Keeping Dogs Healthy During the Summer

Dogs are wonderful additions to a family and are often treated as well as human family members. They become your best friend, companion, or even your furry child. Learning how to care for these beloved pets, especially during the summer's heat, is imperative to their good health and to lowering your veterinary bills.

Keep your dogs hydrated. Dogs can easily become dehydrated during the warm weather and it will happen more quickly depending on the thickness of their fur and their size. Smaller dogs dehydrate quicker than larger dogs. Keep the water bowl in a visible place, such as the kitchen, so every family member will remember to check its fullness during the course of the day. During hot weather you should refill it at least once a day with fresh water. If you are out walking, pack a cold water bottle just for your dog and stop often to encourage your dog to drink.

Limit exercise. Every vet will encourage dog owners to take dogs for a walk to encourage good health, strengthen their bones, and help keep their nails trimmed, but use common sense during the summer. Shorten the length of your walk or break up a long walk into two shorter sessions. And dont encourage your dog to run for any length of time.

Be aware of the outside temperature and humidity. Do not forget that your beloved Fido is walking with a fur coat and will overheat easily. Walking in the early morning or late evening hours, when the sun is low in the sky, will often help keep dogs cooler.

Walk close to your house so if you sense your dog is having problems you can turn around or call for help. Hiking paths and paved trails are wonderful resources but you will be stuck if your dog collapses in the middle of a trail that doesn't allow cars.

Take your dog's age and overall health into consideration when planning activities outdoors. Older dogs will tire and dehydrate more easily than younger dogs and these changes can appear without warning. Dogs can also develop seasonal allergies which can in turn affect their breathing ability, so keep a close watch on older dogs that seem to pant excessively.

Check for ticks daily. Ticks are very small insects that often carry Lyme's Disease and other tick borne illnesses. These microscopic insects are prevalent during the warm weather months in wooded areas or yards with tall grass and if they come in contact with your pet, they will bite the animal and make their way into your home. Obviously, ticks are more difficult to find on dogs with thick fur so really dig your fingers in to feel them and remove them carefully with tweezers.

Do not leave any dogs in a locked car. Even with open windows, cars can heat to well over 100 degrees very quickly, which can cause severe trouble for any pet.

Using your common sense with your dog during the summer will eliminate emergency visits to the vet and will eliminate any stress your dog may feel, making for a much happier family life.

You may copy this article and place it on your own website, as long as you do not change it and include this resource box including the live link to the Dog Training Tips And Aids site.

Thomas Callin is a dog trainer and breeder. He recently authored a very popular ebook: The Dog Owners Handbook. This ebook reveals everything you need to know about dogs but didnt know to ask. Get it at http://dogtrainingtipsandaids.com/dgonhdbk/dohbksls.html. He has hundreds of tips, tools, and articles on his website. Check it out.

Health

Hope and a High Risk Pregnancy

A young mother with a high-risk pregnancy combines hope with positive action to successfully deliver her pre-term son.

Baby Jack arrived, safe and sound. While his mother shivered uncontrollably from the effects of the anesthesia, Daddy and doctor hustled the newborn to the awaiting cubicle where he passed his first test with flying colors. But within minutes, the sigh of relief felt throughout the delivery room was interrupted as Jacks prematurity manifested itself. Without explanation to mother, father, or grandmother, Jack was whisked away. With father in tow and Nani close behind, Baby Jack sped to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Preterm birth, the latest research shows, is the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. According to CDC researchers, birth before 37 weeks of gestation accounted for at least one-third of all babies' deaths in 2002. Most of these, two-thirds, occurred within the first twenty-four hours. The technology and expertise of the special personnel in the NICU would give Baby Jack, born at 35 weeks, every opportunity to survive and beat the odds. If, along with nutrients, Baby Jack had acquired the indomitable spirit of his mother, his chances of survival looked good.

After two uneventful, textbook pregnancies, Kellys third pregnancy with her first son ran into problems at fourteen weeks. Continual bleeding, at times heavy, was diagnosed as placenta abruption. The large blood clot behind the placenta was reabsorbed partially over time, but ultrasounds also showed placenta previa, a low lying placenta that covered part of the cervix. These two major complications posed a threat to both the baby and Kelly.

Hope, though, burned brightly throughout Kellys ordeal. It enabled her to meticulously follow her doctors orders. She ate nutritiously and didnt smoke or use alcohol. She visited her obstetrician regularly. Between hospitalizations that meant twice weekly visits to the office or the hospital. Non-stress tests and ultrasounds for the baby became routine.

Most difficult of all for Kelly was the imposed bed rest. Caring for two active daughters, ages three and five, meant enlisting additional help from the already overburdened dad-to-be as well as friends, neighbors, and family. Meals were pre-cooked, babysitters volunteered their time, and Nani resurrected her chauffeuring talents.

Kellys faith bolstered her. She prayed, she remained inactive, and she waited. All with the goal of prolonging gestation and increasing the babys weight. The amazement in the doctors eyes when Kelly continued to appear week after week for her appointments was subtle, but nonetheless evident to both Kelly and her mother.

During Kellys last hospital stay, with her high risk pregnancy doctor on vacation, Kelly faced her greatest challenge. The inexact science of medicine reared its ugly head. Two days after being dismissed from high risk care, Kelly once again suffered an emergency. The four doctors in her chosen medical practice couldnt agree on what to do. Two wanted to wait and see, to give the baby more time in its natural environment. The other two wanted to go ahead with a planned delivery and thus avoid an emergency C-section. The hospitalist stepped in with another opinion. Each day the plan, or lack of one, changed.

Frustrated by the conflicting opinions and her worsening condition, Kelly and her husband decided to move from the community hospital to a major medical center in Boston. The evening the decision was made, nurses helped Kelly and her husband think through their options. Their expertise and caring gave Kelly the strength to listen to her inner voice. She urgently felt the need to bring Baby Jack into the world.

Kellys faith carried her through. The following day, in a planned C-section, the beautiful baby shed his yellow and cracking placenta and the grey umbilical cord that crumbled in the nurses hand. He wailed his first cry. Statistics show that only 7% of the deaths attributable to preterm birth occur after the first four weeks. Baby Jack made it through the first two weeks in the hospital, learning how to continue breathing on his own through the night and through his feedings and learning how to regulate his temperature. Now nine weeks old, Baby Jack has an emerging smile, and Kelly and her family maintain hope that the smile means all systems are go for Baby Jack.

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Sally A. Connolly. All rights reserved 2006.

Sally A. Connolly, a retired school counselor and teacher,is editor of A BOY FROM LAWRENCE: The Collected Writings of Eugene F. Connolly (2006). Midwest Book Review says this verbal scrapbook of a teachers spiritual journey is filled with such treasures. It is recommended for those in need of comfort, illumination, redirection, grace, or prayer. For more information, go to http://www.freewebs.com/aboyfromlawrence.

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