Is Your Dog Alone All Day

You wouldn't leave a young child alone in the house, would you? Then why would you leave a puppy or young dog in the house for hours at a time? Many people do it and it's not fair to the dog or the family.

Unless you are able to make some arrangements for the dog to be let out and have some social contact, at the very least every few hours, then you are sentencing him to solitary confinement and considerable discomfort.

Dogs are pack animals and they crave companionship. All dogs need social contact and exercise. If they are deprived of any of these, bad behavior will almost certainly occur - and it's not the fault of the dog.

Boredom and separation anxiety will manifest itself in destructive behavior and soiling of the house. Just ask yourself, how long could you tolerate being alone, with no books, no TV, no personal contact and no room to move around? How many trips to the bathroom do you make in the course of a day?

Putting the dog in a crate is only part of the solution. This will prevent any destructive behavior such as chewing furniture or personal possesions but won't solve the puppy's psychological problems, or his need for toilet breaks.

If the dog has been properly trained for the crate, he will have come to regard it as his safe "den" and will feel much more secure and comfortable in this environment but he will still need adequate and frequent toilet breaks.

It's necessary to consider the breed characteristics. Some breeds are more dependent on human company than others and this can be a big influence on their reaction to prolonged separation. Similarly, the more active breeds will suffer far more from long periods of confinement.

Imagine a border collie, shut up for long periods with no mental stimulation and no exercise! In no time at all, you'll have a very neurotic dog indeed.

So, if your dog has to be alone in the house for large parts of the day, as a minimum you need;

1) a place (probably a crate) where he can feel secure and comfortable with some toys and familiar objects;

2) some arrangement, possibly with a neighbor or friend who is familiar with the dog, for periodic breaks for toilet and a little exercise;

3) provision of drinking water, preferably just before the toilet break; and

4) some stimulation, such as a radio talk show or some music.

Toys can be a great distraction and comfort for your dog. There is a huge choice of toys which can keep him amused and allow him to chew to his heart's content. Buy a good number of toys, which will allow you to rotate them. Some toys allow small treats to be hidden in them, keeping him interested for longer.

It is vital that your dog learns that chewing anything other than his food or his toys is a definite No. It is best to limit his chewing to those toys which are specifically designed to be safe.

Any other approach can make the dog confused. If you give him an old sneaker to chew, you can't blame him if his next choice is one of your brand new business shoes.

Some trainers advise leaving one of your old garments in the crate with the dog. If he is allowed to chew this, then he may end up with your new golf sweater. It may be better to leave a few garments near the crate but out of reach, so he can feel the comfort of your scent.

As your dog becomes more accustomed to his routine, you may feel confident in leaving the crate door open but shutting him in one room, then gradually expanding the areas he's allowed in (making the bedrooms last, or not at all).

At the very minimum, you should ensure that he gets some freedom and exercise before everyone leaves for the day and when you return home, that he gets plenty of play and more exercise (with some fun training thrown in).

Source: Ken Charles

Photographing Your Pets

Pets are more stalwart photographic subjects than kids, or grownups for that matter. They don't groan "Oh, no, not again!" when you raise the camera to your eye. They don't make funny faces or deliberately stick their tongues out to thwart your photographic endeavors. (Dogs pant, of course.) While they can be just as active as kids — and as much of a photographic challenge when they speed around — they also actually like to take naps. Nap time is a good time to get pet pictures.

Otherwise, though, many of the same photographic techniques that apply to taking photos of kids work with pets, too. Be sure to get down to their eye level. Unless you have a pet llama or a horse, pets are even lower to the ground than kids.

With cats and dogs, you can get easier eye-level pictures by snapping them when they perch on a window sill or, if allowed, a favorite chair.


Your pet no doubt has some distinctive behavior, often comical, that make for prime picture-taking opportunities. Perhaps your old family dog likes to study ants, nose to the ground, head cocked to one side for a one-eyed microscopic view. (This is a perfect opportunity for a ground-level shot.) Maybe your new cat likes to lie flat on her back on your bedroom carpet with her legs straight up in the air, staring at the world upside down. Photographing interesting and amusing pet behaviors is a kind of substitute for the fact that animals don't have a child's range of facial expression, at least to human eyes. Pet pictures may otherwise have a certain sameness to them. Their context — environments, behaviors, settings, and so on — becomes especially important.

For the same reason, you should show pets interacting with family members. They are, after all, a part of the family. These pictures can, of course, be candid: playing fetch, chasing a string, getting a tummy rub. Or they can be more posed — a pet in your arms or on your lap.

Making eye contact with pets is important. Call out to them when you're ready to take the shot. With pets, expression is almost entirely in the eyes. Indeed, a true dog or cat person will tell you that the eyes are the window to a pet's soul.


Unfortunately, that soul may seem to come from the dark side when flash turns those eyes red — or green, as often happens with pets. Red-eye and green-eye are a special problem with pets. With cats in particular, the large area of their eyes relative to their faces compounds the problem. You can use your camera's red-eye reduction system to lessen the effect. But depending on your particular system, there's a long delay between when you press the shutter button and when the picture is actually taken. This delay can cause you to lose the moment you wanted to capture. And pets aren't in the habit of waiting around. Dog news

Compare Cats or Dogs

Debate rages on, sides stand pat
Is the best pet a dog or a cat?
The dog's built for action,
The cat? Satisfaction.
Are esteemed, pro and con, tit for tat.

Not just entries in some catalog
Of taxonomy, your pet's not mere clog
The dog's built for action,
The cat? Satisfaction
Dogs are digital, cats analog.