By Jimmy Cox
 If you want to show your dog, certain things could have, or should have, been done while you were waiting for your puppy to grow up. Let's take just a little time right now and discuss how to do one of them.
Let's start with the lead-breaking of your puppy since it is so important to the sound attractive stylish gait of a show dog. Let's assume that when you bought him he had never been on a lead.
After trying many methods, here is the one I like best.
Start training the puppy just as soon as you get him. If you keep him in a run or pen, every time you take him on a lead you should keep in mind that this will be his training period. However, if the puppy lives in the house with you and, at least in the beginning, has to be taken out on a lead to relieve himself, there should be a difference in the manner in which you and the puppy behave while he is on the lead.
Don't try to
lead-break him for shows when he has other and more important business on his mind. Allow the puppy to sniff the ground and use a longer lead, giving him ample time to take care of his duties. If he is allowed to roam where he wants to and when he wants to he will scarcely be aware of the fact that he is on a lead and the duties will be taken care of quickly. With that important business out of the way you can then settle down to the training.
Now tighten up on the lead. Shorten it by crumpling it in one hand. Put the collar as far forward under the dog's jaw as you can. He will resent it - perhaps fight it - some dogs jumping into the air and screaming as though they had been hurt. Wait until he quiets down and then start walking in the direction you want to go and talk to the dog.
Call him by name and keep your voice pleasant. Don't drag him but keep the lead taut so he can feel in which direction he is being coaxed to go. As soon as he takes a few steps with you, praise him loudly and keep encouraging him to go along. After he goes along, try releasing the lead a bit and if he keeps going - fine! If not, use short jerks to keep him going. After the puppy goes along a reasonable distance, stop and pat him, praise him to the skies.
Then start out again. Repeat this performance several times and until he goes along with you without your having to tug at him. Then praise him some more, reward him with a tidbit if you wish and stop the training on a pleasant note. You should not have to do this too often before your puppy will be lead-broken. While he is a puppy he is so easily led and he is so anxious to please that it pays dividends if you master this early.
Getting away from your dog for a moment, let's talk about you - your appearance at a show. Your clothes are very important. Remember the saying, "Clothes make the man" ? It's something to think about. There is nothing that is going to happen to your very good suit at a dog show that would not happen to it anywhere else.
Too many men and women save their old clothes to wear to the shows, and when they are in the ring they look as though they didn't care. Also, if you wear something that is not suitable, you, instead of your dog, will catch the passing eye.
There are many more things that could be said about training your dog for show. However, follow these pointers and you will be off to a good start. Good luck!
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http://www.doggroomingschool.net/ The Importance of Dog Training
By MIKE SELVON
 Dog training, if you ask any pet owner or anyone who is an authority on dogs, is absolutely essential. The need to train your dog goes far beyond peeing or pooping in the house. It can mean a matter of life or death for your beloved canine companion.
Dogs must know to obey their owners. This could mean teaching the dog to heed both verbal and non-verbal commands for walking, sitting or eating. The stereotypical image of an animal chasing a mailman may seem funny until it happens to you.
Dog training begins when they are puppies and will continue throughout their lives. A pet must be able to rely on its owner for common sense. Unfortunately there are instances when the human fails.
Dogs that are not acclimated to strangers can endanger not only the stranger's life but their own as well. Animal Welfare officers deal with dogs each day that lacked the proper training and as a consequence bit someone.
An animal that bites is a danger and one that cannot be excused. The risks to neighborhood children are not worth the price of pet training obedience classes. If you find yourself unable to train your pet to behave around strangers, find a dog training class that can.
An aggressive canine that bites others is not tolerated by the law. You can find yourself fined and possibly losing your pet should it bite someone.
Dog training can also be used to teach an animal not to eat food unless it is given by the owner. Each year thousands of dogs undergo veterinarian attention due to poisoning.
There are many things we often do not consider as poisonous or dangerous that can mean life or death to a pet. Three of the most common harmful items found around most houses are: chocolate, anti-freeze and chicken bones.
Most people know that anti-freeze is toxic but often give their pet chocolate and chicken bones, both of which are harmful to dogs. The tiniest piece of chocolate can begin a terrible pattern that might result in poisoning due to theobromine.
Chicken bones splinter when bitten and can become lodged in a dog's mouth and windpipe resulting in choking. So in reality it is both human and dog behavior training.
You can love your pet by learning the essentials to dog training. It may be tough at times but it will be well worth it in the end. The animal will know the rules and the consequences of disobeying.
You will know your pet's personality and be able to keep him safe and happy. A well trained animal is a great example to other pet owners who may be trying to train their dog. Share your experiences and give them advice that has helped you.
Mike Selvon has some great puppy training articles for the pet lover, where you can find out more about dog training. We appreciate your feedback at our pet training blog. Understanding Genetics For Dog Breeders
By Jimmy Cox
 The history of dog breeding is a large subject, and to deal with each separate breed would entail a volume in itself. Here I shall give only a brief outline of the history of research in genetics. To begin with, the dog goes far back into antiquity. Just where or when he first originated it would be impossible to say, but we do know that he is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures.
To go farther back, somewhere around the year 1500 B.C., we find that the dog was not held in very great esteem. At the time in which Deuteronomy was written, the "price of a dog" was considered an unworthy offering to be brought to the altar.
In 1865, the Augustinian abbot, Gregor Johann Mendel, discovered certain laws for the inheritance of characteristics from one generation to another through the cultivation of the common variety of garden pea. He studied the relation of true-breeding types within a species, giving his attention particularly to the way in which sharply contrasted pairs of characteristics are inherited.
He kept accurate pedigree records, and in each case found the results to be the same. The first cross or breeding showed only one of the two characteristics which had marked the parents. Mendel called the characteristic which came out most strongly the dominant member of the two, and the other, the recessive.
These plants were then allowed to become self-fertilized; the seeds were kept and sown separately. This second generation consisted of plants having the dominant characteristic, and also others having the recessive. In every four, on the average, three showed the dominant and one the recessive.
When the same experiment was carried out with the plants of this second generation, it was found that every one which had shown the recessive characteristic bred true, while of those which had exhibited the dominant, only one out of three bred true. In other words, the characteristics inherited by the second generation come from a chance combination and can only be predicted on paper.
Let us apply this to dog breeding for a moment and see what we get. Suppose a spaniel bitch that you own is well up on the leg, short in the body, with a good back line and tail set, but a little weak in head development. Obviously, if you can procure puppies which combine a strong head with the good points of the bitch, you will have made a noteworthy advance.
Your next problem is to find a stud whose dominant feature is a strong head, and whose body characteristics and blood lines approximate those of the prospective dam as nearly as possible. Then, provided a good body is a dominant characteristic of the bitch, and a strong head of the stud, the resulting puppies should combine these features. However, should these characteristics of the sire and dam be second-generation characteristics, the likelihood of the puppies inheriting them will be a chance combination.
Mendel spent ten years on his experiments, but when he had given his results to the world they were promptly forgotten, while students of heredity wrangled over the theories of Weismann and Lamarck. However, in 1900 three men simultaneously brought it all to light again. At the start of their investigations the exceptions to Mendel's laws received more attention than they should have, and many conservative investigators decided that Mendel was wrong. Nevertheless, it is now realized that Mendel's work was valuable and provided the basis for all future important work on genetics.
Mendel's experiments with the garden peas showed the way in which the laws of inheritance work, and brought out the truth of the conclusion that the chance of breeding good dogs increases in direct ratio with the quality not only of the parents, but of every dog in all the generations behind them.
Understanding the basics of genetics is an essential for all dog breeders. Only then can you make an informed selection of bitch and stud.
The above information will give you a good start on this fascinating subject.
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