Looking After Pets

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  • scissors
    October 18th, 2011adminPets Advice

    If you have been a weimaraner owner for many years, probably you are aware that providing weimaraner training can be challenging taking into consideration this breed’s personality – energetic and has strong, instinctive prey drive. But that does not make training impossible for there are numerous techniques an owner can utilize to have a well-mannered four-legged pooch. One thing an owner should remember though is that, not all tips claiming to be effective are indeed effective. Hence it is very essential that you’re well aware of what works and what to steer clear of.

    To help you determine what are the things to avoid, here are the most common mistakes some pet owners make:

    1. Waiting before training.
    While it’s possible to train old dogs with new tricks, training at an early age frequently leads to desirable result than training only when the dog has started to develop bad behaviors. In short, training should start as soon as your new pet arrives home. Training during your pet’s first few days at home may include socialization, potty training and some obedience commands.

    2. Not knowing your pet’s needs.
    The outcome of training is not only dependent on your skills about weimaraner training. It’s also essential to assess your pet’s needs and condition so that you’ll be able to find out what technique would suit him best. Like for example if your pet has hearing difficulties, using hand signals is more appropriate than using voice commands during training particularly when you and your pet are a few meters away from each other.

    3. Failure to correct an improper behavior.
    You cannot just tell a dog that chewing is improper and expect him to understand and obey you. If you catch him in the act of doing the mistake, say chewing, call his attention instantly, give him his chew toy and remove the object once he diverted his attention to the toy. If he stays focused on the object he’s not supposed to chew, avoid pulling it forcefully because he might assume that you are playing with him. In addition, correction ought to be done on a timely fashion, not five hours or even one hour after an undesirable deed is done.

    4. Using punishment.
    While correction is necessary in order to achieve successful weimaraner training, it is important to bear in mind that using punishment to correct your dog’s mistake isn’t the ideal way to have a properly-mannered weimaraner. In fact, it can do more harm than good since inflicting physical pain may result to fear and aggression.

    5. Failure to recognize and reward good behavior.
    Since it’s not a good idea to reprimand your dog, one way to encourage good behavior is to recognize it. Like for instance if your dog pees at the area you selected, rewarding him, be it with treat or praise, can make him figure out that he gets good things for doing the deed thus will eventually help him build proper potty habits.

    6. Lack of confidence and consistency on the owner’s part.
    The owner’s attitude and knowledge plays a great factor in achieving successful weimaraner training. You should be confident enough to show your dog that you are the leader of the pack hence he must obey whatever command you ask him to do. Furthermore, consistency when it comes to training approaches prevents confusion on your beloved dog’s part.

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  • scissors
    October 17th, 2011adminPets Advice

    There are various factors known to affect weimaraner training. Training a smart dog can be more fascinating but his obstinate disposition can delay desirable results from occurring. The owner’s attitude impacts the training progress too. Apart from being determined and consistent, you must demonstrate confidence so as to establish your role as leader of the pack he ought to respect and obey.

    So what makes the pack order so significant when it comes to training? It’s because dogs are social animals. Prior to when they were domesticated and became popular family pets, dogs in the wild have been thriving in groups. They follow a structure, wherein the leader is the one controlling the action of other animals in the pack. The alpha has more freedom than other members – gets to eat first, sleep wherever he prefers and give commands and expect the members to obey.

    However, domesticated dogs have been taken out of this natural order and learned to flourish with people. Thus instead of being in a pack of four-legged canines, many have already learned to accept their two-legged human companions as member of the pack too.

    But how can an owner establish his role as the pack leader? Simple but can be difficult at times for this does not happen naturally. You should be confident and firm enough for your pet to see you as a capable leader who will not only control him but also provide protection to him if the need arise.

    To display your authority over your pet, here are a few tips you may want to think about:

    Be the first on everything.
    Considering that the alpha gets to eat first or walk ahead of the other members of the pack, it is just right that you follow this routine. Always go first when going through the door, walking or going up and down the stairs. When you’re walking your dog outside, don’t let him walk in front of you. He must be beside or behind you instead.

    Call your pet to come to you.
    When it’s time to walk or you have to attach his collar or leash, call him to come to you rather than going to him yourself. The same is true during mealtime, playtime and in nearly every opportunity.

    Set time for everything.
    There should be schedule for feeding, toilet breaks, exercise and even weimaraner training.

    Avoid putting up with his whims.
    There will come a time when your weimaraner would beg for food or bark to go out of the house. Never cave in to all his whims even if those puppy eyes can take your heart away. You are the leader so you’re the one who decides when to eat or when and where to go.

    Your weimaraner should sleep in his bed, not in yours.
    As stated, the alpha can sleep wherever he wants, more likely in the most comfortable area. You can allow your dog on your bed but he should only stay at the bottom and not push you out of the way.

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  • scissors
    October 12th, 2011adminPets Advice

    Weimaraner training is not merely about teaching your dog to obey basic commands like sit, stay and down. Additionally, training involves socialization that aims to develop the dog’s social relationship along with leadership, confidence, perseverance and consistency on your part.

    There are plenty of tactics said to be helpful in attaining every dog owner’s dream of a properly-mannered pet. However, not all these are guaranteed to be effective on your pet since dogs differ from the other, at times even if they’re of the same breed. As owner, it is therefore your responsibility to ascertain which specific approach works best on your pet and the ones you ought to avoid.

    1. Socialization is always the starting point. Before working on complicated or even basic commands, socialize your pet first. Whether it’s a puppy or an adult dog you adopted from the dog shelter, every dog needs to adjust to the new environment they are introduced into. If there are other pets in the house, introduce them on neutral ground and make the experience pleasant if you can to prevent territorial and aggression problems later on.

    2. Check your pet’s condition. Your pet’s condition can greatly impact the weimaraner training outcome. Although naturally energetic breed, you cannot expect an old weimaraner to demonstrate the same stamina as a young weimaraner does. Old dogs tire easily while young ones can become rowdy sometimes. Knowing your pet’s condition can therefore help you figure out what training method to use, the length of training each session and the difficulty of each activity.

    3. Basic commands to stop and get rid of behavior issues. Teaching obedience commands will not only make you a proud dog owner. More importantly, these commands can prevent and eradicate various behavior issues such as chewing, digging, jumping on and/or chasing after people and biting. For instance, if you are working on eliminating your pet’s jumping issue, commanding him to sit and stay as soon as you see him can prevent him from actually jumping. By doing the technique when the need arises, he’ll eventually figure out what is the right action to take.

    4. Basic commands as the groundwork. You cannot just teach your pet the “roll over” command without teaching the command “down” or “stay”. So before you dream of having a dog that can perform amazing tricks, better work on the basic commands first.

    5. Encourage through recognition and rewards. Positive reinforcement generally works better than any other training approaches. By knowing your pet’s desirable behavior and rewarding him for it, he will be encouraged to repeat such behavior when opportunity comes since he knows that he’ll be getting good things.

    6. Penalty is not as needed as correction. The ideal time to mend your pet’s behavior is when you catch him in the act of doing the mistake, like urinating on areas apart from which you designated as his toilet. When this occurs, take him to the designated area to finish. Punishment needs to be avoided at all costs for it will only bring more harm than good.

    These tips may be very basic but when adhered to, can be very valuable in achieving successful weimaraner training.

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  • scissors
    September 20th, 2011adminPets Advice

    If you are no stranger to weimaraner, you would probably agree that weimaraner training can be challenging sometimes. To get the picture, think about training a high-energy dog with the appearance that of a muscular, athletic dog that is high-strung and rambunctious especially when young. Ain’t easy right? Weimaraner training can be hard but with right approaches, attaining your goals isn’t impossible. And the reward is really worth all the effort – a well behaved, athletic yet elegant dog you’ll surely love to take with you even when taking long walks on a sunny Saturday morning.

    If training your own weimaraner isn’t a no-sweat-thing, becoming a professional trainer is harder. Apart from the need to be very good at it, you also have to be cautious of your reputation to gain your customer’s trust.

    You cannot just jump into the matter without considering several aspects. The most important factor you need to be really sure of is that if you are passionate about dogs and working with them. Do you enjoy being around dogs especially weimaraners? Are you patient and enthusiastic enough to train them the behaviors they must learn? Would you be content to have a career revolving around dogs? Should you answered yes to these questions, then dog training is for you. It is important that you are truly passionate towards dogs for if not, it’ll reflect on your performance hence affect your reputation as trainer.

    While you have the choice to cater other dog breeds, concentrating on weimaraner training provides you with more time to fully enhance your knowledge and skills in dealing with this particular breed. You’ll be able to determine how an individual dog differs from the other and easily provide solution to a specific issue.

    To start with, find out as much as you can concerning the breed. Learning doesn’t necessarily mean reading a book or two specifically about weimaraners. It’s a must to have on-hand experience on training this breed nicknamed “the Grey Ghost”. In addition, it helps if you have past experience on raising a weimaraner puppy and have owned a weimaraner for years.

    Aside from books, there are other resources in which you can consider to learn training strategies and approaches. There are seminars or short-courses on dog training, videos as well as forum sites. You can also learn a lot by talking or hearing insights from vets, professional trainers and even other weimaraner owner. Indeed, there are various ways to learn however, do not expect or pressure yourself to learn everything in just a few days or weeks. Becoming a professional dog trainer is a gradual procedure and you have to be patient and determined to become a good one.

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  • scissors
    September 11th, 2011adminPets Advice

    Weimaraner training, same with training other dog breeds, is always linked to various behavior problems like increased barking, jumping and biting. Why it’s linked? Simply because these undesired behaviors could be avoided and eliminated through teaching your dog with what’s acceptable and not.

    In addition to the behavior problems stated earlier, there is one more issue that can significantly be affected by weimaraner training – it’s separation anxiety. Popular among weimaraners as well as other domesticated dogs, canine separation anxiety or CSA is a condition in which a dog that is separated from its owner demonstrates distressed symptoms such as barking, howling, frequent urinating or defecating, damaging furniture, frantic pacing and biting windows or doors where the human owner was last seen.

    Apart from separation to the owner, CSA also arises when the dog is crated for extended durations, change in routine or daily schedule, moving to a new home even with the owner, often left on it’s own, being taken away from from the mother and littermates at a young age and traumatic experience especially when alone. Lack of socialization, exercise and appropriate training are also factors that lead to the occurrence of separation anxiety.

    So this is where weimaraner training comes in. Puppies should be placed at their permanent homes at eight weeks of age in order to give them time to socialize with the mother and other puppies in the litter. When placed or transferred to a new home, socialization helps them get accustomed to the new environment they’re into. Furthermore, socialization also prevents other behavior issues like aggression from developing.

    Exercise and training are to some extent connected with one another. When you exercise your weimaraner, it is more likely that you’re training it to walk properly, to recover ball or stick, to avoid distractions and many others. Alternatively, when training your beloved pet, you oftentimes require it to run, walk and just move around giving way to active lifestyle. At the same time, training and exercise can keep any dog mentally occupied and physically tired hence he is less likely to feel and care about your absence.

    To get rid of your dog’s separation anxiety, practice gradual departures. Get ready as if you’re leaving the house, then go to the door but do not go anywhere. Repeat the process for a few days to lessen your pet’s excitement at the same time disassociate the habit of going to the door to actually leaving the house. Then go just outside the door for a few seconds and return before he starts barking. Gradually increase the time of you being outside until he gets used to you being out and away for a few hours.

    Before you leave the house and during your arrival, it also helps to not make a fuss about it. No tearful goodbyes and grand “mommy’s home” greetings. If he remains calm upon your arrival, wait for a few seconds before patting or rewarding him for being good. If he jumps or barks the second he sees you at the door, it is best to ignore him to let him know that the behaviors he demonstrated are inappropriate and will not make him earn rewards.

    It may take a while to address this issue but with weimaraner training that includes behavior modification and physical and mental stimulation, canine separation anxiety is not impossible to eliminate at all.

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  • scissors
    September 9th, 2011adminPets Advice

    Due to the popular adage “you can’t teach old dog new tricks”, it isn’t uncommon if you’ll run into some people who believe that with older weimaraners, it’s not possible to attain successful weimaraner training. Yes, it can be difficult and complex sometimes but not impossible. Dogs, whatever the age is, are capable of learning so long as training activities are programmed or designed to suit their age and condition.

    The weimaraner is a highly athletic and trainable breed valued for their physical endurance and stamina thus the need to train them as soon as possible to avoid problems from occurring. However, if you adopted an adult dog from the shelter or inherited one from a friend or family member, there’s no need to worry about this pet’s habits since there are numerous strategies you might want to take into consideration in order to have a well-behaved adult weimaraner.

    Before you utilize any training approach, it is best to learn more about that particular dog’s background first. Is he potty trained? Does he responds well to obedience commands? Is he terrified of a particular thing or exhibiting signs of aggression? What is the main reason his previous owner abandoned him? These are examples of the questions you need to ask in order to assess your dog’s condition, ability to learn and training strategies that would suit him best.

    Understand that training a healthy young dog differs from training an old dog that’s probably suffering from health problems attributed to old age. Slowing, having pains during movement, can’t climb the stairs and getting exhausted easily are some of the things you need to take into account before deciding what weimaraner training method to utilize.

    With an older weimaraner, training that involves hard work and arduous activities ought to be avoided as much as possible. Running and walking, jumping, retrieving, obstacle course and the likes must be done in short periods of time, if you can’t totally avoid. Rather than 15 to 20-minute session, lessen it to 5 to 10 minutes each session. If you used to throw a ball twenty times to your young dog, make it three or five throws only with your old dog. Recovery period between sessions must be longer too.

    Just like with young dogs, using treat is also helpful during weimaraner training. However, providing treat ought to be regulated so as to prevent being overweight since old dogs with less active lifestyle gain weight easily and shed weight slowly thus increases the risk of obesity. To reward them, lots of praise and time to play should be utilized instead.

    Another thing you need to take into account is your pet’s hearing condition. Sometimes, a dog is not obeying commands simply because he can’t hear, not because he’s being stubborn.

    Successful training isn’t impossible to achieve and there are people who can attest to that. You just have to understand and consider your pet’s condition to ascertain whether or not that particular activity or strategy would be useful in helping you raise a well-behaved older dog with wide-set eyes.

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  • scissors
    September 7th, 2011adminPets Advice

    One of the most important responsibilities of every weimaraner owner is to know more about the breed including weimaraner training. As early as eight weeks, puppies need to undergo socialization, basic obedience training and housebreaking. These three areas of training are extremely important in raising a well-behaved pet everybody loves to be around.

    There’s nothing more fulfilling than having a dog that poops and pees at the right time and place. You will never have to worry about urine stains on the carpet or seeing a pile of poop near the couch. With a housebroken pet, you can be confident letting him roam around the house knowing that he knows the direction to go when the need to urinate or defecate arises.

    Here are eight tips that can help you housebreak your canine friend successfully:

    Understand your pet’s condition.
    When you brought home a puppy, keep in mind that puppies are not capable of holding their bladder for longer periods of time hence the need to relieve frequently. The same may be true to dogs with any sort of kidney and urinary disease. By knowing your pet’s condition, you will be able to determine what works best for your pet.

    Keep watch over your pet.
    Whether you brought home a puppy or an adult dog, experts always advise to monitor him particularly during your pooch’s first few days at home wherein he’s more likely to feel strange at the new environment you brought him into. In addition, you ought to;

    Watch our for signs.
    Dogs always exhibit clues before they go potty. These signs include sniffing around, walking in circles and being too restless. When these signs show up, you need to bring your dog to the area you chose as his toilet right away and let him finish there.

    Establish feeding schedule.
    If you feed your four-legged friends almost at the same time each day, he’s also more likely to potty almost the same times too.

    Bring him out on regular basis.
    The best times to take your pet out are during; upon waking up in the morning, after eating or drinking, after exercise and other strenuous activities, before going to bed at night as well as when he is nervous or excited. By doing this on regular basis, he’s more likely to develop such routine that will make housebreaking during weimaraner training easy.

    Train him how to let you know when he need to relieve himself.
    This may seem tricky but it is not impossible at all. Teaching him to ring the bell at the door when he must go out and eliminate can make life as a dog owner easier.

    Avoid bringing him inside at once.
    Bringing him back inside soon after doing his business will make him believe that once the deed is completed, great time outside ends thus he will delay as much as possible. Playing with him after potty will encourage him to complete his business instantly so that he can have great time with you.

    Give rewards.
    Reward your dog each time he urinates or defecates at the spot you specified. Through this, he will be able to figure out that he gets good things for doing such behavior thus will repeat the behavior again. Reward could be treats, time to play or praise.

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  • scissors
    September 7th, 2011adminPets Advice

    When thinking about getting a weimaraner puppy, one thing that needs careful consideration is weimaraner training. As potential owner, it’s important that you examine yourself to find out whether or not you can provide the training this breed requires. Do you have time and sufficient knowledge to train the dog? Not only that! You must also take into consideration your finances as pet ownership in general may necessitate you to spend your hard-earned money to pay for dog food, grooming and care needs in addition to training.

    Once you are sure about your ability as pet owner, the next step you must take is to learn more about this breed, particularly strategies on how to raise a well-mannered pet regardless of the reputation for being high-strung. After socialization and basic obedience, another vital lesson every owner should teach this breed is to walk on leash. As a tough walker (yes, this breed requires long walk daily), learning how to walk correctly without getting into trouble is important.

    Since the leash is always used in combination with a collar, the initial step of weimaraner training to walk on leash is to get your pet used to collar. Having something attached around the neck can be annoying to most dogs, much more if it is attached to a leash that can prevent him from going anywhere he wants to go. Affix the collar and make certain that it is not too loose that can easily slip out of your pet’s head nor too tight to choke him. If he remains calm even with the collar on, reward him with a treat or praise. If he exhibits any sign of undesirable behavior like barking, do not take off the collar instantly else he’ll believe that he only needs to bark so as to have that collar detached. Wait for him to calm down and give reward.

    Once he’s used with the collar, attach a leash to it without holding or tugging to get him understand that the leash isn’t something to be frightened of. Allow him to walk around but make sure to supervise since the leash can get caught or entangled on anything. Attach the leash for short periods of time at first then gradually increase the time until he has got accustomed to it totally.

    On a beautiful morning (or perhaps afternoon), walk your puppy outside. Hold the leash on one hand and treat on the other. Start with a few steps first and reward him for doing good. If your little puppy pulls on the leash, stop walking and let him sit or stay until he has calmed down. If he still pulls on the leash as soon as you resume walking, it would be best to change direction. If you keep on stopping and changing route, he’ll eventually find out that both of you won’t be able to go anywhere. Besides that, rewarding him each time he walks next to you will give him the idea that he will be rewarded for doing that particular behavior hence will exhibit that behavior once more.

    After weimaraner training and before you take your weimaraner puppy out, make sure that he is old enough to do so and most of all, he has completed the vaccinations needed in your area to prevent him from catching a disease. In addition, it is also essential to consider the temperature outside. If necessary, bring drinking water with you or better yet, postpone your walking schedule if it seems like the temperature is too hot for him to bear.

    Also, don’t forget to let him sniff once in a while. It makes walking more fun!

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  • scissors
    June 23rd, 2011adminPets Advice

    Walking is extremely important to puppies. If you won’t walk your puppies you might as well be keeping them in a tiny enclosure everyday. It won’t even matter if you’ve got a dog run or if you have lots of space in your backyard. You will still need to walk your dogs, if not for exercises, but instead to give your pet weimaraner the opening to explore other places and meet other canine. But, what if your dog is not easy and simple dog to walk? What if they are so nervous that they grow to be problematic or even dangerous to walk? What next, what would you do?

    06/20/2011 San, Francisco, CA – Sandy Fischer owns a black lab and weimaraner mix who she says is very difficult to walk in the past. “She had this spinning behavior, which can be very problematic. It was draining due to the fact that it led to us being almost run over more than once. Now she is properly taught and i can walk her now.” Fischer was also one of those who were in attendance at the launch of the web page – http://www.weimaranerproblems.com/train-weimaraner/.

    It is vital that you be the superior animal/alpha dog when you are trying to train weimaraners or some other dog. Do not allow your pet be the one to dominate you. Always take into account that you’re a alpha male and they must respect you. They should answer to your lead and not the other way around.

    First of all, you are definitely not on your own if you experience troubles with walking your pet. There are a lot other owners out there who have had to have an issue with annoying canine. Most dog walking troubles can be categorized into these here next: Aggressive puppies, canines Who Refuse to Walk, and readily edgy dogs.

    Some common issues embrace combating with other dogs, refusing to walk and needing to be pulled on the lead, being frantic, spinning circles around you, barking at cars, etc. All these issues could be very distressing and it can lead owners to give up walking their dog altogether; this is sad because canine need to be walked so they stay healthy and they need it for socialization and for releasing pent up energy. Don’t walk your pet and you could begin to have an issue with issues of chewing, biting, crying, whining, etc.

    Different tactics might be used to face each of the problems. No matter the technique though, the crucial thing is that you remain the dominant character, you’ve to be alpha dog all the time. If you don’t afterward your pet weimaraner will merely persist with  the behavior. Also, don’t show nervousness, anxiety, or frustration with your family pet due to the fact that they can pick that up and react to it. Always, be certain to maintain your shoulders back, keep your back erect, and keep your head high.

    Also, whenever you train weimaraners and other puppies to walk appropriately, they should not be pulling at the leash. They should be walking at your tempo and they ought to be at your side. It is not at all acceptable for the dog to pull at the leash. It is necessary to keep the command short so you can control your dog better. Keep your dog at your side at all times and they be must be mimicking your walking pace. 

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  • scissors
    March 2nd, 2011adminPets Advice

    It is often really advantageous for your dog to undertake Weimaraner crate training. This breed has a tendency to be rather active and sociable, and because of this, they have a habit of getting into trouble if they’re not suitably trained at a young age.

    Weimaraners are usually not likely to just let other dogs and individuals alone – they’re going to always try to interact, and if they’re untrained this may turn into an unpleasant situation. It can be beneficial to get the training finished when they are young puppies because of this reason. Thankfully, however, these kinds of dogs generally don’t need a really significant amount of training. They learn fast in general, no matter what they’re being taught, and crate training is not an exception. Nonetheless, it is important to keep good, solid, consistent rules in their training should you want it to be successful.

    The most important component would be to produce a sense of peace and security for your dog when in its crate. Consequently, using the crate for the purpose of punishment is unquestionably the wrong thing to do. The dog will need to learn to see the crate as their secure place to visit, a place they trust and find to be cozy. Instilling in the pet’s mind an association between the crate and any upsetting experience is often a sure way to produce confusion and end up making things far more complicated for yourself.

    Along the same lines, the dog really should never be left in the crate for too long. Weimaraner crate training should really never go on much more than four to six hours at a maximum – even six may be leaving it too long. Additionally, the highest allowable time will depend on the age of your dog. For young puppies, four hours is way too long of a period. Younger dogs need to generally be left for a lot shorter times, a number of minutes instead of hours. Mainly that is because of the younger puppies’ smaller bladder capacity.

    Weimaraner crate training is most effectively undertaken moderately because of this. It is crucial that you do not see the training time as a good excuse for not caring for your dog. This breed of dog demands lots of exercise and socialization, and can’t be left for lengthy periods of time without significantly harming the overall health of the dog. Utilizing the crate as a strategy for dismissing your dog is a sure-fire way for you to develop troubles later on that may be far more troublesome to rectify than it would have been to teach your dog safely in the first place.

    Should you actually have a problem caring for your Weimaraner suitably, you may look at hiring another person to take him or her for a walk every so often . If you comply with these fundamental rules, you’re significantly more likely to experience success in training your Weimaraner.

    Are you looking for more information on weimaraner obedience training? If you have a weimaraner jumping problem or other behavioral issues, be sure to visit my site to learn more about training this breed.

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