Fun Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day With Your Pet Dog

By Jim Witt

February is the month of love. Celebrate this Valentine's Day by dressing up your beloved canine. There are many ways to allow your dog to celebrate this wonderful Valentine season:
 
1. Dress your canine friend up in a Valentine's Day costume. Many stores sell dog costumes for holidays. Find a cupid costume with a halo headband and cute wings to fit across your dog's back.

2. Buy a Valentine's Day dog collar. Holiday dog collars are always a wonderful option for celebrating the holiday. Valentine's Day collars are fun and will be sure to get some attention.

There are a lot of options available for Valentine's Day collars. The most popular Valentine's Day collars are designs with hearts, both large and small. Other options are sweethearts, roses, flowers, and the combination of the color red and pink.

3. Find a fun valentine's outfit online or at a dog apparel store. There are many websites that cater to canine clothes for holiday occasions. Valentine themed apparel can spice up any Valentine's Day.

4. Dressing your dog in anything that is red or pink can pull off the Valentine theme. Find a cute red hat to show off your cute dog on Valentine's Day. Or you could paint their toenails pink for the occasion.

5. Handmade items can be a nice touch on Valentine's Day. Knit your dog a pink and red sweater to wear on the cold mornings. There are a lot of crafty clothing articles or accessories you can make for your dog, such as hats, sweaters, or shirts.

Show off your cute canine this Valentine's Day. Your family and friends will love to see your dog dressed up in pink and red to celebrate. Whether you choose to make a handmade hat, or purchase a beautiful Valentine's Day dog collar, your dog will have fun this holiday.

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Chihuahua History and Characteristics

By Georgios Kalarchakis

The origins of the Chihuahua are uncertain. They probably came to Mexico by the Chinese, but is also possible to be originated from dogs of the Aztecs, including the race Techichi. The Chihuahua was the favourite animal of the Aztec, who used to eat them as sacred food, also they where sacrificing them to the gods and believed that Chihuahuas brought good luck at home.
 
The Chihuahua is considered to have come to Spain by Spanish conquerors. Reproduction of the Chihuahua first started in the United States in the nineteenth century. Soon people recognized the value of this race. It is the oldest race in America and arrived in Europe after the Second World War.

The Chihuahua is the smallest of all breeds. Their height ranges from 16 to 20 cm and are weighing from one to three and a half pounds. It has a tiny fine skeleton, a head that is round and erected ears. Their smooth coat is composed of shiny, soft hair, little head and ears. Their hair is long, soft and slightly curly. There are a variety of colours in their hair like amber, white, brown and black. Their coat can be one colour or more and they could have spots.

Each Chihuahua has a unique personality. It's cute, active and shows human expressions. This tiny companion is deeply devoted and loyal. It is bold, fearless and very protective of its owner. They enjoy stealing all the attention. They are cautious in the presence of foreigners and are excellent keepers. This breed is not suitable for young children and does not coexist easily with other pets.

What you should know before buying a Chihuahua: It some times develops eye problems and heart disease. The Chihuahua can not live in cold climate and must be protected when it comes out. It is difficult to train and requires patience and stability. Socialization is very important and because of this it must begin early and be intensive and extensive.

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Is Your Puppy Peeing on the Floor? Here Are Some Tips to Help Potty Train Your Puppy

By Len Slade

Puppies do not comprehend when and where to eliminate, so it is entirely up to the owners to establish these requirements early on when potty training.

The four key elements to potty training your puppies are training, timing, confinement and praise.
 
In this article today, we will go over these elements and confront the basics to breaking your puppies natural inclination to just go in the house.

In order to help your puppy in the beginning of potty training you will need to give them a confined area to stay in. This can be a kennel or cage that is large enough for him or her to move around in. Do not line the area with anything because the puppy will certainly have a day of destroying whatever you put down under them.

A puppy will not usually eliminate where they are sleeping, so this is a good way to train them to not go in the house.

And remember to religiously use a leash when potty training your puppies. Why? Because the leash offers you more control of the animal and allows you to lead them to the place where they need to go. This will train them by routine where they can go potty outside.

You also need to use command words like outside, time for potty, lets go, do your business, etc. If you repeat these words enough, your puppy will come to understand that this means its time to go out and eliminate.

The best command term to use is " outside" with an enthusiastic tone. You can grab the leash and happily ask your puppy " wanna go out, out, outside"? They will usually jump up and wag their tails to this command after enough training.

If your puppy becomes distracted by a sound or another animal, gently tug the leash and remind him or her by using your command words like " go potty" or " time to tinkle". It may sound silly but puppies respond very well to your tone of voice and your words, so make sure that you keep the same happy tone every time you use your words.

Finally, praise is absolutely key to training your puppy to go outside to eliminate. Once he or she has successfully gone outside you should always pet them, give them words like good, good job, or that's a good boy or girl while they are eliminating, not after. This will reinforce their good behavior and remind them that they are pleasing their owners.

All puppies and owners go through this frustrating process of potty training in the beginning, but if you keep at it consistently and use the methods mentioned in this article, your puppy should be well on his or her way to being successfully potty trained.

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Socializing Your Dog

Shyness in dogs is not an unusual thing. Just like humans, dogs can worry, have anxieties, and be fearful of new people and surroundings; causing shy behavior.

In dogs, even normal household activities like vacuuming can become seriously traumatic.
 
How Do I Know If My Dog is Shy?

# Ears going back flat against the head
# Tail tucked between legs
# Raised hackles
# Refusal to make eye contact.
# Crouching
# Inappropriate urination
# Hiding
# Trembling
# Lack of eye contact
# Irregular panting

When your dog exhibits these actions, they are letting you know that they feel whatever is occurring, is potentially dangerous, threatening or painful. These signs should not be ignored. Extreme fear can lead to desperate escape attempts, urination or even biting. Fortunately, there are things you can do to correct such behaviors in dogs.

Causes:

It is a good idea to identify why your dog may be acting shy. You should first take your dog to the vet to rule out any medical reasons for your dog’s shyness.

1. The most likely cause of shyness is insufficient social contact with people during the first weeks of life. Dogs look to their owners to be the "alpha dog" of their "pack" and to guide them safely into new and stimulating situations. Without these experiences, the dog may become timid and skittish when introduced to things outside their immediate familiarity.

2. Dogs who frequently change owners and homes aren't given the chance to build familiarity, and may shy away from a wide variety of situations. Dogs adopted at an older age, such as from a rescue society, often exhibit shyness of strangers, sometimes due to mistreatment in a previous household.

3. Dogs that have been abused or have experienced traumatic events often become extremely fearful.

4. There is also a good chance that your dog never really learned how to socialize properly in the first place. If this is the case, you should be able to use some very effective dog behavior training techniques to fix this issue in no time.

What Can I Do?

Prevention

To avoid unnecessary fears or anxieties in the future, make sure your puppy is exposed to an assortment of new people, places and situations. This gives them the foundation for how to appropriately behave in these situations throughout the rest of their life.

Behavior Modifications:

If you have a shy dog who reacts fearfully to everyday situations, you can take a few steps to help him become more confident.

Don’t Coddle:

Don’t comfort your dog for being afraid. Coddling your dog will only reinforce and reward your dog’s shy behavior. When you exhibit confidence, you show your dog there is nothing to be afraid of.

Don’t Cajole:

Forcing your dog to greet others often only exacerbates the problem, causing the dog to want to avoid the people and situations more than before.

Desensitization:

Incrementally expose your dog to the object or situation he or she fears. Increase the stimulation gradually so that your dog will eventually not find the object or situation life-threatening. Give your dog opportunities to be successful at remaining calm during stressful situations to help your dog build his or her confidence. The key is to reward your dog for remaining calm.

Anti-Anxiety:

Some dogs may be so anxious and overcome with fear that they are unresponsive to behavioral modification or desensitization.

Enlist Help:

1. Have a friend the dog is unfamiliar with stand a few feet away from the dog. Have them toss a treat or one of your dog’s toys on the ground, then walk away. Repeat the process, with the person closer to the dog each time. Your dog should learn to associate positive things with strangers rather than negative things.

2. Use a toy every time you greet your dog after you have been away. The dog should eventually associate the toy with pleasant interaction. Once that has happened, you can use it when your dog is meeting strangers. Give it to visitors when they enter the house or take it with you on walks when you meet strangers along the way.

3. When you introduce new people to your dog, have the person sit down or squat on their haunches so that they appear to be less threatening. The dog will be more accustomed to relaxed social contact. The combination of the environment and passive body posture should produce a more positive response from the dog rather than if the person is looming over the dog as they advance.

The Key: The more people a dog makes friends with, the more able it will become to cope with the new people he/she meets.

Obedience training: You may need to get the help of a professional trainer or behaviorist, depending on the extent of your dog’s fearful or anxious behaviors.

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