Following Is a few tips I thought I would share they are things I have learnt over the years.  Please check back every now and then as I will be adding more.  

1. If you do not want to contribute to pet over population de-sex your dog raising puppies when done correctly, is not an easy exercise.  Your dog does not need to have a litter to settle it down or for any other reason.  Dogs should only be bred to improve their breed and health.   It is actually beneficial for the health of your dog to be nutered, your dog will be less restless, aggressive and less susceptible to diseases like prostrate cancer and development of tumors related to hormonal activities. The best age to de-sex is when your dog reaches the age of 5 to 6 months. A female dog will bleed every 3 to 6 months depending on breed and size and needs to be securley locked away from other dogs during this time. The scent of a female when in heat may attract male dogs from streets and blocks away and a dog can be very determined to get what it wants.

2. Once a week give your dog a fresh raw beef bone to sink it's teeth into.  This has many benefits it helps to clean the dogs teeth, helps prevent bad breath, is a great boredom buster and promotes good jaw development in puppies. Even if your dog doesn't eat all of the bone even just chewing the meat and cartilage off helps.

3. Old dogs are highly sensitive to the extremes of temperature. They also find difficulty in stretching their limbs and to move about because of the increasing stiffness of the joints.  Supply your dog with a warm spot to sleep and I found with my old girls putting coats on them really helped.

4. If you mix meat/vegies etc through you dogs dry biscuits add a little water it makes it much easier to mix and the dog finds it harder to sort out the biscuits from the meat.  

5. When a dog sits down and drags it bottom along the ground it could mean a few things.  *It may have worms,  *It could have an itch,  *It could be trying to squeeze out some of the accumulation in its anal glands your vet can show you how to relieve this.  

6. Cough - If you dog is coughing or pawing at it's mouth have a look inside the mouth it might have something stuck (usually at the top of the mouth) that you can see and easily remove.  If there isn't anything there or an item can't be easily removed consult your vet.