What we tweeted about this week. 

 

Dogs and Kids

The Central Ohio Dog Blog posted on Seven Common Dog Stress Signals.  This is important information for parents to know, so they can quickly intercept child-dog interactions if the dog is getting stressed.

A lovely webinar from “certified dog behavior consult and and Mother of four 2 legged and 4 legged kids”, Jennifer Shyrock: Setting Dog and Baby up for Success!  Also for train your dog month, Joan Orr produced a webinar called Dog Safety: What to Teach Your Kids.

No Kill and Welfare

Pet Adoptions: Lewiston shelter is doing it right!  The Lewiston shelter is using social media to promote their animals, and they’ve found people queuing, sometimes for 6 hours or more, at a time to get first dibs on animals that become available for adoption.  The shelter used to have about 120 cats available for adoption at a time: Now they have 3!  An amazing effort and a shining example of good shelter practice.

The KC Dog Blog wrote “Keeping animals out of shelters, and increasing return to owners“.  A very important part of the no kill equation is actually reuniting pets to owners, preventing them from entering shelters in the first place, or making sure their stay in shelters is minimal.  The KC Dog Blog hails Kansas City’s changes as a step in the right direction.

The Wisconsin Watchdog wrote about stress, and the implications stress can have on shelter animals.

YesBiscuit! posted a disturbing account of practices: Jackson Co Animal Control Kills Microchipped Pets.

I discovered ASPCA’s ‘SAFER’ temperament testing, and found some lovely resources on behaviour modifications for shelter dogs. There is also an interesting item on assessing dog-to-dog interactions.

Is this rescue group for real? How to spot a fake adoption group.  An article describing how ‘adoption’ has become a sexy word that sometimes is used in substitution for ‘sale’.

An Australia dog rescue video called UnderDogs, produced by Pedigree dog food, recently aired on television.

Photos have a role in dog adoptions!  The topic that I Still Want More Puppies chose for their Blog the Change for Animals post.

Saving Pets posted an infographic on the Lost Dogs Home.

Pet Health and Vets

This is a ‘must see’ for anyone with a large breed dog: A video of a bloating Akita.  This is a distressing video, but it’s important so that the signs of bloats can be identified and immediate medical attention sort. Please watch if you have a large breed or bloat prone breed dog in your life.

An article, written by a vet, asking us to reconsider some of our ‘over-expectations’ on vets being charitable… “Why you can’t expect vets to cover pricey life-and-death expenses”

Jana Rade guest posted on the ThatMutt blog, posing the question, “Are too many vaccinations bad for adult dogs?”

Similarly, Dogs Naturally Magazine wrote an article on lifelong-immunity in vaccinated dogs and also a caution on vaccinating unhealthy pets.

Desexing / Spay / Neuter

Sue McCabe, on DogStarDaily, wrote about the challenges of living with an entire dog.  As I am an entire dog owner, and have very few people in my circles who have desexed dogs, I found this commentary interesting – including the comments.

Mandatory spay/neuter: Sacrificing animal lives to ideology.

Science

I’d be surprised if anyone had missed National Geographic’s report on ‘How to Build a Dog‘, which found that dogs are not that genetically diverse despite the varied appearances.  In true National Geographic style, the article is extremely wordy.  The KC Dog Blog provided a nice summary.

ScienceDaily described the diverse traits of pigeons - which makes you think dogs aren’t so special in their diversity, afterall.

Lee Charles Kelley looks at the science of alpha wolf theory (again), this time particularly focusing on the term ‘pack parent’.

Dog Training

Debbie’s wonderful blog, the Fearfuldogs’ Blog, came up with another gem called “Give them something to feel good about” – talking about ways to bring joy into fearful dogs’ lives.

Why competing in dog sports isn’t the only way to enjoy your dog.

What is a ‘good dog’?

Really lovely video demonstrating the use of platforms in training positions. I’m looking forward to giving it a go with my guys.

Patricia McConnell posed the question: Are therapy dogs born or made?

Why dogs love to chase moving objects.

In the News

The Telegraph looks at dog bites in the UK, and how incidence seems to be rising, despite Dangerous Dog legislation… Who’s not surprised?

Hope that dogs may be allowed into women’s shelters, with an article about a ‘hero dog’ in the New York Daily News.

Products

I learnt something new from YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner.com – a product called Musher’s Secret which claims to be Bootless Boots for your dog.  They’re designed to protect dog feet in cold weather.  They also reviewed the Rubit clip, which makes it easy to move dog tags from one collar to another.

Stories

I felt all warm and fuzzy reading about Peggy Frezon’s childhood dog, “Happy“.  (Peggy also wrote a post talking about dog ears…)

And I got the giggles reading about Chix’s adventures with his new foster buddy.

Follow the Piper wrote about Oprah Winfrey’s Dogs.

As part of the True Dog Series, the True Dog Blog posted about Duke… An amazing story.

Dog Breeding

AnimalCAFE had a radio program on dog breeding and responsible dog breeding practices.  Good listening for anyone thinking of adding a dog to their family.

Go Pet Friendly (for Blog the Change for Animals) posted against online puppy purchases, and how to make rational decisions in this regard.

An unsettling description on difficulties getting low uric acid Dalmatians properly recognised and registered by the Kennel Club.  These dogs should be celebrated for the health implications they hold, and not be forced through red-tape.

The Kennel Club made a promotional video called “Dogs – A Healthy Future“, detailing the healthy dogs they’re striving for.  Terrierman, who has a long-standing irritation with official dog registration bodies, critiques it in a post called “Four Minutes of Lies and Confusion“.

Other Stuff

Okay, so some of these pictures are edited, but some amazing giant dog pictures!

Why having a service dog isn’t as glamourous as it sounds

Apparently, some people anti-raw food argue that there’s poop in food…

Rescued Insanity (also for Blog the Change for Animals) encouraged bloggers to ‘shake-a-paw’ (i.e. take action) beyond blogging for their causes.

Today I found out Clifford the Big Red Dog was originally going to be named Tiny.

Notes from a Dog Walker came out with: “How to exercise your dog without leaving the house“. An extensive list of strategies and ideas for doggy exercise, indoors.

Not exactly on dogs…

A fascinating lecture by Robert Sapolsky posing the question, “Are humans just another primate?”  It talks about all the not-so-special things that we do, that we think are special.  It’s about an hour long, and I’d recommend having a watch. (Then, once you’ve watched it, hop over to Reactive Champion to read a summary of Sapolsky’s findings on anticipating rewards being rewarding itself.)

Victoria Stillwell, and others, on BBC radio comparing the way we bring up children and train dogs (and other ways we train humans).  Interesting insights for dog owners, parents, and husband-keepers.

The BBC ethics guide has an interesting piece about the ethics of hunting.