Service dogs help with the practical details of life for people with health-related restrictions, but what are the other positive health benefits of pet ownership? Researchers are tackling this question in various studies, but so far we know they make better walking companions than humans, they can help alleviate depression and anxiety, and there’s some evidence that they can lower the risk of heart problems.
DogBeMine, a new iPhone application, puts information on breeders, breeds, housebreaking, and vets at your fingertips. A quick and easy way to get the basic details to help you decide on a new pooch.
Donating supplies to animal shelters, spending time with attention-deprived shelter dogs, and volunteering any special skills you have to a shelter (bookkeeping, writing, grooming) are some of the ways you can make a difference when you’re not in a position to adopt a dog. Click here for more ideas on lending a hand to dogs in need.
A growing consensus among parents (or at least parenting writers) believes that the dog training tactics espoused by Cesar Milan, aka the Dog Whisperer, can — and should — be used on kids. “Unlike modern parents,” writes Allison Pearson in her novel about the challenges of motherhood, I Don’t Know How She Does It, “dog trainers don’t think discipline equals being mean. They understand that dogs are happiest when they know their position in the hierarchy.” Blogger and child therapist Brenna Hicks is like-minded: “When we present nervous, angry or scared energy in front of our kids, they pick up on those emotions,” she wrote in a recent post on her blog. It seems, at the very least, better than a lot of the theories floating around in the gazillions of parenting books out there.
From Mickey Rourke walking his two Pomeranians in the rain, to January Jones out for a stroll in LA with her little black pooch, to Emily Blunt and John Krasinski at a dog park with their husky mix, this photo gallery of celebrities with their canine companions is pretty darn cute.
We ran across this quote by animal trainer and author Sarah Wilson about why the human-dog connection is so strong and we thought it sounded exactly right. “In all of our relationships, we need not only to give affection but to see that affection reflected back to us—we want to know that the other being enjoys it. So a dog wagging his tail or a purring cat closes the relationship loop for us in a very profound, nurturing way.”
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.”
