Eating like a dog...

Finding a good dog food can be challenging, but once you have it down, they're happy to eat the same stuff day after day. (My gang eats Orijen by the way.) They come running in for every meal, super excited over the bowl of food. I tell them the food fairy fills the bowl.

I sense a life lesson there. To me, eating the same thing day after day seems extremely boring, especially if it's something looking and smelling like dog food. Still, how convenient it would be if we were more like dogs in that aspect. Imagine being able to eat the same thing meal after meal, and be grateful for it.

Does your dog jump?

I've had a foster dog at home for a couple of months, and she's as cute as can be. She is cuddly, smart, and crazy energetic. When she first arrived, she'd been in boarding for months after a scary stay at a shelter - she was pulled by the rescue hours before being killed - and she didn't know anything. I mean, anything.  She tried to jump up on the kitchen counters. She wanted to stand on the tables. She tried taking food out of the other dog's mouths. She'd probably never seen a toy before, and hoarded everything together in a pile that she guarded.

All these things were pretty easy to break, and within a few days, she knew how to sit, knew the word stay means not to go out the front door, learned to go to her crate on command, and to move over when hogging too much of the sofa. She's so good with the crate she runs to it if I go through the room saying, "I've gotta go to work."

Anyway, she has a couple of annoying habits I haven't been able to break yet. She's terrified of leaving the house. When she first arrived, she was afraid to leave my side in the back yard - she probably knows all too well what it's like to be abandoned - but that disappeared within a few days. She likes to go for a ride in the car, if I lift her in. Try to go for a walk... Forget it. We've tried a few steps more every day, but as soon as the house is out of sight, complete panic ensues. I've tried every trick I can think of except one - I will try to put out a trail of dog food, and hopefully she won't notice we're going further and further away. (Not an optimal mode of training, I know. If you have a better idea, please comment on this post and let me know.)

She also jumps a lot of people, especially on me, and it has been driving me crazy. My own dog training skills weren't enough to break the bad habit, and I Googled to see if anyone had some good advice. I didn't know that dogs jump to show submission. I thought they were just overly energetic and happy... That explains why raising your voice to make them stay down doesn't work; they sense they're doing something wrong, and want to become even more submissive, so they'll just jump more.

The website suggested turning your back to the dog that jumps. Tyeah, that didn't have any effect at all.  It also suggested "turning into a tree" every time the jumping begins. I stand absolutely still and stare into the wall. That makes jumping boring pretty quickly. She still does it, but stops as soon as I begin my tree invitation. As soon as she stops jumping I praise her for being such a good girl and staying down.

Other ideas? Have you had the same problem, and if so, what did you do?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I don't have a lot to say today, except, keep an eye on the list of foods dangerous for dogs I posted the other day, and... Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

It's that time a year again...

You know what I'm talking about... The time a year when we all eat extreme amounts of, well, everything. If you thought Halloween was bad with all the left over candy, wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas...

I have posted this list before, but around the holidays there's so much bad stuff our furry friends can get into, so it's worth saying again. Please, read this list of the foods most dangerous to dogs, and the symptoms/effects of each one. It could save your dog's life.

Most people know not to give their dogs chocolate, but many other common household things that we eat are also poisonous to dogs. Some things to look out for are:

• Chocolate
  Chocolate is oh so good and tempting, even for your canine friends, but it contains a substance called theobromine. It's a cardiac stimulant that doesn't really affect humans, but can be lethal to dogs. The dog can seem perfectly fine up to several hours after eating a larger amount of chocolate, and death can still ensue within 24 hours.
  
  A dog that has eaten chocolate can exhibit symptoms that include: staggering, problems breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, tummy pains, tremmors, fever, seizures, and coma. Milk chocolate contains the least cocoa and is the least dangerous. Dark chocolate is really bad. If your dog ate chocolate, or if you suspect your dog ate chocolate, don't gamble with their life. Go see a vet. Most cities have pet emergency rooms open even during nights and holidays.



• Cocoa Powder
  Well, cocoa powder and cooking chocolate are chocolate. They don't taste as good to us, but that's just because it's more concentrated without the sugar of normal munching chocolate. Thus, these forms are even more toxic, and contain ten times more theobromine than milk chocolate. A 22 pound dog can be seriously ill or die from as little as two ounces of cocoa powder. A small dog can get really sick from just licking chocolate icing.



• Onions
  Most people understand that they shouldn't give a dog an onion. Onions can be difficult to watch out for though; they're in all sorts of food, and all sorts are dangerous. Onions and garlic contain a substance called thiosulphate. Garlic has less and is thus less dangerous, but you still shouldn't feed it to your dogs. Thiosulphate cause haemolytic anaemia, which means that the pet's red blood cells burst while circulating through the body. Symtomps are labored breathing, liver damage, vomiting, diarrhea, and discolored urine.
  
  The poisoning might not show until days after the pet ate onion. Watch out for onion dip, left over pizza, commercial baby food with onions, chinese food, gravys... You get the idea.



• Mushrooms
  Some dogs react very badly to certain species of mushrooms. Symptoms include tummy aches, drooling, liver damage, kidney damage, vomiting, diarrhea, convusions, coma and... death.



• Grapes and Raisins
  Most dogs love grapes and raisins, but they're bad, bad, bad. Some dogs don't seem to react at all, others get violently ill from just a handful. Don't gamble, give your dog something else. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, and lethargy. (Grapeseed oil, used in many paw revitalizers, is poisonous to many other animals, but dogs don't seem to react to it.)



• Macadamia nuts
  These might not kill your dog, but they do have high levels of phosphorous and can lead to bladder stones. Dogs get muscle problems, and weakness and even paralysis of their hind legs. Affected dogs are often unable to rise up.

 Other things to watch out for are:

• Baby foods - often contain onion powder
• Bones from fish, birds, and pork
• Pointsettias - are poisonous
• Tulips, Hyacinths, Daffodils, Lilies, Azaleas, Crocus, Rhododendrons, and many other common garden plants. They're beautiful to look at, but shouldn't be eaten by neither people nor pets.

Cat person?

Don't worry, the DoggieBlog doesn't want to discriminate our feline friends. I just don't know all that much about them... The website catdoor.com, on the other hand, is filled with cute and fun cat photos, as well as information about cat flaps and cat doors. They also mention there's a Plexidor made for cats. Cutest little thing. I'm thinking it would make a great serving window between a kitchn and a patio...

Labrador - Canada's most widely spread export?

Most people like Labradors. I mean, what is there not to like? They're friendly, playful, and beautiful. Did you know the Labrador is a Canadian dog breed? They are the most popular breed of dog registered in Canada, the UK, and the US. They are also the most popular choice for assistant dogs and police dogs in a number of countries.

Labradors are typically athletic and love to swim. They even have webbed paws! They like playing catch-and-retrieve games, and they're good with children. Many Labradors work as guide dogs for the blind.

Source: The Plexidor 2013 calendar; North American Dogs.

Image from iStockphoto.com

Easy to train dog breeds

I was clicking around on the Animal Planet Dog Breed guide - awesome page, by the way. They have a section for Easy-to-Train dog breeds.

I'm not surprised to see the Border Collie high on the list. The German Shepherd is also a given.

In alphabetic order, the list is:
Australian Cattle Dog
Australian Shepherd
Border Collie
Cardigan Welsh Corgi
Doberman Pinscher
German Shepherd
Golden Retriever
Labrador Retriever
Papillon
Poodle
Rottweiler
Shetland Sheepdog

I understand how the working breeds learn easily, but the list made me curious. I definitely need to learn more about the Papillon!

Philosophical musings

I sometimes wonder if dogs wish they had thumbs. Imagine if they could open stuff like we do, and hold things like we do. I already see them as furry people, and sometimes I wonder if it isn't just a whim of nature that separates us.

We build houses and use tools out of necessity. I think our fingers, thumbs, and reasoning might have developed out of necessity; we needed to build to survive. It became a positive spiral. The more we built, the more time and opportunities we had to think, and so on. Most animals don't need houses and tools - they're equipped to get by without them.

Are we a whim of nature? What really separates us from our furry friends? What do you think?

American dog breed, or not.

I recently had the pleasure to perform some research on American dog breeds. It would be easy to think the American Eskimo is an American dog. It's not. The breed originated in Germany, and was called German Spitz up until the time of the first world war. At this time, anti-German influences were so strong, the breed was renamed American Eskimo.

The Eskie has an extremely thick, multi layered coat. There are three sizes: toy, miniature, and standard. The American Eskimo isn't considered an aggressive breed, but they were originally bred to guard people and property, and they can be valiant watchdogs when the occasion calls for it. This instinct to guard also shows itself in a tendency to bark at strangers.

Besides watching out for mom and dad, the Eskie is known for having excellent balance and they are famous for their skills as circus dogs. 

The American Eskimo is a hardy dog with an average life span of 16 years!

Poochie for President!

It is almost election time, and debates run high in media in general, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Voting would be easy if one was a dog: I'm sure my pooches would vote for whomever promised the most treats, petdoors, and outside time. If a candidate promised no kill shelters, they'd have my vote.

What do you think? Is animal welfare something politicians should address? Would it sway your vote, or help you make up your mind? Leave me a comment; I'd love to know!

Support Alfie's Law!

Please support Alfie's law. Every pet has the right to be treated well, and since people can't seem to  understand this, we need laws to protect them. If you want to help out, there's a petition to sign at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/34522

Videocontest - win $1000!

I was looking around the Internet the other day, and found this great video contest. Who doesn't want to win $1000? All you have to do is film your pet using a Plexidor, upload it on Youtube, and fill out the form on this webpage. The contest ends December 1, so hurry up with those entries!

Good luck!