Heat Exhaustion in Dogs

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While you’re out walking or at the dog park with your dog during a hot summer day, there is one deadly risk associated with these activities…heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion can affect dogs differently depending on if you have a long or short haired dog. If you have a long haired dog, you’ll want your dog stay out of the heat for longer periods of time then a short haired dog. An average dog’s temperature will be around one hundred to one hundred and three. If the temperature is above one hundred and four, your dog will probably start reacting to the heat and will start to show problems.

If a dog is suffering from heat exhaustion, he will start to look distressed and may start circling or pacing, and may have his tongue hanging out of his mouth at weird angles. Your dog may also have glazed over look in his eyes that can also be a sign of heat exhaustion. You may also want to feel the temperature of your dog’s fur to know how hot it is. If it feels like it’s on fire, you will definitely want to take your dog over to a shady area or into some water to help him cool down.

If your dog happens to get heat exhaustion take him into a cooler area like under some shade, or if possible, inside. Once in a cooler area, put some lukewarm to cool water on your dog’s belly to cool down your dog faster. If you put the water on your dog’s back, it won’t cool your dog down as fast because the hair on your dog will get cooled more from the water meeting contact with that first. You also do not want to dump a bucket of cold water on your dog if he has heat exhaustion. That can lead to putting your dog’s body into shock and killing him. Avoid the use of ice because it may do more harm than good…cooling your dog down slowly is more effective…you do not want to make your dog shiver as this may raise his body temperature. Also, do not let your dog drink ice water when he is over-heated, this can lead to stomach cramps and possible bloating which can also result in death. If you decide to try and drive your dog to the vet, make sure the car is not hot, and you keep your dog’s temperature down on the ride there.

If you go outside with your dog during a hot day, make sure your dog can get plenty of water and make sure he stays cool. Also do not leave your dog inside a car without air conditioning. This will cause your dog to over heat quickly and possibly kill him. So remember to keep your dog safe when you go out into a hot place. You don’t want your dog to get heat exhaustion.

How to Keep Your Dog Healthy

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Keeping your dog healthy is one of the most important responsibilities a dog owner has. Exercise is a important part of your dog’s health, however, where you live and the type of job you have can effect the amount of exercise that your dog can get. If you work eight hours a day, work down town or far away from work, or if you have a apartment where residences are built close together and you can barely find some grassy area, let alone walk your dog, he probably won’t get a lot of exercise. But if you live in the country area or have a large yard or any yard, he will get a lot more exercise. One thing you could do to get your dog to get more exercise if he lives in the city, is to drop him off at a local doggie day care center that will take care of your dog during certain hours like a babysitter. Usually they will let your dog roam around freely and get some exercise for him. Even though it costs some money, it save you the time and trouble of trying to do this yourself.

The next important thing that effects your dog’s health is diet. Your dog shouldn’t be fed a lot of people food or this can lead to a poor diet and to poor health. If you feed him too much, this will also lead to health problems. For smaller dogs you should feed them about a half a cup of food to about one cup of food twice a day to keep them healthy. For medium sized dogs, this will be about one cup to one and a half cups twice a day, and for large dogs, about one and a half cups twice a day should work. This is a good estimate of what your dog should eat every day.

The two important things that affects your dog’s health is exercise and diet. (These are also the two main things that effects people’s health.) Even though it can seem like a pain to get your dog exercise that he needs, it can also help you stay in good health, too. And as for diet, if the amount I recommended  here results in your dog gaining too much weight, cut down by about a half cup, and if he loses too much, add about a half cup until it is perfect.

What To Do If Your Dog Gets Out

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If you live in a busy area or next to one and your dog is always trying to go out the door… this can be a problem. The chances of your dog getting out is affected by how well he is trained and if he listens to commands you give him. There are different ways to teach your dog from running out the door and some of those can be used if he gets out, too.

The first thing you can do is to block off this area so only you can get out. It could be set up with a dog gate or some boxes that your dog can’t get through. This will only help with keeping your dog from getting out but will not help with getting him to come back to you if he gets out.

The other one is training him “stay”. This command will keep him from running out the door if he obeys it. If he understands and obeys the command, it will make it easier to get out the door then you don’t have to use boxes or a gate to block the exit/entrance off.  The command will also help if your dog gets out the door.

Now what would you do if your dog does get outside? Well, getting low to the ground and calling your dog’s name, or saying the command “come here” if he knows it, will make it easier. But yet, what if you live in front of a busy street? A couple things you could do is get a fence or have a gate with the area around it blocked off, too.

Now if you try teaching your dog a command, but yet you go off to work and never have time to teach him, your local boarding place might be able to watch and teach him while you’re away so you don’t have to go through the trouble. If your dog happens to get distracted by noise easily, and you live near a busy road, then getting your local boarding place to teach him while your away is probably the best choice to get him to learn the trick quicker. It is always a good idea to have a plan if your dog gets out, and something to help prevent it. This will help make sure your dog will be there by your side when you’re with him.

A Few Tricks a Dog Should Know

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A few tricks that may seem small can be big in different situations. One of those is “sit”. A simple trick, yet can be useful for different things. If you are having a guest or your boss over for dinner or the night, sit can be very useful. If this person comes in dressed nice, a dog jumping up onto him can be the difference between getting a promotion or having them stay over again. Or getting on your boss’ bad side or having some friends avoid your house. Having the command “sit” will help keep your dog from jumping up onto your guest.

Another command that can be useful is “come here”. If your dog happens to get away, or you lose your grip on him/her, you can call that command and get your dog to come back to you. This can be a very useful command if you live near a busy street.

“Stay” is another useful command. If your dog likes to attempt to sneak out the door every time you go out, this command can be used. It will help keep him from running out and causing something bad to happen, and will keep you from having to go through the trouble of finding him. This command should be taught with “come here” in cause he does get out after he has learned “stay”.

These three commands which don’t seem like they can do much, can be very useful. They can be taught by your local grooming place and boarding place most of the time. This can make the process go faster by having someone else who has had experience training dogs. But for just a little fee, this can help you get multiple things done at once. You could get him trained while you’re at work, or out of town, or just getting him groomed. Those three commands should be taught to your dog to make sure that whenever you need them, he knows them already.

Shots Needed For Puppies

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Vaccinations for dogs are needed for the safety of your dog, other dogs, and the people around him. Your dog needs to be vaccinated most is when he is a puppy. There are eight different vaccines needed when your dog is a puppy. Your puppy needs to get vaccinated at about six to eight weeks of age for the first shot. Then about every three weeks later he will need another vaccination. The five major vaccinations they get over this time are for: distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parainfluenza, and parvovirus.

A few other vaccinations are needed too. One of the important ones is for rabies. This vaccination should be given to your dog at about four to six months of age. Yet if you have a full grown dog that has not had a vaccination to prevent rabies, it is recommended to get one shot for rabies every year.

The bordetella vaccination is needed at about eight to sixteen weeks of age, and protects against respiratory infections. And lastly there is the coronavirus vaccination which is given at about the age of seven and sixteen weeks old. Coronavirus vaccinations should be given annually.

Getting shots for your puppy or older dog is necessary to keep your dog healthy. These vaccinations helps protects your dog from fatal diseases and harmful sicknesses. Yet these vaccinations do not keep your dog from never getting sick ever again. They will decrease the chance of your dog getting sick by having those eight vaccinations. These shots will be required for your dog at all reputable boarding or grooming facility. They should be administered by your veterinarian.  Just remember to get your dog the shots he needs, and the other shots that are needed annually to keep your dog healthy.

Multiple Dog Syndrome (MDS)

Oh…My…God! You have 7 dogs!!! I hear that all the time. I know, it’s crazy. Thank goodness I have a husband who understands me…who gets that I just absolutely love dogs. Especially those dogs who need a second (or third or fourth or last) chance. Yes, I admit it…I have MDS. I never wanted 7 dogs, I only wanted 2…but what do you do when one presents himself/herself to you? Well, sometimes you take them in and sometimes you have to give someone else a turn to “stand up” and do the “right thing”.  I had to realize that I must look at my/our resources for paying for all of the things a pooch needs, ie: health care, dental, vaccinations, blood work, heartworm preventative, parasite preventative, spay or neutering, food, vitamins and/or medications, grooming, boarding…not to mention your time, love, attention, exercise, stimulation (and poop patrol). There’s a fine line between becoming a “hoarder” and being afflicted with MDS. I quickly (or not too quickly) learned that love alone is not enough to sustain life. I have to assess and evaluate that for myself all of the time. 7 is my limit. I hope that for those of you who can welcome another furry family member into your home…that you do so, but please do alot of “soul-searching” first…know your limit for the sake of the dog. Once you’ve decided that you can adopt another pooch, I hope that you will go to a local shelter, rescue league, petfinder.com, or consult with a veterinarian and their staff to find a dog in need.  So whether you are lucky enough to have 1 dog or 1+ dogs…welcome to the club…the dog lover’s club. It’s a lifetime membership of pure joy!  Love, Norma

One Day to Spay

Petite Pooch Plus has added a new staff member to our “family”. We weren’t looking for any applicants but she was presented to us by one of our hotel staff members. When this young lady interviewed with us, we observed that she was sweet, extremely shy and nervous, thin, not very social or experienced, and not the best-looking gal in town but our management staff wanted to give her a chance. The Petite Pooch Plus manager, Lorena Evans, volunteered to work with her and felt that after some training, she would grow into being a valued member of our team. There was one thing we didn’t know about during our interview with her…she wasn’t spayed. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention…our applicant is a dog.

Her name is “Baby” and she’s a 2 year old female medium-sized Rottweiller mixed breed doggie. She belonged to Melanie Foster’s sister. Melanie works at Petite Pooch Chateau. Her sister was only 32 years old and she died at home about 4 weeks ago after falling into a diabetic coma. “Baby” was with her at the time. Melanie tried to keep “Baby” but for a variety of reasons, she wasn’t able to. Soooo…she introduced “Baby” to me.

I’m a big softy when it comes to these types of situations, especially when it concerns any staff member of Petite Pooch. I could see that Melanie was distraught. She felt guilty about not being able to keep her sister’s pooch and she didn’t know what to do. Realizing that I have 7 pooches of my own and 8 dogs was appealing but not a practical option at my home, I decided to take “Baby” on as a “shop dog”. But first I had to get her assessed by a vet at the Animal Clinic of Farmers Branch.

I know that Melanie’s sister took good care of “Baby” because the veterinarian told me that she was heartworm negative and she was free of any intestinal parasites. After the vet reviewed the vaccination record Melanie gave me, there was no need to update her vaccines…the only thing that needed to be done was to spay “Baby”

I never met Melanie’s sister and she left this world too early in life. I won’t ever have an opportunity to have a conversation with her about the spay vs. not-to-spay debate. I only know that for some reason, she chose not to spay “Baby”. Maybe it was a money issue, maybe it was a philosophy issue, or maybe it was just an issue of not having enough time in the day to get it done. I would encourage every pet parent to get their pet spayed or neutered for all the reasons we already know about…afterall, it only takes “one day to spay”.

Love to all,

Norma