Being a guide dog puppy raiser is a great thing, but it demands a lot of your time and patience. Young puppies need all your attention and future guide puppies must be in contact with you all day long. It is very important to accept, that the dog is not yours, even if he is living with you for almost a year, because you will have to give him back to the guide dog training company.

The most important part of raising a future guide dog is the socialization. As a puppy raiser, you must take your dog to public offices, restaurants, shopping malls etc. And you must use all kinds of public transportation.

Shedding is one of the most frustrating thing about dogs. But it is natural and normal process. It is process of loosing old and damaged hair. But the amount of shedding vary a lot and mostly it depends on the breed.

1) Brushing
Well this is the most obvious thing. By brushing you will help your dog to loose excessive fur. I suggest you daily brushing during your walk, so your dog will loose its hair outside and you can keep your home clean. Brushing will also keep your dogs coat cleaner and softer.

2) Nutrition
Excessive shedding might be result of poor nutrition. Start giving your dog healthy diet. This means no grain dog food with a lot of meat in it. Brushing and nutrition are the most important factors if you want to minimize the dogs shedding, but there are some other tips you might try.

3) Stress
If your dog sheds more than he should, it might be a result of a lot of stress. Your dog should have enough of mental and physical exercise and he should not be left alone for a long periods of time. If you eliminate the stress, you might lower the shedding as well.

4) Medical Problem
If your dogs coat does not look healthy and he sheds really a lot, much more than he should to, its probably time to go and see a vet. Excessive hair loss can be a result of these medical problems: Fleas, Parasites, Fungal infections, bacterial infections, kidney and liver diseases, cancer, immune disease or allergy. But only your veterinarian can tell, what is the right diagnose.

5) Fresh Water
Your dog should have access to fresh water all day long. How does this connect to shedding? Well, dehydrated dog will have dry skin, which will cause the dog sheds more.

6) Supplements
Add some nutrition supplements to your dogs diet. I can recommend you the fish oil or flaxseed oil. It should lower the shedding and it will definitely make your dogs coat look much better – it will be more shiny. You can also buy some Omega 3 fatty acids products.

Puppies are bundles of energy. And it does not matter what breed it is. You must be prepared for it and you should help them to exhaust the energy. Today i will tell you how i exhaust and calm down my 7 months old Labrador puppy.

Training should be the first thing in the morning you will be doing with your puppy. It will not be that physically exhausting, but it is great as a mental excercise. My routine with Andy is, that we wake up, we go for a walk and during the walk we train the commands he already now. During the day, i am teaching him some new and more difficult commands.

If you want to exhaust your dog physically, fetch is the best way how to do that. This is the easiest way how to exhaust your dog physically while you stay calm. Playing fetch is easy and fun activity for both sides. But sometimes you cant go out playing fetch and you dont want to break things in your apartment. Than you can play other physical games with your dog inside – like tug of war. This will exhaust your dog pretty quickly, but it will exhaust you as well. Important thing is, that you should control over your dogs power, because this game can potentionally brings out the predator instincts of your pupperino.

There are so many other physically demanding games you can try with your dog. You can try play Frisbee or just play with Flirt Pole. Or if you do not buy these things, you can always play the classic – Hide and Treat.

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Dog Scootering is a sport based on dog to human bond. But it is not just a sport, its mostly great recreational fun. Dog Scootering is similar to dog sleding or even cycling with your dog. So what actually dog scootering is? Its a sport, where you are on a scooter and your dog is engaged in front of you. Some people dont like this sport and they think its not ethical and good for a dog. But the true is, that most of the time, dog scootering is more fun for the dog than for its owner.

Its important to think about safety during the sport. Buy scooter with quality wheels and with patterns on tires, that is similar to mountain bikes. It will be easier to ride in hard terrain. Never run on small scooters, which are usually used by kids. Use large scooter that have a sturdy step and a reliable brake.

Watch our video about dog scootering here:

A lot of people is surprised how much can a dog cost. For me, the most unexpected cost is not about money, but how much time you will have to spend with your dog, especially when it is little puppy. You, or someone from your family will need to be with little puppy non-stop and let him go for a pee or poo at least every 4 hours. This is something people underestimate and they are surprise by that. So that is probably number 1 hidden cost of having a puppy.

But if we will talk about the money, than it would probably be the veterinarian bills. If your dog will be healthy, than there will be no big costs. But if your dog will have some disease, prepare, that it will cost A LOT. Dogs normally dont have insurance, so you will have to pay for every veterinarian operation.

Medication is pretty expensive too. Other expenses are dog food, toys, leash, collar.. But i guess everyone knows about those, so they are not hidden expenses.

But there is one last hidden expense, which is, that little puppy will probably destroy some of your things. It can be furniture, carpet, clothes, books, maybe even phone or computer. When they teething, they want to chew on something and lot of time it will be one of your things. So be prepared, that you will probably need to buy some new stuff into your home, after some time of having puppy.

Watch our video for exact cost of owning a dog:

Dogs and puppies generaly dont like b aths and they do not sea reason to take it. They dont mind if they are little stinky, they might actually even like that. Because of that, you want to associate bathing with something positive, like treats or toys. Show your dog empty bath at first, give him some treats or toys into it and after he is not that scared add water and start with shampooing and showering.

Be very carefull and dont let the water get into dogs eyes and nose - it is can be dangerous for dogs and it definitely is not pleasant for them.

My last tip is about drying. I always use towels only and after that i let the dogs and puppies dry themself. But if you use blow dryer, be very carefull so you avoid burning puppy skin. Dogs also dont like sound of blow dryers, so i really think, that towels are the best options.

Watch video of my Labrador puppy getting his first bath: