Things you should know about dogs.. part 2

So here's the continuation of my previous blog "Thing you should know about dogs..". http://4cloverleaf.blogspot.com/2011/07/things-you-should-know-about-dogs.html

• Keep your dog free or unleash as much as possible, if you can. Some owner prefer their dogs tied or locked in a dog cage, these may result some problems like you dog may get bored being in just one place all the time or your dog will have a bad temper that maybe difficult for other people to play or pet them. These are actually the main reason why some dogs bite, especially to other people except their master. So if you want our dog to be a friendly, I suggest you keep them free.

• Dogs need to be appreciated too like humans. Imagine how loyal a dog can be. When you wake up in the morning and left your house for work or something, all they will do all day is sit in front of your house door and wait for you to come back. Even your gone for days, they will surely greet you happily each time they see you at your doorstep, with or without any treat from you. So return the favor, pet them, appreciate them and give time to show that they are important too. 
• If your dog is a girl and want her to multiply, here some of my tips and information that I can share base on my experiences. 
• When her period starts (which usually happens twice a year only) better prepare your dog for possible pregnancy. Like, make sure she already have her usual shots yearly base on her doctors schedule, she is healthy and already 2 years old to 4 years old (max 5 years old) this is the safe age for your dog to get pregnant to avoid miscarriages and risk for the mother and for the puppies too.  

• Look for a partner you want for your dog. You can search it on net where you can paid for stud service. Make sure to interview owners first and check the dog status before hiring them. Ask and take note on some details like;
• how much? (check first the market price of its services online, just for you to have the idea what is the reasonable price for the service you want to avail.)
• is the dog registered? (don't get dogs who are not registered.You can't register your puppies if the father is not registered. If you will sell your puppies later on, some customers want puppies with papers and you can surely sell them at the right market price unlike puppies without papers)
• how many red marks the dog have? (red marks is an indication that the dog is smart because it has a good bloodline that your puppy may inherit to avoid weak puppies) 
• is the dog healthy and has a complete boosters from the veterinarian? (because some dogs may be sick or have a virus that he can pass on to your puppies or to your dog upon mating)
• how many times do they mate? (I suggest, look for a service that gives 2 or 3 times mating, just to make sure that your dog will get pregnant and also have the possibility that your dog will bare more puppies. There will be a day interval every mating just for your dog to rest every after mating.)

• what other perks they give? (Good perks will be free smear test, (smear test is a test that will give you the idea if the dog is really fertile or not or if your dog is on her peak of fertilization, just to be sure that your dog really have the chance to be pregnant after mating) and free shooter (shooter is a person that will help the dogs to mate and will make sure that the sperm of the male dog will surely be inside the female dog.) Some  give a home service, easier for you and more comfortable for your dog. And some can give free food and accommodation if you want your dog to stay with them but I think there is no need for this, I am sure your dog will not be comfortable living with other people's house even for a while. And there's a chance that your dog will bring home more ticks and fleas if the other dog have especially if the owner have other dogs too in their house. Perks like this are sometime have additional fees, so if you can find one who can give these services for free, it would be much cheaper and better for you too. :)

• When you already found a male dog, set the schedules of mating. Best day will be the 9th day from the first menstrual period of your female dog. So better take note of the day. Having a smear test will be best, because sometimes the dog licks their blood so there will be a chance that when you first notice she is having her period, maybe she already has it for a few days already. If you don't have time for a smear test, just to be safe, you can schedule your dog for mating on her fifth day of menstrual period. 
• On the mating day, just make sure your dog is rested before their mating time, especially if it is her first time. After mating, avoid pressing her tummy and try to keep her feet up for a while to avoid the sperm from spilling. Do this every time they mate.
• You will know if your dog is pregnant only after a month or 30 days at least. Mostly, they start counting from the last mating date. Symptoms will be her tummy will start to swell already after 30days, her nipple will start to get a bit bigger and her appetite will increase. Some dogs, they say, may also experience morning sickness like human and will vomit once in a while but Mia didn't experience this. There is no need for any vitamins at this time but letting your dog start to eat puppy food on day one is best. Puppy food they say is more complete and good for the pregnant dogs. By the way, dogs pregnancy period is around 59 - 63 days. For first timers sometimes gave birth a week earlier. 

• From day one, avoid you dog to be active, if you can cage her, much better. Avoid her to run and jump. Avoid her going up and down from stairs. Avoid pressing her tummy. And never agitate or stress her. Pamper her in short. 
• On her fifth week, bring your dog to the veterinarian for a Doppler test and ask for vitamins for the dog to take. From the Doppler test, you will know if your dog is really pregnant base on the puppies heartbeat and how many puppies are inside. Don't get discourage if the doctor says that they don't hear any heartbeat yet or they are still not sure maybe because the heartbeat is still faint. Because from the first day of pregnancy up to week 6, puppies grows slowly. They rapidly grows on the last 2 weeks, so there are still some chances that there are still puppies to grow inside up to the last day. Because from our experiences, when we bring Mia to the doctor for a Doppler test, the doctor can only hear one very faint heartbeat and still not sure if it is really a puppy's heartbeat. They asked us to come back after a week but the result is still the same. So all along, we thought, Mia is only expecting one puppy. But on the big day, 3 puppies came out. :) 
• Give all the vitamins and calcium your doctor advise you to give to your dog for her healthy pregnancy and puppies. 
• If your dog experience unusual bleeding or discharge before her due date. Bring her to the clinic as soon as possible.

• On her last week, be vigilant already for signs that your dog is ready to give birth. If you can see some discharge and your dogs is digging everywhere and having a contractions every few minutes or seconds, your dog is on labor already and ready to give birth. Bring her to the clinic already for whelping assistance. Actually, you can do it at your house. Dogs they say instinctively know what to do. There are other sites you can find on net who can give instructions on how to prepare yourself and your dog for this. On what you need and what to do. I can't share this one because I brought Mia to the clinic and asked her doctor for whelping assistance. First because it is my first time to experience this and so is Mia. Luckily we do bring her to the clinic because it turned out Mia don't have enough strength to do the normal procedure so she underwent Cesarean operation. Main reason maybe because Mia is already 5 years old, too old and weak already to push the puppies out and also because the puppies is a bit bigger than usual. But first the doctor tried and helped Mia to push the babies out and just perform everything in normal procedure but time is important too. It takes them hours already waiting and helping her and still puppies didn't go out. Doctor check puppies heartbeat thru a Doppler test again and heard that the one of the puppy's heartbeat is so weak already. That's when the doctor's perform at once a Cesarean operation on Mia just to save her and all the puppies. 

... to be continued

Things you should know about dogs..

I am not a Veterinarian, so this is not a professional inputs, okay! :) Just want to make it clear. But I am a proud owner of a five year old black and white Shih Tzu named Mia. And currently Mia just gave birth with three cute, adorable and lovable little puppies namely Pep, Tof and Ogie. Anyway, if your a new dog owner or want to have one, read on, maybe you can get something from my experiences.

• Don't get a dog if you don't have the the affection, the space, the time, extra money, the love and the patience. THEY ARE NOT TOYS! 
• Love them as if they were you own children. In our family, we treat them as part of the family. They even sleeps in our own bed and gave them presents every birthdays and Christmas. Bring them in every family out of town trips, if the place is a dog friendly place. 
• Never ever forget to feed them and give them clean water everyday. If you are going to leave them for few days, ask someone who can check on them and feed them once in a while. Don't leave them alone in the house without any food or water. It is still best if you let them eat dog food rather than human table food. It is more healthier for them and safe. For me, Mia prefers the brand Pedigree and Alpo. We alternate them once in a while so she won't get fed up with it but sometimes, she eats table food too. She started eating table food when she was already 4 years old. If you will let them eat human food, just make sure not to give them fish or anything under water creatures because that can make their hair worn out.

• Potty train them as soon as you have them. Like for me, I trained Mia already when I bought her when she was just 3 months old to poop or pee on a mat. Whenever we go, she never pee or poop without a mat, ever. Some people use like newspapers, cartons, etc.. Use whatever you are comfortable with. But if you can walk your dog every morning and every evening for them to do their thing outside the house, much better. Just don't miss a day because they will surely dispose it inside your house if they can't hold it any longer. And please if you are going to do this, pick it up and throw their poop properly, so no one can step on it while walking.
• Be a pack leader! As Cesar Millan always says from the Dog Whisperer show. Watch the show if you haven't heard of him yet. You will learn a lot from him, in managing dogs. Here's his site : http://www.cesarsway.com/. Anyway, set some rules and let them follow you and be firm so they won't be a headache like you teenage daughter do (just kidding!).  

• What I know is (correct me, if I am wrong), it is better to train them until they reached 8 months of age. They will absorb every thing you teach them faster than the later months. So if you have the time to teach them such things as sit, roll over, jump and other things, teach them before they are already too stubborn to follow you.
• Bring them to the Veterinarian as soon as you have them and bring them when necessary. Complete every boosters, shots, tablets like heartworm, deworming, etc. they need especially on their first year for them not to get sick easily. They are some air borne virus for dogs that they can easily get if they are not healthy and protected. They can be deadly. So, if your dog is still a puppy and haven't completed all the protection he/she needs, don't expose them with other dogs that maybe a carrier of some deadly virus or with an environment you think is not safe. And give them vitamins each day.

• Take them for a walk or run everyday if you can or set a schedule each day to play with them. First, because they need exercise too like we do. Second, they need activities to loose those energy they have inside especially when they are still young. Or else, they will surely make your furniture, shoes, or anything they can see looks like a toy that they can bite and destroy before you know it. One tip is, buy them toys to play with so they won't pick your slippers as teeter.
• Bathe them! Me, I bathe Mia twice a week. Since she is hairy and all, she gets so dirty after 3 days and will surely smells bad after sweeping every dust and dirt on the floor every time she walks and lie down. Use a blower when drying them, try to buy the one with the cold blowing option so their skin won't get irritated or burned when you are drying them for too long. Make sure to dry them thoroughly, because if there are moisture between those hairs, bacteria will starts to grow and your dog will surely have a spot on their skin that will sore. And once they got this, it will surely come back every now and then. So better avoid that. Comb their hair each day if you have time and especially if your dog's hair is long. Groom them or if don't have time, take them to the Animal Center where they have services like haircut and everything. It is not actually a treat for them when they visit a parlor like we do feel but it's also for their own good. :) Me, I always avail every services I can for Mia, like haircut with style, milk bath that will make their hair sifter and smells good too, ear cleaning, anal sac, have their nails cut, etc..

• When your dogs have ticks and fleas which they can get pretty much easily, especially if your walking your dog outside everyday. Get rid of them as soon as possible! I recommend the brand Frontline Plus. It is a chemical thing that you put in the dogs nape and I can guarantee you it is effective and you will surely get rid of those ticks and fleas fast. I have tried other things like powder, soaps, shampoos and sprays already but Frontline is the only effective one. 
• When your dog is a female, expect them to have their period 2 times a year. You can buy a dog diaper if you don't want their blood be on the floor during those periods but dogs lick it all the time so they won't leave any souvenir on the floor but if their period is heavy, you better buy one. And if you are planning to have little puppies from her in the future, make sure to start when she reach 2 or 3 years of age. Dogs gave birth after 2 months or 63 days after mating. It is much safer for them to get pregnant younger (believe me!) because if you get them pregnant on much later date, there will be some health issues she needs to undergo or she may experience a miscarriage. Like Mia, she is already 5 when she gave birth with the triplets. She don't have that enough strength anymore to deliver the babies in normal procedure so she undergo Cesarian operation which is much expensive and more difficult to take care of. So make sure you have the time to take care of the puppies before letting her mate with another dog, okay.

to be continued...

Things I Learned from Life..

This is what I have Learned from the LIFE I am living now..

Life

• Everything happens for a reason. I always believe in this. Good or bad. There will be and will always be a reason behind everything. Even the worst moment in your life! Even in a tragic event. There will always be a positive reason behind it. Of course the obvious thing you will see first is the negative side of it. But I always believe that in every moment of our lives, every changes, decisions we made, there will always be a positive reason why things are happening. Whether we like it or not. And from this, I have learned that wasting your time in negative things is simply just a waste of time! So, I always, and believe me, it is difficult too sometimes, but I always try to look or search what is the positive reason for every events. I do get disappointed too, of course! I am still a human being. :) But I try not to get myself stuck in he situation of regretting things. And I hope other people too can apply this in their life. And your perspective in life will surely change. More positive things will come to you, even without asking for it. And you will also experience a more easy and happy life. 

• Love as much as you can. If there is love, there is happiness. Does someone in this world don't want to be happy or be loved??! Everyone does! right?! And everyone also deserves to be loved and be happy. Love and happiness go hand in hand. If your doing what you are doing for love, you will surely succeed in what you want to achieve and you will surely be happy. It is the only way and should be the main reason why we are doing things and also why we are living in this world. Imagine if everyone in this world is doing everything for love, "World Peace" will never be used in any Miss Universe Q&A portion. Using one of the Andrew LLoyd Webber song, "LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING" is indeed right! By hey, I am talking about the love in a good way huh! Not the love that can hurt another person thing. Like for example, "I will kill him just to prove my love for you" drama. :) So, if you want to be happy and still not doing things for love, you better start now! It may be hard for some, but try! Believe! Pretend you can love and pretend you want to be loved! (there are people I know don't know how to love and be loved, maybe because of their bad experiences that they close their mind with the LOVE idea.) And by pretending, later on you will discover you are actually doing it genuinely. It is the most amazing thing, love and be loved. <3 And oh, one more thing, prepare to get hurt but don't loose hope. LOVE Again. Over and over! You will and can find love, just GO!