The Real Dog Blog

Dog Saves Woman's Life

This is rather interesting. This dog permormed the heimlich manuver to save his owner. Read more here.

Rat Poison in Pet Food

WOW! Thanks, Rory, for being the first to notify me about the recalled pet food. It seems they've found the food is tainted with rat poison. If you haven't checked the recall list, make sure you take a look at all the foods involved...the list is quite long. Keep you pets safe!

Adopting a Dog

I’m very much in favor of dog adoption. There are many wonderful dogs that need great homes and I’d love to see them all adopted. However, pet adoption is definitely a “buyer beware” sort of situation. It seems that not every adoption agency (be it a shelter, a breed placement group, a rescue organization, etc), has the welfare of the HUMANS in mind when they place dogs. You want a good match and that doesn’t mean you to take on a dog with “baggage”. In fact, if a group is trying to tell you to take a dog home BECAUSE the dog has baggage, look for another adoption group. I get tired of hearing about people who tell me “well, I have a rescue….so, of course, he has problems”. Nine times out of ten those “problems” are severe…things like aggression, separation anxiety, extreme phobias of some sort….things that “love” and “patience” just don’t cure. So, how can you make sure you get a good match? Well, first of all, adopt from a group that does a standardized temperament test or a behavioral assessment process such as the assess-a-pet.

And keep in mind some common phrases that are should be red flags to potential adopters. Here are a few of them…..

“She’s a real Velcro dog”….often means the dog has separation anxiety. So don’t plan on leaving the dog alone if you don’t want your house destroyed.

“He would love to be an only dog”…often means the dog is dog aggressive. So don’t plan on walking him during daylight hours or going to the dog park

“A little nippy at first”….often means the dog BITES. Nipping is just a nice way of saying “BITE”

“Prefers an adult home”….often means the dog is aggressive to children. If you live near children, have grandchildren, nieces or nephews or if you plan on having kids, this might not be the best dog for you.

“He needs a job”….often means the dog needs about 3 hours of exercise a day or he will drive you crazy digging in your yard, barking at things, chewing up the house and being an overall lunatic.

“She would make an excellent watch dog”…often means the dog will bark non-stop at everything she hears or sees.

Got other red flag descriptions? Let’s hear about them.

Dog Food Recall

Are you feeding wet food to your dog (or cat)? If so, make sure you know about the pet food recall just announced yesterday. Over 60 million containers of food are being recalled and a wide variety of foods are included. Check out the list of recalled foods to make sure your pets are not affected.

While we're on the subject of good food for you pet. Take a moment to learn how to pick a quality pet food for your dog. This article on choosing the best food for your dog gives some easy to understand concepts to make you a better consumer. Read the article and also review the list of foods I'd recommend (they are the foods listed in bold in the article).

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my new dog blog! I have been thinking about doing a blog for some time....well, the time has come! I hope to use this blog to start lively discussions about all sorts of dog topics. If you have something of interest to discuss, please let me know. Keep an eye out for upcoming blog entries dealing with Cesar Milan, dog parks, raw diets for dogs and much more. The sky is the limit!