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After the dog has made its preliminary adaptation to the household—let us say after a week or so—put a collar on it and allow it to remain on for several days until the animal has become thoroughly accustomed to it. A harness is not recommended at this time because training can be accomplished much more readily with a collar. Then attach a short leash to the collar and let the animal drag it around for a couple of days more, reprimanding it whenever it tries to chew the leash. After this time take hold of the leash and encourage the animal to be led through various rooms with you. Make it a point not to drag the animal, since this will frighten it and make further training difficult. With gentleness, and with repeated daily efforts inside the house, the animal soon will permit itself to be led with surprising ease. If the animal should sit down and refuse to be led, tell it “No! No!” before picking it up on its legs and starting over again. When the animal can be led quite easily, take it outside to a quiet street and repeat the procedure there. With a little patience on the part of the owner, the animal will be seen to make a rapid adaptation and will behave quite well on theleash. And this is so especially when the animal starts to associate pleasantness with the outside. When the pet sees you pick up the leash to take it outside, its tail will very likely wag in pleasant anticipation.When the animal is thoroughly trained to a leash and collar, a harness may be used. But at best a harness serves merely a decorative purpose. It is quite useless in the matter of training.
For those owners within the low income brackets, or those with the very large breeds, the feeding of dogfood exclusively would certainly be the most economical method and, as far as the dog is concerned, such a diet is quite adequate.
Repeated sharp reprimands of “No, No” are usually quite sufficient to condition the dog not to bark in certain situations, such as when the telephone rings or in the back yard for no reason. The more stubborn dog may be muzzled whenever it barks excessively. When the muzzle is removed, it is placed in full view of the dog. Soon the animal cuts down on the barking because it associates the muzzle with restraint and discomfort. However, the procedure is recommended only as a last resort in the very worst cases, since some trainers are of the opinion that it involves a certain amount of cruelty. Other trainers teach the animal the meaning of the word “Quiet,” with the assistance of a piece of folded newspaper with which they slap the animal’s haunches whenever it barks excessively. The desirability of this method is also questionable.
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Prolonging the life of the old dog depends directly on our knowledge of the diseases of old age. The study of the diseases of old age is called geriatrics, and it is only in recent years that it has been subjected to systematic and critical consideration. It was not so long ago that the treatment of the diseases of old age consisted essentially in an effort to keep the patient comfortable, the casual administration of drugs that would relieve pain, and the application of halfhearted medical measures, given with a kind of benign hopelessness. The outlook was generally a dismal one. Veterinary medicine had little faith in its ability to combat nature in this regard. The diseases of old age were accepted as somehow inevitable and research was therefore not sufficiently stimulated to undertake the quest of solving the problems involved. The result was that if a dog did live to a ripe old age, it was due more to extraordinary vigor or to meticulous care than to any exceptional medical efforts on the part of the veterinary surgeon. The fact is that most dogs did not often get the opportunity to become old. Potent diseases readily decimated their numbers while they were still in the prime of life. There simply were not many old dogs around.
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Possibly the most common area of degeneration in old dogs is the kidney. It is safe to say that the large majority of old dogs that live out their natural lives die ultimately of some form of kidney degeneration.
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Dog owners should thoroughly weigh the risk between heartworm treatment and the partial or full recovery of their pets. Whatever decision is made, the owners should always be pro-active in ensuring the best health care for their dogs.
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