PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

It’s not always easy to find time for your dog, especially if you have work, a family, school, and other committments weighing heavily on your time. However, it doesn’t always take hours of hard work to prevent problem behaviors like barking, chewing, jumping, nipping, pacing, and begging. Eliminating a problem behavior that’s firmly entrenched can be very time-intensive, but if you’ve got an average dog and want to prevent future problems while improving her current behavior, all you need is an extra 15 minutes a day.

That doesn’t mean you can replace meeting your dog’s exercise needs with these 15 minute training sessions. However, if you can give up one section of the paper, 15 minutes of surfing the web, or half of a TV program, and dedicate that time instead to training your dog, here are five ways you can use that time to improve your relationship with your dog and build productive behaviors while preventing undesirable ones. More →

It’s a familiar scene to many pet owners: Fido is gnawing the couch or has gotten into the trash and is dragging rubbish all over the new carpet. Naturally, your first reaction may be to shout, “No!” Fido stops and drops the moldy chicken casserole as you chant, “No! No! No! Bad dog!”

He stopped, right? So what could possibly be wrong with telling your dog, “No?” More →

SMALL BREEDS OF DOGS… A LOOK AT THEIR MEDICAL ISSUES

By Dr. T. J. Dunn, Jr. DVM

It was ten o’clock Sunday night so when the phone rang I knew it meant only one thing…I was about to head for work. “She’s doing it again, Doctor. Her pups are three weeks old now and she’s got that shaking and trembling condition and she can’t even walk!” My client bred Chihuahuas and recognized a serious condition seen often in small breeds but only rarely in larger dogs… canine eclampsia. Because the nursing dog’s metabolism favors the production of calcium-rich milk, the shifting of calcium reserves into the mammary glands to support growing pups can lead to dangerously low blood calcium levels. A serious and even life threatening situation results and veterinary intervention is needed. These patients often have high fevers, low blood sugar levels and require slow and careful intravenous calcium therapy to get them through the crisis.

A normal dog’s metabolic processes strive to maintain homeostasis, which is a state of balance of chemicals and functions within narrow ranges. Any deviation outside normal ranges will have an adverse impact on the dog and could lead to rather sudden death. By their very nature, small breeds of dogs have less tolerance to deviations outside the homeostatic ranges. One of the easiest homeostatic issues to envision is tolerance to temperature changes. Large breeds of dogs, due to their surface to weight ratio, can tolerate extremes of environmental temperatures for longer times than a tiny breed. That’s precisely why veterinarians are acutely aware of body heat loss with small breeds during surgery and postoperative recovery.

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Looking After Your Dog, Part Ten - Health Problems

By Niall Kennedy

Dogs can be inflicted with ailments, which can prove fatal if not apprehended early and treated in an appropriate manner. As far as canine health care is concerned, you need to have a proactive approach. You must look for ominous signs, which indicate that the dog’s health is probably deteriorating. Timely care and treatment can save your dog from the fangs of death. Preventive health care is crucial in order to avoid any grave health disorders.

Fortunately, the advances in veterinary science have led to a significant reduction in the occurrence and effects of several dog diseases. Common viral diseases in dogs include rabies, parvovirus, hepatitis, parainfluenza, distemper and coronavirus among others. Bacterial ailments may include leptospirosis, Lyme disease, and a type of kennel cough. However, all these perilous diseases can be prevented through discreet vaccination of pets.

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