hen you go out to get accessories for your Dog, you shouldn't just grab the first cheap thing you see on the shelf in the pet store that shouts SALE! you must ensure that the product you buy for your pet, suites the pet and will not cause harm to the animal in any way, whether it be immediate harm or developed harm, meaning it happens over time.  Dog accessories are a must to have if you own or train dogs. The most common of all dog accessories are the dog leads and collars.  Lets take a look at the different leashes and collars available and how to choose the right one for your dog.

Dog Leash
Standard Leashes: These are commonly made from nylon and metal (chain types) The chain leashes are commonly used if your dog normally chews its way through the nylon leashes. The Standard leashes are the everyday dog leash you see that comes in different colors, width, length and designs. When searching for a dog leash, you must ensure that you acquire a leash that is actually proportion to the type of dog you have.  You may not need heavy duty leashes on small dogs, but strong and heavy dogs may require a stronger type leash to control the pull of the animal.

Choke Collars
With a name like that, no wonder it is dangerous to go around any animals neck. Choke collars should be banned in dog use as they contribute to some sever effects:

• fainting
• Whiplash
• spinal cord injuries
• paralysis
• partial or complete asphyxiation
• crushing or fracture of the bones in the larynx
• dislocation of the vertebrae in the neck
• damage to the skin and tissue of the neck
• prolapsed eyeballs
• brain damage
• Crushing Of The Trachea

When tension is applied to these collars and they begin to squeeze in on the dogs neck, the results are that your dog will be seriously injured and may even need surgery to remedy the many deadly effects of choke collars.

Prong Collars
Are they still making these medieval torture weapons? Prong collars has metal protrusions that can easily pinch and puncture the skin around your dogs neck. Metal boring the skin will be painful to any animal. What will eventually happen over time is that the dog will develop lots of scar tissue around the neck area. Many dogs cannot tolerate the grip of a prong collar around their neck and may react negatively to this collar.

Shock Collars
The first time i saw this i stood and looked at the device for quite a long time, trying to decipher why on God's earth would someone create a shock collar to put around a dog's neck, and even worst, who bought them? Shock collar were built to deter dogs from barking and to "keep them behaved"  The collar responds to the dogs vocal chords. If the dog does any form of loud barking, it will trigger a shock from the collar to the dog. Now if that is not cruelty i don't know what is. Many will say that hock collars are not intended as a punishment, but more as a deterrent to train negative or unsafe behavior out of a dog. If you ask me that sounds a lot like horse shit! Shock collars are accessories you must avoid at all cost. Dogs who are unfortunate to have been shocked with this accessory can suffer from many injury types. They can suffer burns, cardiac fibrillation, aggression, depression and other unforeseen health issues.

Many dog owners and trainers use muzzles to suppress the dog from licking or biting. There are different types and brand muzzles to choose from, but choosing a muzzle not built properly can hurt your dog. A dog's mouth is very important to him and provides other services that chewing and barking. The dog uses it's mouth to pant and keep cool, as well as lick himself. A muzzle worn by a dog for a very long time and not properly built can lead to many bad after effects.

Plastic muzzles with little ventilation and tiny breathing holes can cause your dog to not taking in the right amount of oxygen the brain needs to function properly. If the muzzle is left on the animal for prolonged periods and the dog is unable to pant. This could lead to dehydration in the animal and even high body temperature.  If you must let your dog wear a muzzle, ensure that it is well ventilated and if it needs to wear the muzzle for longs periods during a hot day. Ensure that the muzzle is removed periodically to allow the animal to pant and cool down its body temperature.

What type of material is your dog bowl made from? Is the material used to make the animals bowl safe to eat from? The thing is that many people  don't even wonder about a dogs bowl material. You buy a dog bowl, pore in food and water and that's it. it your dog could be drinking away at toxic substances which in the long run will lead to illnesses.

Whenever you buy an accessory for your dog, you must ensure that that accessory is safe and will not physically harm your dog inside or out.

Grooming, who doesn't do it? He groom's, she groom's, the groom groom's, everybody grooms to look beautiful right? So why should dogs be any different. I always tell my readers that animals have a natural way of taking care of themselves and once we take them from their natural environment and domesticate them, it is our sole responsibility to take care of that animal as though it was a person. Apart from you grooming your dog for the pooch to look all nice and shiny, grooming also comes with some health benefits as well, especially if you have long haired dogs. So let us look at the list of 8 benefits gained from grooming your dog.


1. It Makes Your Dog Looks Better
Don't you just love it when you walk your dog and everyone stops and stares at you and then compliments on how marvelous your look? Come on now, you know i was talking about your dog right? A well groomed dog stands out in the crowd and has a certain spark about him or her that says, "hey, i am attractive again."

2. Makes Your Dog Look Slimmer
Dogs have coats and many coats are thicker and much heavier than others. There are dogs with short hair, dogs with long hair, dogs with finer hair and dogs with a slight thicker hair. When you groom a dog with lots of thick hair and get rid of a certain percentage of hir on that dog, the dog will look slimmer as the un-groomed hair may make it seem like your dog is overweight.

3. Healthy coat and skin
So what's hiding underneath those thick hair of your dog? Is it smurfville? Who knows, as the dog hasn't been groomed in ages. That my friend is a really bad idea. Part of grooming your dog is bath time, bath time involves shampooing and the untangling of any clustered patches of hair on your dog. To keep your dog healthy, ensure he/she has a healthy skin and coat. Grooming allows you to identify abnormalities on your dogs skin.  Once you bath and brush, you will examine the skin to notice anything out of the norm. Things such as lumps, lesions, bruises, ticks bites, etc.

4. Allergy Control
Who knows what nature has blown inside your dog's coat, or what dimension of dirt and bushes your dog has just fun his way through.  Not only can this cause an allergic reaction to the dog, put excessive dog dander may cause an allergic reaction to the dog's owner or any other family member. By brushing away, dirt, insects and excessive dead hair from your pooch. It can mitigate chances of developing allergy or any other skin problems.

5. Control Dental Hygiene
What? You thought grooming was only shampoo, scissors, clippers, brush and comb? No when we groom a dog, we have to go the whole nine yards. This means practicing good dental hygiene in the animal also. If you notice your dog breath being stinky, it is time to do some dental grooming. Dogs like humans, can and do suffer from oral diseases. These disease could be tongue, gum or teeth related. Giving your dog a good oral hygiene will require proper diet for your dog, chew toys to help strengthen and clean teeth and doggy toothpaste and tooth brush, yep, you may have to scrub your mutts chewers.

6. Increase Your Dog's Blood Flow
When you groom your dog, in particular brush or comb the dogs hair. You are stimulating the hair follicles in the dogs skin. This stimulation (brushing) allows hair roots to become more receptive to blood flow. This increase in blood flow is what hair needs to maintain rich, thick and healthy. Overall, it makes the animal healthier.

7. It is a Stress Reliever For Your Dog
Dogs do get stressed out too. This stress can be caused by environment, bead health or ill treatment for the animal.  Or you pooch may just be under the weather. Grooming the right way is a form of relaxer for the animal, especially when it comes down to the brushing, clipping and combing. Many dogs see this part as a form of petting and massaging. All dog owner know that dogs loved to be rubbed and brushed. Some dogs may even fall asleep while this is happening.

8. Prevents Your Dog From Cutting Itself and Damaging Furniture
Nail trimming is one of the more daunting task which dog owners all face. It can turn out very bad for you and your dog is nail clipping isn't done right.  Dogs hate when their nails are cut. Especially if you allow your dog to roam the back yard. They love to dig holes and bury credit cards. They need their nails to do this and many other things.

Pet owners should always take the time out to ensure that their dogs look and feel at their best. By grooming the animal, you are able to chive both of this. But not only are you comforting your pet, grooming also helps to create an even tighter bond with your pet.  We all know that we live in a busy world with busy schedules, but some time must be taken to ensure your dog is at its best. Take your time and check all body parts of your dog during grooming such as skin, teeth, paws, eyes etc.

Vomiting is a sign that your body is trying to say no to something and wants it out.  It could be an uneasy stomach or it could be a simple trick on your mind after seeing something gross. But dogs do not vomit because they saw something gross. When dogs vomit it is something that is naturally triggered because the dogs body is trying to expel something harmful or probably triggered by some stomach infections. Let us look at what it really means when your dog throws up.

Food Allergies
You could have introduced a new dog food to your dog which as certain chemicals which may trigger negative effects on your dog. Naturally the dog's body will try to dispense this foreign substance from the system by vomiting.

Intestinal Infections
This is normally caused by the rota virus in dogs. Symptoms of this will include; inflammation of the intestines and in severe cases, dysfunction in the intestinal walls and vomiting.  The rotavirus is transmitted through contact with contaminated fecal matter. Some dogs will eat other dogs feces as well as their own.

Eating Rotting Food or Garbage
Not because the animal is a dog means that it's body is immune to disgusting things. Dogs that eat rotten food and garbage may develop viral infections  in the stomach, this will also trigger your dog to vomit.

Many other illness are contributing factors to your dog vomiting, illnesses such as pancreatitis, liver and kidney disease, ulcers, inflammation of the animals bowel. Your dog will also throw up bile if he/she has not been fed for a good while and the stomach is filled with bile, it may be upsetting to the dog and hence trigger vomiting.

The color of your dog's vomit can say a lot. Lets take a brief look at some types of vomit colors and what is the underlining factor.

Green Vomit

• I noticed one of my dogs was eating grass one day and that was nothing usual. Dogs will eat grass when they sometimes have an unsettled stomach.  The next day she was on the porch and she began to throw up green vomit. It was filled with grass and green plant material. Although green vomit is often caused by mucous in the pet's body. but if your dog has eaten green houseplants or grass, he is likely to throw up green vomit.

Yellow Vomit

• If you check and see a yellow foamy type of vomit, it may be a sign that the dog is vomiting bile. Bile can become irritating to the dog's stomach if the dog has been hungry for a long time. It will dispense this bile. .

Dog Vomit White Foamy

• This could be a result of your dog eating what he/she should not have eaten in the first place. This may include things like, rotting food,  or ingesting a foreign object or dangerous toxins such as poison or insect sprays.
  

Don't panic yet, you need to observe the animal a while and then determine if your should take it in to the vet.  But here are some tit bits to do if you notice your dog vomiting:

• Ensure that the dog is given cool fresh water.
• Collect the vomit and have it tested.
• If the vomit is green, keep the animal away from household plants and trim your lawn.
• examine the dogs stomach area for any sort of swelling. If found, bring the animal to the vet immediately.
  
• If the dog is vomiting bile, provide the animal with small portions of food.
  
• Provide non-allergic food for your dog. (try raw food or semi-cooked meat for your dog)
• If the animal vomits 3 days in a row. Take it to the vet.

For simple cases, the vet may put the animal on a couple days of antibiotics and probably prescribe a change in diet for a while. If there are serious cases, it may require other actions to be undertaken by the vet.

Anyone who knows ginger knows about it's natural healing and treatment abilities. Ginger is great for upset stomach in humans and dogs too. You can boil a little ginger tea , you can grate the ginger or try the ginger powder. Boil about half liter of tea and give it to the dog periodically, say about a quarter of a liter every two hours. This will help to settle the dog's stomach and lessen or stop the vomiting.

As much as how we love our dogs, it is quite frustrating when you have a inside dog that decides it wants to use your bed, the sofa or the carpet as it's toilet. I have a shoodle (shih-poo, mix of poodle and shihtzu) that gave me hell in my home. She pooed under the bed, on the carpet, peed on the sofa and anywhere she thought would soak it up. I can tell you that potty training your dog takes time and patience and it won't happen overnight,especially if you have a tough headed mutt that just want's to do his/her thing. But with time and persistence, i got my dog to start using the potty and as been doing so ever since.  Lets get starting on the basics of potty training your dog.

If you have ever been a parent and had to actually nurture the child from birth to teen, then you would have probably gone through a similar potty training with that child. Trust me, it is not that different with dogs. Lets now go into the steps of potty training.

1. Decide where you want the dog to poo.

• Do you have an area where you have created for your dog to relief itself? The first thing you must do is have a specific location where you want your dog to poo and pee. Mark out this area and place something which relates to your dog in that area, so the dog can identify that area as part of his little space. (do not place toys in this area)
  

2. Time your dogs Feed and Poo

• Develop a regular feeding pattern so you can estimate by timing the time from eating to the time your dog want's to poo. All you need to do when you ascertain that time is to bring the dog at the area where you have the potty   and secure the animal with its leash until it poos in it's pooing area.
  

3. Bring your dog's poo to the pooing area.

• When ever the dog poos or pees in areas he/she should not, bring the dog by leash to the area where it pooed. Scoop up the poo and tell the dog "No". Then bring the poo to where the dog is suppose to poo, let the dog walk with you there and place the poo there and let the dog see. Then release the dog from the leash, dispose of the poo.
  

Many dog owners have doggy doors where the dogs are able to go outside to release itself. But apartment dogs do not have that luxury and hence the only alternative is potty training.  Remember the three basic approach listed above will be repetitive and it will take time and patience. If you have a dog that is already trained to understand the basic commands, such as sit, stay, stop, go etc. The training may be easier as the dog as already had an appreciation for commands.

You arrive home and your pooch gets all excited, he runs up and down and can't wait for you to get inside. He jumps on you and greets you with slurps from his drooling toung. As he pants, you smell the most awful thing ever. You dog has very bad breath. So he never had breath before, now what gives? Well lets take a look at how dogs get bad breath and what you as a dog owner can do about it.

What Causes Bad Breath In Dogs
Bad breath is caused by the build up of bacteria in the mouth, stomach or lungs of your dog.  You see, bad breath in humans is no different than bad breath in dogs. A canine with a rotting tooth or a gum disease may emit that bad odor. If you dog does not get natural foods to eat such as raw meet which can naturally clean the dogs teeth, plaque and tartar can develop and over long periods of time will form tooth decay and bad breath. Persistent bad breath could be an indication of a  larger medical problem in the mouth, respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, or internal organs.

How To Help Prevent Bad Breath In Your Dog
Once you understand what causes bad breath in the animal, you will then know how to take some basic steps to minimize your dog having bad breath:

Bring your dog to the vet for regular checkups: I really have to emphasize this point. Dogs are not humans and once we have domesticated them, it is our duty to take care of them. When you bring your dog to the vet, he/she will be able to determine any existing or developing problems, therefore you are able to quickly do corrective measures.

Change Your Dogs Diet: How many lions or hyenas do you see sporting weak decayed teeth, they are in their natural environment which also helps to naturally take care of their health. Dogs were designed to eat raw food. Raw diet complete with raw meaty bones or a fresh food diet that’s not laden with starch  is enough to prevent and even helps to treat dental disease. The surprise belief is that raw meat must be bad for your dog and may even cause bacteria development. Well, that is quite the opposite. Raw foods contain naturally occurring enzymes that help protect the teeth and gums.

Get your Dog's Teeth Cleaned
Bring your dog to the vet and let the expert take care of your dogs gum and teeth. Teeth are very important to a dog. It is his guard, his offense and defense.

Brush Your Dog's Teeth
If you don't feed your dog raw meat with bones, you have the option of brushing your dogs teeth. You can brush the dogs teeth at least twice per month.

Keep You Dogs Water Fresh Plentiful
Since bad breath comes from bacteria, the more water the dog consumes the more bacteria gets washed away.

WARNING!!!
DO NOT USE TOOTHPASTE USED BY HUMANS ON YOUR DOG!

• Toothpaste is not such a great thing, not even for humans. But when you brush a dogs teeth, it tends to swallow the toothpaste.  This can lead to major internal problems for your dog.  Many toothpaste contain sudsing agents that causes the toothpaste to  foam brushing. Dogs that ingests enough of it can develop liver damage.
  
  
• There is also a chemical called xylitol which is used in the production of human toothpaste. It acts as a sweetener. This chemical can also be found in sugar free gums and even chew-able vitamins. Brushing your dog's teeth with paste which contain this chemical will allow the dog to absorb this into its blood stream. This may cause a surge in insulin, then a drop in blood sugar, if left untreated, may lead to severe liver problems.
  
  
• There are also many items on the market that are like mint to humans with bad breath, they do not solve the problem, they only mask it. I do not recommend you give your dogs any of these items. If you plan to brush your dog's teeth, ask your vet about a recommended toothpaste for pets.
  

Many dog owners have often wondered if their pet can experience a headache. How would you know if your dog head is hurting? Well, one thing for sure is that you can't ask the dog if his head hurt, unless you were kidnapped by Ezekiel's Wheel and given all knowledge and hence understood dog language. But many animal specialist who have studied dog and veterinary professionals have given us some signs to look for our dog which may be a result of the dog having a headache. Here are six signs:

In all honesty, there is not much you can do, but you can simply make the environment more comfortable for him, you can do some of the basic things like:

• Cutting down the Volume On Television Or Radio
• Avoid Loud Conversations
• Let your dog sleep it off
• Use Lavender Oil (Place two drops in every three to four cups of water)
• Give him softer food, if you suspect the dog has an headache, don't give the animals hard food to crunch or crack to apply any more tension to the pain in his head.
• Provide cooling for the animal. Do not put the Air condition on blast, this will make matters worst. The dog just needs to keep cool.
• Continue to provide the love and care you always do.
  

An headache is just that, an headache. As long as there are no constant contributing factors to this, your dog should shake it off in a few and be back to his usual barking, licking and jumping self.