Steve's formula for a great dog

I've begun work putting my formula for a great dog onto the lookafteryourdog website! If you visit the Bit by bit I'm going to put my 27 years of knowledge and experience into a method of training that I use with every dog that I look after or train.

If you follow the formula and all its parts, you will have a great dog and they will still have their spirit and individuality, but will all conform to a happy and relaxed way of being!

Part 1 is be the boss! A simple but essential component of the formula that requires the human to step up to the plate and be in charge of their dog! Without this simple fundamental you will never succeed in creating a great dog!

Please keep an eye here for updates to the formula, or on our Facebook or Twitter pages where I will announce new additions and exercises to follow to train your dog to the formula!

Cheers Steve

Is my Dog Overweight?


Your dog should never be overweight. It places stress on the joints and causes all manner of conditions which can seriously affect your dogs health and can contribute to cutting your dogs life short. How to tell if its overweight or not is not too difficult.

1.  Does it look overweight


If you look at your dog and are completely honest with yourself you will know that it is carrying some timber. The problem is that for humans there seems to be some tolerance to obesity which is why we are heading for a health crisis! If your dog looks overweight it probably is overweight!


I found a great blog post on the web at reddmolosserdogues.com which shows a diagram of the degrees of over or under weight really well. Click here to go to the blog to see the diagram!


2.  Can you feel his/her backbone?


You should be able to run your fingers along the spine and feel the indentations of the dogs spine, coated by a covering of fat and skin which doesn't stop you making out the spine. If you cant feel it and there's a big layer of fat especially at the top of the shoulders as in the boxer here then your dogs overweight.


3.  Can you feel his/her ribs?


The way I had it described to me was its like having a Biro in your pocket. If you rub your fingers along your dogs side from the shoulder backwards, the ribs should be easily felt and all of the ins and outs made out! If you cant feel them then your dog is fat by the degree you cant feel them. If you can just make them out then your dog is probably OK but might need tweaking during the summer months, a bit of winter fat isn't a bad thing especially for working dogs.


Use your hand to feel


I found a brilliant description of how to tell what the above should feel like! You run your hand across the back of your knuckles and the sensation you feel of flesh and solidness is the correct feeling. If you run your fingers across the back of your knuckles but on your palm, that requires a bit more pressure to achieve the sensation of what lies underneath! Rub your fingers behind your thumb on the palm side and you cant feel anything! Go to successjustclicks.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/fit-fido-or-fat-fido/ to see exactly how to do this!


4.  Has the dog got a waist?

Can you see the dogs belly tucked up behind the ribs and a nice flowing in after the ribs as in this picture here! You can see the difference with the boxer above who is like a big barrel and has no definition anywhere!


So please, using what you have read here, look at your dog with honest eyes and if its too skinny then feed it up a little and if its a working dog, let it rest a bit more in warm, quiet surroundings undisturbed. If its a porker, then cut the food down, or change it to a less calorificaly dense food which we'll discuss at a later date and exercise your dog more!


This has been taken from my page Feeding Your Dog which I will use to discuss feeding your dog, how and what to feed!


Good luck, as always get in touch if you need any help!


Cheers 


Steve

Dillon the solid Springer Spaniel

First dog of 2012 to board with us is Dillon a Springer Spaniel who we've looked after before. Dillon was the dog who before he had the snip was a little dog aggressive when the mood took him and whilst in Sutton Park he decided to hang off the neck of a huge tiger brindle coloured Pit Bull that was carrying a small tree in his mouth! Pulling them apart was one of the scariest moments I've had; but respects to the Pit, he didn't bat an eyelid and just stood there with Dillon hanging off his throat!


Anyway, I discussed my thoughts with Dillon s owners and they took the decision to have him done and he is massively less aggressive and will only fight if he is attacked by other dogs which is perfectly right and proper as he is entitled to do!


Since having the snip he has unfortunately piled on a few pounds! I think this is a combination of things. The effect that castration has on relaxing the hormones that curse around a male dogs body and the stress that this can cause is removed and the dog simply exerts a little less energy. Secondly he has been placed onto a quality dog food called Harrington's which is nutritionally better than the previous food he was on and its very easy to add a bit much to the dogs diet.


As eating is such an important part of a dogs life, I've set up a page on the blog to deal with how to feed your dog and what to feed and will try to update it as often as possible. The page is accessed by clicking the tab at the top of this page.


I have posted a blog about how to tell if your dog is overweight and how to feed your dog, regardless of what food they eat!


Cheers 


Steve

Back again!

Happy New year to one and all! I'm having another push at keeping my blog updated, I know i always say Ill try to keep it fresh and then don't but sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to 2012 for loads of reasons, at the end of it I retire from full time work and so I can focus on my business at Lookafteryourdog and really give it the attention that it deserves and that I enjoy giving! I know I'm going to see loads more of our customers fabulous dogs as we expand the Home Dog boarding business at Lookafteryourdog and its Euro 2012 and the Olympics as well; result!

Anyway Ive got to get back to the bucket load of jobs that I should do but keep putting off! Dillon the Springer comes tomorrow and hes a star, so Ill be able to go on some fat burning walks to try and get fit again, another 2012 resolution to break!

Cheers Steve