admin answers:

These are the 3 best resources that were given to me when I was researching the very same question for my sister.

1. First off, research the market you are getting into. I know this sounds like a Mr. Obvious type of statement, but there are effective, and not-so-effective ways of doing this type of research. So what would be the most effective and cheapest way to research the dog training world? I’d head on over to Mr. P’s dog training pages. Tons and tons of information all geared towards the dog training subject.

2. Get a mentor or become an apprentice… The best and cheapest way to do this is either contact someone who is actively in the business (make sure they are out of your proposed territory – you will not get any help or advice from someone you may take business away from), or tap into SCORE. Go to their website and type in “dog trainer” as part of your criteria for a business mentor. It’s free, and you may fall onto some retired dog trainer who will give you priceless guidance not found in any book.

3. Look at books recommended by established organizations. There are tons of how-to ebooks being marketed online today – and most of them carry inflated price tags since anywhere from 50-75% of the price goes to the affiliates who are marketing them. Sorry, but this is a truism in most cases.

Good luck in your search…

admin answers:

My trainer has assistants that help him to check the dog’s collars (to make sure they are fitted properly), brew coffee (lol), “fetch” treats from the cupboard to drop in front of the dogs when teaching/practicing food refusal, act as distractions (walking by and snapping fingers, etc). All sorts of fun stuff!

I hope you like it! I did the same thing, and am now apprenticing under my trainer, to become one myself!

admin answers:

There a re several that I see:
1. Only one way works for all dogs;
2. Certain types of training equipment is cruel and abusive;
3. Purely positive training (no consequences) is the only way to train;
4. The dog knows when he has been bad;
5. The dog should know better;
6. An old dog can’t be taught;
7. Small dogs don’t need training because they’re small;
8. The best way to train is some famous TV trainer’s way;
9. Dogs are little children in fur coats; and that’s all that I can think of right now.

admin answers:

There are so many dog foods on the market right now and most people are totally oblivious to healthy and unhealthy dog food. I used to be, but after looking into dog food and researching it I have completely changed my ways when it comes to dog food. All of the food in Wal Mart and most foods from other stores such as Petsmart are unhealthy garbage. Why? Because they either carry:

“Artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives,” all of these can cause cancer and several other health problems. Cancer is the #1 killer of cats and dogs.

“By-products,” they are the junk in meat that are not approved for humans to eat. Road kill, cancerous, dead, and dying animals are allowed as well.

“Fillers,” are corn, wheat, and soy products that virtually don’t have any nutrition in them. They pass right through. Which also makes your dog have to eat more food to feel full.

Surely good dog foods such as Science diet, Eukanuba, Iams, Pedigree, and Purina don’t have any of those and are great to feed my dogs right? Wrong. These foods have most if not all of these terrible things.

Here are the first ten ingredients of three of the so called best foods, which make up most of what your dogs eat and are the most important. The capitol words are the main things that are wrong in the ingredient lists.

Purina adult complete nutrition- WHOLE GRAIN CORN, POULTY BY-PRODUCT MEAL, ANIMAL FAT preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), CORN GLUTEN MEAL, MEAT AND BONE MEAL, brewers rice, soybean meal, barley, whole grain wheat, animal digest… (There is nothing good in that list at all)

Eukanuba-Chicken, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCTS MEAL, CORN MEAL, GROUND WHOLE GRAIN SORGUM, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Brewers Rice, Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed)… (Most of what you see are either fillers or by-products)

Science Diet- GROUND WHOLE GRAIN CORN, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL, Soybean Meal, ANIMAL FAT (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Flaxseed, Iodized Salt, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, … (first ingredient is a filler followed by by-products and more fillers)

Here is a list of both cat and dog well known foods and treats to stay away from-Fancy Feast, Alpo, Friskies,Mighty Dog, Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Puppy Chow, Kitten Chow, Beneful, Purina One, Purina ProPlan, DeliCat, HiPro, Kit’n’Kaboodle, Tender Vittles, Purina Veterinary Diets, MeowMix, Gravy Train, Kibbles ’n Bits, Wagwells, 9Lives, Cycle, Skippy, Nature’s Recipe, Milk Bone, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Pounce, Pedigree, Waltham’s, Cesar, Sheba, Temptations, Goodlife Recipe, Sensible Choice, Excel, Hills Prescription Diets, Nature’s Best, Diamond, Ol’Roy, Iams, Nutro, Royal Canin.

Here are some foods that I recommend- Timberwolf organics, Innova, California Natural, Evo, Blue Buffalo, Taste of the wild, Wellness, Merrick Before grains, Chicken soup for the dog lovers soul, Health Wise, Karma, Orijen. Plus there are many more great foods not listed. You have to look at the ingredients list of any food that you feed your dog. If it have any of the things listed as bad then immediately put it down.

To show what a good healthy dog food looks like, here is the ingredient list of Taste of the Wild High Prairie- Bison, venison, lamb meal, chicken meal, egg product, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, canola oil, roasted bison, roasted venison, natural flavor, tomato pomace, ocean fish meal, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces cerevesiae fermentation solubles, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

admin answers:

I feed a variation of the BARF diet. This diet is comprised of human grade raw foods- chicken, beef heart, liver, kidney, broccoli, sweet potatoe, carrots etc… They are doing wonderful on it *and* I know exactly what they are eating!

My cats get this with a small amount of kibble so they get taurine. Aside from the fact they are highly picky..

admin answers:

Anything by these brands; Eagle Pack, Canidae, Timberwolf Organics, California Natural, Innova, Solid Gold and Chicken Soup For the Pet Lovers Soul are high quality foods. Even some of the brands you can get in places such as PetSmart (Natural Balance, Nutro, etc.) are ok.

If you are in the UK, James Wellbeloved is probably the best easily available dog food on the market.

Avoid junk like Pedigree, Science Diet, etc. These foods contain little meat (and any meat that they do contain is poor quality) and rediculous amount of grains and fillers. Feeding high grain/high carb food is terrible for the health of your dog therefore they should be avoided at all costs.