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Our love for our dogs is as clear as a bright day. But the limitation is that we can’t just control all the things and keep our dog safe on its own. For example, we can’t just lift our focus from its diet and health; and believe that he will only eat good and healthy things and will take proper diet care.
We will have to take proper care considering all the health and safety protocols.
Starting from the morning till the end of the day, you have to make arrangements and protocols that keep your dog away from any kind of health hazard. Besides keeping your dog away from the hazards, you also need to improve your dog’s health and learning.
Here! This article will help you to make your dog more safe and sound. You just need to sit back and try to learn every aspect that we will go over together.
Let’s have a warm cup of your favourite drink and dive right in!
How to make sure your dog stays safe
To make yourself sure that your dog stays safer, you have to follow some safety steps. These steps will make sure that your dog stays safer at every moment.
- Following the leash in public places: dogs are very impulsive, and they respond unconsciously in stress and noisy places. So even if your dog is well trained and civilized, you need to take precautions for the sake of your dog’s safety.
- Don’t let your dog wander alone: there can be any kind of danger in which you are putting your dog alone. Your dog may find some dangerous fighting dog on the way and get hurt. So you don’t allow your dog to wander alone.
- Obedience training: your dog must learn obedience so that you can protect him from the brink of danger. If your dog is not obedient and, in some situations, you can’t control him physically on time, your dog can be in great trouble.
- Mental and physical health: every day, your dog needs mental and physical stimuli to release extra body energy and be comfortable. For the sake of mental and physical health, you need to take your buddy out for physical and mental exercises. Running and playing with other dogs and doing some intelligence exercises will make your dog mentally and physically fit.
- Clean the house: there can be many things in your furry buddy’s access that can be really dangerous. You need to do a proper cleaning and setting of the living area and rooms to keep every dangerous thing away from the access of your doggo.
What your dog should not eat
Well, there’s a long list of foods that your dog shouldn’t eat. Let’s go over the causes as well.
- Gum, candy, baked food, and other sweetened diets with Xylitol are not good for your dog’s health. Xylitol can cause blood sugar drop, vomiting, lethargy, seizures, and liver failure. So you should not allow your pet to eat anything sweetened with Xylitol.
- Alcohol is bad for dogs as for humans, but dogs can get its harm even with smaller quantities. It can cause diarrhea, vomiting, coordination loss, coma, or even death. It is best to avoid alcohol for the sake of good. This advice is for you and me, too.
- Eliminate onions and garlic from the diet of your buddy. Powdered, dried, raw, or cooked, your dog must not take them. They can cause the killing of red blood cells of your doggo, and your dog may suffer from anemia. Therefore, avoid using onions and garlic in their diet.
- Caffeine can be fatal. No doubt you want to make your dog a little perky but don’t use caffeine. Use dog toys instead and let your dog play with other favorite dogs and people. Avoid any drink, i.e., coffee, tea, or cold drinks and chocolates, cocoa, and beans for the sake of good.
- Raisins, grapes, milk, and milk products must not be used as treats. Even on a hot summer day, you should give water instead of sharing your yummy ice cream with your dog. Because it gives more harm than good. I use ice traits in the summer times: I fill them with water and then I put a treat in them. When my dog gets the ice cube, the smell of the treat will get my dog to want to eat the whole thing.
Summer safety
I love summer times because of the extra sunshine but heat is not good for dogs. Pets and heat, don’t mix these two. These precautions will protect you and your doggo more, here are the short tips to follow:
- Leave your doggo at home during midday.
- Hydrate your dog. Make changes in the diet to provide enough water.
- Don’t shave your dog. A little trimming is good but keep long hairs to avoid direct sunlight.
- Avoid pavements and prefer grass and cool dust. If the pavement is too hot for your hand, it’s too hot for paws.
- Don’t let your doggo anywhere near fireworks.
- Ask your vet to devise a control strategy to avoid fleas and other parasites.
- Keep your pet cool. If you find any sign of heatstroke, call your vet immediately.
Winter safety
Winter wind, snow, sleet, ice…. There is much to prevent your dog from getting in trouble. Winter affects dogs the same as it affects us. Therefore, they also need preparation and safety measures that we will go over:
- Don’t let your dog anywhere near thin ice. Every season we hear stories of rescuing dogs from the icy water.
- Cover their paws to avoid injuries and abrasions while running on the ice.
- Trim the hairs between paws to avoid any injury. Paw hairs can form ice balls between pads.
- Clean the feet of your dog to remove rock salt (halite) and any other dangerous things to avoid injuries and abrasion.
- Limit the long outside walks with your dog when it’s really cold. Let your doggo be home and burn the energy indoors by playing an intellectual dog game.
- Every dog needs some time to acclimate to the outside. Little energetic activities will help your dog get used to.
- Dress up your dog accordingly to fight the winter. You may find joy in selecting and changing your dog’s outdoor wear.
Water safety
Water can be a great source of pleasure for you and your furry doggo. But you need to follow the precautions to save yourself and your buddy from any unfortunate event.
1# Swimming
Find a shallow spot to enter the pool, river, lake or ocean. Don’t think of your dog as a born-swimmer. You should also go into the water with your dog. In the beginning, keep your dog on a leash but don’t force your dog to the water. If your dog doesn’t want to go into the water that day, that week or that summer, it’s okay. That doesn’t mean that your dog will never swim.
My older rescue dog, a retriever mix, didn’t want to swim for the first few years. One time when me and my husband went for a swim in a lake, our dog suddenly joined us! After that, he wanted to retrieve all his sticks from the water if we were near that lake. Show examples and be really patient and understanding of your dog’s needs.
If you are going for a boat ride, always put a dog-life-jacket on your dog even if your dog loves to swim.
2# At the beach
Always stay on the shallow end, close to the beach line. Watch out for the high tides that may take your dog with it. Don’t let your dog drink the salty water or eat the fish washed out on the shore. Both can be dangerous for the health.
- Never leave your doggo alone in the water.
- Give your dog another bath in fresh and clean water after being in any kind of water. It washes off the minerals, chlorine, algae, and pollution.
Prevent a lost dog
- GPS tracker
To prevent your lovely doggo from getting lost, you should use a GPS tracker. It will help to prevent any unfortunate event. You will be able to know the current position of your dog anytime, anywhere.
Emergency preparedness
You must have a first aid kit available at your home in an emergency situation, and anywhere you are traveling with your dog. Your kit must include all the essential equipment and material as mentioned below:
- Gauze
- Scissors with blunt ends
- Medial tape
- Thermometer
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Cotton or swabs
- Ice packs
- Tweezers
- Disposable gloves
Other than these items, it must include the dog’s medical record, the contact information of the vet, and nearby vet clinic for any emergency purpose.
Safety around other dogs
Every dog breed has a set of characteristics; you should know yours and behave accordingly. Watch and observe other dogs but avoid eye contact with them. You should make space for other dogs.
If you see another dog walking towards you, give space and keep your dog away from strangers and unfamiliar dogs. Some dog owners will act like it’s always ok to let dogs sniff each other so you need to be prepared to say you are just passing by.
It’s always your choice, not the dog’s or another dog owner’s choice.
All dog’s don’t like all dogs, just like we don’t like everyone. We might tolerate others and so do dogs. Pay attention to your dog’s body language to understand better which dogs your doggo likes and doesn’t like.
Teach your dog some simple obedience commands to help you and your dog be safer. My favorite 7 basic dog commands with specific teaching order will get you started!
How to prevent a dog fight
You can prevent dog fights by following these general protocols:
- Prefer spaying/neutering your dog
- Feed each dog separately in the home
- Always use the leash
- Avoid going to parks if your dog does not feel comfortable
- Put your dog’s favourite toys out of sight to avoid possession fights
If you find yourself in the middle of a dog fight, always grab your dog’s back legs and pull! The other dog owner should do the same to their dog at the same time to separate them. Don’t try to pull anywhere near their heads, back legs are the safest way to go. If you go near the heads you might get bitten just by reflex.
Perfect recall
You can develop perfect recall memory by using the same command words or a sound again and again. Have some treats in your pocket to reward your doggo and give the best ones when your dog comes when called. Keep your voice tone happy and body language comfortable.
Coming to you must be the best thing your dog knows, no matter what your dog did five seconds before!
Leash walking
Leash walking is a part of obedience training. It’s good to make a habit of the leash from an early age. Train your dog on the leash to have a pace like yours. It will prevent your dog from attacking strangers and respect the neighbor’s privacy and rights.
I don’t recommend using a retractable leash if your dog doesn’t walk nicely on a regular leash.
Retractable leash doesn’t teach your dog the right distance because it varies a lot. It’s also more dangerous because when your dog sees something and wants to run after it, you might not have the chance to stop the leash on time. Worse case scenario is that your dog runs from the sidewalk to in front of a car in two seconds.
Usually, I like to buy leather leashes or ones that have prints on them. If you’re like me I would definitely recommend checking out these print leashes from Squish.
When your doggo has mastered the regular leash, you can level up to a retractable one if you like. This is my favorite retractable leash.
Final thoughts
There’s a lot to consider when it comes to the safety measures but you can do this! One safety tip at a time and some of them are seasonal. These tips will keep you, your dog and everyone around you more safe.
My retriever mix rescue dog was a handful before he was about two years old. He could focus like three seconds before he saw something more interesting, hahh! So we used these tips constantly and now they are a part of our everyday doggo life. He still (born 2017) gets excited and wants to play every day but it’s different because he is a little bit wiser now. Still goofy, but wiser.
When you have used these tips several times they come as a second nature and you just do them without thinking. It’s going to get easier as your dog grows and learns more every day. Your dog will also calm down more as time goes by even if it doesn’t seem like that now.