How To Train Your Dog To Play Fetch

So you’re the proud owner of a dog and you love him to death. Now you want to play with him in order to strengthen the bond between you two. What better way than to play fetch with your dog?

Some dogs know instinctively how to play fetch. Other dogs need to be taught. Luckily, dog training for playing fetch is a fairly simple process. You need to stick to a few simple guidelines for a couple of weeks. The three simple guidelines are listed below.

1. Your dog needs to pay attention to a ball that you want him to fetch. After all, if he’s not paying attention, he’ll never chase after it. In order to teach your doggy to become interested in a ball, praise him whenever he sniffs it or pays attention to it in any way. The objective is to teach your dog he will get a reward every time he follows the ball.

2. Once your dog has learned to pay attention to the ball, he must learn to pick it up in his mouth. It’s possible that he will do this all by himself. In this case, you simple need to praise him and feed him a dog treat. If he doesn’t pick up the ball on his own initiative, you can make the ball more enticing by smearing some peanut butter on it. Keep this up long enough and your dog will eventually learn to pick up the ball.

3. After your dog knows how to follow a ball and pick it up, it’s time that he learns he needs to take it back to you and drop it. You can do this by throwing the ball ten feet away until your dog follows it and then picks it up. Now you call him and show him a dog treat in your hand. This will make him run back to you with the ball still in his mouth. He will probably drop the ball in order to make place for the dog treat.

After you have gone through these simple steps, you are ready for a few small scale experiments. Throw the ball a short distance and say “Fetch!”. If the dog doesn’t go after the ball, you should try throwing it closer, or handing it to him again. When he does it correctly, make sure to treat and praise him.

If you repeat this whole process often enough, your dog will learn to play fetch for sure. It’s usually a matter of a few weeks. After a few weeks, your dog will have comprehended the whole game of playing fetch. From hereon, playing fetch becomes its own reward. You can still tell him is a good boy, but you won’t have to stock up on dog treats anymore. You can save those to teach him another game in the future.

Owning a dog is a great thing. Dogs are loyal pets that will love you unconditionally. It’s definitely worth investing your time and energy to get the two of you closer together. Playing fetch is a great way of doing this. So stick to the training, and before you know it your doggy and you will be having a ball!

Treating canine ear infection

Treating dog ear infections is a multi-step process. The canal of the infected ear must first be thoroughly cleaned before anything else can be done. This can include swabbing the canal, removing hair and other debris and may even require flushing the canal out in order to remove excess waste and pus.

Since ear infections are quite painful to your pet, it’s usually best to let your vet take care of this as part of an office call.

Once the ear is as clean as possible, your vet will examine it to determine just how severe the infection is and decide the best way to proceed with treatment. In most cases, pet medication will be administered directly into the ear to treat the inner irritation that is causing so much discomfort. This treatment will be followed with either an antibiotic injection or a course of oral antibiotics that you can give your pet at home.

In severe cases, surgery may be required to open the canal for cleaning and treatment because scar tissue can make the area unreachable.

Unfortunately, no matter how diligent an owner is about ear cleanings and medication, some dogs are prone to relapses and medication seems to have no effect. Cases like this are referred to as “chronic” and there are two common options for treatment. Your vet may choose to take a culture of the fluid in your pet’s ears in order to diagnose and treat the exact organism causing the infection.

Surgical removal of the affected ear canal may become necessary to eliminate the source of the infection if treatment with medications doesn’t work. Ear mites can easily take up residence in your dog’s ears and the symptoms of an infestation can be similar to those of an ear infection. In cases like this, your vet will still thoroughly clean out your dog’s ears and then treat them with mite medication to kill the current population. Be prepared to continue the treatment at home for seven to ten days to make sure there are no recurrences.

As always, the best way to head off ear infections and mite infestations is to pay attention to the condition of your pet’s ears. When you’re familiar with the way your dog’s ears look when they’re healthy, you’ll find it easier to notice unfavorable changes early on.

Weekly ear cleanings will help keep the canals free from debris and increase the amount of air flow to make the area less hospitable for opportunistic organisms.

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Canine skin diseases

Although dog skin diseases have numerous causes, they all have one thing in common; they make your dog miserable. If your pet displays signs of itching, inflamed skin, hair loss, crusty lesions or unpleasant discharge, have him examined by your veterinarian immediately.

Dog skin diseases can be divided into five major categories:

Fungal infections – are commonly referred to as ringworm due to its appearance on the skin. Typically, the fungus causes a circular red welt that is raised along the outer edges, giving the impression of a small worm lying just beneath the surface of the skin.

The ringworm fungus actually lives in soil so pets are exposed every time they go outside. However, mainly puppies and elderly dogs contract this fungal infection because these groups have weaker immune systems than healthy adult dogs. Humans are also susceptible to this type of dog skin disease.

Bacterial infections – are usually secondary problems that develop once a dog has opened the surface of the skin by scratching and chewing. This gives bacteria entry into the warm, moist areas that will support its growth, resulting in increased pain and swelling in the affected area, sometimes causing a pus discharge.

Puppy pyoderma is another type of bacterial infection common to dogs. It manifests itself much like teenage acne. Pus-filled bumps may appear on the head, chin and belly of infected dogs. Your vet will prescribe an antibiotic for treatment.

Allergy – dog skin diseases sometimes have their origin in an allergic reaction to a substance. The reaction may be caused by a food source, an insect bite or even an inhaled substance such as pollen or mold. Once the allergic reaction begins, a dog will lick, bite and scratch at the affected area, breaking the outer skin and allowing bacteria and/or fungi to come in and increase the trauma to the area.

Dog food allergies are on the increase as evidenced by the special canine diets sold in many veterinary offices. While flea bites will make any dog itch, some pets are hypersensitive to a flea’s saliva and will suffer an intense reaction to a single flea bite. Some dogs are allergic to grass, leading to compulsive scratching and hair loss. If you suspect your dog has signs of an allergic reaction, contact your vet immediately.

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