Dog’s get skunked on more than one occasion, especially when they have the luxury to wonder free on a large outside property. Do not worry if you have never smelled a skunk smell before, you will be able to tell immediately. The scent is horribly penetrating to the nose and if you think it is bad for us, imagine how your dog feels after having been the target of the skunk spray!

If your dog ever gets skunked then be sure to follow these tips below to help clear both your dog and the air:

1. Be sure to look first at your dog’s eyes to check for saturation of the skunk spray. It won’t make him blind, but it’s very painful, says Veronika Kiklevich, D.V.M., who is an instructor and head of community practice division at the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Pullman. Veronika advises to wash out the dog’s eyes with the same solution people would use to provide relief.

2. Wash your dog thoroughly, but do so only outside! If you wash your dog inside of the house then the nasty smell of skunk will be around for weeks. Be sure to wear rubber gloves or latex gloves. Also, pet shampoo of any kind will do the job, but be sure to repeat the wash about 2-3 times.

3. It’s time for tomato juice! Experts are not sure just how it works, but pouring tomato juice on your dog and rubbing it in does wonders for chasing away that skunk smell. After your dog is washed and totally dry, you literally pour the tomato juice on and rub it in thoroughly within the coat. Let is soak for about 30 minutes or as long as you can keep your dog still. WARNING: If your pet has white fur, then be prepared for a pinkish looking animal roaming the house for a little while. But do not worry, this will fade.

Teaching your dog self confidence is very easy. Simply talk to your puppy. Always tell him how much of a good dog he is (of course only when he is being good, and not doing bad things). It also helps to keep your puppy with you as much as humanly possible. This does not mean that you need to be attached to him by the hip, just that so long as it is convenient to have the puppy by your side when you can. Just do not isolate her for long periods of times. This can be detrimental for your dogs development and many new dog owners who do not have a lot of time do to work or travel, make this mistake.

You do not have to always be directly stimulating your puppy in order to build self confidence. There are many ways in which you can spend time with your puppy indirectly while you are doing other activities. For example you may be watching television or sitting on the patio reading while your dog is by your side. Occasionally talk to your pup and pet her.

Allow your puppy to sit at your feet while you are in the kitchen washing dishes. Many small dogs absolutely love doing this. In fact, all four of my Chihuahuas loved to gather at my feet while I was in the kitchen. Just be careful as this could be dangerous if you trip over them.

Basically, all that is needed to build self confidence in your puppy is to spend a lot of time alone with the dog. Play with him. Groom him while saying nice things to him. And of course, start teaching your puppy simple new tricks that are both fun and safe, like learning to sit, come, stay, etc.

Financially speaking, your purchase price of getting a puppy will vary. You may get lucky and have nothing to pay, if you are getting the puppy from a friend or a relative; $40 and up if you are getting the puppy from an animal shelter; and $300 and up if you are getting the puppy from a breeder.

In some cases, you may need to spend more. If you are interested in raising a puppy for breeding or showing, then you are likely to pay more. Also, if you are interested in getting a tiny breed, you are more likely to pay extra because tiny breeds can only produce one to two puppies per litter. The breeder will have to charge you more if he is to profit from it. Examples of tiny breeds include Chihuahua, Chow Chow, Pug, Pekingese, Bulldog, Shih Tzu, English Toy Spaniel, and Japanese Chin.

You will also have to pay more if you are interested in acquiring a breed that is not recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC). Hundreds of foreign breeds from all over the world have very little quantity in the U.S. Owners and breeders who are fascinated in a foreign breed of dog must spend more money to be able to import good representatives as well as paying extra for the puppies.

But if you just want a simple nine week old puppy of a regular breed, one that will become a beloved member of your family and is not intended to be a stud dog or a show dog, then you should not have to spend more than $700.

It is at the training facility where the Greyhound’s formal education starts. The dog will get used to living in a cage or a small kennel. Every single day after that point for the dog will be a routine one. Starting in the morning the race dog will begin with one of three or more turnouts of the day. In order to protect the dogs whom engage in play, they will each wear a kennel muzzle when in a group.

Training the Greyhound dog breed to chase lures does not have to be forceful. These dogs have been bred for thousands of years to chase and hunt. And even today, a Greyhound is just itching to chase something, anything, that moves. It is not necessary to build any sort of blood lust for chasing animals.

Live rabbits are not used for luring the Greyhound dogs to race. Live animals of any sort are not permitted for racing or even for training to race. So any trainer who gets caught using a rabbit instead of a lure to attempt to bring an edge to his Greyhound will get barred from all future NGA competitions. Only a motorized lure is used on the track to entice the dogs.

When training the pups on the track, the lure will build up enthusiasm by tempting the dogs outside of their runs. Yearlings are allowed to chase the fast speed lure in a straight line. This lure is motorized by what is called a jack-o-lure.

Next, the dogs are trained to make high speed turns with a tool called the whirly-gig. This whirly-gig will move the lure around in a small circle run after run. And finally, at this level of training, the Greyhound pups will get their first introduction to a real track lure and will learn how to quickly break from a starting box while running with other race dogs.

The sport attracted many contributors, including a man named Lord Orford, whom in the late 1700’s set his goals on improving the Greyhound by mixing them with other breeds of dog. Being a devoted fan of coursing himself, the goal was to create faster and more agile dogs from the practice of cross breeding. Of course he was not always successful. At one point he bred a Greyhound with a Bulldog, which back in those days looked like today’s Pit Bull.

Needless to say this mix breed did not fair well on the course and caused ridicule from Lord Orford’s competitors. Because of this contempt he worked hard at breeding mixed breeds with Greyhounds for seven entire generations. And then, ultimately shocking his competitors, Lord Orford used what he considered his best crossbreed and won every course he sported. It was his hybrid Czarina which could not be beat. It can be said that every current day Greyhounds may very well stem from this mix of Bulldog and Greyhound of the past.

Speaking of today’s Greyhound, America was introduced to the dog breed when the Spanish brought them during their expeditions in the early 1500s. When the European explorers would travel cross country, it was quite common to be accompanied by a Greyhound dog for the entire trip.

The Greyhound breed really became a massive dog population when the settlers started to set up home and farm in the Midwest. Crops that were grown became overrun by jackrabbits and the best solution at the time was to bring Greyhounds from Europe as ‘vermin control’.

And naturally, the speed and agility of the Greyhound brought about the sport of coursing here in American as well. A popular pastime for the settlers was to watch the coursing of jackrabbits, coyotes, and other animals by the fast Greyhounds. Did you know that General Custer owned a large amount of them, as well as Teddy Roosevelt being an avid hunter alongside his Greyhound dogs?

To quickly recap on these forest laws of the year 1014: The laws were created so that freemen of the lands could not use their Greyhound dogs to hunt game for food, because it was only the nobles and the rich that could acquire fresh kill for their feasts. The sheer speed and training ability of these dogs were immense, and so they were great hunters for man. Under this law, no slave or serf were legally allowed to own a Greyhound.

As tough as it is to imagine, the law required that all Greyhound dogs owned by freemen of the royal forests were to have either three of their toes chopped off or get the ligament in their legs severed. This would prevent the dogs from chasing and bringing back game to the commoners, which was considered only the right of the nobles.

Eventually, after several centuries, this law was repealed. Even so, the Greyhound dog breed still held its place as a dogs of nobility. But with the growth of agriculture and domestic animals used for food, needing the Greyhound to hunt game and gather meat was needed by the people less and less.

Since hunting for prey was outdated at the time, Greyhounds became the target of great sportsmanship in racing by both the nobles and the commoners. This was known as coursing. A coursing enthusiast, Elizabeth I created rules where the Greyhound dogs could be fairly judged for the new sport coined the sport of queens. In fact, the first coursing sport was formed in the year 1776. It was during the 1800’s that the upper-class considered coursing one of their favorite pastimes.

There became a breed of Greyhound that most resembles our current look of the dog breed known as sighthounds. The quintessential sighthound is the Greyhound of today. In fact, the sighthounds of Greece, Rome and Britain are the breed that most resemble today’s Greyhounds.

By the Saxon times, the Greyhounds in Britain had ranked very high in value to the commoners. These dogs had the ability both feed the family and offer the people nobility for the sport of the chase.

Interestingly enough, the year 1014 marked the beginning of a 4-century-long stage of the Greyhound history. It was known as the Enactment of the Forest Laws. This meant that serfs and slaves had no rights to own a Greyhound dog.

Under the Forest Laws, the Greyhound dog breed were only to be owned and raised by freemen. And those who did own a Greyhound dog living near the royal forests had to have their dogs lamed by having three toes off of the paw chopped off or by having the dog’s knee ligaments severed.

What was the point reason for this cruel and unusual practice of mutilating the Greyhound? Well this law was introduced to prevent a commoner from hunting game for food at the expense of royal sport.

If your Greyhound is kept indoors most of the year with artificial lighting, then expect fur shedding year round. In addition, the spring season will bring about an extra major shedding occurrence. During this ’spring shedding’ season, your Greyhound should be brushed with vigor once every day using a bristle or rubbery curry brush. It is also normal to have more hair shed after bathing your dog, and dead hairs are easy to dislodge when the coat is almost dry.

Greyhounds do not have to be bathed often to keep their coat clean and smooth, but she will be much more enjoyable to hold close if you do give semi-often baths. Although nothing can take the place of a real water & shampoo bath, an alternative is to use a rinse-free shampoo in between washings. These products are great for low maintenance of your Greyhound. You simply apply the shampoo to your dog’s coat, rub in thoroughly, and let dry.

Dog shampoo is the best product to use when bathing your Greyhound. Do not use human shampoo. People have different pH values than dogs do. While human skin has a pH of 5.5, your Greyhounds has a pH of 7.5. This means that if you use our shampoo on your pet then his skin could lead to scaling and irritation.

The easiest area to wash your Greyhound is in a bathtub with a hand-held spray gun. You do not want your doggy to be cold, so warm the room first by running hot water to produce steam. To avoid the dog from slipping, be courteous and provide a rubber mat on the floor of the tub.

Start the bath by wetting down your Greyhound to the skin. Leave the head for last. Work the shampoo up to a lather and refrain from letting any get water or shampoo into the dog’s eyes. Work this lather to his entire body, and lastly the head portion. You must rinse, of course, but be especially detail oriented by getting every last drop of shampoo out of your Greyhound’s fur during the rinse. Leftover shampoo that dries could cause your Greyhound’s skin to develop severe itchiness and dryness

Degenerative joint disease (DJD), which is another name for arthritis, is a very common cause of intermittent stiffness and lameness. It is hard to pinpoint the cause of arthritis is some older dogs but in others you will find it to be a result of abnormal stress and trauma to the joint(s). And eventually this leads to degeneration of the cartilage and the underlying bone.

The synovial membrane surrounding the joint becomes inflamed and the bone develops small bony outgrowths called osteophytes. When these changes occur, the joint stiffen, become painful, and have decreased range of motion. Surgery may be the last alternative if the disease has gone too far.

If your Greyhound’s joints have suffered too much damage from years of heavy running and racing, then even surgery will not prevent the incurable arthritic changes that have taken place. The initial problem may be helped by an operation, but not for the long haul.

To help your Greyhound live out it’s years with less pain as possible from arthritis then you can can do simple things like keeping the dog’s wight down and allow your dog to do light impact exercise. Swimming is a great example of such activities that is easy on the joints.

There are even some drugs that your vet can prescribe for your Greyhound dog to help with the pain of living with arthritis. For example, there is a drug called carpofen that helps immensely but be sure to consult and follow your vet’s instructions when it comes to any medical care or drug use for your dog.

You don’t even have to run your dog though an obedience school if you are the proud owner of a Greyhound. Of course, if you can find a training class that understands the gentle, sensitive nature of these dogs, then attending the school can only be an asset.

Finding such a class that trains in a soft fashion may prove to be difficult, because most are designed to deal with rough and out-of-control disobedient dogs, and not high quality breeds like the Greyhounds that are eager to learn. The methods they use are forceful and with lots of repetition designed to dominate and calm the dogs. These types of training protocols are not good for Greyhounds and if you cannot find a trainer to match your needs then you are better off training the dog on your own.

You will be pleased to know that training your Greyhound will differ from training other dog types because of their genetics. For example, it is normal for most dog owners to train their pets to overcome aggression. Greyhounds on the other hand, have very little aggression in their bloodline and the time spent getting them used to people and other dogs without fear is minimal.

Another key point to know that may help you understand a lack of fear that Greyhounds possess is their history. Greyhounds are natural built race dogs in which increases their tendency to be brave.