When ever some one makes a derogatory statement about an aggressive breed such as Pit Bulls, Rotweillers, Chows, Akitas, etc... The other side states that it wasn't the dog but the owner.
While this has some truth to it, we must remember that each breed has its own character.
These characteristics have been breed in to the dog for different reasons. This is why some dogs are more animal aggressive than others or some dogs are more of a one person owner. These characteristics are innate and it’s up to the owner to keep them in check.
Characteristics are what make a Golden Retriever everyone’s buddy both animal and human. They are also what make the Rottweiler such a great guardian and protector. We need to concentrate on spay and neutering practices, education, and leave the breeding to the professionals.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Why, Oh Why does my Golden like to roll in poop?
My Golden Max (aka Mookies) will roll in just about anything, live or dead. But the worst is poop! Max just has a grand old time running around the yard to find the right spot or in this case pile of poop.
He starts with a long sniff. Sort of what some one does with a good glass of wine. Then he turns his head to the side and works his upper part of his body into the spot. He then twists onto his back and wriggles and squiggles, chuffing and snorting his approval. When all of this is done, he gets up, has a good shake and looks for me or my wife. Once spotted, he makes a bee line for us with his "golden smile". (Golden owners know what I'm talking about)
He wants to share his new found stank with us by putting in paws on our laps and then burying his head in our chests.
Poor guy just doesn't understand that essence or Rottweiler is not attractive. If you ask Max he'll tell you the stinky-stankier the better and that you don't know what you’re missing.
I beg to differ my furry friend. I beg to differ...
He starts with a long sniff. Sort of what some one does with a good glass of wine. Then he turns his head to the side and works his upper part of his body into the spot. He then twists onto his back and wriggles and squiggles, chuffing and snorting his approval. When all of this is done, he gets up, has a good shake and looks for me or my wife. Once spotted, he makes a bee line for us with his "golden smile". (Golden owners know what I'm talking about)
He wants to share his new found stank with us by putting in paws on our laps and then burying his head in our chests.
Poor guy just doesn't understand that essence or Rottweiler is not attractive. If you ask Max he'll tell you the stinky-stankier the better and that you don't know what you’re missing.
I beg to differ my furry friend. I beg to differ...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Designer Dogs
I like to listen to pet owners talk about their Designer Dogs as if the dog has been around for hundreds of years. I giggle inside when they get red faced and aggravated when some one has the chutzpa to let them know that they have a mutt.
Having a mutt is great. In fact, they tend to be healthier and smarter in my opinion.
But to stand there and tell your fellow human that your Morike, Moodle, Shipoo, Schnoodle, Chi weenie, etc... are dogs worth $500.00 plus, you've just got to be plain CRAZY!
Love your dog. Love your dog with every bone in your body but don't try to tell me how expensive your dog is. At the end of the day your dog is a mix breed, a mutt, and a mongrel.
I think I get aggravated most with people who breed these dogs and want to charge an outrageous price to unsuspecting owners. Some of these dogs fetch a higher price than pedigreed dogs.
The same goes with Albino dogs or dogs without skin pigmentation. If you are selling White Dobermans, Rotweillers, etc... and telling people that the white color is rare and therefore cost more money PLEASE stop!
This is how a line becomes weak and you pass on the bad genes. Leave breeding to the professionals and to those who care about the breed. If you have a pup that does not fit the breed standards make sure that you spay or neuter the dog as soon as possible. It's called being responsible folks.
My groomer told me that she and her boyfriend were in a pet store looking at the designer breeds and thought they should take a Bull Terrier and a Shih-Tzu and call it a Bull Shit. I did get a laugh out of that!
That being said please do not get these two together, as it would make for one butt ugly dog.
Let me know what you think? Are these mixtures of breeds viable?
Having a mutt is great. In fact, they tend to be healthier and smarter in my opinion.
But to stand there and tell your fellow human that your Morike, Moodle, Shipoo, Schnoodle, Chi weenie, etc... are dogs worth $500.00 plus, you've just got to be plain CRAZY!
Love your dog. Love your dog with every bone in your body but don't try to tell me how expensive your dog is. At the end of the day your dog is a mix breed, a mutt, and a mongrel.
I think I get aggravated most with people who breed these dogs and want to charge an outrageous price to unsuspecting owners. Some of these dogs fetch a higher price than pedigreed dogs.
The same goes with Albino dogs or dogs without skin pigmentation. If you are selling White Dobermans, Rotweillers, etc... and telling people that the white color is rare and therefore cost more money PLEASE stop!
This is how a line becomes weak and you pass on the bad genes. Leave breeding to the professionals and to those who care about the breed. If you have a pup that does not fit the breed standards make sure that you spay or neuter the dog as soon as possible. It's called being responsible folks.
My groomer told me that she and her boyfriend were in a pet store looking at the designer breeds and thought they should take a Bull Terrier and a Shih-Tzu and call it a Bull Shit. I did get a laugh out of that!
That being said please do not get these two together, as it would make for one butt ugly dog.
Let me know what you think? Are these mixtures of breeds viable?
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Does your dog have a bone to pick with you?
I don't think the debate between real and synthetic bones will ever end. In my opinion, I would rather give my dog’s real bones if possible. Their bodies are made to handle and digest it. I'm not saying go out and give your dog chicken and pork bones as chicken and pork bone splinter easily. When I do serve my dog’s raw bones, it is a knuckle bone and they are supervised.
The down side to real bones are they tend to be messy and no one wants their dog chewing them in the house. They will bring about bugs and bacteria if left for a long period of time. (I say pick them up after a few hours and be done with it. It only cost you a few bucks so it's not that big a deal.) If your dog can eat days old food out of the garbage can, lick there own butt, and eat dog and cat poop, then I think a little bacteria off a bone won't hurt. Again, just my opinion. Synthetic bones such as Nylabone have their place and I have used these as well. In fact, I have used these more than real bones. Most Nylabones will do the trick but if you have powerful chewers than I suggest getting the "Galileo" Nylabone. This bone is tuff and will give your dog lots of chewing pleasure. You can keep it in the house, it won't stain anything, and if you are a germ-a-phobe, you can boil it. Just make sure you let it cool before giving it to your dog. I do not give my dogs Rawhides, Pig ears, or Cow hooves. I think rawhides are the worst because they do not break down easily and your dog ends up swallowing slimy, gooey, strips of blah. Yes it is possible for these to get wrapped up in your dog’s intestine. Plain and simple it's not good for your dog. I think my Rottie has some type of allergic reaction to raw meat as he yacks it up when he eats it but my Golden loves it. If I can't serve the real thing, then Nylabone is the next best answer for me and both my dogs seem to enjoy it.
Knuckle bone or Nylabone, you pick. In either case just make sure your dog does not swallow big chunks of bone break off. It's much easier to pick it up and throw it away then make a visit to your vet.
Just remember that chewing is a natural habit for your dog and this gives him/her great pleasure and stress relief. Also chewing keeps your dogs teeth and gums healthy. So treat your dog to a good bone and make them happy.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Have you seen the Lumpapottomus?
I have, he's a 140lb mahogany and tan Rotweiller. He's my pride and joy and his name is Enzo. We sometimes call him the 6 million dollar dog because he has been in and out of the vet for this thing or that. Enzo is everything a Rottweiler should be and then some. We affectionately refer to him as Lumpy or The Lumpopottomus.
This is the ferocious Rottie that let an apartment maintenance man in my apartment, change out a door lock and then leave. Enzo was sleeping in the middle of my bed and didn't even care to move an inch. That's how he earned his name Lumpy.
Over the years I've noticed that Enzo has not been able to see to well at night or in the dark and I noticed that his eyes would get this weird green glow. We never thought that much about it as he still seemed quite normal and I just attributed it to getting older. I thought that Enzo was getting cataracts so I brought him to our local vet. He ran some tests and stated that he was not able to see into the dogs eyes and suggested an eye specialist.
We showed up to the eye specialist who diagnosed Enzo in seconds and informed us that he has PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy). He told us that Enzo has had this for quite some time and was pretty sure that he was just about blind.
He told us that Enzo had us fooled for quite some time as his other senses took over. He looked and acted quite normal to us, other than the eerie glow. Well that was almost a year ago and he's doing fine. I try not to move things too much and he seems to be as happy as can be. The only hard time that we have is when he wakes up from dead sleep.
He doesn't know where he's at and he will just stand there.
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night just to find him staring into the corner.
He hasn't a clue and I'm sure he must feel a little strange. When walking him to bed after waking him up in the living room he will fight me and want to walk the opposite direction I'm going. It's hard to steer 140lbs of blind dog when they are dead set on going in one direction. Honestly though, that's the worst of it.
My wife takes this worse than I do as Enzo along with our Golden Retriever and two cats are her kids. She gets a little miffed with me as I do not share the "kid" view but she does know that I care deeply about all my pets, Enzo in particular.
Anyhow I am attaching an article on this genetic defect and if you find that your pet has any of the symptoms, get them checked out.
See the article from http://www.animaleyecare.net/diseases/pra.htm
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
This is a genetic, inherited disease of the retina (the "film" in the camera), which occurs in both eyes simultaneously. The disease is nonpainful, and there is no cure for it. The eyes are genetically programmed to go blind. PRA occurs in most breeds of dogs and can occur in mixed breeds also. It is recessively inherited in all breeds studied, with the following exceptions: PRA is dominantly inherited in Old English Mastiffs and Bullmastiffs, and PRA is sex-linked and found primarily in male dogs in the Siberian Husky and Samoyed breeds. Clinical signs vary from the dog first becoming night blind in the early stage of PRA (not able to see in low light surroundings) to the entire visual field in all light levels becoming affected, which is advanced PRA.
The pupils are usually dilated, and owners often notice a "glow" and increased "eye shine" from the eyes. All dogs with PRA will eventually develop blindness from advanced PRA, and this time frame until the dog is blind varies considerably from dog to dog, but usually takes at least 6 months from the time of diagnosis, and can rarely take years until the dog is completely blind. Although no treatment for PRA is possible to stop the disease, nutritional antioxidant supplementation for retinal health may help slow the deterioration of the retina to "buy some time" before the blindness inevitably happens.
Animal Eye Care believes that in many of these PRA patients, specific oral antioxidant nutritional therapy can delay the progression of blindness. Blindness is not avoided, however, in any PRA patients. If oral antioxidants were used, they would be continued until complete vision loss occurred. What to do if you suspect PRA: Have your dog examined by a board certified veterinary ophthalmologist to determine if this disease is indeed present. If you are located in the Pacific Northwest or in British Colombia, you may contact our office to schedule a comprehensive ophthalmic examination.
Dogs with PRA should not be bred, and the breeder that you received your dog from should be notified that the dog is affected, so the breeder can alter their breeding program in future. It is important to understand that dogs with PRA are happy dogs. Their eyes don't hurt, and they adjust very well to their slow loss of vision.
In fact, if a dog were destined to become blind and Dr. McCalla could pick the disease, it would be PRA, as the vision loss is slow and nonpainful, and the dog is given much time to adjust to its vision loss. It is important to realize that it is OK to grieve about your pet's vision loss, but you must not put your sad feelings in your dog's head--they aren't really there! Your dog is not suffering. They adjust well to their vision loss, and it is by far hardest to deal with on the owner's side. Your dog's job description has not changed.
Your blind dog is happy as long as its routine is stable. From your dog's point of view, life continues to be great-- you are there as always, and they just need to use their other keen senses a bit more to get the same information they used to view. Keep household furniture in its place, and consider purchasing the book "Living With Blind Dogs" by Caroline Levin. Animal Eye Care also sells this book. It is the only book of this subject matter, and is beneficial in helping owners and their affected pets adjust to the vision loss.
Animal Eye Care also sells pet medical alert tags. One tag reads "I Have Poor Vision" while the other reads "I Am Blind". Please contact our office if you want to purchase a tag for your pet.
Dogs with PRA can develop cataracts late in the disease process. Cataract surgery would never be done, as it would not help the dog to see. However, cataracts can cause pain and damage to the eye, and if the eyes look very cloudy to you, please call Animal Eye Care for a reexamination as soon as possible. There are DNA blood tests available, to determine if dogs are likely affected with PRA, are likely carriers for PRA, or are not likely carrying the PRA gene. Please visit the web site for further information (http://www.optigen.com/).
This is the ferocious Rottie that let an apartment maintenance man in my apartment, change out a door lock and then leave. Enzo was sleeping in the middle of my bed and didn't even care to move an inch. That's how he earned his name Lumpy.
Over the years I've noticed that Enzo has not been able to see to well at night or in the dark and I noticed that his eyes would get this weird green glow. We never thought that much about it as he still seemed quite normal and I just attributed it to getting older. I thought that Enzo was getting cataracts so I brought him to our local vet. He ran some tests and stated that he was not able to see into the dogs eyes and suggested an eye specialist.
We showed up to the eye specialist who diagnosed Enzo in seconds and informed us that he has PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy). He told us that Enzo has had this for quite some time and was pretty sure that he was just about blind.
He told us that Enzo had us fooled for quite some time as his other senses took over. He looked and acted quite normal to us, other than the eerie glow. Well that was almost a year ago and he's doing fine. I try not to move things too much and he seems to be as happy as can be. The only hard time that we have is when he wakes up from dead sleep.
He doesn't know where he's at and he will just stand there.
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night just to find him staring into the corner.
He hasn't a clue and I'm sure he must feel a little strange. When walking him to bed after waking him up in the living room he will fight me and want to walk the opposite direction I'm going. It's hard to steer 140lbs of blind dog when they are dead set on going in one direction. Honestly though, that's the worst of it.
My wife takes this worse than I do as Enzo along with our Golden Retriever and two cats are her kids. She gets a little miffed with me as I do not share the "kid" view but she does know that I care deeply about all my pets, Enzo in particular.
Anyhow I am attaching an article on this genetic defect and if you find that your pet has any of the symptoms, get them checked out.
See the article from http://www.animaleyecare.net/diseases/pra.htm
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
This is a genetic, inherited disease of the retina (the "film" in the camera), which occurs in both eyes simultaneously. The disease is nonpainful, and there is no cure for it. The eyes are genetically programmed to go blind. PRA occurs in most breeds of dogs and can occur in mixed breeds also. It is recessively inherited in all breeds studied, with the following exceptions: PRA is dominantly inherited in Old English Mastiffs and Bullmastiffs, and PRA is sex-linked and found primarily in male dogs in the Siberian Husky and Samoyed breeds. Clinical signs vary from the dog first becoming night blind in the early stage of PRA (not able to see in low light surroundings) to the entire visual field in all light levels becoming affected, which is advanced PRA.
The pupils are usually dilated, and owners often notice a "glow" and increased "eye shine" from the eyes. All dogs with PRA will eventually develop blindness from advanced PRA, and this time frame until the dog is blind varies considerably from dog to dog, but usually takes at least 6 months from the time of diagnosis, and can rarely take years until the dog is completely blind. Although no treatment for PRA is possible to stop the disease, nutritional antioxidant supplementation for retinal health may help slow the deterioration of the retina to "buy some time" before the blindness inevitably happens.
Animal Eye Care believes that in many of these PRA patients, specific oral antioxidant nutritional therapy can delay the progression of blindness. Blindness is not avoided, however, in any PRA patients. If oral antioxidants were used, they would be continued until complete vision loss occurred. What to do if you suspect PRA: Have your dog examined by a board certified veterinary ophthalmologist to determine if this disease is indeed present. If you are located in the Pacific Northwest or in British Colombia, you may contact our office to schedule a comprehensive ophthalmic examination.
Dogs with PRA should not be bred, and the breeder that you received your dog from should be notified that the dog is affected, so the breeder can alter their breeding program in future. It is important to understand that dogs with PRA are happy dogs. Their eyes don't hurt, and they adjust very well to their slow loss of vision.
In fact, if a dog were destined to become blind and Dr. McCalla could pick the disease, it would be PRA, as the vision loss is slow and nonpainful, and the dog is given much time to adjust to its vision loss. It is important to realize that it is OK to grieve about your pet's vision loss, but you must not put your sad feelings in your dog's head--they aren't really there! Your dog is not suffering. They adjust well to their vision loss, and it is by far hardest to deal with on the owner's side. Your dog's job description has not changed.
Your blind dog is happy as long as its routine is stable. From your dog's point of view, life continues to be great-- you are there as always, and they just need to use their other keen senses a bit more to get the same information they used to view. Keep household furniture in its place, and consider purchasing the book "Living With Blind Dogs" by Caroline Levin. Animal Eye Care also sells this book. It is the only book of this subject matter, and is beneficial in helping owners and their affected pets adjust to the vision loss.
Animal Eye Care also sells pet medical alert tags. One tag reads "I Have Poor Vision" while the other reads "I Am Blind". Please contact our office if you want to purchase a tag for your pet.
Dogs with PRA can develop cataracts late in the disease process. Cataract surgery would never be done, as it would not help the dog to see. However, cataracts can cause pain and damage to the eye, and if the eyes look very cloudy to you, please call Animal Eye Care for a reexamination as soon as possible. There are DNA blood tests available, to determine if dogs are likely affected with PRA, are likely carriers for PRA, or are not likely carrying the PRA gene. Please visit the web site for further information (http://www.optigen.com/).
Friday, March 6, 2009
My dog can beat up your dog!
To all the Bone Thug Ghetto Gangsta's:
1. Your dog is not a status symbol.
2. Your dog does not make YOU a bad ass, but instead makes YOU an ass.
Taking a 5lb chain and using it as a collar is just plain stupid. Are people supposed to be afraid of you or your dog? Because with out your dog, who are you really? Not too much I suppose.
You guys and gals breed back yard Pit bulls and Rottweilers and screw the whole line up.
You breed mother and son, sister and brother and dogs with ailments and dispositions that should not be. There are specific guide lines to breeding, but you melon heads don't even think about that. And most people don't even know enough to ask questions about your breeding habits. All they see is a cute little puppy but little do they know that it will end up having some serious mental and physical problems.
Then what happens? They let the dog loose, give it to the pound, or kill it. I guess Forrest Gump hit the nail on the head with the statement "Stupid is as Stupid does".
"And that's all I've got to say about that".
I had a customer bring their Chow-Chow to me for grooming. He is a good looking white Chow. He has the BEST disposition and is a big lover. His owner did not like this behavior and kept him away from people and other dogs as she wanted him to protect her.
I'm here to tell you, if you have breeds such as Pit bulls, Rottweilers, Chows, etc...
You do not need to make your dog mean. You do not need to enter your dog into a protection class. (Unless your dog will have a specific job in law enforcement, security, etc...)
Your dog has an innate trait for protecting owner and family. There is no need to intensify this. Why not let others enjoy your dog for the same reasons you do. Be a responsible owner, know your breed history, and practice spay and neutering if you are not a breeder.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Activities for you and your dog
Sorry for the delay of posts. I've been moving from one place to another.
My dogs are doing great. My blind Rottie is playing pin ball around the house but is getting it down pat fairly quick. My golden loves his new back yard. There are lots of smells for him to roll in.
My two cats are having fun exploring their new world and have adjusted nicely.
Today's post will be about activities for your dog(s). We all know that an exercised dog is a happy dog and a happy dog makes for a happy owner.
For the dog that his not getting daily exercise, frustration and pent up energy can manifest it’s self in some bad doggie etiquette.
If Fido is running in circles chasing his tail, chewing the base boards, chewing the couch and pillows, barking, jumping, being aggressive all of the sudden to other dogs and humans, walking around aimlessly, etc... Your dog might be in need of exercise.
When you and I feel frustrated we complain or exercise. When we have pent up energy, we get out and do something.
Well your dog resolves these problems in a dog’s way. Dogs complain by barking, Dogs destroy items to release energy. It's not that they want to be bad, it’s just the way a dog handles stress and frustration. Your dog just can't "Deal With It". Your dog needs an outlet.
There are several things you can do other than just walk your dog.
1. Take your dog for a jog.
2. Play ball with your dog
3. When walking your dog, use a doggie pack and fill with bottles of water. You are giving your dog a job to do and the weight of the bottles will tire your dog out.
4. Give your dog a job to do. Working dogs have innate urges. (Ex - Take your herding dog to some herding trials or classes.)
5. Fly ball (NAFA) http://www.flyball.org/
6. Agility http://www.usdaa.com/
As you see, there are plenty of activities for your dog. If you are a very busy person and you don't have time to dedicate to your dogs mental and physical health, you might want to consider doggie day care or a pet sitter to come out and walk your dog. In most areas, this should run you about $15-$20 per day.
Happy Exercising.
My dogs are doing great. My blind Rottie is playing pin ball around the house but is getting it down pat fairly quick. My golden loves his new back yard. There are lots of smells for him to roll in.
My two cats are having fun exploring their new world and have adjusted nicely.
Today's post will be about activities for your dog(s). We all know that an exercised dog is a happy dog and a happy dog makes for a happy owner.
For the dog that his not getting daily exercise, frustration and pent up energy can manifest it’s self in some bad doggie etiquette.
If Fido is running in circles chasing his tail, chewing the base boards, chewing the couch and pillows, barking, jumping, being aggressive all of the sudden to other dogs and humans, walking around aimlessly, etc... Your dog might be in need of exercise.
When you and I feel frustrated we complain or exercise. When we have pent up energy, we get out and do something.
Well your dog resolves these problems in a dog’s way. Dogs complain by barking, Dogs destroy items to release energy. It's not that they want to be bad, it’s just the way a dog handles stress and frustration. Your dog just can't "Deal With It". Your dog needs an outlet.
There are several things you can do other than just walk your dog.
1. Take your dog for a jog.
2. Play ball with your dog
3. When walking your dog, use a doggie pack and fill with bottles of water. You are giving your dog a job to do and the weight of the bottles will tire your dog out.
4. Give your dog a job to do. Working dogs have innate urges. (Ex - Take your herding dog to some herding trials or classes.)
5. Fly ball (NAFA) http://www.flyball.org/
6. Agility http://www.usdaa.com/
As you see, there are plenty of activities for your dog. If you are a very busy person and you don't have time to dedicate to your dogs mental and physical health, you might want to consider doggie day care or a pet sitter to come out and walk your dog. In most areas, this should run you about $15-$20 per day.
Happy Exercising.
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