April 2002
Letters 04/02: Lets Talk About Food!
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Treat-Dispensing Dog Toys
Subscribers Only Interactive toys that require your dog to do something to make the toy pay out food treats are a great invention. They can assist with behavior modification programs and help to keep your dog busy, out of trouble, and well-behaved in your home. The more time your dog spends pursuing one, the more energy she expends in your absence, the more tired she is by the time you get home. And a tired dog is a well-behaved dog. First on the interactive scene was the Buster Cube, followed by the Roll-A-Treat Ball, now joined by a whole host of other interactive products. We decided it was high time to compare some of these treat-dispensing toys to see which ones can give you and your dog the most value.
Regaining What Was Almost Lost
Subscribers Only Conventional veterinary medicine saved this little dog’s life; complementary therapies enabled him to once again live fully.
Older Dogs and the Onset of Cataracts
Cataracts make the lens of the eye opaque or cloudy, which gradually reduces vision to the point of blindness. In their early stages, cataracts cause blurring and distortion of vision, but they are invisible to the naked eye. By the time most owners notice them, cataracts involve more than 60 percent of the dogs eye. Cataracts often accompany other illnesses, such as diabetes and hypothyroidism (low thyroid function). Surgery performed by a veterinary ophthalmologist is the only treatment considered effective in conventional veterinary medicine and is indicated only in cases where the cataracts are not a result of a secondary disease such as diabetes.
If Your Dog Bites Someone Take Immediate Action to Manage This Behavior
All dogs can bite, and given differing circumstances, all dogs will. Although we humans regard any bite as aggression, for dogs, biting is a natural and normal means of canine communication and defense. Its actually surprising that our dogs dont bite us more often than they do! Aggression is generally caused by stress, which can come from a variety of sources. Some dogs have high bite thresholds it takes a lot of stressors to make them bite. Some have low thresholds it doesnt take much to convince them to bite. A dog with a high bite threshold may seem like the best choice around kids. This is often true, but if noisy, active children are very stressful to the dog, even a high-threshold dog might bite them.
Understanding Congestive Heart Failure
Dogs dont experience heart attacks the way humans do, but this doesnt mean they dont die of heart disease. Heart failure is increasingly common in Americas dogs, with many showing symptoms by age seven or eight. Even some young dogs develop congestive heart failure, inheriting the propensity for the disease from their parents. Conventional medical practitioners consider congestive heart failure and other circulatory problems to be progressive and irreversible, but holistic veterinarians know that in many cases, heart disease can be slowed, reversed, and even cured. Understanding heart disease will help you prevent it in healthy dogs and treat it in dogs who are already ill.
Canine Agility Training - The Ultimate Team Sport
Subscribers Only By now, if youre into dogs, youve probably heard about agility. Maybe youve even seen it in action or tried it with your dog. Agility is one of the fastest growing dog sports in the world, and with good reason its fun! Of all of the dog things Ive done, agility is the most fun, says Vogt, a resident of Scotts Valley, California, who has participated in a multitude of dog activities, including search and rescue, obedience, hunting tests and flyball, as well as agility. Agility is fun for a whole bunch of reasons. Its fast. Its always different. The dogs love it. The handler is constantly challenged. But perhaps the most wonderful part about agility is the way the dog and handler work together as a team. It is the ultimate team sport and like any team sport, the relationship of the team members is key.
Whats in a Name?
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