Dog Maintenance

When most people discuss getting a dog, they consider who is going to feed it and give it exercise. This may be enough while the dog is a puppy. But dogs also need maintenance. A house dog in town will need shots, spade or neutered, and a flea collar or spray. Outside dogs need much of the same in addition to prevention from hazards. In the countryside dogs chip their nails and get their paws sore. Insects and snakes cause them bites that are venomous enough to kill them, give them diseases, or cause infectious sores. Ticks are worst than fleas. Not only are they a bigger blood sucker, but the dogs will itch until they expose furless patches on their coat. Dogs will need dewormed so they can absorb the nutrients they need and keep their innards clear of parasites. Venomous spiders and diseased mosquitoes require a vaccine to be administered to your pet, and the same danger resides from snakes. As the dog gets older the veterinary bill goes up. Glands will plug up, their diet makes them constipated or too obese, and the dog has less play, patience, and eagerness to go someplace with you.

Even the plants are a danger. Any type of seed that's tapered on one end and has bristles on the other end will get in the dog's ears and between the dog's toes. If the seeds stay there long enough, the dogs will get infections in their skin or their eardrums will be rubbed on as the seeds dig in. The best prevention from plant seeds is to make sure your dog is well groomed, which knocks out the seeds from the fur, and to take well traveled paths where the hazardous plants seeds would have had the most chance of being knocked down before they can attach to your pet.

Beside the uncontrollable hazards that endanger dogs, people may not realize how much other work goes into keeping a dog healthy and happy. Many people do not realize dogs need leadership a definite line of what they can and cannot do. Puppies from three to six weeks cannot take much discipline. They have no memory of the consequences for bad actions. From six weeks and up puppies and dogs can now be disciplined because their reasoning skills and memories are much improved, plus you have greater initiative to discipline them because their teeth are stronger and sharper. Older dogs discipline pups with growls, snaps, and occasionally grabbing them around the neck and shaking them side to side. The goal is not to hurt them, but to scare them. Humans can mimic this behavior by grabbing the puppy by the scruff and holding them down or barking an angry "no!" The puppy isn't hurt and you give them something they can do and praise them for it to show them what pleases you. It is important that puppies and dogs both need disciplined in the moment of bad behavior, not afterward, and they should have a few moments to think about how bad they've been before you pet them. Physical discipline may seem cruel to some people, but it's there to back up the verbal discipline and the goal is not to hurt the dog but teach them boundaries that can protect them and allow you both to live in harmony.