June 1, 2012

Editorial

Do Something

My friends and family members know that I have a standing offer: If they know anyone who is looking for a dog – any sort of dog – I will keep an eye out for the dog of their dreams at my local shelter. And if I find a particularly good candidate, I will even take the dog home and foster him for a few weeks. I do this so I can work with the dog a little, to make sure he knows a few basic behaviors to impress his new owners (and fit in well in his new home).

Inter Nyet

This issue contains, among other things, an in-depth article about canine diabetes. WDJ’s ace team of canine health researchers/writers, CJ Puotinen and Mary Straus, have spent months researching this vexing (and increasingly common) disease in dogs. What causes diabetes? What’s the best treatment for it? What should I feed my diabetic dog? They’ve reviewed veterinary texts and reference materials, analyzed the latest studies, and have distilled what they learned into sound, practical information for you.

Welcome Change

On the first day of the Crufts dog show in early March, the Kennel Club in England confirmed that business as usual wasn’t so usual anymore. This year marked the start of reforms put into place after the game-changing BBC documentary – Jemima Harrison’s “Pedigreed Dogs Exposed” – shocked the country with images of dogs so structurally unsound that the normal life of a dog was impossible. The result? Independent veterinary review of the judges’ selections for Best of Breed Bulldog and Pekingese deemed the dogs too unhealthy to be granted their awards. And this was just on day 1. What’s next?!

Dogs Talk . . .

Today’s viral video was of a news anchor who was bitten in the face by a dog on live television. If you own a dog, you probably either saw the video, read an article about the incident, or heard other dog owners discussing it. But dogs bite people every day; why was this incident so riveting? Well, for one thing, the dog was on TV because he had been rescued from near death (in an ice-covered pond) only the day prior. There was gripping video footage of the rescue – a handsome young firefighter went into the icy water and hauled the 85-pound dog to safety.

“No” Power - Interpreting a Dry Dog Food Product Label

While researching this year’s dry dog food review (which starts on the facing page), I was struck by the overwhelming prevalence of two big trends in marketing and formulation. I’m not sure any pet food company is immune from these tactics – and I’m not yet convinced they will prove a benefit to dogs or dog owners. The first tactic is the “No!” approach. You know, “No Corn, wheat, or soy!” How tame those claims seem now. I’ve seen dog food bags and pet food company literature that proudly proclaims products free of beef, dairy products, eggs, pork, potatoes, and yeast.

Respect

Every so often, a little flame war will erupt in WDJ’s Letters to the Editor, comment section on the WDJ website, or WDJ’s Facebook page. People will get mad. Other people will try to humor (or correct!) the angry ones. Some subscribers will cancel their subscriptions; others will pledge their support in the face of these tribulations and buy subscriptions for their friends.

Pet Food Peeve

A recent headline for an article on petfoodindustry.com read, “Thank goodness for the humanization of pets.” The article discussed how industry sales data and recent surveys of pet owners suggest that pet foods that are made to appeal to human appetites are responsible for most of the growth in the industry.

Feed Back?

Can we talk? I need some advice about WDJ. Last month, I mentioned that both my writers and I have endured some various challenging life events this summer, which delayed the appearance of a few articles. Fortunately, other terrific pieces were prepared ahead of schedule, or in a few cases, appeared out of thin air from one of my regular contributors. Despite the drama, we’ve been able to bring you a full 24 pages of information you could immediately put into practice – even if it wasn’t on the topics we hinted at in the “what’s ahead” bar that appears on page 24.

A Puppy From Hell

About five years ago, my then-next-door neighbors decided to get a dog, and not just any dog. They’d spent years dreaming about and planning for the day they’d have both a landlord who allowed dogs and the time to spend with a dog. Now they had both, and they wanted to get a miniature Poodle, preferably female, and “apricot” colored. And they wanted to know if I knew any Poodle breeders.

Finally Fall

I think I may make this announcement every fall: I’m sorry that some of the articles that we’ve been promising (seen in the “What’s Ahead” column on the back cover) have not yet appeared. And other, unheralded ones have popped up. Even after nearly 50 years on earth, I can’t seem to manage my summer schedules properly.

Deja Vu

Why, oh why, does Consumer Reports even “go there”? I have the utmost respect for the magazine’s reviews of vacuums and DVRs and such, but pet food is beyond their ken. Yet they persist. In “Tame Your Pet Costs” in the August issue, its authors advise readers not to “pay a premium for ‘premium’ dog food.” They put the quotes on premium dog food, to indicate their apparent opinion that there is no such thing. Sigh.

Bad Words

A few years ago, I asked Whole Dog Journal’s readers about the use of the words “owner” versus “guardian.” The response was polarized; either term makes some people see red. Perhaps that’s why the phrase “pet parent” has become so popular – it seems to avoid the third-rail effect of the other options, and conveys both caring and responsibility. But I have to admit; when one of my friends talks about her “canine son,” I tense up a little. I can’t even tell you why; it’s weird.

Not For You?

Bringing a baby or toddler (or even grade school-aged kids) into a dog park is the inappropriate human behavior I most deplore. When our kids were about 8 years old, a friend took my son, his twin boys, and their dog to the dog park – and then left them all there together while he drove someplace to get coffee. When he got back to the park, he was alarmed to see an ambulance in the dog park parking lot . . . and then horrified to see that the EMTs were gathered around one of his sons, while the other two boys stood by with frightened expressions. It turns out that the boys were playing (and probably completely absorbed in their own world) when one of them got flattened – knocked to the ground, hard – by a dog who was running by with a pack of big, boisterous dogs. Mike was okay, but he had the wind knocked out of him (and he has asthma anyway), so when it appeared that he couldn’t breathe, and the nearby dog owners learned that the boys were there without a parent, someone called 911.

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.

Live and Learn

For months now, I’ve been planning and thinking about and making notes for “Itching to Be Well,” the article about canine allergies that I wrote for this issue. My last dog, a Border Collie named Rupert, has been on my mind as I’ve been working on the article. Rupe was itchy most of his life, and though I became aware early on that he had a severe hypersensitivity to flea bites – the bite of a single flea could turn him into an obsessively scratching, chewing, red, irritated mess within hours – it took me almost a decade to discover that he also was allergic to chicken.