6 Steps To Introducing A New Puppy To Your Other Pets

Introducing a puppy to the existing pets in a household is accomplished positively if the established house-pet is acknowledged before the puppy is acknowledged.

1. Before bringing puppy home, feed your established pet a partial meal.

2. When you bring the puppy home, bring your pet outside to greet the puppy. If you have a particularly dominant-type pet, arrange this meeting a block or so from your home.

3. Walk the pet with the puppy (however well you can get the puppy to walk!) and let the existing pet sniff the puppy all he wants. Stay outside for forty-five minutes to an hour.

4. Take the pet and puppy into the house and just walk around the house for ten to fifteen minutes, letting everyone get adjusted to a new body in the house.

5. Feed the established pet another partial meal and let puppy watch.

6. Feed the established pet again, and this time put a bowl down for puppy. If the other pet comes to the puppy's bowl, tell him "No." Whenever you feed your animals, feed the older ones first, but make them respect the puppy's bowl.

Pooch Profile Snapshot - Basset Hound

Fun facts:

- beautiful big expressive eyes

- incredible droppy ears

- ancestor of the Bloodhound

- extraordinary sense of smell

- does well with children and other pets

- doesn't like to excercise

- loves to eat

- can be stubborn at times

- prone to ear infections, spinal injuries, and eye diseases

- mournful vocalizations

- loves to please

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Ten Important Things Your Dog Wants You To Know

If your dog could talk, these are some of most important things she would like to tell you...

1 - My life will probably only last 7 to 14 years. It will hurt me more than you know if I have to be away from you for longer than a day or two.

2 - If you have patience with me and give me time to learn what you would like from me, I can promise you, you will never be disappointed.

3 - Trust me with your life and have faith in our future together. If I don't feel that you honestly believe in me, I will suffer great emotional stress. My sense of self-worth is totally dependent upon your confidence in me.

4 - Don't stay mad at me for long or confine me to a cage to punish me. You have your friends, your job, and your recreation. I HAVE ONLY YOU!

5 - Talk to me about anything you want as frequently as possible. Even if I can't comprehend your precise words, I can understand the meaning of what you're telling me by the tone of your voice.

6 - Remember no matter how you treat me, I will NEVER forget it.

7 - When you consider raising your hand to hit me, remember I have teeth that could break the bones in your hand, but I choose not to bite you.

8 - Before you scream at me for failing to respond to your commands as I usually do, take time to think about what might be wrong with me that would cause me to treat you differently. Maybe I haven't been eating right or drinking enough water. Or maybe my age is catching up with me and I just can't do what I used to do.

9 - Take good care of me when I get old. Someday you will be as old as me and you will see how it feels.

10 - Be there for me through good times and bad. Never say you can't handle taking me to the vets for stitches or surgery. Nothing could make me feel worse. Everything in my life is easier for me to deal with when I have you standing by my side. Remember my love for you is unconditional and it will last for your entire life.

Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2004) Danielle Hollister is the Quotations Editor at BellaOnline and Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp

Interpreting Canine Vocalization


When scientists study dog sounds, they identify a number of different vocalizations with different nuances of meaning. There are two important factors to attend to in dog vocalizations. The first is the pitch of the sound. For barks and other sounds, low-pitched sounds usually indicate threats, anger, and the possibility of aggression, while higher-pitched sounds can mean fear or pain or, where they are less sharp, pleasure or playfulness.

The second factor in dog vocalizations is the frequency or repetition rate of the sound. Sounds that are repeated often, at a fast rate, indicate a degree of excitement and urgency. Sounds that are spaced out or not repeated usually indicate a lower level of excitement or a passing state of mind.

In addition, the duration of the sounds is also important. High-pitched sounds of short duration frequently indicate fear or pain. On the other hand, the same sounds repeated at a slower rate indicate playfulness or anticipation of pleasure. Generally speaking, more sustained sounds indicate intentionality, behavior that is about to happen, such as the low-pitched, sustained growl that precedes an attack.

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Disciplining Your Puppy

Although some canine behaviors are similar to the behavior of the wolf, the domestic dog has developed many unique adaptive behaviors as a result of his cohabitation, companion relationship, and interaction with humans. Consequently, training techniques derived from wolf behavior are not necessarily effective with the domesticated dog. For instance, the female wolf is said to pick up her misbehaving pup by his scruff, shake him, drop him to the ground, and pin him there.

The wolf's behavior is interpreted as a correction to the pup that demonstrates the mother's dominance. While the wolf pup may understand such language, the domestic dog may not. There is little evidence to indicate that domestic female dogs shake their puppies by the scruff or use the alpha rollover as a correction.

This is only one factor that preclude correcting the dog in a manner designed for wolf puppies; therefore, trainers and pet owners would benefit greatly in understanding dog behavior as opposed to wolf behavior.

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5 Ways In Which A Dog's Intelligence Has Shaped Their Services

The uses of dogs that capitalize on aspects of their instinctive intelligence have become more varied in today's world. A quick sampling of some of these contemporary dog careers includes:

1. Seeing-eye dogs, who guide their blind masters around obstacles, warn them of approaching vehicles, and allow them to navigate independently, even in the complex urban environment;

2. Hearing-ear dogs, who alert their deaf masters to sounds, such as the ringing of a doorbell or telephone or the whistle of a teakettle;

3. Search and rescue dogs, who are used to track and find individuals who are lost or buried by debris in earthquakes or under snow in avalanches;

4. Water rescue dogs, who retrieve individuals and objects from the water, swim lines out to stranded boaters, and even drag small boats to waiting rescuers;

5. Drug and explosive-finding dogs, who use their scenting abilities to find contraband materials. A variation on this are the dogs that find truffles for connoisseurs of this delicacy. They are better than the pigs that have been traditionally used for two reasons: dogs have keener scenting powers, and they don't like the taste of truffles, so there is less worry that they will eat them before the gatherers get to them.

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How To Keep Dogs From Rolling Around In The Dirtiest Of Things

Dogs have been rolling in dirty things for as long as they have been dogs. It is as much a part of who they are as their barks and wagging tails. They are not going to quit doing it just because people want them to. All that you can hope to achieve is keeping them away from temptation or knocking down the odor enough that they are bearable to be around.

Baths are fine for eliminating a little bit of doggy smell, but they will not do a thing for a dog who has rolled on an old catfish. If anything, washing them seems to raise the scent. A better choice may be an odor neutralizer. Available in pet supply stores and online catalogs, these contain ingredients that break down bad odors chemically.

Beat them to it. It is not a glamorous job, but some people have resigned themselves to doing a treasure hunt every few days, looking for things in the yard that their dogs are likely to be attracted to such as dead mice and rotten bird eggs.

Take some goodies with you when you are out for a walk. It is not easy to convince dogs to ignore their natural urge to roll, but food is always a reliable distraction.

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