How to Play Safely with Your Westie Puppies!Written by Jeff Cuckson
Just like children, westie puppies learn through play. Playing games with your west highland white terrier pups creates an opportunity to train them to obey your commands, gives them valuable exercise, and helps to build their strength, coordination, and agility. It is also fun for everyone.Before you start playing games, there are some rules you should know, and safety precautions you should take. Your pups need to really run, not just walk on a leash, but be sure any area you play in has a fence. If they are city dogs, try finding a fenced-in tennis court for play. As a last resort, keep puppy on an extra-long line. You do not want them to wander free until you are certain they will return on your command. Never encourage your west highland pups to jump. The young bones are fragile, and not able to bear stress of jumping until growth plates are fused. Games like Frisbee, or serious agility training, are for older dogs, although there is still much you can do with your westie puppies by having them working at ground level. If you are eager to start these kinds of games, at about one year of age you can take your westies to their veterinarian for an x-ray, to see if growth plates are completely fused. Westie pups first learn to play in litter by roughhousing with their littermates, but at six to eight weeks, mother westie begins to discourage this behavior. You should discourage it as well, by never roughhousing in ways that allow them to bite, nip, or claw at your hands. A nip from a puppy may seem harmless, but if a full-grown westie nips, you have a behavior problem. It also teaches them that they can dominate you through aggression. If they do manage to get a nip in during play, discourage it in same way dogs do, by imitating a 'yelp' sound.
| | Litter Box Strategies for Disabled CatsWritten by Nancy E. Wigal
. You may reprint this article, electronically in free-only publications in it's entirety in an Ezine, blog or web site. . You may not use this article for commercial purposes without our written consent. . You may not use this article in Unsolicited Commercial Email. This article can only be distributed in opt-in email lists only. . Whenever this article is used, it must include authors byline with an active link back to our web site. . Courtesy copy of ezine or URL on web site is appreciated. . Ask for changes you'd like made, if any.Cats that are blind, partially paralyzed, have a missing limb, or very old can develop litter box problems that affect you as well as them. Owning one of these special kitties is challenging, but you can develop solutions to work around cat litter box issues. This article will touch upon some of cat litter box issues and corresponding solutions you can implement for your blind, paralyzed, amputee, or very old cat. Blind cats: If you have owned kitty for a long time and her vision fades, it is critical that you keep her surroundings as static as possible. She will continue to navigate her way around by memory, and it's vitally important that her cat litter boxes remain fixed in her memory. This doesn't mean there won't be accidents, but you can eliminate possibility by maintaining her cat litter box location. You can also develop a system where you keep her confined to a room with her food, water, litter box, and toys when you're out of your home. This way, she's in familiar surroundings with all her essentials. If she does have an out of litter box experience, it's confined to one room. When you're home and can monitor her wanderings, she has freedom to travel around entire house without getting into too many difficulties. Please stay in close contact with your kitty vet if you have a blind cat. She can suggest more ideas and processes to help you and your kitty. Partially paralyzed cats: Some cat owners will opt to keep their partially paralyzed kitty alive. This is a personal choice made in coordination with cat's vet. Paralyzed kitties have absolutely no control over their elimination functions, so feline owner is faced with a constant task of cleaning up mess and cat. Again, close owner supervision will be necessary. If cat moves around house quite a bit, feline owner will need to inspect home several times a day to discover and clean up cat urine stains and feces. Conversely, paralyzed kitty can be given a room of her own, with her food, water, toys, and possibly some cat litter on floor, contained by a very low box, or on a protective piece of plastic. It's possible kitty will be in vicinity of cat litter if her system eliminates cat urine or feces.
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