Pets Smile Plus

Inspect your dog’s toys often. If there are pieces bit off the toy, discard it. Usually small pieces of a toy or chew will pass through a dog’s system, but they could end up causing an intestinal blockage instead.

Flimsy vinyl or plastic toys or balls with squeakers and bells in them usually don’t hold up. Some shih tzu will just tear at the toy until they get the squeaker out. The squeakers and bells also pose a problem of your shih tzu choking on them if he tries to swallow the objects.

Shih tzu like to carry around stuffed toys in their mouth. Get stuffed toys made especially for dogs. Children’s stuffed toys will usually have noses and eyes that can be easily chewed off.

Kong toys are made of heavy rubber and are very durable, which makes a nice choice for your shih tzu to chew on without worry of him chewing off small pieces of the toy and choking. They can be packed with small dog biscuits or bits of cheese to encourage the dog to play with them. They can keep your shih tzu busy for quite a while as he works to get out the treats.

I do not recommend rawhide for shih tzu at all. Stay away from rawhide with the shih tzu. Avoid commercially made pig ears and calf hooves as well. HealthyPetNet has an excellent product called “Porky Puffs.” Visit my website at Stain Glass Shih Tzu to find a link to the HealthyPetNet website for purchasing these. My shih tzu are just crazy for Porky Puffs. Once you have tried the Porky Puffs and see how your shih tzu love them, you will forget all about any other kind of pig ears, calf hooves or rawhide treats that actually can be dangerous to your shih tzu if those small pieces get hung in their neck or digestive system. You will end up in the emergency vet clinic. Try the Porky Puffs from HealthPetNet, I promise you they are safe, excellent and have that smell dogs just can’t resist.

Nylabones is another excellent product to have for your shih tzu. You can get Nylabone in edible flavors, a huge variety of flavors actually. You can also purchase Nylabones in the plastic form in all kinds of flavors. You really should have Nylabones at all times for your shih tzu. They help during teething periods and times you want to train your shih tzu to chew on something appropriate - a Nylabone is an excellent choice to use during these training sessions.

Never, never give your shih tzu chicken bones or any other type of bone that might splinter.

A very special treat is Marrow Bones. You can buy Marrow Bones from a butcher or in the meat department at your grocery store. They are fairly inexpensive. Select them carefully. Avoid those cut at an angle that have sharp, boney material inside. Choose instead marrow bones that are cut straight across and are circular with soft marrow inside. If you can have your butcher to cut them this way for you, Marrow Bones are always a special treat for your shih tzu. Boil them for about 20 minutes, then cool. Scrape off any sharp gristle on the outside that the dog might otherwise chew and ingest. Give the dog one bone, and freeze the others for later use. Shih tzu love to work at getting out the marrow and this can help to keep them busy, and free of boredom. Once the marrow is gone, fill the bones with peanut butter. Marrow bones also can be filled with dry dog food made into a mush with water, freeze the bones with this filling, then thaw them a bit before giving them to the shih tzu. If the marrow bones get grungy after your shih tzu eats out the treat in the middle, put them in the dishwasher. Toss the bones when they begin to show signs of wear.

Connie Limon publishes a FREE weekly newsletter. A professional newsletter with a focus upon health and wellness for you and your pets. Special weekly discounts on shih tzu puppies and other products for subscribers. Up-to-date Stain Glass Shih Tzu available puppies with hotlink to the available puppies page on the website for reader’s convenience. Sign up at: stainglassshihtzus.com stainglassshihtzus.com

So now you’re convinced that boarding can be a pawsitive experience. Now, you need to find the right place but you’re not sure what questions to ask. We’ve provided you with a list that covers the basics. If they pass this test, then stop worrying and go on vacation already!!

1. What size are the dog runs? This is very important. You’ll often see businesses that will simply put some dog cages in a room and call it a “kennel.” There is no need to put your dog through this. Cages are fine for short periods of time throughout the day. However, if your dog will be staying somewhere for any length of time, they need a dog run. Legitimate kennels will usually have an area approximately 15 - 25 sq ft for the interior portion of the dog run. The outside part of the run is usually even bigger giving the dog opportunity to stretch his legs.

2. Do you provide Indoor/outdoor runs? Indoor/outdoor runs allow for your dog to go inside or outside within their own private enclosed area. Larger kennels will usually offer this as an option. And, this is usually the best option for most dogs. However, for certain temperaments, indoor-only runs may be the best option. Once again, make sure it is a sizeable run. Your pooch needs to easily move throughout the dog run. And, at least 3 exercise times/day are imperative for dogs in indoor-only runs.

3. Do the dog runs have isolation panels? Often times, dog runs will be separated with chain link fence. This allows for a higher degree of interaction between dogs in neighboring runs. However, this may lead to fence fighting or excessive barking. For this reason, isolation panels or walls can be very nice for your pet’s peace of mind while boarding. Even if the exterior portion of the dog run is chain link, your dog needs to be able to retreat inside to an area where he won’t be harassed and can feel safe.

Are the dog runs concrete? Concrete dog runs are a must for sanitary reasons. Disease can easily be spread through the paws. Concrete can easily be hosed off and disinfected. Other surfaces are nearly impossible to keep sanitary.

How are your dog runs climate controlled? Climate controlled can mean a variety of things. So, you need to ask specifically what kind of climate control system there is in place. It should not only keep the dogs at a comfortable temperature but also circulate and purify the air.

Exercise and playtime? Get the details. Every boarding kennel is different in this regard. Sometimes it’s included in the price. Sometimes it’s not.

Can I see the place where my dog will be staying? This is very important. If they won’t show you their dog runs, they may have something to hide! And, you can’t take that risk. There are plenty of kennels who WILL show you their dog runs. Stick with them.

Finally and most importantly, they should require that pets are up to date on
their shots! If they don’t require proof of this, they are not a legitimate boarding
kennel and it is unsafe to

Bringing home a new puppy, ushers in a wave of joy and excitement in the old and young alike. The innocent eyes and cute antics of this new member of the family immediately starts attracting a lot of love and affection from all quarters. You harbor great hopes for this little creature and eagerly wait for the day when she can make you proud by doing your bidding. Even her chewing up some of your favorite things is ignored in the hope that she will eventually grow out of it. But, hold on, even before you dream of making your puppy as obedient as a circus dog, there are things to teach and they require effort.

Housebreaking your puppy

Remember, neither the pedigree nor the age of your puppy will make her housebroken and trained on her own. Your puppy is not a human being and has no idea of what emotional value you attach to your kitchen garden, your carpet or your husband’s favorite sneakers. All these things can be objects of play for your canine friend. Likewise, she also doesn’t know that sitting patiently will get her that morsel sooner, than snatching it out of your hands. It is therefore important that in addition to puppy proofing your house, you teach that overactive canine soul to respect your sentiments about things material by learning to obey your commands.

Every pup, without exception, needs to be socialized and trained. And socialization and training begins from day one, rather the moment the puppy enters your home cradled in your arms. Never forget to establish the initial socialization norms for her and then adhere to them religiously. Such norms inculcate good manners in them, so that the puppy doesn’t grow to become an embarrassment to us, and a nuisance for others. Teaching early home routines, from the first day itself, sets the tone for her future behavior and habits. However, her proficiency in learning will directly depend upon your interest and commitment in training her.

Teaching your puppy the norms of ‘community living’ and to obey commands should go hand in hand. You generally know what all commands to teach her, but mostly remain clueless on how to go about it. Therefore, it is important that before you unleash your homegrown ideas on your puppy, you acquire the correct method of training. You will be much better off by starting her training as early as possible. And remember that you need to be patient and understanding while teaching your pup. She is your loving companion who is trying her level best to understand, learn and respond to you. So keep your temper firmly in check at all times.

‘Sit’ – the first basic command

The first step in instilling some discipline in your puppy is to make her sit on command. The verbal command ‘sit’ is very simple and can be taught to a pup of any breed within four to six weeks. Of course, much depends upon your persistence and patience. Why ‘sit’ command is one of the easiest commands to teach is because of the natural construction of a dog’s neck and spine that makes it physically impossible for them to look upwards. In order for a dog to look up at something high it must assume the sitting position. This fact is made use of while training a puppy to sit.

Training your puppy to sit

Let us follow the simple steps in training a puppy to respond to the ‘sit’ command:

Stand in front of your puppy, holding a treat above her nose but beyond her reach. This is important. If you hold it too high, she will tend to jump and reach for it and if you hold it too low, well, you’ll find yourself without a treat!

Now, move the treat from above her nose towards her head and continue to trace this path towards her tail. All this while, keep calling your puppy’s name followed by ‘sit’ in a clear and firm tone. For example, “Rover, sit!” Use hand signals too, like moving your hand down for sitting. This helps the puppy in understanding the command better.

Most often than not, you will find that your puppy, in trying to maintain eye contact with the treat, is forced to sit down on her own. In case she keeps backing up, train her near a wall, which will prevent her from going in reverse indefinitely.

When she ultimately sits, pat her and praise her by calling out ‘good’ or ‘good puppy’, even animals enjoy being praised! Offer her a treat but never let her grab it out of your hand. If she does, say a firm ‘no’.

In case your puppy just refuses to give in and does everything but sit, hold the treat at the nose level and apply a slight pressure on her rear portion, pushing her gently down into sitting position. At the same time, give a slight pull at her collar. This will help her get the message of getting into a sitting position.

In all these attempts, if your puppy manages to acquire a posture that even vaguely resembles a sitting position, praise her abundantly and give her a treat. This will motivate her to do better the next time.

Don’t let your puppy remain sitting forever. Without your release command she will not know when to get up. And in the absence of such a command, she may get confused. So, give her a command like ‘release’ or ‘okay’ or ‘thank you’, to let her know that it is time to get up.

Gradually, increase the duration of ‘sit’ commands and reduce the frequency of treats. Once your puppy begins to sit on your command for fifteen to thirty minutes, at a stretch, without a treat, she has mastered the ‘sit’ command.

Training your dog to obey commands requires patience, motivation and encouragement, not to mention a ready supply of treats! The training sessions should be short but frequent and should be repeated at regular intervals throughout the day. If you persevere, you will find that the day is not far when your darling puppy grows up into a ‘responsible adult’ and is praised by all for her immaculate manners!

So you have an active dog that has taken quite well to obedience training and you are looking for something new to do with them. Dog agility training might be just the thing that you are looking for. Now what exactly is dog agility training you might ask?

The sport of dog agility training is where a dog handler would direct their dog through an obstacle course in an attempt to get the best time and be the most accurate. The dogs that participate in dog agility training must learn to run through these obstacle courses without the handler utilizing treats or dog toys such as squeaky toys as incentives. Signals between the dog and their handler are limited to various body signals as well as select voice commands and movements. This challenging sport requires dedicated training from both the dog in addition to the handler.

There are several different types of obstacles that you and your dog would contend with while in agility training such as jumps, teeter totters and poles to run in-between. There are several different dog agility courses that are used in agility competitions with the presiding judge usually selecting the course to be used that day. Dogs and handlers are carefully watched by the judge during their run through the course and marked according to how they preformed in numerous categories. Dogs are grouped into classes according to breed and size in order to make the agility competitions as fair as absolutely possible.

So how do you know if this challenging sport is for your dog and the two of you should begin agility training? If your dog enjoys being outdoors and being very active then they are likely to be a great candidate for agility training. Does your dog enjoy doing things to make you happy? Here again is a potential candidate for agility training. The one trait any dog needs that is being considered for dog agility is being able to take direction well. Since dog agility training requires such a large level of discipline ease in train-ability is essential to a successful agility dog.

So if you are looking for both a challenging and fun new sport for your dog to get involved with, you should definitely look into beginning dog agility training. Besides getting the fulfillment and benefits of participating in an active sport you will also benefit from the closer friendship that both you and your dog will treasure.

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for DogTeachers.com DogTeachers.com - a great site for dog training. Learn more about

There is nothing better than to see a well behaved dog. You know that the owner and the dog are understanding each other and enjoying each others company. Every day when you come home from work, no one gets more excited to see you than your dog.

There are 5 the most important things that you need to know in order to be able to train you dog:

1. Patience — patience is very important to be successful in training your dog. It’s going to take a lot of repetition in order for your dog to get trained. Some dogs learn faster then the others, so knowing a little more about the breed of your dog, can give you an idea of how long it may take to train your dog.

2. Consistency — you have to invest a lot of time in the beginning. But believe me, it will pay off in a log run. You will have to repeat same thing over and over and over again until your dog learns. You need to do it whenever you get a chance, which means at least twice a day, 10 to 15 minutes at the time.

3. Reward — It is very important that you reward your dog when its doing something that you want it to do. Make sure that you always have a little treat handy. When they get reward they will learn what is acceptable and what is unacceptable behavior.

4. Team work — Always remember that you and your dog need to work as a team. The training time is also considered as bonding time with your dog, as well as exercise. Never give up on your team mate, let him/her know when he/she is doing a good job and he/she will make you a proud owner. Also, make sure that both of you are having fun. If you are having fun, your dog can sense that and it will be happy as well.

5. Exercise — Most of the time your dog is misbehaving when he/she is bored. Make sure that you give your dog enough exercise. If you can dedicate at least 40 minutes a day to take your dog for a walk, to the dog park, or have a play time with it or other dogs, or even combination of any activities mentioned, you won’t have to worry about misbehaving.

There is a lot of different options available that can help you train your dog. With the busy schedule, you may not have time to drive to the obedience school. But you don’t have to do that any more. There are a lot of web sites that can help you with the dog training, this way you can spend more quality time with your dog. The websites can give you helpful hints, video instructions, and you can even email an expert for specific advise. Try it and you won’t regret it.

Ivana Urbanowski is a proud owner of two well behaved dogs. Here are a few web sites that have been selected to help you be a proud dog owner. They have good content and material that is easy to understand and follow. Click here for more details: urbiva.bezoogle.com/pp/dog-training/ urbiva.bezoogle.com/pp/dog-training/

Paper training a dog

House training your dog.

To successfully do this is relatively simple task and in the case of a puppy is probably the very first training it will receive from you.

As with all aspects of dog training it helps to get into the mind of the dog and know its nature and how it instinctively reacts in certain circumstances.

When any dog, even a puppy needs to eliminate it will instinctively look for a place to do it. In the wild dogs will never soil their drinking area, they also tend to mark the boundaries of their territory.

Observe your puppy and note that when it needs to go it will change its behavior slightly. It will start sniffing the walls and chair or table legs (marking posts) which is instinctively looking for other dog’s or their own scent. After a while of observing it will become obvious to you when the dog is looking for a place to go.

When you notice this behavior you should immediately take the dog to the door and to the place where you want it to go. If it does eliminate in the place you want it to then reward it profusely and make a big fuss.

If you observe and catch the dog just before it needs to go then the training will become much easier. No correction will be needed for mishaps and the training will be 100% positive reinforcement.

After you have done this a few times then the next step is to get the dog to ask to go out. You see the dog looking for somewhere to go, take it or lead it to the door, sit it down for a second at the door and then open the door and let it go out on its own.

If the dog is intelligent and you give it enough motivation then it is possible to house train a small puppy in an evening.

I once house trained a Labrador puppy. He soon got the idea that peeing outside was getting him a dog treat and a lot of fuss. So much that after about 4 hours of training, he was asking to go outside and straining to go.. he had nothing left but he was so eager for his treat.

The downside of this particular training is that it was too thorough. The dog in question had interiorize his training to such a point that he would not pee anywhere but in his own garden. We would go for walks in the woods for hours and he wouldn’t do anything, he would run around in circles desperate to go and would whimper but would not go. We would return home and he would make a mad dash for the garden to relieve himself. It took several months of training to get him to do it outside of his own garden. Eventually one day he couldn’t hold it any more and distressed peed up a bush. This of course was followed by much praise and then he soon got the idea that it was ok.

Have fun house training your dog, try and do it positively by praise and not negatively by scolding the accidents. As with all aspects of dog training a little bit of patience and it will become easy.

Visit dogtrainingbook.net dogtrainingbook.net and download our free copy of the ebook, ‘Top 5 essential Dog Training Commands’
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Bob Cheswell runs the DogTrainingBook.net web site and is author of many articles on dog training

It can be very rewarding to train your pet rats to do tricks and learn obstacle courses. Since they tend to be highly intelligent creatures, rats can actually learn a lot (and get bored if they have nothing to do).

Furthermore, because they’re people-pleasers, rats enjoy the challenge of striving for your reward and praise.

However, before you begin training, you may be interested to know the main pitfalls of pet rat training. That way, you can get started on the right foot and make the most of training time. Here are the top three mistakes that novice rat-trainers will often make:

1. Neglecting to create a stimulating living environment for their rats. Sometimes trainers make the mistake of thinking that their ratties’ living environment doesn’t need to be interesting or fun to be in. They seem to think that an hour of play time or training time is enough to stimulate their little minds. This is untrue. Rats are constantly problem-solving, 24/7. Giving them a stimulating and challenging living environment will ensure that their minds stay sharp for learning tricks.

Buy or build a large caged enclosure complete with shelves, ramps, ladders, cubby holes, bins, hammocks, exercise wheels, tunnels, hidey holes, baskets and ropes strung across.

Occasionally, treat them to a game of “hide n’ seek” with sunflower seeds. Hide them in hard-to-reach places so they really have to think hard about how to get to them.

Be sure to adjust and rearrange the furniture and food locations. Always keep ‘em guessing.

Make playtime games challenging as well with swimming pools, sand boxes and tunnel-mazes.

2. Being too “results oriented” about training. One major pitfall a rat owner can fall into is to be too demanding about what is to be accomplished during training. This approach to rat-training will only end in frustration and neglect. Never forget that training is just an extension of play time and that repetition, along with positive reinforcement, is the key to success.

3. Forgetting to reinforce old tricks. As the saying goes “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” The first-time rat trainer will often teach his rats a few basic tricks, move on to other ones for several weeks, only to discover that his rats have forgotten the first tricks! Just because a rat learns a trick, it does not mean that the little guy will remember it later. Reinforcement is everything. This is why, when teaching a rat to run an obstacle course, the trainer must tack a new obstacle onto the one(s) that were previously learned. Otherwise, the rat will fail to remember the first obstacles learned.

So, remember: keep their lives full of challenges at all times; try to be patient and not to get too attached to results and accomplishments; and don’t take it for granted that they will remember those first tricks they learned… because they won’t. Repeat and reinforce their learning at all times!

Knowing about these three major pitfalls will go a long way in helping you to make the most of your rats’ intelligences and abilities; and as long as you are together, you will look forward to training time every single day.

Colin Patterson is author of a petratguide.com guide to pet rats that will teach you the proper way to train your little ratties. Visit Colin’s site at petratguide.com petratguide.com

When you buy a puppy or find one sometimes this happens, “You still have to train the puppy so it only obeys you and nobody else if it is meant to be a family dog then it will take notice of any other adult in the house that is trying to correct it with the same commands it is used to, but it still needs to know who’s its master.

All dogs bark when anybody comes to there front door ie, postman, friend, you should always let the dog know who is at the door that way he can get the idea of why you are training him not bark at certain people, of course it is noisy and the neighbors will let you know they don’t like your dog barking.

Some people think that a dog or puppy does not know anything and is stupid but they would be wrong it does depend on the breed take a westy they are not known for there intelligence but they are known for there barking I have one and he now only barks when I allow him to. so you see I have been through all of this so I know that you can do this without tearing out your hair.

Heres what you do….

The First Step


When anybody comes to the door you have to tell him its only the postman or the paper boy or a friend you have to use the friends name so he can understand the different names and that way he will get used why he is being trained not to bark all the time. Usually all dogs don’t like postman for some reason they think there territory is being invaded and they don’t like that.

But you have to be firm and constant with your training every time the postman comes the same thing is going to happen so you have be aware of this and not get cross with your pet because it will take a while before the dog gets used to the postman’s visit to your house.

Until the next time


Jan Jones

Of all the crown jewels in America’s natural tiara - Yellowstone, the Grand
Canyon, Yosemite - none is as dog-friendly as Niagara Falls. Save for
special guided tours, your dog can walk anywhere you walk to view the
world-famous falls in both New York’s Niagara Falls State Park and Ontario’s
Queen Victoria Park.

It is hard to imagine these days but Niagara Falls, one of the world’s most
visited tourist destinations, was originally looked upon as a key military
post and industrial site. One of the first Europeans to see the falls was
51-year old French priest Father Louis Hennepin in 1678. Hennepin is
reported to have dropped to his knees in prayer and muttered, “the universe
does not afford its parallel.” The French military, while perhaps
appreciating the romantic sentiment, was more interested in building a fort
to defend the natural trade route between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Travelers did not begin to arrive in western New York in great numbers
until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the coming of the railroads
in the 1830s. Many enjoyed the same reaction as Father Hennepin. The
tradition of honeymooners coming to Niagara where “the love of those who
honeymoon here will last as long as the falls themselves” dates to the early
1800s when members of the French ruling Bonapart family came on wedding
trips. By the middle of the century the area around the Falls was a
confused hodgepodge of water-powered mills and private resorts.

Following the Civil War, a small group of visionaries began to look for a
way to heal the scars to Niagara’s natural beauty. The “Free Niagara”
crusade led to the creation of the Niagara Reservation, America’s first
state park in 1885. Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York City’s
Central Park and one of the leaders of the movement, laid out the park’s
network of wooded footpaths along the banks of the Niagara River. Olmsted’s
belief in retaining natural beauty while providing public access - for human
and dog - endures at Niagara Falls to this day.

Niagara Falls reigns as one of the world’s premier sightseeing destinations
and your dog is welcome along. Due to the crush of visitors around the edge
of the Falls it is best to begin your explorations of Niagara Falls State
Park with the dog in the early morning hours when it is easier to maneuver
around to the various vantage points. Even in the busiest times there are
grass fields and shady promenades for the dog to romp.

Begin your tour on the paved paths of Goat Island in the middle of the
Niagara River, flanked by ferocious rapids on all sides. Pedestrian bridges
lead to the Three Sisters Islands and Green Island for close-up looks of the
wild river as it approaches the Falls. Descend a flight of stairs to Luna
Island, nestled in between the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls,
before crossing back across Goat Island to the precipice of the Horseshoe
Falls on the Canadian side. You and the dog can stand at the edge of all
three falls and drink in the spray of water before the droplets fall 18
stories over the crest into the gorge. Forty million gallons of water spill
over Niagara Falls every minute.

From these vantage points you can stand and contemplate the first recorded
person to jump into the Falls. That was Sam Patch in October 1829, who
leaped twice from a platform 110 feet high. He survived both jumps. The
first person to successfully ride over the falls in a barrel was a woman,
Annie Taylor, who survived the stunt on October 24, 1901. Of the 16 known
attempts to ride the falls in a barrel or similar capsule - a stunt that is
now illegal - 10 survived.

And dogs going over Niagara Falls? Sadly, there is one recorded account of
just such an event. In December of 1874 some local hotel owners purchased
an old Great Lakes schooner and planned to send it over the Falls to lure
visitors to Niagara. To add drama to the spectacle the organizers loaded
the ship with a buffalo, three bears, two foxes, a raccoon, a dog, a cat and
four geese and cut their “Reverse Noah’s Ark” loose in the rapids. The
animals were observed scampering around the deck as the schooner slipped
over the edge of the falls and smashed into hundreds of pieces on the rocks
below. Only two geese were believed to survive the stunt.

For panoramic views of all three falls you will need to cross the gorge
into Canada where you can take the dog for a stroll among the flower gardens
of Queen Victoria Park. The park, managed by the Niagara Parks Commission,
actually predates Niagara Falls State Park. Landscaping of the area with
the sublime views of the rushing cataracts began in 1837 and it became a
park in 1882. Both parks are free to visit, as are the nightly light shows
illuminating the falls.

Niagara Falls has plenty in store for the serious canine hiker as well.
The thrills of the Niagara River are not completely spent when the water
crashes 170 feet down the falls into the gorge. The river, one of the
shortest in the world, rumbles another turbulent 7 miles before disgorging
its contents into Lake Ontario. The rapids in the river are among the
wildest and fiercest in the world, rated a 6 on the navigable scale of 1-6.
The dangerous Niagara River has historically had as strong a hold on
daredevils as the falls themselves. Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the
English Channel, perished in attempt to swim across the Niagara River here
in 1883. Today, whirlpool jet boats ply the tamer of the rapids fro
thrill-seeking tourists.

The flat, paved Niagara Gorge Rim Trail runs six miles from the American
Falls at Prospect Point along the canyon, linking a necklace of New York
state parks along the way. Several sets of 300 steps descend into the
gorge in the parks to reach connecting trails along the river’s edge. Much
of the trail below the rim follows the roadbed of the historic Great Gorge
Railway. The railway operated until September 17, 1935 when 5000 tons of
rock slid down the gorge and buried the tracks. Part of the trail crosses
this rubble and involves considerable rock-hopping for an athletic dog.
These periodic rock falls - seldom of this magnitude - are more common in
the winter and early spring and hiking in the gorge is recommended only
between mid-May and November 1.

The trail leads to the edge of the waves where the 35-foot deep river can
reach speeds of 22 miles per hour. While the views of the water churning
through Devil’s Hole Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids can be mesmerizing, don’t
forget to look up now and then and perhaps spot the occasional bald eagle
circling about, no doubt looking for an easy meal of dazed and battered
fish.

The northern-most park along the Niagara Gorge is the Earl W. Brydges
Artpark in Lewiston, where the cocktail was invented by a local tavern
owner. She mixed gin and herb wine in a tankard and stirred her concoction
with the tail feather of a handy stuffed cock pheasant. More traditional
artists and craftsfolk display their creations on the grounds of the
200-acre park. The river has calmed down enough by this point to permit a
cautious swim for the dog.

The cliffs of the gorge at Lewiston are where Niagara Falls began some
12,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age. Torrents of water from melting
glacial ice poured over the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, as the cliff is
known. The sheer force of the water has slowly worn away the rock and moved
the falls to their present position seven miles upstream. Today, the falls
are eroding at the rate of an inch per year. You can trace the travels of
the falls in the rocks that line the gorge.

The Niagara Gorge Trail System ends at the imposing concrete dam of the
Robert Moses Power Plant, completing a journey from the beauty of Niagara
Falls to the hard reality of its practicality. Hydroelectricity is the most
important product of the Falls. Power plants on the American and Canadian
sides of the Falls use water diverted from the Falls to generate enough
electricity to light 2,500,000 100-watt light bulbs. It is one of the
largest such operations in the world with transmissions lines streaming in
both directions from the gorge. As impressive as the Falls are today, they
are only a fraction as mighty as our ancestors saw - as much as half of the
Niagara River’s flow is diverted for hydroelectric production.

Some day in the next 3000 years Niagara Falls will wear away entirely and
the power will dry up as water flows placidly between Lake Erie and Lake
Ontario. Until that day, however, there is ample opportunity to take the
dog an marvel at the power of Niagara.

copyright 2006

I am the author of over 20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog and the
widely praised The Canine Hiker’s Bible. As publisher of Cruden Bay Books,
we produce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of canine hiking books found at
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.

If you have made the decision to breed your dog, you may now be wondering exactly how to go about it. However, before you do anything, you really need to know the problems that could arise with breeding, just so you can be fully prepared.

The Most Common Problems That May Arise

There are various problems that you could encounter when breeding your dog and you really should be aware of each and every one of them. Here, you will see some of the most common problems that could arise and, hopefully, that will help you to become better prepared for them if they do pop up.

Some of the most common problems are:

Problems During Birth

Many dogs encounter problems while giving birth and that can leave all kinds of problems. Some dogs even die while giving birth, so you really need to decide if that is a risk that you are willing to take. Other problems include that the puppies could be deformed or that the mother could not take to raising puppies. It is very rarely straight forward and, unfortunately, many dogs do not just mate, give birth to healthy puppies and make their owners money. There are plenty of things that get in the way and cause problems, so you really do need to be aware of that fact.

The Two Dogs May Not Be Compatible

Generally, when breeding a dog, you need to be sure that your dog is compatible with the mate you are supplying. This means that they really should be the same breed unless, of course, you are breeding a Labradoodle or another cross-breed pedigree. If you do decide to breed two different breeds, you really need to check that there will be no problems for the dog near the time of birth.

For example, if you breed a male Saint Bernard with a female Bulldog, you are going to have serious trouble! The puppies will more than likely not fit when it comes for the mother to push them out and that could result in the death of the puppies and/or of the mother. So, if you do want to breed two different breeds always ensure that they are compatible.

It Can Be Expensive

Many dog breeders, when they first start out, think purely about the money. What they do not realize is that breeding any dog is expensive as you first need to mate the dog and pay for stud fees and you have to pay for vet bills, both before the puppies are born and afterwards. So, it is not always quite the money venture that people think it is.

There are many things to take into account when breeding a dog and the above mentioned are just the most common. Always do the right amount of research and make sure that you have the right amount of funds in order to afford breeding your dog before you even consider it. That way, you will be the most prepared and the problems will not be completely unexpected.

If you decide to breed your animal and want help selling the resulting puppies the best way to do so would be with a site to help you Petwebdesigner.com Sell Your Pets Check out Petwebdesigner.com Petwebdesigner.com for assistance getting a great site online to help you get top dollar!