Different people have different ideas of whether a dog is smart or not. The intelligence level of your dog depends on a number of different things. Intelligence of a dog is a very subjective idea, although many pet owners report that they can clearly understand their own dogs’ level of intelligence. Before labeling your dog as smart or dumb you may want to take some of these factors into consideration.

The Breed Makes a Difference

One thing that will help you determine the intelligence of your dog is their breed. Certain breeds are known for particular intellectual abilities and skills. Labs are commonly known for being good hunters, German Sheppard’s for being very protective, and collies are known for being good at herding sheep.

Each breed of dog has its own task at which they excel. If your dog is not excelling at a certain activity maybe it is not natural for the dog to excel in this area. If you try a different activity or task your dog may pick it up right away, but some skills will come easier to your dog than to other breeds of dogs.

Personality

In addition to breed, each dog will have his or her own personality. Just like humans, dogs are individual beings and their personalities will develop in conjunction with their upbringing and genetics. Some dogs may learn better by imitation while others dogs may need simple repetition to learn a task. Try several different teaching methods when you are trying to teach your dog a command, a variety in teaching methods is the only way to figure out which learning personality type your dog has.

Dogs can be very intelligent, there are dogs who can sniff out drugs, or lead people and help people like the seeing eye dogs do. There are endless possibilities to what dogs can do for humans, but as humans we need to pay attention to each individual dog and train them according to their learning ability and style.

If your friends dog seems to be doing way more advanced things than your dog, like opening doors, or picking up their own toys, don’t be so quick to label your dog as dumb. Maybe your dog is not doing these things because it does not want to, or maybe your dog is smart enough to know that if he doesn’t pick up the toys he will not get in trouble or wont get punished, and you will do it for him. There are many things to consider before you label your dog as dumb.

Gender of the dog is another thing people seem to think has an affect on a dogs intelligence, as of yet there are no studies that prove this to be true. Gender does not seem to affect the intelligence of a dog. If your male dog is not excelling as much as your female dog you need to look at the other factors, such as breed and personality. Just remember that some dogs need to have a different kind of training than other dogs so your training needs to be specialized for each individual dog.

Article by Allison Duarte of Oh My Dog Supplies – more elevated dog feeders added monthly

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I’d like to introduce a new feature: Guest articles by Allison Duarte. This first article is about treating dog fleas.

If you have ever had fleas you know what a pain they are to get rid off. They are very hard to get rid of, and most people would prefer it if their dog never got fleas again. If you have done the preventative treatment and still got fleas you may want to seek professional help. A professional may be able to give you the insider secrets you need to finally rid your home and pet of fleas.

Before you treat your dog for fleas, you will need to get rid of them in your house, this is not an easy task to do. Start by thoroughly cleaning the places where your dog spends most of his time. Remember to get where he sleeps, eats, and relaxes.

After thoroughly cleaning these areas you will need to wash everything you possibly can. After washing put all the cloth items into a hot dryer, this will kill all the fleas. Next make sure you get the floors, vacuum every surface that can be vacuumed. After vacuuming you will want to immediately empty the bag or canister, if you have a canister flush it down the toilet so that the fleas drown. If you use a bag vacuum make sure you get the bag out of your house.

If you have a floor that can be waxed it is advised that you do so, the wax will aid in killing the fleas. You can also buy special powder to sprinkle on your floor before you vacuum that will help kill the fleas.

Bug bombs can be purchased at most grocery stores and are great for getting rid of these unwanted visitors. Read the directions to make sure you get ones that will kill fleas. Also make sure you have enough to cover all the square footage of your house. If you prefer not to use a bug bomb you can call a professional to come in, professional bug bombs work the best and are less stressful on the owner.

When you call a professional they will usually need to come in and do more than one treatment to get rid of all the fleas. This is to insure that they get the eggs as well as the fleas that laid the eggs.

Once you have treated your house you will want to treat your dog. There are many types of treatment available, talk to your vet to get the best treatment for you and your dog. More than one treatment is usually required for your dog as well. After you get rid of the fleas on your dog you will want to make sure you use a preventative to stop the fleas from coming back.

Fleas are a nasty insect that can infest your dog and your house in a matter of days. The easiest and best way to prevent fleas is to continue prevention treatment for your dog throughout the winter season.

Article by Allison Duarte of Oh My Dog Supplies – the place to go for dog steps that stand the test of time.

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NBC reported tonight that two different studies showed that rats developed tumors around microchips. Since many dog owners microchip their dogs to help find them if they are ever lost, this is a big concern for our canine pals. NBC did say that the study is inconclusive for dogs, since rats are so much smaller. Hopefully, there will be more news about this soon.

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