Good news. Mostly. Will has recovered from his 5 + hour root canal, but I remain a tad tweaked about the definition of a "fully functional tooth." I choose the root canal for Will instead of an extraction because the vet specialist said it would leave Will with a full set of "fully functional teeth." After the 5 hours of anesthesia and $1,600, the same vet said "His tooth is dead, and thus will become more brittle and more easily broken, so be sure to never let him chew on anything hard, like bones or hard toys or raw hides." Uh, no bones? Not even relatively soft, raw knuckle bones, like the big beef bones that Lassie and Willie get several times a week? "Nope." The rest of our conversation, in which I was far more polite than I was feeling, included me asking "Have you ever seen a dog Read More
Archives for September 2009
Lassie Self Handicaps with Willie
Here's a video of Self Handicapping that I took 3 years ago, when Will was a young pup and Lassie was the stronger of the two. It's a lovely illustration of appropriate dog play, showing how the stronger dog self handicaps to avoid overwhelming the weaker player. Lassie, even now, is capable of pulling with a great deal of strength, but in this video she clearly damps down both the power of her pull and intensity used when she shakes her head. She moves more slowly and with less power than she would when playing with me. There's another piece to this video that I just love: when Lassie decides she is done playing she gives Willie a very clear signal that play time is over. (Not long after she looks at me when I say "Jim! Turn the TV down" in the background!). She gives a second (more Read More
Not Guilty, As Charged
One of your fellow blog readers alerted us to a study recently published in Behavioral Processes titled "Disambiguating the "guilty look" by Alexandra Horowitz. It is a creative and well-designed study that supports what trainers, ethologists and behaviorists have been saying for years: "No, your dog isn't expressing guilt when he cowers at the door when you come home to find he's peed on the carpet. Rather, he's waving a white flag, perhaps to inhibit you from punishing him any further, and is responding to YOUR behavior rather than expressing guilt at his earlier actions." Here's a summary of the study: 14 dogs and owners participated, and only dogs who were able to successfully perform a sit/stay were included. The owner was instructed to place the dog on a sit/stay, and then show Read More
Toy Story II
I've loved reading your comments about favorite dog toys. You all inspired me to take a photo of Willie and his current favorites. . . From Left to Right, back row, the toys are: Brain Twister (long, green thing, Canine Genius), Chewber (red disc), Invincible Rings (blue & black rings, JW Pet), Skinneez Stuffingless Dog Toy (long, grey thing draped onto orange) and Plush Leo with Stuffies (big, round, orange hollow globe, by Canine Genius. The three toys in the front are Planet Dog's Orbee Ball, Planet Dog's Strawberry and the eternally essential Large size Kong. Please keep telling us about your favorite toys and we'll try to get them on the website. (And our dogs will be so grateful!) Here's what happened when I said "Take it!" to Willie: Right now there is no question that Read More
Willie’s New Toy
At the risk of sounding self-serving, I wanted to write about Willie's new favorite toy. We do sell it on the website, but we sell it because our dogs think it is the best thing that happened since liver and chicken. It's called a Canine Genuis Brain Twister, presumably because it was designed for dogs who love to shake things. Truth be told, I'm not sure where the 'genuis' part comes in, nor does the thought of my dog's brain twisting make me happy, but as luck would have it, Willie can't read and pays no attention to such humanly concerns. Here's a photo of it: (I have one of Willie playing with it but forgot to bring the cord to connect the camera to my computer. sigh. I'll add the pic sometime soon when I can get my brain organized.) What you can't tell from this photo is Read More