Five Easy Steps to Natural Dog Skin Care

Brushing, bathing and clipping certainly contribute to your precious' silky and smooth skin and coat, but it's a little bit more than just pampering that is needed for your furry friend to sport a healthy and vibrant appearance. By just following these five easy dog skin care steps your pooch will be at the head of the posh pooch parade!

Five Easy Dog Skin Care Steps:

1. Diet: It is not just we humans who are what we eat - so are our dogs. A good nutritious diet is the best way to ensure that your dog stays strong and healthy. Select foods that mimic as closely as possible how a dog would eat in the wild: protein, carbs, vegetable and some fat. Fat is essential for a healthy skin and promotes a shiny coat.

2. Exercise: Take your dog for a daily walk - twice if you can squeeze in the time. Ideally a good, brisk walk in the morning and another in the evening, each of a half hour in length or more. Your dog will be happy and it will do wonders for your own figure. If your work schedule makes this difficult arrange for a dog walker to pop in and take doggie out for a good lengthy stroll during the day. Activity is good for circulation which in turn is good for the skin.

3. Daily Brushing: Even five minutes of gentle brushing stimulates the oil glands in the skin and nourishes the coat. A good brushing also detangles long haired coats and loosens dead hair, it is also an effective way to rid the coat of brambles, dirt and unwelcome insects and bugs that doggie may have picked up on his romp in the woods.

4. Shampoo: Use a good quality shampoo with natural ingredients such as oatmeal, papaya or aloe. If your dog has dry, itchy skin selects a shampoo that has a moisturizing ingredient. Pet shampoos with a smidgen of tea tree oil are also an effective way in keeping mites at bay.

5. Take action at first sign of a skin problem: At certain times of the year our pets are more susceptible to picking up parasites such as fleas, ticks and other nasty bugs. A dog that is flea ridden itches and scratches a lot and can develop sores which worsen as the condition continues. Take appropriate steps to rid your dog of these pests.

If you notice that your dog has developed a skin problem and is not responding to the above basic principles of good dog skin care, you may want to apply a natural pet balm to the affected area. Look for a balm with ingredients that have healing properties such as tepezcohuite and aloe. If all fails - schedule a visit to the vet.

source: www.naturaldogskincare.com

FBI dog

A police dog responds to an ad for work with the FBI. "Well," says the personnel director, "you'll have to meet some strict requirements. First, you must type at least 60 words per minute."

Sitting down at the typewriter, the dog types out 80 words per minute.
"Also," says the director, "you must pass a physical and complete the obstacle course." This perfect dog specimen finishes the course in record time.

"There's one last requirement," the director continues; "you must be bilingual."
With confidence, the dog looks up at him and says, "Meow!"

10 Reasons Why It's Great to Be a Dog

1. If it itches, you can reach it. And no matter where it itches, no one will be offended if you scratch it in public.

2. No one notices if you have hair growing in weird places as you get older.

3. Personal hygiene is a blast: No one expects you to take a bath every day, and you don't even have to comb your own hair.

4. Having a wet nose is considered a sign of good health.

5. No one thinks less of you for passing gas. Some people might actually think you're cute.

6. Who needs a big home entertainment system? A bone or an old shoe can entertain you for hours.

7. You can spend hours just smelling stuff.

8. No one ever expects you to pay for lunch or dinner. You never have to worry about table manners, and if you gain weight, it's someone else's fault.

9. It doesn't take much to make you happy. You're always excited to see the same old people. All they have to do is leave the room for five minutes and come back.

10. Every garbage can looks like a cold buffet to you.

Is it o.k. to feed grains to our dogs?

Another great article i found on the net.

Why do I need to separate certain food items, like RMBs, veggies and grains, and why can't I feed them together?

In Pat Lazarus book, "Keep Your Dog Healthy the Natural Way," under the topic of food combining he states:

"How you combine food groups can be crucial to your dog's health. Why? The digestive organs secret enzymes to break down food so it can be properly used by the body. When carbohydrates and proteins are eaten at the same time, the protein enzymes go to work first, and the digestion of carbohydrates must wait. While the carbohydrates are waiting around to be digested, they ferment and release toxins in the body.

Proper food combining might more aptly be called not combining foods: Give only meat (or other heavy proteins such as eggs or milk) at one meal; give carbohydrates (fruit & grains) for the other meal. Vegetables, though may be given with either grains or heavy proteins."

He goes on to mention this can also help in preventing pancreatitus.

Also, grains and meats should not be fed together but veggies can be feed with either, with no loss of nutrients. Fruits, except apples, should be feed alone and at least twenty minutes before or after anything else. Back to top of page

Is it o.k. to feed grains?

Grains are not a natural food for dogs. It is not something they would eat in the wild. Those grains they would have access to would be in small quantities eaten from the stomachs of prey animals who had (in the right season) eaten some grasses that had seeded. These grains would also not look like our modern grains - more like wild rice (check it out at the supermarket and compare to domestic types).

Grains are also full of carbohydrates which can be easily converted to sugars. Cancer cells feed on sugars and it is believed that by decreasing the amount of carbohydrate in the diet, we may greatly reduce the risk of cancer (which is a growing problem among modern dogs).

So, in answer to your question, yes, grains can be fed; however, please keep the following in mind (when feeding grains), taken directly from a Dr. Billinghurst seminar: grains are not a natural food for dogs; dogs do not, in fact, need carbohydrates; carbohydrates are easily converted into sugars which feed cancer. Remove the carbs and the cancer has less/nothing to feed on; and grains are one of the major causes of allergies in dogs, and can also cause flatulence (gas..PHEW!!!)!.

source: i-love-dogs forum