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Dogs in General

Info, Tips, Health

They Still Exist

I always find it interesting how life events cluster together.  Perhaps you’ve heard of this phenomenon known as “The Law of Threes.”

My little cluster at the moment has to do with healthcare. Within a few months of each other, my family doctor, dentist, and vet have retired. I’ve yet to find people to replace them. That’s because essentially they’re irreplaceable. They all came from the old school where they were human beings first and medical practitioners second. If any … Read More

5 Common Mistakes People Make with Dogs

fiveIt never ceases to amaze me how little someone can know about dogs and still wind up with a decent dog. Really, think about it. What other animal, wild or domesticated, can so readily adapt to our crazy, inconsistent, often self-centered ways?

I can hear some of you suggest that cats fit in with us just as well.  I would argue that cats are willing to put up with far less before they’ll try to avoid or escape us. Dogs … Read More

Pure Voice, Pure Love

Michelle O’Neil over at Full-Soul-Ahead! is someone I very much admire. She knows I’m nuts about my dogs and sent this to me. I hadn’t seen it before. Maybe you haven’t either.

Though I’m not conventionally religious, something about the pureness of gospel singer, Wendy Francisco’s voice in this song just moves me. And the lyrics…, well, see what you think.

Read More

Latest Lyme Disease Info and Treatment for Dogs

Cait’s little boy hasn’t been feeling so well. Feverish, tired and achy, all Wink wants to do is rest quietly. It’s sad to see this normally effervescent little guy so under the weather. (Though, in a day or so, he should be back to his normal self because he’s been started on Doxycycline, the antibiotic of choice for Lyme.)

tiredWink

Wink has been unlucky enough to contract Lyme Disease. I say unlucky because once a dog is infected with Lyme, it … Read More

Points of View

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can get going without pep pills,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can resist … Read More

When Knowing Dog Training Comes in Handy for Raising Kids — Or Operant Conditioning: Part 2

nagging1-copyIn my earlier post on Operant Conditioning: Part 1, I explained how it can be used with great success at motivating 2-leggeds and 4-leggeds. I shared the example of how, at Cait’s suggestion, I used +R (Positive Reinforcement) along with -P (Negative Punishment) to help motivate her to change an undesired behavior (chewing with mouth open) to a desired behavior (chewing with mouth closed). You can read about how we did that here.

In this post, I’d like to … Read More

7 Best Dog Raising & Training Books

Maybe you’ve seen this ditty passed around in an email:

Ten Rules for Being Human

1.  You will receive a body.
2. You will be presented with lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
4. Lessons are repeated until learned.
5. Learning does not end.
6. There is no better than Here.
7. Others are only mirrors of you.
8.What you make of your life is up to you.
9. All the answers lie inside of you.
10. You Read More

Kiera Update and Diagnosing Your Dog’s Abscessed Tooth

kiera1 I picked up Kiera late yesterday afternoon and she had a tough night.  She’s doing much better this morning.

The vet thinks the growth was a result of an abscessed tooth, which she removed with a section of the gum just to be safe. It looks like we dodged a  bullet! Exhaling now…

While Kiera is resting comfortably at my feet, I thought I’d use this time to talk about what can cause a canine abscessed tooth, what some of … Read More

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