Million Dollar Pet Pix

The trend of dual income households has not only created more latchkey children and day care centers, it has left more dogs home alone. And what is poor Fido to do all day until Master comes home? Perhaps shredding pillows, gnawing on shoes, or even devouring an entire living room ensemble will help him ward off the boredom and frustration!

We’ve brought these wonderful animals into out busy lives, and it’s up to us to do what we can to keep them happy and healthy. But no one likes to come home from a hard day at work to find the house destroyed.

Train Your Buddy To Walk & Dance - Warning: Not All Dogs Can Do It!

Standing and walking on the hind legs are tricks that put an abnormal strain upon the muscles of the back and hind legs and most dogs require considerable practice before they gain sufficient control of those muscles to balance themselves in this unnatural position.

Crate Training Step-by-Step

The purpose of a crate is to provide confinement. You will use the crate for reasons of security, safety, housetraining, activity management, travel, illness and protection of household goods. You may think that putting your dog in a crate is mean or inhumane and might cause your dog to resent you or to be psychologically damaged. However, dogs view the world differently than people. As your dog sees it, the crate is a room of his very own.

Chihuahuas Get a Solid "YES" Vote From Paula Abdul and Other Celebrities

She may not be able to put up with Simon Cowell and his sharp-tongued criticisms on American Idol, but Paula Abdul cannot get enough of her three Chihuahuas- Thumbelina, Tulip and Tinkerbell.

There’s no doubt that if there were an American Canine Idol contest for dog breeds, Chihuahuas would receive a solid ’YES’ from Paula when it comes to cuteness, intelligence and hug-ability!

House Training (Potty Training) Your Dog At Any Age

Housetraining a dog takes the proper equipment, time and patience. It is not magic; if you do not have what it takes then hire someone who does. It will cost you far less than replacing your carpet. A half-hearted attempt that fails will cost you the price of a trainer and new carpeting. Dogs DO NOT naturally housetrain themselves.

Wet Nose - Early Warning Device for Cancer?

Dogs have up to 40 times more receptors in their noses than humans and some researchers believe that a dog's sense of smell may actually be 10,000 to 100,000 times better than our own. For this reason dogs are trained to assist border guards, bomb squads and police everywhere by detecting drugs. Dogs are also critical to search and rescue missions because of their keen sense of smell. Dogs are super stars in so many ways.

Being able to establish that a dog can be trained to identify cancer in humans is the goal of a number of ongoing studies. Findings in blind tests have shown that it appears that dogs that have been trained can in fact identify prostate and bladder cancer in urine samples and breast and lung cancer in breath samples... and in some instances with much more accuracy than technical testing can now provide!

Dogs are People Too - Almost

You know them. They’re the family with fifteen dogs that all the neighbors hate. Their dogs run all over the neighborhood and are largely responsible for the local canine population explosion. When neighbors aren’t at their door complaining about the little reminders left behind by the annoying pets, the animal control people are making a warning stop or pick-up. It’s the terror of irresponsible dog owners!

The following study was conducted by Professors Michael M. Roy and Nicholas J.S. Christenfeld from the Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego and is posted here with their kind permission.

ABSTRACT
We examined whether the frequent casual reports of people resembling their pets are accurate by having observers attempt to match dogs with their owners. We further explored whether any ability of observers to make such matches is due to people selecting dogs who resemble them, in which case the resemblance should be greater for predictable purebreds than for nonpurebreds, or is due to convergence, in which case the resemblance should grow with duration of ownership.

Forty-five dogs and their owners were photographed separately, and judges were shown one owner, that owner’s dog, and one other dog, with the task of picking out the true match.

According to '06 registration records of the Canadian Kennel Club the following dogs are recognized as the top ten breeds in Canada.

1 - Labrador Retriever
2 - Golden Retriever
3 - German Shepher (Alsatian)
4 - Poodle
5 - Sheltland Sheepdog
6 - Yorkshire Terrier
7 - Miniature Schnauzer

8 - Boxer

9 - Shih Tzu
10 - Beagle

by Shawn Messonnier DVM, author of the award-winning The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats. Join over 5 million satellite radio listeners and listen to Dr. Shawn each week on his award-winning show, Dr. Shawn-The Natural Vet, on Martha Stewart Radio Sirius 112, Tuesday night from 7-8 PM CST.


Dr. Shawn Explains Ear Disease in Dogs & Cats

Ear problems are among the most commonly seen conditions in veterinary practices. Unlike the condition in people, where “earaches” involving the middle and inner ear are common, most of the ear problems in pets involve the outer or external ear canals. This article will take a look at some common ear problems in pets.

In most pets, ear disease takes the form of infections. While younger pets are more commonly afflicted with ear mites they contract from contact with other infected pets, older pets usually have infections caused by yeasts or bacteria. These can result from excessive wax in the ears (very common in many spaniels,) excess moisture, allergies, food sensitivities, mange, immune diseases, and hormonal diseases (thyroid and adrenal disease.)  Diagnosis of the cause of the ear disease is by visual examination and microscopic examination. A small amount of the material in the ear is examined microscopically and the cause determined. After determining the cause, the proper therapy can be prescribed.