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Guide to choose a Dog

Here’s a simple and easy guide to choosing a dog. These are some of the things you should consider when choosing your puppy or adult dog to ensure you pick a best friend for life.

Purebred, Crossbred or Mixed-Breed

A purebred dog is a dog whose parents are both of the same breed. Humans create purebred dogs through selective breeding – inbreeding. Purebred dogs did not exist before humans manufactured them – a dog would simply breed with any other dog it chose, so there were no “purebreds”, just a race of mixed-breed dogs. The advantage of choosing a purebred dog is that you can accurately determine his size, shape, and personality. So, for example, if you were to choose a Poodle puppy you would know with certainty what he will look like when he gets older, his approximate size, that he will be intelligent, and easy to train, and that he will hardly ever shed any hair.

A crossbred is the child of two different purebred dogs. Crossbreds are also known as designer or hybrid dogs. For example, if you cross a Labrador and a Poodle, you get what’s known as a “Labradoodle”.

A mixed-breed is the result of two random dogs who mate. Also known as mongrel, random-bred, or mutt. For example, a mixed-breed is the result if a Purebred, such as a Poodle, and a Crossbred, such as a Labradoodle mating. more…

Airedale Terrier Dog Breed

The Airedale Terrier is a people oriented dog with patience for children. He is affectionate and will protect his adopted family. Early socialization with children is important. They are large, strong dogs and they may play a bit rough. They have been used as police dogs and are alert and make excellent watchdogs. For safety reasons, never leave very young children alone with any dog.

*Temperament. His temperament is loyal and he will protect his adopted family. Many believe he has a sense of humor. Training can be a little difficult as he is more inclined to be a clown.

*Approximate Adult Size. Males weigh about 65 pounds and are about 23 inches tall at the withers (tallest point of the shoulders. Females weigh 55 to 60 pounds and are about 22 inches to the withers.

*Ideal Environment. The Airedale is a large size dog that is energetic and needs plenty of exercise. A properly fenced back yard would help in his exercise needs. He is not recommended for an apartment unless he has frequent, brisk walks. The Airedale needs a lot of exercise and attention or he will get bored and become destructive. If you have a cat, another dog or other small pets, they can be aggressive toward them as they were bred to hunt animals. Having a animal or pet run from this dog will get his hunting juices going. Early socialization will help considerably but it is hard to defeat his hunting heritage. more…

Aquarium Plants

When we first started keeping tropical fish – we did have one major disaster which wiped out the whole tank. It was a particularly gruesome situation which we could have avoided but I didn’t count as “our fault”…

We had gone away for a long weekend and yes, you’ve guessed it, the thermostat on the tank heater broke, the temperature of the water soared – fish tank extinction ensued…and my family and I were in tears on our return…

I was so shaken by the experience that for a while we kept only plants in our aquarium as we didn’t have the heart to start again.

Slowly over time we realised how wonderful a properly planted tank can be and how exotic the plants can make the whole aquarium look, a properly landscape tank adds enormous visual impact. And of course, when you add fish, plants play an important role in aquarium life as they add oxygen to the water and help to absorb nitrites that are toxic to the fish.

The sun is the most significant factor in the life of a plant, and in an aquarium, lighting is equally as central to maintain the health and beauty of the plants.

Wayne Vandre, Horticulture Specialist, comments that light is the all-important source of energy used by plants in photosynthesis. But light is not just one simple, well-defined entity. The plant response is influenced by light quality, intensity and duration. Experiments show that maximum growth of most plants is under cool white fluorescent light.

It is important to realize that skimping on the quality of lighting will affect the quality of plant growth that you get and therefore the overall quality of tank life.

Landscaping a tank can be fun and it is essential to get different types of plants to give the tank that exotic look. There are many diverse ranges of aquatic plants. Tubers need to be anchored by the root to the bottom of the tank. Floating plants plainly float in the tank do not need to be anchored and will not usually require fertilizer. Rooted plants, like tubers need to be anchored to the bottom of the tank normally tied to pieces of rock or wood. These species usually grow to be fairly tall and will help to fill the aquarium.

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