Care

This is just a quick note to let you know how delighted I am with Whole Dog Journal. I have ordered and received all the back issues, and am still working my way through them. (I already have a holistic veterinarian and use veterinary chiropractic services occasionally.) I also faithfully cook for by two blessedly healthy dogs. I have been following the discussions on dog training with great interest, and am now curious: How are service dogs trained? How are the dogs in government service (customs, drugs) trained?

I was trying to be a responsible dog owner. We lived in a rural area of Northern California, in a house with no fenced yard. My boyfriend's Irish Setter had recently been shot and killed while chasing a neighbor's goats. A hard lesson to learn, and one I wasn't about to repeat. So when we were leaving the ranch for a day I insisted we tie up our recently acquired St. Bernard, Bear. We tied him to a tree, made sure he had access to plenty of water and shade and was nowhere near a fence that he could climb over. Confident that we had done the right thing, we drove off.

I own two beautiful Rottweilers, a male and a female. They are uncle and niece. I’ve had the male from birth; he’s now four years old, has the most outstanding personality, and his temperament is excellent. He gets along with everyone, he’s obedience trained, and there just isn’t enough I could say about him. A couple of years ago I decided to purchase his niece, a neutered female. She is also obedience trained. Initially, the two got along as if it were meant to be.

I just lost my dear buddy, Brando, a wonderful Rottie, to cancer. It was a brief but utterly intense battle. I found Brando at work two and a half years ago. I know God sent me this dog; he was the greatest gift I have ever received. He was totally mellow and loved all creatures. Part of our journey together was to help the world be more “Rottie friendly.” We achieved that goal a bit but also occasionally felt the pain of “Rottie racism.”

What's new in holistic pet care? Try apple cider vinegar—or, as its fans call it, ACV. Okay, it isn't new, but this centuries-old product is enjoying new popularity in canine circles. Those who are old enough remember when Dr. D.C. Jarvis of Vermont made apple cider vinegar a household word with his 1958 best seller Folk Medicine. According to Jarvis, native Vermonters used cider vinegar to cure migraine headaches, arthritis, diabetes, obesity, indigestion, and a host of other ailments.

When I was growing up, I knew a family that kept a dog just for finding and killing skunks. My friends lived on a big cattle ranch, and all their dogs had jobs. They had a couple of Australian Kelpies for working cattle, a number of tall, rangy hounds for hunting wild pigs, and then there was poor Frank, the skunk dog. I don't remember where my friends had obtained Frank, or even what breed of dog he was, but I recall that there had been numerous cases of rabies in the county where I lived as a child, and that skunks were the main carriers.

St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) IS often used in topical wound healing creams and ointments, as it demonstrates broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Taken internally, however, it has not demonstrated any ability to heal injuries, but has well-documented abilities to lift depression and lessen anxiety.

The Product News and Reviews article in the February 1999 issue compelled me to write. As a groomer of both dogs and cats, I was alarmed at your choices and limited selection of nail trimming devices. I wouldn’t recommend nor use any of the ones you featured. If one is used for too long, a nail grinder will heat up the nail and send shooting pain through the nerve up the animal’s leg. And like you so clearly said, it may be difficult to even get the grinder near a dog, much less his nails.

I switched Duke’s food to one of your top picks, and in just the few months that he has been on this food I have noticed a much healthier dog.

As with the death of a relative or close friend, losing a dog can have long-lasting effect on the owner's lifestyle. For example, I am surprised to realize that I have not been cross-country skiing or running (both previously major activities) since the death of my first Malamute, Omaha Beagle, well over 10 years ago. Grieving is a painful, yet necessary process. At the time of the pet's death, owners may lose perspective, tending to focus on all the bad experiences associated with the last few days, weeks and sometimes months prior to the pet's demise.

We know from innumerable modern research studies that a person's immune strength and resistance can be improved through a positive mental outlook, and that people who are happy heal more quickly than emotionally depressed people. Stated simply: emotional states can affect the physical body. Most veterinary health care professionals would probably agree that the principle is true for animals, too. For example, most healthy dogs are usually happy dogs – or is it the other way around? And have you noticed how, just as with people, very often an anxious or angry dog also tends to be prone to more injuries and illness than a content and cheerful dog?

As we were going to press with this issue, we received a report of a dog’s death due to ingestion of a small part...