How much is too much?             This answer varies on several factors the age of the dog, the breed of the dog, and the individual dog’s needs and health.  So, let’s look at each part individually.             Age of the Dog-Young puppies are at a point in their lives where they are growing very rapidly, and excessive exercise can damage growth plates and bones.  So, what is too much for puppies?  A common rule [...]

Mental Exercise for Dogs What is exercise? According to the Meriam Webster Dictionary one definition of exercise is to use repeatedly in order to strengthen or develop.  Physical exercise means repeatedly using muscles to build them up or develop them and mental exercise is using the brain repeatedly to build up or develop it. The side effect of both physical and mental exercises for dogs is being “tired” which normally also translates into a [...]

I will preface this article with the following these are my personal opinions based on my own experiences over the years of seeing puppies through vet tech work, breeding sport dogs myself, and my years of training.  My opinions are just that and should not be taken as “set in stone” recommendations.  There are always exceptions to every rule and that is true with my ideas on how to pick a puppy as well. [...]

How to Pick a Rescue... Many of the same questions listed above can be asked of rescues.  There are obviously going to be some differences like many times they will not know the parents of the puppies/dogs, they may have limited history of what went on with the puppies/dogs before they got them, and they may not even know the breeds however the following questions I would consider having answered by getting a puppy/dog [...]

Here are several questions I would ask the breeders you are thinking about getting a puppy from.  You may not ask all of them and some of them might not apply but all of them probably should be at least thought about before getting a puppy from that breeder.  I have also listed some red flags.  Just because every answer is not answered with a "Yes" or doesn't fit the exact way you would [...]

Muzzles Why might a dog need to wear a muzzle? Most people think that a dog in muzzle is aggressive, but did you know that there are many other reasons why dogs might be wearing muzzles?  Let’s discuss some of the reasons as well as the appropriate ways to interact with the owners and dogs. I feel that all dogs no matter what breed, size, age, temperament should be muzzle trained.  There are many [...]

Things to Consider When Picking a Breed of Dog So, you have decided that you and your family are going to get a dog.  So now what? The first thing to do is figure out what breed or breed mixes would be a good fit for your household.  There are several things to think about when trying to figure out what works best for your family. Questions to consider… Why does your family want [...]

The biggest thing I see is owners with dogs that are not good fits within their family for many reasons. They can be a bad fit because they are high energy dogs and the owners are a low energy family, or older people with limited mobility, the breed is too large and powerful for the owner, and they can be a bad fit because the owner is a soft person, and they have a [...]