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The best in health, wellness, and positive training from America’s leading dog experts

First Aid

a new bone cancer vaccine for dogs offers a lifeline for ill dogs.

A New Bone Cancer Vaccine for Dogs

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Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone tumor diagnosed in dogs, affecting an estimated 10,000 dogs each year in the U.S. alone. Too many owners are aware that this disease can be extremely aggressive with a poor prognosis.

Tea Tree Oil Diffusers Are Toxic to Dogs

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While some essential oils can benefit dogs, others are extremely dangerous - especially when used in their concentrated form. Tea tree oil demands extra caution around dogs, cats and small children. Although exposure to any essential oil is generally most concentrated when it directly contacts skin, tea tree oil diffusers and liquid potpourri present specific health concerns to dogs. These items release essential oils like tea tree continually into the air, risking exposure by inhalation.
cleaning dog wounds

Natural Remedies for Cleaning Dog Wounds

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Your dog just had surgery, stepped on broken glass, caught her tail in a door, has a puncture wound, got bit or scratched, tangled with barbed wire, or has an abrasion that came from who knows where. You want the wound to heal quickly without bleeding, pain, or infection. The following strategies help achieve that result.
One young freelancer sitting in his office with his dog

What to Do If Your Dog Eats Marijuana (Edibles, Weed, Vape Cartridges, etc.)

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Eating any product containing THC can be dangerous for your dog. While the amount and type of marijuana product consumed determines how serious the situation is, dogs who have eaten cannabis need to get to a vet.

Dog Injury Solutions: Calendula and St. John’s Wort

Calendula Officinalis (also known as the Marigold plant, but usually called calendula) and hypericum (also known as Saint John's Wort), are very safe, yet incredibly effective at cleaning the site of an injury and encouraging the body to heal. Homeopathic and herbal preparations of calendula and hypericum have proved invaluable in modern-day holistic dog care. In fact, it's difficult to find an herbal wound preparation that does not contain some form of one or both of these potent plants.

Distemper in Dogs

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The clinical signs of distemper in dogs occur in stages and in three main body systems: the upper respiratory tract, the gastrointestinal tract, and the central nervous system. Initially, a dog may show signs consistent with upper respiratory disease: coughing, sneezing, high fever, lethargy, and nasal and eye discharge.
A cut dog paw requires medical treatment.

Dog Paw Cuts and Scrapes: How to Treat a Paw Injury

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Your dog's paw pads act much like the soles of sneakers, protecting your dog's foot and cushioning each step. Paw pads are tough, but they can still be cut by sharp objects or worn off if your dog runs hard on rough terrain. What should you do when your dog cuts or tears a pad?
A female doctor checks a puppies heart rate during a visit.

Do You Know Your Dog’s Normal Heart Rate?

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Learning your dog’s normal vitals – temperature, pulse, and respiration – is useful for detecting health problems or tracking your dog’s response to medication. It is also good information to provide when calling your veterinarian or an emergency clinic to make an urgent appointment .

Comfort Your Dog

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There is absolutely no evidence, not one bit, suggesting that providing comfort and security to a distressed dog causes the dogs anxiety or fear to increase. Why then, does this myth persist among dog owners and even with some trainers? Why are owners still advised to ignore their dog when he is distressed or anxious or fearful, as if providing any attention to the dog will reinforce those emotions?
When your dog eats an onion it's natural to panic, but how much onion is toxic to dogs.

My Dog Ate an Onion!

Approximately 100 grams – about a half cup – of onion can be toxic to a 45-lb. dog. Onion powder is more concentrated, and therefore worse.
A yellow ting to the skin and gums is one of the clearest sign of liver disease in dogs.

Liver Disease in Dogs

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Signs of liver disease can include lethargy, decreased appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, bruising of the skin (small patches of bruising are called petechiae; larger patches are called ecchymoses), abdominal distention, weakness, and a yellow tint to the skin and gums (called jaundice or icterus).
Knowing how to do CPR on a dog can help to save a furry friendly member of your family.

How to Do CPR On a Dog

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Dog owners who know how to perform rescue breathing, or CPR on a dog very well may make the difference between their dog passing away and living a long life.