Care

and all other significant medical and temperamental data

First, I would like to compliment you on your newsletter. I subscribe to several dog-related newsletters/magazines and, after just two issues of Whole Dog Journal, consider yours the cream of the crop! Your articles are informative, well written and pertinent. Best of all, they don’t insult my intelligence. Please keep up the good work.

if you keep doing that

Good holistic health care fulfills the needs of the whole animal being, physically, mentally, and emotionally. A sound, well balanced diet (along with fresh, clean water), appropriate exercise, and proper behavioral education just about covers the bases. Or does it? Health is individual. Many people consider their animals to be healthy as long as they aren't sick, but to me, a healthy dog is happy and expressive, exuding resilience. Whether our animal companion denotes health with a gleaming eye, a flashing coat, and an athletic leap for a Frisbee, or a half cocked ear, sly grin, and thumping tail from the Barcalounger, we can best ascertain the level of our friends' health by observing over time what's normal for each unique individual.

Fortunately, when both a disease and its conventional treatments are objectionable, complementary and alternative medical practitioners can be of tremendous value. As with practitioners who treat humans, veterinary practitioners offer a range of helpful adjuncts to, and replacements for conventional treatments. For instance, in the case of heartworm, a conservative adjunctive therapy may consist of herbal and nutritional support for dogs that are also undergoing conventional drug treatments for heartworm. On the more radical end of the scale, some holistic practitioners offer a complete alternative to drugs that prevent or treat heartworm infections.

The date was Friday the 13th, so I guess I should have expected something unpleasant to happen, but the news from our family veterinarian that our 10-year-old Belgian Shepherd had, at the most about six months to live

Every dog owner knows that getting rid of fleas can be one of the biggest challenges of dog-keeping. Few people know, however, that the process can also be the most damaging to their dog's health. Specifically, the use of insecticides on the dog and all around the dog's environment can cause nerve and liver damage, impair the immune system, and even cause cancer. And you have to wonder – if these effects have been noted in dogs, what effects do all these toxins have on the people who live with the dogs?

The occasion of getting a new puppy or dog should be just as joyous as bringing a much-wanted and long-anticipated baby into the world. In the best of possible worlds, the dog's new family is welcoming, loving, and eager to learn as much as possible about and share as much as possible with the latest addition to the family. The transition almost always goes smoothly when the family is experienced with dogs, and already knows about providing healthful diets and gentle teaching for their canine companions.

if the dog gets soaked

No-slip collars are another special-purpose training tool that can be valuable in certain cases. I use only positive reinforcement training methods, and generally don’t allow the use of choke chains in my training classes. But occasionally a student explains that she uses a choke chain because her dog slips out of a regular collar unless it is tightened to the point of the dog’s discomfort. In the interest of helping people who have found themselves in similar circumstances, I tested three collars designed to prevent dogs from slipping away. However, these collars prohibit unlimited choking, making them much more humane options than standard choke collar.

Manufacturers of deworming products have gone out of their way to let us know that, left unchecked, these pesky parasites can plague dogs that are in poor health, rob them of nutrition, attack vital organs, and cause unthriftyness, illness, and even death. If a dog's health is poor and he is hosting an uncontested parasite population, all sorts of bad things can happen. It is important to protect our dogs from parasites, but as it turns out, protection largely follows as a result of building the dog's overall health. Toxic dewormers may be unnecessary to dislodge what few worms a strong and healthy animal might have.

Bruno was probably not more than four weeks old when found abandoned on a Hercules, California street corner. But the people who found him knew just who to call: Marilynn Hanson, a professional pet-sitter and shelter volunteer. While Hanson is often tempted to bring home the hard-luck cases she sees in the shelter, for practical reasons she usually resists. But she couldn't help but respond to this tiny foundling, taking the green-eyed pit bull-cross home right then and there, and named him Bruno.