Care Tips

With Cleo in such a bad way when we got her we had to learn about looking after dogs - and learn fast!

These are some of the dog care tips that we picked up during that painful journey.

Feeding and Exercise tips for rescued dogs

• Rescue dogs may not be used to full size meals or regular exercie.
• When you first get your dog you should ensure that they are fed little and often and exercised for short periods of time.
• Gradually increase the amount of food, length of time between meals and exercise.
• Your dog should be fed in a quiet and calm atmosphere and Never immediately before or for an hour after exercise and play.

Following these tips should avoid Gastric Torsion (also known as Bloat), a condition where the stomach, intestine or spleen can twist, causing swelling, and stopping any gases from escaping (causing extreme pain!)

This can particulalry affect larger, deep-chested dogs such as German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans and Greyhounds and is usually associated with exercise after a heavy meal.

Symptoms:

1. Sudden swelling and tenseness (like a drum) of the stomach.
2. eathing that becomes rapid and shallow.
3. Rapid swallowing.
4. Trying to vomit but not bringing anything up.

If your dog is showing these symptoms it might be due to Gastric Torsion and immediate attention from a vet is essential if it is to stand a chance of surviving!

- thanks to A.R.A.S. Animal Rescue for this information.

Vaccinations

It is really important that a dog's vaccinations are kept up to date - this should be possible with only a couple of visits to the vet each year.

Digging

Dogs love to dig! It's instinctive for them to do so.

If you don't want your garden dug up then you could get a child's paddling pool (a sturdy one!) and fill with sand or earth. To encourage your dog to dig here make a game of it and bury things for it to find.

Feeding

Often a dog's eating habits are still driven by instinctual habits - 'eat when you can or starve!'. A dog will often eat as much as he or she is given, so care should be taken not to overfeed. It is very easy for a dog to become overweight and you should remember that you need to be responsible for controlling the amount of food your dog has.

Never feed your dog chocolate - in fact too much chocolate can kill them!

Training

Dogs are like children and will reflect the type of training they are give. Remember that if you use anger and agression when training your family pet, that is what it will learn is acceptable behaviour.

If you train your dog with kindness and compassion then that is what he or she will accept as normal behaviour, and will reflect this back to you.