Small breed dogs have been used for centuries to act as an alert for the bigger, more powerful dog or home owner.  Small dogs, such as poodle, have a great sense of hearing and a loud and annoying bark that will wake up neighbors in surrounding homes, let alone the larger guard dogs or the owners that may be sound asleep.  Once the small dog hears even the crack of a door or footsteps in the yard, they tend to immediately awake and start alerting with a loud and high pitch bark.  Once this happens, the larger dog will awake as well to discover whatever intruder there may be and typically scare the intruder off before any harm is done in the first place.

Many people think that guard dogs are limited to such breeds such as the bull terriers, such as a pit bull, as well as the Rottweiler because they have that stereotype as being very aggressive.  This may be true in many cases but other dogs such as Labrador Retrievers can carry such loyalty to the family that they will also serve and protect as a guard dog of the home.  German Sheppard’s are also another keen example of the type of guard dog that also loves in the home, though ready to protect when needed, therefore pinpointing one particular breed of dog to act as a guard dog may not be the best choice, but rather all in how you train the dog to act.

Dog food is made in many different styles and flavors.  Flavor is a good thing to know, and whether your dog likes it or not, in order to make sure that the dog will eat all of the nutritional dog food that he or she will need on a daily basis.  Some of the different types of dog food will range from things such as puppy chow, adult dog food, weight control, senior dog food, and much more.  In addition to this, different brands of dog food will have different ingredients within the food so knowing what it has in it and if that is proper for the specific dog that you have is a key factor in determining which food that you should go with.  If you are unsure as to what your dog needs specifically then there are books about specific dogs with key information as to maintaining a proper diet for that dog.

An old myth is to never feed your dog “people food” or “table scraps,” and for good reason, as most foods that people eat are not good for a dog.  There are a few exceptions to this rule.  Poached eggs can be great for a dogs coat and restoring the oils needed in the dog’s skin.  A couple of eggs per week will do this job just fine.  NEVER feed your dog pork.  Pork will lead to pancreatic failure in dogs if too much is consumed.  This is also true for chocolates.  The key is research the specific dog that you have and determine how to feed your dog a good diet.

If weather permits and is warm outside, you can bathe your dog there, but one thing that you will need to look for is a place to bathe your dog that will not turn to mud once it gets wet.  This is a common mistake that many people will make when bathing dogs and when their dog comes back into the house, they seem to track mud all over the place and creating a bigger mess than when they started.  A large washtub outside would be ideal for this situation so that the dog can stay within until rinsed and dried and avoid any dirt getting on the clean dog.  Also, if you are bathing inside, you can look into getting a raised dog shower that will elevate your dog and rinse hose to your size, which can help save a ton of time, as well as your back too.

Implementing these tips and tricks to bathing your dog can really help to make the task much more desirable.  You should find your own routine, which works best for you and your dog because being comfortable all by itself will help a great amount and make bathing time feel, not so bad.

When you are getting ready to walk a dog, make sure that the collar fits properly so that you will have the proper control from the leash.  With a collar too tight, you will tend to chock the dog when they try to run off, and with a collar too loose, the collar can slip off or jerk a lot which can give mixed signals to the dog that is being walked.  The proper leash will help to aid in all of these aspects of walking a dog and give more control to the owner that is walking the dog which, in turn, helps to teach the dog exactly what the owner wants and making for a cooperative and learnable experience for the dog.

At first, if the dog has no walking skills on a leash, you should reduce the length of the leash so that the dog is forced to walk beside you at all times rather than wander off.  This will teach the dog patience and let them learn a baseline for what it is you are wanting.  Keep the leash up high and as the dog learns the proper way to walk, then you can start to slack off on the leash a little at a time, though keeping him close.  Eventually, with consistency, the dog will learn to walk properly beside the owner without being distracted by other people or animals which makes life a whole lot better for both pet and owner.

The first thing that you will want to do is get 5 or 6 Frisbee’s for a dog.  There are special made kinds that are specific to a dog, so that it will be indestructible, as well as keeping from injuring the dog.   Next, you will start off by introducing the Frisbee to the dog by letting the dog take it out of your hand and get familiar with it.  Once the dog is familiar with the Frisbee, you can then move on to throwing it across the ground and letting the dog chase the Frisbee.  Dogs love to chase these and it will also get them familiar will targeting.  Once they get good at the targeting of the Frisbee, you will be amazed at how quickly that they will start to catch it right out of the air.

This is where the fun begins.  With this trick learned, you can add your own tweaks to it by throwing many Frisbee’s at different times and in different locations.  This will tend to keep the dogs attention better and help to build their instincts and reflexes as well, but ultimately having fun with their owner.

The first mistake that many people take is that they punish a dog for using the bathroom inside, well after the time when the dog did it.  In this case, the dog is not going to understand why he or she is being punished and doubtfully will realize that it is for using the bathroom inside or in the improper area.  Therefore, if you do not catch the dog doing it, do not punish the dog.  It is very tempting indeed, but you may be working against yourself if you do.  Also, when you catch a dog going in the proper place, whether it is on a potty pad or outside, you should praise the dog to let them know that they are doing well.  If you only yell “NO” at the dog, they will only respond to the negative commands, making it a much less desirable task.  Dogs are eager to please their owners so when you praise them, they will remember that and try to mimic is again.

When housebreaking a dog, you may want to start with a potty pad and once the dog has gotten familiar with using it, then is when you should start to move it closer to the door.  During this training, you should still allow the dog outside to use the bathroom, but using the potty pad is okay as well.  Eventually you will be able to remove the potty pad completely and the dog will alert when they need to go outside.  This doesn’t have to take a long time to achieve, but when you do, you will definitely be proud of your housebroken dog.

As stated, puppy teething will not stop until their teeth have broken the skin and they do not feel the need to chew as much.  This is much like a baby teething, in the fact that babies tend to get fussy when teeth are coming in and the need for teething rings are critical for keeping a baby calm.  The only difference is that at this teething stage is that dogs are already running around very well and people tend to lose sight of the puppy more than they would of a baby.

In order to help teach a puppy what is right to chew on and what is wrong to chew on is to constantly have chew toys available for the puppy to chew on.  You will need to keep a close eye on the puppy for awhile as they will still tend to leave their toys behind and find other things to chew on.  At this stage, this is common as they now think that everything is their chew toy.  If you notice them starting to chew on something other than their chew toy then you should stop them and reinstate the chew toy to them.  Give them a stern “NO” when teaching them what not to chew on.  Keep it at 1 word commands as it is much easier for them to learn these than long sentences of telling them why it is wrong because ultimately it doesn’t matter the reason as to why it is wrong, but the simple fact that it IS wrong.  After a few tries, you will definitely notice the improvement of your puppy’s behavior.