Labrador Retriever Dogs Blog

Though not formally recognized as a breed of dog, Cockapoos, a cross between a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle, have been bred since the 1950s. Breeders have taken the best traits of Cocker Spaniels and Poodles and breed them into the Cockapoo. From the Poodle side, the Cockapoo takes intelligence, relatively little dander and an almost non-shedding coat that comes in many colors. From the Cocker side, it takes a sturdy build and friendly and loyal personality.

A crossbreed like the Cockapoo is also less likely to have many of the genetic problems that purebred breeds do (something called hybrid vigor). In fact, other than the normal care for a dog (grooming, cleaning ears, safety, exercise) Cockapoos have no particular health concerns, though it should be noted that without consistent care and cleaning of the ears, Cockapoos can develop ear infections, thanks to long floppy ears from the Cocker Spaniel side.

Cockapoos can live 18-22 years and come in different types: Teacup Toy (height less than 10 inches and weight under 6 pounds), Toy (height 11 to 14 inches, weight under 12 pounds) and Standard (height over 15 inches and weight over 12 pounds).

Since the Cockapoo is a mixed breed dog and there is currently no breed standard, there are variations in the build of the dog ranging from slim to stocky. The Cockapoo can also be bred with three different coats: a tight curly coat, a medium curl and a flat coat. Though different in style and color, all of the coats are less likely to shed, making them a consideration for allergy sufferers. However, Cockapoos, like all dogs, will have dander (though considerably less than other breeds of dog), a potential allergen. The longhaired coat should be trimmed regularly to prevent matting.

Cockapoos enjoy being around people and their intelligence makes them easy to train. Though active dogs, Cockapoos do not require large outdoor spaces to run around in and are good in apartment settings, provided they are walked at least once a day. It is the friendly personality – as well as forgiving nature and loyalty – that makes it an ideal family pet for those with children and other animals. Even when left alone for extended periods of time, Cockapoos are generally not destructive, though can become anxious so crating is recommend if leaving a Cockapoo alone for more than four hors at a time.

There is a website that has great information on Cockapoos and most other breeds of dogs. It has details that pertain to a dog breeds health, grooming, living conditions, best food choices and more, the website is called: Dog And Cat Facts, and can be found at this url:

http://www.dogandcatfacts.com

By Robert W. Benjamin

Copyright © 2007

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter, or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

Did you know that a dog might suffer from a number of diseases at an early age. Being attentive of these illnesses and the proper approach to treat them can assist you greatly in caring for your dog better. Dogs must be vaccinated and given annual boosters to keep them safe. Your dog can be vaccinated against hepatitis, distemper, rabies, corona, leptospirosis, kennel cough and parvo. At some point, he could suffer from domestic or external parasites and there are several types of infections which a dog owner should know about.

Pet insurance might be worth thinking about if you have one or more pets. Investing in vaccinations and caring well for your pet usually cost much less than running the risk of an infection and having to pay hundreds of dollars to treat them later.

The Parvo virus is the most common and deadliest dog infection. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration and eventually death.

Distemper is another form viral infection. Symptoms may include fever, loss of appetite, nasal and eye discharges.

Note that Canine hepatitis may cause like symptoms as Distemper and should be treated with IV fluid therapy, nutritional and antibiotics support(consult your vet before giving medication).

Rabies is usually spread by the bite of another animal. If your dog has rabies, he will behave oddly. A dog can be vaccinated against Rabies from 4 months of age. There aren’t any cures at this moment, vaccination is key to protect your dog.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial virus infection which often attacks the dog’s kidneys and liver. Consuming contaminated water or infected urine from another animal can cause this. High Fevers, yellow gums, sadness, depression and blood in the urine might mean Leptospirosis and should be checked.

Bordatella, or Kennel cough, is a respiratory tract disease. Kennel cough symptoms include a loud and coarse cough nasal and eye discharges. Treatment for Bordatella are usually cough suppressants, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication.

Coronavirus is one of the more contagious viral illness. Vomiting, diarrhea and weight loss are possible warning signs and should be looked into. IV fluids and Antibiotics are the usual medications in treating Corona.

Infections inside or surrounding a dog’s ears is a highly common dog infection. You can often spot a ear infection if a dog is constantly pawing at its ears and shaking its head persistently. You should examine your dog’s ears every 2 weeks and take him to your local vet for treatment if any signs are spotted, as soon as possible. Even common ear infections like blood clots may cause deafness and even lead to severe blindness if not treated appropriately.

Heat, swelling and sluggishness are a few more evident signs of an infection. Appearing to be in hurt or pain, nervousness or listlessness are also some more evident signs.

If the infection is intense, then the dog might have a high temperature and be swollen around it’s neck. Be sure to also look under his armpits and groin area for swollenness. However, if you cannot get to a vet immediately, you should always keep the dog lying down to avoid any physical exertion that might lead to the infection spreading more quickly.

Dogs with infections might reject food and water so it is important to seek your vet’s advice.

Infections can pose a serious hazard anywhere in a dog’s body but especially if the infections are around the body’s exposed regions like the mouth, nose and eyes as they could spread quicker to the blood stream. The key thing to know is that you must get your dog immunized as soon as he is old enough. Also be sure to follow up with a yearly injected booster.

If your dog does seem to be ill or have some kind of infection, call the vet to schedule an appointment at soonest. Dogs aren’t like human beings, infections in dogs can become extreme very quickly and it is not a good idea to wait and see if the infection or illness heals itself.

We love dogs and we consider them to be our best friends; however, how much do we love them after barking at the slightest sound heard outside or at two o’clock in the morning? There are many reasons why dogs misbehave and there are just as many owners who are discouraged when it comes to training their beloved pets. For many owners, experts in the field of dog training have developed innovative devices in the form of remote dog training collars. Online, there are plenty of attractive offers for such products and also a lot of information on the subject. Dog owners should have no problem in finding a highly effective remote dog training collars, destined to make their pets behave properly.

Of course dogs bark. It is their natural instinct to do so every time they want to express their feelings or warn their owners of potential dangers. At the same time, they might bark when they have a difference of opinions with a cat or even another dog for that matter. The truth is that they are bound to bark sooner or later, no matter how hard you try to train them. Having a dog that makes constant noise is not only upsetting for you but also annoying for your neighbours who might not be so happy with the incessant barking. This is why you should consider one of the remote dog training collars, allowing you to train your dog in an efficient and comfortable manner. You will be able to enjoy special times with your dog, finally taking advantage of him being the perfect companion.

How do remote dog training collars work and where can you actually buy one? First of all, you must understand one essential aspect: these collars may be electronic devices but they are not going to harm your dog in any matter whatsoever. Throughout the entire training period, while wearing the collar your dog will be 100% comfortable, the only difference being observed when it comes to barking. The dog will not perceive the collar as an act of punisment; on the contrary, he will understand that barking is not such a fun activity at all times. The remote training dog collar is innovative and highly effective; being placed around the neck, it controls all of your dog’s intentions to misbehave. He barks too loud, you press the buttons and release a cold spray on his neck or chin; some are odourless and others have a citronella smell. Despite all the fun he had while barking, he will nevertheless stop, his attention being caught by the smell or simply by the cool feeling provoked by the spray. Featuring a 300 m range of activity and also a sound button, the dog training collar will be the best thing that you ever invested in.

The best thing about dog training collars is that there are suitable for all dog sizes and various breeds. One just has to use the Internet and find out more about the potential advantages of using such electronic devices. For example, small dog training collars are extremely useful to correct abnormal behavior of small breeds such as: Yorkshire terrier, Bichon Frise, Chihuahua and Shih Tzu. Even small dogs can present behavioral problems, barking without any apparent reason and disturbing the quiet of the neighborhood. If you want a completely safe and efficient way to stop your dog from his continuous barking, then you have definitely have to consider small dog training collars, easily to be mounted and just as easy refilled.

Small dog training collars use an electronic device to release a spray in order to attract the dog’s attention from what ever he is doing. No matter if the dog goes to the garbage making a mess everywhere, if he leaves paw marks all around the living room or barks continuously at the new teddy bear you just bought, this device is guaranteed to correct all the problems of your pet. If you do decide to go for small dog training collars that release a citronella smell, then you are guaranteed to amaze your dog with the citric smell. Sensing the unknown smell, he will instantly forget about all his adventures and stop barking, concentrating simultaneously to identify the source. Such electronic devices are perfect for those small dogs that can sometimes be extremely annoying, disturbing not only the neighbors but even the owners.

The next time you see your dog misbehaving and barking when he feels like, consider the possibility of a dog training collar. Go online and see the differences between various training kits offered by specialized companies in the field. Read carefully about the information provided and make sure that you choose the dog training collar that best fits your pet. Do not let your pet to become master of the domain and show him who the boss is without being too pushy or strict! Remember, you don’t have to resort to violence as long as you can benefit from some of the greatest innovations in the field, such as remote dog training collars.

Some of the ingredients that end up in commercial pet foods are truly shocking. What’s more, many of these will not appear on the label and others are hidden under umbrella terms such as ‘meat meal’ and ‘meat by-products’. How can this happen? The pet food industry is highly unregulated. As Ann Martin, author of Foods Pets Die For, writes in her article The Pet Food Industry and its Questionable Practices, ‘Governments in the USA and Canada regulate the labeling of the food, the name and address of the company, the weight of the product, and whether it is made for a dog or cat – nothing more.’

The meats used in pet food can be extremely low grade and unfit for human consumption. Summarized as the ‘4 D’s’ (dead, diseased, disabled and dying), these can include roadkill, zoo animals and infected and cancerous meats.

At the rendering plants ingredients are highly heated and processed, destroying nutrients and enzymes, with strong preservatives added which do not appear on the labels. These include fat stabilizers such as BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytolulene), both of which are known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction and Ethoxyquin, a suspected cancer-causing agent. Semi-moist dog foods may also contain propylene glycol, a relation to ethylene glycol (anti-freeze), which can destroy red blood cells.

Pets in your pet food

Though reportedly not the case today, it is well recorded that dogs and cats have ended up in dog and cat food. In his 1990 article How Dogs and Cats Get Recycled Into Pet Food, John Eckhouse, an investigative reporter, wrote: ‘Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renderers. The finished products — tallow and meat meals — serve as raw materials for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food.’

Doctor of weterianry medicine Wendell Belfield in Foods Not Fit For a Pet (Earth Island Journal, 1996), reports that ‘federal and state agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and medical groups such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the California Veterinary Medical Association, confirm that pets, on a routine basis, are rendered after they die in animal shelters or are disposed of by health authorities, and the end product frequently finds its way into pet food.’

Toxic Grains

The very use of grains in pet food is questionable as grains are ill-suited to the digestive physiology of carnivores. This is especially so for cats who are obligatory carnivores and meet their glucose requirements through amino acids in their diet. Further, the grains used in dog and cat foods may contain mycotoxins, fungi that can cause chronic conditions and even death in both humans and animals. As the grains used in pet food are low grade, they are dealt with last in the handling process and because of this are often left in storage where insects, mites and mycotoxic molds can grow.

The consumption of dead mites can cause skin allergies. If your pet has skin allergies, change their diet first before turning to steroids which can be seriously detrimental to your pets health.

Alfatoxin poisoning, a common mycotoxin that grows on corn as well as other foods, has been reported for over 50 years. Vomotoxin is another mycotoxin found in wheat products. Where large doses of mycotoxins can cause cancer and even rapid death, small continuous amounts may suppress the immune system and damage organs over time, leading to long-term chronic health conditions.

Just recently at the end of 2005, over 100 dogs were killed in the United States because of alfatoxin found in pet food, with some 19 brands of Diamond dog food being recalled. It is likely there were many more deaths than those reported, and as alfatoxin attacks the liver it is likely surviving dogs may develop chronic liver disease or liver cancer in the future.

Toxic Chemicals

The toxin sodium pentobarbital, a chemical is used to euthanize animals and pets, has been found in commercial pet foods. The US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine performed two studies (1998 and 2000) to test for pentobarbital. Of the 74 samples analysed, over half were found to contain pentobarbital. What’s more, none of the 43 brands and product lines that tested positive warned of its presence on their labels.

The FDA researchers also tested the food for the presence of dogs or cats but reported none present. It was believed the pentobarbital residues were entering pet foods from euthanized, rendered cattle or even horses.

The FDA say the small amounts of the drug found in these foods were harmless, but not all veterinarians agree. Long-term continual doses, even at small levels may be increase the onset of chronic and degenerative diseases.

Aside from the toxins and base ingredients of commercial pet foods, these harshly processed and high-carbohydrate products in no way match the natural diets dogs and cats would have eaten in the wild. They are species-inappropriate and ill-suited to canine and feline physiology. I recommend healthy, homemade, raw diets or optimum natural, holistic alternatives for the health and well-being of your dog and cat. Before embarking on a raw food diet (otherwise known as BARF – ‘biologically adequate raw food’), thoroughly research the area first as nutritional balance is essential.

Puppy dies 2 days after being choked by owner
A man who said he choked his 10-week-old Labrador retriever as punishment for biting is headed to court on a felony animal cruelty charge because the dog has died.

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