A body builder takes more protein or a runner eats more calcium rich foods. Animals and pets must also use pet supplements or pet vitamins in order to have a long active life. Especially dogs, with their slightly different metabolisms use dog nutrition supplements from birth to old age. Dog nutrition must have appropriate support depending on the activities of the dog. Calcium is one of the most essential dog supplements for puppies especially if they will grow up to be K9 athletes. Calcium rich dog health supplements would make their bones stronger and more resilient to excessive activity when grown up.

Iron is another important component found in canine nutritional supplements. As the activity of the animal increases, the need of its body for iron also increases. Therefore iron is one of the most essential supplements for dogs. However before using iron rich canine supplements, you must have a blood test to determine the exact amount of iron your dog needs because excessive iron may cause health problems like heart disease and colon problems.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant. It can be found in vitamin complexes sold as dog vitamins or k9
vitamins. Active dogs when not supported with Vitamin-E may have oxidative damage in their muscle tissues. This causes soreness and fatigue decreasing the activity levels of the dogs. A race dog may start to slow down and its running urges may become atrophied.

There are other important minerals for the performance and health of dogs. Magnesium, potassium, zinc and selenium are some of them. Magnesium helps muscle relaxation while potassium helps stabilize muscle contractions. Selenium is known as a free radical and it supports the immune system. Zinc is also important for the immune system. Other functions of zinc are increasing endurance and decreasing fatigue. Amino acids like glutamine and protein must also be supplemented in more active dogs like racing or hunting hounds.

K9 athletes or dogs trained for competitions have more nutritional needs than their inactive fellows. If they are supplemented with adequate nutrients they can recover more quickly, have stronger immune systems, don’t get tired easily and have better performance.

The post Adequate Nutrition is Essential For High Performance in Dogs first appeared on Puppy Blog.

So you’ve just brought a new puppy into your house. Surely, one of the first things that will come into your mind is training her. Your puppy must feel that she’s very welcome in her new home. Doing this involves regarding her not as a toy, but as an important part of your family. You may notice that your puppy will act strange on his first week and this is due to the sounds and smells in your house that may seem unfamiliar to her. But she will get used to it after a period of time. There are three steps on how to train a puppy without much difficulty.

The first step you must try is to teach her the basic commands like sit, stay, heel and others. It will be easy for your puppy to learn these things if you will do them at least twice or thrice a day. Nutrition is also important for your puppy so be choosy when it comes to the brand of dog food. You must also teach the puppy where she should take her slumber. As mush as possible, never change this spot. Remember that it will be her new comfort place, so it must be in a peaceful place in your home which she can consider her own. Secondly, familiarize your puppy with similar words and phrases for the same expected outcome. One example of this step on how to train a puppy is the familiar “go potty” phrase. While saying this, bring her to the area which she can consider as her toilet.

Third, avoid shouting at your puppy or reprimanding her heavily no matter how much clutter she has made. Do show her your displeasure while remaining calm. You can scold her by avoiding cuddling her and saying some reprimanding words in lower tone. However, when she did something right, don’t fail to praise and reward her. It’s so easy to follow these steps on how to train a puppy. Just let your common sense do the work and if you need help, read some books or visit some dog training websites. Moreover, don’t forget to have fun while training her and keep your sessions short. Try also to have short but productive sessions between you and your pet.

The post How To Train A Puppy – Try These Three Simple Steps first appeared on Puppy Blog.