Medium Sized Dog Breeds Rated For Your Family - Grooming, Shedders - Which is Best?

By Terry K Russell

When selecting a dog for yourself or your family, you have to take into consideration many factors. Does your home accommodate the size dog you wish to bring home? Do you have the time to give to that dog? Will the dog fit into your family? Can you afford to feed and maintain the dog properly? Medium breed dogs are popular around the world. Breeders around the world have incorporated large breed dogs with medium sized breeds to come up with some very wonderful pets and unique looking dogs.

The top ten medium breed dogs on the American Kennel Club list are:

1. Siberian Husky
2. Poodle
3. Border Collie
4. Brittany Spaniel
5. Australian Shepherd
6. American Eskimo
7. French Bulldog
8. Airedale Terrier
9. Australian Cattle Dog
10. Sheepdog

Medium sized dogs are wonderful companions, great pets, and easier to maintain compared to the large and giant breed dogs. While looking over the list of medium sized dogs on the American Kennel Clubs' site I did notice a large amount of the dogs on the list require extensive grooming or brushing. Not all the dogs require a ton of grooming, but a large amount of the dogs that compiled the list do require regular brushing or visits to the groomer in order to be properly maintained. This should be taken into consideration when selecting a breed that follows into any category.

Medium sized dogs are well kept in small yards; some can be kept in apartments or townhomes without issues. Daily walking is recommended due to some of the breeds being very energetic and needing that 'play time' to keep them from becoming bored and destructive while inside your home.

As with any dog, medium sized dogs will require your attention and regular veterinarian visits to keep them healthy and happy. As stated above, dogs like the Poodle, Sheepdog, and Husky are going to require grooming. Poodles will need to be clipped, shaved and sculptured regularly. Sheepdogs have a massive amount of hair... if you are looking for a non-shedding dog; a sheepdog is not your best choice for your next pet. Husky dogs also seem to be shedders. They will require regular attention with a brush and matting comb.

In the medium sized category there are so many wonderful breeds to pick and choose from. The decision needs to be based around what you or your family is wanting in a dog.

Allergies or sensitivity to pet hair and dander needs to be addressed first when selecting a medium sized breed of dog. Then consider the amount of space your dog is going to need at full adult size. Food costs will be less then a large or giant breed dog, however it is still much more then a small or toy breed dog. Lastly, if your medium sized dog weighs over 50lbs the veterinarians usually charge more for any surgical procedure.

Educate yourself on all the wonderful breeds that fit into the medium sized category, there are many to choose from, however some can be eliminated quickly by allergy suffers or a family that doesn't want to commit to grooming requirements.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_K_Russell

Tags: Medium Sized Dog Breeds Rated For Your Family - Grooming, Shedders - Which is Best?

Dog Nail Grinder - A Good Option For Dog Nail Care

By Daniel J. Scott

Dog nail care represents one of the important grooming actions which are necessary for the safety and the well being of your favorite pet dog. There are a considerable number of tools and a vast selection of techniques on the market today that can provide you with many successful nail trimming sessions. Proper nail care often requires several different specialty tools and each of these tools does a particular job. In only a short period of time you can quickly accumulate many diverse nail care tools such as nail clippers, nail trimmers, nail files and nail grinders.

Occasionally the process of nail trimming can become a traumatic experience for your dog particularly since the "quick" in the dog's nails are affected and can cause extreme pain and considerable bleeding. This is the reason that upon your next trip to the pet salon or perhaps by merely seeing the clipper or trimmer your usually friendly dog starts to be uncomfortable and panics. It doesn't have to be this way since there are several clippers and trimmers today that do the trimming quickly and gently. Even then however, sometimes the clipping motion can cause excessive pain on your precious pet.

If your dog is already afraid of having his nails trimming and scared of the trimmer itself then you still have one additional option available to you. You can provide nail care to the animal through the use of dog nail grinders. Basically, a dog nail grinder resembles the familiar sandpaper grinder often found in the woodworking shops. It sands the nails of your dog until the nail is properly trimmed to size and shape. Some dog nail grinder comes with several speed selections making it very useful for several different animals while others are simply the good ole on or off type of style. Since most of these nail grinders produce a certain amount of noise it is understood that you will need to condition your dog to this noise and should only employ this grinder when your dog is ready for it.

Nail care for your favorite dog need not be a painful experience for him or for you. Using the dog nail grinder is but one way of providing a painless option that would be available to you in order to make your dog's nail trimming safe and rapid.

Stop hurting your beloved best friend! Learn the proper ways to tend to your dogs nail. Learn which dog nail grinder is kindest for your lovely dog. Do you want the best for man's best friend? If you do then come check out the proper way to care for your dogs nails.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_J._Scott

Tags: Dog tip, Dog health