My Friendly Pets

I think one of the best dog pleasures I missed out on was being able to take our dogs for rides in the car. Unfortunately, it seems we always got new vehicles right around the time we got our pups and for some reason, we were always worried that the puppy, untrained at the time, would not be able to hold either of their bodily functions (sorry!) and would mess up the car. Because of our hesitation in doing so, the only time the dogs ever got to go in the car was when they were going to the vet. What a horrible mistake that was. Then, even when we wanted to take the dogs out for a drive, they would be so anxious and nervous, none of us would enjoy it. It dawned on us later, that the dogs’ anxiety was our fault, because the only place we had ever taken them in the car was the vet and that is what they associated with the car ride.

Since that time, I have done some research and have learned that there are many things that can be done to insure that a car ride for your pooch is enjoyable for everyone!!! From PetAutoSafety.com, I learned a lot of really great tips. Here are some that they offer.

a. Don’t give the dog anything to eat an hour or so before going in the car and don’t let them overdrink. Try to have the dog void before you get ready to go, because sometimes they get so excited about the prospect of the car trip that they won’t be able to concentrate on letting nature take its course.

b. Dogs should always be secured in the vehicle. That means no free styling in the back of a pickup, which is extremely dangerous for your pooch. You can get “doggie seatbelts” that basically act as a harness, similar to the harness used for walking. If you dog is used to being crated and you have a vehicle that is large enough, crating the dog can provide them with the same security crating provides them in your home.

c. Get your dog used to riding in the car by taking short trips with destinations that are fun or pleasureable for the dog…remember my mistake and doggie trips to the vet. If the dog associates the car ride with something good, they will be a much better passenger.

d. There are things you can do to calm an anxious dog in the car. Try and speak to the dog in a quiet and soft voice. Open the window!!! Dogs love this. I think the window should be open enough for them to get a whif of some new great scents, but not so far so that they get their heads stuck or have difficulty getting their head back into the vehicle. Play pleasant soft music that will calm your dog and try to bring something that is familiar to them, like a favorite toy or blanket they lay on at home. All of these efforts will help to make your dog a great traveler and for those of us who want their pooches with them on virtually all of your excursions, let them start enjoying their adventures now.

PetAutoSafety.com has some great travel products for your dog..give a look on my blog roll, where I have a link that will bring your right to them.

Here are some really funny dog pictures that aren’t quite cartoons, but let us laugh at our four legged freinds just the same!!! Happy Sunday!!

Bad Hair Day!!!! Poor baby!!!

The Good Life!!!!

Hope you enjoyed these!!! Look for more to come!!!

Today is World Rabies Day. This is the first World Rabies Day and it has been established to raise awareness of the disease that can be prevented in humans and controlled in the animal world. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, joining with The Alliance for Rabies Control, a charity based out the United Kingdom, hope to bring governments, agencies and people together to try make people aware of the problem of rabies and seek its elimination.

Each year more than 55,000 people die from rabies, mostly in African and Asian countries. However, in 2006 there were over 7000 reported cases of rabies in the United States, most originating from a family dog who came in contact with a rabid wild animal, such as bats, skunks, racoons, foxes, etc. These animals can attract the attention of the family dog, who because of their curiousity and predatory nature may go after one of these wild animals who often host the disease. The best way to prevent rabies in your household pets, primarily your dogs, is to make sure you keep up to date on their vaccinations!!

If an animal bite occurs it is extremely important to get medical treatment right away. Death in humans, once infected by rabies, occurs in a matter of days, as this is a debilitating disease that affects the central nervous system. While symptoms may not seem severe at first, like fever, headache and general malaise, as the disease progresses, the damage to the central nervous system will occur quickly and will show symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, confusion, paralysis, etc.

Even though most rabies cases are caused by animals from the wild, domesticated dogs are the most common family pet to get and transmit the disease. Did I mention to get and keep your dog vaccinated for rabies???!!!! Many places across the country and around the world today hosted free rabies vaccine clinics. If you missed it, check with your local animal hospital or shelter to see when the next clinic will be available. Don’t wait, you never want it to be too late for your pet or your family.

Above is the photo promoting the 13th Annual Paws in the Park Petwalk. The Paws in the Park Petwalk started in 1994 as a way to raise funds for the Dutchess County (that’s in New York, about 90 miles north of New York City) SPCA and also to raise the awareness of the plight of homeless and abused animals. In its first year the walk raised $9000. Now it is the largest fundraiser for this local SPCA raising almost $40,000 per year. The SPCA has made this a fun family event with vendors, pet health information and interactive activities to do with your dog. There are some really cool things like “Pet Pawtraits”, “Doggie Limbo” and “Kanine Karaoke”.

The Petwalk is to be held tomorrow Saturday, September 8th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at Bowdowin Park, off of Sheafe Road in Poughkeepsie, New York.

This is an awsome way to get out with your dog and do some fun things as well as raise funds for the local shelter. In this area, they are extremely “animal friendly” and the local SPCA receives a lot of support. However, there is always so much needed in terms of health care for the animals and the general upkeep of the facility. Events like this take a lot of work and effort on behalf of mainly volunteers. They should be applauded for their efforts.

Below is a story of the dog that will be the mascot of the petwalk. It touched my heart and I hope it will touch yours as well.

” Meet Bunky…Our Paws in the Park Mascot for 2007

What is it about a dog that draws us to him? Is it his beautiful coat, sweet expression or fanciful personality? This is the story of a little dog that no one wanted because the answer to those questions was none of the above. That is, until one day when a special family was drawn to “what the possibility might be” if someone cared enough to find out.

A husband/wife team was in the market for a new dog and they had been interested in a particular breed — the Shiba Inu. One Saturday, while paging through the paper, they noticed that the DCSPCA had what looked like a Shiba available for adoption. So off to the shelter they went to meet this little dog. Upon arrival, they found a hairless, scab-covered dog that turned his back on them as if to say “keep on going, everyone else does.” But the woman stopped. She didn’t know why. She took him for a walk and sometime during that short outing, a connection was made. She decided to give him a chance.

She named him “Bunky” and quickly made an appointment with her vet. As they walked through the door, the veterinarian gave her a “what on earth did you do” look. She was told that Bunky’s skin condition could be anything from allergies to mange and that whatever it was, his was a severe case. Still, she could not bear to bring him back to the shelter so the family consulted with the shelter managers. Together with the family’s veterinarian, they determined a course of treatment that included oatmeal baths every other day. Bunky was terrified of water and screamed through those baths in a combination of fear and pain. For weeks he hid in his crate and offered little interaction with his new family but they refused to give up on the little red dog. The slow, painful process began to show some progress when small patches of new hair began growing.

It took six months for Bunky to fully respond to the treatment and look like a dog again, but he had no idea how to act or play like a dog. Lots of TLC changed all of that. Today, his family is quick to report that Bunky is a great companion who loves to travel with his family on road trips. He is quite the gentleman in dog-friendly motels where he meets new friends and he has learned to shake a toy and chew a bone with the best of them. You see, hidden in that shell of sores was an adorable little dog after all.

So, what draws us to a particular dog? Perhaps more of us should think about what the possibility might be if we cared enough to find out. Come to our Paws in the Park Petwalk on September 8, where you will meet Bunky as he struts his stuff as the leader of this year’s walk. See for yourself what the possibility became for one little red dog.”

It’s for stories like Bunky’s that remind us that there are so many that need love and attention. Even if having a dog in your life right now isn’t the best idea, there are many ways to help and make the lives of the animals in your local shelter happier and healthier.

© 2007 DCSPCA. A benefit for the Dutchess County SPCA email: dcspcaoa

There has been so much concern recently over dog food that may be contaminated coming into this country and other pet food related recalls, I thought it was important to revisit this issue. Of course the most beneficial solution would be to make the food for your pooch. However, for many people, this situation is not practical due to time or other life contraints. So if you can’t guarantee the goodness of your dog’s food by cooking it yourself, what is the best way to insure that the food you buy your pet is the best it can be?

Well, there are some general guidelines that you can go by according to Pet Promise, Inc. where they promise purity in pet food. Some ingredients that a dog owner should look for and avoid when shopping for pet food include the following:

1. Rendered meats - On a package label, these might be listed as “meat meal”, “chicken meal” or “by-product meal” . The ingredients with this label indicate that the process uses very high heat temperatures to cook industry waste to put into the product!! UGH!!!

2. Growth hormones - These synthetic hormones end up in pet food products because they are fed to to the lifestock or poultry to stimulate growth. Growth hormones have been linked to cancer in humans, so why do we want to give it to our pups???

3. Antibiotics - These drugs are often fed to livestock and poultry as a way of preventing the spread of disease. These antibiotics then end up in the food products we feed our animals which makes them resisteant to antibiotics due to the long term exposure that they have had in their food over a period of time. The antibiotics may also prohibit the effects of beneifical biotics.

4. Artificial colors - Why must we add colors to help things “look better”? Dogs are basically colorblind anyway. Do you really think they care what color their food is? Artificial colors are derived from toxic chemicals that can lead to allerigies, asthma and even cancer.

So when you are out shopping for healthy dog food…READ THE LABELS!!!! It is just as important for your pooch to eat naturally as it is for you!!!

Find out more at www.petpromiseinc.com

For those of us who can’t get enough info, stories, stats and other things about dogs, it will be interesting for you to know that there is a great deal of folklore, both British and American about dogs, specifically about black dogs and ghost dogs. One of the most interesting sets of Southern American folklore about dogs can be found at: www.blairpub.com/folklore/ghostdogssouth.htm . I’ll put this in my blog roll, but below is information from the site. The stories are extremely good and I’d recommend the reading for some good dog entertainment. They would perfect going into the Fall when we’ll all be inspired by Halloween and the tales of ghosts and goblins!!!! Enjoy!!!!

“Award-winning husband-and-wife folklorists Randy Russell and Janet Barnett have gone to the dogs. Digging deeply through the rich field of Southern folklore, the authors have discovered that a dog’s devotion to its human does not always end at the grave.

Dogs can be as peculiar as people. Their relationship with humans is complex. In story after story from Southern homes, there is strong evidence that this relationship can extend beyond death.

Do dogs return from the other side to comfort and aid their human companions? You bet your buried bones they do.

In Ghost Dogs of the South, you’ll meet the following:

–A stray dog that warns Kentucky coal miners of impending disaster

–A literary critic of a dog with the gift of speech

–A dog-snatching mermaid on the Mississippi River

–A Tennessee dog that returns year after year to go trick-or-treating

–A pair of Georgia hounds that stumble upon an enchanted woods

–A girl whose pain is eased by the ghost of a butterfly dog

Dog ghosts (dogs that have become ghosts), ghost dogs (humans who return as ghosts in the shape of dogs), dogs that see ghosts, dogs that are afraid of ghosts–all make an appearance in these twenty stories that illuminate the shadow side of man’s best friend.

about the authors
Randy Russell and Janet Barnett previously collaborated on Mountain Ghost Stories and Curious Tales of Western North Carolina and The Granny Curse and Other Ghosts and Legends from East Tennessee. They live on a shaggy dog-dug acre of yard outside Asheville, North Carolina.”

Dogs have been prominent fixtures in human lives for hundreds and thousands of years. Even Greek mythology gives recognition to the wonderful creature as a guard and hunter for Orion, a Greek mythological character.

The two dog constellations that are part of the 88 constellations of our galaxy are known as Canis Major, as seen above and Canis Minor. Canis Major, is said to be a large hunting dog that accompanies Orion on his hunts and can be seen hunting a rabbit or perhaps helping Orion battle a great bull. The brightest star of this constellation is called Sirius, also known as the dog star.

The other dog constellation is called Canis Minor and is smaller and made up of only two primary stars. Canis Minor represents the second and much smaller dog of Orion. The constellation is known for one of its two stars, Procyon, which is the 8th brightest in the galaxy.

Even the myths of the ancient Greeks consisted of dogs and their roles in society at the time. It is evident to see how dogs have grown through our culture to be one of our most endearing friends and loyal companions.

I was at a local flea market yesterday and there were booths totally dedicated to all types of doggie delacacies!! One booth in particular had all various types of bones for dogs…real ones, nylon ones, flavored bones, etc. I thought how excited those dogs would be when their owners brought home the very special treat just for them. When I saw this cartoon for Sunday funnie day, I felt it was totally appropriate for those pups who were lucky enough to recieve their great surprise!!!

cartoon courtesy of www.artie.com

We are all interested in extremes..you know, the cutest, the ugliest; the youngest, the oldest and yes the largest and the smallest. Of course, when I thought of the largest dog breed, I thought of a Great Dane or an Irish Wolfhound, but to my surprise the largest overall breed of dog is the Old English Mastiff, as seen above. While the other two breeds may be taller than the mastiff, in overall weight and size, the mastiff is considered the largest breed. The largest dog ever was an English Mastiff that weighed 343 lbs., but most dogs in this breed range from 120 to 230 lbs and 25 to 36 inches at the shoulder. The wide variation is dependent on the sex of the dog with the male being at the large end of the spectrum.

The smallest breed of dog, and one that we commonly see with celebs like Paris Hilton or Britney Spears is the Chihuahua, named after the state in Mexico where it was discovered in the middle of the 19th century. This dog is a part of a dog group known as the toys, of course because of its size. They only weigh between 6-9 lbs. and usually are no taller than 9 inches. Because they are so small, sometimes children forget they are not a toy, but a real dog and rough house a bit too much. This is not a breed that is known for its easy temprament and might become quite agitated when provoked…kind of like a temper that makes up for their size. However, this is an extremely popular breed with many devoted and loving owners.