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The down command is the next lesson to teach in your dog obedience training schedule. It should be taught as soon as you and your dog have mastered the sit command.

The down command is a fundamental ingredient of your overall dog obedience training program. It provides the foundation for many other advanced commands/skills and establishes you as the leader in the relationship you share with your dog. The reason for this is that the laying down position is a submissive and somewhat vulnerable position for your dog to be in, especially when you are standing tall over the top of your dog.

The down command is a very handy tool you will come to rely on in many situations. Popping your dog down into the lying down position is great for times when you need to go into a shop or for occassions when there are small children around. It can take a bit of practice to reach this level, but it is worth the effort.

Learning The Down Obedience Command

When you are in the learning phase of teaching the down command, start out by making it simple for your dog, then slowly turn up the difficulty level.

- Move your training sessions to a public place.

- Increase the time you keep your dog in the down position.

- Bounce a ball around your dog when he is in the lying position, or scatter some food around him. The idea is that your “down” command will be so strong in your dogs mind, that none of these other distractions matter. He can only get up to chase the ball or eat the treats when you release him from the down command.

What you are trying to achieve with the down command is to have your dog quickly get down into the laying position, belly touching the ground and his front legs extended out in front.

In a familiar environment to your dog with no distractions, lets get started!

Down Command Technique 1 – Off Leash

- Put your dog into a sitting position.

- Grab your dogs favorite tasty treat and hold it a couple of centimetres in front of his/her nose. Move your hand straight down to the ground. Your dog should follow it down (you can praise and encourage him down). As soon as his belly hits the ground, with his legs out in front, lavish him with praise and give the treat.

- Repeat this action over and over in short sharp training sessions.

- When your dog is “getting it” and going down right away, you can add the verbal part of the command. I use “down” other people use “lay” or “drop”, just choose the one you are comfortable with and stick to it (make it a one word command only). Add your command just before you start to move the treat towards the ground. This step is all about building an association in your dogs mind between the verbal “down” command and the act of him laying down.

- The idea is that eventually, after plenty of repetition and praise your dog will only require your verbal command, and not the treat in your hand to lure him down. Also, in time you will be able to start the command not only from the sitting position but from standing and in any situation you and your dog are in.

- When your dog is responding well to your verbal command, introduce some other variables which make the down command a little more challenging. Try the command as you go about your daily business, around other people or dogs and increase the duration of the command.

Down Command Technique 2 – On Leash

- Put your preferred collar and leash on your dog – I just use a nice leather buckle collar when teaching the down command.

- Place your dog into the sitting position and stand or kneel right next to him.

- Basically you are trying to guide or coax your dog into the down position. How you do this depends on the size and co-operation level of your dog.

- Always say your “down” command first, then immediately guide your dog down into the lying position. Grab hold of the leash and gently pull your dogs head down, at the same time guide him down by pressing down between his shoulder blades with the palm of your hand. You can also lift up your dogs front legs and extend them out in front of him, find the method which works best for you. Praise and encourage your dog all the way down. Then of course as soon as he’s in the down position make it clear to him that you are happy with him and that he has done a good job.

- After lots of repetition your dog will respond to your verbal command only. Then try the command when your dog is in the standing position and in other settings. Make the command a little more challenging by adding some distractions and increasing the time he is required to stay in the down position.

Whichever method you choose to teach your dog the down command be consistent and keep at it.

When you are happy with your dog getting into the down position you will probably want to add a release command to it. This means that when you issue your down command, your dog goes straight down and is not permitted to get up until you issue another command. You can use “away” or “off you go” for this purpose.

Virtually any dog can learn to behave in an obedient and well mannered fashion. There are several keys to simplifying the process of training your dog to obey you. Keeping these keys in mind when working with your dog will improve your results. Read on for ways to make dog obedience easier.

One important factor in training a dog is to be consistent. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but the training sessions need to be done every day if possible. If you spend five minutes twice every day taking your dog through commands such as sit, stay, heel, and come, it will yield better results than an hour of training twice a week. Dogs have short attention spans, and need attention frequently as well.

Another key factor is to know your dog well enough to know how to reward or penalize it. Rewards are absolutely essential to training. Verbal praise can be one of the most effective. Pet that dog and tell it how wonderful it is when it does what it is supposed to. A food treat, such as a tasty kibble of dog food, is a classic reward, too. Make sure your dog hasn’t just eaten a full meal or it will lose its effectiveness.

Punishment doesn’t work as well, but there is a time when penalizing will work. This means providing a negative outcome when the dog is not doing what it should. Ignoring a dog when it is misbehaving can be a form or penalizing it, as can giving the leash a jerk. Beating or kicking a dog, or locking it up in a boring building for hours, are forms of punishment instead of penalty, and should be avoided.

You want the relationship between you and your dog to be based on trust and good feelings, not on fear and negative feelings. The best way to do this is to use positive reinforcement when it behaves, and by knowing what it likes. It is worth it to take the time needed to know what your dog really likes and then use it as a reinforcer for good behavior and obedience.

One thing to remember when obedience training a puppy is that they need some time to mature. Starting early is great. We’ve all heard that old dogs don’t learn new tricks very well. But the truth is you will be wasting your time if the puppy is too small. Be really patient in the early weeks. Use the early weeks for getting acquainted and for house-breaking. Leash training can come later.

House breaking is best done using the crate method. Have a dog carrier or small pen that will be the dog’s own special area. If you contain the pup in this crate whenever you are gone, and overnight, the dog will not soil it, but will wait till you return to use the potty. Of course if you will be gone for a very long amount of time, or if you failed to take him out to potty before penning him up, he might have to go so bad that he will soil his crate. Generally speaking, though, a dog has a natural instinct not to soil his kennel.

Find dog names for girl puppies should be fun for the whole family. Girl dog names can come from any source and can be anything you like. It doesn’t matter how silly they sound, your dog will never know or care as long as you say her name often. Your Chihuahua won’t be embarrassed around her friends because you named her Bratwurst. Your Great Dane won’t mind at all being called Teeny. As long as it’s a name you will enjoy, it’s a good name for your pup.

Girl dog names can come from absolutely anywhere. Some folks will look in books and on the internet to find great dog names and their meanings, and this is fine. But wouldn’t you rather be creative and find a name that has meaning to you? What kinds of things do you enjoy. Do you love college football? How about Buckeye or Ucila (of course, only you will know you just added a “i” to UCLA)? Can’t get enough of classic TV sitcoms? Try on Lucy or Hot Lips for size. Maybe you are a renaissance re-enactor? Guinevere or Lucrezia Borgia are awesome girl dog names.

If you love movies you should have no trouble coming up with dog names. Disney movies are the source of many great names for pets. Lady, of Lady and the Tramp is one of the top ten most popular girl dog names in the United States. Arial, the Little Mermaid, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella are some other popular girl dog names. But if you don’t want to choose a name that another dog down the road might also have, how about Flower, Bambi’s skunk friend, or Maleficent, the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty, or if you have a Dalmatian pup, Perdita was the 101’s mom.

Do you have a favorite place you like to travel? Travel names can make great girl dog names, and fond memories can be had each time you call it out. When in Paris did you visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa? Did you enjoy a stay at the Bellagio in Vegas, or go see Celine in concert? Maybe you ran into Chris Angel there? Angel is a great girl dogs name, and only you will see the magic in it.

Everybody has their favorite music and dog names are often derived from musicians, bands and names of songs. Some female singers with great dog names are Fergie, Aretha, Salena, Aimee, or Beverly if you’re a classic opera fan. Of course there are the songs that offer up some great girl dog names, like Roxanne (by Sting), Jamie (got a gun, Aerosmith), Anastasia (Pat Boone), or Nikita (by Elton John).

How are you doing? Are you overwhelmed by girl dog names yet? If you haven’t found a name for your new pooch yet, hopefully you have some ideas where to find them. Don’t just pull names out of a hat. Choose dog names that mean something to you.

Dog irritable bowel syndrome is very popular condition in dogs of all types and breeds and effects thousands each year around the world. Its common occurrence can cause many symptoms and these can often include diarrhea, blood in the feces, and reoccurring bouts of diarrhea with little being produced each time and possible straining while this is happening.

It begins when something upsets the digestive system of the dog; this could be an abnormal food, or some kind of poisoning of the system. When this happens the first reaction of the dogs body is to try and remove the offending substance that is causing irritation of the stomach, and this is often done through diarrhea and often because of the stomach irritation the dog will make itself sick to stop the pain that is occurring as soon as possible.

You may want to think of dog irritable bowel syndrome as a kind of allergic reaction but inside the dog somewhere along the digestive system, this often occurs in the last bit of the process before the anus. This is the most common place for irritable bowel syndrome to happen and most cases will be due to this.

This condition may well pass quite quickly and the food intolerance may stop after a short time, but in other cases you may want to take you dog to the vet to have further tests done to determine if there are other problems to be treated as well as this one, or maybe just to seek further advice on how to treat the condition in the best possible way for your dog.

In the case of the vet being shown this type of condition they may take several tests and ask many questions about the dogs behaviour in the last few weeks amongst other things. Then treatment normally following on from confirming dog irritable bowel syndrome will be to give he dog a very bland diet of food for a short period of time and when the symptoms have stopped the dog will then normally be eased gently back onto the foods that are stronger and the foods they used to eat. The reason for gradually doing this process is so that the irritation is not triggered again and the symptoms start again.

Inmost cases once the dog s back on normal tasting full flavour food the irritable bowel syndrome in your dog will stop, but some dogs do tend to have it more than others, for more advice on what to do in these situations you should contact you vet and take the appropriate actions.

Dog intussusception is a greatly painful condition for your dog to face and can be greatly confused with many other conditions because of the common symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting. In this article we will discuss the sometimes complex procedure and series of events that cause the dog intussusceptions and then what can be done to better this condition so the dog can return to normal health again.

To understand this condition you first need to understand how it may come about and how the lower digestive system works. After the dog swallows their food it moves down into the stomach, then down through the intestines where it is digested and then exits out of he anus. The problem occurs in the intestines of the dog because, like the whole digestive system the intestines move the food along by a series of contractions much like the way a worm moves, and if this motion is too violent and aggressive then it is possible that one of the sections will overlap another causing a pocket where food may get caught, thus causing pain.

In most cases this condition happens because of another problem causing diarrhea or vomiting, which can often cause very violent diarrhea or vomiting which is what causes the violent contractions of the muscles in the intestines when the dog strains. From this the sections overlap each other and more and more waste will get stuck in the pocket produced, making it grow and stretch longer and become painful.

When this condition is then viewed by a professional vet they will normally be advised to have the pet undertake surgery where they will either pull the different sections apart from each other if the problem is in its infancy, or if the problem is far beyond normal and simple repair then the section that is causing the problem may be cut out and joined back together to resume normal life after the recovery period.

In most cases the dog in question will be able to recover well in no time after giving the intestines a rest for twenty four hours or more and after the appropriate surgical procedure, but until then the dog will be feeling unable to pass waste easily, and feeling very unwell and not wanting to eat or drink because of this.

In any case, if you suspect this condition is the problem for your dog then it is always wise to get a second opinion from a professional vet before the problem worsens and becomes harder to repair.

This dog heath issue can be quite a painful experience for your dog, can be an irritating nuisance cause them not to eat or drink and make the generally feel unwell, and can be easily mixed up with many other more common conditions such as dog constipation or straining to pass feces.

As complicated as the name might suggest this condition is, in simple terms intussusception begins with a mild case of diarrhea or vomiting. This in its self is normally harmless to your dog long term and nothing more would be thought of this in any normal dog home, but as the contractions of the vomiting or diarrhea get worse it is possible that the muscles in the lower intestines contract so hard that they overlap each other or go inside each other.

This happens because within the lower intestines there is a series of smaller muscles that contract and detract so that the food is slowly passed along the intestines. But when your dog has the unfortunate condition of diarrhea or vomiting caused by another none related and usually common condition, it contracts rapidly as the body panics to try and get rid of the offending items or poisons.

After the overlapping process has happened it then causes more trouble because the following food that is being passed through the intestines becomes trapped in the alcove o the overlapped part. Then as you might expect the food pushes and pushes away at the sides making the alcove bigger and bigger containing all the stale and hardened food as well as causing blood flow problems and irritation.

This is not a very common occurrence in dogs but is none the less very irritating and painful for the dog in question and may cause constant retching to vomit and pass waste along with generally feeling unwell and uncomfortable enough to not eat or drink in most cases.

Surgery is usually the way your vet will fix dog intussusception by going into the effected area and pulling the two overlapping part apart and releasing and removing the contained waste to ensure a normal passage in the future.

This procedure should always be dealt with by a vet or professional in the dog health area, if you suspect this then ring your vet and ask for further advice and guidance which usually results in a check-up to identify the condition and deal with it appropriately.

Obstructions in the dogs body are quite common in many pets especially dogs, and its not uncommon for a pet owner to find this problem reoccurring many times in a dogs life caused by many different situations.

An obstruction in the digestive system of your dog can be a very painful experience and may cause bout of quite serious retching, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is caused as the dog tries to release the foreign body from blocking the flow of the digestive system.

The digestive system obstruction is most commonly caused by stones that the dog swallows when playing fetch or just being curious around the garden or on walks. When they swallow stones or any other offending objects for that matter, it many become stuck in the tubes above the stomach where the dog will find it difficult to breath and wretch a lot, or it may flow down into the stomach and intestines where its possible it will get stuck and cause a very painful blockage while all the waste will start to compress behind the it and make for your dog to strain to pass feces or move the blockage.

In some cases the object or stone swallowed will be too large to move from the stomach and it will become blocked occasionally on the passage down in to the intestines, this cases infrequent spurts of pain as the dog tries to break down and move the object from the stomach into the intestines as normal, then as the dog moves it will free up again and the pain will temporarily disappear until the same happens again up to 2 days later at most.

Of course when you fear that this may be the problem you should report it to your vet as soon as possible. They will then undertake many different tests in hope to find the situation of the blockage and feel for foreign bodies so they can treat the symptoms accordingly. This treatment is normally to make sure the object will not free itself and then enter the dog’s body through surgery to remove the unwanted object safely so the dog can resume normal life and dog health again.

Although the above treatment is normally only needed with larger objects in the dogs digestive system, it shows the extent of this condition so if you suspect this problem and the symptoms are their then its always best to inform you vet about the situation so they can asses what needs to be done next.

Exercise is one of the main way in which dogs keep their muscle tone, bones, joints, and mind healthy, there are plenty of ways in which to exercise your dog. Some exercises are good for keeping you healthy as well, and others are more relaxed and effort free for those times when you get back from work and your dog is staring at you all excited and ready to play.

Some breeds of dogs are more active and need more exercise than others, and sometimes more than a lot of owners think they can give them due to other commitments like work and there not being enough hours in the day. But this doesn’t have to be the case as many professional dog trainers will tell you, and keeping your dog in shape can be fun and rewarding for both parties.

Here are some of the exercises that are popular in the dog community and reasons why they have become popular and widely used around the world -

Fetch

Starting off with the most well known of exercises, the fetch game involves you throwing a ball and your dog running after it and returning it to you. This can be little exercise for you and a lot for your dog if you use any throwing enhancing products that are on the market today.

Tug

The tug game involves both you and your dog pulling on either end of a tugging toy, this requires little effort on your behalf and can be played while you sit and watch telly or between breaks of other activities, great to keep your dog amused when you don’t feel like entertaining you dog in other more exhausting ways.

Jogging

Jogging is a highly active sport and helps keep your health up as well as your dogs well being, your dog will love to run along side you and they will find much enjoyment in this activity and it will ensure a healthy and happy dog.

Cycling

Although cycling may seem like a difficult exercise for your dog to follow and keep an interest in, there are special leashes and leads for you to use on your dog to maintain hands free control over your dog giving you a more subtle form of exercise which is similar to jogging. Care may be needed and basic dog training should be given to make sure your dog will be in no harm during the task.

Dog Peri-Anal Fistulas, which is anal inflammation and infection, is a very painful ordeal for a dog to suffer through and not only that it is also complicated and poses a difficult choice to the vet in terms of what sort of cure would be most appropriate.

Symptoms of Dog Peri-Anal Fistulas include the following:

1. The feces of the dog have a long stingy look to it.
2. The dog finds itself in a great amount of pain when trying to produce feces.
3. Appearance of small holes around the anus area which may be inflamed.

The cause for per-anal fistulas is not known as of yet and hence neither is the appropriate cure which is why it is so complicated and can be tricky for the vets.

The condition occurs when small holes called fistulas or even a single hole starts appearing around the dogs anus area. These holes may or may not be inflamed but they will eventually reach the tissue around the anus and then there are chances that it may spread out into further holes.

Due to the heavy amount of inflammation with the anus these holes will be very painful for the dog. Furthermore, the dog will feel severe pain while passing feces as the anus will be in a constant state of tense. This usually results in long thin lines of feces instead of how it usually looks.

As of yet there is no confirmed treatment for this condition and it is hard to diagnose it. Even though several surgical procedures and medicines have been tried there is no constant success rate and hence is up to the vet to prescribe the cure they find appropriate.

Antibiotics, cyclosporin and cortisone and other such medicines may be used by the vet to suppress the immune system.

On the other hand, the very may choose to perform a surgery. The surgical options available to the vet are to either remove the fistulas completely, to clean out the inside of the fistulas or to simply cut off the effected part of the anus and then later recreate it in order to cure the condition.

None of these treatments are certain and one may need to contact a specialist research centre in order to find the latest cure or the most up to date methods for treating this condition but after all that there are still chances that the condition may return to its original state.

Cystitis, comparatively, is a very common infection amongst dogs as well as humans and is more likely to infect females rather than males.

Bacterial infection of the bladder is what causes bacterial cystitis in dogs and due to the shorter distance the bacteria needs to travel up the urethra to the bladder this disease is more common amongst females. In most cases, the main source of bacteria will be the anus. The relatively shorter distance between the vagina and the anus results in females being effected more so than males.

After reaching the bladder the unwanted bacterium will travel to the thin outer wall of the muscle that forms the bladder worsening the infection. Trying to maintain a healthy body, at this point the mild acids in the dog’s urine will try and fight the bacterium to stop the infection.

The infection will begin to worsen once this natural defense system fails and the acids in the urine run out. A worsening infection would mean that the dog would feel a burning sensation in its bladder which in turn may rupture microscopic blood vessels leaking them into the urine and giving it a reddish pink color. The natural response of the dogs’ body would be to contract its bladder muscles and thus leave the bladder in a continuous state of spasm.

In this state, the dogs’ bladder will create a feeling which would make the dog want to urinate and a similar feeling will be caused by the small amounts of urine filling up the contracted bladder.

What a Professional May Have to Say.

If the vet suspects the dog to have bacterial cystitis they will ask you to bring in a urine sample which will be used to test for acidic (pH) levels, glucose and blood cells.

If the vet manages to find blood vessels in the urine sample this will confirm that there is inflammation of the bladder and thus the proper diagnosis will lead to appropriate treatments to cure the disease.

If there is glucose present in the urine, which encourages bacteria growth, it might mean that the dog has a mild case of diabetes and a different treatment would be suggested to cure cystitis.

The urine sample will also be tested for pH levels and if these turn out to be too high it will indicate that the dogs’ urine does not contain adequate levels of acid to fight the bacteria which would make the dog more prone to this disease and will require further treatment such as a different diet to lower the pH level.

The vet may also want to conduct further tests such as an ultrasound scan, an x-ray or endoscopy to view the bladder. These tests will help check the presence of abnormal cells such as tumors or microscopic bladder stones (crystals).

Only after all these tests and procedures have been conducted will the vet be able to diagnose the disease properly and suggest the appropriate treatment or inflammatory medicine to use.