Training your dog at home

Training at Home – Part 1 Putting Together a 5-minute Training Session

Training Tips

Much of the training you do at home will occur during every day interactions with your dog. For example, when your dog jumps up, you should turn your back, fold your arms and reward him with attention only when all four of his feet are on the floor. Be conscious of all your interactions with your dog! Make an effort to reward behavior you like and avoid rewarding behavior you don’t like.

In addition, devoting a few minutes a day to a training session is invaluable. Many of the techniques we are teaching in class require you to develop new skills, such as timing, reading your dog and simultaneously juggling clicker, treats and leash. The ultimate goal, besides a better-behaved dog, is for you and your dog to learn to communicate effectively. Training sessions allow you and your dog to focus exclusively on each other. For this week, try to build a habit of at least one short training session per day.

Rules for training at home:
* One trainer and one dog at a time.
* Be prepared. Have your rewards, such as soft stinky treats, ready and decide what you are going to work on before you begin.
* Set your dog up to win. Progress comes from building on successes.
* If your dog is not “getting it,” change something you are doing.
* Keep it short, keep it happy and always end on a high note.
A session that ends with both of you happy is a successful session!
Putting Together a 5-minute Training Session How to get started:
* Find a place to train where you and your dog can be alone. Spectators are allowed only if they promise to sit down and be quiet. Other dogs in your home should wait their turn outside the training area.
* Get your treats ready. Positive reinforcement methods require positive reinforcements. Treats should be small, soft and something your dog is willing to work for. You can put treats in a bowl on a table, put them in your pocket or in a fanny pack.
* Pick a few behaviors to work on before you begin and decide what you will click for. Help your dog choose the behavior you want, by luring or by limiting his choices, and reward him when he gets it right. He can’t succeed if you’re not clear in your own mind on what you want. On the other hand, be ready to ask for an easier behavior if your lure fails or if he never offers the behavior you have in mind. For your next training session, pick different behaviors to work on. This keeps it interesting for both you and your dog. Avoid making training sessions into repetitive exercise drills.
* Set your dog up to win. Click and treat frequently to keep your dog in the game; the learning comes when he is getting it right. If you do not get an opportunity to click and treat within 30 seconds or a minute, ask for an easier behavior. Then assess what is wrong (see below) and try to fix it. Repeated failures, such as when your dog is not responding to your first cue, may establish a pattern in the dog’s mind of behavior you don’t want.
* Keep it short, keep it happy and always end on a high note. A good training session has a beginning, a middle and an end. Begin with a few easy behaviors your dog already knows, so you can give a few clicks and treats right away. Then spend a few minutes on learning a new behavior or improving an old one. End the session on a success – go back to a known behavior if you need to – then give a big reward and let your dog know the session is over. Following a training session with play, a meal or a walk is a nice plus.

The whole session may last less than 5 minutes - don’t keep going so long that your dog loses interest in the game. A tiny amount of progress in any individual session is all you need. Add up all the tiny steps and you will soon see very big changes.
If you are getting frustrated, try again later. Continuing will do more harm than good. What is most important is that both you and your dog enjoy the process, so you are motivated to train again the next day.
* Having problems? Does your dog seem anxious, confused or disinterested?
If anxious, don’t lean over your dog, use a softer tone of voice and don’t gesture or click right in his face.

If confused, make sure you click precisely when you see the behavior you want and that you click for the same behavior each time.
If disinterested, try better treats or a place with fewer distractions. Another possibility is that you need to improve your timing. Once your dog understands this is a game worth winning, he will be interested.
Training at Home – Part 2 Challenging Your Dog to Improve Performance and Reliability
Training Tips By this time, your dog can probably perform a few behaviors, such as “sit,” “touch” and “watch me,” some of the time. However, you’ve probably found that with any small change in the environment your dog may “forget” what he’s just learned. Teaching your dog the new behavior and its cue are only the first step. Your dog hasn’t truly mastered these new skills until he is able to perform reliably, which is at least 80 percent of the time, in the presence of distractions.
Training Procedure Mastering any new behavior usually involves these five steps:
1- Get the behavior, usually with a lure. 2 - Name the behavior, using a verbal cue or command. 3 - Change the lure to a hand signal, using a visual cue or command. 4- Make it a little harder, changing distance, duration, speed and precision, one aspect at a time and in small increments. 5 - Add distractions. Rules for Making It Harder * Make one aspect of behavior harder at a time and in small enough increments so that the dog will succeed frequently. * Temporarily make other aspects of the behavior easier.* Once she has it, make the other aspects harder again.
Example:
“Stay” – your dog will hold a stay for sixty seconds while you stand right next to him, but you want to increase the distance you can move away from him while he stays:
* Distance is the aspect of the behavior you are making harder and you need to increase the distance in small increments, so give your command and move one step away from the dog.
* Time is an aspect of the behavior you can make temporarily easier by decreasing the length of the stay to five seconds. Then, reward your dog for at least three or four five-second/one-step away stays.

* Now, gradually increase the time while you remain just one step away from the dog. Do this until he can stay for sixty seconds with you at a distance of one step. Note that it may take four or five sessions to work back up to a sixty-second stay at the one-step distance.
Adding Distractions * Temporarily make the behavior easier when introducing a new distraction.* Initially add small distractions that the dog is capable of ignoring.* Gradually increase the level of distraction.* Once he can easily resist the distraction, make the behavior harder again.
Challenging Your Dog to Improve Performance and Reliability Homework ExerciseLet’s say your dog will sit, but he stands and looks at you for several seconds before he sits and you are giving several cues. You’d like him to sit promptly on the first command.
First, perform the behavior a few times at the dog’s current level of performance and click and treat each successful sit, even if it’s very slow. Perform the behavior, “sit,” a few more times, but this time only give one cue and only click and treat your dog if he sits in 5 seconds or less. At this point, it doesn’t matter if he sits lopsided or not directly in front of you. Your only concern is time. If he sits but it takes him too long, speak to him with a happy voice, “that was a nice sit, but it doesn’t get a cookie.” Then, get him up and try again.

Soon you should see his average response time improving. Once he sits within five seconds, at least 80 percent of the time, decrease the time you give him to respond. Now reward him only when he sits in four seconds or less. Continue decreasing the time until you are getting an immediate response. Now put back any other requirements you have, such as sit directly in front of me, and only reward sits that are fast and straight.
Now you want to add distractions. For example, you have been training in the living room and your dog does great. Now you go to the backyard and children are playing across the street. Suddenly, your dog acts like he has never heard the word “sit.” If your dog is looking across the street and not at you, forget “sit” at the moment and try “watch me” a few times. When you have your dog’s attention, ask for a sit. Click and treat every sit, even if it’s slow and crooked.

If your dog is very distracted, you may need to go back to luring him into a sit, making the behavior easier. Keep the lesson short. You may want to give a big reward, the jackpot, when he gives you a good sit, then end the session. Remember, you always want to quit on a high note. The next time you train with children across the street, he will remember that paying attention to you is rewarding.
Improved performance and reliability will probably take many short sessions. That’s OK. A little progress each time is what keeps you coming back for your next session.
Examples of Distractions: * Change your body position. Stand at the dog’s side, sit down or stand three feet away from the dog. * Have another person in the room, ignoring the dog but doing something, such as talking or jumping up and down. * Go to different locations, such as the park, walking on the sidewalk or in pedestrian malls. * Go to an obedience class where you’ll find many distractions!* When your dog is doing a stay, tug GENTLY on the leash while repeating, “stay,” or using your hand signal for stay. You can also wave your arms, make odd noises or walk around your dog. Your dog learns to ignore everything except your release word, such as “free,” “okay” or “all done.”

why dogs wag their tails

In some ways, tail-wagging serves the same functions as our human smile, polite greeting, or nod of recognition. Smiles are social signals, and human beings seem to reserve most of their smiles for social situations, where somebody is around to see them. Sometimes, vicarious social situations, as when watching television or occasionally when thinking about somebody special, can trigger a smile. For dogs, the tail wag seems to have the same properties. A dog will wag its tail for a person or another dog. It may wag its tail for a cat, horse, mouse, or perhaps even a butterfly.

But when the dog is by itself, it will not wag its tail to any lifeless thing. If you put a bowl of food down, the dog will wag its tail to express its gratitude to you. In contrast, when the dog walks into a room and finds its bowl full, it will approach and eat the food just as happily, but with no tail-wagging other than perhaps a slight excitement tremor. This is one indication that tail-wagging is meant as communication or language. In the same way that we don't talk to walls, dogs don't wag their tails to things that are not apparently alive and socially responsive.A dog's tail speaks volumes about his mental state, his social position, and his intentions. How the tail came to be a communication device is an interesting story.The dog's tail was originally designed to assist the dog in its balance. When a dog is running and has to turn quickly, it throws the front part of its body in the direction it wants to go.

Its back then bends, but its forward velocity is such that the hindquarters will tend to continue in the original direction. Left unchecked, this movement might result in the dog's rear swinging widely, which could greatly slow its rate of movement or even cause the dog to topple over as it tries to make a high-speed turn. The dog's tail helps to prevent this. Throwing the tail in the same direction that the body is turning serves as a sort of counterweight, which reduces the tendency to spin off course. Dogs will also use their tails when walking along narrow surfaces. By deliberately swinging the tail to one side or the other in the direction opposite to any tilt in the body, the dog helps maintain its balance, much the same way a circus tightrope walker uses a balance bar. Quite obviously, then, the tail has important uses associated with specific movements. However, the tail is not particularly important on flat surfaces, when a dog is simply standing around or walking at normal speeds.

At these times, it becomes available for other uses. Evolution again seized an opportunity and now adapted the tail for communication purposes.It is something of a surprise to many people to learn that puppies don't wag their tails when they are very young. The youngest puppy I ever saw systematically wagging its tail was eighteen days old, and both the breeder and I agreed that this was quite unusual. Although there are some differences among the various breeds, the scientific data suggests that, on average, by thirty days of age, about half of all puppies are tail wagging, and the behavior is usually fully established by around forty nine days of age.Why does it take so long for the puppy to start wagging its tail?

The answer comes from the fact that puppies begin wagging their tails when it is necessary for purposes of social communication. Until they are about three weeks of age, puppies mostly eat and sleep. They are not interacting significantly with their littermates other than curling up together to keep warm as they sleep or crowding together to nurse. They are physically capable of wagging their tails at this time, but they don't.By the age of six or seven weeks (when we start to see tail-wagging behaviors on a regular basis), the puppies are socially interacting with one another. Most of the social interactions in puppies consist of what psychologists call "play behaviors." It is through playing that puppies learn about their own abilities, how they can interact with their environment, and most important, how to get along with other individuals. A puppy learns that if it bites a littermate, it is apt to be bitten back, and perhaps the game it was playing might be terminated by its now angry playmate. It is at this point that the puppy also starts to learn dog language. It is not clear to what degree these emerging social communications are prewired, but learning is clearly needed to refine the use and interpretation of these signals. The pups learn to connect their own signals and the signals provided by their mother and their siblings with the behaviors that come next.

They also begin to learn that they can use signals to indicate their intentions and to circumvent any conflicts. This is where and when the tail-wagging behavior begins.One place where conflicts are likely to occur is during feeding. When a puppy wants to suckle its mother, it must come very close to its littermates as it crowds in to find her teats. Remember that this puppy is now coming close to the very same individuals that might have been nipping, jostling, or chasing him a few minutes earlier. To indicate that this is a peaceful situation, and to calm any fearful or aggressive response by the other puppies when they too are pushing toward the mother's teat, the puppy begins to wag its tail. Tail-wagging in the puppy then serves as a truce flag to its littermates. Later on, puppies will begin to wag their tails when they are begging food from the adult animals in their pack or family. The puppies come close, to lick the face of the adult, and they signal their peaceful intentions by tail-wagging. It thus becomes clear that the reason that very young puppies don't wag their tails is that they don't yet need to send appeasement signals to other dogs. When communication between dogs is needed, they rapidly learn the appropriate tail signals.Tail language actually has three different channels of information: position, shape, and movement. Movement is a very important aspect of the signal, since dog's eyes are much more sensitive to movement than they are to details or colors.

This makes a waving or wagging tail very visible to other dogs.Evolution has used a few additional tricks to make the tails even more visible. Wild canines, like wolves, often have great bushy tails, which are easily seen at a distance. In addition, many tails are specially colored to facilitate recognition of tail signals. Often, the underside of the tail is lighter, to make the high-tailed signals quite visibly different from signals involving the tucking of tails into a lower position. Many canines will also have distinctive markings to make the tail tip more visible. Usually, there is a lightening toward the tail tip, or perhaps simply a white mark which defines the tip of the tail. In other canines, the tail tip is noticeably darker. Either of these two color contrasts helps to make the end of the tail more visible, and this make movement and position cues easier to recognize...."

Dog licking - Why Dogs Lick

As the puppies grow older, they begin to lick and clean themselves and their littermates. This mutual licking and grooming serves social functions. Obviously, it helps keep the puppies clean, but in the process it helps strengthen the bonds between the puppies. The actual mechanism that builds this affection is mutual satisfaction.

A puppy can have companions get at those hard-to-reach places, like ears and backs and faces, and can pay them back by licking their littermates in their inaccessible regions. Since friends and familiars groom friends and familiars as a considerate gesture, the very act of licking another dog develops significance as a means of communication. Licking thus shifts from being a utilitarian and useful act to becoming a ritualized gesture.

The meaning of this gesture at this time in a puppy's life involves goodwill and acceptance. In effect, each puppy is saying, "Look how friendly I am." As the puppy matures, the message sent by licking continues to be friendly but is widened to also mean, "I'm no threat," and perhaps the submissive plea, "Please accept me and be kind."Licking takes on a further meaning a bit later in the puppy's life, usually around the time that it is becoming less dependent on its mother's milk. In the wild, when a mother wolf returns from hunting, she will have already fed herself on her quarry. When she enters the den, the puppies gather around her and begin to lick her face. To a romantic, this may look like a loving greeting with all of the puppies overjoyed at mother's return after her absence of several hours. They are seen as simply kissing her in happiness and relief. The actual purpose of all of this face licking, however, is much more functional. Wild canines have a well-developed regurgitation reflex, and the puppies lick their mother's face and lips to cause her to vomit up some food.

It is most convenient for the mother to carry food in her stomach rather than trying to drag things back to the den in her mouth. Furthermore, this partially digested material makes ideal dining for young puppies.It is interesting to note that our domestic dogs actually have a reduced sensitivity for their regurgitation reflex in comparison to wolves or jackals. Puppy-induced regurgitation is not as often seen in dogs unless the pups are not being fed well. When it does occur, it is more likely to occur in sharp-faced breeds that appear to be more similar to wild canines, such as the wolf.Understanding the development of licking behavior helps to interpret another place where it occurs. Face licking in adult canines can be a sign of respect or deference to a more dominant dog. The dog doing the licking usually lowers its body to make itself smaller, and looks up, adding to the effect of juvenile behavior. The dog receiving the face licks shows its dominance by standing tall to accept the gesture, but does not lick the other dog in return.Now when your dog tries to lick your face, you should have a better idea of what he's trying to communicate. He may simply be hungry and asking for a snack. Obviously, you won't regurgitate some food at that signal, but you might respond affectionately and perhaps give him a treat, such as a dog biscuit.

He may be communicating submission and pacification-the adult version of goodwill in puppies. Basically, he is saying, "Look, I'm just like a puppy who is dependent on big adults like you. I need your acceptance and help." Alternatively, he may be showing respect and deference to you as a more dominant dog in his pack..."

Dog Bones

Dogs eat non-digestible dirt, rocks, tampons, plastic squeaky toys, and rawhides. They vomit, choke, poop out foreign objects, sometimes need veterinary attention... these are real dogs in real life. One of my Rottweilers had to have 3 ft. of Christmas tinsel pulled out of his butt by a vet. I know a woman who lost her champion German shepherd because he choked to death on a tennis ball of all things. A neighbor's Cocker ate a sock resulting in an impaction that would have been the end of her without surgery. Every veterinarian you talk to will have stories of weird things ingested by dogs needing medical intervention - my old vet had an x-ray from a Labrador who ate an entire braided rug. Can dogs die from eating raw bones? Of course - they can die from eating just about all the other things eat too! There are risks , you can avoid completely, risks you can minimize, and risks you can accept only as a theoretical possibility. Just as every activity carries some risk, we are willing to accept risk when we feel it is minimal compared to the benefits. And feeding raw has huge benefits. Remember never feed cooked bones. These are not well digested by dogs and can splinter easily.
Raw meaty bones can be placed into categories;our RMB's that are part of a meal and are consumed entirely - or almost entirely - and RMB's are recreational that is bones that are chewed on, left, returned to, left and so on. Recreational bones for one dog may be a meal for another. Deciding which RMB's to feed depends on how your dog eats. Daphne, Dutch and Phoebe all chew their food thoroughly - so I feel comfortable giving them any kind of bones, even the large, weight-bearing bones.

Cooper gulps his down in a nanosecond. I call the chicken wings I feed him "sliders" because they slide right down his gullet in a single crunch. If your dog eats like Cooper , you can try encouraging him to slow down by holding one end of the food while the eats, or feeding separately from other dogs so he doesn't feel like he must inhale his food faster than everyone else! I often feed Cooper frozen or partially frozen RMB's because his forces him to chew a bit. Stay within your own comfort level with this. Some people smash the our RMB's with a hammer or meat-tenderizing tool first. And don't forget, grinding is always an adoption. This will eliminate any fears you have!

BLOAT (DILATATION VOLVULUS)

Bloat (dilatation) followed by stomach rotation (stomach torsion) is a lifethreatening condition. Partial or complete rotation prevents food from entering or leaving the stomach. The abdomen swells. The affected dog may drool, retch, wander restlessly, become listless, or show signs of pain. Shock quickly develops.

Bloat is an acute condition with a high fatality rate even for dogs that receive immediate medical attention. Early diagnosis and swift surgical intervention, combined with aggressive medical therapy, increases the chances of survival.

This condition, however, is as serious as it gets.DIAGNOSIS - X-rays will confirm the diagnosis. An affected dog may be just uncomfortable or in advanced lifethreatening shock. Reducing pressure inside the stomach is vital. If a tube cannot be passed down the esophagus. your vet will insert a large-diameter needle through the abdominal wall directly into the stomach
TREATMENT - Emergency therapy with fluids, corticosteroids, antibiotics, drugs to control related heart arrhythmias, and drugs to limit the release of large quantities of tissue-damaging tree radicals starts immediately.At the same time, surgery is used to rotate the stomach back and to secure it down into its normal position.

The spleen, because it acts as a pendulum and is often damaged by a gastric rotation, is usually (although probably needlessly) removed.PREVENTION - If you have a dog that is known to be at risk of bloat (see description at bottom), you can take steps to prevent the problem. Limit water consumption for an hour before or after each meal. Do not allow the dog to drain the bowl of its contents: water should be consumed in moderate quantities. Do not allow rolling or other exercise after meals. Dividing food into small meals has not been shown to reduce the risk of further bloating.

Bloat in dogs

Several times a week I receive a phone call from someone whose dog has died of bloat. Usually my role is to provide a sympathetic ear and assure the callers that there was nothing they could have changed to prevent the incident. Our current knowledge of bloat does not allow us to identify specific events that trigger an acute episode in susceptible dogs, although some form of "stress" was probably involved. One of our long-term research objectives is to better define what constitutes stress for dogs and to measure their physiological response to it. However, the primary goal of the research is to determine why some dogs are more susceptible to bloat than others, i.e., what are the risk factors for bloat. This has led to studies of the physical conformation of dogs, their diet, vaccination histories, and even to new ways to evaluate a dog's temperament and personality.

The overall bloat fatality rate approaches 30% for dogs with a dilated, rotated stomach. Approximately half of the dogs that die with a rotated stomach will do so before veterinary medical or surgical treatment is obtained. Dogs may be found dead or die on the way to the hospital, or may be euthanized by the veterinarian because of their poor prognosis or the owner's financial considerations. In contrast, dogs properly treated have [greater than] 80% probability of surviving a bloat episode and then leading a normal life. Veterinarians over the past 2 decades have reduced dramatically the postoperative fatality rate from gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV) from [greater than]50% to [less than]20% by using improved therapy for shock, safer anesthetic agents, and better surgical techniques.

Too often, however, owners of dogs that died of bloat tell me that they had recognized that the dog had a serious problem and rushed the dog to a veterinarian, only to be told that it was probably only a "belly ache," or that the dog's stomach was dilated, but not rotated. Sometimes the veterinarian recognized dilatation, but not a rotation (volvulus, torsion), passed a stomach tube to relieve the pressure, and sent the dog home. Or the dog was diagnosed as having dilatation and rotation, and a stomach tube was passed to relieve the pressure, but surgery (gastropexy) to permanently correct the rotation was delayed, either because the dog was thought to be too ill to withstand the surgery, or the veterinarian was not adequately equipped or prepared at the time to perform the operation. The latter may occur if the veterinarian is in the midst of busy office hours or if -- especially at night -- there is insufficient technical help available to properly perform the surgery, which requires careful administration of anesthesia, appropriate fluid therapy, and close monitoring of the dog's vital signs.

Numerous clinical reports from Europe and the United States show that gastropexy to prevent gastric rotation should be performed as soon as possible following stomach decompression on all dogs with gastric dilatation, whether or not the stomach is thought to be rotated at the time. The recurrence rate of gastric volvulus in dogs treated for bloat conservatively, i.e., without surgery, approaches 100%, whereas the recurrence rate following gastropexy is [less than]5%. The stomach of a dog that has had a gastropexy can still dilate, but it is unlikely to rotate, so if dilatation does occur after gastropexy, it can probably be treated conservatively.

What does all this mean to you? If your dog suddenly develops a distended abdomen, appears uncomfortable, and gets progressively worse, rush the dog to a veterinarian, preferably one equipped to do emergency surgery. Gastric distention is a life-threatening condition, even if the stomach has not rotated. Immediate decompression is required to relieve pressure on blood vessels and to restore circulation to the heart, because shock can occur within minutes of the first clinical signs. Fluid therapy is indicated to treat shock, and drugs may be needed if the heart rhythm is irregular. This should be followed as soon as possible by surgery to reposition and immobilize (gastropexy) the stomach before it is irreversibly damaged. The best indicators of how well the dog will do postoperatively are its physical condition (state of shock) prior to surgery and the appearance of the stomach during surgery (since dead or dying stomach tissue implies a very poor prognosis). Intensive monitoring is usually required for several days postoperatively in case complications occur.

If you suspect your dog has bloat, but the veterinarian dismisses it as a minor problem, inquire about radiographs to rule out GDV. If dilatation with or without volvulus is diagnosed and the stomach is decompressed, either by passing a stomach tube or by piercing the stomach with a large needle (trochar) passed through the body wall, the dog should be considered as a candidate for immediate surgery, unless its condition is too unstable to tolerate anesthesia. If the veterinarian recommends that surgery be delayed for any other reason, seek a second opinion immediately. Delay in surgery will increase the chance of the stomach rotating if it hasn't already, or will decrease the chance of the dog surviving if rotation has occurred.

Following is an excerpt of a letter that illustrates some of these points. "I noticed Kelly [an Irish Setter] attempting to vomit with nothing coming up. Grass? Chicken bone? I watched her and we continued to walk. She was happy and greeted people, wagging her tail, ... and had fun. We went home and Kelly went upstairs where she attempted to vomit several times. I immediately called my vet. Kelly and I arrived at the veterinarian's office within five minutes of the phone call. I told the veterinarian that Kelly had vomited two or three times with nothing coming up. I said that she looked a little broad around the ribs. The veterinarian did a physical examination and concluded that Kelly's problem was just a "stomach ache." ... I was directed to give her Pepto Bismol®. I took Kelly home and she lay down on the bed. About 45 minutes later she went out to the back yard. When I went out 10 minutes later, I found her bloated up. I grabbed her, took her back to the veterinary hospital, but she died on the operating table." (Comment: There is no guarantee that if radiographs had been taken during the first veterinary visit, Kelly's outcome would have been different. However, radiographs might have confirmed the presence of gastric dilatation or volvulus, and thus the need for immediate gastric decompression and surgery.) Be prepared -- Teamwork between you and your veterinarian is your dog's best hope when it comes to bloat.

Article courtesy of Larry Glickman, VMD, DrPh

How To Select A Pet Dog

Some key factors when selecting a pet dog.
By Chris Gilchrist


Here are things to keep in mind when selecting the right dog for you.
Age The ideal time to acquire a puppy is between six and eight weeks of age, to permit normal psychological development, since neither physical nor behavioral development is complete at this time. The best guide to the puppy's future is its parent, and buyer should if possible select a puppy from known breeding stock. The puppy should be normally plump, lively and free from obvious physical defects and extreme timidity. For establishing a breeding stock, the prospective owner will often do best by acquiring a pregnant female of proven fertility.Sex Male dogs are usually larger than females, more active, and tend to wander more as adults.Being less in demand, females are less expensive. Sexual cycles can be eliminated by spaying. The most desirable time to spay a female is after the first heat period as this will assure normal physical development.Breed The choice of dog breed depends on the use of the dog, and on your preference. All dogs require some kind of training and there is no breed that will make a satisfactory pet without it. Hounds and bird dogs are generally gentle with children and rarely get into fights with other dogs.

Owning a dog: choosing the right breed for a pet

A person looking to own a purebred dog has a tough choice to make; there are great dogs in so many different breeds. Here is a basic outline highlighting the characteristics and needs of each breed.
Herding dogs - Dogs from this breeding group make excellent guard dogs. They were bred to be working dogs, so a herding dog needs to stay active for hours each day. Take them on frequent walks and play with them outdoors.
Hounds - Hounds are loyal and popular dogs that come in all shapes in sizes, from Beagles and Dachshunds to Greyhounds and Bloodhounds. They are smart dogs who often learn commands easily but follow them only sporadically. Hounds are easily distracted by their acute senses of sight and, especially, smell because they were bred to be hunting dogs. To prevent a hound from running away it needs to be kept on a leash when it goes outside. Otherwise, its senses will likely lead it on an impromptu hunt. Many varieties of hounds also have a loud bark that they use often.
Nonsporting Group - Dogs in the nonsporting groups include well known dogs such as American Eskimo Dogs, the Bichon Frise, Bulldogs, and Dalmations. There exists such a diversity within this group that a potential owner would be wise to look up characteristics of the specific dog breed rather than base a decision on the category to which that breed belongs dog belongs.
Sporting dogs - As the name implies, dogs belonging to this group are very high-energy, athletic animals that need plenty of exercise and stimulation. Sporting dogs are not lazy lap dogs; they were bred to assists hunters by finding a retrieving game. Many of them make great pets because they are even-tempered dogs that get along well with children and adults. Pointers, Retrievers, Setters and Spaniels are all sporting dogs.
Terriers - One of America’s most well known dogs, Toto, belongs to this group. His character provides a great example of what an owner should expect from a terrier. They are feisty and assertive and highly intelligent dogs who never give up and never back down. They cover quite a range of sizes, from small Carins like Toto, to the rather large Airedale.
Toys - When people think of Toys, Poodles Chihuahuas are often the fist dogs that come to mind, but the list of Toy dogs is actually quite a long one. Toys were bred down from larger dogs from a variety of breeds. You can get toy Greyhounds, Pinschers, Spaniels, Terriers and more. Because of their diverse origins, toys different toy breeds exhibit a wide rage of personalities. Most of them don’t needs vigorous exercise and are small enough to take almost anywhere. However, for this group, it is once again best to research the animal by breed not the group to which that breed belongs.
Working Group - Working dogs are usually quite large strong and sturdy. They have been bred to carry out specialized tasks, such as pulling a sled or guarding other animals. Most of them have thick fur and so prefer cold weather over hot. Because these dogs were bred to work, they enjoy regular exercise, but many are otherwise laid-back dogs.