The Playful Pup

Warmer weather means fleas

2012-05-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

My little dog has been bothered by fleas more now that it is warming up. In the house I use a premise spray as well as using a spot-on treatment for the dog. The problem is the warm weather - it speeds up the hatching out of the flea eggs. The spot-on treatment does work but the flea has to be on the dog for about 3-24 hours before it dies. That is a long time for a dog to put up with biting

Dog playing with fawn or is it really play?

2012-04-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Found this cute video on You Tube. To the uneducated about dogs and deer, it looks like they are playing. Watch the video first then read my comments below - The dog is happy just running around with the ball. The deer on the other hand is seeing a predator that is just a bit crazy. The deer attacks the dog with its very sharp front hoofs. That is an act of aggression in a deer, not

The advantage of owning a small breed dog

2012-04-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

When I became a small breed dog owner several years ago, I never thought that having a small breed would cut down on grooming time and costs. I don't have to give my small dog a bath in the bath but take him to my stainless steel sink in the kitchen for a quick wash down. Using spot on flea products are cheaper since they sell them by the ml for the size dog. Yes there are advantages to having

Calloused elbows

2012-04-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Calloused elbows on dogs, have you seen them? They usually occur on larger breeds but can occur on all breeds. They are caused by the dog laying down on hard surfaces. Dogs that are kept on concrete are more apt to develop callouses on their elbows. To prevent calloused elbows and to treat them is to provide the dog with something cushy to lay on. Be it an old quilt, egg crate mattress pad or

Dog spinning in circles - what does that mean?

2012-04-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have occasionally met dogs that have habitually chased their own tails. They would spin in circles. I was curious as to what causes this so I tried to look it up. Some people and dog trainers put it down to dogs that are raised in kennels and don't get out often enough. They assume that the dog learns to spin in circles as a way to combat boredom. Unfortunately that does not explain the dogs I

GSP RESCUE

2012-04-06T08:39:00.002-07:00

Thanks for the article from Jermaine Haynes I have been using my clear wireless connection recently to check out dogs that are up for adoption. Our German Shorthaired Pointer recently passed away and I would like to get my parents another one. Even though they say that they don’t want another dog ( we had our last dog for fifteen years), I feel like they would enjoy one. I didn’t realize that

Puppy toys

2012-03-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Puppies and dogs are so easy to find toys for. They enjoy tennis balls, thick rope with knots in it and stuffed animals. One of our dogs enjoys stuffed animals so much that he use to sneak into my daughters bedroom when she was young and steal one of her smaller teddy bears. We would find him either sleeping with it or humping it. She had to keep her door closed until he no longer made those

An app for your phone that every dog owner should have

2012-02-29T02:00:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Triad Retail Media for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. Do you need an app that is made just for dog owners? Then look no further because Purina has come up with one that is sure to cover just about everything a dog owner will need. The Purina Pet Health App is available for both the iPhone and Android systems. I am

Dogs on TV

2012-02-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

I love seeing dogs on TV. last night I saw a commercial for VW that had a group of dogs barking and howling to a song. I kept wondering what they were advertising until they showed the VW symbol at the end of the ad. Then I saw another one that had a dog playing a guitar. I am sure it had special effects but I have seen a video on YouTube that had a dog actually playing a guitar. The owner

Dog tricks you can teach your dog

2012-01-31T00:14:00.000-08:00

This post is not how to teach your dog 100's of tricks, no, it is going to show you a dog in action, on video that can do many tricks. The video is below and it will give you some ideas for working with your own dog. Enjoy:

Twitter and me

2012-01-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

I thought about starting up a Twitter account so I could interact with my readers more. Then I thought about have a Twitter account for my dog so I could put his barks and yips on there. I know, dumb. Then I looked at some of the Twitter accounts that do that already and they are big hits. I don't think I have the humor or at least can't write the humor down that would attract readers or

Dog Show

2012-01-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Olga Quinn One night I was watching the late night news, and it was just about to go off. The phone rang and startled me as any late night call would. It was my daughter, the nurse, who keeps crazy hours. She said, “Don’t you have direct tv?” And I in turn said yes, but wasn’t it a little late to be calling me and asking me that. She then proceeded to tell me to turn to a certain

So are you planning to give your dog any treats for Christmas?

2011-12-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

What dog owner among us can honestly say that we have ever turned down a dog begging for something special when we are enjoying fabulous sweet treats out of our own Christmas stocking. I know I can't. But I will not give my dog what I am eating, I will opt to give them a dog biscuit or other appropriate treat. I will not give chocolate as a dog treat and neither should you since chocolate can be

Walkees

2011-12-21T05:00:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Swifto for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. I may have dated myself when I gave the title of this post "walkees." For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it was coined by Barbara Woodhouse, a very well known dog trainer that had her own TV show. This post is not about her but taking your dog for a walk.

Flea problem in the winter

2011-12-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you that think that flea problems with dogs end when the summer is over then your flea problems are just beginning. The heated home in the winter months is a haven for hatching out flea eggs. The rooms are warm and dry, just what a flea needs and wants to survive and propagate. One of the best ways to control fleas is to kill them while on the dog. There are 2 major spot-on flea

Getting your dog home safely

2011-11-19T18:41:00.000-08:00

I was recently on a message board that I frequent and was totally amazed at the lack of common sense that some people have when they find a lost pet. The woman showed a photo of the small dog that had shown up at her house a few days ago. The dog had no tags or collar and she was wondering if anyone knew of a rescue shelter she could take it to. The first thing I thought of, was why wasn't this

Do you clip your long haired dog?

2011-11-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

Years ago when I owned Chow Chows I use to give them a body clip in the summer. My main reason was to keep down the grooming maintenance for me and be able to have better control over their flea population. This was the time before spot-on flea treatments. Our next breeds of dogs were all short hair so I didn't have to worry about clipping them. I was in a local Pet Supplies store and happen to

Odd trivia facts about dogs

2011-11-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

It is fun fact time. Dogs cannot sweat. They have no sweat glands. In order to keep their bodies from over heating, they pant. The excess heat is dispelled from their bodies in the form of hot air. Some breeds of dogs have eyelashes and some do not. My miniature pincher does not have any signs of eyelashes, yet my daughter's Aussie has long eyelashes. She looks like she could be a commercial

Novelty gifts for dog lovers

2011-11-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

It is getting close to Christmas and as we get closer, more and more novelty gifts start showing up for dog owners and lovers of the different dog breeds. I fell in love with a watch that had a watch face of a husky on it. The only problem was that it was a cheaply made watch that was libel to fail about 6 months after I put it on. Then I started to wonder why don't the well known brands of

Are we having fun yet?

2011-10-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

The kids have been back at school for about 6 weeks now and what do I see in our little town? An influx of RVs. It seems like all those people who do not have to worry about children in school, choose this time of the year to go on vacation. Of course if they have dogs then RVs would be the best choice for taking the dogs with them. They would not have to worry about finding hotels that take dogs

Watch out for poisonous flowers and plants that your dog might be exposed to

2011-10-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

It is getting close to the holiday season and that means that many people choose to send custom flowers arraignments and those seasonal plants. What you have to watch out for are which ones can cause problems for your dog or puppy. Most adult dogs do not bother plants and flower unless they are the type that likes to chew on new things. Puppies will be more of a problem since they will like to

Hidden fees to look for when traveling with your dog

2011-10-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

More and more people are choosing to take their dog with them when they travel rather than leave them in a strange boarding kennel. If you are one of those people who are opting to have your dog travel with you, you should know that there are often some hidden fees associated with it. You can now find plenty of hotels and motels that cater to pets and they freely advertise that fact. What they

Dogs can be fussy

2011-09-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

I always thought that a cat was more fussy than a dog when it came time to sleep. That was until I owned a small breed dog. Our cat doesn't mind sleeping in the gravel near our driveway, yet the dog will pick only the cleanest blanket to wrap himself up in. Forget sleeping straight on the carpet now, he prefers my yoga mats to sleep on. If it wasn't for the matter of him shedding, he would be

Spoiled Pets

2011-09-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

Guest written by our friend Gladys Fuentes Dog sitting for my parents is a handful. They have three dogs, weighing between 60 and 80 pounds each. The neighborhood they live in is very nice, but it is situated on the side of a mountain, which makes walking their dogs very difficult. They have a lot of land, but most of it is straight uphill. Luckily, they installed an electronic fence

Using your dog to relieve stress

2011-09-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, today's society is full of stress. With job insecurity, worries about who will be leading governments, prices of food shooting skywards and just dealing with family and friends that are stressed can take a mental toll on us. So we turn to our dogs as a form of stress relief. Play catch, going for a walk or just plain sitting and stroking our dogs will bring about a feeling of