allergies/feed/rss2/Rawhide%20chews%20are%20potentially%20dangerous%20because%20they%20can%20be%20a%20choking%20hazard%20or%20cause%20gastrointestinal%20obstructions%20if%20your%20dog%20manages%20to%20chew%20off%20a%20piece%20that%20is%20small%20enough%20to%20swallow,%20but%20too%20large%20to%20pass%20unimpeded.%20In%20addition,%20some%20rawhide%20chews%20are%20hard%20enough%20to%20break%20or%20damage%20teeth. - search results

There are numerous health conditions that can develop and present a real danger to your dog in between veterinary examinations – and YOU can detect many of them. It’s best to follow a consistent routine, so your dog becomes comfortable and relaxed with the procedure, and to increase your familiarity with his body, lumps, bumps, and all. Write out and follow a short outline, to remind yourself about each part of the dog’s body you want to check.

Advances in anesthesiology have made this life-saving medical tool safer than ever. Prior to administering an anesthetic and performing an elective surgical procedure, a veterinarian will examine your dog completely to determine if she is in general good health. Usually, the veterinarian will draw blood before the day of surgery, especially if the patient is an older dog, or one whose health is compromised by injury or illness. The doctor will check the blood count for signs of anemia or a high white blood cell count that may indicate the dog has an infection.

Silent cues are useful in any situation where your dog can't hear you, whether he's across a field from you, with you at a parade, if he's deaf, or suffering age-related hearing loss. There are two philosophies about training dogs with hand signals. Some people like to use small, subtle signals, barely visible to the human eye. A tiny finger movement cues the dog to lie down. Another elicits a sit. A small wave sends the dog into heel position. Impressive – it appears that the dog is mind-reading!

To most people, the word “house-trained” refers to a dog who has been trained not to urinate or defecate indoors. For my parent’s generation, this bit of training was usually accomplished by Mom, who stayed home while the rest of the family went to work or to school. As double-income families became the norm, the home-alone dog was faced with a serious problem. By the time you add a lunch hour and commute time onto an eight-hour work day, a house dog may have to “hold it” for as long as 10 hours before someone finally comes home to let her out. Her legs are probably tightly crossed for at least the last two.

Because dogs are pack animals, we have high expectations about their abilities to live peacefully in groups. If you are a human member of a multiple dog household, it is important to be realistic about what you can and cannot accomplish with your canine family members. Your own personality, behavior, commitment to managing and training your pack, as well as your choice of packmates, will all play important roles in your ability to create your own peaceable kingdom. Pack management is as much an art as a skill. If you have always had a multi-dog household, never had problems, and never thought twice about it, congratulations!

When parvo strikes, it moves fast. Infected dogs may appear to be in perfect health one day and violently ill the next. Emergency veterinary care is expensive, and unless dogs are diagnosed and treated early, many die from this serious disease. However, reactions to parvovirus vary widely – both among dogs and their human caretakers. In a world in which parvovirus is ubiquitous – it is literally everywhere except environments that have been sterilized – parvo kills some dogs and leaves others unscathed.

Do your homework before you go and you'll enjoy nothing but happy trails with your dog. If you spend your time in the company of dogs, you're probably used to walking – long walks, short walks, walks for potty stops, walks for exercise, walks to relieve boredom, and walks for walking's sake. So, what's the difference between walking and hiking? In practical application, not much. But in attitude, everything!

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 dog's 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.

The newest generation of pesticides are being marketed as far less harmful than the old ones. But they are deeply misrepresented as harmless.

While we often consider our homes as sanctuaries – places of peace and safety – we may actually be living in danger zones filled with toxic airborne chemicals. Many of the building materials and housekeeping substances we use in our homes are air pollutants, capable of causing acute and long-term damage to our health, as well as the health of our dogs. We are only rarely aware of indoor air pollutants in the air we breathe – and many people are completely unaware of the potential damage that diminished air quality has on the health of every animal (including us) breathing that air.

There are two types of people in the world: Those who give their dogs treats, and those who don’t, ever. I think all of us here belong in the former group. Right? Everyone with me? Good. We are all aware that we could make our own dogs treats rather than buy them. Some of us do make our dogs’ treats, sometimes. But there is something special about buying snacks for our dogs – sort of like buying Popsicles from the ice cream man for the kids; it may be expensive, and impulsive, and foolish. But so what? The joyous little doggie dance that dogs do when they know you’ve got something yummy for them is worth any price.

You were gone for less than an hour, and when you returned home, your dog Maxx had already destroyed your new sofa, defecated on your antique Oriental rug, and inflicted deep gouges in the just-repainted front door frame. You have tried leaving him in the backyard, but he chewed through the fence and got picked up by animal control. Maxx has separation anxiety – a behavior problem that results from a dog’s natural instincts to want to be near other members of his pack.