Happy Pets

On the 18th or 19th day after the egg has been laid, a tiny hole appears in the side of the egg. At this time the chick can be heard chipping at the shell and making his very first “chirps.” Just a matter of hours later, the chick emerges from the shell. The parents clean the baby, for there is a kind of afterbirth encrusted on his body. Shortly thereafter they will feed the little one by regurgitating food into its mouth. It is best to leave the chicks with the parents for a few days. They do seem to get a better start by doing this. (more…)

The worst thing you can possibly do is introduce your puppy to the car on his first journey to the vet for his inoculations. A sensitive puppy will remember this traumatic experience and link the car journey with the vet. Stop problems before they begin and you’ll never have any. Don’t be tempted to rush any part of your puppy’s training. It would be so easy to put puppy in the car and go, and you could be lucky and have a dog who enjoyed car riding. But if the puppy you have has any qualms whatsoever about the car, you may be instilling a fear of the vehicle in him that will take years to cure. (more…)

I am sure that you will find all the exercises extremely useful if only to teach your dog discipline and self-control, but there are other practical reasons for teaching them. I remember once when my daughter Kerensa was a toddler and I was taking Bracken, Mocha and Buttons out for a walk. Unbeknown to me Kerensa had pocketed a tennis ball on the way out and before I realised what was happening she was bouncing the tennis ball on the pavement, and it rolled away into the road. Kerensa ran after it. Instinctively I dropped the dog leads, told them to Sit and Stay and rushed after Kerensa. Needless to say, all was well. I was able to retrieve her without a scratch, secure in the knowledge that the three dogs were still sitting and staying on the pavement.

Since that time I have practised my Sit-Stays while I run after Kerensa, as dogs will often think this is a game and immediately run after their owner. (more…)

The biggest problem most dog owners have is getting their dogs to return to them on command once the dog is off the lead. But so many owners cause their own problems on this exercise, I’m not surprised their dogs don’t wish to return to them. Let us first view the faults, in the hope of preventing you from making the same mistakes.

Why your dog won’t come back to you

The first and simplest reason your dog will not return to you on command is that you haven’t trained him thoroughly in the garden. If he won’t come when called in the confined space of his own home, he certainly won’t in the freedom of the fields. In the main, owners with untrained dogs are full of excuses. (more…)