The first thing to remember is pretty obvious. Dogs bark. That’s their ‘voice’. Birds sing, cats meow, dogs bark - you’ll never make your dog stop barking completely, nor should you want to.

But what you do want to do is control excessive barking so that he doesn’t drive you or your neighbors crazy. So, let’s see what we can do.

To have any success controlling your dog’s barking, we must understand why he does it when he does it.

To help you do this, make a little chart or ‘diary’ of when - and in what circumstances - your dog displays this behavior. Your neighbors may help you with this if you’re aware (or suspect) that he barks a lot when no-one’s home. A friend of mine had a neighbor whose dog started barking every day during the summer - but only when he heard the ice cream van jingle!

It’s also worth taking the time to listen to your dog to identify his various barks. He’ll sound different when he’s excited and playing, as compared to when he’s attention seeking, aggressive, or frightened. “Look at me” sounds very different to “Look out”.

Remember that a dog is not a solitary animal. If there’s no-one at home for 8 to 9 hours a day, every day — the dog may suffer separation anxiety. This situation is not fair on the dog as the only answer may be some kind of medication. An idea that I really hate.

Before you leave your dog — or put him to bed for the night, always make sure that he’s been fed, and that you’ve left him some water. Take him out for a walk or some play in the garden about half an hour before. This will make sure that he’s not barking because he’s hungry, thirsty, or needs a bathroom break.

I’ll focus on the ‘home alone’ scenario, because it’s the most common. In this case, he’s barking because he’s bored, or lonely, or frightened — or all 3.

Boredom is the easier problem to solve. If you follow the above tips, the walk or play will tire him out a little. You should also leave him access to some toys and a chew to occupy his mind.

Loneliness is more difficult. There are 2 elements involved here.

First, some dogs just like to be around people all the time — but our lifestyles don’t always allow us to be with them all the time, even if we want to. As well as the distraction ideas for the bored dog, try leaving the radio playing quietly.

The second element takes us to the ‘pack’ principle. Your dog is part of your ‘pack’ and he sees his place as being wherever his pack is. He can’t understand why you haven’t taken him with you.

This problem is particularly prevalent in dogs who have a free run of the house and furniture! If you mainly keep the dog in one room - where his crate or bed is, and where he eats - and leave him in that room when you go out, you’re less likely to have the problem in the first place.

But if you do, the best solution I’ve found is to ignore the dog for about 15 minutes before you go out. Don’t speak to him when you leave the house either, or he’ll think it’s a big deal.

Do the same when you come home. Ignore him while you unpack your shopping, change your clothes, or make that phone call. In this way, he won’t believe that it was his barking that brought you back.

Last but not least is fear. Your dog is either frightened of being alone - or frightened that you won’t come back.

All of the previous advice will help with this. But most particularly the ‘ignore him’ advice. If you get emotional when you leave home, as I’ve heard lots of people do, the dog thinks there’s something to be worried about. He doesn’t know what, so he worries about everything.

Phillipa Baxter offers sensible, effective dog training tips that have helped over 9,000 puppy owners worldwide build strong, loving relationships with their new dog. For more useful advice you are very welcome to visit her at http://www.DogTrainingCourses.com.

Heartworm Disease is characterized by a Heartworm infection resulting in any number of problems caused by damage due to the presence of Heartworms in the heart and nearby blood vessels. The Heartworm is a parasite that when mature is thin spaghetti-like worms that infest the heart and pulmonary arteries. The damage they cause is to the lining of the arteries which inflames them, blockage of blood vessels and then a fluid buildup around the blood vessels near the lungs caused by the blockage.

This results in a loss of useful lung tissue and reduces the effective area of the lungs to oxygenate the blood for the body’s needs. An infected dog will cough, not be able to exercise, have nosebleeds and shortness of breath.

Heartworm Disease is treatable, however sometimes the damage done is irreversible. The easiest way to manage this type of disease is to prevent it from ever happening. A yearly test is done by your vet to determine if your dog is Heartworm free. If it comes back negative, your dog can be given a monthly dose of Heartguard to prevent your dog from getting this deadly disease.

Heartguard is basically a dewormer - it contains the drug Ivermectin. While some people may argue that they don’t want to pay the cost of a monthly wormer - a year supply for a 50 pound dog is about $75, the cost of treatment in both a financial and emotional toll is much greater. Giving your dog a Heartworm preventative such as Heartguard is the easiest way to keep your pet safe from a damaging, deadly disease.

Suzi Sevcik is the creator of http://www.dogvetcare.com a site dedicated to providing dog owners with expert advice on care for their four legged member of the family. For more articles on care for your dog, see http://www.dogvetcare.com/articles/. You can reach Suzi by email at: suzi@dogvetcare.com.

The domestication of dogs occurred between 12,000 and 25,000 years ago. Experts say that all dogs have evolved from the wolf. There are about 400 different breeds of dogs. But the most popular dogs are the mix breeds or non-pedigreed dogs.

Before you buy any pet, you must consider the cost of taking care of it. Once you get a dog you are responsible for its health and basic care and taking care of a dog is not cheap. It also depends on what size dog; the smaller the dog, the less expensive it will be. A small dog will cost, on average, about $420 dollars a year and that is including food, veterinary bills and license. A medium size dog will cost you an average of $620 dollars a year and a large dog about $780 dollars a year. These averages do not include being spayed or neutered.

One of the best places to get a dog is at a local humane society. Their adoption fee will often cover the cost of the dog being spayed or neutered. They often will already have most of their shots and be dewormed. Sometimes they send you home with ID tags and a leash. Contact your local humane society and see what they have to offer, in some cases you can save a couple hundred dollars in just medical expenses alone over picking up a dog at a pet store.

Dry dog food can provide a well balanced diet for adult dogs and helps with tartar control on the teeth and healthy gums. It can be mixed with water or broth. Some human food is okay for dogs to eat and may be beneficial for your dog’s health, as long as it doesn’t take up more than 10 percent of your dog’s diet. Foods like cooked eggs, fruits, cooked vegetables and cottage cheese. After your dog is at least a year old they may be fed only one meal a day. However larger dogs may benefit from two smaller meals because they are prone to bloating. Puppies that are six months to one year should be fed twice a day and younger puppies several meals a day. Avoid giving human food to puppies because it could interfere with vitamins and minerals that the puppy needs to grow. Avoid using generic dog food because brand name dog food has to follow strict federal guidelines that some companies who make generic dog food do not, because they may be made locally. Wean your puppies off puppy food after six months, in this case it can be too much of a good thing and puppies may grow too fast and put stress on joints and bones. Pick age appropriate dog food. Don’t forget to offer fresh water and wash their water dish daily.

Your dog must have exercise. It will help prevent obesity and boredom that can lead to destructive behavior. It will also sharpen their minds. Your dog needs to run, chew and chase. Consult your veterinarian because different dogs have different exercise requirements based on sex, age, breed and level of health.

Before you bring your dog home make sure you have the basic things dogs will need. Your dog will need food, food and water bowls, brushes and toys. You will also need ID tags, leash, crate and a dog bed.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Dogs

Let’s have a look at a natural canine behavior that drives us crazy.

All dogs have an instinct to dig - in the wild they do it to bury their food so no-one else gets hold of it. They dig when they’re too hot, because the soil below the surface is cooler. Females will dig if they’re pregnant (or have a phantom pregnancy) because they’re making a safe den to have the puppies in. And some breeds, like all Terriers, are bred to dig.

So what can we do about it?

Starting with the bored dog - a topic which I’ve covered quite a bit. Boredom leads to a lot of the behavioural problems we see in our dogs. There is no substitute for spending time together playing, walking, and just generally ‘hanging out’. Any dog left alone in a garden will eventually start digging.

The hot dog syndrome is also quite easy to solve - just try to keep him as cool as you possibly can. Especially if he has a heavy coat. If he has an outside kennel or dog house, put it under a tree - or a spot in the garden that never gets any direct sun if you can.

If that’s not practical, you may have to keep him indoors if it’s very hot.

For those of us without air conditioning in our homes, keep him in the coolest room with as many open windows as you can. You can also set up one of those small desk fans close to his crate or bed. Make sure he can’t get at the power cable or the fan blades - and don’t forget to ‘introduce’ him to the noise it makes.

Always provide plenty of cool drinking water for him - but NEVER give him ice.

If you know your lady dog is having pups, or she thinks she is - she should stop digging if you provide her with a whelping box in a good secure place that she believes is out of view.

If your dog is digging to bury his food, don’t let him eat outside - or with the door to the garden open while he eats.

The most difficult cause of digging for us to pinpoint, relates to your dog’s amazing sense of smell. The reason he almost always goes straight for the new shrub you’ve just planted is that he can smell your scent there; and the general scent of the area has changed because of the new plant. He’ll do the same thing if you have someone else tend your garden, because he’ll pick up the ’stranger’s’ scent.

There are also many ‘wild’ animals in urban areas these days. Your garden may be used by foxes, hedgehogs, or other small mammals, during the night - your dog will smell all of them when you let him out in the morning. He’ll start digging to look for them.

Hounds, or any kind of dog bred with an exceptional sense of smell, will most often dig by your fence. They can smell something outside the garden that they want to get at. Males who haven’t been neutered will do this a lot to get at neighborhood females in season.

If this is your problem, make sure there are no holes in the fence either above or below the surface. If you were building a new fence, you’d put a concrete foundation layer in the ground first - but if the fence is already there, try chicken wire across the bottom. Make sure the wire goes right down into the soil as far as you can, and curve it away from the fence underground.

If all else fails, and you have the space, try giving him his own piece of the garden. Have a bone or some toys buried in it for him to ‘find’. This can be great fun for the dog - especially if you join in the game.

Phillipa Baxter offers sensible, effective dog training tips that have helped over 9,000 puppy owners worldwide build strong, loving relationships with their new dog. For more useful advice you are very welcome to visit her at http://www.DogTrainingCourses.com.

Dogs and Cats. Eternal enemies, right? Through proper dog home obedience training you can teach your animals to live together.

The first mistake that most pet owners make when introducing their pet dogs and cats is to allow them to make their own introductions. This is a mistake! As I stated above, these two species are eternal enemies. You can’t just set one down near the other and expect great results. (Ok, I know that can happen and does happen, but my job here is to teach you about dog home obedience training. My version of training calls for prevention with dogs and cats rather than creating a problem and then being forced to fix it. As Mom used to say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.) There is a good deal of prevention that should be used before allowing your dogs and cats to co-exist.

Whether you are introducing a new cat to a home with a dog or vice versa I want you to start out the same way. Start out by using your trusty dog crate. Put your dog in the crate and allow the cat to be in the same room. There are several possible outcomes to this action :
1. Your dog shows complete indifference. This is ideal. If your dog behaves like this you will have a quick transition.
2. Your dog shows fear. This is not ideal but it will make the transition easier than some other outcomes.
3. Your dog shows nervousness and anxiety. He whines, he paces in the crate, paws at the door of the crate, etc. This behavior tells you that he wants out. There is something about that cat that is exciting and he wants to know what it is.
4. Your dog shows overt aggression. He barks, claws at the door of the crate, and he knows exactly what he wants to do with that cat. This is going to be the toughest dog to train, but it can be done.

For the first few days don’t let your dogs and cats near each other. Keep the dog in the crate. This doesn’t mean you need to keep him in the crate 24/7. When you want him out of the crate just make sure that your cat is shut off in another bedroom to avoid contact. What you hope to accomplish with this action is to train your dog to be indifferent to the cat. You want your dog to view the cat as ‘background noise’. The cat is inconsequential, the cat doesn’t matter, there is nothing interesting or exciting about the cat. In other words, your dog is safely tucked away in the crate and casually observes the cat move around the house. For categories 1 and 2 this will be simple. It will take no more than a day or two for your dog to think of your cat as just another ‘thing’ in the house. Categories 3 and 4 will take more training and time.

For categories 3 and 4 you need to attach a negative association to showing cat aggression. To do this, get a spray bottle. Fill the bottle with either plain water, water mixed with lemon juice, or for very stubborn dogs, water with vinegar. At this point, your dog is still tucked away safely in the crate. The next part of training will be conducted while you are sitting near the crate, ready for action. The instant your dog shows aggression (barks at the cat, claws at the door, whines in frustration, etc.) toward the cat spray him in the face with your spray bottle. Every time he shows aggression spray him with the bottle. When he isn’t showing aggression give him soft praise, “Good boy”.

If you are consistent with this exercise you will soon notice that your dog will show less and less aggression while in the crate, it just isn’t worth the squirt in the face for him. You are on your way to getting your dogs and cats to co-exist.

When your feel comfortable that your dog is indifferent to the cat move on to the next step. As I said, for categories 1 and 2 this is probably one or two days after beginning the crate training. For categories 3 and 4 get your dog to the point where he is indifferent and maintains that attitude for several days if not a week.

The next step is to get your dog out of the crate and get those dogs and cats together at last! You are going to move slowly, though. Put your dog training collar and leash on your dog and make sure that he is always wearing it around the house. Keep your dog near you and allow your cat to be in the room. If your dog makes any move whatsoever to chase the cat, bark at the cat, or perform any of the stereotypical behaviors that dogs and cats do, give him a very strong correction with the leash. You want this leash correction to be a very memorable one so it must be very strong. You want to form a very negative association toward cat aggression.

Be consistent with this training. If you do this properly you will notice that your dog has less and less of a desire to chase after or bark at the cat. As you notice your dog changing his behavior give him more and more freedom by allowing him to be closer to the cat and further away from you. Eventually you will phase out the use of the dog training collar and leash.

Even some of the hardest to train dogs will respond to the above method. There exist, however, certain dogs that have such strong prey drive that only drastic measures will cure them of their desire to chase and kill cats. For these dogs I employ an electric dog training collar.

Read the instruction manual on proper fitting for your electric dog training collar. With a stubborn dog that needs an electric collar the method is simple. With the collar on his neck and turned on to a high level of stimulus you are going to correct your dog every time he even looks at the cat. As your dog even sneaks a glance at your cat press the button to deliver the correction. Don’t say ‘no’, don’t react in any way, just correct him for looking at the cat. Do this as many times as it takes. Let’s examine this from your dog’s point of view. He wants to get to the cat, wants to chase, wants to kill. But the very act of looking at the cat causes him pain. You don’t tell him anything so he doesn’t associate the correction with you. He soon will learn to believe that the cat is ‘evil’ and he had better not even look at it because it the act of looking causes pain.

As with all training, you must be very consistent. Your dog must never have a successful chance to even chase or want to chase the cat. Be consistent, though, and soon your dogs and cats will be able to co-exist.

Author Tyler Brown is a renowned dog trainer whose training adventures and clients have taken him to 18 states and 5 countries to teach others how to properly train their dogs. Go to dogbehavioronline.com for more dog training articles, advice, tips, and answers from a professional dog trainer.