Dogs and the Benefits of Having one

What to do to provide your dog with a long and healthy life is my hub and dedication to my Lady on how I managed to keep hold of her until she reached fourteen. As some of you will know that is quite an achievement!

For those of you that have a pet you will appreciate this hub is from the heart.

On Friday last week My lady, my golden retriever unfortunately could no longer go on at the grand old age of fourteen.

My lady was my best friend, companion and so much fun to be with.

I would like to share with you how I and my famil y feel that we suceeded in giving her a full and active and happy life.

When we bought Lady she was the one that stood out, you know what I mean if you are a dog lover, the one that looked at you adoringly as if to say "what are you waiting for I'm here, I'm the best your going to get, choose me!" Well, we did and am I glad we did.

Her love for me and my family came so naturally and how we are going to move on beats me.

Ok, we had a few problems along the way, the first being both back legs had to be operated on as she had worn them out through exercise! You would have thought that this would have been quite a difficult thing for a dog to endure, but to give you even more of an idea of what she was like, she never cried, not once during the whole fourteen years that we had her. Never. That sounds odd I know but it's true.

The areas that I would like too advice you on are diet, exercise, grooming, regular health checks, love, loyalty and most of all trust.

Now, I know that it is extremely difficult not to give your dog scraps but I assure you that if you would like your pet to reach the grand old age that mine did, take heed and don't give them scraps!

My lady would have two cups of dried working dogs food per day and as many Rich tea biscuits as she could get her hands on.

Now you may say that this is an odd diet, and yes, I do agree but that said that is exactly what her diet consisted of.

No scraps at all, just rich tea biscuits and the dried working dog food.

She would be in the kitchen when I cooked for the family but I resisted feeding her because I knew from previous experience with the golden retriever that I had before her (her name was Sherry and she didn't quite make 14! she was 13yrs and 9mths!) she did have quite a lot of rubbishy bits and pieces not given by me I hasten to add but by my children, I'm sure some of you readers have the same problem with your kids feeding the dog!

My Lady liked her exercise most dogs do. However that said some can be quite lazy if the exercise regime doesn't start at an early age and continue throughout the life span.

Lady would have at least one hour per day of full intense exercise, I am very fortunate in that I have open land at the back of my property that I was able to walk through woods and countryside to give her the exercise she required.

Now that said when Lady was around seven or eight she had to have her back legs operated on and pins put in as she had worn the muscles in her joints, from then on she still had an hour's walk per day (as recommended by her vet, slowly and progressively starting on the lead and then gradually letting her run free) and once she reached around ten she started to walk by my side rather than run, until she reached 13 1/2 and then all of a sudden she started to run again, I found this extroadinary although had been told that she would close to the time gain a new lease of life for a while.

There were times when I just could not find the time to groom Lady. Now today sitting here typing this hub that makes me very sad.

She loved her brushes and I would try to brush her after every walk as she was so hairy and where we were walking in woodland it was necessary because of the possibility of ticks.

Grooming helped me to notice when lady was feeling under the weather, her fur would shine when all was well but when something was wrong she would have a very dull coat.

Always keep an eye out for ticks and always check that the ears are clean as I found that Lady constantly had problems with her ears.

My hubby always complained that I did not walk Lady on footpaths and this in turn meant that she had extremely long nails and cost us a lot of money having to keep them short, I would suggest not doing what I did but alternating between woodland and footpaths as this will help keep the nails short.

My hubby and I used to take lady for her annual injections and for a further visit halfway through the year just to check her ears, nails, gums etc.

Now we were very fortunate as our vet would not charge a lot for the mid year examination.

I would suggest to any new pet owners that this is a very good way to start and continue throughout the pup's long and happy life.

When you first buy a puppy it's cute, cuddly, adorable and automatically you fall in love with it.

Now puppies grow into full sized dog's and along the way there can be a few problems!

Such as chewing, weeing everywhere, not doing as it's told and just being a puppy!

My advice is from day one let the dog know who is boss! My Lady thought she was boss and yes she did become boss when the time was right (for the last year I would say of her life) but to gain the loyalty and love you have to take control at a really early age. If you let the puppy do what it wants such as climbing on the furniture, sleeping with you at night, barking uncontrollably, chasing other dogs then you will be asking for bigger problems when the puppy reaches adult hood.

Love comes with trust, once you have built the trust with your dog and you have taught the dog right from wrong you will then build the love and the love loyalty and trust will go on until eventually they can no longer give anymore.

Oh how I wish she hadn't grown old!!!

Enyoy your pet to the full.