I'm Back! And With Some Pet Care Tips! I missed you guys.

[sheepdog 10]

Finally got my inability to post here at Trap 17 fixed, it's been a couple weeks since I could get involved in any discusions, and I sure did miss it. And of course my hostingcredits or cents or what ever have dwindled to the point my web site was in jepordy, so now I have to get busy for sure!I wanted to remind everyone of some wintertime pet care tips. Just because it's cold out there, your pet (I am of course, refering to dogs) still needs plenty of water to drink. Make sure if you have an outside dog that it has access to water several times a day, water freezes rapidly and will not stay consumable for very long in the very cold weather. Just a short time period in severe cold will glaze ice over the water dish and your pet won't be able to drink. Don't neglect your pet's hair coat either. A clean fluffy coat is much warmer for your dog than a dirty matted one. While you may suspend clipping off coats short like you would normally keep them in summer, keep that brush handy and keep him tidy. If you walk your dog on city streets/sidewalks that have been treated with chemicals, be sure to wipe your dog's feet when you come back in the house. Chemicals can irritate your dogs feet, and also, in the case of salt, it is not good for a dog to consume a lot of salt, so if he licks the salt off his paws, it could make him ill. For the outside dogs, make sure their dog house is well bedded down with good dry bedding. This can be challenging sometimes, dog seem to enjoy dragging out the bedding as fast as you can pupt it back in. There are any number of things you can use for bedding, hay, straw, blankets, towels, I like large carpet squares, just make sure you check it frequently to make sure it is dry. If you plan on boarding your dog over the holidays, make sure he is up to date on all shots and make sure you know the requirnment of the boarding facility you plan to use.

[rob86 2]

Nice pet care tips, I'm surprised nobody commented on them.?

[sheepdog 10]

Thanks. Glad you liked them. The Pet section at Trap 17 is always pretty slow. Which is very unfortunate for me, because that is the one thing I am the most qualified to talk about.

[rob86 2]

I would be interested in any animal related things you would like to post. Do you have any dog grooming tips?

[sheepdog 10]

Oh boy, I have LOTS of those! Thanks for asking!Due to the shear volume of the shearing I have to do, for the most part I just clip the dogs completely down and call it good, but on occasion I do enjoy messing around trying new grooming things. I also need to occasionally take pictures of my adult dogs, and I think it looks a lot better to prospective puppy customers if the dogs are groomed in the manner that is expected of the breed, even if it is not always possible to do that with heavy coated breeds, like the Old English Sheepdogs, all that hair and giving birth to puppies is not a good thing. And I am a sucker for new grooming tools, trying new shampoo?s and anything new that is grooming related. I?d love to find a Mars Coat King someday at the swap meet, since I am too tight to spend $50 on a dog comb, but sure would like to try one. For many years I had a red female mini Poodle I called Rosie. She loved to be groomed, so I used her for lots of ?experiments.? (No, don?t freak, I mean grooming experiments, nothing that would hurt her) I once gave her a Mohawk, even sprayed purple glitter on it. I swear she thought she was really top dog, the way she strutted around looking like a punk rock dog. Don?t know what kind of dog you need to groom, or what kind of tricks would be most helpful for you. Lets start with ears. Whenever I groom my dogs, I always do the ears last. (dogs are not particularly fond of this part of the grooming routine, so we wait till the end) They should be checked carefully. Some dogs have a goodly amount of hair that grows right in the ear canal. It is important to pluck out this hair, at least thin it out somewhat. If is not too greasy you can usually pull it out just with your fingers, but I do have a special pair of hemostats that are rounded and blunt at the tip that work especially well for ear hair plucking. Look for the hair that is growing right down in the ear. It is usually a dark brown color. After you have removed all the dark hair, take a cotton ball soaked in alcohol and clean the ears thoroughly. This will go a long way towards preventing ear infections in your dog. Clean ears seldom ever get infected. Removing the excess hair allows for better air circulation and keeps the ears dryer. And a bit more handy ear info. If you notice your dog scratching at his ears, there is a good chance he has ear mites. You don?t have to douse him with toxic chemicals to kill the pesky little varmints. You can easily treat these by cleaning the ear as I explained above, and then putting a good healthy squirt of baby oil down each ear. Hold your dogs head until you get both ears filled so he doesn?t shake it out as fast as you squirt it in. Then put one hand on either side of his head just below the ears and rub in a circular motion. You should hear a sort of popping sound. This will get the oil all the way down in the ear canal. Just give it a minute or 2 to work down well into the ear. Then step back. Quickly. Matter of fact, I should of mentioned, you should probably do this outside, because as soon as you let go there is going to be some serious head shaking going on. It will sling oil everywhere, trust me on that one! You don?t actually have to use baby oil, any good oil will work, even vegetable oil, I just use the baby oil because it smells good and most kinds come with a flip up spout that is handy for squirting right down inside the ear. The oil coats the mites and suffocates them. It also helps soften up the gunk that the mites cause to form in the ears and makes cleaning them out easier. And now, if you haven?t been keeping up with your dogs ears, or he picked up a case of ear mites and scratched his ears into infection, and you have ended up with an ear infection, you may still be able to take care of the problem without a costly vet visit. Clean the ears first. It is an old wives? tale that a dog should not get water in their ears. If they need it, you can give the dog a bath and wash the ears right along with the rest of the dog if they are extremely cruddy, you may have to in order to soak loose the crud. After you have removed all the gunk you can, dry them off, and then instead of cleaning with alcohol, use hydrogen peroxide and the cotton balls. You will need to clean them every day until the infection is gone. You can tell when it is gone because the hydrogen peroxide will no longer bubble when it is in the ear. After several days of the hydrogen peroxide treatment, you might also do another cleaning with vinegar and water. This treatment will kill off any infections that are caused by yeast, another common cause of ear infections. If you don?t see at least some improvement in a week or so, you may have to take him to the vet for additional antibiotics to give him internally to fight the infection, but in most cases, simply keeping the ears clean will take care of the problem.If you have any questions about grooming on specific breeds, or some thing, just let me know.

[rob86 2]

I enjoy reading your pet care tips. I never thought of trimming the hair in the ears before but that makes sense. I will do that. I have a Border Collie, by the way . I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any ear mites right now but if he ever does I'll remember the baby oil /alcohol/hydrogen peroxide advice. Thank you for taking the time to post these tips.

[Veradesigns 0]

Excellent tips, one questions if your eating what is the best way to keep the dog away from you i just cant stand those cute eyes looking at me and scratching me that she wants me. What can i do so she wont bother me any advice? I tried getting her full but she those who will eat and eat i tried caging her and she cry's. Any advice?

[sheepdog 10]

LOL, now that is a tough question! Makes me giggle. My hired man brings a sandwich with him to work, every time he heads towards his pick up truck to eat, my yard dogs line up next to him, and give him that soulful starving puppy dog look, that I am sure you are familar with. It's pretty funny. It got so bad there for awhile, I had a little yard goat too, and that little guy even learned to beg! Wish I'd Ive gotten pictures a few times, with that little line up waiting for a tid bit. If you break down and give them a taste, (and admittedly, it's tough to resist those eyes) your pretty much doomed. But some basic obedience can help. The word No, and go lay down if you can teach them that, and completely ignore them while you are eating. If they leave you alone, make it a point to save them a bite, and give it to them when you are finished.

[sheepdog 10]

Border Collies are great dogs, very intelligent and also very full of energy. While they were bred for heading, their agility and intelligence makes them a great dog for any competitive dog sports, agility, frisbee, etc. And since they are still generally used as a working dog, they are still a very healthy athletic dog, seldom prone to any serious health problems.

[rob86 2]

Hey there sheepdog, do you have any tips on getting rid of fleas on a dog. I've tried flea collars and that liquid stuff you put on an animals neck and it doesn't seem to work, either that or they are jumping back on from somewhere. I miss winter -- there are never any fleas in the winter.

[VishBoy 0]

Thank you buddy They're usefull, and they can help you when you care about some pet Thanks one more time i like your thread/post