DOG CONDITIONING AND TRAINING

FEEDING – There are varied opinions on this subject, my conclusions are as follows. From a puppy a dog needs allot of training to be the dog that you want it to be when it is older. When it is a puppy you should feed it a dry puppy food with a high protein, calcium and fat content until it reaches the age of 9 to 12 months and from then on feed it a dry adult food. From the age of 2 months I think it is best to start feeding it a raw meat that you can pick up from any decent pet shop. The best one contrary to popular believe is not tripe as it only contains 13% protein. In my opinion the raw beef is the best to feed to your dog as it contains 17% protein, also the raw turkey is okay as it has 15% protein. You can feed it about two bowls of the raw meat a day but with this you must train it with allot of walking and running otherwise your dog will get fat. You can feed your dog this diet until the age of 2 years but after that only feed your dog the raw meat now and again because your dog is nearing its adult stages and would have a much slower metabolism than when it is a puppy.

CONDITIONING – In conditioning your dog you should firstly feed it in the way I have previously mentioned. From a young age you should buy a cheap strong harness and anti-pull spring to put on your dog lead and encourage the dog to pull when running and walking this will increase the dog's muscles and stamina. You can also buy leather harness's that you can slot weights into to help your dog to build muscles. You should also get a kind of tug toy that has some kind of springing action to it. When playing with this toy with your dog it will increase the strength of your dog's neck and jaw.

TRAINING – In training your dog, firstly toilet training is essential, the best way I have found is to place paper next to your back door and encourage your dog to use the toilet there and discipline the dog when they use the toilet in the improper place you can do this by small hits on the nose with 2 fingers. Bring the dog to the spot where they have been to the toilet where they were not meant to and discipline them there. Never feed you dog before you have eaten, as they will think they are more important than you in the pack hierarchy. The leader of the pack always eats first. Never repeat things to your dog over and over again when trying to discipline your dog as you will make the commands completely useless. When disciplining your dog never use its name as this will create a negative association with your dogs name, you should try and create a positive association with your dogs name this will be useful in the case of recalling your dog when off the lead.