We are constantly learning more and I am here to keep you up to date. Did you know, for example, the vaccination schedule has change three times in the past ten years? We now know that over vaccinating leads to many dog health issues (such as seizures) and diseases (like cancer).

There was a new recommended vaccination schedule released in 2011 by The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) which your vet may or may not follow.

What if by feeding healthy dog food and supplements your dog lived another five or even ten years? Would it be worth it to learn about dog nutrition? Would it be worthwhile to learn about the negative side effects of certain medicines and vaccinations? Think of me as your dog health care coach.

Hi, I'm Andrea and this is my youngest dog, Lulu. I want to welcome you to Three Little Pitties Dog Health and share a little about my philosophy and what you'll find here.

The most important thing I've learned about dog health is, you are what you eat. Now I don't know why I didn't think about this for my dogs when I learned it about humans.

A Human Example

The beginning of my road to natural dog health began over 20 years ago. My two-year-old son was diagnosed with severe asthma. Seeing that little guy hooked up to a nebulizer every day just broke my heart. And what it did to his personality and his body was not good.

One day when picking him up from his playgroup, another mom approached me and suggested I take him off dairy products. I thought the woman was insane. I'd been taught from an early age that milk and cheese were good for us.

Still, I loved my son so much. What would it hurt to stop dairy for awhile and see what happened? After three weeks his asthma was gone.

When his pediatrician didn't believe me, I sought out a naturopath and learned more about foods and natural cures. Amazingly, after that it was rare that any of us got sick and when we did, we healed much faster.

A Scary Example of Dog Health Problems

Now, let's look at an experience I had with my dogs.

A few years ago we had a serious flea infestation. One of my dogs nearly died from a topical flea medicine and that's when the light went on. What had I been thinking? I felt like such a dummy for not applying what I knew about food and natural healing to my dogs.

I was so angry and guilt ridden. I'd nearly killed my own dog out of ignorance! (The others were sick as well.) I became passionate about dog health and healing in a more natural way and I wanted to save other dog owners from going through what I had.

While I read and reread natural healing books, I searched for a way to build a website that would actually get found and could be done without knowing the language of computer writing. (I swear I flunked HTML for Dummies.) I found it and now my passion has turned into the perfect stay at home job.

One of the most important things I learned is that healthy dogs don't have flea problems. How could this be? We are what we eat and because its a process that takes time, we don't correlate the skin problems to food. Nor do we see the link between arthritis, other degenerative diseases or the weakened body that becomes an invitation to fleas and ticks when they happen to our dogs.

No matter where you read about dog health, the basics remain the same. The problem lies in the interpretation.

Recipe for Dog Health

The most important ingredients for natural health come from these things.

• Quality foods and snacks
• Pure clean water
• Exercise
• Supplements or remedies that help the body heal itself

Hold on to something in case this is news to you. The healthiest dog foods do not come in a bag or a can. Water from your tap may be hurting your dog and exercise actually stimulates the immune system!

Now the rest of the recipe for dog health is not what to add, but what to take away.

• Minimal vaccines. Keep up to date on this one.
• Cut back or stop medicines that relieve symptoms only. Things like cortisone and prednisone for example have some long term side effects that scare the pants off of me and they should you too.

And now I'm going to add one more component I think is very important to dog health.

Discipline

I bet you're surprised I have discipline listed aren't you? It's not something I thought too much about until I had five dogs under one roof with me.

Our dogs teach us. Mine taught me I was a lazy owner. I let too many little things slide. The result was an unruly pack. Without a strong leader, they will take over, bicker amongst themselves, get in the trash, and more. Dog behavior issues can turn your life into a living hell.

Here's Helen. We used to call her Hellion when she was the queen of dog behavior problems. Now she's practically an angel.

What does this have to do with dog health and not just your sanity? I believe dogs without boundaries and limitations just don't thrive like those who know and do what is expected of them.

Isn't stress bad for us? It is for them too. I suspect it is the pressure of being the leader and a dog not understanding the exasperation of its caretaker causes a lot of stress in your dog. You have to learn to speak dog for everyone's mental health. After all, does your dog speak to you in Greek? Then let's stop talking to them in just English!

I'd love for you to read about the proper way to greet your dog. It's listed under dog behavior modification and its step one in getting respect from our canines, because it uses their own rules.

Another question I have for you is, do you just put the food bowl down and let him dig in, or does he have to wait? Making a dog wait is not mean. It's good for the dog and likely the only mental exercise canines get nowadays.

My goal is to help you with health care through nutrition and observation. This will keep your vet appointments to a minimum. And I want to help you with a little dog behavior modification if you need it.

I hope you enjoy this website and find it useful; maybe even enlightening.

I am here to support you and your dogs. I'd love for you to bookmark Three Little Pitties or subscribe to my blog so you can come back often. There are hundreds of pages here and I want you to find me when you need me.

You are welcome to contact me with specific questions and your canine health concerns.

In honor of your dogs and mine, this site is dedicated to dog health.

Sincerely,

Andrea Partee

...and the Three Little Pitties, who became five; and then sadly, just four

(To read a little about each of us, point your mouse over each picture. Then click on a picture for a silly view of each of us.)

Bonz

Helen

Miss Lily

Moo

Lulu

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Now come on in and explore. On the left is the navigation bar where you will find the first pages in a category.

And if you scroll down, you will find those same links with brief descriptions.

And now I am connected to Facebook so you can make comments on any of these pages; send them to a friend or share them on your profile. And if you are one to tweet, share me on Twitter too! I am always appreciative. Thanks!

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