November 2018 - Even the most loving dog owner probably wouldn’t list mouth-to-snout as the preferred way of expressing affection for his pet. But what if it could save the life of a companion animal who has stopped breathing?
Sometimes what looks like territoriality can be something else.
Steve Wojnar of Newton Centre, Massachusetts, is concerned that his five-year-old goldendoodle, 95-pound Angus, “has become steadily more territorial about space he seems to consider his. He has never been particularly dog-social,” Mr. Wojnar says, “although he was never aggressive before and just chose to basically ignore other dogs. Over the past several months, however, he has started growling and barking at dogs who walk past our house.
The 4 basic commands: the 4 ways to teach them.
You’re really good at cooing over your new puppy, loving her up, giving her delicious treats, and in general showing her that life in your household is going to be wonderful. But within a day or two of your new dog’s arriving at your home, you should also be engaging in training. It’s not a punishment. When a dog and a person are new to each other, the motivation to communicate is quite high, so that’s a good time to start teaching her your cues for desirable behavior. Furthermore, when she gets it right, which will begin to happen quite quickly, she will feel a great sense of accomplishment — and so will you — and that will strengthen the bond between the two of you.
Narrowing down the possibilities and then treating what's wrong.
Eleven-year-old bichon frise Cooper was feeling, well, not quite himself — a bit lethargic. His “mom,” Cherylann Hanrahan of Norwalk, Connecticut, was worried that it was her fault. A while back, she had started putting 1/4 teaspoon of crushed eggshells into his food on the advice of someone who told her it would improve his diet’s nutritional quality. Then, when she took him to the vet to see what was wrong with him, he had high blood calcium — 16 milligrams per tenth of a liter of blood as opposed to a healthy 9-to-11.7 milligrams.
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