Category archives: All Things Dog

Hard-working dogs have special dietary needs the average pet will never require. At no time do those demands become more evident than after your early season hotspot turns into a frozen wasteland. To keep your four-footed athlete healthy, happy and pounding the ground in sub-zero temps, follow these tips:

Tailor Consumption
Field work, especially for upland dogs, demands large amounts of energy. Winter weather only exacerbates that burden and necessitates the need for more calories—what kept your dog going in October won’t cut it in December. Brian Zanghi, a nutritionist with Purina, stresses the need to modify rations to maintain ideal body condition. “Each dog is an individual so each owner must make those individual changes to their diet,” he said. “Experiment by increasing their feed by a half-cup and keep adjusting accordingly.”

Feed Performance Formulas
When it comes to energy consumption, calories count and fat and protein calories are the kings. In addition to providing a host of physiological benefits that keep your dog optimally primed, performance formulas contain the highest amounts of fat and protein and are therefore the most calorically dense kibble available. In short, your dog will get more energy from each bite and ...

Hunters spend big bucks on their passion. Seriously, big bucks. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, hunting’s economic impact surpasses Google’s revenue ($38.3 billion dollars in 2011, compared to $37.9 billion) and supports more than 680,000 jobs. Hunting-dog owners are a big piece of that economic impact.

Well-bred field dogs average in the realm of $500 to $1,000, and this upfront cost is the least of your worries when it comes to caring for a dog. The AKC estimates that more than $2,000 is spent on one-time expenditures (crate, bowls, etc.) and that on average their members spend approximately $2,500 per year, per dog.

At first glance, that might seem extraordinarily high, but for hunters and competitors, it’s probably on the low side.

Professional trainers worth their salt average $550 to $650 per month. If you choose to use a pro trainer, you’re looking at a minimum of three months of board and training. Not a whole lot can be conditioned in and built upon in less than that time, unless you’re just going for a preseason tune-up or obedience training. In three to six months of training, you’re already knocking on or ...

Your dog is not spiteful. In fact, I would dare to say that NO dog is spiteful. But it’s hard not to feel like your dog is out to get you when you arrive home from a solo trip out of the house only to realize that your dog took his own one-way trip to Destruction Land in your absence. The poop and pee on the floor, the torn up furnishings and clothing, and your destroyed front door are all transmitting the “I showed them for leaving me home alone” vibe. However, A handout entitled, “Destructive Behavior in Dogs” written by Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D, for the Animal Humane Society, lists 12 reasons for destructive canine behavior and spite or revenge are not one of them.

In my experience, the reason most likely to give owners the impression that their dog is spiteful is a disorder called separation anxiety (SA). SA is a complex disorder often marked by a dog’s extreme social attachment to their owner. Though it is recognized as a common disorder in dogs, it is not always straight forward to diagnose. Interestingly, many of the dogs with the disorder are otherwise very ...

When you’re looking for a new puppy, buy from a breeder that offers a written health guarantee. The guarantee should cover the many aspects of canine health and the recourse taken by both parties in the event of a sick puppy.

But how do you know the guarantee is worth the paper it’s written on?

Here are a few tips to keep in mind the next time you (or a friend) start looking for the breeder that will produce your next puppy: 

• Always get a guarantee in writing. A verbal agreement won’t do any good should you need it.

• The guarantee should stipulate what exactly is covered: are all physical and genetic disorders covered or only specific ones (i.e., hips, eyes and heart)?

• The guarantee should stipulate for how long the dog is covered: two years is the standard length, but they vary by breeder and sometimes upon the condition. This gives the dog time to mature, and its bones, eyes and other organs to form completely. Additionally, many late on-set diseases manifest by this time. 

• The guarantee should stipulate what happens in the event of a sick puppy: does the breeder ...

In celebration of the dog breeds that course the fields, marshes, lakes and mountains during the fall hunting seasons, we’re listing 10 of the best breeds for bringing waterfowl, upland birds, big game and small game to hand.

Waterfowl

Labrador retriever: The epitome of the all-around dog, the Labrador can hunt upland fields, works as service dogs in tasks as varied as police work and guiding the blind. However, their true calling is as a retriever in water – first fetching up fishing nets off the coast of Canada and later picking up ducks and geese for waterfowl hunters. Heavy, double coats and webbed feet make them adroit in the water while their disposition and desire to please make them easy to train.

Runner-up – Chesapeake Bay retriever: The only American-bred retriever, the Chessie is a hardy dog that was used extensively by market hunters the Chesapeake Bay area. Their wavy, double coat is typically oily, which makes them perfect dogs for cold-water retrieving. Possessing a strong will, Chessies tend to be one-man dogs that are determined to get the job done.

Upland bird

German shorthair pointer: Fleet of foot and bird crazy, shorthairs are a sleek dog that will ...

HO, HO, OH NO! If you’ve recently been to a local department store, you were likely made well aware that the holiday season is upon us. It may be that my recollections of youth have faded some over the years, but does anyone remember holiday decorations in stores before Halloween when they were kids? I sure don’t. Another thing I can’t remember from my youth is anyone warning us about potential dangers to our dogs during the holiday season. The canine exodus from the backyard to the bedroom over the past 30 or so years has been remarkable. Development of once-monthly parasite control and changing social, cultural and familial norms have been important contributing factors to the modern, intimate relationship with our former hairy lawn ornaments. With this change, comes a different set of responsibilities in keeping our dogs safe and healthy. Once threatened by wild animals, parasites and seasonal extremes, our dogs now face a multitude of new threats to their health associated with the modern American lifestyle.

Halloween to New Year’s Day is an interesting time to be an emergency veterinarian. Whether it is food, decorations, or other hazards, many dogs end up learning the hard way that ...

The olfactory capabilities of our best friends are amazing, and we continually find new ways to put them to work. From hunting and police work to security and disease detection, a dog’s sense of smell keeps us safe and healthy. Now it seems a two-year-old rabbit-hunting beagle from the Ozarks might help zookeepers detect when threatened polar bears are pregnant.

Taking a page from diabetic alert dog trainers, officials at the Cincinnati Zoo's Center for Conservation & Research of Endangered Wildlife have been working with Matt Skogen at Ironheart High Performance Working Dogs in Shawnee, Kan., to train dogs to detect hormonal changes in gestating polar bears so that officials can take necessary precautions with the expectant mothers. Polar bears have complicated reproduction cycles littered with false pregnancies that make captive breeding programs difficult to successfully administer. Early detection gives zookeepers the chance to separate male and female bears, to provide necessary cub-rearing dens and to monitor the mother more closely.

Skogen originally started with the border collie, arguably the most intelligent breed of dog, but a methodical beagle named Elvis eventually won the job. Elvis trained by sniffing fecal matter from bears that were and weren’t pregnant. When ...

If your dog is an average American canine, there is approximately 50% likelihood that your dog has a chronic disease that increases chances of osteoarthritis, heart disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease, chronic pain, cancer, high blood pressure, and endocrine disease. In addition, this disease is also known to significantly decrease life expectancy. The most unfortunate aspect of this condition is that it is completely preventable, yet only a small fraction of dog owners take the necessary precautions to prevent this disease of malnutrition in their dogs. This disease is canine obesity.

Unless you avoid all news and cultural commentaries, you are likely aware of the human obesity epidemic in America and other countries around the world. According to the report, “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future”, a collaborative work by Trust for America’s Health (www.healthyamericans.org) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as of 2010, 68.7% of American adults over 19 years of age were overweight or obese (“Overweight” is defined as a body mass index, or BMI, over 25 and “Obese” is defined as a BMI over 30 - BMI Calculator). In addition, the rapidity at which the increase in human obesity has occurred is ...

Many people underestimate the ongoing financial burden of responsible dog ownership when considering a puppy, and instead focus on the upfront price of the dog.

The cost of a well-bred dog will be the least amount of money you ever spend on it. In an AKC survey of more than 1,000 dog owners, one-time costs (crate, neutering, bowls, leash, purchase price) averaged $2,100, while ongoing costs averaged $2,500 per year for items such as food, routine veterinarian care, boarding, treats and training. With the average lifespan of a dog being about 13 years, using these averages, you can expect to spend nearly $35,000 on a dog over the course of its lifetime. Even cutting these estimates in half, you can still expect to invest close to $20,000 in your pet.

The difference in paying for a $50 dog or a $1,000 is, in the long term, a negligible difference. Your upfront costs will always be the least of your financial worries.

That said, you should look for the best puppy you can find. A puppy whose parents were genetically tested prior to breeding and that come with a written health guarantee might cost a ...

Canines of all ages are notorious for eating the oddest things. From leftovers in the garbage to rocks in the yard, some dogs will consume anything. While their self-induced supplementary diets can make for interesting story sharing, the actual act can pose a risk (life-threatening sometimes) and can cost you a lot of money in emergency vet fees.

Sometimes the weird things dogs eat can be avoided. Sometimes they can’t. I’ll be honest, my dogs have eaten some things that aren’t so good for them, and sometimes that was my fault and others times it just happened.

Hoss, my English bulldog, once ate a pair of my shoes. That was my fault, as I left them on the floor where they would become the subject of his inquisitive puppy nature. The corner of the wall he ate, however, was (I’m convinced) simply because it was in front of him when he woke up. The television remote was left on the couch where he could find it. Likewise, he was left alone in the car with the Labrador’s frozen training ducks. These are just a couple of examples of things one of my dogs has eaten.

If you noticed a pattern ...