Welcome to our only weekly (ish) segment: The Week in Tweets! This is where I summarise my weekly tweets (from my Twitter account) and choose my favourite as the Tweet of the Week. (And this post was supposed to occur on the 27th of May… Whoops…)
Tweek of the Week
Since I found this link, I have been recommending it, and I’ll probably continue to recommend it while it continues to be active. Sue Ailsby has a fantastic website, mostly detailing the ‘training levels’ (which I also advocate!), but also with a page called; “Teaching your dog to eat“. I admit it doesn’t sound very special but, gee, it has some good advice! Sue outlines a process for teaching a dog to finish off their bowl of food. I’ve never had a dog to try this with, but all the logic is perfect, and I’m excited to include “Teaching your dog to eat” as the Tweet of the Week.
Puppies
Firstly, if you’re not a member of the DogzOnline Forums, fix that! It’s an amazing active dog community with a range of interesting doggy topics. One recent thread asked the question (in a convoluted way): Are we cotton wooling our puppies? In other words, are we spending too much time thinking about our puppies, are our puppy buyers too stressed, and is that why we are seeing problematic behaviours in adult dogs? An interesting discussion to read.
From Victoria Stilwell’s Positively blog, she talks about “Puppy socialization and vaccinations/titers belong together” – a rejection of the common vet idea to not allow puppies out until fully vaccinated.
Really enjoyed this video on teaching tug/fetch (and ‘give’ by default). A puppy foundation skills video.
Puppy schools: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Sophia Yin on Puppy socialization: Stop fear before it starts.
Dog Behaviour
Crystal from Reactive Champion has a knack for relating her day-to-day experiences to dog training. Recently she (unfortunately) had a stressful incident, which inspired her to write: How stress affects the body: a personal story.
Are dogs trying to communicate when they yawn?
Fearful dogs and “the behavior sandwich”.
In the News
What is your dog thinking? Brain scan unleash canine secrets.
Dog swallows blue-ringed octopus and lives.
How kindness built civilization - on the process by which humans chose to compassionately ‘take dogs in’, and so domesticate them.
Dog might provide clues to how children aquire language – dog knows 1022 nouns!
The friendly brain of family dogs.
Babies and dogs make the same classic mistake – they get confused if an item is placed in location A, if they have seen that item placed in location B numerous times. Weird stuff!
Age when dogs understand human pointing determined (it’s 21 weeks!).
Animal Rescue, Sheltering and Welfare
Saving Pets comments on the Companion Animals Taskforce Discussion Paper. (And posted a great image: We’re overcomplicating it.)
Everyone benefits from shelter play groups.
Bond could ensure more dogs get to live another day - on landlords receiving a ‘pet bond’ when allowing pets into rented premises.
Unwanted greyhounds sent to prison to dodge death.
15 steps on how to find your lost pet.
Two from KC Dog Blog this week: “Compassion (and have we lost it when it comes to people?)” and “Los Angeles takes new approach (after mandatory spay/neuter fails)“.
Are pit bulls inherently dangerous?
Three from the Good For Dogs blog: “Breed specific or looks specific?” and “Victorian puppy farm survey flawed” and “Getting to Zero selected as World AIDS day theme“.
Does your local pound kill animals because they want to?
Dog Bites and Children & Dogs
Context is Key: Play Bows and Licks – why play bows don’t always mean play!
Should we save Helo? Jim Crosby talks about a husky that is accused of killing a 3 day old baby.
The anatomy of a dog bite – Brett from the KC Dog Blog describes a almost-dog-bite he witnessed, and how easy it is for a child to be bitten by a dog.
Two from DogGoneSafe blog: How to bite proof your puppy with teaching puppies to tolerate handling, and “Parents – Get involved! Educate yourselves and your kids; train your dogs; keep everyone safe“.
A summary on the Dog Bite Prevention Conference, that I posted about in Week in Tweets previously.
Upcoming Conferences and Studies
E-Training for Dogs – online learning for the dog owner, tainer, breeder, professional and enthusiast… A very dangerous (to your hip pocket) website.
Evolutionary Anthropology Talk Series (North Carolina).
Exploring Animal Minds lecture series (New York).
Donate your dog’s time to Eckerd College’s dog behaviour project.
Dog Breeds
The creep of fantasy, and the slow but steady erosion of real diggers in the hedgerow, is killing working terriers: “Fantasy Diggers“.
From the Pedigree Dogs Exposed blogs, firstly, shocking pictures of an Indian neopolitan mastiff - Pedigree Dogs Exposed India, anyone? – and then ‘Victorious Vaolia‘, a much more moderate neo.
Other Dog Stuff
The Loss of Dentistry – why finding (and using) the ‘cheap vet’ hurts your ‘regular vet’.
The most expensive kinds of pets (from insurance company claims).
Worms, dogs and allergies – is it natural to rid a dog of worms? Very interesting idea!
On the worm front, my new favourite blog: Worms and Germs Blog.
Are drug companies honest about heartworm?
And Man Created Dog – a national geographic presentation on YouTube.
When our own pets get sick – from the Vets Behaving Badly blog.
British government euthanizes 800 war dogs.
A life without a dog is no life for me – reflections from Kristine at Rescued Insanity.
Idiocracy – banning animals from pet shops. A controversial opinion (as always!) from Time4Dogs.
Animal Stuff
The naked cheetah! Rare spotless cheetah found.
CreatureCast – Echinoderm (starfish) skin video.
Found: Large Rattlesnake. (Humour.)
I transported the beautiful ‘Rahni’ from Broken Hill to Adelaide for Adelaide All Breed Dog Rescue.
As always, you have found some terrific reading. I just hope I can get through it all! The “Idiocracy” post is especially interesting. I’ve only briefly scanned it but whenever I encounter such an opposing point of view I am always intrigued.
Thanks for the link as well. It is an honour to be included.
Thanks, Kristine. Glad you like this segment. I agree – I posted it for an alternative point of view. And it makes some good points. It pretty much argues that pet shops have really tough regulations for puppies, so they may be perhaps be the best regulated to provide care.
Hey Tegan, sorry to drop this new award on you but we were hoping you could accommodate one more.
It’s the Sunshine Award located in http://www.mydogslove.me/2012/06/awards-sunday.html. Please take your time on this one.
Huggies and Cheese,
Haopee