Lifestyle

Few things are as rewarding as bringing a dog into your family. Dogs bring inherent expenses though and it's important to understand the financial commitments so you can budget for the known costs.

While the studies were small, the conclusions are big: Dogs do not negatively affect human sleep.

Some dogs like Chihuahuas are too small to swim, and lack the fur to keep warm. Other breeds like bull dogs are not build to swim well and may sink rear end first.

All of our dogs are capable of far more than we ever ask of them. Their senses, especially their hearing and ability to smell, are so highly developed that they can perform feats that appear miraculous to us. Their physical abilities can cause us to gape in awe, as demonstrated by the prowess of highly-skilled Frisbee and Agility dogs. And they have all kinds of talents that, unless we look for them, we may never notice; hidden talents that reveal their versatility and breadth of their potential to think, reason and learn.

Camping means different things to different people, but to dogs, camping means fun! Like most things with the word camp" in them

The ability to carry a little dog onto an airplane with you is one of the greatest advantages of owning a small dog that can't be shared by owners of medium or large dogs. Most (though not all) of the risks of flying a dog on a commercial flight are posed by the dog's handling by airport employees behind the scenes and by the dog's unattended experience in the cargo hold of the plane; in contrast, the risks to a dog who is with you at every moment of your flight are very slight – and under your control. That said, there are a lot of things you need to know and contingencies for which to prepare if you are going to subject your dog to air travel. Here's how to make the carried-on dog's flight as enjoyable and stress free (for both of you) as possible.

The last time a barking dog came onscreen during family movie night, did your dog perk up? Most of us have seen our dogs...

As a trainer, I am hyperaware of the dynamics between dogs and their owners. I have watched countless human-canine teams in group classes blossom together in beautiful demonstrations of communication and cooperation. Unfortunately, I have also seen people struggle. Teaching a dog a new skill can be difficult for any owner, especially if the person has never practiced it before. A good coach can help solve the sticking points in training . . . but more troublesome is when an owner's bond with a dog seems very weak, or non-existent.

Pet food companies that are the size of Hill’s Pet Nutrition (a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive Company) and Iams and Eukanuba (both owned by Procter & Gamble Pet Care) can afford to conduct a variety of research and development studies, as well as conduct their own feeding trials to meet regulatory requirements for nutritional adequacy. The following are the types of studies that large pet food companies typically conduct.

As winter deepens its grip, many of us find ourselves navigating dark pre-dawn and/or post-dusk dog walks. While the increased darkness makes it tempting...

Books are akin to gold for me. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a small child and learned how to “sneak read” by the glow of the hall light outside my bedroom door after lights-out time. Whenever my husband and I have moved – five times in the last 10 years – the cartons of books we’ve collected over the years have inarguably made up the bulk of our possessions.

happy in a "forever home" where he is loved