Patella or kneecap is one of the knee joints.
It covers knee in back legs of dogs and protects the knee joint.
Luxating patella means the status the patella is dislocated on its position.

Luxating patella is appeared to small dog breeds more than large dog breeds.
The kinds of small dog breeds are Maltese, Yorkshire Terrier, Chihuahua, Pomeranian, etc.
Japanese Spitz is a medium-sized dog breed but it can get Luxating patella, too.

---

---

Signs of Luxating patella

---

A dog hesitates to go to a high place or to jump from a high place to a low place.

A dog hobbles when it walks or runs.

A dog whimpers when it stands up.

The back legs of a dog is bent like "O".

---

Preventation of Luxating patella

---

1. Don't let your dog lives on the slippery floor

It can be hard on the joint of dogs to walking or running on the slippery floor.
If the floor of your house is slippery, you need to spread the non-slip pad on the floor where your dog usually passes.

2. Don't let your dog stand or jump on two legs

Standing or jumping on two legs is also hard on the joint of dogs.
Additionally, don't let dogs go up to a high place or jump from a high place to low.

3. Prevent obesity of dogs

The obesity is also hard on the joints of dogs.
If your dog is overweight, you need to make your dog diet for its weight-loss.

---

---

Do you intent to adopt a Japanese Spitz?

---

Japanese Spitz which has shiny white fur is a charming dog.
Actually, I live with this kind of dog breeds of which name is "Mandu".
He always smiles at me and gives me his love.
Japanese Spitz is very cheerful and playful.

---

---

Character of Japanese Spitz

---

As I say at first, Japanese Spitz is very cheerful and energetic.
So it needs to walk with its owner at least 1 hours a day so that it throws its energy.
Playing or running outside is very important to a Japanese Spitz.
Due to its full of energy, If its owner leaves Japanese Spitz alone at home, it feels so lonely and can make trouble.

On the other hands, Japanese Spitz is very kind so it can hang out with a child or baby.
In other words, If you have a child or baby in your family, it is the best adopting a Japanese Spitz.

Japanese Spitz has a habit of protecting its family so it can be a nice guard dog.
It may bark loudly at a stranger.
When you meet a Japanese Spitz for the first time, you have to approach it slowly and softly.

Having a sensitive hearing, Japanese Spitz can bark when it hears any noise.

Japanese Spitz has long and white fur.
The fur of Japanese Spitz can be fall out easily and a lot so the owner has to groom it at least once a day.

Japanese Spitz licks its fur because it hate to get dirty.

---

Cautions

---

Japanese Spitz can get Luxating patella easily like a Pomeranian.
But it has no any genetic dispositions.
So Japanese Spitz is one of healthy dog-breeds.

---

---

Do you intend to adopt a Pomeranian?

---

Pomeranian is so cute small dog which has rich white or gold fur.
It is also very cheerful and attractive.
Its fur looks like cotton candy and feels really soft.
There are many kinds of Pomeranian which has various fur color.
The white Pomeranian is the most popular among them.

---

---

Charactor of Pomeranian

---

Pomeranian has a sharp temper but is timid.
Nevertheless Pomeranian is aggressive to the other dogs even bigger than itself.
Having a sharp and sensitive temper, Pomeranian doesn't have good relationship with the other dogs and any strangers.
Pomeranian barks like big dog breeds when stranger come to its territory.
Hating being touched by a stranger, Pomeranian may bite him if he tries to touch it.

On the other hands, Pomeranian is full of charms.
When Pomeranian gets bored, it goes around and requires its owner to play with itself.
Pomeranian doesn't feel lonely easily so it can remain home alone.

Pomeranian is also very smart so the owner can train it easily.

Pomeranian has strong sense of belonging about the first owner's family so you need to adopt it when it was puppy.

---

Cautions

---

The fur of Pomeranian is very light and weak so there will be fur anywhere in your house especially its molting season.
If you shave off its fur too short, the fur of Pomeranian may not growth anymore.
So I recommend that you never shave off its fur but groom it once or twice a day.

Pomeranian has weak joint so it can get Luxating patella easily.
So you don't have to make it walk two legs.
And it has weak bones and teeth.
If teeth of your Pomeranian get weaken, you need to feed it moist dog food.

---

---

Do you intent to adopt a Yorkshire terrier?

---

Yorkshire terrier is a popular kind of small dog breeds.
Yorkshire terrier is a very cheerful and curious dog.
This small and cute dog is full of mischief and very positive.
So If you want to be consoled by your pet dog, adopting a Yorkshire terrier is the best way.
Yorkshire terrier is affectionate to its owner but barks to a stranger due to protective instinct about its territory.
The attitude and behavior of Yorkshire terrier is affected by the behavior and feelings of its owner.
Yorkshire terrier can be active if its owner is active and can be calm if its owner is calm.
So Yorkshire terrier can be an anger or a devil according to your character.

---

---

Character of Yorkshire terrier

---

Yorkshire terrier can be stubborn or can have propensity to long for affection of its owner constantly.
Yorkshire terrier is very small and full of charms but has strong willpower, passion and independence.
Yorkshire terrier is so active that it can have bad habit if you don't train it properly.
So, if you adopt Yorkshire terrier, you need to train it from the time when it is puppy.
Yorkshire terrier which didn't get used to a noise or stranger can be offensive.

Yorkshire terrier can be trained easily because it likes its owner and is a smart dog which can focus on its owner.
But If there is a child in your family, you need to take notice.
Yorkshire terrier can bite or scratch a child because it hates rough touch.

Fur of Yorkshire terrier is similar with a human's hair.
So anyone who has dog fur allergy can keep Yorkshire terrier.

---

Health of Yorkshire terrier

---

Yorkshire terrier has sensitive bronchial tubes and weak bones so it is vulnerable to fracture and shows *reverse sneezing.
So when you walking with Yorkshire terrier, you'd better use a harness.
Yorkshire terrier is also vulnerable to cavity or gum disease.
You don't have to pull or lift Yorkshire terrier strongly because it has weak bones.

*reverse sneezing: Reverse sneezing (also called backwards sneezing or inspiratory paroxysmal respiration) is a phenomenon observed in dogs, particularly in those with brachycephalic skulls. ... During a reverse sneeze, the dog will make rapid and long inhalations, stand still, and extend its head and neck. A loud snorting sound is produced.

---

---

8 kinds of food good for your dog

There are some kinds of food good for Dogs' Skin.
If your dog has problem with skin or you want your dog to have healthy skin, you'd better read this posting.

1. salmon, sardine

There is omega-3 fatty acids in those food.
Because dogs can't produce it themselves, you need to feed your dog it by food.
The omega-3 fatty acids is helpful to prevent infection and improve your dog's level of immunity.

2. coconut oil

That is good for skin problem like allergy and eczema and improve your dog's level of immunity.
It is good for your dog's skin and fur and heath generally.

3. oatmeal

That is good for moisturizing and itching.
It can keep your dog's weight healthy if you feed it for food and it can be good for skin suppression if you use it as bath preparation.

4. cherry

That has antioxidative effect.
And supplying nutrition to your dog's liver and kidney, it prevents skin trouble by toxin in his organ.
But you must get rid of its seed before you feed your dog.

5. chia seed

That has 7 times more vitamin C than orange and 8 times more omega-3 fatty acids than salmon.
In addition, it has 6 times more fiber than oatmeal.
So it helps your dog's digestion and is helpful to his skin trouble.

6. flaxseed oil

That has a lot of omega-3 fatty acids.
It can keep your dog's skin and fur healthy by preventing infection and allergy.
And it also effective for relieving joint pain.

7. egg

That has protein, unsaturated fatty acid, essential vitamin and minerals.
Unsaturated fatty acid can prevent cardiovascular disease and promote blood circulation and help antiaging of your dog's cell.

8. kelp

That is a kind of laminariaceous seaweed.
It has rich vitamin and mineral so it can make your dog's fur have shine.

Ingredients to avoid when we choice dog food.

You may wonder what dog food is the best.
The best food is what your dog like to eat and what makes your dog healthy.
But we can't know what is the best because we are not a professional.

So we need to read the ingredients in dog food we will buy at least.

There are some ingredients to avoid.

1. CMIT (Chloromethylisothiazolinone)

• BHA
• BHT
• ethoxyquin
• Propylene Glycol

That is a cancer-causing agent and cause of illness of every kind.
BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, Propylene Glycol are belongs to CMIT.

2. grains causing skin problem

• Corn
• wheat
• soy or soy-bean

Corn, wheat, soy or soy-bean can cause your dog's skin problem or make it worse.

3. gluten meal

• corn gluten meal
• wheat  gluten meal
• soy-bean  gluten meal

That is very low priced dregs of grains.

4. by-product of grain

• corn bran
• rice bran
• rice flour
• brewers rice
• beet pulp
• dried brewers yeast

5. low-grade fat

• animal fat
• poultty fat

6. by-product of meat

Those are neck, beak, legs, intestine, etc.
Those are easy to rot and have no nutritional value.

7. meat not to see where it is from

• meat meal
• bone meal
• blood meal
• fish meal
• animal meal
• poultry meal

You need to check the name of meat.
Chicken meal or duck meal is safe because you can know that the meal is of chicken or duck.

8. food coloring

• yellow 5
• blue 2
• red 40
• etc

9. taste and flavor enhancers

• ~flavors
• ~digest

Those are synthetic flavoring matters.

10. canola oil

• canola oil

Most of canola oil may be GMO.


I recommend to read carefully the Nutrition Facts of a dog food which you will buy.

How to correct a dog

You may blame your dog if he makes trouble.
But he may do same mistake even if you blamed him.
Because your dog doesn't realize his doing wrong.
So, we need to learn proper ways to correct our dogs.

1. Clear up compliment and scold

When you blame your dog, your tone of voice has to be certain and low.
And when you praise your dog, your tone of voice has to be high and you need to make a great fuss about your dog's doing.

2. Train your dog in a very short time

When you train your dog, you have to do it in 30 minutes.
10~15 minutes are more proper to train him.
You need to train him at the place where he can concentrate.

3. Don't hit your dog

Your dog already knows he is being blamed without hitting.
Hitting your dog can make his character worse and make him confused whether he did wrong.

4. Don't force your dog to do something.

When you want your dog to do something, if you force him to do and praise about it, he never understand why he is praised.
Wait until your dog do something himself and praise him when he does it.

5. Scold immediately

It is meaningless that blame your dog after 2~3 hours your dog made trouble.
Blame your dog at the moment he makes trouble.

6. Scold consistently.

If one of your family blame your dog with shouting and another blame him with striking the floor, your dog get confused whether he is blamed.
You and your family member have to blame your dog with same way.

8 common expressions of dogs

Every dog owner may curious what your dog's expressions mean.
So I'm posting about some expressions of dogs.

1. lying down showing its belly

That means your dog feels comfortable and good.
If your dog lies down with showing its belly, it let you know that it can't resist you.
In other words, it has no intention of attacking you and want to play with you.

2. looking at your eyes

That is expression of alert or favor.
To unfamiliar ones, that means alert.
But To familiar ones, that means favor.

3. yawning in urgent situation

Dogs yawn when they feel anxiety or stress.
They yawn for the purpose of both calming themselves when they get stressed and calming the other who is got upset.
You may see that your dog yawn when you blame it.
Your dog may have said you to calm down at that time.

4. licking your face

That originated from puppies' licking their mommy dog to ask milk.
If your dog licks your face(around your mouth), it may be hungry.

5. erecting its tail

Dogs erect their tail when they have confidence.
If your dog erects its tail when it meets unfamiliar one, that means your dog has no fear.

6. nodding the head slantwise

That means your dog is concentrating to understand your words or order.

7. shaking itself

Dogs shake itself to release its stress.

8. licking its nose

That is same with shaking itself.




If we try to understand our dog's expression, we can be better owner.

The Solution of dogs' stress

If you didn't read my posting about the signs of dogs' stress, please read that before you read this posting.

Tip :: The Signs That Your Dog Gets Stressed

There some simple ways to release your dog's stress.

1. walking and exercise

Walking and exercise with your dog can be a solution of stress.
It is good to walk to a place where your dog usually likes to visit Or to explore a new place.
Light exercise with your dog is good either.
It is helpful to play tugging as you walking with your dog.
If you consider your dog's health, it is good to combine walking and sitting.
For example, walking with your dog, you sit down around it.
It's good to let your dog get around with a long dog read.
Letting your dog use its nose a lot is very nice.

2. Letting your dog use its brain

How about make your dog do something to be able to use its brain?
Teaching a new trick or Using a toy which makes your dog use its brain is fine.
I recommend you toys of Nina Ottoson brand.



Or you can make dog game puzzle.
You can see the ways of making that by google search.

Teaching a new trick is good because you and your dog can share each other's feeling.

3. nosework

The nosework is very important.
After you Giving your dog snacks hidden in any torn papers(like newspaper), your dog eats those by using their nose to find out those(the snacks).
That is one way of the nosework.
The dog which use its nose a lot gets stress lower than the others and has high confidence.

How to notice that my dog got stressed

Dogs can be stressed like humans because they can feel and share emotions
It is very natural but many people miss this fact.
They don't ignore it on purpose but just don't know the signs that their dog is stressed.

There are some signs that your dog is stressed.

1. Licking around muzzle or forleg

Look at your dog's face(especially around muzzle) and foreleg carefully.
Are those dyed red?
If you live with white dog, you can notice that easier.

Dogs licks their foreleg or around muzzle when they feel anxiety or get stressed.
Stressed dog's spit is dyed red because it oxidizes.
So you can know that your dog is stressed from looking its color of fur.

2. Dark circle

Look at the bottom of your dog's eyes.
If that part has a dark complexion, it can be sign of your dog's stress.

3. Urine mistake

Sometimes your dog may urine anywhere not on the pad even it is trained to urine on the pad.

Dogs express their stress by urine when they face an unfamiliar situation.

If your dog made mistake, never blame it.

Please just comfort your dog if you notice that your dog get stressed.

How to make my dog overcome the dog separation anxiety

Does your dog bark when you come back home?
Or even make trouble? (like pee anywhere, bite anything...etc)

It may be sign of the dog separation anxiety.

If your dog has this trouble, how about trying the tips of this posting?

1. Let your dog know that you are sure to come back.

First, go out and wait for 1~2 minutes.
Then come back home and wait for your dog to calm down.
And then go out again and wait 1~2 minute.

Repeat that a few times a day for a week.

If your dog is quiet when you are waiting outside, increase the waiting time up to 5 minutes.

Before going out, it is good to give your dog a snack which it likes the most.

Don't say hello or goodbye excessively when you come back or going out.

Please wait still until your dog's calming down.
After your dog's calming down, call your dog's name smoothly and stroke it.

It is very important to let your dog know that you are sure to come back.

2. Walk with your dog at least once a day.

Walking with your dog is very important to your dog.
That is very good way of stress solution.

The stress of your from waiting you at home alone will be removed by walking with you.

Which dog breeds are the smartest in the world?

The main criterion of this posting is how soon a dog can understand a owner's order and react.
This posting is not about "which dog breeds are good?" but just for interest.

Top 1 ~ 10 : 

possible to obey a repeated order under 5 times

1. Bordercollie
2. Poodle
3. German Shepherd
4. Golden Retriever
5. Dobermann Pinscher
6. Shetland Sheepdog
7. Labrador Retriever
8. Papillon
9. Rottweiler
10. Australian CattleDog

Top 11 ~ 30 : 

possible to obey a repeated order over 5 times and under 15 times

31 ~ 50 : 

possible to obey a repeated order over 15 times and under 25 times

Do you keep a pet dog for the first time?

There are necessary pet supplies for keeping a pet dog.

1. dog leash

Walking with your pet dog is really really good for your pet dog.
It can release your dog's stress so you need to walk with it once a day at least.
And the dog leash is necessary when you walking.

2. dog shampoo

You need to give your dog a bath after walking.

3. dog brush

If you live with a dog which has long fur, you need brush to prevent your dog's fur to get tangled.

4. dog ear cleaner

The ear hygiene is very important.

5. cotton swab

That is needed to clean your dog's ear.

6. dog toothbrush and toothpaste

That is necessary to prevent your dog's cavity or tartar.

7. dog training pads

If your dog lives indoor, that is needed for your dog's toilet training.

8. dog food bowl

That is for your dog's food.

9. dog toys

Those are for preventing your dog's stress and for your dog's joy.

10. dog food

You need to choose dog food which your dog like to eat and doesn't get your dog any allergy.

How can I understand my dog's emotions?

Dogs express emotions by wagging their tail.
So If you know the signal from your dog's tail wagging, you can more understand its emotions.

1. raising the tail high and wagging slowly

It means that your dog feels anxiety and uncertainty.
Or It means a challenge or warning or signal of feeling superior to the other.

2. wagging tail from center to left.

Wagging the tail toward left side(or only one side) is negative.
It means that your dog feels stress.

3. wagging the tail from side to side slowly

It means a slight greeting or curiosity.

4. raising the tail high and wagging fast(spinning)

It means that pleasure and happiness.
You may see that frequently when you came back your home.

5. spinning for biting its tail

It means that your dog feels stress very much.

6. hiding the tail under legs

It means that your dog feels fear.

What food is bad for dogs?

Some people feed their dogs food for human because they love their dog or their dogs look like wanting eat that.

The best is not to feed dogs human food.
If you have to feed your dog human food, you need to remember that there are some food which you avoid to feed your dog.

1. chocolate

Maybe many people know that the chocolate is bad for dogs.
The ingredient 'theobromine' in chocolate can cause vomiting, diarrhea, thirst and arrhythmia for your dog.
It can even cause death of your dog.

2. onion

The onion destroys erythrocyte(=red blood cell) of your dog.
Because of that, your dog can have anemia.
It can also cause vomiting, diarrhea, losing appetite, difficulty with breathing for your dog.
In severe cases, it can even kill your dog.

3. grape

The nephrotoxicity in grape can cause renal failure for your dog.
a few of grape seeds can even kill your dog in 4 hours.

4. peanut

Eating peanut or food made of it is fatal to your dog.
its symptoms are muscle cramps, weakening muscle of hind regs, abnormal walking and vomiting etc.

5. caffeine

Eating a lot of caffeine can cause your dog's death.
Its symptoms are similar to that of eating chocolate.
So you avoid feeding your dog coffee, black tea, cocoa and coke which include caffeine.

6. chicken bones

It is natural to give dogs bones.
But cooked or be boiled bones of chicken is very danger to your dog.
Some pieces of those can be stuck in your dog's throat or scratch your dog's organ and
get it infection.

If you feed your dog one of those, you must take your dog hospital immediately.

For the happy life with pet dogs, please remember those food.

How do I touch my pet dog?

Do you like pet dogs?
If so, you may want to touch softly your dog to express your emotion for it.

If you really love your pet dog, you need to know that dogs have some parts which they don't want to be touched.

As you can see from the picture above, back and waist and chest of dogs are the parts which dogs like being touched.

When you meet a pet dog for the first time, it is good that you touch chest or back and waist of it from the side not front side.
Being touched from unfamiliar person at the front is a kind of war of nerves to dogs.

Do not stretch your arms toward your pet dog as you are standing

That is one of very threatening actions to your dog.
You must sit down and not look at it at the front when you touch it.

Do not stroke its head powerfully

That can make your dog nervous.
Please touch it softly.

Do not touch back regs

That is very rude to your dog.

Do not hug the neck of your dog from behind

When you face your dog, the best position is the side.
Facing it at the front means challenge and approaching from behind can make it surprised.

If you really love your dog, please remember my posting.