Pilates For Dogs
Is your dog a sports lover who relishes agility, flyball, freestyle, or disc dog competition? Or is she more of a couch potato? Perhaps she’s getting on a bit in years? Then your dog could benefit from a proactive approach to injury prevention. That’s where core conditioning—or Pilates—for dogs comes into the picture. In humans, […]
5 Tips For Cold-Weather Walks
1. Beware the Burn If you’ll be walking where the roads are being salted or treated with ice-melting chemicals, protect your dog’s footpads with booties or petroleum jelly. 2. Stay Bundled Unless your dog is a northern breed that lives for the snow, invest in a sweater or coat that covers him to the base […]
Maternal Altruism In Dogs
Human beings are capable of and often display maternal altruism well beyond our own species. We adopt other people’s children, yes, but we also adopt dogs and cats, even trees and roadways. Viewed through an evolutionary lens, this is interesting. Why aren’t we focusing on the survival of our own species—even our own tribe—instead of […]
Getting Real With Your Dog
One of the most frequent sources of frustration in dog training? Unrealistic expectations. Dogs’ intelligence shines through in so many ways that we tend to ascribe them decidedly human cognitive skills, such as the ability to understand complex sentences. It’s what some dog trainers refer to as “the Lassie syndrome.” If you often find yourself […]
Essential Fatty Acids for Dogs
Good fats and oils are vital to a healthy balanced diet for your dog. Not enough good fats is as big a problem as too much. Aim for a fat percentage of 12 to 16 percent—even for dogs that need to lose weight (unless otherwise advised by your vet). Why? Good fats, knows as essential […]
4 Ways to Keep Your Senior Dog Healthy
Regular Vet Check-ins This is the gospel throughout your dog’s life, but extra important in those golden years. Twice-annual exams is a good rule of thumb; more for dogs with known health issues. Between visits, look out for changes in your dog’s appetite, irritability level, or trouble hearing or seeing. Injury Prevention Provide ramps and […]
Arson Dogs
For more than 12,000 years, dogs have worked alongside humans. They have herded our livestock, hunted with us, and pulled us across otherwise impassable frozen expanses. Most modern dogs are companions, of course, but those who do work have ever more extraordinary job descriptions. Accelerant-detection is one example. Arson dogs work with fire investigative units […]
The Expectations Game
In our ongoing adventure of companionship with dogs nothing trips us up quite as much as our own unrealistic expectations. Dogs who don’t do as they are told? We think them willfully disobedient, stubborn, or, worst of all, slow on the uptake. We overestimate their attention span and level of emotional control. We think they […]
Sibling Rivalry
All dogs squabble occasionally. Dogs who live together mostly get into scraps over stuff they both want: Food, bones, toys, human attention, and sleeping spots. Like us, they have individual preferences and moods, and might be having a grumpy day or a headache. If the fights don’t result in injuries (i.e. you’re not at the […]
How to Teach Your Pet to Target
Picture the Possibilities Imagine teaching your dog to put his hind feet—just his hind feet—on a mat. Or, imagine teaching your cat to give a high-five. What if you could teach your dog to use his nose to ring a bell to go outside? These fun and useful behaviors are all examples of targeting a […]