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Need A Little Help With Your Health? Get A Dog!

Dogs are considered man's best friend. But did you know that having a dog gives you several heath benefits?

In studies done by medical professionals, dog owners benefit from their pet's presence in several ways:

1) Improved cardiovascular health - Dog owners have been proven to have blood pressure and cholesterol lower than ordinary people. These factors reduce the chance for cardiovascular diseases. Stroking a pet has long been known to reduce blood pressure. A study from the New York State University found that these benefits continue even without the pet available. The study tested a group of stockbrokers with hypertension. They concluded that just being a pet-owner can lower blood pressure.

Dog owners also have blood cholesterol levels lower than normal. Five thousand four hundred people were tested by the Baker Medical Research Institute of Australia and with the results showing pet owners having not just lower blood pressure but also lower levels of blood triglycerides and cholesterol compared to people who didn't own any pets.

2) Faster recovery time and higher survival rates - Hospital studies have found that seniors and recently operated on patients responded better to treatment and got better quickly while they were in contact with dogs and other therapy animals. Just petting a dog can be relaxing and therapeutic for recovering patients.

Also, dog owners have a greater chance to survive after suffering from a serious illness. Several studies have discovered that pet owners who suffered from a heart attack were more likely to be alive a year after they were discharged from the hospital than those who did not own pets. Another New York study found that pet's affected their survival rate more even more than the presence or company of family members or friends.

3) Fewer visits to the doctor - Studies conducted at Cambridge and UCLA have found that owning a pet corresponds to overall improved health and less need for hospital visits. A Medicare study of its elderly patients also discovered that those who own dogs visit the doctor less than those who don't have a pet.

4) Mental Wellness - Patients who have dogs have also been known to have better emotional health than their counterparts. They offer unconditional love and affection; their presence alone helps reduce loneliness for sick people who have otherwise been isolated. Several studies of people with major illnesses have shown that the stress of fighting the disease is significantly reduced when they had a dog as company.

As you can see, having a dog is a great investment, for the joy that you get from owning one and the health benefits that you can receive. So go out and get a dog!

About the author:



Jay is the web owner of http://www.dog-training-tips.org Dog Training Tips, a website that provides information and resources on dog training, puppy training, and more. You can also visit his website at: http://www.petmall.us Pet Mall for pet supplies.

Written by: Jay Bauder

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Free Dog Health Care Article

Feed him a balanced diet.

Additional tips from owners include:

Give an occasional yogurt treat
- Ask your vet about giving Boxers calcium tablets as they could have some problems later on in life!

- Keep him comfortable so his immune system can remain strong.

- Boxers are shorthaired and sensitive to extreme elements of the weather and thus must be kept a housedog. His shortened muzzle also makes hot and humid weather uncomfortable for him.

- Give Boxers lots of exercise and regularly.

- Remember that he is a big and strong breed and requires physical outlets for his boundless energy and high play/prey drive.

- Walk them three times a day or have play sessions. Provide plenty of space for them to bounce around. You want to keep their spirit up and not break it or they won´t be the dogs you fall in love with in the first place. Healthy and happy Boxers are a joy to live with.

- Make a breeder your friend.

- Keep in touch with the breeder who sold you the Boxer. The breeder can advise you about care and health matters that are unique to the breed. Any Boxer breeder, for that matter, can be an invaluable ally to you throughout your Boxer's life.

- Guard your Boxer from fleas.

- Your Boxer has fleas if you find black specks in the fur or fleabite marks on the skin. A tip given by an owner is to give your Boxer garlic daily to prevent fleas.

- Boxers catch fleas from other animals. It is an every day problem that, at some time or another, you can expect to encounter in your Boxer.

- The fleas only go to the Boxer to feed on its blood.

- Fleas mostly live and multiply in your home. The comfortable living - central heating, double-glazing and, best of all, the fitted carpet - we create for ourselves and our Boxers also work best for the fleas.

- De-worm your puppy every month and your adult Boxer, every six months.

Worms is another everyday problem in Boxers but the puppy is more likely to get sick from worms than the grown up Boxer.

The sick one would lose weight and become weak, suffer from upset stomach, poor growth, listlessness or even lung trouble.

They may impede your puppy´s growth and cause him to have a potbelly or be thin and have a shoddy-looking coat.
Your grown Boxer may not be showing any sign of worms but he could spread them more than the sick puppy, through large amount of larvae or eggs passed out in the feces.

If your Boxer has tapeworms, he has fleas too because part of the tapeworm life cycle occurs in flea as the host. As such, treatments against flea and tapeworm are normally prescribed together.

Some, like the roundworm, that infect dogs can also get passed on to children.

In more serious cases, your dog will catch cough, pneumonia and develop lung problems.

There are different types of worms that infect dogs such as tapeworm, roundworm, ringworm and heartworm. De-worm your Boxer puppy every month and your grown Boxer, every 6 months.
Puppies get sick from worms, more so than dogs.

But your infected grown Boxers help spread the worms more through their droppings that would contain large number of larvae and/or eggs.

Released into the surrounding, these larvae and eggs could infect other animals and even children.

The tapeworms have a flat, segmented body.
You see them as single segments or chains that resemble segments of rice in the droppings of infected canine.
Part of the tapeworm´s life cycle occurs in the flea as the host.

Therefore, if your Boxer has tapeworms, it has fleas too and the treatments for both are usually prescribed together by the vet.
The roundworms (toxocara) live and produce hundreds of eggs in the intestine.

They cause digestive upset in puppies, poor growth, and thin or out-of-conditioned coat.
The infected puppies may become listless, have a potbelly or tucked in appearance.

Once the roundworms migrated from the gut to the lungs, your Boxer can suffer lung damage, cough and pneumonia.

The roundworm eggs in the dog droppings get passed out and about.
These are very hardy eggs, resistant to heat and cold, and can survive up to 7 years in the soil. The eggs can pass on to children through ingestion and cause them to fall sick as well.
As precautions, you can toilet train your Boxer puppy to use a place where you can easily clean up and dispose of the droppings into the sewer. Have your children wash their hands every time after they handle the puppies and discourage your puppies from licking people hands or faces.

About the Author

For more information about keeping your dog healthy visit: http://www.dog-owner.net

Written by: Amy Howells

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