Category — Dog Care

Hello and welcome back to the work week!  Hopefully this finds you well rested and hopefully over the diabetic shock that can be Halloween!  Here’s to hoping your dogs made it through the Halloween humiliation that can be pet costumes unscathed!  To kick things off this Monday morning, I decided that in light of Halloween’s passing, we should be very aware of our dog’s health.  We can’t always be scheduling vet visits, we can’t always take our pets in for checkups, but we should always be aware of their health.

So what do we do?  How about administer a DIY Doggy Exam!?  That’s right, you don’t need a medical degree, veterinary license or extensive knowledge to give your dog a daily, weekly or monthly check-up to make sure they are in tip-top shape without the bills of a vet visit, or hassle of meeting the appointments.  While regular check-ups and real vet visits are irreplaceable, this can be an amazingly helpful way to supplement those visits.  Here we go, DIY Doggy Exam:

“• Run your hands over your dog’s head and body. Any new lumps or bumps? Observe the eyes, and check inside the ears and under the tail. Give the pet a good belly rub as you check the abdomen for hardness, swelling, lumps or bumps.

Other things to check:

• Shiny coat?

• Fur coming out other than normal shedding?

• Visible discharges from eyes, nose, ears or glands?

• Lift up the side of the mouth to check whether teeth are clean and gums are pink. Bad breath and discoloration of gums are not healthy.

• The nose should be wet without a discharge.

• Ear flaps should be pink.

• A few minutes every month is all it takes. You probably will notice when something is not right. Be sure to tell the vet anything out of the ordinary to help avoid serious health problems.“

There you have it.  That should provide you with the very basics on how to make sure that your dog doesn’t have anything that requires help on a more serious level.

(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

When it comes to everyday household items in and around your house, there’s a pretty good chance that most of us don’t give any of them a second-thought when it comes to how dangerous they are to our dog friends.  Most of us know the usual suspects, rat poison, bleach and anything else that’d probably be poisonous to Us, but I just found out a great deal of very common, very ordinary household objects that I had no idea were so poisonous to our pups!

This is an article you are for sure going to want to read as it could drastically alter the way you store things, the things that are “reachable” in your home, and things you might want to toss out altogether.  Feel free to check out the full article for more in-depth analysis, but for now, here are 10 household items that can seriously injure your furry friends:

1. Laundry detergents and fabric softener
2. Mouse and ant killers
3. Chocolate, even in small amounts
4. Ice melt and rock salt
5. Oleander, mistletoe, and lily plants
6. Macadamia nuts
7. Tylenol can be fatal for a pet
8. Antifreeze
9. Avocados, raisins, grapes, and onions
10. Mouthwash

There you have it!  Numbers 1, 6 and 9 were the most surprising to me.  Not that I actually feed my pets dryer sheets, but from time to time they have gotten their little mouths on them, and I had no idea how dangerous they could be.  Avocados, raisins, grapes and onions I had no idea, as people can eat them without worry, I assumed dogs could too.  Wow.

Hello, Happy Monday and welcome back to DoggiBling!  Hopefully you had a great weekend, full of rest, relaxation and plenty of 1 on 1 time with your furry friends!  Speaking of our 4-legged counterparts, raise your hand if you don’t always give your pooch the right amount of exercise???

I have to admit, my hand was one of the first to shoot up.  We’re human, we make mistakes!  It doesn’t matter what happens, when it happens, or why, we all get sidetracked, busy and too involved to give our pets the proper exercise they deserve 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.  When you have a pet that demands large amounts of exercise and you just can’t give it to them on a regular basis, health problems, psychological problems and behavioral problems are often the result.  If you are NEW to the dog world, or not yet a dog owner, and you know you’re goign to have a tough time providing exercise, one of the most responsible and intelligent things you can do is invest in a dog that has a relatively low exercise need.

So what breeds are best?  The good news is, you have a wide variety of choices.  According to an article I just read, here are the BEST breeds for you, if providing a lot of exercise is just not in the cards: [Read more →]

Having strong teeth is important for every canine. When raising your puppy, it is important that you encourage strong teeth growth with these chew toys.

This Orbee Tuff Bone chew toy is perfect for giving your pup a strong jaw. It was also formulated for young pups who are teething.

This dog chew toy was formulated with natural rubber and other FDA approved materials. It is a dental toy made to give your dog healthy chompers.

They don’t call this Ultra King Kong for nothing. It is supposedly made of the toughest rubber to give your dog ultimate jaw and teeth strength.

With the right supplies you can groom your dog the way the professionals do. It just takes a little practice and tons of confidence. I started with grooming my own dog’s nails and now I am learning how to trim his hair without leaving any bald spots. Check out some of these supplies.

Professional dog clippers are the best to go with to make your pooch look like he or she just came from the groomer. There are special clips you can use to make sure you don’t cut too low.

This dog grooming table is great for getting easy access to all different parts of your dog’s body. It is a good idea to get the grooming table with the arm, so that you can strap your pooch to it to keep him or her still. It also comes with a non-slip surface.

Then, of course, to top things off, you will need dog nail trimmers to keep your pooch comfortable and looking good.

Now, this is a topic that I find to be a little unusual, but I think it’s important that everyone should have knowledge on the subject. I still run into people who didn’t even know that female dogs had a cycle. I don’t know how many owners deal with the fact (besides getting her fixed), but I know that there are some products that can be used to make the situation less messy.

I would go with designer sanitary dog diapers instead of the usual black ones.

First off, most dogs aren’t going to be running around and acting normal during this time — instead she will lie around and only get up when she really has to. During this period, you can buy sanitary dog diapers.

If your female dog hasn’t be fixed and hasn’t had her cycle yet, you can expect it to start around 5 or 6 months of age for small breeds and between 6-10 months for larger dogs. The average menstrual cycle lasts between 4 and 9 days. Another term for a dog’s menstrual cycle is “heat”.

If you are planning on raising pups, there are a couple of things you will be needing to help them grow into healthy responsible adult pooches. These same products can be used if you find abandoned puppies or are just looking to breed.

Esbilac puppy formula is said to be the best replacement for pups.

This heating and cooling dog bed will help to keep your pups warm in the early stages.

It’s always a good time to start training your pooch and these housebreaking puppy pads work wonders.

Whenever I take my dog out for long walks, he gets extremely thirsty, so I started to look around for some products that will make it easier for me to give him a quick drink while we’re out. I found a couple of different versions of the same item, called a speed-e drink or portable dog bowls. I think these are a great idea because they are quick and easy to use. You just simply attach a water bottle to the product and your pup slurps away. The portable dog bowl also comes with a clip so that you can attach it to your belt.

We try our best to keep our dog’s looking like new, but it’s pretty hard when they’re always rolling around in the grass and dirt. It’s important that we keep up dog grooming so that their sensitive skin doesn’t become irritated and so that we can be proud owners of dogs with shiny fur coats. It’s a good idea to begin grooming your dog early on to avoid having problems with getting them to sit still in the bath. Dogs have their own grooming needs, so make sure to learn about grooming your dog.

And if you would like to take your dog down “green” road, you should consider getting organic dog shampoo and conditioner. There are various types of herbal dog supplies out there that are non-toxic and equally effective - sometimes even better. I prefer organic for anything that comes to close contact with my or my dogs skin - less worries of infections.

Tired of your pooch scratching up your favorite furniture? Do like I did and give him or her a pedicure. Before, I used to only allow my vet to cut my dog’s nails for fear of cutting them too short and hitting a vein. Now, I use dog nail clippers that give a signal when the cutting limit has been reached. It’s a good idea to invest in such products because with traditional trimmers, you’d have to be an expert at stopping at the right point.

Trimming your dog’s nails isn’t only to avoid getting scratched up; it’s also a health hazard. Dog’s nails are tough, so they continue to grow and end up dragging across the floor while walking and running, which can become uncomfortable for them. This could lead to sores developing on their paws and can even cause problems further up their legs. The toes you want to trim regularly are the five front nails; the sixth (or the supposed thumb) doesn’t have to be trimmed too often.