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The first step towards a healthy canine companion is providing it with the suitable nutrition. Nowadays, the range of dog food is diverse and owners have various brands from which to choose. Criteria may differ judging by the age, breed and size of man’s best friend. Natural ingredients, fiber sources and low amounts of carbohydrates are usually signs of a healthy meal.

One of the most complex ranges of products is offered by Royal Canin. The options available are based on age, size, life style and breed. This company is the first to develop breed specific dog food. Until now, 19 species are included in the variety provided by the brand. Boxer, Chihuahua, French Bulldog, German Shepherd, Poodle and Shih Tzu and many others have their own type of food, suited to match specific characteristics and needs. Products for both neutered and unneutered pets are also available.

Eukanuba is another brand which provides owners with quality food for canine companions. Apart from age, breed and size, this type of nourishment is also available in options which focus on dogs with healthy issues such as: sterilization, sensitive joints, sensitive skin and sensitive digestive system.

Overweight pets can be fed food which is low on calories in order to encourage weight loss, without cutting down on the amount of vitamins and minerals needed.

The Wild Nature Formula provides the necessary daily amount of animal protein.

Meat is very important when it comes to dog food, therefore products which choose only the best quality ingredients are highly recommended. For example, Arden Grange only uses fresh meat such as chicken, lamb and salmon when producing the meals. The performance version is also available for dogs which have increased physical activity, like racing or competitions.

Apart from dry products, wet food is an efficient option for pet owners who like to make their fluffy companion feel appreciated and enjoy meals even more.

Getting to know the dog, what it likes and if it has any specific health issues helps the owner establish what type of nourishment is most suitable. Trying both dry and moist food is a good idea because it will allow the pet to indicate what its preferences are.

Have you ever wondered why your dog is eating the grass in the yard? They sniff and pluck blades usually from a familiar spot. Sometimes they even chew on fresh branches or pull the bark off of trees, which can often be annoying when you want to keep your yard healthy and green. But stopping your dog from eating the grass, plants, or trees isn’t the solution. These greens are necessary for your dog’s body.

Aside from the common thoughts that grass helps settle a dog’s belly if they’re upset, plants play a much more important role in your dog’s well-being. Although grass does play a part in your dog’s digestive system, helping them to digest and process their food easily, green plants have more to offer your dog’s entire body.
The necessary nutrients for your dog

One of the primary reasons that your dog eats grass is because they’re seeking vital enzymes for their body. Plants produce many of these enzymes naturally, so your dog needs them to maintain a healthy body. Instinctively, they know this, so they eat plants of all sorts to accumulate them. Unfortunately, this may result in a dog nibbling a poisonous or dangerous plant (poinsettia, cactus, or even rose bushes) to find the necessary nutrients for their body. Since this can be a very serious problem, it is up to you to prevent this by giving your dog a safe source of these enzymes.

A dog’s body requires twenty-two different enzymes to complete healthy body functions. Twelve of these occur naturally within their body and can be sustained with the proper diet (quality dog food designed for their breed and size). The other ten are found in nature- primarily in plants. Grass contains several of these enzymes, but not always enough, which is why dogs will often pick and choose from areas in the yard to snack on greenery (they may even sneak into the garden if they get a chance).

Because it is up to you to ensure your dog is provided a healthy lifestyle, you must make these enzymes readily available to them. There are food additives you can purchase at pet stores and even health food stores, but one of the best sources for your dog to get these enzymes is in algae. An alga is not a mold or growth in water, but a plant. It is actually the most life giving plant, producing most of the world’s oxygen that we consume every day. But you don’t have to let your dog lick the bottom of the pond to get these nutrients. Tablets composed of dehydrated algae are available, and are good for both you and your dog.

Other excellent sources of enzymes and nutrients for your dog are the plants kale and seaweed. These water plants can be found in most grocery stores (especially as we become more aware of our own health) and can be mixed in with their food or eaten on their own.

Besides just providing the essential nutrients for your dog’s body, these plants also help to rid their body of unnecessary toxins. They are a great addition to a healing dog’s diet, especially right after certain procedures or illnesses. On top of that, these plants also provide good sources of protein for energy and strength (even though they may already be more than enough for us to handle).
Staying hydrated

Another reason for snacking on greenery is that a dog may require more water. Dogs, especially seniors and puppies, require plenty of water to cool and function properly. Always make sure that your dog has ready access to water and that it’s kept fresh constantly. Some dogs may need incentive to drink (you can lead a dog (horse) to water, but you can’t make them drink). Moving water means fresh water, and many dogs will enjoy drinking from a fountain, faucet, or even from a pouring container before they will drink from a bowl. If you’re concerned that your dog isn’t staying hydrated, you may consider investing in a cycling water fountain for them. It keeps the water circulating so that it stays fresh for your pup.

So don’t fret if you see your dog pulling up a patch of grass. They’re just trying to get the nutrients their body needs. All you need to do is help them achieve a healthy body. Regardless of what source your dog gets their enzymes, nutrients, and water from, it’s up to you to provide them with a complete diet to ensure their health and well-being. When you provide them with what they need, they won’t be as inclined to snack on the grass or trees, and you can enjoy a healthy yard and a healthy, happy dog.

Before you bring your new pet home, you should make sure that you have all the pet products you will need to care for your pet. The initial requirements are a pet carrier to transport the pet, a leash and collar for when your pet goes outside, along with bowls for your pet’s food and water. Indoor cats will also need litter boxes and litter.

If you are getting a new puppy or kitten, you will need to house train them and there are pet products specifically formulated to remove nasty stains and smells from carpets which can be purchased at most supermarkets, your local pet shop, or an online pet store.

If you are getting a rescued animal, the rescue service or vet who treated the animal will make a note of any health conditions that will need to be monitored. Some common issues for animals who have been rescued include having ear mites, worms, or requiring special diets. You can purchase vet supplies to maintain the health of a pet which was previously treated for these issues. The rescue service or vet will not allow the animal to be adopted until it is healthy, but you may need to continue treatment to ensure the condition does not return.

You will also want to make sure that you have an appropriate place for your new pet to sleep, particularly if you don’t want it on the couch or sharing your bed. An online pet store will tend to have a wider variety and choice of pet bed than a physical pet shop, because these take up a lot of shelf space. It is a good idea to purchase some chew toys for dogs and scratching posts for cats to keep them from destroying your furniture or rugs.

There are a number of pet products designed to make dogs stay, when you give the command, or the dog goes to places it shouldn’t go! The most common is based round a simple clicker-type device, whereby you train your pet to instantly stop and wait whenever you press a pre-determined number of clicks on the clicker.

However it is not always possible to be close enough to your animal to enable it to hear the clicks and in situations such as these, one of the ideal pet products generally available is a small, high pitched whistle, normally unheard by the human ear, but easily heard by your pet dog. Once again, you train your dog to stop and stay with how many times you blow the whistle, and there is an assortment of Teach Yourself books available, where you can easily learn these methods.

One of the biggest challenges for dog owners, particularly large dogs, living in big open areas, is to make the dog stay within a predefined area, even though there might be a hedge or fence round the perimeter. Several pet accessories help to handle this problem. One product activates a water sprinkler when the animal approaches a “no go” area, thus persuading the animal to stay away from the area, or get drenched.

Large dogs may try to jump over a fence but there is a pet product available which allows you to place a collar around the dog, so that when he approaches the fence, a signal is sent by radio to the collar, which in turn sends a “corrective” signal to your dog, encouraging it to stay in the pre-determined area.

In order to keep your dog off furniture, there is a simple dog accessories which is basically a mat, placed on the piece of furniture so that if your pet tries to climb on the chair, a small electric pulse, similar to static electricity, is generated, thus persuading the animal to stay away.

Even in the period of the financial crisis people would rather scrimp on themselves than on dumb animals.

Since we become responsible, forever, for those we have tamed.

Pet shops are seemed to be one of few businesses which haven’t suffered recession. Well-known trade-marks such as Pedigree, Chappy, Whiskas, KiteKat indefatigably encourage us from TV screens to buy food and toys for our pets.

The market of pet products is huge and full of prospects.

In this article we’ll discuss how to open a pet shop.

It is very good if you have your own pets and you are a regular customer of a pet shop yourself. Then you have an idea on what you like in the currently available shops and what you can improve. Certainly, the perfect alternative is to have a veterinary education and wide knowledge about pets.

The most simple and low-cost way to start business in the pet products sphere is to set up a small shop where the choice will include food, grooming products and accessories.
License for such shop set up is not required; its floor space can start from 10 sq. m.
It is better to look for the room for such shop in a bedroom suburb. If there are no competitors nearby, you can safely open you own small pet shop. With proper assortment and comparable prices, such shop will always find its customer.

Assortment in a small shop should be formed of the most fast-moving items – these are goods for cats and dogs. Such small shops usually pay back within a year; however it is not worth expecting a big gain from a single shop.

Traditionally a pet shop owner, who has opened one store and has well-proved sale technology, sets up the next one.

An average retail margin in small pet shops amounts to 30%. As for the most demand goods (popular food and litters) the margin is less, for rarely sold items the margin can come up to 200%.

The second variant of a pet shop presupposes a large range of pet goods, starting from food and finishing with pets on sale. In this format there are absolutely different requirements to the floor space of the shop, its staff and product range selection. The sales area of the full-range store usually starts from 70 sq. m. You can find a shop room both in the center of the city or in a bedroom district. It will be profitable to set up a pet shop attached to veterinaries or not far from it. Payback of such store is 1-2 years.

The product range should be large; in the meanwhile it should include goods, which enjoy high demand. Exclusive and rarely purchased goods should be sold on request.
The assortment should include pets, birdcages and boxes, toys, there should be a section of veterinary preparations, vitamins and mineral supplements.

You can gain good profit selling pets, but take into account that animals can die at mismanagement.

Wide-range shop assistants should be well-qualified; they should perfectly know all the ins and outs about pets and products for sale.

Competent advice is a very important component of a pet shop success. If an assistant of the shop recognizes that a customer is inexperienced, he should query the client about his pet and help to make the right choice.

Sale of pet pharmaceutical products is subjected to licensing. In order to get a license there must be a veterinarian in the store staff, but the veterinarian is required not only to obtain all essential documents. If assistant veterinarian works in the pet shop, this fact causes customers’ trust and pushes up sales.

The third variant of the pet shop is a specialized store. If you have experience and knowledge in one specific area, you can set up a high-specialized shop.
For example, aquariums grows in popularity and you can set up a store specialized exceptionally on toy fish.

Being engaged in toy fish business, you can sale a broad range of fish, aquariums, fish food, veterinarian preparations and books on toy fish. The shop assistant should be much aware of goods for sale. You can also gain an extra income from customs aquariums manufacture, its installation, designer aquarium décor and aquarium service.

If you have chosen a high level of specialization, you should offer you customers a full complex of services in the given field and provide clients with full information during sale. Then you can rely on the popularity of the store.

The retail margin in such shops is higher, than in the wide-range ones, but for the higher price your purchaser gets more qualitative consultations and an opportunity to buy unique goods, which are not available in full-range stores.

If you intend to set up a small store, it is more reasonable to start cooperation with only one supplier, who has a wide product range even if the prices are not the best. The larger a projected shop, the more quantity of suppliers it is efficiently to cooperate with in order to buy goods at the best price. You can ask the suppliers for recommendations on the primary assortment formation. In the beginning of the work mistakes in the product range are unavoidable, but in few months it will become clear what products are in demand, what products should be purchased additionally and what should be returned to the supplier (discuss this option in advance).

In any case forming the primary product range your should presume that the assortment should include food for cats, dogs, rodents, birds and dry food for fish, litters, grooming products and accessories.

If you will sell pets, configure a line of additional products which can be purchased along with these pets.
Give your preference to the goods of the well-known producers, which are actively advertised.

Don’t try to earn big profits at once, it is better to advice a client more suitable product that more expensive one. The customer will appreciate it and will come next time in our shop.
Arrange degustation, distribute probes, let your purchasers know about newly-developed products, carry our promotion actions.

All the product range should be properly exhibited on display and grouped thematically, price tags should be large.

If products on request are sold in the shop, the correspondent information should be easily available for clients. Colorful catalogues and full information should be provided for such products.

There should be a good smell in the shop even if pets are sold there. See about good microclimate.

It is also very important to select the staff of people who really love pets and can give advice to every customer.