Indeed, canine ticks may look harmless at first. But as soon as they attach themselves on your dog’s skin and a full blown infestation occurs, serious health problems may follow suit.

Canine Tick Avoidance, Not Canine Tick Prevention

Ticks aren’t insects. They don’t infest households, hence, there are no preventive measures that can be undertaken to repel these parasites. Like common opportunistic bloodsuckers, canine ticks live outdoors, using special heat-sensing functions to pinpoint warm-blooded mammals. Once their targets are found, they drop down on them to cling to their skin, sucking away in relative invisibility.

Though there is no such thing as dog tick prevention, there is such a thing as canine tick avoidance. Basically, if you don’t want your dog to be a victim of these mite-like parasites, then you have to avoid bringing your dog to places known as hotspots for canine ticks. These places include areas with tall grasses and woodlands immediately after the rainy season. These are known breeding grounds for canine ticks because of the moisture they manage to retain.

The Real Danger Of Canine Ticks

If you’d discover some canine ticks on your dog’s skin – especially the ticks that have frighteningly ballooned into the size an air pellet – you’d immediately ask if such is painful for your dog.

It isn’t.

The dog may feel some irritation, but in general, he won’t feel the blood being sucked out of his system.

However, though canine ticks are generally harmless, this doesn’t mean that they pose zero danger for our beloved dogs. The truth of the matter is that some canine ticks may carry diseases that they can introduce to your dog’s system. This is the real danger of canine ticks. Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever are just some of the potentially fatal illnesses that can be caused by canine ticks.

Some dog owners may also find it alarming that canine ticks can feed on humans as well. In most cases, dogs with canine ticks are likely to have owners with canine ticks too.

Getting Rid Of Canine Ticks

When it comes to eliminating canine ticks, nothing is surer than the old fashioned way: manually finding them, manually pulling them out, and manually squishing them into oblivion.

You will find mature canine ticks hard to pull out of your dog. Your dog may even show signs of pain whenever these parasites are pulled off his skin.

Temporary remedies like topical lotions and shampoos can help your dog avoid a canine tick infestation. However, most of these products only provide short-term protection – the most of which is merely 30 days – and they are not known to cure canine tick infestation that is already in progress.

If your dog has diarrhoea it may be a good idea to test whether it is a certain food that is causing it. Stick to the basic foods (but make sure your dog is getting enough food to stay healthy) which may give the diarrhoea enough chance to stop and your dog enough time to recover. However there are no foods that stop canine diarrhoea, and you are much better off getting medical advice from your vet.

Canine diarrhoea can be caused by Parvo Virus, an serious disease that affects many dogs, so visiting your vet should be at the top of your priorities.

Signs Of Canine Stroke

Like humans dog strokes can be extremely sudden and unexpected, but the actual signs are usually different to humans once the stroke has taken place. It’s possible that if you weren’t around to witness the stroke that you won’t realise it ever happened. These are the things to look out for that may indicate a canine stroke:

• Blindness in one or both eyes
• A change in the behaviour patterns of the dog. You’ll know your dog better than anyone, so if the dog is acting in a strange way it may mean there is something wrong.
• Trouble with balance
• Head tilted and possibly not being able to walk in a straight line but in circles
• Confusion in directions (i.e. when called)

If you notice any of these symptoms it could be a sign of a canine stroke. Even if it isn’t it’s still important to take your dog to the vet straight away to get a proper diagnosis.

Your vet will also be able to advise you on treatment for the stroke symptoms. These usually centre on fixing the original cause to make sure another stroke doesn’t take place. In many cases the dog will recover well from a stroke, although this isn’t always the case and in severe cases a stroke may cause death.

Knowing what the signs of canine stroke are can make a huge difference to your dogs chances. The earlier you can get your dog to the vet the better if you suspect a stroke has taken place.

What Is Canine Spaying?

Spaying is the removal of the dog’s uterus and ovaries. While it is quite complicated surgery it is so commonly performed that the risks are not high. You’ll need to talk with your vet about the specific risks to your dog.

Why Should I Get My Dog Spayed?

Apart from the prevention of the dog having puppies, getting your dog spayed has several other advantages. Notably these include a decreased risk of developing certain types of cancer and the fact that there will be no bloody discharge that would usually occur when the dog is in heat.

What Is The Average Canine Spay Recovery Time?

It’s difficult to say exactly what the normal canine spay recovery time is but in most cases the younger the dog is the less recovery time required.

If your dog is a young puppy then it could be as little as a day before the dog is back to its normal self. It may take a few days longer for it to become 100% normal, but often it doesn’t take long. Older dogs usually take a bit longer but again can be fine within a few days. You should ask your vet about your dog specifically as he or she will be able to provide you with more accurate information.

You should try to ensure that your dog doesn’t run around too energetically for at least a week or two after the surgery.

This article is meant as a short general guide to Canine Osteosarcoma, but you should always contact your vet for more detailed information. This is not meant as medical advice and it should not be taken as such. Only a registered veterinarian can provide that.

Canine Osteosarcoma is usually diagnosed through excessive pain attributed to a meek accident. What this means is that often the disease is misdiagnosed as a muscle injury, when in fact it is more serious. If you have any doubts about your dogs health you should always visit a registered vet immediately who’ll be able to give you a professional diagnosis.

Usually Canine Osteosarcoma treatment involves surgery on the tumour which is then followed up with chemotherapy. In the majority of cases the vet won’t try to cure the disease would be extremely difficult, but instead tries to fight the disease to reduce the amount of pain the dog is in and increase quality of life. If the disease is caught before the cancer can spread around the dogs body then Canine Osteosarcoma treatment is often more effective but your vet will be able to advise you on the situation for your individual dogs case.

The most common form of surgery for Canine Osteosarcoma is to amputate the limb containing the cancer which can increase life span by around 6 months at most. Chemotherapy can increase the life span further, but may or may not be suitable for your dog.

Above all you should take into account whether the dog will realistically have a high quality of life if it is treated. Dogs usually respond well to amputation and can often adapt quickly and effectively. However your vet will be able to advise you whether the pain the dog is in will be able to be reduced to an acceptable level.

If however you find canine eye discharge is starting to build up around your dogs eye and you can’t seem to clean it off, then there may a problem. In this situation the first thing you should do it take your dog to a registered vet. He or she will be able to advise you whether it is something to worry about, and if it is what you can do about it. It is a general rule that if you have any worries about your dog the best course of action is to contact your vet.

So if the discharge does start to build up during the day, then what does it mean? I may be that your canine has an eye infection, which are fairly common amongst dogs. With a dog eye infection, the discharge is usually a thick yellow or grey colour. However this isn’t always the case.

If your dog has a seasonal allergic reaction to something, then the discharge may be clearer.

Symptoms of a canine eye infection

• A thick discharge builds up during the day around your dogs eye
• Your dog is scratching at its eye a lot
• The eyes appear bloodshot
• The eyes appear dry

There are many other symptoms of a canine eye infection, too many to list here. The general rule is that if you notice anything out of the ordinary in or around your dogs eye then you should visit a vet as soon as possible who’ll be able to help diagnose the problem.

1. Getting your dogs attention
Most people use the dogs name for this, but you can use any word you like really. If you want to give your dog a command, then you need him to at least be paying attention to you. This is where the attention aspect of canine obedience training comes into play.

A lot of owners make the mistake of thinking that their dog will automatically learn to respond to its name. That may be the case, but a little training can help a lot.

To train your dog to respond to its name, practice this exercise. Say the dogs name clearly, and as soon as he looks up at you give a treat or reward.

Try not to use the dogs name every time you see him or her, but instead just when you want its attention to avoid confusion.

2. Releasing from a command
This is also important. You need to have a command that you can use to tell the dog the exercise is over and he can move around. Again, you can use whatever you want. I personally would use “release”, but that’s your decision.

To train your dog in this command, it helps if you’ve already learned the sit and stay commands. Get the dog to sit and stay, and then say “release”. As soon as you say it, get the dog to move around by distracting it. Practice this as much as possible.

Conclusion
These are two very basic things that form the foundation of all canine obedience training, but many owners neglect them. If you train your dog in these two exercises from an early age, you’ll find it much easier to train the dog later in life. Once you’ve done the basics, you can move onto other things like Training Tricks