You want to care for your Puggle, and make sure that she stays healthy and adventurous throughout her life. All dogs may have health problems from time to time. Knowing what specific risks your dog may face can help you keep your pet feeling great.

First, it’s important to discuss some of the health problems that Puggles are not as prone to as might be expected. Although one parent is a pug, these dogs do not have as many breathing problems as pugs, because their noses are longer. They also have deeper eye sockets, removing many of the difficulties with the eyes that pugs can exhibit, and they have fewer skin problems.

Given all this, Puggles can be a healthy hybrid, assuming that they are well-bred and treated well from birth. In fact, many hybrid puppies have better health than many pure-bred pups, though that may vary with individual litters.

In order to find a healthy puppy, you need to be very careful in your selection of a puppy.

Many breeders of Puggles are very reputable and responsible breeders, and take care to make sure that the parents of their pups are healthy and have good temperaments and histories. In fact, most breeders care very much about breeding healthy pups. To make sure that your pup will be healthy, you should interview breeders, find out where their breeding stock comes from and check health histories of the parents of your puppy. If possible, visit the breeder before buying a puppy, and know where your puppy is coming from.

Whenever possible, avoid buying puppies from a pet store or anyone else other than a reputable breeder. If you do buy a puppy from a pet store, be very careful about her health. Have a complete health checkup conducted by a vet as soon as you take her home, and watch careful for any infections or signs of harsh treatment as a puppy.

Once you have your puppy safely at home and you’ve gotten her puppy shots and has a clean bill of health, you will need to keep her healthy and work with her vet to keep her healthy.

Puppy shots are crucial, of course. This is the most important thing you can do to protect your pup’s health from the beginning. Once your pup has had shots, you need to continue with the shots on an annual basis, of course. Heart worm medication should be administered on a monthly basis, and can be prescribed by your vet. You’ll also want to make sure you have flea protection for your Puggle, particularly if you allow her outside.

Keeping your Puggle healthy is primarily a matter of preventing injury and poisoning. Once your dog starts out healthy, she is likely to stay healthy if she can. Baby-proofing, or Puggle-proofing, your home, is essential to keeping your pet healthy. Like the proverbial toddler, your new baby is very inquisitive and can get into trouble quite easily.

Fortunately, keeping your home safe for your pet is mostly a matter of making sure there is nothing on the floor that can be choked on or that can poison your puppy if swallowed, making sure that your Puggle can’t climb on anything and fall off, and keeping spills of hazardous materials, including detergent, cleaned up.

When it comes to keeping your Puggle healthy and communicating with your vet, there are no stupid questions. If you suspect your dog may need medical attention, call your vet. This, along with regular checkups, will help insure your pet’s safety.

Just like humans, dogs can get cavities if their teeth are not properly taken care of. Cavities are not as common in dogs as they are in humans; however there are some things which can increase the likelihood of your dog developing tooth problems. If you live in an area with hard water, it is more likely that your dog’s teeth will develop tartar deposits. Additionally, tooth problems are more likely if your dog eats mostly soft foods, because these leave debris in gum pockets at the base of the teeth, leading to infections. These not only cause problems for your dog’s teeth – studies show that a whopping 98% of cases of bad breath in dogs are caused by periodontal disease, which is the result of tartar build-up and gum infections.

The best way of preventing these problems is with regular brushing of your dog’s teeth. Even if you have a great relationship with your dog, staring into its mouth and seeing rows of shining, sharp dog teeth can be intimidating. But by gradually getting your dog used to the idea of having you handling his mouth, you’ll be able to clean his teeth and take care of his mouth without too many problems.

If you have a young dog, it is much easier to get started. Even if your dog is a few years old you can still get him used to the idea, but you may find that it takes a bit longer before your dog is willing to let you brush his teeth. To get your dog used to having his mouth handled, start by lifting his lips and looking at his teeth – do this two or three times a week, and each time, give him a small treat after you have finished. This will help both you and your dog relax when you are handling his mouth, and your dog will be more comfortable with the process when he knows there will be a treat when it’s over.

Once your dog is used to having his mouth handled, it’s time to start brushing. There are a few simple items you will need to brush your dog’s teeth, which you can obtain from a pet store or from your veterinarian. You’ll need a dog tooth brush (a wash cloth or gauze pad wrapped around your finger also works well), and tooth paste which has been formulated for animal use. Human tooth paste should not be used for brushing dog teeth, because dogs cannot spit, and human tooth paste is not safe to swallow in large quantities. Your dog will most likely swallow whatever you use to clean his teeth, so it is important to buy tooth paste which has been formulated specifically for dogs. In addition, dog tooth pastes come in several different flavors, so if you can find a flavor your dog likes, it will be that much easier to brush his teeth.

Once you have the right tools, brushing dog teeth is pretty similar to brushing your own. If you have a large dog, the easiest position is on the floor, with your dog in front of you. With smaller breeds or puppies, you can hold the dog in your lap. To start brushing, lift your dog’s upper lip and brush the teeth in a circular motion, making sure to brush at the base of each tooth where it meets the gum line. Also make sure to brush the back molars, because these teeth are more likely than the front teeth to develop problems. To get your dog used to having his teeth brushed, do only one or two teeth the first few times. As he becomes more comfortable with brushing, you can brush more teeth in each session. Always give your dog a small treat after each session.

Brushing should be done twice a week. If your dog’s teeth have a lot of tartar build-up they’ll need to be cleaned by your vet – this is a fairly quick procedure but it does require anesthesia. In addition to regular brushing, feeding your dog dry dog food or hard biscuits every day is the best way of preventing tartar build-up. Soft foods and meat should be given as treat foods only. As well as this, provide your dog with bones or hard toys to chew on – this will help keep their teeth and gums in good condition and it will also reduce the risk of your dog chewing on furniture or destroying your property. If you give your dog bones, do not cook them. Cooked bones can splinter, and these splinters can cause your dog to choke, or if swallowed they can perforate the bowel. Choose a bone based on the size of your dog – make sure you get a large bone if your dog is a large breed, so that there is no possibility of swallowing it.

With a little care and attention, you can help keep your dog’s teeth in tip-top condition for years to come.

A basic dog obedience training class is one of the best things you can do for your dog or puppy and is a necessary requirement for anyone who owns a dog. The best way to get started with an obedience class is to visit your local pet store or look in the phone book for to find local classes taught by reputable trainers.

The average weekly obedience class meets anywhere from four to eight weeks in a row for an hour to an hour and a half per session. In a number of classes, curriculum may include training on dog’s social behaviors and training-related topics often allowing a certain time to be devoted for exercises like jumping up or controlled walking. You will also be given home work to work on with your dog between classes.

Obedience training doesn’t solve all behavior problems, but it is the foundation for solving just about any problem. Dogs are social animals and without proper training, they will behave like animals. Obedience training class is a good first step way to establishing the social hierarchy and if done successfully will create a firm relationship between your dog and you.

Training opens up a line of communication between you and your dog and can strengthen the pet/owner bond and help each understand the other better. Dog obedience training class can also be used to carry out many of your dog’s fundamental needs like exercise, feeling of accomplishment, the security of understanding what’s expected from him, and to adapt him for social interaction.

Dog behavior can often be directed and controlled by training. If you were to define it would be the control of the environmental and social issues to accomplish desirable actions and decrease undesirable behavior from your dog. The very essence of dog obedience is to direct and control the behavior of your dog.

To do this a good dog obedience training class will help do several things, including: understanding how your dog views the world, understanding of how your dog learns, ensuring that your dog enjoys doing what you want him to do, that you not only train your dog to do what you want, but make sure he understands the words of command, rewarding your dog for the right reasons and using your dog’s natural instincts as a basis for training. For the basic dog obedience training class- the curriculum for novices would typically comprise of the basic exercises like “sit”, “stay”, “heel”, “down”, and “come” for these only reinforce their normal behavior making it easier for your pet to learn more advanced commands as you get deeper into the class.

Dog obedience training class should be fun and rewarding for you and your dog. It is also a great way to make new friends and helpful contacts in the dog world. Remember that a well trained dog is a happy dog.

Golden retrievers have a special knack for stuffing their face with stuffed toys. They seem to be born with a craving for stuffed toys. I know my golden, Nikki, already had a penchant for stuffed toys at the age of six to eight weeks old.

She is an amazing Certified Therapy Dog but, she will steal resident’s stuffed toys if I would allow her to. Now, for those of you who are handy with the needle, you could remove the stuffing, and fill the toy with tough fabric instead, that way, it will last forever!

I think that dogs feel closer to being a dog when they actually have a stuffed toy in their mouth. They feel that they have caught it. They can carry it around, they can claim it, they can retrieve it (especially retrievers), and it is theirs. And, it feels good to them. After a while, the smell of this stuffed toy becomes awful to us, but great to the dogs.

Depending on the breed you have, some dogs will kill the stuffed toys, some dogs will love it, sleep on it and snuggle with it. Retrievers will consistently have it in their mouth when you return home.

By far, the cheapest way to keep your dog in stuffed toys is buying cheap, right sized stuffed animals at garage/yard sales. I wash them in hot water, and a bit of Solumel (Melaleuca household cleaner that helps get rid of bacteria and it is animal and nature friendly), this is very important! Then, I remove all the detachable; lose things like eyes, whiskers, etc. These toys are a very cheap alternative to expensive pet store toys.

Be very careful though that you check and make sure that this toy is not stuffed with small, styrofoam beads. Avoid those. You can easily tell by squishing the toy in your hand. Dogs often rip open their stuffed toys, and the styrofoam beads could become a hazard to your dog.

I know of some big dogs that shake their stuffed toy to so much that they are actually killing it. If you have more than one dog watch that the other dog doesn’t get hurt by the toy that is being shaken. It is easy to have your other dogs eye get punctured or hurt.

So to repeat the question, why do dogs like stuffed toys? Well, it seems that we all love stuffed toys. Adults have them, kids love them, cats play with stuffed mice, and dogs claim them to kill it, to claim it, or just to love it.

Dental care for your dog can get lost in the shuffle of daily life. Even if you really love your dog and give your dog great dog care, it’s easy to slip up on dental care for your dog.

When was the last time you checked your dog’s teeth?

I know—the inside of the mouth isn’t the cutest part of your dog. But it can tell you a lot about your dog’s health.

Contrary to what non-dog people may think, not all dogs have bad breath. Bad doggy breath, in fact, can be a sign of disease.

To look for signs of disease, check the color of your dog’s teeth. White is really good. Brown is really bad. You’re aiming for at least somewhere in between.

Check for broken teeth, pus or bleeding gums, and look for any unusual growths. If you see anything that looks unhealthy, please take your dog to the vet.

If you’re in a metropolitan area, you may be able to find a vet who specializes in dental care. Check the American Veterinary Dental College’s site to see a list of their graduates.

You can find dog dental care products at nearly any pet store. The easiest way to keep your dog’s teeth healthy is with dental chews. The more your dog chews, on something meant for chewing (not on something like your furniture), the better dog dental health your dog will have.

There’s been some debate about the safety of the well-known chews, Greenies. I’ve never given my dog Greenies, but some dog parents say they’re great. Be aware, though, that according to a CNN investigation, since 2003, 40 dogs have had to have pieces of Greenies surgically removed, and 13 of those dogs died. Of course, that’s a small number given that over 750 million Greenies have been sold since 1998.

Better than chews are rinses or pastes that you put on your dog’s teeth and gums. Even better than that is brushing your dog’s teeth. You can find tooth brushes especially for dog dental care at any pet supply store.

If you take just a little time to get the right supplies and just a bit of time to use them, you’ll be doing your dog AND you a big favor. Your dog will be healthier (and have fewer expensive problems) when you get dental care for your dog.