Dog Care



General Care of Dogs - ASPCA      

Here's how to keep your dog happy and healthy.

Before Bringing The Dog Home
You will need dog food, water, a leash, a collar, brush, comb, and chew toys.

Cleanliness
Use a leash for your dog if you will be walking outside, unless it is within a closed and safe area that the dog can not escape from. If your dog defecates in a garden, outside on the sidewalk, or in a public place, be sure to pick up and leave the area clean.

Feeding Your Dog
Cubs 8 to 12 weeks old need 4 meals a day. Puppies three to six months old should eat three times a day. Puppies between six months and one year must eat twice a day. When your dog reaches the first year, a single meal should be sufficient. Sometimes it is better to give him twice in less quantity. A premium dry food provides a balanced diet and should be mixed with water or other canned wet food. Your dog should enjoy cottage cheese, egg biscuits, fruit and vegetables, but this should not exceed an additional 10 percent of their daily food.

Puppies should be fed a high quality food, at least two to four times a day. Please limit "people food" because it can result in an imbalance of vitamins and minerals, bones or teeth problems, and can cause bad habits such as obesity. Always have fresh clean water for your dog at all times. Wash dishes of water and food every day.

Excercise
Every dog needs daily exercise to stay physically and mentally stimulated. The amount of exercise needed depends on the breed of dog, age and health of your dog. Exercising your dog properly will improve their health and will prevent household destruction and other problems in the dog's conduct.

Bathing and Combing Your Dog
You can keep your dog clean and their skin beautiful by brushing their hair daily. Check for ticks and fleas on your dog; daily in hot weather especially. Before bathing your dog, comb or cut their hair knots. Carefully remove all the soap out of hair and skin of your dog, or soap residue may harm them.

How To Carry Your Dog
Small dogs are easier to carry. If you want to carry a puppy or small dog, you must put your hand under their chest and the other holding his back legs. If you carry a large dog, you must lift with one arm holding his chest and one arm holding the back.

Never carry your dog, puppy or adult dog from his legs, tail or back of their neck.

Your Dog's Home
Your dog needs a warm, peaceful retreat, away from dirt and off the floor. You may want to buy a dog bed or make one. It must have a clean sheet on the bed and it should be washed frequently. If your dog is going to spend time outside in the garden, you must provide a shaded area as well as cold water in hot weather and a dry, warm covered area in cold weather.

ID Your Pet
Be sure to put a dog tag on your pet's collar and/or his microchip, to make sure that if your dog is lost, it can be returned.

Conduct
A well behaved pet is wonderful. Teaching your dog the basics: "sit" "stay still" "eat" "lie down" "come out", will improve your relationship with your dog and your neighbors. You should start teaching a puppy to behave as soon as possible. Start with simple commands: sit and stay. Use small gifts of food to reward him. Puppies can start training when they are up-to-date with all their shots.

Health
Visit a veterinarian if your dog is sick or injured. Take him for a yearly checkup, including for heartworm parasites and blood tests.

Dental Health
Cubs replace their baby teeth to permanent teeth between four and seven months old. Clean their teeth with a dog toothpaste or baking-soda and water at least once or twice a week. Use a children's toothbrush. Some dogs tend to be prone to periodontal disease, an infection between the teeth and gums. This condition is a very painful infection that results in loss of teeth and a source of infection for the rest of the body. Veterinarians can clean the teeth as a regular part of your dog's health.

Fleas & Ticks
It is important to check your dog on a daily basis during hot weather for ticks or fleas. Use a flea comb to remove them. There are several new methods to control ticks and fleas. Your veterinarian can guide you on how to do it and what kind of bath should be given.

Heartworms
It lives in the heart and is passed from dog to dog through bites of infected mosquitoes. Heartworm infections are fatal. It is important to detect this disease at least one year in advance. Your dog must be given a blood test for heartworm every spring. A monthly pill must given during mosquito season, which vary by region of the country, to protect your dog. In hot countries veterinarians recommend preventive medications against heartworms throughout the year.

Vaccines
Puppies should be vaccinated with a combination vaccine (called quintuple that is a combination of 5-in-1) at 2, 3, and 4 months and then once annually. This vaccine protects the puppy against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus and parainfluenza.

The vaccination program should never end before a puppy  turns four months. Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers and American Staffordshire terriers and Pit Bulls should be vaccinated until five months. If you have an unvaccinated dog more than five months old, your dog will need a series of two vaccinations placed between two or three weeks apart followed by his annual vaccination. DO NOT walk your puppy or unvaccinated dog outside or put your puppy or unvaccinated dog on the floor of the veterinary clinic, even days after it has completed its vaccination program.

Contact a veterinarian for rabies vaccination, which must be given at the end of its vaccination program after four months and must be vaccinated for rabies annually.

The vaccine will protect you specific animal viruses and bacterial infections. There is no treatment. But if your dog gets sick because it is not properly vaccinated, the vaccine should be brought to an animal after his recovery has been achieved.

Drugs and Poisons
- Never give your dog or pet medicines that have not been identified by the    veterinarian.
- Do not give your dog chocolate.
- Be sure your dog or pet does not have access to rat poison or some other poison or insectisida.
- If you suspect your dog has swallowed a poison, call your veterinarian. Or HVAH (Arroyo Hondo Veterinary Hospital) at 809-412-2042 who work 24 hours.

The symptoms are usually a lot of salivation, vomiting, diarrhea and tremors. It might help, while you get to the vet, to aid your dog by giving him milk and coal water, helping them ingest it and get to a pharmacy and give him one ampoule (1 cc) of atropine in the thigh - then visit a vet immediately.

Sterilization
Females should be sterilized (removing her ovaries and uterus) and males (removing the testicles) before they are six months old. Sterilizing them early significantly reduced the risk of breast cancer, a common and fatal disease of adult females. Sterilizing also reduces the risk of a pyometra (infected uterus), a serious problem in adult females that requires a quick surgery and and medical care. In addition to sterilize the protection of an unwanted pregnancy.
To sterilize males significantly prevents diseases of the testicles and prostate, some hernias and certain types of aggression. A neutered dog does NOT LOSE his protective capacity. A neutered dog defends his home and family like a dog that is not sterilized.