Instituting such an early feeding procedure accomplishes four important things. First, it allows you to feed the puppies a food that is more satisfactory for them than the food you are feeding their mother. Second, it speeds up the weaning process because the puppies will learn to eat solid food at an earlier age. Third, it begins the social interaction between the puppy and his owners. And finally, it allows you to reduce the mother’s intake of food at the same rate you increase that of her puppies. The latter prevents the mother from overeating as the early feeding of her pups promotes reduced lactation.

Weaning is a learning process in which the pups’ digestive system is trained to eat solid foods. Before the puppy is born, he is fed by his mother with pre-digested nutrients. When he is whelped the puppy drinks the mother’s milk. The mother’s milk contains some of the most digestible nutrients that a puppy can eat. At weaning the puppy’s digestive system must learn to handle each new food in turn, as it comes to him. Similar to all learning processes, the weaning process cannot be taught faster than the puppy’s ability to learn.

In formulating the diet, the ingredients that make up the food fed to a puppy that is starting to wean must be highly digestible and non-irritating. An excellent weaning diet can be made easily by preparing slurry using a specialized dietary animal foods designed to be fed to patients with gastro-intestinal disorders, mixed into equal parts of the mother’s milk substitutes. “Half and half” coffee cream can also be used. High-quality ration-type commercial foods also make adequate solid foods to mix with the liquid part of the diet. In all cases, ¼ to ½ tablespoonful of grated, raw liver should be added to each can of food just before it is mixed. The slurry can be either beaten with a fork or mixed in a blender.

For larger breeds, it may be more practical to use the higher quality, expanded dry foods in combination with the canned foods to blend with the liquids. Addition of dry foods may also help these larger, faster-growing puppies to get sufficient nutrients in the quantity of food they are able to consume in. Whatever the mixture used, the quantity of milk substitute in it is gradually reduced, so that when the puppy is about six or seven weeks old, he is only eating pure, solid food.

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Ring worm creates ring-like, flaky, bald patches on your dog’s head, ears, back, nails, and paws. Although the name ringworm sounds like some sort of a curly worm, it is actually a type of fungus that is similar to athlete’s foot. Ringworm can be easily seen and looks very similar to a ripple forming when you throw a stone in a pond. The growth begins at a middle point and gradually spreads out in a ring shape. As the fungus grows in the skin cell and hair, the skin may become irritated, reddened, and thickened and the hairs may break off leaving course stubble behind.

The ringworm is contagious to humans, especially children, and other animals. The extensive spread of this parasite could indicate that your pet’s health is not doing well. Actually, it is usually the sick, stressed, and weakened ones that acquire serious infestation. Ringworm that spreads throughout the body is a very serious issue that signifies a severely low immune system.

But unless your dog has a low immune system, ring worm normally goes away on its own within one to three months. In the meantime, you may still want to relieve the itchiness and discomfort that is associated with this parasite and also reduce the odds of infection to humans and other animals.

To effectively treat ringworm, the first thing you must do is clip the hair around the area of your dog’s bare spot and up to about one half of an inch past it. You may need to have someone help you keep your dog still or preoccupied in order to prevent you from accidentally injuring the skin. Clipping the hair will reduce the chances of spreading the ringworm by confining the infection to just that area and also make for an easier application of the treatment.

Remember to carefully dispose the infected hair once you remove it, burning it if possible. Ringworm can still feed on the hair even after it is off your dog and is contagious on contact. Vacuum the area where you did the clipping to catch loose hairs. You also need to vacuum carefully and regularly if your pet has ringworm. Wash bedding, dishes, and utensils with soap and hot water and always wash your hands properly.

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If you take your puppy with you in your car often enough while he is still a puppy and continue to do so while he is growing up, you will never have to car break him or clean him up upon arrival at a show – he will be so used to traveling. Also you will never have to watch him shake and tremble at the sight of a lot of people as he will expect that each and every one is a great friend – it will reflect in his behavior and will benefit him greatly in his show career.

By all means, don’t forget the best training grounds of all, the Sanctioned Match. Whether he wins or loses at the Match, the training he gets there will stand him in good stead. When you go to a Match, go through all the motions just as though it were a big and important show, for the experience is good for you too. Here is where your puppy will get used to being shown, handled and gaited with a strange dog beside him. There have been well trained and well behaved puppies go all to pieces at a Match when perhaps for the first time in a long time they see many strange dogs. Remember, your dog will be expected to behave without thoroughly investigating each and every new arrival.

Of course, if you have two or more dogs at home your puppy may be fairly used to company but he may expect that he can play with the new acquaintances just as he does with his friend at home and the new dog may not feel like playing or the new dog’s owner may not be inclined to allow his youngster to indulge in puppy foolishness at a Match. If you have used the short, quick tugs on the lead when you lead broke your puppy, resort to them at the Match when he gets too frisky. The puppy will soon remember that he is on a lead and is expected to perform for you. The word, “No” in a sharp tone of voice used at the same time as the sharp jerk on the lead will also help, particularly if you have used this word whenever he displeased you or you wanted him to stop doing whatever he was doing.

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Pit Bulls love playing with balls, especially big, colorful bouncing balls. They also enjoy a large and partially deflated ball. Hard rubber balls are good for tough-playing puppies. Avoid using small balls such as jack balls or golf balls because dogs tend to inhale or swallow them. Soft rubber balls are also not recommended because they can easily be chewed to small pieces and then swallowed.

Pit Bulls also enjoy fleece toys, although some dogs tend to be too rough with them and rip them into shreds. Keep in mind that fleece toys are not chew toys and your dog should not be allowed to play with them while you are not around to supervise, or your Pit Bull might chew it up and swallow the material.

Rubber tug toys are also among the favorites of the Pit Bull, although you may need to have constant supervision when your Pit Bull is playing with them, especially around kids. This kind of play may promote physical competitiveness that may not be appropriate for your Pit Bull. Use this toy sporadically and combine it with more moderate and gentler activities.

Squeaky toys that are made of plastics are not a good choice for your Pit Bull. These kinds of toys can be easily chewed and swallowed or the “squeaker” can be lodged and also swallowed. Never leave your dog unattended with a squeaky toy. Similar to fleece toys, squeaky toys are not chew toys and should only be used when you are playing with your dog.

Another type of toy that is your Pit Bull can enjoy is a pole lure. It is basically a stick that is about six feet long with a string of the same length tied to the end and a toy tied to the end of the string. The goal of playing this toy is for you to run around while dragging the toy and trying to keep your dog from catching it. Avoid letting your dog get hurt by jumping too erratically after the toy.

If a pole lure is not available, your dog will be just as happy settling for a good old fashioned stick. Just make sure that the ends are not sharp and that it is long enough for him to be able to jab one end to the ground while holding the other end in its mouth.

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The farmer has snored to the city, gotten a job, and become the suburbanite. With him have come his companion dogs. And, the suburbanite house-pet has replaced the farm dog as the poorest fed dog in America. Probably 75 percent of all dogs in the United States owned by private individuals are household pets.

Most of these dogs are anywhere from 10 percent to 50 percent overweight because the most frequent error made by feeders of house-pets is overfeeding. Unlike their predecessors, today’s poorest fed dogs are not underfed, but overfed. The irony of it all is the fact that, while they may be overfed and overweight, they may also be undernourished! Unfortunately, there is a widespread misconception among dog owners that any dog food that comes out of a can or box that they bought at the grocery store is adequate and nourishing enough for a dog.

This belief has led politicians, sociologists, and even some nutritionists to express the opinion that most American house-pets are better fed than most Americans. While these statements may grab sensational headlines, the accuracy of such a proposition does not stand up under critical exploitation. While it certainly is true that some house-pets receive far better nourishment than some people, it is also true that many dogs in this country are woefully malnourished. Some of the dogs suffering from the greatest malnourishment are those eating the very item to which the politicians and sociologists attribute such grandiose performance-commercial dog food.

Not all, probably not even most, of the canned dog foods in this country are guilty of malnourishing a dog, but some do exist, and they are being fed. Nowhere does a dog feeder need to evaluate the food he feeds more than he does when he is feeding canned foods to a house-pet. Yet, the number of pet owners who actually feed their dogs based on their evaluation of the foods available to them is practically zero.

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Medical treatment with an estrogen injection generally stops the symptoms, reduces the size of the prostate within five or six days, and will keep it that way for several months, in most cases, and occasionally for several years. Some few dogs respond poorly, or not at all, and can be helped only by castration, which causes a permanent shrinking of the prostate.

Should your dog need this operation, he will be home from the hospital in just a few days, but you should keep him quiet and resting for at least one week. A low-bulk diet may be advised for several days. He will probably walk cautiously at first, experiencing some slight discomfort each time he moves a rear leg. This may prompt him to lick or bite at the stitches. Restraint collars or tranquilizers may be used for a short time until the operation is healed and the stitches can be removed.

Cancer of the prostate is rare in dogs and fortunately so, because by the time any noticeable symptoms develop, the tumor has almost always spread to other parts of the body, making it inoperable. Severe loss of weight, lameness in one or both rear legs, pain and difficulty during urination, blood at the beginning of urination, and low back pain may be present in addition to difficult defecation and constipation. Castration or estrogen therapy offer temporary relief of symptoms, but the tumor continues on its destructive course. A recent discovery holds out hope that immunotherapy may be successfully used to treat prostatic cancer but such research is still in its infancy.

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Dogs of all breeds will “Fetch,” “Bring,” and “Give.” Especially if you have a sporting dog that you might hunt with someday, teach the “Give” or “Drop it” command at the same time you teach “Fetch.”. Otherwise, you will spend your hunting days chasing down your dog to get the birds you thought you were going to have for supper!

Once you have taught the basics, you can teach him anything that works well to amuse you both, bond you, and make your lives together happier. The more you are your pup’s teacher, the more firmly your pup looks to you as the leader of the pack. As your puppy knows more, he will welcome advanced lessons, be the lessons about what games you like to play or what jobs you want him to do.

Just like children, but on a more limited scale, the puppy thrives on going beyond the basics. While you stick firmly to consistency in things like feeding times and obeying certain commands, you and your maturing puppy can also cope with varying amounts of inconsistency. It is in these areas of innovation that you allow your pup’s own unique personality to blossom.

Many people find great fulfillment in obedience training their dogs. A basic obedience course is necessary for anyone who is going to raise a civilized puppy, but one can go far beyond the basics. It all depends on what you want. Watching a well-trained obedience dog work is a pleasure, and in dog shows, it is the obedience ring where you will see the real honesty of dog and owner functioning as a team.

You can go beyond obedience into tracking, too. One does not have to have a bloodhound to participate in this sport. The puppy who has been taught the game of “Go find” can grow up to “Go find” in a very serious way. Dog-sledding is also becoming an increasingly popular sport. If you have ever watched well-trained herding dogs work, you know what precision they exhibit, and you can guess at the time and love it took to train them.

The more you learn about your puppy and his breed, the more you will see that your horizons are limited only by how much time and expense you want to invest in having fun with your canine companion.

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When your dog starts to splash around on his own, praise him. Let your dog repeat this experience a dozen different times. When you have accomplished this, take out your dog’s tennis ball or another object that will float and that he enjoys retrieving. Throw it a few inchesinto the water. Encourage him to get it, but do not force him. Use only your voice to motivate him.

If your dog is too nervous to get the object, you get it. After you have retrieved the ball, have your dog do a couple of land retrieves. This will build the dog’s enthusiasm and confidence. If he does retrieve the object from the water, praise him ecstatically. Using common sense, increase the distance of the retrieves. Take your time. This increased distance should develop slowly over a period of a few weeks.

When your dog first goes out over his head, be sure to praise him enthusiastically when he begins to swim. Two or three successful retrieves are plenty at first. Do not overdo it. Also, do not be concerned if his front feet splash out of the water at first. Most dogs do this.

If your dog’s feet-splashing technique of swimming seems to persist for a long time, try this: Get a small, somewhat heavy log that your dog can hold in his mouth. Use the log as his object to retrieve in the water. The weight of the log will cause the dog to swim with his front legs under the water. Chances are good that he will figure out he can move quicker and expend less energy swimming this way.

If your dog does not like to retrieve, the best method to teach swimming is for you to go into the water with him. Do not physically take the dog into the water with you. Wade in until you are about waist deep. With your voice and an object of attraction, invite your dog into the water. If he is not secure enough to follow you, do not force the issue. Chances are good that after a dozen or so experiences, he will follow you in. When he does, praise him lavishly!

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Hip dysplasia is an inherited defect that affects more frequently among large breeds. This type of disorder causes pain as well as lameness to one or both hind legs which gets worse when the leg is flexed. A similar pain occurs when the head of the femur loses its blood supply and “dies”. This hip pain is caused by a type of disorder called Perthe’s disease, or avascular necrosis and is more common in small breeds. In addition, small breeds are prone to another type of inherited defect called luxating patellas, or slipped kneecaps, while all breeds can suffer from ruptured cruciate ligaments. In both cases, weight is not carried on the affected hind leg. There is no pain associated with either problem other than at the time when the ligament tears.

You need to consult a vet to find out the exact cause of lameness. Often times, mild cases of hip dysplasia respond well to medications and proper rest, while more severe problems need surgical correction. With Perthe’s disease, the “dead” head of the femur has to be surgically removed. Luxating patellas can also be surgically corrected. Cruciate ligaments most likely rupture in overweight, mature dogs, although some types of lean, young dogs such as Boxers can also tear these ligaments. Weigh reduction, enough rest, and surgical repair are necessary to treat this problem.

Paralysis is often caused by ruptured disks. Mildly ruptured disks cause intense pain to which the dog is reluctant to move. On the other hand, greater slippage causes a partial or even complete paralysis, eliminating movement and the dog’s perception of pain.

If the slippage is severe, the dog will need immediate surgery in order to reduce the damage to his spinal cord. In addition, total and complete rest is very important in healing this type of disorder.

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Abscesses: Abscesses are the body’s attempt to throw off through the skin toxins from impure blood. Blood that is excessively toxic is choked and is unable to carry away the waste matter of cell metabolism through its normal channels. Thus white blood cells surround disease-producing bacteria and toxic waste and carry them out of the body through the skin in the form of pus. If your dog is bothered by many abscesses at one time, or by frequent growths, he should be fasted for several days on distilled water and raw honey (to keep up his energy): two to four teaspoonful a day, depending on the size of the dog.

As the dog begins to eliminate more toxins, give him several garlic cloves daily with his food. Garlic will help him to detoxify even more. Hot fomentations (packs) of blackberry leaves or elderberry, may be put on the abscesses. You can also use chopped-up garlic or onion or both, heated in several ounces of castor oil. Heat it in a pan of water till it is comfortably hot, and then apply as hot packs. Nutrients that may be helpful in treating abscesses are vitamins A, C, and E, and B complex, red clover, cayenne pepper, goldenseal, and grated carrots or potatoes.

Anemia,: Anemia is basically a lack of hemoglobin and oxygen in the blood. It is often caused by faulty diet, lack of exposure to sunlight, and a constipation of the entire system, including the lower bowel. The dog may become weak and faint, losing energy and stamina. His eyes may show excessive brightness in the white portion. Internal parasites may weaken a dog, causing severe anemia. Anemia can be caused by too little blood or too few red cells. If you check your dog’s gums, they will be whiter than normal, upon pressure, and slow to return to a pink color.

Your dog may lack sufficient iron in his diet; toxins produced by many diseases can cause an anemic condition. To boost the iron in his diet, you can give him desiccated liver and brewers’ yeast, in with his food. You can also give berries or fruits of the black variety including blackberry, bilberry, elderberry, or grapes. Honey is also good, as well as eggs, kelp, and parsley. Other nutrients that may be helpful in cases of anemia are vitamins C, E, and the B complex, protein, and copper and iron. Chemical iron aggravates anemia and cause constipation.

Arthritis: Arthritis has become a common ailment in dogs, especially the older dog. Several factors contribute to this condition, including an all-cooked-food diet, lack of exercise, poor absorption of minerals, and lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. It occurs as an inflammation in bones and joints. The onset is gradual and the owner notices the dog having increased difficulty in walking, getting up, lying down, running, and moving in general.

Putting an arthritic dog on distilled water exclusively will help to leach out some of the mineral deposits that have settled in the joints. Your dog also needs a live-food diet. You may use a good-quality dry kibble as a base, but along with it give your dog plenty of sprouts, grated raw vegetables, garlic, and raw fruits, all of which are alkalizing to the body. Meats and grains are acid-forming for the most part, and an arthritic dog already has too much acid in his diet. Any meat should be raw to slightly braised. Give chopped comfrey and parsley leaves in with the food.

Keep the dog in a warm, dry place, and try to give him some moderate exercise in sunlight. You can feed rosemary leaves daily as an infusion (steep them in water).The inflamed areas can be massaged with four tablespoonful of raw, unrefined olive oil, one tablespoonful of linseed oil, and ½ teaspoon of eucalyptus oil. Nutrients that may be beneficial in treating arthritis are vitamins A, B complex, C, D, E, and F; calcium, iodine, lecithin, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, and protein.

Bad Breath: Bad breath is often caused by a constipated digestive system, locking in putrefying toxic wastes. This comes from having too much dead, refined food and not enough raw, live food or fiber (roughage) in the diet. A sluggish system will give back the stench of indigestion, all the way back up to the mouth again.

A dog can be constipated even if he has a daily bowel movement. In fact, only a few dogs are not constipated throughout their lifetime, although this is rarely evident to their owners. Infusions of rosemary leaves and flowers, lemon juice and water, apple juice, raw honey, and a short fast (several days) will all serve to sweeten up the intestines. Regular fasting, one day a week, on distilled water and raw honey, will help to rest the digestive organs on a regular basis, giving them a chance to catch up on their contents. Use lots of raw fruits and vegetables in the diet, give yogurt to reinstate the friendly bacterial flora, and feed only raw or slightly braised meat.

Baldness: A chronic slow loss of hair, due to ill health, is sometimes found in older dogs. Feed a diet of raw foods: meats, vegetables, and fruits. Give brewers’ yeast, kelp, and desiccated liver. Add raw corn, olive, peanut, or safflower oil to the food for unsaturated fatty acids. Chopped dandelion leaves (high in copper) may be added to the food. Balding areas can be bathed daily with an infusion of rosemary leaves, marigold flowers, or daffodil leaves. Castor and eucalyptus oil can also be massaged into the balding areas.

Breast Tumors: Often occur in unspayed female dogs. Tumors are very often caused by hormonal imbalances and changes, together with a general state of toxemia and ill health. The breast tumor can be linked with an estrogen factor. Tumors on any part of the body are the body’s attempt to localize and isolate some disease condition. “Tumor” means swelling, and tumors are benign or malignant by classification. In reality, a tumor is often benign in certain of its areas and malignant in others. Biopsies can aggravate the malignant portion of tumors, sometimes causing their rapid spreading.

By cutting out the tumor or tumors, one is only removing the local indications of the disease. Nothing is being done about the cause. In many cases the cause has not even been sought for or recognized. Therapies that will decrease or dry up a tumor can also serve to prevent them. Nonorthodox treatments have been used to stop the spread, even though they did not significantly reduce the size of the tumor. It is the spread of a malignancy that kills, more often than the size of the tumor itself. Removing the toxic or poisonous quality is all-important in treating a tumor, malignant or otherwise. A diet rich in live, raw foods, will serve to supply vital enzymes to the body. Enzyme therapy may be indicated along with raw foods.

A theory on cancer that seems most valid among nutritional circles is that cancer is partly caused by faulty protein metabolization. By changing to a raw, live-food diet, you will give the blood a chance to clarify itself. A clean blood stream means a healthy body. A diseased, choked-up blood stream can breed nothing but disease. Herbal therapies include blue violet leaves, red clover, goldenseal, garlic, and turnip used both internally and as a poultice; goose grass as a poultice; burdock, dandelion root, slippery elm, comfrey, blue flag, and poke root as a poultice and as tea.

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