Many dog owners work long hours and feel guilty for leaving their pet home alone. While dog walkers have been an option for these people for a while, a newer option is doggie day care. Doggie day care gives dog parents the opportunity to feel like their dog is enjoying their day while they are hard at work. Socializing a dog is so important that some dogs go to doggie day care a few times a week just to play with other dogs.

Photo: doggiedaycare.ie

The goal of most dog day care facilities is to provide a safe and healthy atmosphere for dogs that allows them lots of interaction with both dogs and people. The idea first took root in California and somewhat rapidly spread across the country. Many dog day care facilities are stand-alone businesses that are run by people who love dogs and want to spend their day with them.

The facilities and services offered by doggie day care organizations are as broad and as deep as the imaginations of the owners of the facility. These organizations are frequently combined with overnight boarding, training, and grooming. Some facilities offer vet care for well-dog exams and check-ups. In addition, canine massages and aromatherapy treatments are available. While these may sound weird, many people feel that their dogs, particularly older dogs or ones with health problems, are helped by these options. Also, many people feel that their dogs deserve the same type of treatment they get.

Doggie Day Care facilities frequently have a variety of cost packages which combine the services available to fit the needs and budgets of most pet owners. In addition, they frequently sell a variety of toys, treats, and foods for the dogs to take home with them.

When a dog day care facility starts up, the owner will generally rent a large space in a building. These might be old warehouses or rented rooms in a strip center. The overall space will be divided into smaller indoor play rooms that are great for separating the small, medium, and large dogs. They also provide an outdoor exercise area for dogs. If a dog gets a bit too rowdy in the play area, he or she can be put into a time out zone.

Before a dog is allowed in the company of other dogs, it must pass a rigorous screening process. The dogs must not show aggression towards humans at all and can’t show food aggression. They also must have had all of their shots.

For more information on doggie day care facilities, please visit http://www.philadelphiaveterinarianclinics.com
Joseph Devine

That sweet bundle of fur that you just brought home is filling the household with glee, and the occasional extra yellow stain on your carpet. There are a couple of methods to housebreak your puppy that will keep yourself happy, your puppy happy and the house clean.

Photo: puppy-training-solutions.com

One of the first methods is the in-house method, which is good if your living in an apartment complex, you can put down papers in an area that is easy to clean up, bathrooms are the easiest. Or you can purchased pre-treated pads that are scented with a chemical that attracts the puppy to use them. Whenever you see your puppy starting into a "pre-potty pattern," walking around and sniffing the floor, you pick them up and carry them over to the papers or pads. Tell them gently to go potty, and after they have, praise them.

This method is to be used along with the going outside method, which is all cued on yourself and watching the "pre-potty pattern". As they get older, start taking them outside, using a key word, "outside". Make it enjoyable for them. Take them outside, let them sniff around, and encourage them with the word, "potty". They will remember that potty meant it’s okay, like with the papers/pads, and will eventually go. After they go; praise them for being such a good puppy.

Try and use the outside method in a routine. After a feeding, after playing and after sleeping. These are the three main times a puppy goes. They also can get overly excited and urinate by accident. Do Not scold them for getting overly excited, instead of clean up the mess, and take them to the papers/pads or outside and say gently,"potty".

If your going to be gone for a long period of time, I highly recommend using a large crate instead of locking a puppy up in a room with papers/pads. Put the large crate in the usual room you are using for the housebreaking, put a blanket on one side of the crate and papers/pads on the other side. Do not forget a small bowl of water and food. Since they are now use to the papers/pads, they will go to that area of the crate to go potty if needed. Praise them when you return if they have used them, if they haven’t used them, take them outside right away.

Within a couple of months they will be trained, an occasional accident might happen, but don’t yell or push thier little faces in it, it happens. Just tell them, no and take them outside with the key word "potty",

Two main rules for housebreaking are important and must always be carried through:

If you don’t actually see your puppy going potty, then please don’t punish him for it, he must be caught in the act for him to understand what he did wrong.

Praise your puppy when things go right. Don’t let this be a situation where "No" is being said when they are caught in the midst of using the wrong area. Move them to area/method you are using, and gently say "potty"

Now go and have fun with your new bundle of fur.
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It’s not always easy to recognize when your bitch is coming into season, and how often a bitch comes into heat can vary from breed to breed and then in each individual. Some bitches come into season every four months or so, but others - such as African breeds - may be in season only once a year. The average is somewhere in between, therefore every six or seven months. These cycles can be erratic and unlike humans, dogs do not go through a ‘menopause’ so may continue to have these cycles throughout their lives if un-neutered. Even though we tend to think in terms of a ‘menstrual cycle’, in actuality, dogs do not have menstrual cycles; rather they have an ‘estrus cycle’.

Photo: gizmodo.com

Usually, the first sign of your bitch imminently coming into season is a swelling of her vulva which is usually shortly followed by bleeding. This is Day 1, and is known as ‘proestrus’ period. It may begin as a watery, pink discharge before it becomes more pronounced bleeding. It’s at this time that male dogs may show more interest in the bitch.

This usually lasts around ten days, and at this time, you’ll notice the swelling of the bitch’s vulva reduces and the bleeding slows and eventually stops. The discharge will become more straw colored during the latter stages of this phase. This is known as estrus and is the time the bitch will be ovulating, so if you wish to breed from your bitch, this is the time to make preparations do so. You have a window of opportunity here from 4 to around 21 days when the bitch will allow mating. After both mating and the blood-like discharge are finished, the period of ‘diestrus’ starts.

Many dogs will now experience a false pregnancy or ‘pseudocyesis’ during this time. Often, this goes unnoticed by both bitch and owner, however sometimes, the bitch will believe she is pregnant and will begin ‘acting pregnant’ in preparation for the puppies she believes she is going to have. This is because the bitch is, hormonally speaking, pregnant, regardless of whether she is actually pregnant or not. If the bitch is not actually carrying young, nonetheless, all the pregnancy hormones are present; only the puppies are missing, so you can expect her to behave as though she is pregnant. Confirmation or exclusion of pregnancy is best confirmed by a visit to your veterinarian.

The author is the owner of DogSymptoms.org
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