A dog owner may feed the dog food that the dog owner cooks or a raw food diet. All homemade dog food diets should follow some basic dog nutrition guidelines.

Commercial dog food contains significantly more carbohydrates than what I dog would naturally eat. While most commercial dog foods contain thirty to seventy percent carbohydrates, the most a dog eats in the wild is less than thirty percent.

The homemade dog diet should imitate a dog's natural nutritional needs. Homemade dog diets contain a lower percentage of carbohydrates than commercial dog food.

Carbohydrates in a dog's diet can be grains, rice, and starchy vegetables. It is strongly recommended for the carbohydrates to be cooked since dogs have difficulty digesting carbohydrates like raw potatoes.

Fat and protein are crucial ingredients for a homemade dog diet. A dog's diet for adult dogs should be up to fifteen percent fat according to the Merck Veterinary Manual. Puppies need slightly more fat than adult dogs.

Twenty-five percent is the recommended amount of protein in a dog's diet. Protein is essential because dogs need the protein for amino acids. Amino acids are so important that a dog can die if it does not get enough protein.

Some examples of protein for a homemade dog diet are chicken, turkey, lamb, and beef. Liver may be used, but a dog should not eat too much liver.

A homemade dog diet can contain a variety of fresh, finely chopped vegetables. Fiber is not as important as many dog owners think, but a small amount of fiber can help the dog's digestion and help the dog to maintain a healthy body weight.

A dog owner following a homemade dog diet should not feed the dog grapes, raisins, chocolate, mushrooms, raw eggs, raw fish, or too much salt. If a dog owner has any questions regarding their dog's diet, the dog owner should consult a veterinarian. Homemade dog diets can be tailored to meet the special needs caused by some illnesses, pregnancy, and obesity.

Posted under Dogs

The St. Bernard is a well-known large dog breed around the world because of its valiant ways and adorably massive frame. This breed has been the search and rescue dog of the Swiss Alps for many centuries and many heroic stories can prove to this dog's long search and rescue history. Today, however, more than a rescue dog in the Alps, this dog is very popular among families as a dependable and loyal pet.

This breed is said to have come from the massive ancient Molossoid dog breeds and Sennenhunds, a herding and hunting breed of the Swiss. Today's appearance of the St. Bernard however is not exactly of the classic St. Bernard because there came a point when this breed almost vanished because avalanches swallowed many of the dogs. With the use of the Newfoundland breed the St. Bernard was saved from extinction.

The name of this dog was given by travelers who sought refuge at the hospice at St. Bernard Pass, a treacherous pass in the Western Alps. The travelers saw these massive dogs that were used on many rescue operations and so to identify them, they called them St. Bernards. The breed's and the pass' name was of an 11th century monk named Bernard Menthon who is also the founder of the hospice.

Before being called St. Bernard, this dog was known as Saint Dog, Noble Steed, Alpenmastiff and Barry dog. Additionally, a St. Bernard named Barry became very famous when he rescued 40 to 100 people from certain death. Because of this, he was founded a monument at the Cimetiere des Chiens and his body was preserved and displayed at the National History Museum at Berne.

The St. Bernard is a heavy and gigantic breed of dog that weighs as much as 160 to 260 pounds and stands 27 1/2 to 35 1/2 inches at the withers. The tail of this dog is usually long, heavy and low set but turns up slightly. The eyes are innately tight lid and the face and ears are usually shaded in black.

The coat of the St. Bernard can be smooth, close to the body and flat. It can also be rough, flat and dense especially around the neck and legs. Common coat colors for this breed are red with white or mahogany brindle with white.

As a house pet, the St. Bernard is reliable, hardworking and eager to please. It is also understanding and patient with children and if it is properly socialized when small, it can be tolerant with smaller animals too during adulthood. This breed is also not so hard to train because it is intelligent and obedient.

The St. Bernard is not rough nor excessively active but actually very gentle and affable. It is not very active indoors and so an urban type of dwelling would suffice him. To keep his mental and physical health fit, daily walks should be done for this dog.

Posted under Dogs

Dogs are surprisingly complex creatures.

In the Western world over 800 different breeds are registered. While some breeds are very distinct from others, some do look more alike. The variety is enormous, especially if you compare it to the 'human breeds'.

The first domesticated dog dates back some ten thousand years and that's a short period from an evolutionary point of view. The ancestor of the dog is the wolf. It not surprising therefore that our dogs today, despite their differences, still have some traits in common. Next I'd like to discuss a few of them.

Predatory behavior:

Of course this doesn't mean that your dog will hunt down every animal that passes by, but it is very much part of their instinct. They have very well developed ears and they can hear much better than humans. They are very good at distinguishing a wide array of sounds and can locate it very accurately.

A dog's field of vision is wider than that of humans. Their field of view has been estimated from 180 to 270 degrees, by comparison humans see from 100 to 150 degrees, allowing dogs to oversee the hunting grounds better.

And last, but not least a dog can pick up scent extremely well. They have a much better developed nose what permits them to smell scents a 100 million times less concentrated than what human beings can smell.

For instance, Golden Retrievers are able to smell a gopher in the winter through a yard thick layer of snow and earth. Once picked up the smell of the gopher they'll try to dig a hole in order to capture the animal. That's typical behavior of a predator.

The second trait I want to discuss today is their social character.

We all know that dogs are social animals, because that is the reason why we have them in the first place, but sadly, in practice, owners don't always take that in to account. Many times ignorant owners will leave the dog alone for periods up to 10 hours, isolating the dog too much. Dogs need social interaction with other animals and human beings. If not they can develop anxiety or can get aggressive. In order to stay mentally healthy your dog needs company.

Isolation your dog for short periods of time can be beneficial when training your dog. The fear of exclusion can be very effective for correcting bad behavior like biting. You should only exclude the dog for like 5 minutes. Never more.

But too much time without social contact with other animals and people leads to mental distortions. Even guard dogs need social contact, because how can they distinguish between a friend or a foe if he doesn't even know who are his friends?

Posted under Dogs