Teach your Pup to swim for fun and exercise
Introduction to the Water
Whether your pup is headed to the duck blind or you just want to teach him to swim for fun and exercise the techniques are the same.

Dogs are land mammals and are not born knowing how to swim. Occasionally a young dog will wade right in and go, but most need a gentle introduction and some encouragement to swim.
When the weather and water are warm, I start my pups on the water as soon as I bring them home from the breeder. The introductory lessons are the same for pups and grown dogs.
The main point to remember when introducing a pup to the water is don't push or rush him. Give the pup a reason to want to swim — to retrieve, to follow you, or to chase another dog, and then allow him to choose to swim.
Once the pup knows he can swim, be sure to supply sufficient practice so he can learn to swim well. Much later in training you can work on force fetch and obedience to commands on the water.
Never throw or force into the water a dog that does not know how to swim. If you rush him he may panic. Once your pup is afraid of the water your job will be much harder.
Learning to Swim
The best set-up for getting your pup started swimming is warm water, a warm day, and a bottom that drops off gradually. You can wade in and walk or play with other dogs and allow your pup to follow. If you have a shallow stream, a long walk on a hot day is good. Your dog will enjoy the trip and sooner or later he will find himself in over his shoulders and swimming.
If your pup likes to retrieve, throw bumpers where he can still keep his feet on the bottom and retrieve. As he gains confidence gradually throw a bumper farther out — at some point he will have to swim to get it.
Sometimes I wade in holding the pup and have my wife or helper stand a short distance away in the water. Gently lower the pup into the water and face him toward my wife. She calls him and I let him go to swim a short distance to her. When he gets there my wife picks him up and makes a big fuss over him before turning him to face me and sending him back. As he gains confidence we back away from each other so he must swim farther each time.
One of my training ponds has a small island 50 feet long and 20 feet wide. This island is only 60 feet from the nearest shore. Big dogs can walk most of the way across but must swim a bit in the middle to get to shore. With an older pup I have waded out to the island carrying a reluctant swimmer. I set them on the shore and wade off to stand some short distance away in the water. No pup has stayed on the island long.
Learning Stages
When they begin to swim most dogs will swim with the front end only. This results in a head-up, splashing stroke that is not very effective or efficient. This "puppy splashing" is common. With more experience a pup will engage his rear end and level out and swim.
Typically a new swimmer will start by splashing his way out and back to retrieve his bumper or ball. At some point you'll observe that he splashes out to retrieve but swims on the return.
Once they begin to swim well on the return, it's just a short time until most dogs begin to swim on the way out, too.
Some pups will go through these stages in one day, some in a week. Most dogs introduced to the water after six months of age take a little longer to work through these stages. Over the years I have had a few dogs that splashed for eight or 10 weeks before they swam well. With time, even the most determined splashers eventually learned to dig in and swim.
A final caution: be very careful about training on cold water. Cold water can be very uncomfortable and once your dog learns he doesn't like cold water he may be reluctant to enter even warm water. Some trainers say the minimum water temperature for training grown dogs is 56 degrees, but for pups I want it at least 60 degrees, with warm air temperatures as well.
Have fun and enjoy your pup's new water skills,
Pat Nolan
Pat Nolan has thirty years experience training dogs just like yours. You can read more about him and his methods at www.ponderosakennels.com


How to keep your Fish at Home
How to Keep your Fish at Home
Whow, it's great, you've purchased some tropical fish. You've made sure you have selected healthy fish and you have done your homework to make sure the fish that you have will go together. Right?
Your fish should have been packed in a plastic bag with oxygen and then put into a dark bag or polystyrene box to keep the heat in.
You should try and buy fish no longer than a couple of hours away. Fish can last over 24 hours if packed right but the longer you keep them in transit the more stress they go through. You should try and keep stress to a minimum to make sure the fish remain healthy.
Once you get them home you should float the bags in the water and then open the bags up. This will help equalize the temperature between the water in the tank and the water in the bag. You should also keep adding little bits of tank water to the bag. Add just a little and then leave for five minutes before adding more. This will help acclimatize the fish to the water chemistry of the tank and even the ph and water hardness out.
After doing this for about 20 to 30 minutes you should then gently release the fish to the tank and let them swim out of the bag on there own. Then you should leave them with the aquarium light on overnight. This will reduce stress because the fish can see where they are swimming and there surroundings and they will also see that there are no predators around.
You should not feed them for around 24 hours to let them settle in and then over the next few days only feed sparingly. It will take them a couple of days to get used to the tank and feeding.
It is a good technique to add the smallest and weakest fish to the tank first. This will prevent bullying in the aquarium between the fish. Please follow these keeps to keep the stress of your new tropical fish to a minimum. This will help the fish settle in faster and in the end cause you less stress.
More to come later.
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Feeding the Older Dog
Dog Food for the Older Dog
What changes do you need to make to your dog feeding regime as your dog gets older?
The changes you make to your dog feeding regime, and when you make them will vary depending on the age of your dog, and the breed of your dog.
It is considered that the larger and giant breeds of dog age earlier than the smaller and toy breeds of dog.
Your objective in managing the nutrition of the older dog is to enhance his quality of life, delay further ageing changes, and to extend his life whilst maintaining his optimal weight.
You are also trying to slow down the onset of disease and improve immune function.
Older dogs will generally be less active than younger dogs so as a rule will require a less energy dense dog food, unless of course the dog's appetite is reduced for some reason.
Continuing to feed a dog the same amount of food with less exercise will inevitably result in obesity, a problem all too common in many dogs today.
In the old dog obesity can be a bigger problem than in the young dog as there may also be concurrent arthritis and organ problems which will be made worse.
A keen eye is needed to assess the energy needs of your dog as it ages, so be aware and switch brands if your dog's weight shows marked changes as it ages.
For the older dog a good quality animal protein based on meat, fish eggs, milk or cheese is better than cereal protein.
A balance needs to be struck between providing too much protein which may be a problem for dogs with renal failure (a common problem in older dogs), and providing too little.
As ageing dogs tend to have less muscle and bone they will have less of a tissue protein reserve and need a certain level of protein in their diet to avoid a negative nitrogen balance.
Your veterinarian is the best person to monitor your ageing dog's renal function and advise the appropriate level of protein in his diet.
When your dog's protein intake is low due to inappetance, this can be increased by heating the food to increase palatability and release more aromas, and by feeding smaller more frequent meals and by supplementing with vitamins.
Carbohydrates are mainly provided by cereals and legumes in the diet, and these are a cheap source of energy.
Care should be taken with the sugar content of some of these foods
Fats are essential in the diet to provide a vehicle for fat soluble vitamins, and are essential for the health of old dogs.
However too much may result in obesity, so again moderation is the rule.
Fibre has a role too in the elderly dog as many are predisposed to constipation.
Adding fibre in the form of wheat bran or cooked vegetables two or three times a week will help to keep your elderly dog regular!
Most dog foods will have more than adequate levels of calcium and phosphorus for the older dog.
There may be a case for reduced levels of phosphorus and salt in the diet.
Some supplementation of zinc and vitamins may be helpful in the older dog, particularly the vitamin B complex.
The main food types for the older dog are - dry, semi-moist or canned.
Diet changes should be made slowly to prevent tummy upsets and diarrhoea.
Be sure to have plenty of water available for your dog, particularly if fed a dried food, and also if kidney and liver disease is a problem.
Reduced appetite in older dogs may be helped by feeding them 2 or more times per day with smaller portions so that they get their full daily requirement.
There are many commercial senior dog food diets now available.
It will pay you to thoroughly examine the different types to increase the life span and vitality of your older dog.

About The Author:
About the author:
Leonard Mutch is a dog owner and trainer. Read more about dog food and dog nutrition on his web site at:
http://www.tastydogfood.com