It’s not even a difficult decision to make really, not when you consider it properly.  If you have a dog then you will probably already be well aware of how expensive veterinary fees are these days and you will no that you sometimes need to take money that’s needed somewhere else in order to pay for the well being of your dog.

Well, if you consider that last vet bill for goodness knows how much money, and you divide it up over a year then you’ll probably find that you can easily spread the payments and get an insurance policy that will pay these unexpected vet bills for you.  Not only that, if you get dog insurance, some of them may even provide you with a reward to pay someone should your dog get lost and compensation money should your dog die.  The main reason though of course is to keep your dog alive and well, and this is why the majority of insurance companies provide cover for up to a large amount of money for vet bills.

Check out who’s insuring their dogs and they’ll tell you that they don’t regret it for a minute.

First and foremsot, grooming your dog is an excellent way of bonding.  If you are gentle and kind when you groom your dog they will thank you for it by forming a close bond.  All dogs usually enjoy grooming and if they don’t then it’s probably something to do with the way they are being groomed or the way they have been in the past.  It should be a time when you can spend quality time with your dog and not have any interruptions.  This is probably why most people tend to do it in the evening when everyone in the house has settled down for the night; but it is also a good technique to calm your dog before going for a trip out in a car perhaps or maybe to the vet.

Another added bonus to spending time with your dog and making it look good is the fact that you will reduce the chance of a flea infestation.  When you are grooming you can keep your eyes open for the little devils and treat your dog according to how bad it is.

Also, if you have a dog with a lot of hair you can make sure that their hair stays knot free and take out all the dried up dead hair that usuallyt ends up in the carpet or on the furniture.

So if you’ve been clever and you’ve got rid of the fleas on your dog you now need to turn to your home.  What?  i hear you ask.  Yes, i said you need to turn to your home.

It’s bad at anytime of year but this is especially bad in the summer when it’s really hot, the doors are open all day, the dog is in and out and laying at the side of the room in the shade trying to get cool.  When your dog rolls over at the edge of the room the fleas that have been brought in by it will nest in the carpet, right near the wall where it’s warmest.  You might think that they won’t because your dog has been treated, but all this happened before you did that.

What you need to do is constantly move your furniture when you hoover and make sure that you get right to the edge of the carpet and suck up all those nasty little eggs.  The edges of the carpet often get left and this is where the fleas love it.  In the winter they’re here too simply because the radiator is on and it’s nice and warm again for them.

In the summertime there is nothing more annoying on your dog than fleas, and if you don’t properly treat them they will drive you and your dog up the wall.  A flea bite doesn’t always happen to a dog you know, they like to bite into us humans too, and they feed off your blood.  Nasty little suckers aren’t they?

You can do something about it though, and there are literally hundreds of flea treaments out there on the market these days.  You owe it to your dog and yourself to get the best one possible.  Personally i don’t touch the collars or the powders; they never seem to work.  The best ones i’ve ever found are the ones that are added to the skin on the back of the dogs neck (so they can’t lick it).  These treatment get absorbed into the skin and spread around your dog quickly.

The beauty of these treatments is that wherever the dog goes they spread their treament too and fleas (and their eggs) are destroyed almost instantly.

Fleas, or ticks are the problem.  In this weather they love nothing more than to settle into your dogs coat and make themselves at home.  This sort of heat is perfect for their breeding conidtions and they are likely to multiply quickly in the summer months.  Then can certainly multiply more quickly on your dog than you can kill them.

So this is yet another consideration to take into account, and you should not under any circumstances assume that your dog doesn’t have fleas; most dogs do, it’s a part of their life; some have fleas worse than others, but the truth is that all of them carry fleas.

There are many different solutions to fleas but mostly the most effective are treatments applied directly to the skin of the dog and ones that last for a long time.  There are flea treatments that can spread around your home too if you have a dog that lives in the house with you.  This is an important thing to consider since the flea will also live on the very edges of your carpet and multiply there instead.  You must make a point of hoovering up very close to the edge of your carpets and ensure that your dog is treated.

This is a good reason to give them a haircut.  There is nothing worse for a dog than being out in the sun all day long when it’s got loads of hair covering it’s skin the poor thing.  It isn’t as though they have much choice sometimes is it?  Dogs will go where their owners or handlers take them and they don’t have the ability to ask for a drink or for a little shade.

You need to give your dog a good trim at the beginning of summer and keep it well trimmed during the summer months.

Whilst you’re out and about on your travels walking the dog, or perhaps visiting somewhere like the beach for the day, please remember that your dog needs as much shade as you do.  If you imagine all that heat penetrating your dog’s skin and making it’s blood boil i’m sure you’ll understand just how important it is; it isn’t as though they can wear a hat really is it?

Another thing that not everyone remembers when they take their dog out for the day is to keep it well watered.  A dog without water can become very unwell and even die.  It’s a serious business looking after your dog in the hot weather, so take care.

Low cost pet insurance is good, but it isn’t always necessary.  Sometimes the best insurance costs a little extra, and you have to ask yourself this question: how much do you want to save, and do you love your dog?  I’m sure everyone wants to save money, and this is the main idea behind your insurance.  For example, going back a few years now, my dog had to have two or three teeth taken out and it cost me a couple of hundred pounds!  I know, it’s shocking isn’t it?  It’s a pity their isn’t a dog NHS!

Well if you get pet insurance then you may find that these sort of bills and many other things will be covered, leaving you plenty of money left over for other things.  Never worry about not claiming, and never think that it’s a waste of money, because i can guarantee you that whenever you cancel insurance something damn well goes wrong and makes you wish you hadn’t!

The problem is that when there is an error things can become quite messy.  I had a King Charles Spaniel many years ago now and he had a bit of a tricky tummy.  Whatever i seemed to feed him was too rich for him.  Eventually he ended up on a diet of chicken and rice.  Now this sounds perfectly reasonable i suppose, but i was still in two minds about whether or not he was getting enough good stuff; not only this, but he was still having problems with his runny tummy (although not half as bad as when i had him on tinned wet food).

Aftet chatting with a few experts on the subject i switched him to iams and found that it worked a treat.  Now i wasn’t sure exactly what was in it i have to be honest, but it certainly did the “poo” situation a lot of good.  There were no more nasty, wet messes to clean up on the pavement; it was getting to the stage that i needed a mop and bucket to clean up after my dog!

And of course this works the other way around.  If you have a dog on dry food that cannot do a poo then you need to switch him to tinned wet food, or at aleast a little in his diet.

The fact remains that years ago people didn’t feed their dogs the kind of rubbish that they do now, and wild dogs certainly don’t have access to this kind of rubbish, and when they hunt their teeth are adequately taken care off by eating the flesh of the creature they have caught.

If you are one of the people who sit on the sofa in the evening tossing your dog chocolates because he loves them, then you need to brush their teeth.  You shouldn’t feed them sweets and chocolates anyway, but if you’re going to then at least take care of them.

It’s simple really.  You get a toothbrush and brush them.  You can get special tooth paste from pet stores but i’ve never used these myself.  They are supposed to make the toothpaste taste better and make the dog want to have their teeth brushed, however i am yet to meet a dog who likes toothpaste, never mind having it’s teeth brushed.  I use simply warm water and a firm brush.  The fact remains that dogs don’t like it, simply because it’s not a natural part of their genetic make-up, but you can ritualise this practice so that they become used to it; you must do it at the same times each day, or after your dog has eaten; this way they’ll understand quicker.

And it has to be worth it doesn’t it?  To make your dog or puppy happier to go to the vet must make your life a little easier too mustn’t it.  I’ve had dogs in the past that have quite literally had to be dragged through the door of the vets surgery.  So how can you make this better?

Well here’s an idea i tried with my last dog and it actually worked a little.  You might find it helpful; and i hope you do.  Having to take a dog to the vet is hard, no matter what it’s for.  They seem to sense your anxiety and it projects onto them.  Well you could take your dog to the vet regularly just for a visit.  I know it sounds strange, but it does work.  Why not incorporate it on your work occasionally before the dog really knows much about what goes on there.  Before long it will become a natural thing to go to the vet, and once you get to know the reception staff you may even be able to have a little chat before leaving.  reward your dog when you arrive at the vet and you automatically turn the experience into a positive one.