V.I.P. Bulldogs' Top 4 Training Tips for Success Training your dog is essential to his healthy development and is necessary if you ever wish to have control over your pet.  Dogs are not born with the desire to listen to you or follow your rules.  They need to be taught, just like children.  Furthermore, a canine is only as good as his teacher, so you need to provide him with a sound training method and be a strong leader if you want effective results. Regardless of what you teach your companion, you should always apply the following 4 tips:  1. Be Consistent – Always use the same method of training.  This means use the same… • Word when giving a command, do not change it. • Form of praise (I.E. if you use a clicker always use it). • Hand signal • Step-by-step training and ensure all who give the command follow the same technique.  2. Keep lessons short – You should not train your dog for any longer than 10 minutes at a time.  These animals have short attention spans and will quickly become bored or frustrated if they are subjected to the same thing over and over again.  While you can have more than one training session per day, make sure that you take sufficient breaks in between lessons.  Note:  If you notice that your pooch is particularly restless, distracted or unresponsive to your commands he may have pent up energy he needs to release.  Therefore, it’s a good idea to exercise him before he is trained. 3. Patience – Depending on how well your pet grasps the lessons, he may or may not be a fast learner.  Regardless of how quickly or slowly he learns, you need to move at his pace to be sure that he maintains full comprehension.  Thus, do not try to teach him more than one command at a time or move on to the next step until he has shown you that he can respond on command at least 5 consecutive times. 4. Always praise and reward – Every time your dog correctly responds to commands praise and/or click and reward him with treats or affection always.  You must create this positive association because it boosts his understanding and makes him more agreeable to learning.  If he fails to follow through as you wish, do not praise nor reprimand him, simply start again until he gets it right. Content provided by Joe Tate of Oh My Dog Supplies, the top ranked place to buy memory foam dog beds online.   V.I.P. Bulldogs' Diet & Feeding Guidelines Feeding your new puppy can be as easy or hard. You will get feeding advice from breeders, shelter operators, friends, dog books and magazines, and perhaps even your past experiences. The proper advice is to listen to a professional breeder or your veterinarian. However, basic diet guidelines can be recognized. Puppies should be fed three times per day and should be allowed to eat as much as they want each meal to feed their rapid growth period, which continues until approximately nine months of age. A Steady Diet A balanced diet is better for most dogs than scraps and leftovers, which may be inappropriate for growth and development. Goat's milk is a fine addition to a puppy's diet assuming it does not cause an allergic reaction like diarrhea or vomiting. Powdered or canned and condensed milk may be substituted to supply calcium for growing bones and teeth if there is an allergy. Many puppies enjoy a diet of semi-moist foods (those packed in cellophane) or a wet-dry mix for flavoring. The semi-moist and dry foods provide a high calorie energy supply while the canned foods supply the flavor. For tiny puppies or toy breed dogs, the semi-moist and cereals can be mixed if necessary. Water should always be available and should be changed as often as necessary to keep it fresh, sanitary, and cool (but not ice cold). Change Slowly Finding the proper food for a new puppy can be trial and error. Avoid additives until the animal can tolerate his basic diet with no diarrhea or vomiting. That is, if the puppy is fed canned food, make sure he is ok before adding oil, eggs, or other supplements that may cause gastrointestinal distress. Should changes in diet be necessary, add a new food and decrease the original food over a many days until you’ve reached a complete changeover.. For those dogs with loose bowels, a bland diet is best.  Cooked, drained ground beef with an equal amount of boiled rice is gentle on the stomach and may help firm up stools until a veterinarian can review the case. Remember that water is essential, especially for those suffering from diarrhea or other diseases, as well as puppy's who are fed dry or semi-moist foods. Feed Consistently Foods should be offered on a regular schedule. This will not only adjust your puppy to the family routine, but will also help in housetraining. After each feeding, his dish should be removed and food discarded or refrigerated.  Leaving food for your dog at all times will encourage poor eating habits, it makes housetraining nearly impossible, and it can cause food poisoning, especially during the summer months when spoilage is frequent. Article written by Kerri Kelley of Oh My Dog Supplies, search for new deals on dog seat covers online.     Great Toys for Mans Best Friend Mans best friend loves us but also loves to play so it is up to the owners to supply them with great, safe toys. They need a variety of toys so they have some they play with alone and others that are fun for them and yourself. Because they are such social animals many dogs hate to be alone even for a few hours. Sometimes, having a special toy brought out only when you will be away for a bit can relieve a little of your pets stress. The most important factor when selecting a dog toy is your pets’ safety. Make sure that any toys you purchase are large enough, so they are not choking hazards. Durable toys that hold up to biting, pulling and chewing are necessary. Never give a dog stuffed animals made for children as they are easy to tear apart and can injure your pet. Shopping for a dog toy is often confusing because there are so many choices. There are rope toys, chew toys, rawhide bones, rubber balls, stuffed animals, talking toys, treat filled toys and dental toys. These are only a few of hundreds of toys available. Picking an appropriate toy that your will love and play can be difficult. If your dog is very energetic and needs an hour or more of play daily, with or without their owners, they need toys that stand up to a lot of abuse. Hard rubber toys and balls, that you throw to your pet or play soccer with, are great for burning off energy. Ropes are good for fetching and tugging on. If your dog likes to chew, then nylon bones and pigs ears are fantastic for keeping your pet busy. Tough, thick, study toys are perfect for busy, lively dogs. Other dogs play hard for about five or ten minutes and then need to take a rest or nap. Often these are the smaller breeds of dog. Dog safe stuffed animals, squeaky toys or their own blanket to tug on or sleep with, are great choices. For the dogs that fit between extremely energetic and low energy try toys such as rope toys, rubber balls and treat toys. If your dog loves water and you spend a lot of time at the beach or lake, there are floating dog toys made specifically for throwing and fetching. All dogs have their own distinct personality and just like children and what we think they will like is not necessarily what they want. Many pet stores allow owners to bring their pets shopping along with them. Not only is this fun for both but you might be amazed at what toys your dog really prefers, that you would not usually consider. You may find that your Great Dane is terrified of squeaky toys or that your toy poodle wants a soccer ball to push around. It can be a very interesting experience seeing what color, size or shape toys attract your pets. The bottom line is that no matter what great dog toys you end up purchasing for your pet, make sure it is safe for them. Content written by Lori Reese of Oh My Dog Supplies, where you can find a incredible assortment of dog blankets online.     How to Approach Strange Dogs (Part 1) To Approach an Unfamiliar Dog (Part 1) It is imperative to know how to approach an unfamiliar dog in the proper way to ensure that you and those around you will be safe. It is also important along those lines to know the way one should not approach an unfamiliar dog, and children should be taught the same. A child may be unaware that his or her actions could upset a normally docile dog into biting or aggressive behavior. A dog will bite for three reasons: randomly, out of fear, or for self-preservation. Random Biter The behavior of an unfamiliar dog is dependent on your situation. For example, when you are strolling through a neighborhood, keeping to yourself and a dog appears to leave its yard and approaches you to bite, this dog is a random biter. This dog has obviously been pampered and spoiled and more than likely feels a superiority in its household. The breed of the animal could range from a Giant Schnauzer to a Toy Chihuahua. It is fortunate that most dogs are not random biters because they are usually restricted to the home with their owners being completely aware of their deviant tendencies. Most likely, they have suffered bites from their own pets if they didn’t let them have their way. Biting out of Fear The dog that bites out of fear is exceptional in that its behavior could be a result of its genetics, or it could have been brought up as a puppy with limited interaction with people or different situations. If it does bite, the animal could be feeling a sense of panic at the time. If one approaches a normally friendly dog that is injured, it could become fearful and bite. For instance, if you are driving along a highway and find that there is a dog lying on the road that has been injured by a vehicle, it may think that you were the driver, misunderstanding your good intentions. Biting out of Self-Preservation or Protection Lastly, the type of biter that will have self-preservation or the protection of someone or something on its mind will not have any other motive to spur it on. Working breeds usually produce this type of biter. Working breeds include dogs that, in the past, were bred to protect its owner’s property or real estate, or the type of dog a shepherd would have employed. Although most dogs would have a protective character, the working breeds manifest the traits primarily. Information written by Sally Perry of Oh My Dog Supplies, check out our complete collection of car seat covers online.