Latest Dog Breeds Articles

Small Dog Breeds

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 06:57:41 -0400

Small Dog Breeds

What You Should Know

There are several things to consider before purchasing any dog and just because a dog is small, don’t jump to the conclusion it will mean less work for you to maintain. Admittedly you will not need exercise as much or as often, but toy breeds often come with their own problems.

In the beginning there was the Wolf and this is what all our dogs are descended from. Pure Breed and Pedigree dogs are dogs which have been selectively breed to produce dogs with certain characteristics or traits.

Small dogs are not a “freak of nature”. All pedigree dogs are engineered by man to fulfill a function. When Queen Victoria was presented with a small Pomeranian dog, a new fashion began to form which dog breeders’ quickly capitalized on to produce smaller and smaller dogs.

These smaller breeds are known as “Toy Breeds” or “Toy Dogs” and make excellent companions.

Toy breeds sleep quite a lot, require much less exercise and feeding but they also inherit some health issues breeders seldom warn about. Many Toy Breeds have narrow tear ducts which clog easily causing the eyes to become dry. Narrow nostrils can cause breathing difficulties and hip displacement is not uncommon in old age.

They make excellent companions however, particularly for the elderly but bear in mind Toy Dogs can live to 20 years or more so it will require a long term commitment.

Adult Dog or Puppy
All puppies will need to be housebroken and given obedience training. With an older dog you can see what you are getting; you can see the coat thickness and length and the personality. An older dog is usually housebroken, has had obedience training and is less destructive.

Toy Dogs seldom consider themselves “small”. They are “big dogs” in a small body and can be extremely loyal and territorial. The Pekinese has a flat face and can often suffer from teeth and mouth problems. Emperors and dignitaries’ used the small dogs as personal bodyguards which they would carry unseen inside the sleeves their long flowing robes. These small dogs were trained to attack the throat of anyone who came close to their owner.

Small Dogs can be Delicate Booby traps
Toy dogs seldom have regard to their own safety or how delicate they really are. They may be fast movers but they might not always get out from under your feet so you need to watch where you are doing. Because they are small, they can lie down unseen on the stairs, on a chair you are about to sit on and can appear unseen from nowhere right behind you.
Small dogs and young children are not a good combination and need constant supervision. Toy dogs are not “nasty” in temperament but even a small child is bigger than them and can unknowingly hurt the dog, causing the dog to retaliate out of instinct.

If you at all put off from owning a Toy Breed, maybe a larger breed, like the well tempered Labrador may be more suitable for you.

Responsible Dog Ownership

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:32:00 -0400

Responsible Dog Ownership

Owning a dog is not for everyone and the decision to own one should not be undertaken lightly. A dog is not a decoration to bring out and show off to company or a fashion accessory to make the owner seem macho or loving. A dog is a pack animal and should be treated like adding a new family member to your family pack in the same way you would plan for a new child in the family.

Do You Have Time For A Dog?
Adopting a new dog or puppy is a huge commitment. It takes a lot of time to properly feed, train, play with and care for a new dog. New puppies don't always sleep through the first few nights and you may find yourself getting out of bed several times to take the puppy out for toilet training. If the puppy is quite young it will require being fed smaller meals more often throughout the day.

Older dogs which are already toilet trained may also require additional training in this department. Moving from one "pack" to a new "pack" can be a stressful ordeal for them and you may find it necessary to "un-train" certain behavioral habits.

Dogs need a great deal of socialization. This means that you need to expose your dog to all kinds of sights and sounds around its home environment. It should meet children, men and other animals. Amateur dog shows are an excellent way to introduce your dog to a variety of other breeds and to interact and socialize with strangers, both human and canine. If none of this seems like too much to fit into your daily schedule, then you're probably ready for a dog in your life.

Are Your Facilities Adequate?
A well-fenced yard is an absolute MUST for anyone who owns a dog. First and foremost this is for the safety of the dog. Dogs allowed to roam free are in danger. Any stray can enter the dog's territory and unaccompanied dogs can cause havoc with traffic and even get hit by cars. Dogs that roam loose are not at fault; the owner is legally responsible.

It is also the responsibility of the owner to "clean up" after their dog. It may not be a pleasant task but it certainly is not a difficult one yet some dog owners go to great lengths to "make excuses ” from doing this very simple task yet are outraged if they stepped in something someone else failed to clean up.

If a dog is left outdoors, a kennel or adequate shelter should be provided with clean water always available. Depending upon the climate and breed, proper heating or cooling should be of prime importance. If you don't have a large yard, or you live in an apartment, you will need to make time to provide proper and regular exercise for the dog.

Find The Right Breed For You.
If you've decided that you're ready for a dog, you probably have a few breeds in mind. It is very important to learn about these breeds before you make a final decision. A breed that you find very appealing physically might not have a temperament which suited to your personality or lifestyle. If you live in an apartment you probably wouldn't want to keep breeds which require lots of regular exercise like Greyhounds, Collies or Alsatians. It is often people who buy on impulse with no intimate knowledge of the breed, who later decide that the dog has to go.

Take time to read books on breeds which interest you and talk with knowledgeable breeders and owners. Attend a few dog shows or animal rescue centers and ask lots of questions. Visit someone with an adult dog of the breed. Often the puppy is charming and cute but they can grow fast and the adult may not be at all what you had envisioned.

CAN YOU AFFORD A DOG?
Be sure you're aware of what costs are involved with the particular breed you want. All dogs require feeding, that goes without saying and the larger the dog, the more food they will consume. What new owners often misjudge is the true cost of Veterinary expenses.

Annual vaccinations are just the tip of the iceberg. There is also regular flea treatment and worming every 4 months which although some dog owners regard as non-essential, preventing a problem is often much easier than treating something more serious and cheaper too.

Some breeds, particularly long haired dogs have special grooming needs. It is not fair on the dog to allow its coat to become matted and clogged with dirt and unfair on other family members too. Many dog owners are blissfully unaware that some dog diseases can be passed on and carried by humans, putting the vulnerable like young children and pregnant women at particular risk.

Your Responsibility To Your Dog In Old Age
Just as humans are living longer, so too are our pets and Vets are seeing and treating an increasing number of geriatric illnesses. Muscular and arthritic conditions are quite common; these can also be brought on in over-weight dogs to cause complications such as canine diabetes.

If you're lucky enough to have a dog that lives into old age, the chances are that you will be faced, one day, with having to make a humane decision.

This is one of the most difficult things you will ever have to do.

You must be able to think of what is best for your dog, not what hurts you the least. It hurts deeply to hold your dearest friend in your arms and see him or her leave you, but it is selfish and wrong to allow the same dear friend to suffer. If you cannot bring yourself to be present, then at least make sure that there is someone who will help ease his or her end in the kindest way.

What is a Pedigree Dog and Which is the Oldest?

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:28:54 -0400

The answer is all our domestic dogs owe their linage to the Wolf so technically it can be argued that there are no true pedigrees save the Wolf itself.

The first “dogs” are thought to have been wolves. They were wild, lean, and worked as a team in a pack to become very successful hunters. A dog and a wolf are the same species of animal and if they mate, they will produce fertile offspring. If a man mates with a bird he could not produce fertile offspring because they are two different species.

Man domesticated wolves by feeding them or by adopting wolf cubs. In return for food and care, the wolves gave their loyalty to their keepers. Man used his canine companions to hunt for food and also to guard his home.

When the domesticated wolves had litters of cubs, there may have been some that were smaller than the rest. In the wild the smaller or weakest of the litter would have been lost by natural selection but Man’s intervention helped them to survive. If the smaller wolves mated other small wolves, possibly from the same litter, a new strain of smaller, tamer, more dog-like wolves began.

Before man’s intervention the Wolves would have evolved slightly differently on different continents. There are dingoes in Australia, wild "painted" dogs in Africa, Chihuahuas in South America, etc. But man has changed wild dogs to suit his own purposes.

Man found that his canine friends could be trained to do tasks which were beyond man’s abilities, like herding cattle or sheep. The heading instinct is simply an extension to the pack hunting instinct which certain dogs like collies excelled at. Other dogs were trained to pull carts and sledges and some trained to retrieve fishing nets from the sea or game shot by arrow or spear. So the retrievers were created.

The earliest records of Man working with dogs is believed to be the Nordic variety but undoubtedly Man already had a close bond with his canine companions long before records were kept.

There were no inoculations in those days so weak dogs died of rabies and other dog illnesses. In cold countries, the dogs that survived were the ones with thick coats and in hot climates those with very little cotes survived. As the survivors interbred so certain characteristics became apparent.

Farmers found that small dogs were good at digging and getting into the burrows of foxes, rabbits and rats, and they began picking the smallest dogs of their litters to mate with other small dogs. Thus began the terriers, or "diggers", fierce enough to kill vermin.

Emperor’s and important dignitaries’ used small dogs as personal bodyguards which they would carry unseen inside their long flowing robes. These small dogs were trained to attack the throat of anyone who came close to their owner. If you have ever wondered at the shape of a Pekinese’s face, you will understand they were bread that way on purpose.

As civilization took hold dogs were used less for work but they acquired new roles. Ladies liked small, fancy lapdogs, or long-haired dogs that they could brush. Children liked unaggressive, playful dogs. When the family dog has a litter, one dog is often kept. Six months later, the father dog mates with his daughter that was kept, and another batch of dogs is produced that look like the family favorite.

This is not natural selection; man took it upon himself to select the best-natured dogs to breed with for the purpose of producing dogs for his own design. So what do we mean when we say any animal is a pedigree?

A pedigreed animal is one that has its ancestry recorded. The number of generations required varies from breed to breed, but all pedigreed animals have papers from the registering body that attest to their ancestry.

Sometimes the word purebred is used synonymously with pedigreed, but purebred refers to the animal having a known ancestry, and pedigree refers to the written record of breeding. Not all purebred animals have their lineage in written form.

All pedigree (or purebred) animals share one thing with crossbreeds; they have all at sometime in their linage been interbred.

Pomeranians

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:27:25 -0500

Trademark Traits

Small and fluffy
Lively and alert
Clever and eager to learn
Willful and headstrong

Some Ideal Human Companions

Singles
Seniors
Apartment dwellers
Couch potatoes
Celebrities

What They Are Like to Live With

Pomeranians are little dogs with “big dog” personalities. They are descended from the Nordic breeds which were once used to pull heavy sledges across ice and snow and although their size has been diminished, they do not regard their size as an issue.

They are lively, friendly and fun but they can be quite territorial. They grow attached to their owners and often develop a protectiveness that makes them suspicious of strangers. This not only makes for a loyal, tried-and-true companion, it makes for a superb watchdog. Pomeranians may be small but they can really deliver on the barks when a stranger approaches their territory and have little regard for their own safety.

In spite of this protectiveness, Pomeranians are not too clingy or co-dependent; they will get along with every member of the family, including other pets, providing they are introduced properly.

They are intelligent, busy and curious, with a lovable independence, but they crave your attention and playtime, sometimes responding by standing on their hind legs like a mere cat making it difficult to refuse..

Things You Should Know

Pomeranians can sometimes be stubborn and willful; they can easily dominate a weak-willed owner. A firm but friendly hand is needed day-to-day, especially when it comes to their yapping bark which although they can be taught to limit from an early age, must be reinforced on each and every occurrence lest the Pomeranian own the owner!

Like several other proud and small breeds, they are blissfully unaware of their size. They have in the main friendly temperaments but will not think twice about “taking on” larger dogs if you or they feel threatened. Give them their little bit of freedom by all means but keep them close and protect them from conflict.

Pomeranians have lots of coat so if you do not want pet hairs on absolutely every outfit you have, consider an alternative breed. They not only shed their coats quite a bit, they also require daily brushing to prevent tangling. Check their eyes and ears regularly, and make sure they get scheduled visits to the dentist—Pomeranians’ teeth tend to gather tartar easily. They are very happy living in apartments as long as they get regular exercise and human interaction.

The Look of the Pomeranian

Two Pomeranians

Check their eyes and ears regularly, and make sure they get scheduled visits to the dentist—Pomeranians’ teeth tend to gather tartar easily. They are very happy living in apartments as long as they get regular exercise and human interaction.

Toy breeds make excellent companions for the infirm and the elderly because they require less exercise, less food, give lots of affection and are loyal.

It is worth bearing in mind that toy breeds, like Pomeranians, can live to 20 years, particularly if you are considering a dog for a elderly relative.

Overall, Pomeranians have a poised and proud carriage. Compact, sturdy and fluffy with slightly rounded, wedge-shaped heads, straight muzzles and pointy ears, they sometimes have a fox-like appearance. They have dark, deeply set eyes and an overall alert and lively expression. Their undercoats are dense and soft, their outer coats rough, profuse and puffy, while their feathered tails curl over the back. Coats can be nearly any color, but the most common are red, orange, off-white, brown or black.