Ahhh spring. Finally the weather is mild enough to let the dogs lie outside and chew on bones. I just love watching my dogs chew on real, fresh bones. Of course, I would never give my dogs cooked bones (I know most of you know already that cooked bones are brittle and tend to splinter. Don't ever give them to your dog.), but I love giving them the kind of fresh, raw bones that are safe--the large joint bones or large long bones from beef are my preference. The first time I watched dogs chew on real bones I was astounded. Okay, that sounds pretty strong, but I had not anticipated how much exercise and skill it takes to chew on a bone. All of the parts of a dog's mouth, including the jaw muscles and different types of teeth are engaged in tearing, pulling, grinding and chewing. It was an Read More
Archives for April 2009
Speaking for Spot Now Available
As you probably know, we don't offer a lot of books by other authors on our website, but we've just put up Dr. Nancy Kay's book, Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life. There's just so much good about this book, and it is such an important resource for those of us who consider our dogs to be family. I love Nancy's thoughtful and compassionate voice, and couldn't agree more with her encouragement to all of us to be active advocates for our pets' veterinary care. I will admit that there are times I've longed for the "good old days" when medical decisions were simpler--it seems most of my dogs develop complicated, confusing ailments that elicit completely different recommendations from vets, and create tremendous angst when it comes time to Read More
What are You Grateful For? and… House Training Dogs
Every morning I start my day writing a list of things that I am grateful for. Sometimes they are big things (Jim, my dogs, opportunities to learn, grow and improve relationships between people and animals) and sometimes they are small (the plaintive Wooo Heee song of courting Chickadees, the deep, purple blue of the first spring flowers). This morning I surprised myself, by adding: I am grateful that none of my dogs potty in the house. House training and elimination control is like health, isn't it? If everything is fine, you don't really think about it much. But when it's not, it can be overwhelming. I went through two years living with old dogs who simply couldn't control themselves. Pippy Tay lost control of her anus in her last year of life (at age 15) and I picked up poop at least Read More