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puppy eating food

Finding The Healthiest Dog Food Options

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As a dog owner, you should always be on your toes and seeking the best information and advice on how to determine what is the healthiest diet for your best friend. It is your duty to ensure what you are feeding him or her is healthy. You have to know the food, what’s in it, what are the ingredients and are they nutritional and healthy or will they harm your pet and shorten his life expectancy.

What do we search for?

While going for dog food I always look into the ingredients of the food. There’s a lot of food out there that is way less healthy than you think. There are many harmful and even bad ingredients that should be avoided no matter what. I hope by reading this you will figure out how to better pick the best dog food and how to spot the meals that you should avoid. The following are some choices you can consider.

Canned and Dry Dog Foods

Whichever one you are considering, make sure to check and see if the ingredients on the name contain whole, genuine unmistakable ingredients that relate to industries best standards. This means, no by-products, as they will surely mean that you are purchasing a low quality item. The main ingredient should consist of specific meats as the main ingredient and not unspecified meats. Any whole meats such as chicken, hamburger, salmon and the like are all great ingredients.

Probiotics and Nutritional Supplements

While probiotics and nutritional supplements are added to most dog diets, the more reputable and higher end manufacturer’s give definite information to every single supplement, and how, the supplement will be beneficial to your dog. Avoid the nasty additives and supplements that are used. Any preservative used, should be normal and healthy and not some of the deplorable chemical additions. Some additives such as ascorbic acid, vitamin C and vitamin E, are worthy ingredients.

Raw Dog Food

Ensure the meat is fresh to avoid any possible food poisoning. You may even want to toss in a raw bone occasionally so long as it is not cooked. When it is cooked, it becomes brittle and splinters can cause harm to your dog.

Homemade Dog Food

While it is cheaper than industrially manufactured products, you can tailor a diet that fulfills every one of your dog’s nutritional needs, while giving him a variety of fresh made wholesome meals he can anticipate every day. You can see to it that his meals are chemically and filler free.

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4 Effective Dog Exercising Tips That You Might Want To Consider

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Dog exercising in the Winter

If you want to see your beloved dog in good health during the winter months, you must make sure that she is getting daily exercise. Remember, a dog must get involved in some kind of physical activity on a daily basis not only for remaining fir physically, but also for her mental wellness. In addition, dog exercise also plays a major role in maintaining a strong bond between you and your dog.

One common factor that stops people from taking their dog out for a walk during winter is bad weather; so, it’s important for you to find out other ways of giving your dog the daily dose of exercise. Here are a few tips that would help you.

1. Play an interesting game

Curious Dog

One dog game that would allow you to keep your dog active both mentally and physically is hide-n-seek. Hide a sumptuous treat or your dog’s favorite toy and make her find it. You can make the game even more interesting by making the pet find you. Throw a treat towards her so that she follows the treat and becomes unmindful of your position. Next, hide in a different part of your house and wait for the pup to find you. The game would give the dog high intensity exercise and tire her up substantially.

2. Challenge the dog’s nose

Smelling Dog

It’s a widely known fact that dogs have amazing scenting abilities. This makes exercises that would require these pets to use their nose particularly stimulating. Arrange your canine pal’s dinner in her favorite plate and force her to work for reaching the plate by creating obstacles. You can create a wall of toys or can place the meal inside a cardboard box.

3. Use a treadmill

Today, the market houses various models of treadmills that are particularly designed for dogs. Having one such unit in your home would ensure that your pet would be able to go for walks even if it’s snowing outside. However, those units are quite expensive. So, if you can’t afford to purchase a dog treadmill, try to use the human treadmill you have. But, remember that you’ll need to take certain precautions while doing so.

Firstly, you will have to spend enough time with the pet for familiarizing her with the machine’s working procedure. Begin with a very slow speed; and stand behind your dog with her favorite treat all through the workout session. Do this for three to four days and then start increasing the treadmill’s speed slowly. Also, increase the duration of workout.

4. Get your dog enrolled in a workout class

Perform a thorough online search to find out whether your area has any exercise class going on for dogs. Most parts of this country have such classes; so, you shouldn’t find it difficult to get one in your area. Ideally, you should enroll your canine companion for a swimming or indoor agility class. Another amazing benefit of signing up your pet for a dog exercise class is that it would teach her to socialize. This, in turn would allow her to learn new things and become more agile mentally.

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6 Ways To Stimulate Your Dog’s Mind

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Puzzle floating

Proper exercise and mental well-being is very important for your dog’s overall health. Nonetheless mental health’ is often ignored when fulfilling our dog’s needs. And dogs that have little mental stimulation can easily develop behavioral and health problems. Here are some ideas on how to stimulate your pet’s mind so that they don’t misbehave or get bored.

1. Adjust your Daily Walking Route

Dog Walking

Although a walk every day is very important for the both of you, if you stick to the same route and the same routine daily, it can become boring. So try mixing it a little bit every day. New sights and smells are an amazing way to enliven your pet mentally and give him or her something to look up to every time you go for a walk.

2. Find an energizing Outdoor Activity

Different activities like agility training or hiking are great ways to keep your Fido in top shape. For example agility training will teach him to move through a course of barriers and jump over or run through. Training centers are also available in most cities and they can introduce your friend to new and exciting challenges!

3. Puzzle Toy

Dog Brain Teaser

Puzzle toys are another excellent way to keep your friend entertained and busy. Engaging toys like puzzle games help your dog concentrate on a specific task and that additional mental stimulation is very important. A game of 10 to 20 minutes every day can have a very huge impact on your dog’s well-being. It gives him a task to concentrate on and that is very essential when it comes to countering behavioral issues.

4. Make Mealtime Stimulating

Your Fido is a hunter naturally. This basically means that they are designed to spend most their time searching for what to eat. As a caring dog owner you can use this to your advantage. Get him to hunt for his meals! Yes. Instead of a bowl, feed your pet out of a puzzle bowl. This is usually a toy with spaces for kibble to drop. You can also toss of piece meat around the room
and then tell him to find it.

5. Engage in Engaging Play with Your Dog

puppies playing

Dogs love to play and engaging in active play can go a long way in keeping them mentally stimulated. Though this seems too obvious, it is very important to your dog. Try playing games such as fetch or tug.

6. Try New Tricks Indoors

There are hundreds of tricks you can try from the comfort of your house. You can start with simple tricks like shake or stay and then work up to other more sophisticated ones like roll over. These indoor tricks will not only stimulate your pet mentally, but will also help both you and your friend bond. Try to limit the sessions to about 20 minutes. This will ensure everyone
enjoys it.

Wrapping it up

The six tips mentioned in this guide are just a few of the thousands of mentally enlivening activities you can try with your dog. You just have to open minded because once you start, you will find yourself looking for other better ways to engage your Fido’s mind. In addition, the more you do this, the healthier and happier your dog he will be .

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What Causes Joint Problems in Dogs

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What is Osteoarthritis in dogs?

It is also known as degenerative arthritis. It affects the joints of your dogs which is a mechanical degradation of the joints. Usually caused by the loss of cartilage in the bones causing a lot of friction, and this friction causes the severe pain for your dogs.

What Causes Arthritis In Dogs?

Some factors induce dog joint pain, the most obvious being an injury. Other causes that may not be too clear but still play a major part are the lack of natural activity by dogs, poor nutrition, too much weight, and genetics.

Signs of Joint Problems

Limping or Lameness

Limping and lameness are one of the most common and elementary symptoms of dog arthritis. Favoring one or more limbs is also a sign that is not using the one that is in pain.

Laziness

Since the dog is in pain, they tend to remain inactive, preferring to sleep more. Although it might seem reasonable for a pet to feel lazy now and then, you should be concerned and start to look out for other signs if your pet remains sluggish for long periods of time. If your dog’s level of activity decreases noticeably, you should always consider the possibility that your dog may develop arthritis. Additionally, dogs with arthritis have no interest in playing due to their sore joints.

Diminished Muscle Tone

Some large-breed dogs have very distinguished muscle, form and build. If you notice that your dog has lost its physique all of a sudden, it could be the cause of arthritis.

Change in Personality

Arthritis can cause a dog to have a change in personality. Some well-behaved dogs can become aggressive or violent. Whenever there is a personality change in a pet, something is not right.

Fever

In some severe cases, arthritis will cause a dog to develop an illness. A bad sign that it may be suffering from an advanced case of arthritis. Developing a fever can be a symptom of other diseases too. Thus, it is advisable to take your pet to the veterinarian for a diagnosis.

How big is this problem for dogs?

Arthritis in dogs associated with the deterioration of the smooth cartilage around the joints that covers and protects the bones. This degenerative joint disease is common in large-breed dogs or elderly dogs especially those that are seven years or older.

Solution

Dog joint pain is usually solved by a lot of pet owners by giving their dogs natural supplements that may be used to prevent common injuries and manage joint pains.

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