Pet The World

Animals are a gift from God, in my opinion. They can make us smile or laugh even when we are feeling at our worst. If you have an animal who is use to being in the middle of attention when you first arrive at home, or lounging around watching television, reading or just relaxing, make sure you take this under consideration if you’re going to be bringing home a new addition to the family.

Animals can get a little confused if the amount of attention suddenly changes, without warning. This can cause them to go into a depression, which can cause serious life-altering symptoms, such as: not eating, anxiety, excessive gnawing, aggressiveness, etc

If you’re expecting a baby start cutting down the amount of attention you’re giving your animal now and work down to the amount of attention you think you’ll be able to give them when your baby arrives. Make sure to still give them adequate attention and not to take away the amount too quickly. Also, it’s important to let them smell items you are bringing into the home, such as the baby clothing and furniture. Let them walk around the baby’s room, where the smell will not be foreign to them. It’s also a good idea to bring home an article of clothing the baby has came into contact with after s/he is born, before bringing him/her home from the hospital.

Most animals will feel a certain amount of jealousy. The way the owner responds to this kind of behavior will determine how far the animal takes this emotion. Let the animal smell the baby when you bring him/her into the home. If you think your animal will react violently to this new addition, then you may sadly have to think about finding your animal a new loving home.

All animals know is how we treat them. They get use to receiving attention, just as a human does. This is our fault, as owners. We are the ones who made them this way, so we are the ones who need to get them use to sharing the attention with another. They can turn out to be your child’s best friend and protector, as your child grows. You must set limitations with them, just as you would a sibling. This may sound funny to a few people reading this - but many times an animal gets away with doing things we wouldn’t let a child do. Animals need discipline as well. This does not mean hitting on them, or yelling at them. Usually a very stern voice with a quick touch on the dog will work. For example, if your dog keeps barking at everyone who walks into the door (especially people who they know), you can stand in-between the dog and the person and sternly say, “NO” while touching them quickly on their neck. This startles them into listening, as well as the act of standing in front of them, teaches your animal that you are the boss - the leader.

Letting your animal know you are the leader and giving them discipline, will actually make your animal a happier, more secure pet. They need boundaries and they need to know you are the leader (just as they would have a leader in a pack). This will also make bringing a new addition into the home a more pleasant experience and add to making you all one complete, happy family.

This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.PetLovers.Com/ which is a site for Pet Forums. Most of Tracey’s writings can be found at http://www.writing.com/authors/intuey

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Yes! Believe it or not you can train your pet cat to do almost anything a cat is physically capable of doing using humane positive reinforcement techniques using a process called Clicker Training.

Clicker Training is a method of training using the scientific principles of Operant Conditioning. Simpler than it sounds, clicker trainers use a plastic box noise maker called a “clicker” to mark the behaviour they want and follow up with a reward, usually a food treat.

By a process known as “shaping”, clicker trainers mould their cat’s behaviour into the behaviour they want.

Clicker Training can also be used to solve common cat problems such as spraying, scratching, clawing, climbing on kitchen benches and difficulties in administering medication. Clicker Training is a no-force method of training which is ideal for sensitive or no-nonsense animals such as cats.

Some of us, when learning to clicker train, decided to try it on our cats first, so we didn’t make any mistakes with our competition dogs. We soon learned that it was impossible to make mistakes that couldn’t be easily fixed using this method, unlike with traditional training methods where little mistakes tended to snowball into bigger ones or crop up when we least expected them. What’s more, our dogs were having more fun, so were our cats, and so were we!

If you have a cat, or a dog, guinea pig, rabbit, goat, ferret, horse or pig, type “clicker training” into any search engine and discover a whole new world of training possibilities!

Aidan Bindoff is intensely interested in animal behaviour and works to remediate fearful, anxious and aggressive dogs in Australia. He also runs the FREE “Positive Petzine” featuring regular articles on dog behavior and training at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/positivepetzine/.

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Yorkshire Terriers, more commonly known as Yorkies, are one of the most popular toy dog breeds. They make great companions and love attention! They are very affectionate but demand plenty of time and devotion from their owners.

This breed is only about 100 year old. It was developed in northern England to catch rats that lived in mine shafts. It was also used as a hunting dog that could go into fox and badger burrows. It is not clear, however, how they developed this breed. It is thought that they came from crossing terriers like Skye and Clydesdale with other terriers such as the Leeds, Maltese, Dandie Dinmont and the Black and Tan Manchester. The Yorkie breed was originally much bigger than it is now, but people have selectively bred the smallest dogs to make this dog tiny. It became a fashion dog and was often carried around by women in their bags. Today, the average weight of this dog is seven pounds.

The Yorkie has as very silky, long coat that parts at the spine and grows down either side of the dog. Unlike many other breeds, the hair of this breed does not stop growing. It needs to be cut regularly. It also does not have an undercoat which prevents it from shedding. This is great if you suffer from allergies because you won’t have to worry about hair being everywhere. The coat is blue and tan, but puppies are black and tan. As the dog matures, the black becomes blue.

Although the Yorkie is very small, these dogs seem oblivious of this. They don’t seem to be scared of anything! They are very adventurous, energetic, loyal, playful, brave, sweet, loving and intelligent. Yorkies are extremely affectionate with their owners but are often suspicious when strangers come around. If other small animals come around, they can even be aggressive. This breed is very dependant and demanding of its owners. It needs more human attention than most breeds. This dog makes a great lap dog and enjoys being held all day more than anything.

The Yorkie doesn’t do well with small children but is tolerant of older children if they treat the dog with care. The dog can be territorial and likes to have its own space. Yorkies learn things very easily but can become willful which sometimes makes training difficult. You must be consistent and firm when training. They also can be difficult to housebreak. This breed does best with praise because they love attention and hate to be ignored.

One of the most demanding requirements of this dog is grooming. It needs to be groomed every day. The coat needs to be brushed and the eyes and ears need to be cleaned. Also, the teeth should be cleaned regularly. The hair on top of the head is usually tied back with a bow or band.

Because of the Yorkie’s small size, it is very fragile and needs to be treated with care. It can get hurt very easily and must be watched. They are also prone to teeth problems so you need to make sure you take care of their teeth.

This dog makes a great companion that will give you lots of love. Just make sure you have the time to devote to this dog as they do require lots of your time. If you care for the dog properly, it can live for twelve to fifteen years.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Dogs

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