Dog Breath!

We all love our dog’s right? But we have got some serious work to do to make our K9 companions worthy to be in a toothpaste commercial.

Adult dogs have 20 teeth in their upper jaw and 22 in the lower jaw, they are born with no teeth but by 8weeks old when puppies are normally let go to their new homes your puppy will have his infant teeth. Like human’s dogs have two sets of teeth in their life they will start to shed their infant teeth at around 4 months, replacing them with adult teeth.

As soon as your new puppy has settled in it’s a good idea to get him used to you feeling all over his body. You never know when you may have to pull out a thorn from his pad or clean out his ears. Having a dog let you touch him all over is as important as the food you feed and it also means the dog accepts you as its pack leader.

I find with puppies rather than pushing a tooth brush into their mouths to start with it’s a better idea to place a swab over the tip of your finger or you can buy little rubber caps that fit over your finger end and gently work your finger a round the teeth and gums. Make the first few times just a quick dip in and out; remember puppies haven’t got a long attention span.

Once your puppy is fairly relaxed and his mouth has grown you can replace your finger with a Childs soft toothbrush. DO NOT be tempted to use human toothpaste; it’s very dangerous for dogs who will not spit it out as we do. You can buy special dog toothpaste or use backing powder and I would recommend cleaning two or three times a week. In between the cleaning it’s a good idea to provide nylon chew toys or rawhide chews and hard biscuits these will help clean the teeth as well.

As you get into a routine you will be able to clean your pus teeth when you need to, always give lots of praise with a gentle voice, never shout or slap your pup when you are doing his teeth even out of frustration, he needs to find the teeth cleaning is a routine just like going for a walk. You can offer a reward for when its all done, play a game with his favourite toys.

If you clean your pups teeth and check there is no foodstuff or bits of stick ect in his mouth and his mouth starts to smell and there are inflammation on his gums it could be where his teeth are changing. If it persists seek help from your veterinary surgeon.

Bad breath in an older dog can be the cause of many problems, eczema in the lip folds of dogs with floppy jowls, it could be the bacteria build up in and around the mouth or it could quite easily be his stomach the is giving off the foul smell. If he seems other wise OK in himself, it may be worth talking to your pet food supplier to see what food stuffs will help or ring your vet for advice.

dog scootering!

I just purchased a scooter, harness and tug line for my year old German Short Haired pointer bitch and because it’s the sport for dogs that love to run (and she sure does) I thought it was a great idea.

When she came into her first season and I could no longer let her run free with her friends, and I found I just couldn’t lead walk her for long enough, she was still rearing to go the rest of the day.

I came across the dog scooters one day when I was on youtube, you should go look, its brilliant. I then looked at the market for the scooters which were expensive and I could only get them delivered in bits from abroad, as I didn’t know if this was going to be the ideal thing for my dog and I, I really didn’t want to pay out a fortune.

I took a look on ebay and luckily for me there was one on there, complete with harness and tug line. Oh yes and a brilliant book by Daphne Lewis called,

‘Dog Scooter, the sport for dogs who love to run’

The book is very informative and gives lots of hints on keeping and feeding your dogs, ect.

I am only just learning to do the mushing with my dog. She tends to go off in all directions and not just straight on! So my task is to get her to line out from the scooter and keep going straight! After that the commands for left and right, the book tells you the mushing commands but they didn’t flow easily from my mouth and I kept forgetting which was which, so I stick to left and right!

If it takes the whole of the winter to get it right, that’s OK but I don’t think it will, my dog is a very fast learner. So wish me luck and look out for future posts.

why are we killing our pets

Last night I watched a documentary on fat pets, now fat pets are nothing new but I still found myself shouting at the TV.

The fact is that over the last few years pet obesity has grown along with our own weight problems and our children’s obesity. Depending on the statistics you read between 30-60% of all dogs and cats are overweight in the UK. The weight problems arise from too much feeding and not enough exercise. Simple! Now why can’t people get that?

Now with our feline friends this can be a problem, because as we know cats have a tendency to invite themselves round to other people houses, where they roll around on the floor looking all cute and unloved until some human gets the message and feeds them. You need to find out who is feeding your cat and have a quiet word, that’s if the amount of food you feed is not going over the top.

Dogs are easier just as long as you have ‘will power’ and only feed them at set meal times with the correct amount of food, the dogs will soon know this time and take it as gospel for being the time they are fed. Don’t give them human biscuits or chocolate as this is just poison to them. Think about what you are feeding; imagine just how small their stomach actually is. If you feed a dry dog meal, put some in a bowl and add water, see just how much it swells! Can you dogs stomach actually, stomach that amount?

Most of us love our pets but you can also love them too much and kill them with kindness. Getting a happy healthy balance is what you should be striving for.

Exercise is the most important thing for dogs especially.

A tired dog is a good dog and a happy dog.

Think about what your dog was bred for, if it’s from a working dog family then it is your responsibility to work it. This doesn’t mean learning how to shoot and hunt but setting up mock games of hide and seek the ball or what ever his favourite toy maybe, make him use his brain or if it’s a collie breed let them use their skills in agility. All games are good for the owner too and build that pack leader hierarchy.

It’s our responsibility. We all have to have to make our partnership with our canines and felines work.

Being fat is just the tip of the iceberg, along with the fat could come some very nasty health concerns, that could end up costing you more than 6 Ox’s hearts a week.

Heart complaints, diabetes and arthritis are just some of the problems. Your pets will not be able to clean themselves, longhaired cats could end up with skin problems and dogs could get infected anal glands.

Do we honestly as nation of pet lovers want this for our pets?

I think not.

small blobs of poop!

Can you believe I was mind boggled for quite sometime this morning as my dogs and I set off for our morning walk?

Well anyone who knew me probably would be able to believe it, yes...

As we set out and strolled up our road I couldn't believe how many little, no, very tiny blobs of poop were dotted up the middle of the road.

"Well" I said to my 10year old son, "Just you look at that!"

I then went on to chanter about one of my hatreds of some of the unsuitable dog owners who were around and cursed them for not cleaning up after their dogs.

Then I stopped and thought about it for a minute. It was up the middle of the road, in two or three different places. So not likely that a cat had done it, they normally did it in gardens and gravel, quite the secretive poopers and really I then couldn't see a dog owner walking in the middle of the road with their dog.

It was only then that it all came to light. You see, I recognised the poop and which animal left such poop, I saw it in the woods recently and then at first I blamed naughty owners that were not clearing up after their dogs. This was until it I realised it was being left behind by a fox! We have a number of fox run ways around the house next door and across the road down to the back of my neighbours garden!

So the mystery of the poop was solved and I lived another day:-)

WOW...I've been away far to long

WOW... I have been away far to long! SORRY

I have just been so busy. I started a web site at the weekend you can find that at

http://fluffandnonsence.webeden.co.uk/# Its a pet website and I would love to see you there.

Also I have been writing HARD and publishing on Triond. I write under the name lillyrose. Come and check out my short stories, poems and articles! leave me some feedback let me know you have been!

https://www.triond.com/users/lillyrose

You can also find me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/storywriter999

and facebook and myspace... Lisa Leverton.

you will find my work on stumbleupon, authspot and a few other sites!

See I have been a busy bunny.