The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a tame form of the wolf. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most commonly kept working, hunting, and companion animal in human history.
Like most mammals, dogs have colour vision equal to red-green colour blindness in humans. Most dogs use their sight less than their other senses. Dogs have excellent hearing. The frequency range of dog hearing is approximately 40 Hz to 60,000 Hz, which means that dogs can notice sounds far beyond the higher limit of the human hearing. Dogs have an amazing sense of smell. While the human brain is dominated by the visual section, the dog brain is dominated by the smell section. The smell section in dog brains is roughly forty times bigger than the smell section in humans (relative to size).
Dogs are vulnerable to numerous diseases and poisons. To protect against many common diseases, dogs should be vaccinated. Some breeds of dogs are susceptible to certain genetic illnesses such as elbow or hip dysplasia, blindness and deafness. Two very serious medical conditions particularly affecting dogs are pyometra, which affects unspayed females of all types and ages, and bloat, which affects the larger breeds or deep-chested dogs. Both of these are critical conditions, and can kill quickly. Dogs are also vulnerable to parasites such as fleas, ticks, and mites, as well as hookworm, tapeworm, roundworm, and heartworm. Dogs are also susceptible to some of the same health conditions as humans, including diabetes, dental and heart disease, epilepsy, cancer, hypothyroidism, and arthritis. Dogs are highly susceptible to theobromine poisoning, usually from the ingestion of chocolate. Theobromine is toxic to dogs because, although the dog's body can break down the chemical, the process is so slow that even small amounts of chocolate can be fatal, particularly dark chocolate.
Puppy:
Fantastic you are the new owner of a beautiful puppy, that’s the nice bit and the rest can be as difficult as you make it. betty & butch will help you at every stage of preparing your puppy for a lifetime of grooming. The tips below are essential if you are to elevate any stress that potentially your puppy will face during grooming. Remember the first grooming appointment will entail a stranger, grooming table and equipment, never seen by your dog before.
Lets’ get started.......
- From today never groom your dog on your lap, place a bath mat on a table (not coffee table) and brush, your dog for five minutes to get them used to been on a height.
- Make sure you have all your equipment at easy reach so you never leave the dog.
- Children should be out of the room.
- Do not speak to your dog during grooming; the dog will settle from your body language, “if you call the dogs’ name you are telling it to come to you”.
- Puppy’s need to be groomed every day, same time to get them into a routine.
- Build up some of your sessions to 10mins.
- Give a small treat after every session.
- Only use puppy shampoo
- Never shower a puppy, fill the bath with warm water, put in some dog toys and make it fun.
- Have a bucket of warm clean water and use a jug/beaker to rinse.
- If you need to get your puppy used to a hair-dryer place it on a towel near the grooming table turned on. The puppy will get used to the noise while been groomed and you can move it closer every day.
