Animal experts are questioning the training methods of Cesar Milan, star of the hit TV show The Dog Whisperer, charging that Millan’s philosophy is based on animal studies that have been discredited and saying that some techniques he uses are cruel, according to an article in Time magazine. “Discipline doesn’t come in the form of screaming at your dog, hitting your dog or putting it into an alpha roll,” says Victoria Stilwell, who emphasizes positive reinforcement training methods on her own Animal Planet show, It’s Me or the Dog. “When you do that, instinct tells the dog to shut down, which is mistaken for calming, but really you’re making the dog more insecure.”
The results of Dog Fancy magazine’s Dogtown USA survey — ranking the most dog-friendly cities in the U.S. — are in! The criteria include access to dog-friendly open spaces and dog parks, veterinary care, dog-related events, pet supplies, and laws protecting pets.
1. Provincetown, Mass.
2. Carmel, Calif.
3. Madison, Wis.
4. Benicia, Calif.
5. Fort Bragg, Calif.
6. Lincoln City, Ore.
7. San Diego, Calif.
8. Virginia Beach, Va.
9. Sioux Falls, S.D.
10. Salem, Ore.
Chichi, who lives in New York City’s West Village, may be the oldest dog in the world, according to the New York Times. He is estimated to be 22 – 24 years old (154 – 168 in dog years!), which if documented, would put Chichi at least 1 year older than the current Guinness Book record holder, Sako from Australia.
Imagine this: You’re covered in fur and your only ways of cooling down are to pant and to sweat through your hands. This is exactly what life is like for your dog, which makes him prone to heat-related illnesses. To keep your pooch cool, limit his time outside, take shorter walks at cooler times of day, and never leave him in the car. Never. When you notice him over-heating, get him to an air conditioner and/or apply cool water to his body and cold towels to his head, chest and neck. Only allow him to drink small amounts of water or lick an ice cube.
“My dream is to establish a movement to photograph the children of the world. To seek children in their own settings, print their image to keep for a lifetime,” Carolyn Lane, founder of the organization Dog Meets World, writes on the group’s website. Lane travels with a stuffed animal (the likeness of her own dog, a black and white pooch named Foto) and takes pictures of people in developing nations posing with the dog. Then she gives them the photo. “The dream of Dog Meets World is to empower travelers to make real connections to people in other cultures, in essence to become photo-diplomats,” writes Lane, who believes that a photograph contributes to self-esteem because it provides permanent recognition.
“In a dry-water immersion jacket and with a helmet on his head, he feels comfortable,” claims the owner of Boniface, a dachshund who lives and scuba dives in Russia.
This topic is tackled in a new book, Why Dogs Eat Poop: And Other Useless or Gross Information About the Animal Kingdom, and also in a recent blog post by People Pets. The bottom line (despite the title of the book) is that we don’t really know why they dig their own doo. Here’s an excerpt from the People Pets post: “It’s called coprophagia, and no one is really sure why dogs are especially afflicted. Some theorize that it could be the unimaginable: It tastes good to them (yuck!).” Yuck is right.
A new database has been devised by the ASPCA in conjunction with University of California, Davis to help investigate and prosecute dogfighting cases. “The database is similar to the FBI’s human CODIS, a computerized archive that stores DNA profiles from criminal offenders and crime scenes and is used in criminal and missing person investigations,” according to the ASPCA’s website. “The Canine CODIS contains individual DNA profiles from dogs that have been seized during dog-fighting investigations and from unidentified samples collected at suspected dog-fighting venues.”
We’ve gotta say, we don’t think Princess Abby, winner of this year’s World’s Ugliest Dog Competition at the Sonoma-Marin Fair, is all that ugly. She’s kind of cute, really.
A couple of weeks ago, we drove from Santa Fe, NM to Los Angeles, CA with two dogs as our cargo. The challenge was to find a place to stay at about the halfway point (Phoenix, we were thinking). A little bit of googling led us to petswelcome.com, which lists pet-friendly hotel chains, B&Bs, campgrounds — and most helpful of all, gives you the option of searching for pet-friendly lodging along your entire route. In the end, our two dachshunds spent the night with us for free (many hotels charge extra for pets) at a motel just a couple of miles off the highway in Phoenix.
A new study in the American Naturalist shows the benefits to being a good dog extend past receiving a treat. “We found that obedient (or docile, shy) breeds live longer than disobedient (or bold) ones and that aggressive breeds have higher energy needs than unaggressive ones,” according to the study. The most obedient breeds (Poodles, German Shepherds, Bichon Frises) outlast harder-to-train dogs.
The American Kennel Club (AKC), which produces such events as the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, The National Dog Show, and the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship, began opening its competitions up to mixed-breed dogs for the first time this spring. They can now compete in agility, obedience, and rally events at dog shows nationwide. Equal rights for mutts!
Forty-seven dachshund delegates assembled for the UN Commission on Human Rights this month. True, it was a mock session, taking place in the Melbourne Museum plaza as part of the Next Wave Art Festival. But we still think dachshunds would make fantastic UN delegates. The artist who created this installation/performance art piece, Bennett Miller, agreed: “They are… very proud looking animals which resemble a statesman and plus they make a lot of people laugh,” he was quoted as saying. Below, check out a video of the diplomat dogs in action and another taken behind the scenes of the “convention.”
