How Often Should I Feed My Dog
Most dog owners employ one of two common methods for feeding their pets:Free-feeding and fixed-schedule feeding.
Dog Feeding Information
Contrary to popular belief, dogs cannot live by meat alone, Dogs are omnivorous,meaning that they require meat as well as non-meat nutrients such as carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals, fiber and water. Unlike people, however,dogs generally receive their nutrition from a single source. Changing dog food brands or sharing “people food.’ can lead to finicky eaters or obesity. Commercial dog food can be dry, semi-dry or canned, and generally meets all of dog’s daily so, needs.
Raising Puppy
Newborn puppies are blind and deaf, and require a tremendous amount of care. They open their eyes after ten to 14 days, but do not see with any great clarity for another seven days. They begin to hear when the ear canals open after two to three weeks. Newborn puppies cannot regulate their body temperature, and need to stay in a very warm room (between 85 and 90 degrees) or be surrounded by heat lamps, pads or water bottles for about two weeks. Close contact with the mother also helps regulate body temperature. Cold puppies will tuck their tails, and must be warmed immediately.
What to Do If a Dog is Whelping
Whelping is the process in which a dog gives birth. After about 63 days of pregnancy, or sometimes a few days longer, the pregnant female will be ready to release the babies into the world. She will be producing milk and even secreting a wartelyfluid from her teats. As long as the mother eats and sleeps well, showing no signs of illness or colored discharge, she is in good health.
Dog Pregnancy Stages
Unsterilized dogs have the potential to mate and produce offspring. A female reaches sexual maturity between the age M eight and 12 months by experiencing her first heat cycle. While uncommon, some dogs reach maturity as early as six months or as late as 18 months. Dogs that do not enter heat by 18 months of age should see a veterinarian.
To Breed or Not to Breed Your Dog?
The decision to breed your dog requires a tremendous amount of contemplation, discussion, planning and commitment. Before you embark on this lengthy and often costly endeavor, consider the reasons behind yourdecision and the potential risks involved.
Dog Heredity
Although successful breeding and reproduction can occur without the owner understanding the underlying biology and chemistry, these processes are easy to understand and helpful in explaining how two dogs crate and offspring that share the traits of both parents. Like all living creatures, dogs are composed of cells (where many of the basic life processes occur). The cell’s activity if coordinated by the nucleus, which also hold the chromosomes. Chromosomes are long strings of genes, bits of information that code all of the information about the structure and shape of different parts of the body.
Breeding Dogs
Breeding dogs can be a great thrill, but a major responsibility. Most female dogs go into heat twice a year and must be carefully protected from accidental pregnnacy. Male dogs will wander far and wide to mate with these females, and must be guarded at all times from straying. If reproduction does not figure into yuour plans, consider having your dog spayed or neutered.
Mixed Dog Breeds
Although organized dog clubs generally focus on the maintenance of recognized “pure breeds,” most dogs in the world today are mongrels. Purebred dogs constitute a category that has been created through human intervention by the selective breeding of dogs with very similar characteristics. Crossbred dogs result then two dogs of different pedigree mate and produce offspring. In theory, any domestic dog (and many wild dogs) can interbreed with one another, though physical size and geographic range may limit this possibility. Sometimes, purebred dogs are deliberately “outcrossed” with other breeds to add stability, strength or variety to the existing breed.
Canids
Domesticated dogs constitute one of the most varied species in the animal kingdom. Ranging from the tiny Chihuahua to the Great Dane, they span a wide range of sizes, colors and shapes. But despite their physical differences, they share extremely close genetic ties to each other and their wild cousins.