Taking the health of your dog serious is one of the ways you can protect her from serious health complications. When your dog is healthy, you will spend much less time taking her to the veterinary clinic for a medical checkup and expensive treatment. The costs of treating certain ailments in dogs can be very high, but there are no health complications in dogs that cannot be prevented. The following tips and ideas can help you care for your dog more efficiently.
Keep the Dog’s Environment Clean Always
One of the best and most effective ways of protecting your dog from germs and some other external factors that can affect her health negatively is to keep a clean environment. You need to provide shelter for the dog against hazardous conditions. The crate, toys, and bedding must be cleaned every day, even the water and food bowls must be cleaned thoroughly. A clean environment is the number one primary step towards optimal dog health.
Provide Fresh Water with Quality Diet
Your dog must stay hydrated always, to prevent several health problems such as dehydration and contamination. Feeding your dog with a quality diet can help prevent issues such as obesity, and constipation. Make sure you follow a dietary regulation from your veterinary doctor as regards your dog. Nutritional needs of dogs vary based on the age of the dog, weight, size, type of breed and level of activity. Don’t give your dog unhealthy treats, that could speed up obesity in no time.
Examine Your Dog and Have a Veterinarian Examine Her too
Only your veterinary doctor can provide you with a detailed vaccination schedule of your dog. Procedures such as deworming and parasite control must also be provided for the dog to prevent several health problems. You need to keep your dog’s vaccination record for a close-monitoring of her conditions, just in case she needs to get treated for an ailment.
Aside from regular veterinary checkup, you need to pay attention to your dog also. You need to examine the color of her poop and pee because certain colors can indicate internal problems such as constipation and bleeding.
Grooming is a Must
Grooming is a must for dogs, especially to keep them looking good and reduce certain health risks. Both long and short-haired dogs require hair clipping, though long-hair breeds require more frequent hair clipping especially when they shed excessively. If your dog is long-haired, make sure you use appropriate dog clipper to clip the hair at least once in every 2-3 weeks. The short-haired dog will require much less frequent clipping. Hair clipping can help reduce or prevent matted hair.
In addition to clipping the hair regularly, it is important to bathe your dog once every 2-3 weeks. Though brushing may be okay for daily cleaning and untangling the locked hair on the dog’s body. Brushing will also help in removing fleas and tick from the hair. For bathing, you should consider using pet-friendly and not human shampoo to bathe the animal. Make sure you work the shampoo deep into the hair and skin for thorough cleaning. Rinse the body with clean water and use a pet towel or blow-dry the hair without applying heat.
Nail-trimming and Dental Care are Very Essential
All dog breeds are prone to gum bleeding and plaque formation around the teeth. When you allow the plaque to build up around your dog’s teeth, it can lead to several other dental problems. Certain infections can cause premature tooth loss in a dog, and some dental problems can cause serious discomfort to the dog, especially when eating. Make sure you clean the dog’s teeth at least once in a week with the appropriate dog teeth cleaning solution.
Nail trimming is as important as any other grooming step for the dog. It helps the dog maintain a healthier paw. Over-grown nails, especially in older dogs can make it very difficult for them to walk. Longer nails are more prone to breaking and that could be painful, hence you should cut overgrown nails regularly. Make use of pet-friendly nail cutter and not human nail cutter.
Train Your Dog on Behavioral Commands
Many dog owners ignore the need to train their pets on behavioral commands in their early growth stages and that could be the reason why the dogs find it difficult to avoid certain behavioral issues that affect their health negatively. The more familiar your dog is with commands, the better she can avoid bad situations that can affect her health negatively. You need to teach your dog basic outdoor commands to protect her from exploring places that are unhealthy, perhaps you can make use of a leash and collar to aid these outdoor training commands.
To achieve a good result with command training, you need to ensure that you keep each session short, and repeat the steps while rewarding the dog with healthy treats for learning the commands. Indoor training is also helpful and can be reinforced or learned from group classes or doggy daycare. You may want to visit zooawesome.com to learn more about training your dog for behavior commands.
Conclusion
The health of your dog should be one of your priorities. An unhealthy dog can create a serious problem for you and the entire household. You should pay attention to your dog’s behavioral symptoms. A dog with skin infection, for instance, may begin to lick her wounds or begin to whine or back endlessly. Some sick dogs may avoid their food and water while some may simply avoid your companion. Pay attention to irregular heartbeats, or more frequent urination, all these are signs that something is wrong with the dog.
Regular medical schedule with a veterinary doctor can also help in conducting a series of tests on the dog. Medical tests can help in diagnosing internal medical conditions that may not be inherent on the outside. Keep the vaccination of the dog up-to-date and use only recommended medications, diet, and dog grooming devices and solutions to keep the animal healthy. A healthy dog is a happier dog and a happier dog makes the entire household livelier.
This article was contributed by David Huner of Pet Training Tip. To submit a guest article about an amazing service, product or pro-tip on how to care for your city dog or cat, please email cynthia@newyorkdognanny.com
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