Dog Lovers

Papillons are gentle and friendly little dogs that love to be around children and other animals. They do well in obedience school, learn quickly and love to please.

Papillons are an ideal dog for families who live in apartments or small houses and perfect for people with sedentary lifestyles such as the elderly or handicapped.

Appearance of the Papillon

Papillons have a thick flowing coat of long, fine, silky, straight hair. It is usually mostly white with patterned patches of almost any other color. Most common are black, red or tan.

The typical papillon stands about 8 to 10 inches high and weighes 8 to 10 pounds. You can expect them to live active and fun lives of about 12 to 15 years.

Grooming and Exercise Needs of the Papillons

Papillons need to be brushed and groomed 2 to 3 times a week and need to have their coat trimmed every 2 to 3 months.

They do not require a lot of exercise. A long brisk walk a day and a good game of fetch will do just fine. Most papillons love walking, especially through parks and woods.

Origins of the Papillon

The Papillon gets its unusual name from its unusually shaped ears. Their ears are shaped like a butterfly and “papillon” means “butterfly” in French.

The Papillons appeared in the later 17th century as a companion to European royalty. Both Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour (yes, the hairstyle is named for her) were said to have owned Papillons.

papillons appear in numerous Italian frescoes and paintings of the era — including ones by such famous artists as Rubens, Titian and Rembrandt.

One health note — Papillons are prone to deafness.

Burns in dogs are extremely dangerous and in some cases, even with extensive treatment, they can take the life of your dog. There are several underlying factors that make them a life threatening situation, especially if your dogs has an extensive case of anemia as a result, an electrolyte imbalance, or is seriously dehydrated. Infections are also extremely dangerous with burns, but if your dog develops Sepsis, they may have very little chance of surviving.

Sepsis can very easily affect both very young as well as very old dogs, as well as dogs with a compromised immune system. It is a very serious medical condition where your dogs entire body is in an inflammatory state as a result of an infection because of the burn.

Your dogs skin is the single largest organ in their body and a burn that affects as small as fifteen percent of their body can be extremely dangerous. Thermal burns in dogs can be caused by several everyday accidents that are waiting to happen if you are not careful. Your dog may be burned by getting too much sun, walking on extremely hot pavement, or simply getting to close to the barbecue, especially when you are lighting it.

Hot liquids that may be spilled, hot metal surfaces that they may come into contact with, as well as heating pads and heating lamps are also sources that may burn your dog. Radiation from radiator heat, hair dyers that may be used to dry your dog, as well as scalding water are also other potential threats.

Symptoms:

Burns in your dog, when they do occur, may happen without your knowledge or you actually witnessing the accident. However, there are some very telling symptoms that you can watch for that your dog has suffered a burn. The first symptom will be a very sudden mass of hair that is missing for no reason at all. If this does happen, treat it very seriously and look at the area in extreme detail.

Immediately after your dog has been burned, their skin will develop leather like appearances or the surface of the skin will be almost white. Once this occurs, the next symptom that you will see is red or exposed skin.

If you see any of these signs it is a very serious development. However, if you see blisters forming or blisters that have already developed, it may now be a life threatening situation. Once blisters form, infections can very easily follow, but this also opens the door wide open for your dog developing Sepsis.

Types of burns:

Burns in dogs are classified entirely different than they are in humans, as they are not classified as first degree, second degree, etc. With dogs, burns are classified by the depth and thickness as well as the extent of the injury as a result of the burn.

The first form of burns in dogs is classified as superficial partial thickness burns. These would be classified as first degree burns in humans, and with this type of burn only the top layer of your dogs skin has been damaged. With this form, the hair may still be attached to the skin, appear red in color, but there will be no sign of blisters. However, it will cause pain as well as swelling,

The next form is more serious and is referred to deep partial thickness burns and this form of burn is relative to a second degree burn. With this form, your dogs surface layer as well as some of their deeper layers of skin has been damaged. This is perhaps the most dangerous of the forms simply because it may not be treated by owners as being as serious as it really is.

Second degree burns in humans are almost always associated with the development of blisters, but with dogs, blisters will very seldom occur. However, it has penetrated some of the inner layers and even without the blisters; it can cause infections to develop very quickly. With this form, the hair is usually gone, the skin will be red, and you will see some of the inner layers of skin as well as swelling. Your dog will also be in a lot of pain.

Owners should never treat this form of burn lightly as it may become catastrophic for your dog as infection is starting to set in, you just can not see it.

The final form of burns in dogs is referred to as full thickness burns and this is the most serious and is relative to a third degree burn in humans. This form of burn extends through all layers of your dogs skin, they will start to lose some of their skin, and they will develop blisters. There will also be swelling, however, something very odd occurs with this form; your dog will not be in a lot of pain simply because they may be going into shock.

Treatments:

The form of treatment for burns in dogs will all depend on the thickness of the injury. But with all forms there is one commonality that is critical; you must cool the burn as quickly as possible. There are several homeopathic remedies for scratches, abrasions, and other injuries in dogs, but this is a burn, not a scratch.

The only initial treatment from an owner should be with cool water only. Do not use ice, as this can result in lowering their body temperature and may even cause frostbite.

Only use cool water and very slowly cool the area for forty to sixty minutes or until you can seek professional care. Any other type of remedy may intensify the situation. If the burn is superficial partial thickness only, it can be treated very quickly by your veterinarian with iodine and than topical creams. Most of these burns will heal within a few days.

If the burn is deep partial thickness, your dog will need to be hospitalized and will usually be given intravenous feeding as well as electrolytes to provide hydration. If your dog has a full thickness burn and over fifteen percent of their body is affected, they will require extensive hospitalization, as well as potential skin grafting. With this form of burn, you may have a very difficult decision to make as it will be very expensive to save your dog, if they can be saved.

Summary:

Burns in dogs will also require your dog to have additional nutritional support to help sustain a higher metabolic rate which will help the healing process. Pain medications will also play a very important role as your dog will be experiencing a lot of pain. Morphine is often used but as well as steroids help in some situations, they should be totally avoided with burns because of the potential of immune reactions.

There is one thing that is critical in dealing with a burn in your dog. Home remedies and natural forms of treatments have tremendous benefits in several situations, but this is not one of them. Only use cool water on your dog, do not use ice or butter in the early forms of treatment. After that, leave the treatment in the hands of professionals as this is one of the most serious situations your dog could ever face.

I am an avid lover of pets and my wife and I have had several pets throughout our years. We are especially fond of dogs, and we have a 12 year old Dalmatian (our 3rd) and a “mutt” that we rescued when someone threw him away to die in a vacant field.

He found us, nearly starved to death, and weighed about 2 pounds.

After severe bouts of mange and severe dehydration, and over 1,000.00 in veterinarian bills, we saved the little guys life, and he is one of the best, if not the best, dogs we have ever had and today is a muscular, fit, and firm 70 pound best friend.

After finishing my MBA, which at middle age was not easy, I decided to keep the research work ethics that I acquired, and devote about two hours each night in understanding the health benefits of supplementation for both humans and pets and how they might strengthen our, as well as our pets, immune system in a pre-emptive approach to health rather than a reactionary approach.

Both of my daughters are avid cat lovers, and asked me to help them with health concerns and challenges with their cats.

I am not a veterinarian nor claim to be, just a lover of pets that loves to research and pass on some knowledge that might be helpful, or at least stimulating to the thought process.

Several of the articles that I have written can be found on my website;

Liquid Vitamins & Minerals for Humans & Pets
http://www.liquid-vitamins-minerals-humans-pets.com/

It’s thunderstorm season and with thunderstorms comes, well thunder! Like fireworks during the 4th of July, thunder can be a very scary thing for some dogs while others are oblivious. If you’ve read or seen the movie “Marley and Me,” you are aware of poor Marley’s extreme fear of thunderstorms to the point of mass destruction! When dogs are afraid they are thrown into their basic animal instincts of fight or flight. They are either searching to take cover somewhere they feel safe or they may go on a wild frenzy of destruction trying to escape their fear. In either case, your poor canine companion is experiencing extreme stress.

What makes storm anxiety so terrifying for our sweet canine companions is that they have no one to fight and in most cases no where to flight to, so they are imprisoned with no relief of this debilitating fear. They can’t see or smell the object of their fear so there isn’t a way for them to check it out for themselves to satisfy their curiosity or conquer their fear. There is no escape!

Can you imagine being terrified and not having any where to run to or no control over your escape to a safer place? It is up to us to take this fear seriously and help our furry family member adjust through training, as well as providing a safe environment to help comfort them through the worse part of the thunderstorm. Playing soothing music in the back ground to help drown out some of the thunder noises helps. But, oddly enough trying to comfort them usually doesn’t.

Dogs can be trained out of their fears and should never be allowed to dominate you or your household by holding you prisoner to their fears. The remedy is to find a qualified dog trainer to help train you on how to work with your canine companion to hopefully either eliminate their fear all together or at least minimize it substantially. This will help them be more at peace and cope better during the stormy season as well as help strengthen the bond between you and your favorite furry friend. Sometimes, if the fear is beyond reproach you can ask your vet to prescribe your dog a mild sedative or find an herbal tincture that may help calm your little pal down until the storms pass.

One way or the other, your dog is worth the time and attention it will take to help them overcome or, at the very least, lessen their fear of thunderstorms. And perhaps, you won’t be singing in the rain together, but maybe sitting in front of a nice warm fire peacefully enjoying each other’s company instead. Life is short, wag more, bark less!

Ring worm is a kind of fungal infection that is easily transmissible from person to person and to pets as well. Ring worm in dogs is very common also and spotting ring worm in your dog can be easily done by visual inspection. It is really important to know the early signs and symptoms so that proper treatment can be applied.

Ring worm in your pet dogs is seen through patches of missing hair. The patch looks like circle with raised edges and it commonly caused so much itchiness and discomfort. There might be pale spot in the middle area because fungus affects hair strands which eventually make some hair strands to break off. Dogs’ skin typically looks inflamed, crusty and flaky. Due to itching dogs can easily spread the infection to other parts of the body. Human can also spread fungal infection easily by sharing used things such as blankets and bedding. The infection in human is most likely seen as red circular rashes with skin the middle.

If you noticed ring worm on your dog immediately take it to a veterinarian near your place. The veterinarian can check on your dogs’ condition by looking at the skin under a special ultraviolet light or by simply taking a scraping on the skin for testing. Skin test will take between one to two weeks before a proper diagnosis can be made of. You can come back for a prescribed treatment from your veterinarian. Good thing that there are a number of available treatments to prevent it from spreading to other parts of the body.

All you need to do is patiently and persistently follow the advice of your veterinarian. Remember that its occurrence is about ten days and you can visibly see some signs of it accumulating on the skin. Though it is possible that you can not completely rid yourself, pets and your home from getting this infection but the most important thing to do is immediate attention and treatment unto it. If you see early signs treat them immediately. Most commonly recommendation from your vet is by using shampoo and fungal creams. The medication must be administered to your dogs daily as prescribed by the doctor. Creams maybe applied but it is not effective as fungal shampoos because dogs will just lick or rub the cream away. The most effective way to treat ring worm in dogs is by using anti fungal shampoo. Shampoo will remove the fungus spores from the hair that have not yet shown and with just one bath treatment it will totally rid your dog from ring worm.

It is also important to clean the area where the dog stays. If you have treated the infection in your dog but his surrounding is still dirty there is a great chance of fungus to accumulate faster. Wash your dogs bedding everyday with bleach and hot water. Avoid direct contact with your pet so that you will not be infected as well. Treat other animals preset at home too so that they will not be infected with fungus also. Remember to apply the treatment daily and when your dog shows sign of progress you may take it back to the veterinarian for a thorough check its hair to see if the fungus is totally healed this time.

Ring worm is an infection though easily transmitted but can be prevented to accumulate more in the other parts of the body. It is therefore necessary to apply prompt treatment unto the infected area by using fungal creams and shampoos and most especially adhering to what has been advised by your veterinarian.

Whether you’re thinking of adopting a puppy, small dogs for adoption or really thinking of adopting any canine up for adoption, you should be looking to adopt rescue dogs from an adoption shelter.

First, you’re helping the canine population in general. Usually, rescue dogs are at the bottom of dog society – while no one wants to see a dog abused or a dog abandoned, it happens to these poor creatures regularly through no fault of their own. Many die, unfortunately, but a lot do make it to an adoption shelter. These rescue dogs so appreciate any kindness they’re shown and only need a good home with your loving family to move to the top of dog society as a much-beloved family pet!

Second, you may well be saving the life of a poor little puppy or a loving older pooch. Not every shelter is a no kill dog shelter – some have no choice but to put canines to sleep if they aren’t adopted, as the shelter may not have enough room for the number of strays they get. A true no kill dog shelter must have a big budget, have a number of volunteers who’ll take a foster dog, or refer new arrivals to other dog centers when their facilities are full.

This is especially true of older or geriatric animals – while a lot of people will take an older, well-behaved pooch as a foster dog, fewer will adopt geriatric ones as they don’t have that long to live. Realistically, most people think of adopting a puppy, but puppy adopting can be equally taxing depending on puppy temperament (often a trait of the puppy breed). Similarly, most start out looking for small dogs for adoption, and again usually a small dog puppy.

And while there’s nothing wrong with a puppy rescue adoption, the choice to shelter a canine who is a bit bigger and longer in the tooth is probably the most humane adoption there is. We may all love puppy pics, but picking an old and trustworthy friend from an adoption shelter can be just as rewarding for you and help a geriatric pooch live out his or her final years as a beloved and well-cared-for pet.

Finally, and just as importantly, when you adopt rescue dogs from an adoption shelter you free up the space, food and time used to look after your new pet, allowing them to accept another rescue dog in place of the dog adopted. These caring dog centers get far more dogs for adoptions than they can handle, so it’s important that we all do our part to help the adoption shelter as best we can.

If you’re not sure about owning a dog or adopting a puppy, speak to them about looking after a foster dog. A foster dog is one that is awaiting adoption, and you get a chance to try having a dog in the house while the adoption shelter has temporary space freed up to accept another dog abused and/or abandoned by some jerk. Just be forewarned – when you decide to shelter a dog as a foster dog, more often than not a loving bond develops between you and you end up deciding not to return them to the adoption shelter, but to keep them as the newest loving member of your family!

House training a puppy is all a matter of routine, so if you have reached the point where you are asking “how do I stop my dog peeing in the house?” you need to understand immediately that this is happening because you haven’t yet established that necessary potty training routine for him.

A puppy doesn’t come to you already trained. He’s just been taken away from his siblings and the environment he was born into and was used to. He’s frightened and probably very confused.

• So-Tip Number 1: Never ever punish him or shout at him for accidents. All this will achieve is to make him even more frightened and less receptive to learning what is expected of him. This is by far the most important tip. In the long run, patience and kindness are the fastest route.
• Tip Number 2: Don’t allow your new puppy to have the run of the house; keep him in a restricted area but make it somewhere where he can see you and hear you. I am a very strong believer in crate training a puppy, this then makes the process especially easy.
• Tip Number 3: Immediately you wake up in the morning, take your puppy outside to the same place each time and repeat the same word to him in a happy, encouraging voice. I have always repeated “Quickly”, but it can be anything provided you stick to the same word. When he has peed, pat him and praise him lavishly. Tell him he’s a “good dog”.
• Tip Number 4: Immediately after your puppy has eaten take him outside and repeat the process.
• Tip Number 5: Always go out through the same door so that it all becomes part of the routine. As a precaution, keep the floor by the door covered with newspaper and always keep a watchful eye on the puppy and whenever he walks over to the door and especially if he starts sniffing the floor or trotting round in circles, take him outside to the usual place.
• Tip Number 6: A puppy naps a lot throughout the day. Whenever he wakes from a nap, take him outside. Again, this requires you to be vigilant. If he wakes up and you aren’t around to take him outside, that’s your fault, not his!
• Tip Number 7: Don’t expect a puppy to go through the night without needing to go outside. Place his crate or bed close to yours so that you can hear him immediately he begins to wake and take him outside to his familiar spot fast.

In the end house training a puppy is just one part of the whole dog training picture. Throughout, you will need to be calm and rely upon positive reinforcement. Shouting and punishment will set you back weeks and could very easily destroy your puppy’s confidence, making all other training difficult to return my preference for crate training a puppy makes it so much easier restrict your certain area while you are engaged in other activities around the house provide him with clean comfortable blanket and cuddly doggie toy he will very quickly accept as his space of course should never view prison allow out frequently outside pee eat drink especially play games vigorous game tire happily peeing nap tired is good involve romp before settling down night

Two really good ploys for night-time when house training a puppy is to wrap an old fashioned ticking alarm clock in a blanket. The ticking will be similar to his mother’s heartbeat and will sooth him to sleep. If it’s not summer, a warm hot water bottle in his blankets will also be a great sleep inducer. For a copy of my FREE 12-page Dog Training Basics Report go to http://4petsonline.com/brand-new-dog-training-basics-report-free-4-you/

When it comes to dog potty training it is all about being consistent with their potty breaks. So you just got home with your new puppy, first thing to do is take it outside to take care on business. When dealing with a new puppy, it is very important to take them outside every couple of hours to take care of their business.

Dog potty training is not hard if you stay on top of things. Placing newspaper down in the puppy’s area in case they have an accident will make clean up much easier. Be sure to clean up the soiled area immediately and remove any scent so the puppy does not think that is the place to go. When the puppy soils outside, be sure to praise them and let them know they did a good job.

A mistake some people make with dog potty training is yelling at the puppy after the fact. Yelling at the dog after they have a mistake inside does nothing but hurt their feelings, they need to be caught in the act in order to get it through to them. Simply saying no and bringing them outside to finish their business is the proper thing to do.

Using treats with dog potty training works well. Give them a treat when they go outside and tell them they are a good dog. When they receive a treat for when they go outside, it will make them want to keep going outside to get more treats. Be patient with your puppy as this is a big learning curve for them, understand them and get to know them for their personality.

For dog potty training if you are putting down newspaper in the puppy’s area, you can slowly move it towards the door every couple of days. After a week or two with consistent puppy walks and moving the newspaper towards the door, the puppy will eventually get that outside is the place to go and you can remove the newspaper all together.

If you are looking for more details on the latest training for your dog, check out our blog: Puppy Training Pads. If you are looking for the top dog training guide visit: Complete Dog Training Guide. Make your puppy the talk of the block today!