Lifestyle

Cosmetic surgery for dogs, including docking tails and cropping ears, is increasingly controversial. Even the usually conservative American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has stated that the procedures are not medically indicated nor of benefit to the patient. These procedures cause pain and distress

Tucker, our six-year-old Cattle-Dog mix, loves to swim. Every morning when we walk the quarter-mile down our driveway with our four-pack of dogs to pick up the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, Tucker casts longing glances at the pond in our next-door-neighbor’s front yard. As long as we occasionally remind him to stay with us, he’s fine. But if we let our attention lapse for too long, especially if it’s a particularly warm day, a loud “Splash!” announces in no uncertain terms that Tucker has once again gone for an unauthorized swim. You would never know that Tucker used to hate the water, and that we had to make an effort to convince him to give recreational swimming a try.

Moe has been Steve Killips' service dog for 81/2 years. The handsome Labrador, who was trained by Paws With a Cause in Wayland, Michigan, often helps pull Steve's wheelchair, vastly increasing Steve's ability to enjoy the outdoors.üPaul Vaughn of Kennesaw, Georgia, purchased Hunter as a puppy. Paul and his wife trained Hunter to be Paul's service dog. Hunter's primary duties are to help Paul around the house, picking up and giving Paul items as needed. And when Paul's arm falls off his armrest, preventing him from driving his power chair, Hunter pushes Paul's arm back up on the armrest.üBri Benton is a Florida dog trainer who trained her own service dog, Dallas. Bri's disability is invisible. She suffers from vasovagal syncope and severe allergies that can cause anaphylaxis. Dallas has been trained to detect changes in Bri's chemistry and consciousness and alert Bri in time to summon help.

Walking with a dog in the dark can present a number of challenges for many dog owners. You may not be able to see well in the dark; this can make you take a hard step off a curb or trip on a rise in the sidewalk. Finding your dog's poop at night (so you can pick it up and dispose of it properly) is also a problem. Although definitely in the minority, some people walk their dogs off-leash at night. I've met a number of people at night who were walking off-leash dogs on the wide trail that tops the river levee that parallels my town's main street. If I wasn't a dog person, I would probably be unnerved by the fast approach of a strange dog in the dark. And as it is, if the dogs were mine, I'd be worried that one of them would wander off or get lost if I couldn't keep sight of them.

Poor agreement was found between visual breed assignments and DNA results in 14 of the 20 dogs (70 percent). Moreover, there was low inter-rater reliability, meaning that the dog experts did not show a high level of agreement regarding breed assignments to the 20 dogs. More than half of the evaluators agreed on the predominant breed in only seven of the 20 dogs (35 percent). These results provide evidence that physical appearance is not a reliable method for breed identification.

Moving to a new house regardless of whether it's down the street or across the country is stressful for anyone, but for dogs it can be especially confusing and upsetting. I just moved my three dogs (ages 16 years to 21 months, 10 pounds to 100 pounds) from New York City to Portland, Oregon. The move has been a bit hectic, but my biggest priority has been creating stability and consistency for my dogs.

The patients who interacted closely with the dogs were six times more likely to become MRSA carriers than those who did not interact closely. But when the dogs were decolonized, the close-interaction group's risk for becoming MRSA carriers was no different from the group of patients who did not interact closely with the dogs.

You’re getting a dog from the shelter? Good for you! We’ll tell you how to choose the best dog for your family. There are a number of steps you need to take before you even set foot inside the shelter door. Doing some pre-visit homework can greatly increase your odds of finding the perfect pup. Caution: If all dogs on a particular shelter’s website are described the same way (sweet, friendly, loving) then the shelter probably doesn’t know the personalities of their dogs very well, or chooses not to be forthcoming with the information. This would be a good shelter to avoid.

Those of us who like dogs can't help but touch them. We are irresistibly drawn to adore them with our hands, to pet them, stroke them, rub their ears, and get lost in the ecstasy of dog beneath our fingertips. Dogs pull not only our hearts but also our hands into a companionship of touch, a relationship we hope is mutually satisfying. Caressing a dog can be a direct line to nirvana, calming nerves, lifting mood, relieving suffering, a spiritual experience that soothes the soul.

look for puppies from accomplished parents.üBuy a puppy from someone who brings her up in such a way that you wish every puppy could be raised that way. Australian Cattle Dog puppies bred by Ingrid Rosenquist.üWe tried to simulate the classic puppymill puppy portrait - the kind with cute props and a pup that looks like it's never been handled before and is stunned by the process. But we couldn't get this shelter puppy to look that shellshocked!üA home visit to see the puppies (or to meet the parents before the puppies are born) is a must. Puppies should be living in a house

My husband and I acquired two (temporary) canine foundlings last week. Julie is a five-month-old purebred Akita puppy that we rescued from our local shelter, where her cage card identified her as a Shepherd/Husky mix. Her prospects for adoption were dismal, given that the shelter euthanizes 85-90 percent of incoming animals. Our second castaway, Princess, is a three-year-old Beagle mix. My husband and I were driving down a busy highway when we spotted her, hunched in the middle of the road, defecating while cars swerved around her on both sides. Princess was wearing a collar and tag, but her owners had moved, and she ended up staying at our house for several days while we tracked down their new phone number and location.

There are certain basic behaviors that all dogs need to know if they are going to survive in human society. Generally, the only ones who are likely to live happily ever after in their original homes are those dogs who are regarded as “good” by their owners. While some (or all!) of the Top 10 Things we describe in this article might seem overly elementary to an experienced and responsible dog owner, many dogs I meet in training classes – and animal shelters – lack several or many of the following skills.