Housebreaking Dogs and Puppies - A Step by Step Guide to Potty Training Your Dog or Puppy
April 30, 2008
If you’re reading this I think it’s safe to assume that you either currently own, or are about to buy, a dog or puppy and don’t want to come home to nasty “surprises” on your living room floor. That’s why I’m writing this step by step guide to potty training your adult dog or puppy.
Before I get into the details of how to do this I want to take a second to say that this is not a difficult thing to do. It’s a pretty straight forward process and anybody can get great results! It DOES however require both consistancy and diligence on your part to make sure that your dog or puppy is really and truly housebroken.
It also helps to have a basic understanding of the way your dog thinks. They rely on instincts to tell them what to do, it’s important that you understand this and not allow yourself to start attributing human feelings and motivations to them. They are pack animals. If you really want to understand your dog and effectively train him I suggest taking the time to really study pack behavior and animal instinct.
Beginners Guide on Acrylic Painting - How to Set Out Your Equipment for Easy Acrylic Painting
April 30, 2008
Beginners Guide on Acrylic Painting - How to Set Out Your Equipment for Easy Acrylic Painting
by: Catherine Calder
OK you have all the things you need to begin acrylic painting, right? You have acrylic paints, brushes, painting surface, palette, and a container of water. Well, by taking a minute to set out your acrylic painting materials in an organized manner you will enjoy your painting session even more.
Ideally when you begin acrylic painting you will have a work space that is level and in a good light. Artificial light can make the colors look different when compared to natural light. It is a good idea to get full spectrum light bulbs from an art store if you have to paint in artificial light. This is a worthwhile investment.
Layout you palette, paints, brushes and water to the right hand side if you are right handed - or left if you are left handed. It is handy to have some paper towels too.
Acrylic Painting Tip
Try to get into the habit of placing the paints in the same position on the palette every time you paint. This will save you time - you wouldn’t be searching for a color if you always put it in the same position.
Killer Piano Playing Secrets of a Chord Addict!
April 30, 2008
I wish you could have seen me play the piano when I was just learning. I was the nearest thing to "hopeless" that you could imagine. I was into baseball, not music ? and my heroes were Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. (And by the way, I still have a picture of those 3 guys on my wall.) My dream was to hit baseballs like them, not to play the piano.
But an opportunity to play with a combo presented itself to me when I was a freshman in high school. Seems the piano player of the group had graduated the previous year, and nobody else played piano well enough to play in the school jazz combo. I didn’t know zilch about playing in a group, and I didn’t know chords. But I was excited to have the opportunity to play with older guys, and so I took the job.
Writing with a Sense of Adventure
April 30, 2008
We’ve all been told that we need to use all five senses to bring our fiction to life. Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch all need to be invoked. But there’s one other sense that also needs to be used: the sense of adventure.
Just bringing your work to life is not enough. Accountants and insurance salesmen are alive, but how many people want to cozy up to them and talk shop for hours at a time? Writing with a sense of adventure will give your work an added spark of excitement that will make people rush to lose themselves in your pages for the hours it takes to finish the book.
So, how does one write with a sense of adventure?
Webster’s defines “adventure” as:
1 a : an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks
b : the encountering of risks (the spirit of adventure)
2 : an exciting or remarkable experience (an adventure in exotic dining)
3 : an enterprise involving financial risk
Check out definition #3. How many of us write “safe” books because we think they’ll be easier to sell? But even if you know in advance every element that you’ll use in a book — say, if you’re writing The Amnesiac Cowboy’s Secret Baby — you can write about those elements with a sense of adventure.
Canine Communication and Body Language
April 29, 2008
A couple of years ago a Japanese electronics company came up with a Gizmo which they claimed could convert dogs barks, yips and whines into human language, thereby allowing us to understand "Doggie" speak for the first time. I was on a radio program recently, discussing the merits and usefulness of a new dog collar that was also a mobile phone. You could ring up and converse with your dog at any time and enjoy a nice cosy chat. You might as well text your pet for all the good phoning it would do; the mostly likely outcome of this idea would be to startle and frighten your pet.
In reality, real canine language is not just verbal; it is a rich visual language, where dogs are able to converse with each other irrespective of breed or nationality. A Collie from Wales can converse with an Akita from Japan and a Poodle living in France with a village dog in Ethiopia.
Dogs have a truly universal language that can be incredibly subtle and wide ranging. This marvellous language is one that we can also learn and understand, and through that ability communicate with our dogs far more effectively.
Wildlife Gardener
April 29, 2008
Gardening for wildlife has become quite a passion for me, although I only have a small urban garden I have still managed to fit a fair amount of bird and insect friendly flowers and plants in.
Since reading an article about the decline in popular species of birds such as sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes I decided to do my bit to help my local bird population by purchasing two seed feeders, a nut feeder, a bird table and a small bird bath I was ready and waiting for my new feathered visitors, which up to that point was few and far between.
After a couple of weeks of patiently waiting and watching I was beginning to loose hope, only the odd sparrow turned up every other day, though still I waited. After the fourth week success, it seemed that word had spread and dozens of sparrows flocked to my garden, amongst them birds that I had never seen in my garden such as Blue Tits, Great Tits and Green Finches.
I have found Blackbirds are a lot more common now, along with two grey squirrels which constantly argue over the feeders!
Increase Your Chances Of Winning Writing Contests
April 29, 2008
Winning writing contests can provide several advantages to writers. For starters it’s a great way to get your name in print and in front of potential readers. It can also provide professional credits for your writing portfolio, and prize rewards to augment your income.
Just participating can get new writers into a writing regiment, grow confidence, and provide practice, practice, practice.
Whatever your reason for entering a writing contest just be realistic about your expectations. The odds of winning are not terrific, but there are certainly plenty of things you can do to improve those odds, and stack them in your favor…
Top 5 Dog Health Problems
April 29, 2008
The most common dog problems:
Dog Owner’s commonly ask me the same questions repeatedly. This article aims to help dog owners prevent and find information about the most common dog health problems. Understanding the basics of these problems will go a long ways to helping your canine friend live a long healthy life.
1. By far the most common question I get asked from dog owners is a desperate call about their dog’s vomiting. Vomiting can have many causes, but the most common cause is eating garbage, or wolfing down food. In most cases the easiest cure is to withhold food from your dog for 24 hours, but continue to give water. Then after 24 hours, start by giving small meals again. This rest period will allow the stomach to heal. If vomiting continues after this you should see your veterinarian.
2. The next most common question I get asked are reproduction questions. These questions range from breeding their dog, questions about whelping, and about raising puppies. While it is beyond this article to cover everything, here are some basics to keep in mind. Dogs come into heat every 6-7 months which is the time to breed them. The gestation length ranges from 59-63 days. Breeds that can have trouble with whelping are the pug, bulldog, Chihuahuas, Boston terriers, and the Pekingese. Whelping, the act of giving birth, can take from 2 to 24 hours. With several hours in-between the time puppies are passed.
Bird Watching - Writing What You See
April 28, 2008
Bird Watching - Writing What You See
by: Rick Chapo
No bird watcher is complete without his or her bird watching journals. When you go bird watching, you need to keep your life list.
The Life List
If you are or become an avid bird watching enthusiast, you’re going to need to keep records. The reason for this is you want to keep a running list of the various bird species you’ve seen. Since there are a zillion species, the list can become quite long. Frankly, it becomes a life long project that is very enjoyable. Trust me, you’ll start planning vacations and trips around it. A business trip will soon evolve into a chance to see new species.
Part and parcel to your bird watching life list is your journal. Some bird watchers combine these two while others keep them separate. The bird watching journal is used to fill out your sightings. Information kept in the journal includes things like where you were, whom you were with, the weather conditions, the lighting, time of day and your overall impressions from the sighting.
Tips On Breeding Tropical Fish
April 28, 2008
If you are looking for tips on breeding tropical fish, you must first decide what type of tropical fish you wish to breed. Some tropical fish are live bearers, which means they give birth to live minnow babies. The other type are egg bearers, which means the mother lays eggs and the minnow babies hatch from the eggs.
Most sources that provide tips on breeding tropical fish suggest that live bearers are the better place to start, especially for beginners who have limited to no previous breeding experience. Beginner breeders should hone their skills using any of three live bearer fish types, which are the three of the easiest to breed: mollies, guppies or platys.
One of the first, and perhaps most important, tips on breeding tropical fish that bear live young is to keep the baby fish, called fry, away from the rest of your community tank. Adult fish consider fry to be excellent food, so if you don’t keep them separated, your breeding efforts will be sacrificed to the appetites and instincts of the rest of your fish. In fact, even the fry’s own parents enjoy eating them.
