This page is for all you kids who are interested in learning
about
dogs, how to help look after your own pet dog, and how to be safe around dogs.
Have fun and enjoy the activities. There is a lot to learn. Please keep coming back. We will put something new on this page regularly.
Parents: There is a lot of information on child safety around dogs in the links at the bottom of this page.
Note: Because this page uses scripts you may get the following message "Internet Explorer restricted this web page from running scripts or ActiveX controls." You may have to allow blocked content if you can't see the jumping sheep or the answers to the puzzles, for example.
Unfortunately the jumping sheep below can't be seen on the iPad because the animation is powered by Flash. We are very sorry about that, but we decided to leave the sheep on the page because they are fun for the people who are able to see them!
Jumping Sheep!!
Move your cursor over the sheep and watch them jump!
(from sheepgame.co.uk)
Archives
2016
Winter 2016 Activity Page
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Summer 2016 Activity Page
An Easy Trick to Teach Your Dog
"Tricks are fun! Tricks, like games, keep your dog alert and energetic. They give your dog a chance to play. Tricks give you and your dog time to be together.
Tricks help your dog to 'learn how to learn'. If they can learn tricks, then they can learn obedience and good behaviour. Go ahead...have some fun and teach your dog some tricks!" http://www.loveyourdog.com
How to teach:
"TURN AROUND", OR "TURN LEFT"
CLICK HERE TO
GO TO THIS TRICK
Quiz: How Much Do You Really Know About Dogs?
Take our quiz, and find out!
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE
QUIZ
Colouring Pages Contest
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THIS MONTH'S CONTEST
An Easy Trick to Teach Your Dog
How to teach"Turn Around, or Turn Left" : courtesy of the Love Your Dog web site - http://www.loveyourdog.com
Start by having your dog stand up facing you. Let your dog see a treat in your hand. Stand still and say, "Turn around". Lead the
dog's nose around to the left (clockwise) with the treat so he walks in a
circle. When he comes back to where he's facing you again, say, "Good
dog!" and give him the treat.
TIP:After some practice, hold the treat in front of you so your dog can see it and
say, "Turn around," but don't lead his nose. See if he is ready to
turn around by himself and get the treat. Pretty soon, he will turn around
faster than you can say 'Lassie!"
If you choose to use the words, "Turn Left", use them all the time. Don't use "Turn around" sometimes, and "Turn
Left" other times. Be consistent.
Note: We like to use this trick when drying our dog after a walk in the rain. First we dry one side of her, then we say "Turn around" so we can dry her other side!
Quiz
Dogs are fun. There is so much to learn about them. Let’s see how much you already know. Try this quiz and see.
Answer the questions, choosing A, B or C
1. How should you behave around dogs?
A. Calm
B. Hyper
C. Ignore them
2. When you meet a dog on your walk, do you
A. Run up to the dog?
B. Throw the dog a treat?
C. Ask the owner if you can meet his dog?
3. When your dog eats
A. Do you try to take his bowl away?
B. Do you leave him alone?
C. Do you put his leash on?
4. Dogs need
A. No exercise
B. No toys
C. Lots of love and play time
5. You take your dog to training classes because
A. You go to school so he should too
B. You want him to go to university
C. It’s fun. Dogs love to learn and want to be a good family member
6. Dogs are allowed to chew A. Toys
B. People
C. Furniture
7. When should you start teaching your dog?
A. A year after you get him
B. Never
C. The day you bring him home
8. When a strange dog runs up to you in the park
A. You run away
B. You stand like a tree
C. You give him a treat
9. A dog licks his lips when there is no food nearby, because A. He wants you to get his food bowl
B. He is stressed
C. He is friendly
10. When you take your dog for a walk A. You need to clean up his messes
B. You walk away pretending it's not your dog's mess
C. You tell your dog to hold it until you guys get home!
When you have answered all the questions, here are the answers:
(no peeking until you have finished the puzzle!)
1A, 2C, 3B, 4C, 5C, 6A, 7C, 8B, 9B, 10A
How many did you answer correctly?
puzzle produced by Julie More
Colouring Pages Contest
We would love to hear from you
Click here and print out the picture that opens. Colour the picture carefully with pencils or crayons.
Then tell us why your pet is special, and what rules you have in your house to make your pet safe.
Send it to us at [email protected] with your email address. We will choose a winner each month and post it in our newsletter for everybody to see.
Dogs
can be frightened by people jumping or screaming and they may bite. It is
always best to be calm and relaxed around dogs, especially strange dogs.
Healthy pets are happy pets.
Your pet is very happy that you look after him so well.
What if You Can't Have a Dog?
Not everyone can add a dog to their family.
Perhaps your house is too small (you live in an apartment or condo), or your landlord doesn't allow you to keep a dog. Perhaps your family just doesn't have the time to exercise a dog, groom her, or take her to the vet when she is sick. Or maybe someone in your family has allergies to dogs.
Have you considered one of the cuddly and loving creatures below instead? Or even something not quite as cuddly, like a tortoise or a fish?
How about a rabbit or a guinea pig? They make wonderful, affectionate and fairly long-lived pets. Or a mouse or rat? They are intelligent and can be taught to do tricks quite easily. How about a hamster or gerbil? A chinchilla? Or, if the allergic person cannot tolerate any animal hair, there are pet birds. Or fish. Did you know that with patience you can actually train a goldfish to do simple tricks such as swimming through a hoop for
rewards? Amazing!
Be sure to check out your local humane society or animal rescue when looking for a new pet. They frequently have many different types of animals, both large and small.
This time we will talk about some very lively little pets: Gerbils
Gerbils are very popular small pets. They don't sleep much during the day, as hamsters tend to do, so you can watch them running and climbing around their cages, shredding paper and running on a wheel (make sure the wheel you provide is solid material so that their long tails don't get trapped as the wheel turns). They can be taught tricks, using
food.
Gerbils are very friendly and normally only bite when frightened. They don't mind gentle handling, but should not be picked up by their sensitive tails because this might injure them and pull the fur off. Sadly, they only live about 3-4 years. They are very curious and fearless, so owners have to be careful about letting them run free. They like to explore small places such as under furniture, or holes in walls, and they might get
trapped there.
Another caution: they love to run inside special clear plastic balls, and can move quite fast. However, if there are steps nearby, or if the ball is on a table top, the gerbil might roll the ball right off and hurt itself quite badly.
Because they are so clean and don't smell, gerbils are easy to care for provided their bedding is cleaned out regularly. They can be housed in a large aquarium, a hard wood cage, or a plastic cage from the pet store that has lots of tubes and ladders for the gerbils to play in. The cage will have to be covered. Gerbils are very agile and can easily jump out (they can be hard to catch, and may get hurt). They will build a cozy nest in a corner of their
cage, and it will soon become quite deep with torn pieces of paper that they have chewed. Gerbils love to shred paper, cardboard, or pieces of clean wood. They enjoy running through, and then chewing on the inner tubes from kitchen rolls. All this chewing is essential to keep their teeth from growing too long.
Gerbils like company and can be kept in groups of the same sex, although a pair of females might be better than a pair of males, who may fight. Sometimes they will play fight, standing on their back legs and boxing like kangaroos.
Remember:
Gerbils attract cats and dogs; cats and dogs kill gerbils;
cages with tight-fitting lids keep little gerbils safe!
Here are some useful gerbil links for you, with much more information:
"Get dog smart with Diggity the Dog! Diggity the Dog’s story encompasses the number one cure for the dog bite
epidemic. The story takes children on a fun walk through the
neighborhood. Along the way, children encounter a whole lot of dogs in
different situations. Diggity tells the "do's" and "don'ts" - right from
the doggie's mouth."
Little Liam was fatally bitten by his family's own beloved dog. This site is full of information for parents and caregivers - such as dog body language; dog stress signals; signs of anxiety; why dogs bite; Be a Tree, and more. Well illustrated.
"Science Kids is the home of science & technology on the Internet for children around the world.”
This wonderful website helps kids learn about the amazing world of science by enjoying the “fun science experiments, cool facts, online games, free activities, ideas, lesson plans, photos, quizzes, videos & science fair projects."
The people at the Love your dog website have very generously allowed us to reproduce some of their articles. Please visit them, there is lots to enjoy there.
