Dog Trick Academy Library

Feeding your dog is the most fundamental way to care and to promote a healthy life for your dog. Good nutrition will help your dog fight diseases and to keep him healthy.

It is of no surprise that the majority of dog owners spend more money on dog food than any other expenses for their dog. But choosing a brand or type of dog food can sometimes be confusing. A dog food that has a label “Premium”, “Premium Ultra”, or “Holistic” does not guarantee that the food was prepared using high quality ingredients. So the more you know about commercial dog foods and what the label means, then it become easier for you to choose the best brand for your dog.

There are basically two choices of commercial dog foods. There is either the kibble type or the canned type dog foods. Both contain mostly the same ingredients, but the kibble type had the water removed through the process of extrusion or baking. This gives the dog food a crunchy appeal while at the same time ensuring a long shelf life. The water is kept in canned dog foods, so it must be sealed in a can to keep it fresh. Read the rest of this entry »

A service dog is a type of assistance dog, specifically trained to help people with physical mobility limitations to reach high or low places, or open doors and turn on the lights. Other duties may include moving wet laundry to the dryer, or they may help in public by pulling a wheelchair up a steep incline.

Other service dogs may also be trained to detect medical problems and to warn the authorities. Some does have been trained to warn their handlers of seizures before they happen and to contact the medical emergencies by pushing a button (already preset to contact). Read the rest of this entry »

In today’s world, we are often told by our veterinarians that dogs are susceptible to many illnesses, infections and diseases.

In this article, I will talk in details about the well known disease known as canine heartworms. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are like me, every time you go pick up some dog food at the local pet store, you can’t resist the temptation of walking in the toys aisle. And you can’t help but notice how cute some of the toys are, and how much your dog would love one.

But then, you start to remember how your dog chewed up to pieces his last toy you bought him. The last tug toy I bought for my dog lasted less than a week before it started falling apart and ripping while tugging. So for the last year I have been making my own tug toys, ones that costs a fraction of the store bought and that lasts much longer. Read the rest of this entry »

It is truly amazing to see that all dogs from all over the world has learned to communicate with each other using a universal language. Whether you are from China, Europe or Mexico, all dogs communicate the same way. They communicate their moods and feelings by giving out signals with their body.

An encounter with a dog can be a lovely experience or a very bad one, totally depending on how well you interpret his body language. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many different kinds of leashes on the market today; each one has its own practical and aesthetic appeal. When shopping for a leash, you will need to consider your dog’s size and age. Keep in mind that small dogs and puppies should have light weight leashes while larger dogs should have stronger and heavier leashes.

There are different lengths of leashes available; the majority of leashes come in 4-foot, 6-foot or 8-foot lengths. For training purposes, a 6-foot length leash is ideal and recommended. The longer leashes are used when your training requires you to be at a distance from your dog. Read the rest of this entry »

Dogs have learned throughout their many years of existence that they must protect their resources, such as food, in order to survive. They’ve learned that they could easily keep other dogs from eating their food by growling, showing teethes, snapping or even biting other dogs that came too close to their food. Read the rest of this entry »

Article written by Bipa.

I am always upset when I hear or read stories about perfectly good puppies being ruined by over-aggressive training techniques aimed at making a pup submit to the owner. There is absolutely no basis for most of this bullying. In nature, it is actually quite the opposite! Puppies have a so-called “puppy license” for the first 4 or 5 months. During this time, older dogs will let them get away with all sorts of puppy behaviour without retaliation. If the older dog doesn’t feel like playing with the pup, then he will often just get up and move away, or else give a quick verbal signal that he isn’t interested. Only once this “puppy license” has expired do the pups start getting real lessons in manners from the other dogs.

During her seminars, Patricia McConnell often shows two videos of Bailey, a beautiful golden retriever pup. In the first video, Bailey is perhaps 4 months old, and is chewing on a child’s stuffed toy. The woman owner tries to get the toy away from the dog by using outdated “dominance” techniques such as grabbing the puppy by the scruff of the neck and trying to make it submit to her. Errr…guys…. This is a retriever! They are mouthy dogs and by their nature love to chew on stuff. So can anyone guess what happens after a month or two of such “training”? Read the rest of this entry »

In the advanced lessons of the Academy, a target stick is used to get the dog into specific positions - which can then be turned into dog tricks. In this article, I will show you how to make your own target stick from materials you might already have in your home - or using materials relatively cheaper than buying a pre-made target stick. Read the rest of this entry »

Article written by CollieMan.

No matter which breed of dog you own, it will love to learn new things. How and why dogs learn is already discussed in the Level One classroom lessons and, if you haven’t already, you could learn much from reading through them.

The important question, for me at least, is what is your dog learning and from who or what is it learning from? Read the rest of this entry »