Pet Information

The practise of keeping birds goes back throughout human history. People have long wanted to keep the beautiful creatures as pets, but since they can fly, cages were needed to keep the birds contained.

Bird cages are common in many households. They are traditionally a tall brass cage, made from several pieces of wire bound together with a solid base and a door. The way that the horizontal and vertical bars create a mesh gives the bird a surface to climb with it’s agile hook-like feet. The traditional cage has one perch in the centre, a simple crossbar that the bird can sit on, and the floor of the cage is lined with something like sandpaper that can be easily changed due to the fact that birds shed a lot of feathers and create mess.

There are a variety of modern bird cages, some very large in size. They usually have one or more perches and are easily portable. The larger cages can be several feet tall and wide, with platforms, ladders and ornate designs. They will sometimes come with a built in seed and water holder that can be easily refilled, but these can be bought separately.

You will probably want to furnish a cage with a variety of toys to keep your avian friend happy. There is a huge range available; ropes that come in various lengths and knots, acrylic shapes, mobiles, balls and bells. This is important for the more intelligent species of birds like parrots as they get bored easily.

Some feel that bird cages are inhumane, trapping a creature in a small confine, effectively jailing it. This is the root of metaphors that compare bird cages to prisons. An option that gives the birds far more freedom is a aviary, essentially a very large cage the size of a shed or even as large as a house. Aviaries are usually used by zoos and can contain several species of bird, plants, trees and insects, creating a kind of natural environment and plenty of room for the birds to fly.

House training a puppy is important for the well being of your puppy and for your own sanity. The lack of house training is the number one reason that dogs wind up neglected, abandoned, or in animal shelters, but it’s the failure of the owner - not the puppy.

It’s very important for you to house break your puppy properly. Proper toilet habits need to be established when your puppy is young, since these habits can last a lifetime, and are very hard to break once they’re established. In most cases, true house training can’t begin until your puppy is six months old because puppies younger than that probably lack the bowel and bladder control needed for true house training.

Before they reach that age, puppies should be confined to a small, puppy proofed room during those times when you can’t supervise them. Puppy proofing a room is very similar to baby proofing a room. Just as you would put breakables and possible choking hazards out of reach of a baby, you need to eliminate the potential for your puppy to make a mistake and reduce any potential hazards from the room. That includes removing anything that your puppy might chew on.

The entire floor of the room should be covered with newspaper or some other absorbent material, and the paper should be changed every time it is soiled. Over time, you will notice that your puppy has a preferred spot for using the toilet. Gradually begin reducing the amount of paper you put down - narrowing in on that preferred area.

This preferred toilet area will form the basis of later house training and once your puppy is old enough you’ll begin to train him to exercise bladder and bowel control. You will establish a new toilet area (outside) and begin to train him to control himself until taken outside to the toilet area.

The Do’s of House Training Your Puppy

* When you’re not at home or can’t supervise your puppy, you must be sure the puppy can’t make a mistake. Confine your puppy to a small area that has been thoroughly puppy proofed. Make sure your puppy has unrestricted access to the established toilet area

* When you’re home, physically take the puppy to the toilet area every 45 minutes. Extend the time between potty trips gradually, as your puppy exhibits an ability to control his urges.

* Always provide a toilet area that doesn’t resemble normal floor coverings in your home. Training your puppy to go on concrete, blacktop, grass or dirt is a good idea.

* Reward your puppy every time he eliminates in the established toilet area. You want him to associate relieving himself in the established areas with good things, like treats, toys and praise. A little play time makes a good reward, and will reinforce the early bonding between you and your puppy.

* Keep a set schedule when feeding your puppy, so that your puppy’s need to relieve himself becomes consistent. Provide constant access to fresh, clean drinking water.

* Keeping your puppy in a crate can help your puppy develop self control. Dogs don’t like to soil their immediate living area, and will naturally try to control their need to go.

* It’s important to be patient when house training your puppy. The process of house training could take several months, but it’s much easier to house train right the first time than to retrain a problem dog.

The Don’ts of House Training Your Puppy

* Don’t give your puppy the run of the house until he has been thoroughly house trained.

* but… Don’t totally isolate your puppy while house training, either. Your puppy needs attention and interaction from you.

* Never reprimand or punish your puppy for mistakes. That only leads to fear and confusion in your puppy and will make the process take longer.

* Don’t leave food out all night as your puppy won’t keep to a set feeding schedule on its own, and will eat throughout the night. Random feeding leads to random toilet habits.

House training isn’t always the easiest thing to do, and some dogs are much harder to house train than others. It’s important to be patient, consistent and loving as you train your dog. A rushed, frightened or intimidated dog will be confused and won’t be able to learn the his house training lessons. Once you’ve gained your puppy’s love and respect, you’ll find that house training your puppy is actually easier than you expected.

Cats are clean creatures. If you have ever seen a cat licking its fur, you have witnessed it self-grooming. Cats are able to keep themselves groomed, as they expel as much saliva as they do urine. This saliva cleans fur of dirt and particles. If you wish to assist your cat in grooming, there are several things you can do.

Cat grooming by humans is best accomplished when a cat has been introduced to this at an early age. They will be use to the attention, and will allow you to attend to the grooming tasks without much fuss. The grooming tasks will basically consist of brushing their coat and trimming their nails along with an occasional bath.

Brushing a cat’s fur accomplishes several objectives. It will help keep their hair clean, tangle free and shiny. It will help you to bond with your cat, and also give you the opportunity to check for fleas, ticks, and other parasites. In addition, it will help to reduce shedding, along with possible hairballs, which can cause digestive problems. Brushing should be done on a daily basis.

Nail clipping is a little trickier than brushing. A cat’s nails need to be kept trimmed. A scratching post is an excellent investment that can help with the task, and save your furniture from being used for the same purpose. When clipping the nail, make sure not to cut the vein or quick in the paw, as this is very painful for the cat. You should try to keep the cat as still as possible. Rewarding this behavior with treats should help. If you have a problem with the nail clipping, you can always get some help from a professional groomer or your veterinarian.

Cats with shorthaired coats need little or no bathing. If you have a cat with a longer haired coat, then this grooming task should be done every one to three months. A sink is a good place to accomplish this routine. First wet the cat, shampoo with a pet shampoo for the cat’s coat and a tearless baby shampoo for his face. Two shampoos will be required for a normal coated cat, while a longer coated cat will require three. Rinse with a mixture of vinegar and water. Keep in mind, although they are groomers themselves, cats do not like baths. It is best to make it as pleasant and quick as possible. When done, dry thoroughly with towels and put the cat in a warm room. If he tolerates it, you can even blow-dry his coat on a low setting. And if your cat objects to being wet, you can purchase cat shampoo in powder form, which doesn’t require rinsing.

Three tasks are basically all you need to do to keep your cat well groomed. Performing these tasks also presents you with an ideal opportunity to give your cat the once-over. Check his ears, mouth, nose, and eyes. This will help you detect any abnormalities or physical problems. And remember, a clean cat is a happy cat.

Most everyone loves dogs and many own a dog as a pet. Usually a strong bond develops between a dog and its owner. Dog owners pamper their dogs with fashion accessories, jeweled tiaras and parlor treatments. A collar is the most important accessory worn by a dog. Dog collars are usually attached with an identification tag. Fashion collars, jeweled collars, leather collars, illuminated collars, lighted collars and reflector collars are the most commonly used dog collars. Of these, lighted collars are used to keep a dog safe and are exclusively designed according to its purpose.

Some lighted collars are designed for the safety of professional dogs. They are made from superior components and are durable and waterproof. Flashing safety collars made for hunting dogs have a very slow blink, as fast blinks are dangerous for humans or dogs with neurological disorders.

Using the most advanced technology, lighted collars are designed to be seen at least a half a mile in distance. They are battery powered and available in various colors. They are lightweight and can fit any size dog. They are usually weather and shock resistant. They are visible on longhaired dogs as well. Most light collars use LED lights. Some lighted collars are made from reflective materials that work with the aid of an external light source. Lighted collars are also made with an electro-luminescent glow wire that have unequaled brightness. The majority of illuminated dog collars run on one standard watch battery and last up to 250 hours.

There are countless benefits of wearing a light collar. Apart from making a dog look unique and stylish, light collars protect the dog, as well as its owner, by making them visible to traffic. They are particularly beneficial in rain, fog and snow. Most lighted collars work on replaceable batteries that are very affordable.

If you are interested in finding a dog obedience training tip then it is more than likely that you have a dog that is not behaving very well, this is a common practise, please do not feel as though you are “strange” or “unsocial” simply because of the fact that you have a disobedient dog, too many people see there dog as a representation of them and there care taking skills but this is definitely not the case.

Ok, if I had to give you just one tip that I thought was THE most important dog obedience training tip then it would probably have to be:

*Understand the you are the boss and your dog is not - When you understand this you will find that it is much easier to make your dog obey you and give yourself the inspiration and push to get it done.

That’s it, if there is one thing you should realise right now it is that you are in charge of your dog, they are not in charge of you. Now, I know you may be thinking to yourself that you are your dog’s friend and companion and you don’t want to be a “boss” of him, well, you can be both, you can be your dog’s friend as well as the boss.

You see, when a dog becomes it’s own boss then it will think that anything is ok, whether it be running all over furniture, chewing things up or whatever else it does but when it is trained not to do these things and it understands that these things are wrong then it will not do them, therefore by you taking charge and setting the rules you are actually creating a better lifestyle for both you and your dog.

A dog can be a friend but it can also be an enemy, what I mean by that is that it can cause so many problems and such horrible, unwanted stress that it just becomes a chore to have it around and instead of being a friendly little companion it is something that does nothing but causes trouble.

You will find that all of the stresses you may be feeling at the minute will simply disappear when you know how to take charge and train your dog to be obedient, obviously there is a lot more to the whole thing than just the one tip I gave you above but it is something you should definitely realise, when you realise that, you will have the ability to take action and move on to the next step - Find out exactly how to train your dog.

Before we get into specifics, let’s start with the basics. Emergencies aside, if you’re planning to travel with your bird, get the travel cage a few weeks in advance. This will give your bird time to get accustomed to the new cage. Also measure - measure - measure. Make sure it will fit in where ever it will be going car, travel trailer, family vehicle, motor home, commercial airliner, vacation cottage - just make sure it fits.

We don’t have a flock, we have one small Indian Ringneck - Sunshine. Sunshine is 17. Catherine acquired him as a baby. He loves being with mom. We know about traveling with a bird. At home he has a 30 x 30 California cage (1), a large playstand (2) in the dining room and another playstand (3) in the kitchen. Every work day Sunshine climbs into his custom, 18 inch long carrier (4) and comes to work with us.

We open the carrier, he climbs up his Booda perch in to his 26 x 20 HQ cage (5) and finishes breakfast. Afterwards he’ll walk back out via the Booda perch onto his King’s acrylic playstand (6). When he gets bored he fly’s onto his Prevue playstand (7) or his Prevue 20 x 20 wire cage where he’ll stand so he can watch mom oversee the shipping of packages to our customers.

We spend many of our summer weekends at a campground. When we get there he usually goes right into his 18 x 18 (9) Prevue cage. We modified our small travel trailer so the cage fits nicely into a closet where we removed the top of the door and provided a gentle light. When we’re outside the trailer, we have a large canopy/tent where Sunshine spends time in his 32 x 21 HQ aviary (10) under the canvas. He always has one side of his cage against a wall for his own privacy.

If you’ve been following my notes, you’ll see our little 3 ounce bird has 10 cages and stands. We’ve never had a problem getting him into a new cage because 1) we don’t make of an issue of it and 2) he’s happy just to be with us.

A travel cage can be metal, fabric or plastic like - rigid or collapsible. Because it’s a travel cage only makes it slightly different than his home cage. If it’s metal, bar spacing should be appropriate. If it’s fabric, the fabric should be durable enough and well designed to discourage chewing. Clear plastic cages allow for great vision but may be confining for extended travel periods. It may only have one perch instead of three or four. Make sure it’s comfortable on the feet. Stopping and starting in traffic should not cause your bird discomfort. A couple of small toys should be introduced to keep birdie boredom down. If you’re traveling by auto, keep the bird in the back seat away from airbags in case of “god-forbids.” Keep it strapped with a seatbelt to avoid sudden movement.

If your driving at night, cover the cage, the intermittent glare of auto lights can be scary, especially if its after bed time. If you’re taking a road tip stopping at motels, find a place to put the travel cage where you bird can sleep with as little disturbance as possible through the night. We usually find the bath room counter to be the best spot, it’s out of the way and once the cage is covered, affords privacy. In terms of temperature, it’s simple - if your comfortable, your bird is comfortable. No hot cars with the window cracked or in front of air conditioners in hotel rooms.

If traveling for the first time, we suggest a few trial runs before the big trip. Go to a friends, the vet or even just a ride, the bird gets accustomed to the procedure, travel process and change in general. If you let the bird out of the travel cage while in the vehicle don’t forget to put him back before any passengers open the door. Some birds don’t like to poop in their travel cage. This is a judgment call. Choose carefully where you’ll let them out to poop. You also may want to check out the nearest avian vet to your destination, before you get there - just so you have the info.

Remember. birds in the wild are natural travelers. Larger birds will fly 50 or miles per day seeking food. Many migrate thousands of miles twice annually. It’s usually less of an issue for the bird than for you. Lastly, we know you love showing off your bird. Unknown places would not be the time to do it. Unscrupulous people may have ulterior motives. While traveling with your bird it’s no ones business but your own. Have a great trip.

Thirty five years or so ago people trained dogs almost exclusively with force. Recently dog training, which includes our beloved Shih Tzu, consists of head halters with no corrections. Some trainers feel this is wrong because of the explosion of dominance and aggressive dog problems found in family pets. These same trainers feel the correct position about dog training and Shih Tzu training is in the middle.

Your Shih Tzu should respect you, cooperate with you and try to do what you ask. If you have that, then it is most likely you can train the Shih Tzu to do almost anything.

Respect from your Shih Tzu is something you have to earn over time as the result of good leadership techniques. Based upon this thinking, some dog trainers feel it is not uncommon for a dog or Shih Tzu to mind 80% of the time and still not respect its owner. When dogs or the Shih Tzu do not respect their owner are asked to do something they don’t want to do, and the trainer pushes the point to try and force the Shih Tzu or any dog to mind these dogs often become handler aggressive. The reason for this is a lack of pack structure.

A Shih Tzu with a solid pack structure is not going to be aggressive in the presence of its pack leader. You as the Shih Tzu owner needs to become the leader of the pack even if the pack only consists of you and the Shih Tzu. Dogs are pack animals. The Shih Tzu so loves and is so human-like it is easy to forget they are “animals,” and not our children. We need to apply the rules in which animals understand in their own pack existence.

In order to become the pack leader, you need to learn to apply responsible pack structure techniques, and master concepts of a learning phase, a distraction phase and a correction phase along with a maintenance phase. Apply sound pack structure principles in your day to day life with your Shih Tzu to establish you and family members as higher pack members in your family pack.

Becoming a pack leader does not involve aggression towards the Shih Tzu or hard leash corrections or even raising your voice to the Shih Tzu. It means to adopt a leader’s attitude. Remember that most dogs prefer to be followers. Your Shih Tzu would rather you be the leader of the pack.

Strive to make sure your Shih Tzu understands that you will always be fair with him. This is the first step in building respect and leadership. He should learn that he has a responsibility to follow known directions and if he refuses there will be consequences. Dogs and the Shih Tzu see things that are good for them and things that are not good for them, sort of looking at life in black and white terms. They do not understand English. For the most part they do not reason either. They react to the black and white parts of life.

Through training experiences, your Shih Tzu will learn you are only going to ask him to do things he knows how to do. If he performs correctly let him know you are happy with him. If he does something wrong always let him know he has made a mistake. Avoid correcting your dog in obedience training for things that he has not been trained to do. You only correct because you know, through the Shih Tzu’s training experiences that he understands a command and he is refusing to do it.

It is important that your Shih Tzu learns you are 100% consistent in how and when you administer corrections. One of the most important parts of being a pack leader is being consistent at all times. For example, do not ignore incorrect behavior toward guests in the home and then correct the Shih Tzu when he exhibits incorrect behavior while on walks. Remain consistent.

Effective corrections must be administered within 1 ½ seconds of an infraction. It is never a positive thing to correct your Shih Tzu an hour or more after he has urinated on the wrong spot. Don’t ever think your Shih Tzu “knows” he did something wrong while you were gone.

Another important key of training your Shih Tzu is to learn to administer corrections at a level that produces harmony in the family pack. You must learn when simply saying “NO” is enough of a correction to the Shih Tzu knows that he is doing something wrong verses learning when to administer a higher level of discipline correction for more severe offenses. This is one of the most difficult concept for new trainers/owners to learn.

Remember that dogs and the Shih Tzu learn through repetition. It often can take as many as 30 repetitions for a dog to learn a new command. You need to repeat the exercise often enough for the Shih Tzu to completely understand the exercise.

When you are seeking for a professional trainer, you might ask if any of these techniques are those they incorporate into their training programs.

Source: Ed Frawley’s Philosophy on Dog Training

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

When a hunter goes for hunting, there are times that he is fail to recognize the deer due to the scene. Hunters have to adjust his sight with the scene while he arrived in the forest.

In one case, I was able to shoot a deer that I thought was a squirrel when I first saw the motion. I located the object that had attracted my attention, apparently on a branch of a blow-down. While waiting for it to move again, for positive identification, I noticed what seemed to be a knothole a few inches below the object that had moved in the first place. There was no tree where the knothole seemed to be.

Suspecting that I might be looking at a deer’s ear and eye, I took one step forward and the other ear and eye could be plainly seen. The rest of the deer’s body was completely concealed from view by the blow-down. That deer had seen me, but thought it was concealed enough so that I would pass by without noticing it. Deer do this more often than many might realize, but they can usually tell just when the hunter becomes aware of their presence and nearly always will run as soon as they are seen instead of staying around to see what will happen, as this deer did. If that deer hadn’t moved its ear when it did, I would have, in all probability, walked on past unaware that there was a deer watching me and it would have lived.

Deer do not need to be behind a blow-down in order to be hidden. I have seen feeding deer vanish temporarily while in an open field where their color blended with that of the dead grass in the background. Even feeding motions would not reveal their presence on cloudy days until they moved into a place that gave them a different background. Naturally an animal that can blend into the landscape of an open field would be doubly hard to see in the shade of the woods where it would be partly concealed by underbrush. If it were not for their habit of standing broadside to approaching danger, many deer would be overlooked or mistaken for tree stubs by even the sharpest-eyed hunter.

Two deer, standing broadside, fooled me completely on one occasion. I knew they were in the vicinity and was proceeding very cautiously so as not to alarm them. There was a low ridge of ledge between me and where I thought that the deer might be waiting and I stayed behind this ridge until I came to a place where I could climb it and scan the opposite side. With my head and shoulders above the ridge, I could look into a grove of soft wood trees (mostly hemlock) with practically no underbrush for at least a hundred yards. I looked this grove over very carefully and decided that there was nothing there and I started to cross to check on another location. I saw the deer before they left the ground on their first jump and they had been standing broadside to me about half way through the open grove. Their camouflage had been so good that I had failed to see them until motion gave them away. The vertical tree trunks broke any horizontal lines and the shade under the softwood trees neutralized any contrasting color that they may have had so that they remained next to invisible as long as they remained in one position. Incidentally I never tried to shoot either of these deer.

The deer can even puzzle you pretending that you did not notice them. So to recognize the body of the deer in the thick of the forest is very important otherwise you may pass and never know that a deer was watching you from nearby.

Dog agility trials are becoming more and more popular the world over. They began in England, as so many good things, do, but “agility fever” quickly spread all over the globe. Now there are clubs and events everywhere that there are dogs.

Some clubs include the Kennel Club (in the U.K.), the United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA), the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the Agility Association of Canada (AAC). However, you need not be affiliated with or even live near a club or training facility to enjoy the sport of dog agility

Dogs are intelligent creatures, and they love a challenge. As the aforementioned kennel clubs are well aware, every breed has its own strengths and assets, both physically and intellectually. It’s great fun to explore what your dog can do, and even train for competitions!

Even if you train your dog on your own dog agility course, and don’t wish to be affiliated with any groups, it’s still a good idea to stay in touch with them via phone or e-mail to stay aware of any events that may be happening in your area. Dog owners are a great group of people, and love to share advice and success stories. Dog agility events are also a great way to get outside and meet and greet other great pets.

Agility competition for dogs became popular all over the world in the 1980s, and agility enthusiasts have been looking for top-notch dog training equipment that is better looking and more durable than home-made obstacles, while still being affordable. This high-energy form of competition and fun is something that can bring people and dogs together in a spirit of excellence, and we interact with our customers accordingly.

Some of the dog training obstacles include A-frames, dogwalks, weave poles, mini contact equipment, contact trainer, jumps (single, double, and triple), chutes, barrels, and teeters. Everything you need to set up a competition course should be easily ordered and quickly assembled.

Your dog training equipment should be durable enough to withstand practice session after practice session with no risk of injury to you or your dog. Equipment should be made out of durable, well-sealed materials that are weatherproof and built to last. Safety and visual appeal are what matter in dog training equipment.

Need super cat urine prevention tips? You’ve come to the right place. There’s no question that cat urine is difficult to clean. The scent is strong, and isn’t removed easily. The amber color isn’t easy to get rid of either. So it makes sense that you’d want to prevent the stains.

This article will provide you with basic tips for preventing your cat from urinating in the wrong places. There is plenty to learn, but if you follow these tips you’ll be off to a good start. Here are five super hints:

1. Clean your cat’s litter box daily. Like people, cats want to urinate in a clean environment. You don’t necessarily have to completely change the litter each day, but try to scoop the waste once or twice a day. If you have more than one cat, you might need to scoop it more often.

2. Change your cat’s litter box at least once a week. Dump all of the old litter, dispose of it properly, and then rinse and dry the box. Once the box is dry, refill it with fresh litter. Follow the directions on the container of litter to make sure you fill the box with the right amount.

3. Place your cat’s litter box in a private place. Cats like privacy when urinating, just like we do. An unused bathroom or a large closet is often a good location. Just make sure you leave the door open at all times!

4. Speaking of open doors, ensure the litter box is easily accessible. If it’s placed too high or behind closed doors or is blocked by anything, your cat will find another, more accessible place in which to urinate. The location you choose should be at floor-level and free from clutter.

5. Keep the litter box free from odor. Scooping and changing the litter regularly will help, but you might want to try sprinkling an odor- eliminating powder that is designed for cat urine in the litter box. If your cat’s box has a cover, make sure it has vents with filters.

There are other factors to consider when preventing cat urine stains, such as behavioral problems and medical issues. These and other factors call for more advanced prevention techniques.

You might also want to learn how to remove cat urine stains once they’ve occurred. Or maybe you want to learn how to choose a cleaning product. Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s time for advanced super cat urine tips.