Friday, October 18, 2013

Why Switching Up Food Varieties Good for Your Dog


A common belief amongst pet owners is that constantly switching up food brands and food types for your mutts is bad for their health and digestive systems. Recently, however, certified veterinary nutritionists have been challenging this belief and have found that NOT changing your mutts' daily diet on a regular basis can actually cause nutritional deficiencies later on.

When you are feeding your mutts the same chicken, rice, and/or dog food pebbles every day, they are only getting the nutrients offered in those foods instead of a good variety of other vitamins and amino acids in foods like fish, beef, or other fruits and vegetables. So mixing up your mutts' daily diet is a good habit to acquire, but as a responsible pet owner, you still need to handled the change with the right care and precaution.

Below are a few tips as to how to safely and successfully switch your dogs' diet:
  1. Decide on different main ingredients - If you've been feeding your mutts chicken and rice, you may look to change to something completely different like beef and vegetables. Just be sure that whatever you're feeding your dogs is safe for them to eat.
  2. Switch up dog brands - If you are looking to switch dog food brands, compare the labels on the package and see what good nutrients and new formulas are lacking from your current brand. It's important to stick to the high-quality mixes for optimal nutrition. 
  3. Watch the caloric intake - Dogs being overweight is a huge issue and chronic problem that, as a responsible pet owner, you should help your mutts avoid. Make sure that whatever new diet you're feeding your mutts does not exceed the right amount of calories they are supposed to have. 
  4. Make the switch slowly - To avoid any digestive problems for your mutts, switch out their diets slowly by increasing the new food and decreasing the old food over a 7-10 day period. In terms of how often to change, you can consider buying a new diet plan for your mutts every time you need to go shopping for their food. 

Monday, October 7, 2013

How to Keep Your Dogs Safe From Bees


For humans (who are not allergic to bee stings), a few pricks of the skin from a small bee is just a little bit of pain and irritation. For mutts, however, multiple bee stings can lead to serious health problems like kidney failure or even death.

A main key to keeping your mutts healthy and happy is to take precautions for your dogs from bees. Below are a few tips on how to keep your mutts safe from troublesome stingers:
  • A clean area to play in: Bees are attracted to strong smells and messes like leftover food in the garbage. Maintaining the cleanliness of your backyard, picnic area, and barbequer will help prevent bees from taking over the outside of your house. 
  • Flowers & fragrances: It's not a big surprise that bees like flowers. So if you're walking your dogs, it's best to keep them away from big flower bushes to avoid getting stung. At the same time, bees are also attracted to sweet fragrances, so be aware of how much perfume or deodorant you apply - not only for your dogs' safety but also for yours. 
  • Right times to go out: Bees tend to have the most activity during the hours of 3 - 6 p.m. So it would probably be best to plan around those times for your outdoor walks and exercises with your mutts.
Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

What to Know About Dog Allergies


The Science Behind Allergies
Just like humans, many of our beloved mutts will suffer from environmental substances, or allergens, from time to time. These allergies usually occur when the dog's body mistakes the allergens as harmful substances. Therefore, the immune system sees it as a threat and goes into overdrive.

Symptoms to Look Out For
Depending on the allergy, you may notice that your mutts are behaving differently. Excessive licking, itching, scratching especially around the face, ears, feet, armpit, and belly areas are all typical signs of allergy symptoms. More serious allergy situations may also include redness (or hot spots) and hair loss.

Things That Can Cause Allergies
There are certain things that can cause allergies in dogs such as pollens, dust bites, molds, and fleas. Other allergies can come from food products including chicken, beef, fish, and soy.

At-Home Remedies to Treat Allergies
If your mutts' allergy situation is minor, there are a few things you can do at home to do to help make your dogs more comfortable. On the days that the pollen count is high, wipe your dogs' feet with a cold, wet towel when coming into the house from outside to avoid tracking in the pollen. Scheduling a weekly bathe in cool water can also rinse off any unwanted residue on your mutts' body. Be sure to consult your trusted vet before giving your dogs any allergy medicines or vaccines.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Top 4 Tips to Choosing the Right Veterinarian

As loving and responsible pet owners, we naturally want to provide our mutts with the best animal care, and a huge part of that is finding the right veterinarian. Unfortunately, not all vets and vet clinics are created equal.

Below are six tips to keep in mind when you are shopping around to find the perfect pet care and physician for your mutts:
  • American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) accreditation - This organization helps with ensuring that a veterinary practice is operating at a high level of standards in pet care. Even though animal hospitals are not required to be accredited with AAHA to practice medicine, a place that has the membership will help guarantee a certain level of expertise and professionalism.  
  • Medical equipment, service & information - A good medical clinic or hospital should have the right medical equipment to help provide the best quality care for their patients. Getting timely, honest, and clear answers from doctors and technicians are important too. Ask to tour the facility and meet the physicians - a good organization should have nothing to hide from its customers.
  • Staff customer service - The staff's attitude, energy and overall customer service of a vet clinic or hospital should be a big indicator as to how they treat and value their patients. Again requesting to meet the staff in person and/or going online to read multiple reviews on the clinic will help you determine whether or not this is a good place to take your pets.
  • Personal convenience - Another important point that some people tend to forget to consider is the convenience of the clinic or hospital. Finding a medical center that is close to where you live, is easy to find, and have office hours that work well for you and your dogs will make a big difference in cases of emergencies.
Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Tips to Keeping Your Senior Dog Healthy


As our beloved mutts age, it is essential for pet owners to become more aware of the needs of their senior dogs. Implementing healthy habits is the key to your mutts' (and you as a pet owner) quality life, especially for the latter years. While different dogs may require different needs, below are a few tips as to how to keep your senior dog healthy:
  • Healthy, appropriate diet - Feeding your old mutt a high-quality diet can significantly help with their bodily health. If your dogs have heart disease, giving them a dog food that has lower sodium levels will help. Foods that have controlled levels of calcium, phosphorus, or other electrolytes are ideal for mutts that have kidney disease. Consult your trusted vet to see which diets are appropriate for your mutts.
  • Weight control - Exercising your senior dog is just as important to weight control as watching what you feed them. Even though your aging mutts may not be as energetic or speedy as when they were a pup, consistent exercise is still going to help maintain their healthy weight, joints, and muscles. Being overweight is extremely harmful to dogs' bone structures which often result in hip dysplasia. 
  • Dental care - Not taking care of your mutts' teeth and gums at an early age is one of the biggest mistakes pet owners make, and they usually don't realize it until it is too late. Dental disease is painful and usually causes your dogs to loose its teeth when they get old (some even get diagnosed as early as 2-3 years old!). This may cause your senior mutt to stop eating overall and result in unhealthy weight loss.
  • Regular vet visits - Taking your senior dog to the vet at least yearly is critical even if they appear healthy (more needed visits for unhealthy dogs). It is also smart to ask for a body condition evaluation each time to make sure that there are no hidden signs of major illnesses. Remember, health prevention is a lot cheaper and less time-consuming than disease treatments!
Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Friday, August 23, 2013

Tips & Tricks to a Healthier Dog Coat

The most common form of affection for dog lovers is touching and petting their mutts, and a part of that pleasure is being able to run their fingers through a warm, soft fur coat. Some dogs, however, tend to develop a more coarse and unhealthy layer.

Below are some tips you can try at home to help restore your mutts' shiny and healthy coat:
  • Omega 6 Fatty Acids - Quality dog food brands tend to already have Omega 6 in their ingredients. Pumping a small dose of salmon or vegetable oil into your mutts' daily meal can also help boost their coat and skin quality. Pet stores will sell oil supplements - just be sure that these oils are fresh and refrigerated after use. 
  • Daily Grooming - A huge part of why your mutts' coat may feel coarse is because there are dried and damaged strands. It would be extremely helpful to groom your dogs' body on a daily basis with a good brush, and taking them to a professional groomers once in a while will also improve the quality of their hair/fur. 
  • Well-Balanced Diet - Feeding your mutts quality dog food will greatly impact their coat conditions. Healthy fats are an essential ingredient to curing dried hair and flaky skin. Puppies that are on a low-fat diet are more prone to developing coarse and itchy skin/fur that can lead to infections from their constant scratching. To find out which dog foods are good from your mutts, please consult your trusted vet. 
Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Health Benefits to Spaying/Neutering Your Dogs


Much discussion and dialogue has surrounded the issue of spaying/neutering dogs. Some pet owners hesitate at the thought because they either think it's too painful or inhumane for their mutts. However, the fact is if you're not going to breed your dog (in a legal, healthy way of course), then spaying/neutering them IS the better way to go.

Benefits for your mutts:
  • Spaying/neutering your dogs will significantly reduce the risk of getting prostate, testicular, or ovarian cancer when they get older.
  • For most dogs, the lack of hormones will help them be more mentally and emotionally balanced/stable.
  • Spaying/neutering your mutts will allow them to live a longer and healthier life.
Benefits for you as a pet owner:
  • A more balanced and stable dog will be a better and friendlier companion for you in the long run.
  • A spayed/neutered mutt will be easier to train and eliminate unwanted behaviors like aggression and being territorial.
  • You will less likely attract unwanted male dogs to your home when you have a female in heat. Vice versa, your male mutt will not act crazily when he senses a female in heat.
Benefits for your local community:
  • Millions of tax-payer dollars go into trying to control the dog population every year.
  • Animal shelters around the country have to euthanize millions (yes, millions) of dogs every year because they simply do not have the space to care for unwanted mutts.
  • Unbalanced dogs often lead to aggression which puts members of the community in danger of dog bites and attacks. 
Spaying and neutering your mutts does not have to be expensive. There are plenty of nonprofits and animal shelters around that would perform the procedure for cheap. Consult with your trusted vet for when to spaying/neuter your dogs and for any other health concerns or questions.

Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Tips To Control Your Dog's Shedding!


One of the biggest pet peeves dog owners have is unwanted pet hair and fur all over the house. It doesn't matter if you have a Golden Retriever or a Yorkshire Terrier, every dog sheds to some degree - the only difference is how much. The age, weather season, and the health of your mutts also play a huge part in how much hair loss they go through.

While shedding is quite normal for even a young, healthy dog, here are some ways to help control the unwanted hair from getting all over:
  • Brush your dog daily - There's just no short cuts around it: brush your dogs' body daily! This will help tremendously with getting rid of excess hair/fur for you and your dogs' comfort. Keep in mind: finding the right brush is also going to help.
  • Eating a balanced diet - The food you feed your mutts also impact the quality of hair/fur. Feeding your dogs a healthy balanced diet will help with (1) giving your mutts a healthy coat and (2) preventing them from getting sick. Sometimes excessive hair loss is the result of parasites, kidney and liver disease, cancer, sunburn, and/or fungal and bacteria infections.
  • Bathing your dogs during the summer - A lot of dogs will grow a thick coat during the winter months and shed it all off during the summer months. So keeping your mutts' hair/fur clean on a regular basis is another way of stripping their loose, dried, and damaged strands away. Using an oatmeal shampoo will help prevent your dogs' skin from getting too dried.
  • Keep up with regular check ups - Be sure to take your mutts to the vet on a regular basis to ensure that they are not losing their coat because of more serious internal healthy issues.
  • Environment control and cleanliness - If worse comes to worse, vacuum your house often put blankets and covers over the furniture you don't want dog hair on.
For other tips on how to better manage your mutts' shedding, consult your trust vet. 

Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Tips on How to Spot Fleas & Ticks on Your Dogs


During the summer months, your beloved pups are more prone to getting fleas and ticks on their bodies. These insects feed on the blood of your mutts and may cause several health problems ranging from allergic reactions to tapeworm infections to other serious tick-driven illnesses.

Here are some tips as to how you can spot fleas and ticks on your dogs:
  • Look through your dogs' fur and see if you can spot any small black specks. If there are a lot more than just a random few, they may be flea droppings.
  • If you see small little white specks around the same areas as the flea droppings, those could be flea eggs nestled in your dogs hair. 
  • You may notice your dog is scratching or licking its body excessively. If this is happening, keep and eye out for other flea/tick symptoms.
  • You may also want to keep an eye out for more than normal scabbing or hot spots on your dogs' skin.
  • If you and your family members are getting excessive bug bits on your feet and legs, this is definitely a huge warning sign that you may have fleas and ticks in your house. 
To learn how to safely and surely get rid of fleas and ticks in your house and on your dogs, consult your trusted vet.

Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Why Dogs Have Bad Breath?


One of the most commonly ignored health problems by pet owners is bad breath from our loving mutts. While bad breath can be cured from a more regular dental care routine, persistent bad breath may be signs of more serious health issues for your dogs.

  • Dental care - A lot of the times, bad breath is caused by a build-up of bacteria in the dogs' mouths. Small dogs are especially prone to getting plaque and tartar build-up which can lead to dental and/or gum disease. 
  • Internal organs - If your mutts have long term bad breath, then they may be at risk of larger medical issues with their gastrointestinal tract, liver, lungs, or kidneys. For example, a sweet or fruity breath may indicate diabetes while a breath that smells like urine could be signs of kidney disease.
  • Diet - It is important to keep an eye out for what you are feeding your dogs and what they could be eating off the ground. To help with your mutts' bad breaths, be sure to feed them quality, healthy dog food and treats that are easy for them to digest.
To help pinpoint exactly why your dogs have bad breath, consult your trusted vet for a physical exam and/or laboratory work.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty! 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Top Reasons Why Dogs Eat Poop!


Does your mutts eat their own or some other dog's poop? As disgusting and abnormal as this may sound, dogs sometimes will eat feces for a variety of reasons. Go through the list below and see if you can pin point which reasons may apply to your cute and loving mutt:
  • Malnutrition - A lot of times when dogs are not getting enough nutrients and/or vitamin deficiencies, they resort to eating their poop. Some pups go grow rapidly and their appetites may increase at a fast speed too, so keep an eye out for how much you're suppose to be feeding your mutts.
  • Parasites - If you feel like you're feeding your mutts plenty of healthy foods but they are still behaving this way, you should consider visiting the vet to check for parasites. Parasites can be a cause for possible malnutrition.
  • Health Conditions - Dogs that have health conditions like diabetes or thyroid disease are more prone to eating poop. In this situation, consult your trusted vet on how to properly treat their health conditions to help stop the unwanted behavior.
  • Get Attention - Some mutts will resort to chewing on poop as a way to get attention from you when they are bored or as a way of "acting out" if they were recently punished. In this case, make some more time to walk and play with your dogs so they are not thinking about eating poop.
  • Copy Cats - Mom dogs will a lot of times eat their newborns' poop for nutrients. So another possibility could be that the new pups are just copying their mother's behavior as a way of exploring different things. Proper training would be a way to overcome the poop-eating in this scenario.
Regardless of the what the reasons may be for why your mutts are eating poop, you should still schedule a visit with your trust vet to ensure your pets health.

Keeping your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Hot Summer Safety Tips for Your Dogs



As daily temperatures continue to climb up well into the 80s, 90s, and even over 100 degrees, making sure to adapt your mutts living situations to the heat should be at the top of your priority list. While we may be cooling off inside our air conditioned rooms inside, our little furry friends may be stuck outside in the backyard with no appropriate place to relax.

Below are some safety concerns to keep in mind as summer arrives:
  • A comfortable backyard - be sure to have large, shady spots around the backyard throughout the entire day to give your dogs a place to get out of the sun. Dog houses that are outside are NOT a good option as they can trap heat and make it more miserable for your mutts to lay in. Another idea would be to fill a small, blow-up pool with fresh water so your mutts can jump in and cool off from time to time. 
  • Appropriate times to exercise - during the summer, avoiding activities with your mutts during the hottest time of the day is best for yours and their health. Not only is the heat unbearable in the middle of the day, but also when temperatures become extreme, the roads get over heated and can actually burn your dogs paws. So do your best to reschedule your routines to exercising with your dogs in the mornings or evenings when the heat waves are less intense. 
  • H2O - giving plenty of fresh, cool water for your dogs that are outside is essential to their health during the hot days. So don't forget to double and triple check their bowls more often than usual to help keep them comfortable.
  • Grooming needs - scheduling maybe two or three more than usual haircuts for your dogs can help tremendously with keeping your mutts cool in the summer. Remember, they are the ones with the fur coat covering their entire bodies!
  • No leaving dogs in cars - a closed vehicle (or even a car with windows cracked) can rise to over 100 degrees within minutes of you shutting off the A/C. Many dogs have become extremely sick, or have even died, in cars because of the heat. So just keep in mind, if you can't stand to be in there, they most certainly can't either!
Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Tips on How to Choose the Right Dog Food


As we browse down the pet aisle at the grocery or pet store, we are bombarded with shelves after shelves of different dog food brands with all of them saying that THEY are the ones providing the best nutrients for your loving mutts.

So how do we (as loving and responsible dog owners who just want the best for our furry little friends) differentiate between all the pet food companies so we can provide the best diet for our mutts? While most dogs are different and require different types of nutrients, below are some general tips as to what to keep in mind when shopping for a good dog food brand:

  1. Read the labels - While the cheapest brands or the cutest dog food bag can be very appealing to us consumers, these companies may not always have the best nutritional value to their products. It is essential to read the labels on the bag that interests you to see if the product truly has a well-balanced diet of whole meats, vegetables, fruits, grains, and a high-quality source of dietary fats. 
  2. Dog Allergies & Needs - If your dog has certain allergies to certain types of foods, it's important to NOT feed them anything that would make their allergies worse. Skin and coat problems are common among mutts. So one way to help with this is to eliminate products like chicken, beef, lamb, corn, soy, wheat, egg, and dairy and replace them with plenty of vitamins and fatty acids (or fish oils). 
  3. Feeding Amount - Depending on the age and situation of your mutts, it's also important to monitor the feeding amount for your dogs. Old mutts and mutts who have been neutered usually require less food to avoid obesity since their metabolisms and activity levels have gone down. 
The best way to acquire a good dog food brand is to consult with your trusted vet.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Tips on How to Prevent Heartworms in Puppies!

Buying or adopting a new puppy into the family can be an exciting and fun event. However, puppies are extremely susceptible to heartworms, and usually 9 out of 10 puppies have some sort of internal parasites such as roundworms and hookworms growing inside them.

Some symptoms to look for to see if your pup has heartworm include vomiting, diarrhea, unable to gain weight, lack of energy for play and exercise, and/or poor hair coat quality. Some ways to help prevent parasites is to avoid areas that are contaminated and to keep the backyard clean of feces.

If your puppy has any of these symptoms, be sure to take your little mutt to your trusted vet as soon as possible. Even if your pup does not have these signs, it's still wise to schedule a doctor's appointment for a check up. It doesn't hurt either to have your vet give your new pup some medicine for heartworm to flush the parasites out of their tiny bodies.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Most Common Worm Symptoms in Your Dogs!


Being a happy, playful, and spirited mutt, it's not uncommon that your dog would susceptible to getting worms as a health problem. With five common worms like heartworms, tapeworms, whipworms, roundworms, and hookworms, it is crucial to keep an eye out for the symptoms listed below to ensure your mutts' are nursed back to health:

  • Vomitting
  • Diarrhea
  • Change in appetite
  • Coughing
  • Big bellied
  • Lack of energy
  • Itchy skin or other skin irritations
  • Visible worms in poop
  • Unintentional weight loss
It is important to take your dogs to your trusted vet for a check up as soon as possible if you notice any other irregular health concerns or behaviors from your mutts. Normally the vet will just give your dogs an appropriate prescription to get rid of the worms.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Healthy Human Foods for Dogs

As responsible pet owners, we all know that a lot of human foods out there are bad for our mutts. Most of them are even bad for us to consume as humans! But then, there are some foods we can, and are even encouraged, to feed our little furry friends.

Below are three foods that can be added to your dogs' regular diet for an even more nutritional bowl:

  • Yogurt - Yogurt is a good sources of calcium and protein for humans and your mutts. Be sure to feed your dogs yogurts that have live active bacteria and no sugar or artificial sweeteners. It's also healthier to feed your mutts fat free yogurt.
  • Apples - Apples are a great sources of vitamin A, C, and fibre for the body. However, it's best to NOT feed your mutts the core of the apples since the seeds contain cyanide and are hard on their digestive systems. When feeding pieces of apples to your dogs, keep the skin on the apples because they contain chemicals that are healthy, (the skin is also known to help with reducing risk of cancer for humans).
  • Oatmeal - Oatmeal has soluble fibre and serves as a good alternative for grains in the diet for dogs that are allergic to wheat. It's important to feed your mutts fully cooked oatmeal with no sugar or flavor added to receive the full nutritional benefits of the food.
Keep in mind that all of these foods are NOT to replace your mutts' regular diet, but to compliment it and be used as a tasty treat. Feed these foods in moderation, and be sure to consult your trusted vet if your dogs have specific allergies,  upset stomachs, and/or have shown other irregular health changes.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Benefits to Walking a Dog on a Treadmill

While the best method to exercising your dog is by taking a walk outside three times a day, we all know that the chances of that happening everyday for twelve or fifteen years is not realistic. Dog owners may be too busy, may have physical limitations, may run into extreme weather conditions, and/or are just too lazy to do so. Whatever the reason, getting your dog exercise is still better than having them sit around all day and doing nothing.

Even though you shouldn't replace this method permanently with going out for walks, having your mutts exercise on a treadmill can be a temporary option to get your dogs to move. If you have a high energy dog that needs more than three-times-a-day walk and you (for whatever reason) cannot provide that, then the treadmill can also be a really good addition. Sometimes treadmill exercises are also essential to helping a dog rehabilitate from an injury or aging. To find out what types of treadmills are best for your mutts, visit http://cmln.co/Z0bL5c

A lot of times shelters would use a treadmill to help walk their dogs because their are either short-staffed or need to help drain the energy from their hyper mutts. Taking care of a dog is a long-term commitment, so making sure that your mutts are healthy through exercise is the key to a happy and well-balanced dog.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Dog Whisperer Coming to Town

Many of you know his name, but more importantly, every one knows what his talent is and what he stands for in the canine world. Cesar Millan, or more famously known as the Dog Whisperer, has taken his show on the road and touring around the world to help dogs - and their owners - overcome behavioral problems.

In this live, hands-on experience, Cesar shares his training tips and secrets on how to transform dogs and their owners by "rehabilitate dogs and train humans." This unique and new live event is coming to Salt Lake City, Utah, on January 25, 2013 at Abravanel Hall. Cesar states in an interview that his new show the "Leader of the Pack" focuses on rehabilitating a dog and then finding the most compatible family for that canine. His live show serves as an extension of the TV series and targets more towards educating humans about mutts.

For more information and to buy tickets to the event, please click here

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Keep Your Dogs' Ears Clean

Like humans, dogs have a tendency to have build-up like wax in their ears after a period of time. Because of the curves and twists of a dog's ears, parasites, debris, bacteria, and yeast can get trapped inside the canal. If not taken care of properly on a consistent basis, your mutts would be prone to unwanted ear problems such as tick infections which can lead to other major health issues.

Below are some things you can do at home to help prevent ear infections for your dogs:
  • Cleaning the ears: To clean your dogs ears you may take a cotton ball, wet it with some mineral oil / hydrogen peroxide / or a solution meant for dog ear cleaning, and gently wipe the inside of their ears. Keep in mind that you shouldn't do this too regularly and to NOT jam the cotton ball into the ears too much as it would cause irritation. 
  • Preventing water going in: If your mutts like to go swimming or if you give them regular baths, it's crucial to make sure that water doesn't get into your dogs' ears. To help prevent water from entering, you can try sticking a cotton ball into the ears before any swimming or bathing and then removing them after.
  • Using ear drops: There are ear drying solutions made especially for dogs at the pet store if your mutts seem to be more prone to getting water in their ears. These drops should dry out any excess water trapped inside the ear canal. For more information on these drops consult your trusted vet. 
  • Regular grooming: A part why periodic grooming is important for your dogs is because a good groomer will help you clean out the hair and debris inside your mutts ears as well as keeping the rest of our dogs' body clean and healthy. So be sure to stay on top of your dogs' grooming schedule.
Be sure to consult your trusted vet on any other ways to take care of your dogs' ears or if you are noticing symptoms of a possible infection (i.e. ear discharge, redness, swelling, and/or bad smells).

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty!

Friday, January 4, 2013

New Year's Resolutions for Your Dogs

Happy New Year! This is the perfect time to reflect on the past year and continue to work towards a better future. This also includes helping to create a healthier and happier life for your mutts.

So here are some of the basic resolutions that will help ensure an even better year than last for your loving dogs and yourself as a dog owner:
  • Exercise: Statistics show that only about 40% of people stick to their own personal exercise and fitness goals throughout the year. Don't let this stop you from making sure your dogs are healthy! Let your mutts be a part of your motivation to stay fit not only for yourself but also for them. 
  • Socialize: Learning how to be social and spending time with other dogs is just as important for your mutts as physical exercise. It is through socializing with other animals that your dogs can learn how to better behave around people and have a well-balanced mental state. 
  • Health check-ups: A huge part of keeping your mutts healthy is to stay on top of their periodic physical exams at the vet. It is important to keep your dogs up-to-date on not only their vaccinations but also to make sure that there are no other unknown health problems in the making.

Keep your mutts happy, healthy, and hearty! 
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