tallahasseecollierescue.com

UK HipHop Crew Yorkshire Terrierz. The video to accompany the single – Available @ iTunes

Before you decide to introduce a golden retriever into your life, there are a few things you should know. Find out all about the golden retriever’s grooming needs, temperament, and much more.

What’s America’s Favorite Dog?
Results are in from American Kennel Club’s annual survey of top dogs in the U.S. — which breed do you think came out on top this year?

Read more on Fox News

The Poodle’s coat consists of two types of hair. The outer coat should be thick, wiry and curly. The undercoat must be soft and woolly to provide warmth. Puppies, however, are exceptions. Poodle puppy coats are soft and fine with little or no curl, but often with a slight wave.

As the dog matures into adulthood, the coat develops a thick, curly quality. The best way to judge a puppy’s potential adult coat is to look at the parents. If they carry good coats, theirpuppies will likely possess them too.

Ever since the first hunters trimmed their retrieving dogs to prevent drowning, the Poodle hairstyle has been a favorite topic of conversation among dog people. Initially, Poodles sported either a Continental clip or an English Saddle clip. Now, hundreds of years later, these are still popular as they are required clips for show dogs.

Puppies under one year of age are shown in a simple trim known as a Puppy clip. Only the face, throat, feet and base of tail are clipped. The tail displays the characteristic pompom at its end. The body coat is lightly trimmed to give it a neat unbroken line for a pleasant appearance.

The Continental clip has full hair around the chest and rib cage, with shaved hindquarters and legs. Large pompons are sculpted over each hip above the area of the kidneys (optional) and around the ankles for protection from the cold.

The English Saddle clip permits a short mantle of hair over the hindquarters and fullcoat from the waist to the topknot and ears. The ankle and knee joints are also protected with pompons.

All Poodles are given a topknot of hair over the skull that is brushed out and groomed to stand erect in a rounded pompon. Adult dogs must be shown in either the English Saddle or Continental clip; the only exception being competitors in Stud Dog classes, for which a Sporting clip is permitted. The English Saddle and Continental are the clips of choice for the conformation ring around the world, except in the UK, where the Lion clip is preferred.

Pet Poodles and those not being shown in breed conformation classes at dog shows are usually groomed in styles designed for ease of maintenance. Often the body hair is clipped short, with the legs trimmed a bit longer. Some male Poodles sport tiny mustaches around the muzzles.

The pet style is usually determined by the owner’s willingness and capability to maintain the coat in a well-groomed fashion. In addition. Poodles that spend a lot of time outdoors are usually kept shorter because it’s easier to keep the coat clean when the hair isn’t too long.

Ask any dog owner which dog is smartest and he’s likely to tell you it’s his dog.  That’s just the way dog lovers are.  So you can imagine that when it comes to trying to make some objective observations about which dogs or breeds of dogs are most intelligent, it can be hard to find anyone who doesn’t have a dog in the fight, so to speak.  Still, there have been some brave souls who have tried to measure dog intelligence.

Dr. Stanley Coren wrote a very controversial book in the 1990s called The Intelligence of Dogs.  He based his rankings of dog intelligence on the opinions of 200 professional dog obedience judges.  The top ranked breeds were Border Collies, Poodles, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and Doberman Pinschers.  At the bottom of the list were the Borzoi, the Chow Chow, the Bulldog, the Basenji and the Afghan Hound.

As you may imagine the book set off a firestorm of criticism, especially from people who owned dogs that were not at the top of the list.  Was Dr. Coren trying to say that the dogs lower on the list were dumb?  Well, no.  Since the rankings were based on the insights of dog obedience trainers, the emphasis was on dogs that were easy to train and somewhat eager to please.  An Afghan Hound may be very intelligent but he is often less interested in obedience training than his Border Collie counterpart.

In general, Hounds and other dogs that have been bred to think independently did not rank high on the list.  This is probably due to the fact that their work as hunters in the field requires them to act on their own instead of stopping to take instructions.  When a Hound is in full out pursuit of a rabbit he doesn’t have much time to stop and find out what his master wants him to do.  It doesn’t mean they aren’t intelligent.

Sporting breeds and Working dogs — dogs which are usually eager to please and easy to train — generally rank in the upper to middle range of the scale.  Terriers, another set of dogs who like to work independently due to their history of going after prey on their own — tended to rank lower in the rankings.

So much for Dr. Coren’s attempt to rank the intelligence of dogs — although you will often hear owners of some of the top-ranked breeds bragging about the intelligence of their dogs or referring to Dr. Coren’s book.

There are similar problems with other ways of trying to measure canine intelligence.  Different breeds and kinds of dogs have very different inherited behaviors and these can affect their reactions when you try to measure their intelligence.  Dogs, as descendants of wolves, are pack animals.  As such, they generally have the ability to work together to hunt prey.  This is often a problem-solving situation and dogs have shown problem-solving skills when acting alone.  However, it’s not always easy to designs tests to measure problem solving ability.

Dogs have good memories and some testing suggests that they can have a very large vocabulary, even if they don’t speak human language.  Rico, a Border Collie in Germany, knows over 200 words, many of them the names for his toys.  When introduced to a new toy for the first time he could often remember it when asked to find it a month later.  He could also find a new toy based on deductive reasoning — when asked to find a toy with a new word, he would ignore the toys he knew the names for and fetch the toy he hadn’t seen before.  A Border Collie named Betsy is said to know over 340 words and can match an object with a photo of the object, even when she hasn’t seen either of them before.

Based on these tests, some researchers have theorized that dogs have an intelligence and style of learning similar to that of a 2-3 year-old human child.

Judging your own dog’s intelligence isn’t always easy.  Some dogs learn faster than others.  Even puppies in the same litter will learn at different rates.  Even if you attend obedience classes with your dog, your dog may or may not do well depending on how motivated he is to learn, the methods and teaching style of the instructor, distractions in the class, how much you practice, and so on.  And, as we’ve seen, some dogs simply like obedience lessons better than others because of their historic background.

You could have a very intelligent dog who learns things very quickly and he could still be bored by classes that emphasize too much repetition.  In the case of such a dog, he could be inspired to learn more and enjoy classes more with a more creative approach.

Even at home your dog may be very smart but that doesn’t mean he always does what you want him to do.  In fact, intelligent dogs can get into a lot of trouble at times, especially if they are good at figuring things out for themselves.  The smart dog who learns to open cabinets can over eat.  Some dogs can figure out how to get objects that may be harmful to them.  Some dogs learn to open doors or latches or even to open a gate.  So, just because you have an intelligent dog doesn’t mean that your dog won’t get into trouble.

While it may seem that some breeds of dog are more intelligent than others, intelligence among dogs will also vary among individuals.  Border Collies are often reputed to be among the smartest of dogs but not every Border Collie is at the top of the class.  Even among breeds with a reputation for being hard to train or not as smart, there are individuals who can excel.  If you want to work with your dog and do some training, don’t be put off by the fact that some people tell you his breed or type isn’t supposed to be very smart.  There are exceptions to every rule.  Few people knew that Collies were so smart before Lassie came along to prove that they could be trained to do anything.

Chihuahuas are notorious for being hard to train. Unfortunately, those that try to train Chihuahuas usually aren’t trained in training dogs themselves! This makes the breed difficult only in rumor. When you start with a young puppy and exercise patience, you can definitely train your Chihuahua to be the best companion possible.

When training your Chihuahua, you must always use gentle correction methods. Never hit, slap or kick your puppy. This will only make things worse! Your Chihuahua is very sensitive and can become fearful if you use negative reinforcement. Chihuahuas who are afraid will become nippy and high-strung.

The first thing you need to do when you get your Chihuahua is to make sure you properly socialize your puppy. Proper socialization ensures that your Chihuahua isn’t needlessly high-strung or afraid of everything. You must start this training early. As soon as you get your puppy, begin walking him and taking him out with you daily. Also, let your puppy ride in your car as often as possible. This way, they will be used to traveling if needed. Invite people over your house and let them interact with your Chihuahua. Your puppy will get used to many different types of people.

Second, housetrain your Chihuahua puppy by taking him outside after every meal, and offering him praise when he “does his business” outside. When your Chihuahua has an accident indoors, quickly move him to the outdoors and praise him while outdoors. Also, use a crate when you leave the house with your Chihuahua. As cute as they are, your Chihuahua does not belong in your bed or on your furniture without your permission. Using a crate with your Chihuahua will reinforce your position as “alpha dog” of the pack. Also, your Chihuahua will have a “safe place” inside their crate.

Third, Chihuahuas are known as whiners. First make sure they are not hurt or sick when they begin whining. If they are whining purely for attention, don’t give in! Pay attention to your puppy when he isn’t whining. If you pay even the smallest amount of attention to them when they are whining or barking, this will reinforce this behavior and you’ll never stop them!

Finally, when your puppy begins to nip your hands, stop playing with him and walk away. This will reinforce that if they bite you, you will stop paying attention to them. If you continue playing after they’ve nipped you, they learn that their biting is okay. This can be very dangerous when they grow older and have more destructive power. After a minute or so, it’s okay to return playing with them as long as they don’t nip again.

Chihuahuas can be very persistent in their misbehavior. The best thing to remember is to always be patient with your puppy or new Chihuahua. If you need to, there’s nothing wrong with walking away from a naughty dog until you can properly correct them! But never hit, slap or kick your Chihuahua. Just one incident of abuse can destroy your Chihuahua’s sense of trust and safety. Good luck!

I am getting a dog soon and I want a golden retriever but there is a dog available but is a golden retriever/shepard mix. whats the difference between a golden retriever and a golden retriever/ shepard mix?