Canaan Dog

The Canaan Dog is also known as: Kalef K'naani, Kelev Cana'ani

Fast Facts
Group classification: Herding Country of origin: Israel Date of origin: Antiquity
Weight (M): 45 - 55 lb Height (M): 20 - 24" Life expectancy: 12 - 13 years
Weight (F): 35 - 45 lb Height (F): 19 - 23"

1.General Description of the Canaan Dog

A sturdy dog of medium-size built along the lines of a racing hunter rather than a heavy plodder, the Canaan Dog is the only breed originating in Israel and is a member of the Herding Group. Squarely proportioned without extremes, the Canaan moves with athletic agility and an efficient ground-covering trot vital for survival in the wild. The head is wedge-shaped with prick ears, the nose is dark and slightly slanted, and almond-shaped eyes are dark brown and have an alert expression. The front legs are straight with round hard padded cat-like feet. The bushy tail curls over the back when the dog is excited or alert. The medium length double coat is harsh, straight, and lies flat. Canaan Dogs range in color from red to sand or may be black or white. They are often solid colored but may have white trim on the chest, feet, and tail tip; conversely, they may have a patched pattern of white with black or brown. In all color patterns there may be some ticking. The majority of US dogs are white and black, probably because the first four imports were white with black masks and patches.

2.Canaan Dog Temperament

While reserved and aloof with strangers, the Canaan Dog is inquisitive, loyal, and loving with his family. The dog gets along well with pets and other dogs. This is a highly territorial guard dog as well as a vocal watchdog. The Canaan Dog tends to be a one-person dog or one-family dog. Highly intelligent, the Canaan Dog is easily trained and excels in obedience, agility, tracking, and sentry work. They may also demonstrate the herding instinct. Somewhat independent, they require an owner who is firmly in charge.

3.Caring for a Canaan Dog

The Canaan Dog is a worker by nature, and needs plenty of physical and mental exercise everyday. Herding exercises, games, or vigorous training will help to satisfy these needs. Because Canaans are very defensive of their territory, they need socialization when young. If introduced as a puppy to people (especially children) and other dogs, their tendencies toward aloofness and dog aggression will be diminished. Canaans are moderately active indoors and can reside in an apartment if they get enough exercise. However, a sizeable yard would be preferable. Their dense undercoat protects the dog from extreme temperatures, whether hot or cold — so they can live outdoors, but they also make wonderful housedogs. Grooming requires little more than a weekly brushing. An extremely healthy breed, the Canaan rarely needs to see the vet and has no documented hereditary illnesses or conditions.

Dog Paw Care

Your dog's footpads are the toughest part of his skin, and absorb the shock and pressure on his joints from standing, walking and running. Due to their function, paws are prone to injury and dog paw care should be a part of your regular care routine.
I briefly inspect Zoe and Fritz's paws each evening as I outlined in an earlier post about getting your puppy used to being handled. It doesn't take long and is as simple as ensuring nothing is stuck between their toes and their pads are clean and free from mud and dirt.
Typical paw injuries include: abrasions, lacerations, punctures, burns and blisters to the footpad, dry, cracked pads and foreign objects lodged between the toes.

Symptoms of a paw injury: these include bleeding, limping, holding the injured paw off the ground, discoloration of the pad (difficult to see if the paws have a very dark pigmentation) and excessive licking and/or chewing of the paw.
If your dog is showing any of these symptoms, then you'll want to identify what is causing the problem. Be extremely careful handling an injured dog, even the most mild mannered dog can bite if he's in pain and feels threatened by you touching him. Putting a muzzle on your dog is a good way to protect yourself from a bite.
Treating abrasions, lacerations and punctures: the footpads contain a great number of blood vessels, so even a superficial paw cut can result in what seems like a serious amount of bleeding. The bleeding should stop relatively soon after you've treated the wound; if it doesn't, then contact your vet.
For abrasions and small cuts, clean the wound yourself with an anti-bacterial wash ([tag]chlorhexidine[/tag] diluted with water will suffice) and wrap the paw with a light bandage.
You will want to stop your dog from licking and chewing at the bandage - a good way to do this is to put an Elizabethan collar around his neck for a few days.
Your dog sweats through his footpads, so the bandage will become moist within a couple of days. Moist bandages slow down the rate of healing and can result in infection, so you should change the bandage every two to three days.
Depending on how deep the cut is, it should heel within a few days; if it doesn't and you are unsure how to carry on treating the wound, contact your vet.
With deep paw lacerations, I'd recommend you take your dog to your vet for treatment. He will suture (stitch) the pad, bandage it and probably apply a splint. Without the splint, every time your dog puts his paw to the ground, the pad will spread due the weight of your dog's body being applied to the paw - when this happens it's likely that the cut will open up again.
Burns and blisters: your dog's pads can easily burn and blister as a result of walking on a hot pavement or through hot sand.
If you look at your dog's pad there will either be a loose flap of the pad itself, or this will have becopme detached leaving a red, ulcerated patch.
The best thing you can do is to apply anti-bacterial wash and cover the paw with a bandage until the pad has healed. If your dog has a loose flap of pad you'll need to wait for this to come off, which it will do on its own or you can ask your vet to trim it off.
Dry, Cracked Pads: you dog's pads are naturally rough, they have to be so he has traction when he needs to turn quickly, sprint off and stop quickly. If the pads become cracked they are prone to collect dust and debris, which can cause further injury to the pad. Pads can be moisturised using a special footpad cream.
Try to avoid using human hand moisturiser as this tends to soften the pads to much and makes them prone to injury.
Foreign objects between the toes: the most common culprits are burrs, small stones and pieces of glass, dried mud and also your dog's matted fur.These can usually be removed with a pair of tweezers and matted fur can be trimmed back.
When to go to the vet: always contact your vet if you are unsure of the cause of the injury, you are not comfortable treating the injury yourself, the wound does not appear to be healing, or if your dog's paw becomes swollen.
Your vet will either recommend further treatment you can carry out at home or suggest you visit the clinic.
Prevention: sometimes accidents will happen, but to reduce the risk of a footpad injury keep your home and yard clear of sharp objects, take care when you are out to avoid hazards such as broken glass and other debris on pavements, walking on gravelled areas for a long period of time, hot pavements in the summer and road salt in the winter.
The best way to think about it is, would you be happy walking barefoot on that ground? If not, don't make your dog walk on it.

Dog Distemper Symptoms

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is an airborne type and highly contagious viral disease that is often fatal and can affects the respiratory, urogenital, gastrointestinal, optic nerves and central nervous systems.
Canine distemper is closely related to measles in human so if human has vaccine and immune to measles then they will also has immune to dog distemper. However there is a report that humans can possibly be infected with dog distemper disease but will show no signs or symptoms at all.
Large number of animal species and weasel-like animals such as lion, ferrets, foxes, wolves, coyotes, skunks, wild hogs, badgers, raccoons, pandas etc. can also develop this type of diseases. Dog distemper cannot affect or pass on to cat except other problems like skin irritations, mange, fleas, etc. Cat distemper is known as feline panleukopenia.
Puppies between 3-6 month of age are most susceptible to diseases infection and may suffer from more serious illness conditions such as inflammatory illness of the lung (pneumonia) and acute inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) when compare with older dogs. Around 15 percent of canine inflammatory central nervous system diseases are caused by canine distemper virus (CDV).
Nursing puppies has lower chance of CDV infection because a certain degree of immunity is passed down to puppies by colostrum-milk but this can only be done by giving colostrum-milk during the first 8-24 hours after birth.
Older dogs has little or no opportunity to become infected or exposed to the CDV virus because of the immunity build up but however there is a case that 7-8 years old dog has been infected with distemper.
Seasons has direct effects on the spread of dog distemper virus. Summer season and warm weather can force CDV to become dormantand lower their prevalence rate while CDV can be most virulent during early spring, fall and winter season.
Dog distemper incubation period ranges from 3-21 days in approximation and may be longer depend on other factors such as seasons, temperature etc.

Dog distemper symptoms

Early signs and symptoms of dog distemper

• fever
• loss of appetite (anorexia)
• mild eye inflammation (usually last two day)
• temperature rise to above 103 degree fahrenheit
• depression
• nasal discharge
• discharge from eye (conjunctivitis)

Dogs will have following symptoms when CDV affects theintestinal tract.

• vomiting
• diarrhea
• loss of appetite
• suddenly weak
• lethargy

Dogs will have following symptoms when CDV affects the lungs and upper respiratory tract.

• coughing
• sneezing
• vomiting
• green discharge from nostril
• discharge eye (conjunctivitis)
• diarrhea
• cough and labored breathing (pneumonia)
• runny nose (rhinitis)
• fever (usually unnoticed)

Dogs will have following symptoms when CDV affects the brain and spinal cord (encephalomyelitis), secondary bacterial infections.

• seizures
• muscle incoordination (ataxia)
• uncontrollable muscle twitch (myoclonus)
• hard pad disease
• depression
• abnormal increase in sensitivity to stimuli of the senses including hearing, tasting, feeling sense (hyperesthesia)
• partial or incomplete paralysis (paresis)
• deterioration of mental abilities

Dog Diabetes Symptoms

Dogs suffer from many ailments the same way as human do and diabetes is one of them.
Female dogs have nearly twice the risk of developing diabetes when compare with male canine. Middle-old age dog also have chance of developing this diseases.
Other factors that cause this illness is poor diet for a long time, obesity, cortisone treatments, genetic predisposition and stress etc.

Dog diabetes symptoms

• Suddenly weak
• Unable to sleep
• Low energy level
• Lethargy
• Dehydration
• Excessive water consumption (polydipsia)
• Frequent urination (polyuria)
• Increased appetite (polyphagia)
• Weight loss
• Abdominal pain
• Depression
• Vomiting
• Rapid breathing
• breath have an odor of acetone
• Liver malfunction
• Cataracts (cloudy eyes)

Diagnosis

Dog diabetes mellitus can be detect by doing urine analysis first then follow by blood tests. At first veterinarian will check your dog health to cut out other types of diseases that can cause false diagnosis. Veterinarian will then analyse urine for glucose because a diabetic dog will be spilling glucose into its urine. If an evidence of infection in the urinary tract is found then veterinarian will do the blood check to determine the level of sugar in blood. Normal blood sugar level for most dogs is around 70 - 150 mg/dl and dog that developed diabetes will have blood sugar level above 200 mg/dl.

Dog Fever Symptoms

Dogs are very similar to humans and they can have fever the same way as we do.
There are usually indicators and change in your pet behaviours to tell us that something is not normal.
Since your dog can't talk it is the your duty to watch for signs of dog fever symptoms and take care of them when they have don't feel well.

Dog fever symptoms

These are the signs to tell that your dog is not feeling well and starting to have fever.

• Overheated or body temperature raised above 103 degree fahrenheit
• coldness and shivering
• depression and sad expression
• respiration rate or pulse rate increase
• coughing
• sneezing
• watery eyes
• drooling a lot
• red gum or swollen
• lethargy
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• faints or collapses
• rough or dull coat
• clearly decreased in activity
• urinating problems or excessive urination for more than 12 hours
• loss of balance while walking, staggering and falling
• scratching at eyes or ears for a long time
• discharge from eyes, nose or ears
• breathing difficulty
• hot and prolonged panting
• whining for unclear reason
• increase or loss of appetite for more than 24 hours
• eat more but losing weight
• restlessness
• unusual lack of activity or excessive sleeping
• excessive water drinking

Other related symptoms are scratching, itching, painful movement or even bloody stools.
Some of the dog symptoms mentioned above are quiet serious and need to check with your vet because it may related to parasites, bacteria infections and diseases.

Dog fever prevention

Dog grown up in the house and they have no nature sense of survival like wild dogs. It is the owner duty to keep their dog in good health by giving them a regular exercise, proper diet and routine health check with your veterinarian. It is very important that you must memorize and remember your dog normal habits so the owner can detect their dog fever and symptoms when they are not feeling well. Always remember that prevention is better than cure.

Dog Chocolate Symptoms

Giving a small pieces of chocolate to your dog can spoil their habit and make them crave for more.

You can give chocolate or sweet candy when he behave well but you should aware that there are some types of chocolate that can be poisonous for your dog and lethal in some case.

Why is chocolate poisonous or lethal ?

Cocoa beans that were used in the chocolate production contains theobromine which can be toxic for your dog. Metabolise of theobromine in dog is very slow so it can stay in the bloodsteam for many hours which can affects and interferes with the central nervous system causing heart and kidneys problems.

Dog chocolate symptoms

The symptoms of theobromine poisoning can be clearly seen within 4 - 24 hours after chocolate has been consumed by your dog. The early signs of chocolate symptoms that can be seen from external are excessive thirst for water, vomiting, urination increased, diarrhea and restless.

As time passed, more theobromine will be absorb into the blood stream which will now affects the central nervous system causing heart rate to increase, serious muscle twitching, raise in blood pressure and hyperactivity. For worst case dog may have heart arrhythmia, seizures, abnormally high body temperature or hyperthermia and death.

Even if the small pieces of chocolate is consumed dog may vomit and having diarrhea due to high sugar and fat contained in the chocolate.

Treatments

You will have to do anythings to make your dog vomit the eaten chocolate out from his stomach. This will clearly reduce or decrease the amount of theobromine that can be absorb into your dog body. Call your local veterinarian and describe everythings that you know such as behaviour, symptoms, amount of chocolate consumed by your dog, previous record of allergy etc.

Many dogs usually recovered from dog chocolate symptoms and poisoning effects within 1 - 3 days after taken effective treatments from veterinarian.

Dog Illness Symptoms

Dog has become a part of our family now a day and they are certainly our best friend. Everyone want their dog to be healthy, live longer and happy all the time but sometimes they can get sick, behaviour changes and shown difference kind of illness symptoms.

Whatever your worries and concern may be, it is your duty as their owner to take care of them when they don't feel well and bring them back to their normal conditions as quick as possible.

Here is a few signs of dog illness symptoms that you should know.

dry nose

You can check by touching your dog nose gently but in some case watching closely is enough to detect their sickness. Their behaviour will also change for example feeling down, depress etc. However there are also other reasons that can be the cause of dog dry nose such as dehydrated that cause the reduction of liquid production inside your dog's body which lead to other kind of dog illness symptoms. If the surrounding temperature is hot around your dog then they can have temporary dry nose. There are also dog that recover from distemper when they are puppies may have permanently dry nose. The good treatment is to take your dog exercise often and feed them with good nutrient food.

significant increase or decrease in weight

Underweight is usually a sign of illness so if your dog is underweight then you must check with your veterinarian immediately. The basic treatment for underweight is giving more food and exercise. For overweight case is usually happened when your dog eat the left over food from human, over eat when they feel bored etc. The treatment for overweight case is choosing food carefully with low calories and do more exercise.

Increased water consumption, Increased urination, dehydration, eat more and gain less weight

This is the sign that your dog is having diabetes illness. The treatment for this case is controlling insuline and special diet course given by your veterinarian.

Changes in behavior

Yor dog illness signs can also be seen by symptoms such as sleep all day or sleep less than usual in some case, lethargy and irritation.

Loss of appetite

There are many reasons that make your dog eat less or stop eating such as problem with teeth and chewing, stomach problem caused by food that was eaten earlier, constipated, having depression feeling, adjusting problems due to change in season and temperature, hormone disorder, kidney or liver problems which is mainly cause by eating commercial food, having heart disease and cancer etc. The basic treatments for loss of appetite is to give fresh, different food and toppings everyday. If it doesn't work then you must talk with your vet to find the exact cause of this problems.

Dog Labor Symptoms

After two months that your dog are carrying puppies in her body. It is now almost time to let her puppies out to see the world but before that happen you might want her to play with small stuffed animals toy first to build guarding and nurture sense.

Here are the signs of dog labor symptoms

Rectal Temperature Drop

Normal temperature is about 101 fahrenheit or 38 celsius. If the measured temperature drop down below 97 fahrenheit or 36 celsius that mean your dog is about to give birth to puppies usually less than 24 hour. If your dog doesn't shown any signs of labor after 1 day from the temperature drop then you should contact your local veterinarian to check for the problems and do more accurate measurement by using dog thermometer.

Reject food

Most pregnant female dog will refuse to eat anything before they go into labor period. This is early sign that your dog will have labor symptoms soon.

Finding a den

This is a nature behaviour of most female dog. She will try to find a den or a hiding place that she feel safe and comfortable to give birth to her puppies such as under your bed, bathroom etc. During pregnancy period she can be more aggressive to other peoples too.

Sickness and vomiting

This is a normal symptoms for pregnant dog. she will begin to vomit to empty her stomach and this is usually happen few day before she go into labor and also make sure that you have fresh water available for her all the times.

Wanting to be near you all the time

She will follow you everywhere you go even sleep under your bed when you are sleeping so don't be surprise by this behaviour when this happen.

You Should call veterinarian if your dog have the following symptoms

Strong contraction for about an hour or more with no puppy out and you know that there are still more puppies inside her body.

About 3-4 hour pass and there are still more pups inside your dog body.

Fail to have labor after 1 day pass from the period of temperature drop.

Gestation for more than 70 days and no sign of labor symptoms.

Dog Heat Symptoms

Female dog can get pregnant during their heat cycle which is also called estrous cycle.

Adult female dog will usually experience the heat cycle every 9 to 12 months, one or three cycle a year depend on the breed and type of your dog.

The four stage of estrous cycle and Dog heat symptoms

The first stage is proestrus which has the average of 9 days for most female dogs. This period is often called "pre-heat". The symptoms for this period is vulva swells and bloody vaginal discharge. Female dog will produce hormone (estrogen) which attracts male dog but she will still reject the male during this period.

The second stage is estrus which last about 9 to 12 days depend on the type and size of your dog. Female may still have a discharge and will accept male dog at this stage. There will be significant increase in progesterone and luteinizing hormone which cause ovulation. The eggs that was released from ovulation will go into oviduct. Eggs can be fertilized if it is healthy enough and sperm from male dog are present.

The third stage is diestrus which range from 2 to 3 months. During this stage female dog will no longer accept male. The symptoms for this period is pregnancy, mammary glands swell and some dog may experience false pregancy. Progesterone hormones wii still remain high throughout this period.

The final stage is anestrus. This is the resting period preparing for the next heat cycle which last about 5 months. Hormone is reduce at this period.

If you are planning on breeding your female dog then you should talk with your veterinarians to determine the estrus stage, measuring progesterone hormones level etc. The reasons for doing analysis is to help timing the mating period.

Pregnant Dog Symptoms

Most dog owner usually keep their pet away from each other when they are in breeding season. Eventhough the owner do their best to prevent and protect pregnancy but sometimes breeding can take place. In some case it is hard to detect the clear sign of symptoms and most dog owner won't realized about it at all.
It is very important that every dog owner must learn and know the signs of pregnant dog symptoms to solve the problems when it occur. A female dog can only become pregnant when she is breed at the right time, conditions and heat cycle. The duration of pregnancy is usually last about 60 days however this number is only approximation and the real period duration can be shorter or last longer depend on the surrounding conditions and other factors.

Pregnant dog symptoms at the early stage

Your dog will eat lesser and show clear sign of decrease appetite. During gestation period your dog will feel exhaust easily and do less activity because their is a change in their hormone level to support the process of embryo production.
Another good indication is the increase in size and growth of nipple. Normally the abdomen area of an unbread female dog will be flat and has small nipple size. After breeding and pregnancy progress start to take place, breast will begin to develop for the process of milk production.
Most female dog behaviour will change at the pregnancy period. If you notice a sign that your dog wanted to be alone on her own then you can be sure that she is in her pregnancy period.

Pregnant dog symptoms at the middle stage

After one month of pregnancy, your dog will show sign of increase appetite and decrease when the heat cycle period ended. Pregnant dog will gain more weight during this period and you can check by touching the abdomen area, it will be thick and firm.

Pregnant dog symptoms at the last stage

The abdomen part of your dog will be hard and increased in size which depended mainly on the number of puppies she is carrying. Larger dog will have more room and space to carry puppies when compare with the smaller dog size. You can felt puppies movement during the last weeks of pregnancy and this shown a clear sign that your dog will give birth to these puppies soon.
Sometime you will see a bit of milk leakage which is called the first milk which is for delivering to the puppies when they are born.
Rather than doing your own observation on pregnant dog symptoms, it is much easier that you take your dog to the veterinarian and do the accurate check by ultrasound method.

Dog false pregnancy

The progress and change will be the same as the normal pregnant conditions such as milk production process, doing all the nesting activity, playing with toys etc. These changes will begin about 3-4 weeks after the heat cycle begin. False pregnancy is unpredictable and the symptoms can shown up on any female dogs whether they are mating or not. If your dog has a false prenancy before then there is a probability that she might have this symptoms again.

Treatment for false pregnancy in dog

You don't have to give any treatment at all because about ninety percent of false pregnancy problems is resolve on it own after three to four week period from the first sign of false pregnancy. However there are about ten percent chance that your dog will develop the psychological effects of mothering behavior that make her feel bad and sad. She will continue to search for her little puppies and begin to engorgement her own mammary glands. If your dog are in the 10% and having this symptoms then you should give treatment because there is a chance that your dog can have mastitis problems which have direct effect on the health of your dog.