Exercise tips for Labrador Retrievers

Routine exercise is necessary for dogs as it helps your dog to keep fit, healthy and they enjoy the change in environment. Other positive impacts of regular exercise are better muscle development and better digestion. A dog that does not exercise regularly will grow into a unhealthy dog and would require constant attention.

It is a known fact that dogs that are deprived from exercise become aggressive, irritating, bark constantly without a provocation or a Labrador might chew anything that he can get hold of. On the other hand well exercised dogs are stable, easy to handle and show their affection and love towards the all members of the family. From my experience as a dog trainer I can say for sure that lack of exercise is responsible for common behavioral problems in dogs.

Few Rules to keep in mind while exercising a Labrador Retriever Puppy

Labrador Retriever dogs have few health issues. Joint problem is one of them and if some precautions are not taken during exercise they can become a serious problem. Some of the precautions that need to be taken are:

• Do not give your puppy a long walk before 18 months of age.
• Do not include him in games where he/she have to jump, leap or stop suddenly.
• A game like Frisbee is not recommended for puppies because this game needs more stamina and quick movement which can result in a broken joint for a puppy.
• Do not involve a puppy in high energy games of fetch.
• If you want to play fetch a ball then throw the ball close to the ground so that puppy will not have to jump to catch it.

Rules for the exercising of Adult Labrador Retriever dogs:

The type of exercise required is different in each dog and also depends on its age. Keep the following in mind when creating a exercise regimen for your grown up Labrador Retriever

• If your dog is easy going, laid back then he needs a small amount of exercise daily.
• If your dog is active and has high energy then you need to work on him vigorously and daily exercise will help him in exhaust his energy which will lead to the dog being more docile.
• You need to be consistent about the exercise of your dog. Please do not think that only taking your dog to hiking in the weekends and small walks during the week is good for him.
• Involve them in playing fetch a ball and Frisbee. These games are a good source of exercise for adult dogs and are highly recommended.
• Everybody knows that Labradors are good swimmers therefore ensure that swimming is part of exercise routine.
• Training, teaching new tricks and playing with toys is also necessary for their mental growth.
• While exercise is important you should take care that you go not give your high energy dog hours of exercise so as to keep him calm. This is not good for dog’s health.

The best thing about ensuring that a dog follows an exercise routine is that the pet owner also gets to exercise and there are times when the pet owner needs more exercise than the pet. Anyway I hope what I have shared will help you in keeping your dog healthy.

A Train full grown Labrador Retriever Dog

Labradors As Pets (Series) - A Labrador Retriever

This post is the first post on a series of posts about Labrador as pets. In the series I will be talking about the advantages of having a Labrador as a pet, how to choose a Labrador pup, how to train a Labrador retriever, their diet and grooming amongst other things.

Advantages of having a Labrador Retriever as a pet:

Labrador Retriever is the most popular pet dog for people around the world. This is not without reason as there are many advantages of keeping a Labrador Retriever as a pet. Some of them are :

• Labradors do not require a lot of grooming. An occasional bath with hair combing every two weeks is enough for a Labrador retriever. This is not the case with most of the other dog breeds.
• Labrador Retrievers are the best pets if you have children at home as Labrador Retrievers are affiniable and love being around the family. It has been seen that usually dogs develop affinity to children of the house over a period of time.
• Labrador Retrievers change their behavior as per surroundings very quickly. youou might find a Labrador very aggressive and after 5 minutes later you will find him tugging gently with the toddler at home.
• Since Labradors are well built and look like strong dogs it is good to have them around for safety as they can intimidate anyone but they are usually gentle with the family that adopts them.
• Labrador Retriever is an energetic breed of dogs and do not tire easily therefore they are always ready to play around with the family and make any activity a fun activity.
• Labrador Retrievers are gentle creatures and very sociable. A well groomed Labrador can adopt to any situation and household.
• Labradors are easy to train since they are very amicable and follow instructions by nature Labradors can be trained in a short span of time.
• Labradors are perfect dogs for hunting, fishing and hiking.
• Labradors are highly trainable and they are often used as guides for blind, search and rescue operations dog.

If you are looking for a dog who will be like a family member then adopting a Labrador retriever is the best thing you can do.

Google-Nose for Dog owners

Google Nose Beta is beneficial and a boon for Dog Owners

Today Google has launched another product called Google Nose it allows users to search for a smell. A dog smells a large number of things in a day and now you can also do this. I am sure it will also help many of us in creating a strong bond with our dogs.

I have a 3 year old yellow Labrador Retriever and training him was not easy task for me. Now you can Train a Labrador in few weeks with the help of Google Nose Beta. This will make the smelling power of your dog more focused and powerful. You can also play an important role by searching for different and hard to find smells in Google Nose and give it to your dog.

Conclusion:

The story above sounds very interesting and amazing but the fact is that this technology does not exist in real world and you have to wait for few more years for this to happen. At this time it only exists in fictional universe.

Happy April Fools Day

My dog is eating everything what should i do

Thank you for the questions readers have been asking me. I love helping other dog owners to rear dogs and have a good personal relationship with their pets.

Last week I got this mail from one of the readers

Question: Hi! My name is Jenny and I am 32 years old working woman. We have a yellow color Labrador and she is very well behaved with us. She is a completely trained dog from a Labrador retriever training school. She eats her meal on time and patient about her meal but when we are not around her behavior changes to a different dog. We have chained her in the backyard or have to crate her when we went out because she would go to kitchen jump up on the slabs and eat things like coffee, bread, eggs, beans and anything that is in her reach. Things become messed up when she tears apart the garbage and last night she reached to my drawer to get the candies.

We live in a small house with my parents and they declines to chain her or crate her in the house. And with practice she became an expert artist in doing these type of things (once she opened a jar of jam that was in the center of the dining table without leaving any marks of her existence. She is a healthy dog(45-50lbs) and has 1 hour run 2 times a day. She has many dog toys to play with. We feed her 3 times a day. But I don't know how to deal with it as the dog is totally out of control when we are not at home. Please help because I don't want to loose her.

Answer: According to my opinion as a Dog behavior specialist these things can become more difficult if she would eat garbage which can result in infection which leads to health complications.

Putting her into crate or chaining the dog in the backyard does not work in most cases. Most probably when your pet steals anything she sees it as reward and maybe appreciating herself which I called "self rewarding".

Ensure that your dog is busy when you are not there ensure that someone is around and preferably keep her busy. As a precaution you need to keep all the eatables far away from her. Kitchen slabs should be clean with minimum clutter. Drawers must be locked full-time, does not matter you are at home or outside.

Another thing that you can do is when the food is around your dog, just hold the leash from top of the neck and pull it gently when she gets excited. This exercise will train her brain not get excited when she sees food..

How to Find Labrador Retriever Breeder

You have a list of Labrador breeders in your locality but you are confused about which breeder to choose to help you find the right dog. A good Labrador breeder can help you choose the right breed depending upon requirements and where you live. A good dog breeder can help you rare your dog into a good friend and company.

To help dog owners choose the right breeder I have built a questionnaire to evaluate Labrador breeders:

• Do not book an appointment with a breeder but pay a surprise visit so that you are able to see actually for yourself whether the parents of the pet are reared in a good environment.
• Ensure that the puppy's mother is there in the same kennel as of the pup.
• The good breeder will have all the details about the dog and should have answers to most of the questions.
• A professional breeder does not allow her dog to be in breeding before 1.5 years of age and after 7 years of age.
• Professional breeders settle with one specific breed for breeding. They do not believe in breeding many breeds at their kennel.
• A good breeder will offer you the puppies once they are 12 weeks old or above.
• A professional will have records, including vaccination details and a photo album of all the litter form which the pup is being adopted.
• A good breeder will not hesitate in answering any questions you have about the breed. He will also tell you about the health of the pups and health issues that the specific breed is having in their life span.
• Is the puppy is of show quality, if not why?
• Is the puppy socialized or not?
• A good breeder can describe you all the positive points of the puppy and he will also not forget to share the negative ones.

Hope all of these things will help you in finding a good Labrador breeder and best of luck for adopting a new puppy.