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You are what you eat. This saying has been heard so many times. It can even be applied to our dogs. A dog that eats a healthier diet will definitely be healthier.

However, it is asked what a healthy diet for a dog is? Many of us might have no idea. You will find a great number of choices when you walk into a store to buy dog food. Therefore, you have to read the label to pick the best one for your dog.

The most information necessary to determine what your dog is eating is on the label. People normally wouldn’t think to read the label ingredients. Nevertheless, if you have done research into this and want the healthiest food for your dog, you may start from reading the label carefully and you will learn a lot about foods.

Firstly, you need to see the type of meal listed in the ingredients. The food which is easiest to digest is chicken and considered the best choice. You have to remember that good label should inform an actual meat name not only saying meat meal. Whole meat without meal is mostly water. Also, make sure a variety of vegetables and fruits are included in the ingredients.

A lot of filler ingredients are what you don’t want to see. Grains should be at the end of the list. Some dogs may have to avoid corn. Soy and wheat are sometimes common allergens and irritants. You may have to avoid labels with chemical preservatives. Food should be preserved with mixed Tocopherols, that is Vitamin E.

As well, you need to look for AAFCO (Association of American Feeding Control Officials) and feeding trials. This means the food was actually given to dogs for their proper nutritional needs this is to make sure the food is complete and balanced for adult dogs. You need to be aware that a manufacturer has up to six months to inform the consumer that it has made a change in its ingredients. So, even though you have been using a particular brand for a while don’t forget to keep checking the label. If you see your dog is having problems with the food, there should be as a result of a formula change.

If your dog is obtained from a breeder, then this is your best source of information regarding the healthiest food to feed your dog. If your dog is not from the breeder, then you have to find the best food for your dog on your own. At first, buy small bags when you feel you have found a right dog food. You may test it on your dog and see what happens to him. If it doesn’t suit him, then you just have to throw out only a small package which doesn’t cost much. Since you are sure that you have found the appropriate food for your pet, avoid switching to different brands. Dogs need time to adjust their systems to new foods and this will ruin their digestions.

Expensive dog foods are not always the best. Bear in mind that the best foods have real whole familiar ingredients. Avoiding foods that contain many by products and preservatives is recommended. A dog food company is not required to list preservatives they did not put in. Finally, the best indicators of what is healthy and nutritious for you pet are to study labels, trial and error.

Eirik Comm is the professional freelance writer. He’s also the webmaster of Manbestfriend.net

What’s paper training?

Paper training is a specific form of house training for your dog: you’re teaching her where in the house is appropriate for her to eliminate (pee or poop). When you paper train your dog, you teach her to only eliminate on newspapers (chosen for their absorbency, ready availability, and cheap cost) which you gather up and throw away after each use.

What options other than paper training do I have for my dog’s house training?

There are two ways of effectively, efficiently, and rapidly house training your dog. Paper training is one; the other is something called crate training.

We will be covering the paper training method here

How to paper train your dog…

First, pick a convenient area of the house for your dog to use as the elimination area. Because she’s going to be peeing and pooping in this area, it’s best if you can choose somewhere without carpet: most people choose a corner of the kitchen or laundry (since these rooms usually have tiled or linoleum floors, hygiene a non-issue.)

Spread newspaper thickly in a corner of this room. At first, you’ll need to make the newspaper area pretty big, since your pup has no idea that she’s meant to go on the paper at all.

To make sure that she’s able to eliminate only on the paper, you’ll either need to restrict her movements to the papered area of the floor, or paper the whole floor.

At first, your puppy will eliminate pretty much at random on the paper. It’s important for the paper-training process that she only gets to go on the paper – you need her to form a strong association between the feeling of paper under her toes, and relieving herself.

After a week or two, you can begin to shrink the papered area of the floor, allowing her more access to unpapered surfaces.

Do this gradually, a couple of sheets at a time. If you’ve given her enough time to get used to the paper, she should naturally restrict her elimination areas as the papered area shrinks.

NOTE: If at any time she begins to eliminate off the paper, then increase the size of the papered floor surface to the size it was when she was still eliminating only on the paper, and give her more time to get used to it before beginning to reduce the papered area again.

Most dogs take a couple of months (eight to twelve weeks) to get used to the paper training method. Until she’s reliably going on the papers only, you should restrict her access to the rest of the house unless you’re actively supervising her- which means 100% of your attention is focused on the pup.

In general, a good rule of thumb is that your puppy is confined to the papered area unless she’s sleeping, eating, or being played with/actively supervised.

Things you should do:

- Praise her effusively whenever you see her eliminating on the paper. Wait until she’s done (so you don’t distract her!) and praise her, pet her, and give her a treat.

- If you catch her in the act of eliminating off-paper, this is actually a great opportunity for training development. Interrupt her with a clap, loud verbalization (“Ah-ah-aaaah!”), or slap your open palm loudly on the wall. This will startle her – in most cases, she’ll actually stop mid-toilet and hunch down. Scoop her up immediately and put her on the paper. When she finishes, praise her hugely and give her a treat.

- If you come across an accident after the fact (a wet spot or pile on the unpapered floor), you’ve missed your window of opportunity to teach her not to do this. You can’t tell her off in this case, because she won’t understand what she’s done wrong; all you can do is clean it up and supervise her more carefully. If this is happening a lot, you’ve given her too much freedom in the house and not enough supervision: restrict her access to the unpapered floor, and step up the supervision.

- Feed her at specific, scheduled times (for example, a meal at 8 am, 1 pm, and 7 pm) to encourage her to develop an “elimination timetable”.

Don Willson is a prolific writer that lives in Goochland, VA. He is 54 years old and 14 at heart! See this article in it’s entirety at: The Pet Center! Other Cutting Edge information is available to as well! Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the most!

Humans are taught by their relatives in the home. Parents or guardians teach us the basic behavior to conform. In the same way, owners of responsible dogs should be the ones to train their pets, starting from the moment they arrive at home. Like children, puppies demand a lot of attention from their owners. They are all cute in the beginning and they require a hell of a lot of supervision. That means your time, total devotion, and patience. As pups, they still have to learn to control their behavior in the context of your life together as owner and pet. It is going to be your job to teach your pup everything from not chewing the house furniture, to not chewing the neighbor’s roses, to not peeing and pooping all over your house.

As with young children, the first thing to introduce the idea of control is through a routine. One such routine is to leash your pup. He’ll get used to the leash in time. He’ll whine and cry and try to claw it but he’ll soon give up. The more important routine is to let him potty after eating, after some play time, or after he wakes up form his nap. You call also instill a potty routine when you bring him outside the house when you walk him.

Instill this potty behavior using the same spot inside or outside the house. Outside, choose a tree or bush and tug him there: this is where the leash comes in handy. You have to make sure you bring your dog to the same spot when he poops and pees so he will associate this behavior with a certain event like or time of day. This spot should not be too far from your house that he has an accident on the pavement.

Every time your puppy goes potty, pat him on the head, say “Good doggie,” in a nice way and see him wag his tail. He will associate these rewarding moments with his behavior of making potty on his spot. Or you can give him some food. The point is to establish a reward system so he’ll look forward to being rewarded after pooping or peeing on his spot, and not in other spots, like inside your house, or on your neighbor’s driveway. A pup is still young and this kind of associative training is what will teach him toilet behavior. You can also establish some verbal commands. You will notice when he arches his back and walk in circles, these are signs he will potty. Tell him to go outside, or to go potty, and open the door. This way he’ll associate your commands and the door’s opening with his need to potty. Feeding him periodically will also teach him when to potty and allow the both of you to instill a potty time.

Some people place paper towels on the floor inside their house to mark the puppy’s potty spot. This doesn’t work very well. The dog tends to get confused, as the paper towel can be moved around. His learning to potty is therefore just delayed. The most effective way of training is to just observe the puppy for potty behavior, like arching and walking around in circles, and letting him out or bringing him to his potty area. In time, you can even teach your pup to hold it in.

Increase the happy years of your dog by checking out my free e-book. In it I reveal all the secrets I’ve used to develop a happy, healthier dog. Visit Dr. Alfonso’s dog training blog right now?

If you have a very active dog, you know first hand just how stressful it can be sometimes to have him in and around the house with his boundless energy. Your dog may have had obedience training, but he may need further training, such as agility training, which is actually perfect for active dogs.

Dog agility training involves having your dog going through an obstacle course. The primary goal is for your dog to finish the course in less time with the fewest mistakes possible. The dogs that undergo dog agility training learn to go through the obstacle course without expecting to be given treats or rewards by their trainers. Dog agility training teaches your dog to successfully accomplish tasks without incentives. Dogs go through the obstacle course by responding to body signals and specific voice commands. Dog agility training, in order for it to be a success, requires dedication and commitment from both the dog and his trainer.

An obstacle course has different types of obstacles for your dog to go through. Some of these obstacles include jumps, teeter totters and poles that your dog needs to run in between. If you’re priming your dog for an agility competition, his obstacle course would consist of obstacles that are typically present in actual dog agility competitions. At the competition, a judge decides on the course your dog will use. Both you and your dog will be watched carefully by judges. You and your dog are marked based on your performance. Because not all dogs are the same, agility competitions group dogs based on size and breed.

If you and your dog both love spending time doing outdoor activities, your dog is perfect for dog agility training. Agility training is actually recommended for dogs that are very active and also show some aggressive behavior. However, before you start your dog on agility training, make sure he is pretty good at taking directions, or shows potential for doing so. Be aware that agility training requires high level of discipline; for the agility training to be deemed successful, your dog needs to be highly trainable. Make sure your dog is happy with what he is doing, once the agility training is in motion. Keep an eye out for signs that your dog isn’t enjoying it anymore. The last thing you want is to force your dog into doing something he will not enjoy.

Dog agility training is one sport that you and your dog can get involved in. But when is the best time to start your dog on agility training? Experts recommend starting as soon as you see your dog display an interest in obeying challenging commands. Dog agility training requires discipline and commitment, not just from your dog, but from you. It’s another great opportunity for you and your dog to form a closer bond.

So, the next time your pet gets on your nerves, instead of getting upset with your dog consider taking him for some dog training and have some fun with him.

Increase the happy years of your dog by checking out my free e-book. In it I reveal all the secrets I’ve used to develop a happy, healthier dog. Visit Dr. Alfonso’s dog training blog right now?

Once you get a new dog, you often think that everything ends then and there. Actually, it doesn’t. Ask yourself first why you opted to get a dog in the first place. Did you get your pet to have something to smother with care or did you get a companion who will not be such a pain? You should remember that dogs are living creatures and they have their own sense and nature. They will not operate like some robot creature, bidding your every desire for them to do.

This is the primary thing why you should consider dog training. Dog training helps enforce hard and fast rules on your pet. See, your dog will have to live with you in such a way that he understands that he has to abide by some rules. But of course, since your pet is a dog you can’t expect him to understand rules as you say them. Chances are, their own nature will still take over and before you know it, you’re left totally exasperated because you had to tend to unwanted things here and there.

Dog training exists not to alter the nature of your dog’s habits. Puppy training exists so that you can communicate to your dog the rules and regulations which you want to impose. Apart from that, dog training also helps establish your roles with each other. It helps your dog understand that he is answerable to you meaning, you are the master and you should be listened to. Without training your dog, you will find yourself having a totally frustrating experience with your dog unless he already had a previous master before you.

It’s also a good way of bonding with your new pet. Of course, authority is not the only thing which you should impose upon your new dog. You should also make him trust you and this is the most important thing which can be built through dog training. Trust is important because this is what makes your dog listen to what you have to say and to abide with your commands. Dog training helps strengthen that trust. For your part, you will also get to know your dog more through the training and you will be able to judge for yourself his inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Dog training is not that difficult to do and it does not really require someone with some form of doctorate credibility to be able to do so. Even you yourself can do some basic dog training especially if you just want your dog to learn some simple tricks. However, it is recommended that you seek the assistance of a professional if you would like to get your dog into more advanced training programs.

You can choose to do some dog training on your end if you wanted your dog to learn basic commands based from your own bidding. It is also a better alternative because it is rather more inexpensive. All you need to do is purchase some dog training accessories and you can already start off with teaching your dog some neat tricks.

Increase the happy years of your dog by checking out my free e-book. In it I reveal all the secrets I’ve used to develop a happy, healthier dog. Visit Dr. Alfonso’s dog training blog right now?