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May 2011

An Education in Specialty Dog Foods

Subscribers Only It’s a very tempting concept – that a perfect food for every dog exists out there, somewhere. It must be tempting, because the pet food manufacturers keep increasing the number of products they formulate and market toward the owners of dogs of a progressively narrow description. Seriously – there are foods labeled for large breed seniors, and indoor toy puppies. There are foods that are supposedly just right for Spaniels, for goodness’ sakes! Decades ago, there was just dog food; eventually, versions of commercial foods for puppies were introduced to the market with great success – perhaps because of the introduction of commercial baby foods in the same historical period!

Specialty Dog Food kings

Subscribers Only I don’t think any pet food company has taken the “specialty diet” concept farther than Royal Canin, who has developed foods for dogs of every size, age, and condition, and even a few specific breed varieties. Here’s a list of its dry foods for toy and small breeds; no wonder people are confused about what to buy!

An Observation Technique That Will Improve Your Dog Training

Subscribers Only How well do you really know your dog? Like most trainers and competitors, Nancy Tanner of Bozeman, Montana, assumed she knew hers inside out – until some whales and their trainers taught her an important lesson. You too can adopt the simple technique she learned at a marine mammal park to improve canine interactions at all levels. Tanner’s path of discovery began five years ago at Sea World in San Diego, California, where she took a behind-the-scenes tour. What caught Tanner’s attention was the whales’ “free-time pool.” In this large, safe, comfortable environment, whales do whatever they like. Sometimes the pool is occupied by a single whale and sometimes by two or more. Trainers are always present but they never initiate activity. They simply watch and wait.

Observation Without Direction

Subscribers Only Spending time with your dog is one thing. Watching for behaviors that can be incorporated into training is another. While free time is free for the dog, it’s work for the handler/trainer, requiring focus and attention to detail. Experienced trainers and competitors will notice things that novices won’t, but even if a handler is not actively training a dog, or the dog is best described as a house pet, free time can be an effective tool for better understanding the dog’s interests, temperament, and personality.

5 Steps to Upgrading Your Dog's Commercial Dog Food Diet

Whole Dog Journal readers have learned how to identify the best commercial foods when they shop for their dogs. But whether you feed dry kibble or canned food, even the best commercial diets can be improved with the addition of appropriate fresh foods. Keep the following things in mind when adding fresh foods to your dog’s diet.

Training a Hyperactive Dog to Calm Down

Boy, do I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say their dog was “hyperactive” or “ADHD” – I’d be a wealthy woman. In fact, those are clinical terms referring to very specific behavioral disorders (canine and human) that are relatively uncommon in dogs. In reality, most “hyper” dogs are just under-exercised. A couple of days hiking at the Peaceable Paws farm and you’d hardly know them. Not every dog owner has access to large tracts of acreage upon which to exercise their unruly canines, and in any case, “wild child canine syndrome” (WCCS) is more than just lack of exercise; it’s also lack of appropriate reinforcement for calm behavior – i.e., training.

Taking More Steps To a Calm Dog

Subscribers Only Every behavior and training professional has seen her share of WCCS dogs. Some have developed their own programs to help humans help their dogs.

How to Train Hearing Impaired Dogs Using Hand Signals and Simple Gestures

Subscribers Only I was recently contacted by a friend about a darling Border Collie puppy whose photo she found on Petfinder.com – and who was deaf. This friend is crazy about Border Collies, and also knows that I have a deaf Chinese Crested. Thus, she thought of me when she saw this puppy. The person who was fostering the pup was unable to keep her much longer, and did not want to send her to the local shelter as that would almost certainly result in the puppy’s euthanasia. Why? Because that shelter considers all deaf dogs as “unadoptable.”

Juneau’s Story – One of The Happiest Deaf Dogs You Could Ever Meet!

Subscribers Only Juneau and I have learned a lot together. She came to me at 8 months of age as a well socialized puppy with tons of energy. If I didn’t find things for her to do, she’d find her own things to do. She may only be 12 inches tall, but she still figured out how to get things off of the counter (like an entire pizza).

Veterinary and Human Medical Centers Collaborate

Subscribers Only The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and Wake Forest University’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, signed an agreement in January to form the Virginia Tech/Wake Forest Center for Veterinary Regenerative Medicine (CVRM). The goal is to facilitate the use of cutting-edge, regenerative (stem cell) treatments for pets and people. Clinical trials performed at the center will provide valuable information concerning the effects of stem-cell therapy.

Using Dog Poo DNA to Catch Scofflaw Dog Owners

Subscribers Only Visitors to the island of Capri, a gorgeous Italian summer destination for the wealthy, are accustomed to movie star sightings, priceless views of the sparkling sea, over-the-top yachts – and stepping in dog poo? According to recent news reports, Capri’s mayor, Ciro Lembo, says it costs the tiny island in the Gulf of Naples around 5 million euros a year to keep the island clean. “Do you really think we will let the reputation of the island, whose beauty is coveted by the world, be compromised by bodily needs left in the streets by inattentive or arrogant dog owners?” Lembo said in an interview with Adnkronos, an Italian press agency.

Bad News for Dog Owners Looking for Single-Antigen Vaccines

I have always run titers on my dogs before vaccinating and my vet provided individual doses when required. This year was different. The office manager called and said their practice could no longer provide individual vaccines, as in the past. I vaccinate only for parvo, distemper when titers are low, and rabies. I was quite upset because one of my dogs needed only distemper and my other dog’s titers were good. I posed the question, “Why offer titers, if you are not able to provide individual vaccines? Big silence! Well, I know the answer.

Rescue or Buy?

Some months ago, I received a note from a subscriber that was titled, “Why I’m buying my next dog at the mall.” At first, I thought it was a joke. Then I read the rest and realized that the writer was perfectly serious. He described what had happened when he, as a first-time dog owner in his 40s, decided to get a dog.