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Posts Tagged ‘animals’

What Colours Do Dogs See?

January 29th, 2010 No comments

Are dogs colourblind? Believe it or not, there is no simple answer to this question. Although they are capable of seeing colours beyond grey, black and white, the number of other colours they see in comparison to what we see is very limited. Dogs mainly see yellows, blues and violets and struggle to see oranges, greens and reds. Instead they seem to appear somewhere in the spectrum of colours that sit between yellow and blue.

So what is the reason that dogs can only see certain colours and not others? In both our eyes and dogs eyes there are two kinds of photoreceptors found in the retina known as rods and cones. In our retina there are far more cones, whilst a dogs retina has more rods. They also have no fovea, which is what provides us with much sharper vision.

These differences are responsible for giving dogs better vision at night and enabling them to track movement better, but as a result they are not able to see as many colours as we can. Objects and shapes don’t appear in as great detail.

Determining what colours dogs are able to see has been a subject of scientific experiment for over 100 years. During the late 18th Century, tests were performed to determine this but only proved that being unable to see colours did not have a vital impact in the life of a dog.

It was another 90 years before further tests were carried out to determine whether dogs are colourblind or not. In 1989 the three researchers Neitz, Geist and Jacobs carried out a number of tests on domestic dogs and were able to determine the following. 1 Dogs have two kinds of colour receptors in their eyes and so are dichromatic. 2 In dog’s colour receptors, one peaks for the blue to violet range and the other for the yellow to green range. In 1993 and 1995 further research was carried out that again supported these findings.

The type of colourblindness dogs suffer from is similar to that suffered by some humans in that it applies to a specific series of colours and is not exclusive to all colours outside of black, grey and white. It is most often called deuteranopia.

To attach the colourblind label to dogs is understandable, but not entirely the truth. A true explanation of their visual capabilities would state that, whereas they see in more colours than black, white and grey, they do not experience the full spectrum of colours that humans do.

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Keep Your Floors Clean With Cat Litter Mats

January 26th, 2010 No comments

Your pet cat must go to the litter box once or twice a day, maybe more often. Every time it does so, some litter particles from the litter box stick to its paws. Every time it steps out of the litter box it carries the litter debris with it. This litter gets onto your floors, your floor coverings, the furniture, the upholstery on the furniture, your bedding, your clothes – in short, the dirt gets on to everything that your pet can get its paws onto. First of all, everything the cat touches gets soiled up, and begins to smell like the litter box. Secondly, all this litter dirt can actually damage your expensive flooring, floor covering, furniture, and upholstery.

Extra dirt all over the house means cleaning and scrubbing more frequently. That’s not all. Expensive carpets, rugs, and upholstery need the services of a professional to get them cleaned properly and gently. That’s expensive! Although the professional cleaning job is gentle, it still subtracts years of life from the article that’s cleaned. This means that you will have to replace worn out articles sooner than normal. More expense! If you’re in this situation, think ‘cat litter mat’ and see your problems vanish!

The cat litter mat is placed directly in front of the cat’s litter box. This localises the litter debris to just around the litter box. Cat litter mats are made of texturized rubber. They are designed to wipe your cat’s paws as it exits the box. The textured surface helps to collect the debris of the litter. Your flooring is protected, and your repeated house cleaning is minimized to a great extent.

The cat litter mat helps the cat remain healthier, too. Since its paws are cleaned of the litter particles, the cat is saved from licking up the litter particles which could be a health hazard for your pet. As earlier mentioned, the furniture and upholstery in your house remains cleaner too.

The ready made cat litter mats are quite affordable. Even so, you can try your hand at making one for your dear pet, if you want to give it that personal touch! Just take a rubbet bathmat and lay it over with an old Turkish towel or similar stuff. The Turkish towel is soft and won’t hurt the cat’s paws. The pile on the towel will trap the litter particles and keep your pet’s paws clean. Clean or replace the toweling before it gets heavily soiled.

A cat litter mat, home-made or ready made, is an ideal way to keep the floor free of dirt from the litter box. The whole house benefits from this. The house is cleaner, fresher, healthier. The flooring and floor coverings don’t get damaged. You save money by avoiding repeated visits by professional cleaners. You save money by not having to replace your expensive upholstery, carpets and flooring. You save a lot of time and effort by not having to clean up ever so often.

Not only your pet, but your family will also remain healthier because they won’t be exposed to bacteria and germs from the litter debris that your cat may occasionally track onto the bed linen or furniture. So don’t delay any more, go out and get that cat litter mat for a healthier, cleaner household!

To learn additional information about the cat litter mat go to www.CatLitterBoxesPlus.com. You’ll also read about other products like the automatic cat litter box that can help you spend extra time loving your cat and less time cleaning up its mess.

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Stop Your Puppy From Biting – 7 Golden Rules

January 26th, 2010 No comments

How to teach a puppy not to bite is one of the first behaviours you will want to manage in your new puppy. If not prevented early on, this type of biting can eventually develop in an adult dog into a situation when someone could end up injured.

Stay Consistent

Every member of the family must remain consistent in how the new puppy is trained. Teach your children to treat your puppy exactly as you do. Puppies do bite, it is what they do naturally. It is natural for them to bite their litter mates as an act of playing and so they will want to do exactly the same with you or you children.

Act Just Like A Puppy

It is easy to stop them when you understand how they behave with their brothers and sisters. One of their litter mates yelping will cause them to stop, so any time he nibbles on your fingers all you have to do is yelp just like him. He will stop and you can move your hand away. Don’t play with him for a while after he bit you. Use praise and treats when you are playing and he doesn’t bite at all.

Keep It Short

It’s important that your training sessions don’t go on for too long. Puppies don’t have a long attention span. Do keep the training positive and your voice happy. Give lots of praise. Pet the puppy when he pays attention to what you are saying.

Provide Lots Of Toys

When you happen to be working on the way to educate a new puppy not to bite make certain the puppy is provided with toys to bite and chew on. In case your dog bites your hand say ouch or yelp. Keep consistent in this. Should your puppy backs off it is important to let him know that this pleases you.

Give Plenty Of Love And Attention

All puppies require loads of love and attention. They also enjoy plenty of play time with the correct toys. Puppies like texture. Therefore, always keep lots of different types of toys on hand for your puppy to play with. He will pick his favourite one. Use that one when you are teaching him not to bite.

Avoid Giving Your Puppy Old Shoes And Clothes

Nevertheless, do not provide your old boots and shoes or clothes to your puppy to play with. He has absolutely no idea what may be new and what is not. He could believe this implies it is Acceptable to munch up all your clothing and footwear. Puppies will become confused easily. He has to recognize that your things are definitely not his playthings.

Stick To The Routine

Ensure everyone sticks to the program. You should never have the children let your puppy nip or bite them during play, this will certainly confuse the puppy. Train them to yelp and finish playing too. Make sure your puppy is provided treats for good behaviour and not for bad.

Don’t forget, it is a natural thing for puppies to bite as well as nip at their playmates therefore it usually takes a bit of time to unlearn the behaviour. No one would like a dog that is aggressive towards anyone so it is well worth putting into practice these suggestions on the way to teach a puppy not to bite.

Hannah Clapham is a keen author with a particular interest in the field of dog training. Her latest website talks about the benefits of using a Citronella Anti Bark Collar to prevent nuisance barking. For more information, visit the Citronella Anti Bark Collar website