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Fleas are parasites that feed off your dog’s blood. Flea eggs can be found almost everywhere – in your couch, carpet, etc. so the likelihood of infection is very high. To know if your dog has fleas, look for flea excrement – small, dark, curly dots that are also known as “flea dirt.” To do this, brush your pet’s coat with a white cloth or sheet and look for these black specks, which contains digested blood that looks reddish brown when wet. If your dog has a darker coat, eggs that resemble dandruff is visible when a magnifying glass is used.
A flea bath is the first step to a parasite-free pet. Be careful in using a flea shampoo because most products are too harsh on puppies. Consult your veterinarian on what to use if your puppy has fleas. It can also relieve irritation and itching. Don’t stop at shampooing because it doesn’t really protect your dog after getting a bath. One alternative is using flea dips that keep fleas at bay for some time after dipping, but it is not recommended by most veterinarians. The downside is that your dog might eat or swallow these parasites after licking, since a flea dip stays on the dog’s hair coat. Another option is a flea collar. It will only kill all the fleas in the dog’s neck and face – not the whole body. Some also dogs develop a rash when using flea collars. While flea medallions can contaminate the dog’s drinking water, since it hangs loose from the collar.
The best foods for the dog are milk, meat, and vegetables. Most dogs will enjoy milk and digest it readily. Some breeds, however, such as the Boston Terrier, often do not seem to be able to handle milk and will vomit it. Where this occurs, milk should naturally be avoided. But with most breeds this difficulty will not be encountered. With a little experience the individual dog owner can determine what the situation is with his particular animal.
dog training
The male dog has certain peculiar structural characteristics that are related to copulation. There is a bone in the penis of male dogs that assists the animal in achieving and maintaining an erection. There is a socalled “bulb” in the male penis, which after entrance into the female swells enormously and causes these animals to be “locked” together after emission occurs. There is no pain or danger associated with this “locking.” Usually it lasts from a few minutes to a few hours, with the average time being about twenty minutes. The owner should not interfere at this point, but allow nature to take its course. Veterinary intervention is rarely necessary.
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Most people have peculiar ideas about the feeding of candy or any other form of sweets. It is a common belief that sweets will cause worms in dogs. This is not true. (Something more will be said about this in the section where worms are discussed. ) It is another common notion that sweets, in any form or quantity, are bad for dogs. The fact is that when sweets are fed in moderate quantity they will do no more harm to the dog than they will to the human. The question logically follows: how much is a moderate quantity? The best answer is simply that the dog should be permitted to have an occasional nibble of candy, let us say, as a reward for especially good behavior. If the dog is restricted to this occasional nibble, no harm can result. Of course, if the dog never has candy, it never will be missed.
dog training
It has often been erroneously suggested that it is not advisable to bathe puppies before they are four to six months old. If human infants can be bathed soon after birth, then does it not seem foolish to believe that to bathe a puppy—relatively so much stronger than a human infant—is dangerous? This belief seems based on the mistaken notion that puppies that are bathed when they are too young will get distemper. The fact is that if a puppy is improperly dried after a bath, and is permitted to go out into the cold air, it might catch a cold and thus be more readily susceptible to distemper. However, if the animal is completely dry before being permitted outside, no harm will ever come of a bath regardless of the age of the animal. It is often even advisable, and sometimes necessary, to bathe a very young puppy, especially if it is very filthy or laden with fleas. It is thus perfectly safe to bathe a dog, regardless of age, provided that the simplest commonsense precautions are taken. And the essential one is that the animal must be thoroughly dry before being exposed to the open air.
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