Talk About It
Dogs are the best friends and protectors of humans. These animals have made a great difference to the quality of people’s life. On many occasions, dogs have comforted and manifested their affection to humans. Because dogs are highly attuned to the emotions of humans, they have offered their silent support to sad and troubled master. Dogs are noted to be tough little and not so little guys that are always ready to comfort and defend the master but there are cases when these animals are the ones needing the comfort of their master. Like humans, dogs too get stressed and it is up to the master to calm the dog.
A dog can be easily stressed by a situation in the environment. Once a nervous dog is exposed to a certain situation, it would be tightly wound up and would bark frantically, salivate excessively and basically be a hard to control pet. Other dogs would react to a stressful environment in a different way. The dog can be highly active and hard to control. Loud noises such as the sound of thunder and firecrackers, unfamiliar faces and places as well as new situations would trigger the nervous behavior of dogs.
Repeated exposure to these kind of situations will enhance the nervousness of the dog until it develops into a phobia. The quality of the dog’s life will be affected so that the dog may lose weight and be lethargic. Dog owners would not want to see a highly stressed pet. It is but necessary for pet owners to know how to calm the pet.
To prevent the dog from being stressed it would be best to know what activities or situations trigger a nervous “attack” so that the situation can be avoided. As situations that creates nervous tension in dogs cannot be avoided at all times, a pet parent has to find other ways to calm the pet.
Due to an affectionate nature, dogs would love to be petted by their owners. Massage is an excellent method of calming the pet. Slow circular movements of the hand that starts from the head to the tip of the tail will be very calming for the dog. Apart from being naturally curious, dogs are food motivated as well so that Kong toys will remove the dog’s attention from whatever is causing the stress and the efforts to get the food from the Kong toy will eventually calm the pet. Dogs are naturally energetic. Allowing the dog to expend its excess energies is one good way of calming the pet. Did you know that yawning is a simple trick to calm the dog? Among people, yawning is catching so that yawning in front of the pet can entice the do to yawn as well, to be calm and feel sleepy.
Read more about how to calm a dog and dog first aid at Sarah’s Dogs.
Tags: animals, calming a dog, Dogs, how to calm a dog, pets
Posted in Dogs · September 3rd, 2010 · Comments (0)
Dogs are one of the intelligent animals but owners should never make the mistake of expecting the pet to have right and wrong values. A pet that usually greets its master by jumping will be puzzled if the owner suddenly raised the voice and reprimanded the dog for jumping while she is all dressed up for a party.
So how will you discipline a dog that has the tendency to bark excessively, or one that torments other pets, or one that has a destructive chewing habit or one that has the inclination to raid trash cans? Dogs are highly attuned to what humans feel thus these animals can easily interpret and understand the facial expression and body movement of human. Dogs are cunning little and not so little rascals that would know how to achieve an imploring look to get away from the wrath of the master. The dog may look repentant but the pet owner should not be complacent as the dog’s bad habits will surface again and again. Unless you do something to discipline the dog, the undesirable act will be repeated again. Screaming at the dog or inflicting physical punishment would never be a good idea more so if the punishment was given after the destructive deed was done. Dogs are intelligent animals but the it would be beyond their ability to associate the punishment to the slip-up they have done.
It is necessary to make the dog understand that human are the leaders of the pack. Dogs being lower in rank must follow humans. Training would be an effective method of disciplining the pet. Any kind of dog training is best started when the dog is still young. Commands to discipline a dog must given in an authoritative voice.
One effective way if disciplining the dog is to make the dog hate doing the destructive behavior . A spray bottle filled with cold water and Bitter Apple are effective tools that disciplines the dog not to manifest a destructive behavior.
The pet will never be weaned from its bad behavior if corrective measures are done after the dog has been destructive. “No, Leave it, Stop are only some of the excellent commands that will stop the dog in mid act. It would take some time for the dog to understand the meaning of these commands but consistent training, lots of praise and treats are invaluable tools that will correct the dog’s unwanted behavior.
Learn more about how to discipline a dog and dog first aid at Sarah’s Dogs.
Tags: animals, discipline dog, Dogs, how to discipline a dog, pets
Posted in Dogs · September 1st, 2010 · Comments (0)