The Wind of Life, composed by Joe Hisaishi, performed (terribly) by me. Also features my cat, who adds her own little bits.

1. Don’t yell and shout at your puppy. Remember that a puppy is just a baby and that any major disturbances can have a major impact on its mental state. Extensive shouting can leave the dog feeling inferior and unloved.

2. Feeding your dog excessively will threaten your dog’s health. Too many calories and too little exercise will have your dog grow fat and it will not only reduce its level of energy but also its ability and willingness to be happy.

3. Giving your dog your leftovers might seem like a fun an generous gesture but human food can actually hurt your dog. To give your dog what will serve it best you might consult with your local VET to find out what your specific breed of dog requires.

4. Walking your dog on a daily basis is vitally important to satisfy the basic physical needs of your dog. Smaller dogs will need shorter walks and larger breeds and most above average size breeds will even need more walks per day.

5. Playing with your dog is not only important to the physique of the dog but it is also an important learning and training tool that will make your dog behave better and your dog and owner relationship will also improve.

6. Attend dog training classes to learn how to properly manage, train and get your dog obey commands. A dog needs to know who is in charge and it is important that you are that leader.

7. You must be sure to show your dog that you care for it and that it can feel secure and loved around your. Not only will it remain happier but it will also return your love ten-fold as you are its master and leader.

8. Be fair at all times and be sure to also be respectful. Your dog is a living animal and even though it might not be able to communicate what it senses in a way that you can understand don’t conclude that it doesn’t sense things.

Dog vitality and well being is very important in order to have a fun and peaceful pet. As a dog owner you should spend enough time and energy in teaching your dog and yourself the best ways to love and respect each other as you will hopefully be together for a long time.

Many of the dog owners today struggle with the problem of house training. Although many methods have worked to solve this problem, there are some dog owners that resort to drastic ways out of frustration and desire to have their dog house trained quickly.

To get the sort of behavior that you want for your dog, the owner must pick a training method that best fits their pet. Some dogs train easily using constant supervision, but others must be trained using paper or a cage. It’s also acceptable to combine these methods.

Even though cage training is effective, you will find a lot of concerns about this method. Many people think that by using a cage or any other sort of related training aid in general is inhumane and that it shouldn’t be forced on dogs. Although, using a cage has proven to be the most effective and efficient of the many ways to train your dog.

Why is this? Well first of all, because your dog is a den dwelling creature by nature. They would love to retreat into their dens to seek warmth during cold weather or feel cool during sunny days. They consider their den as their home in which they are safe from harm. With this in mind, help your dogs cage look like and feel like his home, not a cage.

Second, dogs are naturally clean animals and will try not to soil their cages as much as possible. Placing your dog inside the cage will help your dog control his bladder or bowel until he is taken out to potty at the appropriate spot. Since puppies are still young, they should be taken out regularly and more often than an older dog since they only have a limited control over their bladder and bowel movements. Taking these steps will help your puppy establish a schedule for bathroom trips.

Cages come in various styles and materials. You can buy one from your local pet supply store, hardware or pet section in some department stores. When you purchase a cage for your pet, consider their needs and consider why you are buying the cage. If you travel, consider purchasing a cage made of plastic for your dog, as wire cages will not protect them from extremes of temperature. Another thing that you want to take into consideration is the size of the cage. Buying a new create when he has outgrown the old one costs a lot of money. So that is why it would wise to purchase a large crate, that way you can block the excess section so that your dog doesn’t soil it, that way you can place your dog in the other half during the night for him to stay in.

It is important to be consistent when using a dog cage for housetraining. Your housebreaking issues will soon pass if you do this properly.

Karen writes pieces on dog cages and crates and about where to buy cheap dog cages for sale online.

Animal communication can be a great benefit to all pet owners. The ability to understand your animals feelings and perspective on life will help you create well balanced and happy animals. It can be very easy to observe our animals behaviour and to place our own judgements on why they behave the way they do, but what happens if you are wrong? Animal communication is a way of truly understanding and getting closer to your animal.

Often we can completely miss-judge situation regarding our animals’ behaviour. It is very easy for us people to see a situation and then jump to our own negative conclusions. I am sure that you will agree that there is nothing more hurt full and unfair than someone making judgements about you that are not true!

One of my clients had labelled her dog a bully with other dogs. This had been instigated by the owners observations that when her dog was around other younger or gentle dogs, she was snapping and showing signs of aggression towards them.

Her behaviour was completely different to nervous or protective dogs where she would leave them well alone.

Through the animal communication it was clear that she was afraid of intimacy with other dogs! She desperately wanted to be close but did not know how. She was an excellent judge of character and could tell if the dogs were friendly or not at distance. This is why she would only approach the gentle or younger dogs and she was very keen to become friends, but did not know how!

Her wanting to be close to dogs changed as soon as she got to close to them as an overwhelming feeling of shyness and protection took over her.

This information changed the owners understanding and together we created a whole new approach, focused on helping her dog become intimate with other dogs. She was so desperate to learn how to overcome her shyness and have other dog friends that the task was easy when approached in the right way.

When we communicate clearly with our animals it gives a greater understanding. This is turn gives us the power to really help them. If you find your self repeatedly asking the question why do they do this or that? Then there is a high possibility that you are not understanding where they are really coming from.

Animal communication creates a deeper relationship this is the same for humans too! When we find some one that understands us more we naturally trust them more and become closer to them. This is the same with your animals and the more they trust you the greater the relationship for everyone! Animal communication is a very natural form of communication that anyone can learn.

James French is an international top animal communicator. The creator of Animal Communication Training The UK’s most reconised and well known animal communication teaching programs visit site animal communication, taking students from beginners to professional independent animal communicators. Animal healing

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Bringing home your puppy will be a joyful time but it can also be quite stressful. Especially if this is the first time you are trying to take care of a dog. There will be plenty of things to learn.

The first step is to make your puppy feel safe and loved in its new home. Speak gently to your dog ad whatever you do, don’t yell at them if they do something which is out of line. Yelling at your puppy can cause them to become afraid of you; this is something which can be difficult, if not impossible to remedy. It’s better to take your new puppy for training as soon as you can after bringing your new family member home.

There are plenty of good reasons to have your dog trained? And remember it’s not just your new dog that needs to learn some things; you will have some lessons to learn as well. You need to learn how to handle your new pet and just as importantly, how not to handle it.

You’ll understand the need for training your puppy almost the minute you bring them home. Your new dog will be extremely energetic and will run all over the house, chewing on everything, possibly breaking things and peeing on the floor.

You’ll learn a lot of useful things in dog training classes, such as which commands are the most effective and just as importantly, what tone of voice to use when giving your dog a command. You’ll need to learn these things and practice them regularly? This will make your new dog a better behaved member of the family and while some puppy damage is almost inevitable, can prevent much of the damage your new dog may cause.

You’ll need to walk your dog at least once (preferably two or three) times each day. Your dog has to learn to follow your commands so that they will walk without you having to yank on their leash.

There can be very serious consequences to being unable to control your dog while going for a walk? And a leash is necessary at all times, no matter how well behaved your dog may seem. Your dog will naturally want to chase squirrels and other small animals? Even into the middle of the street!

Traffic accidents are one of the major killers of especially dogs and often times it are because the owner can’t control the dog with words and commands. That is why the training part is so vitally important in order to keep your dog from harm.

Dog health and well being is very important in order to have a happy and peaceful pet. As a pet owner you should spend enough time and energy in teaching your dog and yourself the optimal ways to love and respect each other as you will hopefully be together for a long time.

Estimates have the number of dogs and cats in North America at 58,000,000 and 62,000,000, respectively, and it’s a painful truth that thousands of them are victims of accidental drownings annually. Due to the fact that many people do not report these drownings, there is no way to know exactly how many pets actually die this way. Although, 99 % of dogs can swim, we have a false sense of security when we see our dogs running and jumping in and out of the water at the lake or our back yard pool. A significant percentage of dogs and even some cats are only able to swim a little while before they become fatigued. With this in mind, these animals go into a panic state when they are unable to quickly find a way to get their paws on solid ground. This panic is what causes them to drown. But it is more than just a problem for pets, for loving pet parents will selflessly and without hesitation dive into a frozen lake or rapidly flowing river in an attempt to rescue their animal.

What ways can we prevent our pets from drowning? Here are a few valuable tips:

1. Never take for granted that your dog knows how to swim.

2. Keep a close eye on your dog especially if he or she is older. They cannot swim quite as long or as far as they were once able to.

3. Do not throw your dog or cat in any type of water. They will panic from the initial shock.

4. Purchase a canine floatation device (CFD) or pet life jacket for your dog or cat. If they are going to be near water, put it on them. Often a pet may fall off a dock or out of a moving boat without our knowledge.

5. Things like solar blankets and pool covers appear to be a solid surface for your pet. Remove them whenever possible when your pets are around the pool.

6. Fix a pet safety gate to the entrance to the pool area.

7. Make sure that your pet is not able to get into your neighbor’s pool area.

8. Install a pool alarm for a pond or your pool.

9. Keep your pet away from rapidly flowing water.

10. Do not allow your pet to go near frozen lakes & rivers.

Observing your pet drown fills one with a guilt that is devastating and an event that will remain with you forever. I highly recommend that you go out and inspect your property for any water hazards. It doesn’t matter if it is winter or summer where you live. Go fix any water hazards NOW, and protect your pet from a fate of drowning. If your pet is going to be anywhere near water, make sure they are wearing a canine floatation device or pet life jacket.

Jake writes numerous articles on the dog life jacket and about the safety aspects of dog life jackets to keep your pet safe whilst near water.

I have owned dogs all my life, and one thing that I have recently learned that crate training puppies can be really helpful, and save a lot of stress when you are housebreaking your puppy.

Well the simple answer is that dogs love predictability, and using a crate will also teach your puppy that you are the boss! Crate training puppies right at the start will make the whole training process run more smoothly.

When you buy your first crate, you need to ensure that you buy one that is the right size for your puppy. He needs to be able to stand up in it and be able to move around as well. I have gone for the metal crate that has a door opening at one side. This is nice and strong and my dog can see out of it easily.

So to get your puppy used to a crate you need to put in a treat and let him walk in and investigate it. Do this a few times, and then when he seems quite happy walking in and out, and he is concentrating on his treat, you need to close the door. This is just for a few seconds the first time, then open it again.

When your puppy comes out of the crate, don’t make a big fuss of him, just a little pat will be enough. Don’t make the mistake of letting him out if he is crying – you will be telling him that he has to cry to get out of his crate.

Now you have started to close the door, you need to increase the time it is closed. The next step is to actually leave the room when he is in the crate, but again only do this for a minute or so the first time. You will be able to build up this time slowly over a few days.

Do this for several days and then you can begin to go out of the room for a few minutes. It will not take him long to get used to being in his crate. You can increase the length of time you are away from him, but make sure when you go back to him, and open the door you should not make any fuss of him, just a small pat. Don’t ever let him out when he is crying, or he will think that this is what he has to do to be let out of his crate.

People often ask why they should be thinking about crate training puppies. This is partly done because they feel safe in the crate, and also when a puppy is left alone they can start to misbehave by digging, chewing or similar. When he is in his crate he already thinks of this as a safe place so will not start to feel anxious. He will simply rest and play with any toy you have put in there until you come back to let him out.

Your puppy will love his crate and feel totally safe and secure in it. An added advantage of having a crate trained puppy is that is you do need to go out you can be sure that he will be relaxed and happy in his crate, so long as he has a blanket or bed and a few toys to amuse him. Often when a puppy is left alone he will become anxious and this is when he is likely to start chewing, barking and making a nuisance of himself. So if you don’t want to come home to a destroyed house (it’s surprising how much damage a small puppy can do when he is stressed), then all of your crate training will be a real asset, as he just will not feel anxious or stressed because he knows you will be coming back to him, as you always do.

Make sure to visit crate training puppies for house training and learning the basics.