in reality, the dog always stays himself as the leader of the pack.

If your rottweiler bites or nips at anyone after twelve months of age, you need to find a professional quickly because there is serious danger here and the rottweiler might choose to maintain its dominance at any time with an attack.

When learning how to stop your rottweiler from biting, you need to start at as early an age as possible. I can confidently say that most if not all rottweilers that have biting issues as adults will have had concerns as a puppy. Whilst there are a couple of exceptions ie mental disorders or disease, most of these issues are resolvable with proper training.

By Dory Harvey I have been a dog owner for many years and am truly passionate about responsible pet ownership. I’m biased when it comes to breeds as I cant go past Rottweilers. This breed of dog has such an abundants of qualities and through my own experiences I would highly recommend them to anyone looking at getting a four legged friend. Article Source: EzineArticles

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Some Facts about the BOSTON "Bull" TERRIER Dog

The Boston terrier is a well-muscled and compact breed. This is not really surprising since the Boston terrier was first bred by people who wanted to use them in dog fights. Now some people may read all sorts of implications from such a violent past. Some people might think that the Boston terrier dog would make a bad pet because of its aggressive nature. However, you should know that as a pet, the Boston terrier can actually be pretty mild mannered. 

Boston Terrier - Photo by marada 

The temperament of the Boston terrier can be described as enthusiastic as it often loves to play. Most people comment that the Boston terrier actually has a great sense of humor. Another characteristic that people find delightful with this breed is the fact that they are intelligent and are very much easily trained. This fact is also enhanced by the dog's natural curiosity and love for learning. 

Of course, people who own pets know the importance of training. Having a well-behaved pet increases the enjoyment for you both. Having a well-behaved pet means that you can have more fun with that pet. 

One thing that owners have noticed with a Boston terrier is the fact that it can be very sensitive to the tone of a person's voice. This may be described as a sort of emotion detector. Because of this sensitivity to the tone, a Boston terrier will be able to respond to how you are feeling when you are talking. This means, however, that you need to take care when training your dog. You need to make sure that anger and frustration do not find their way into your voice. 

They also make excellent watchdogs as they do not bark indiscriminately. This means that you won't wake up in the middle of the night because your Boston terrier saw a butterfly. There are some cases, though, when a Boston terrier will not bark at all. 

Regarding the living conditions, Boston terriers can do well enough without a yard as long as they get regular exercise. This means that they are suitable for apartment living. However, you should also know that they are very sensitive to the extremes of weather. This means that you should keep it in a place that's neither too hot nor too cold. 

Unlike other terrier breeds, the Boston terrier is an average shedder. This means that you should be wary of keeping it indoors as it can shed fur over your floor. We all know how much of a fiasco that can be.

Bostons have a variety of common health problems. They easily get overheated when they are pushed too hard. As said before, they can also be sensitive to extreme weather and any weather that's too hot or too cold can leave them with breathing difficulties. Skin tumors and heart tumors are very common with this breed. So you need to bring the dog to a vet regularly. 

Another disorder you should watch out for is a skull defect. If a Boston terrier is badly bred, it often develops a bone defect that prevents the brain from growing. This, naturally, will lead to a retarded dog.

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CAT TRAINING With A CLICKER

Clickers used for clicker training

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Clicker training is a reinforcement or reward for a cat when training them. Clickers are use most often for support when training a cat for a reward. Cats associate the clicker with a good behavior they will use for a long time. Clicker training is associated with classical condition (they associate the sound with food.) and operant conditioning (cat performs movement to receive food).

Why use a clicker and not tell a cat or make a sound to get your cat to do a trick? A clicker has a sound a cat can hear and associate good behavior. With words, our tones in our voice can change from time to time, which a cat can become confused with the training. With talking for the commands, a cat could mistake the commands. With using a clicker, it is more of a training tool to get the behavior started with the cat. Then you can put the clicker away for that behavior or trick once a cat has learned the behavior

When taking the cat out for a walk or on a trip, the clicker is a good item to carry along with you. Cats can get distracted with other people, or animals in the area. With using the clicker, it will reinforce the behavior that you have taught them. In addition, a clicker can help you with having your cat walk with you instead of wondering around.

With the clicker, a cat can be trained using three easy steps: Get a behavior, mark a behavior, and reinforce the behavior. Get a behavior is the first step. A good example would be for the cat to jump a hoop. The cat will have to know that when you click that they get a treat. Start with very small treats in your pocket. Clicks, Treat, Click Treat do this for a few times until you see the cat coming for the treat on the click. Next marking the behavior: You will have to show the cat the hoop. Once the cat touches the hoop, click, treat. Then show the cat to go though the hoop once it does click, treat. Continue to do this until the cat goes though the hoop on its own or your command. Reinforce the behavior Remember to have snacks handy so when you do see your cat go though the hoop a snack is available.

Training a cat with a clicker can be fun for both you and the cat. Taking steps in training will be rewarding to you and the cat. Try not to rush a cat in training, as they can become confused especially if they did not get the step before down. The training will take time and steps to achieve this behavior. Patience, love, and rewards will be the key factor in training your cat.

The clicker is a good exercises tool for a cat. 10 to 15 mins a day you should get your cat to exercises. For exercising, you can have the cat use a hoop, play with a toy, and climb on the scratching post or something that focus on the cat getting exercise. Exercises will help the cat to stay healthy and help to keep it out of mischief.

Clickers can come with books to help you train, treats, and a clicker. Clickers come in many different size shapes, and color. You will want to research the clickers out. Check out a pet store, Internet sites give lots of information on training and using a clicker. Check out companies that make the clicker by using Internet to see what kind they offer and any additional information that you might need to get the process of training done. Check out articles about the clicker. Talk to someone that has used one. Talk to your area veterinary about training with a Clicker

Once you have used a clicker, the cat will get good exercise and be a healthy cat. The cat will be happier and you will be happier with the new behaviors that you have taught your cat.

To sum up training your cat, important things to remember is have patience, love and the clicker.

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Why Is My CAT So Fat?

Is your cat overweight? The odds are pretty good that it is. The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention has research that shows as many 57% of house cats in the US are overweight. First, you should learn the best way to tell if your cat is overweight. Then we can look at why your cat is so overweight. After that, we can look to the next steps to get your cat's weight back under control.

This is Chloe's first big baby boy. He doesn't have a real name like his brother but we do call him fat cat most of the time. All he does is eat and sleep. He loves to lay on his back and he loves to have his belly rubbed & his lower back close to his tail. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How do you know if your cat is overweight? What does a fit and healthy cat look like? You can answer this with a body condition score of your pet. First, look down on it from above. Can you see a naturally occurring waist between the back of its ribs and its pelvis? With a fluffy cat, you may need to use your hands to feel for this. Then put your hands on its chest. If you can easily feel its ribs, it is probably fine. If you can feel a thick layer of fat between your hands and the bones, then your cat is overweight.

So how did your cat get so fat? Many people think that spaying or neutering their cat made it overweight, and veterinarians say that removing your cat's hormones can change its metabolism and it can change its activity level. Just like with humans, if a cat develops a sedentary lifestyle and doesn't change the way it eats, it will probably put on weight. So if you have recently had your cat fixed, it makes sense to monitor its body condition score a couple of times a week. If you see its body begin to fill out, change its diet. The earlier you make the change, the better off your cat will be.

How can you stop your cat from getting overweight? Or if it has already gotten a little thick, how can you stop the weight gain before your cat becomes enormous? There is no trick to this. Just like with people, the answer for cat obesity is diet and exercise. The vet really can't help that much. There is a medication for overweight dogs, but it is not safe for cats. So it is up to you to improve your cat's diet, cut down on the amount of food it gets in a day, and provide it an opportunity for exercise.

Just because you have an indoor only cat, that is no excuse for it to be lazy. A healthy cat will exercise and play if it is given the chance. You just need to make sure that it has something it can climb up on. Cats love to climb and look down on people. They also love to look out of windows, so if you have a window sill your cat can climb up on, make sure you keep it uncluttered so he can enjoy it. You may want to buy it some kind of carpeted climbing structure, but before you do, check to see if there is anything in the house that discourages your cat from being active. You might not have noticed this before, but it could be that anytime your cat moves around your house, your dog chases it. Or worse, your children do. So before you add things to the environment, it may be there are things you need to take away, or little people who need some instructions on how to play nice with the cat.

If you think your cat is overweight, you may be right since well over half of US cats are. You can check your cat's body condition score to know if it is overweight or not. It could be that your cat is fat in response to having been spayed or neutered, or there could be something else that changed its activity level. You can do your part to help your cat's health by altering its diet and giving it more chances to play and be active. So why is your cat so overweight? Because you haven't started helping it lose weight yet.

By Kef Hollenbach Having been raised with six, yes, 6 house cats, I thought I had learned everything about our precious felines. A rude awakening when what I thought would be easy turned out to be very, very difficult. Taking several years of painful, and expensive, learning. Article Directory: EzineArticles

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SENIOR CAT Care Symptoms

Advances in medicine have increased the mortality rate of humans. You can say that the same goes for animals that just like humans need constant cat care when they reach their senior years. These symptoms vary so you have to be ready.

Cats reach their senior year or are classified as such when they have lived for 10 to 13 years. You might think that is nothing but one year for a cat is already 5 to 7 human years for them. So, if your cat is 10 years old, he or she is 70 years old?

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chances are, you have probably lost track of how long your cat has been there but a regular checkup with the local veterinarian can tell you if things are beginning to change.

Samples will then be taken from your cat and everyone will have to wait for the results. These consist of a blood sample, urinalysis and feces. It is here that the doctor can tell if your cat is anemic, has leukemia, is a diabetic, have kidney problems or has worms in the digestive system.

Aside from the physical, the vet will ask if you have noticed any changes in their activities or behavior. Some of the things often associated with old age that you should be aware of is the loss of sensory perception. This means their senses do not respond that fast anymore even if you try your best to play and train them to keep these sharp.

Another indicator is when your cat gets into a fight with another cat and there are injuries, the healing time may not be that fast anymore.

Studies show that one of the first things to wear out in a cat is the kidney as a result of hormone imbalance. If you notice that urine comes out while he sleeps or he urinates more frequently, then there is something wrong. The good news is that this can be treated if this was detected early.

Senior cats can no longer eat the same high quality diet as they used to in the past. They require specially formulated food that keeps their weight under control and helps reduce the consumption of nutrients that are risk factors in the development of diseases.

Exercise is another way to keep your cat in shape. This slows down the deterioration that takes place inside their body. Cats don’t play catch like dogs so give them a ball of yarn or some other toy to play with.

If your cat is in pain and something has to be removed, you have no choice but to let it undergo surgery. You should check with the vet if they will be given anesthesia before hand so they don’t feel anything during the operation.

Other symptoms you have to be aware of once you cat reaches senior age includes a significant increase or decrease in appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, lameness lasting for more than 5 days in one leg,   a decrease in vision, excessive panting, a seizure, blood in the stool or urine, hair loss, persistent coughing or gagging and breathing heavily or rapidly at rest.

The second any of the above symptoms occur, you should bring your cat straight to the vet because just like humans who have reached the golden years, senior cats need more attention especially when any of the symptoms are present.

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Livestock Protection Dogs

Livestock guarding dogs and livestock herding dogs both fall under the umbrella category of sheepdogs, but it is important to understand that these are two very different dog breeds. Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs) were developed and bred to protect livestock from predators such as: wolves, jackals, coyotes, baboons, leopards, bears etc. Herding dogs on the other hand were developed and bred to...well, herd!

 Tatrahund - Tatra Sheep Dog  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Livestock guarding dogs date back several thousand years and even as far back as 2000 years ago were a common sight in many parts of the world. Though many of these working dogs were considered until recently as rare breeds in the West, the truth is there are and have been millions of these dogs plying their trade of protecting livestock all over the world. In fact the protection of livestock could well have been one of the first primary uses mankind had for dogs.

It is not unreasonable to hypothesize that livestock guarding dogs originated from the Middle East especially when one considers that is from there that livestock was first domesticated. Following this pattern of thought it is not unreasonable either to state that livestock protection breeds may be several thousands of years old though they certainly wouldn't predate the first domesticated animals (sheep; circa 8000 years ago). There are plenty of historical references and drawings of livestock guardian dogs dating back thousands of years.

When one thinks of livestock protection dogs typically certain breeds spring to mind. Such breeds include the following:

• Anatolian Shepherd Dog
• Kangal Dog
• Akbash Dog
• Caucasian Ovcharka
• Great Pyrenees
• Tibetan Mastif
• Kuvasz
• Komondor
• Maremma Sheepdog
• Polish Tatra Sheepdog
• Tibetan Mastiff
• Sarplaninac

Size And Appearance

The above list is certainly not an exhaustive one and though some of the breeds are quite well known others are not. A striking feature of most livestock guarding dogs is that they tend to be larger in size than most other canines. This actually shouldn't come as too much of a surprise since these canines were bred to ward off predators some of which attain considerable size such as bears and wolves. Another notable feature about livestock protection dogs is that very often they are white (a characteristic more commonly found in European based breeds). There're a number of reasons to explain the tendency to favor white in these dogs ranging from plain superstition to the age-old myth that white embodies purity of strain.

Most local shepherds contend that they prefer white dogs because they blend in with the flock and thus are harder to detect by any marauding wolves or other predators. Another argument along this line of thinking is that the shepherd is less likely to mistake a white livestock guardian dog for a wolf at night and thereby accidentally club it to death. However, whatever the argument, the fact remains that a good number of livestock guardian dogs are white in color which fact probably owes credit to selective culling of litters by local shepherds more than anything else.

Livestock guarding dogs tend to have large litters an aspect that bears an obvious economical burden on the shepherd. Not only is it economically unviable for the shepherd to keep all the puppies, the female dog will naturally tend to be somewhat derelict in her livestock protecting duties for the simple fact that she has a large litter of puppies to attend to. Culling by shepherds tends to favor white puppies for all the above listed reasons, which process (known as postzygotic selection--refining a natural breed) ultimately leads to generations that breed pure for the desired white coat.

Another driving force motivating culling in favor of white puppies is sales to tourists and foreign breed fanciers who are more willing to pay top dollar for snow white puppies. That said, there are plenty of livestock protection canines that are not white and one interesting feature of several regional breeds is that their coat patterns often have a tendency to mirror that of the livestock they guard. Thus for example the Kangal Dog in appearance has a light dun to fawn-gray coat with a black mask head; this pattern unsurprisingly mirrors the features of the sheep found in the region. Undoubtedly the reason why the Kangal Dog breeds pure for these traits is probably because local shepherds favored those animals that displayed such features.

What Defines A Good Livestock Guardian Dog?

Generally speaking the bigger the dog the better it will be as a livestock protector. Ironically the impact of increased size is not so much to ward off predators but rather to ensure that the dog can endure the hardships often encountered by these working dogs. In those countries and regions where shepherds still embark on seasonal migratory treks with their flocks covering huge distances, the toll on the animals (both the sheep and the dogs) can be tremendous.

A bigger dog has the advantage of not only being able to cover greater distances more easily than a smaller counterpart (larger stride), the bigger dog will also be able to endure food scarcities better because it has greater fat reserves. A large dog also has an added advantage; it can endure harsh, cold weather far better because of less heat loss thanks to its lower surface-to-volume ratio.

Certain dog breeds are obviously better suited to the task of protecting livestock than others due to selective breeding for desirable traits over hundreds if not thousands of years. For this reason, innate livestock protecting canines tend to be:

• Independent minded (what some describe as aloof or stubborn);
• Wary of strangers:
• Dog unfriendly;
• Territorial; and
• Very protective of their wards.

These are all desirable traits in working dogs employed in the livestock-protection profession and such genetic-based traits are what constitute the "nature" component of the "nature vs. nurture" equation. External factors that influence the behavior of prospective flock guardians (nurture component) include the timely socialization of puppies with their future wards so that they ultimately bond as the dogs primary social companions.

Dogs that make the best LGDs are those individuals that are properly socialized within the critical period (normally from 4 - 16 weeks in canines) and also possess the correct genetic makeup for the task. In other words, inherent livestock-guarding dog breeds that are timely socialized with their future livestock wards will make better guardians than timely socialized dog breeds that lack the innate LGDs genetic makeup.

By Ba Kiwanuka Article Source: EzineArticles