November 10, 2008
To breed or not to breed, that is the question….
So you want a new puppy. You have a certain breed in mind and you comb the newspapers for ads of puppies for sale. You find the breed you are looking for and go to see the puppies. Here's where you have to keep your heart out of things, not easy to do. Who could resist those sweet little balls of fur? You of course, fall madly in love with the puppy, buy it, and take it home. After a while, you think your new best friend needs a best friend of his own kind, and hey dogs are like potato chips, can't have just one! So you go through the newspapers again and find another breeder of another litter of the same kind of breed and it hits you, hey why not get the opposite sex so that we can breed them and have puppies of our own to sell? After all, we bought dogs with "papers", so we can make the most money possible right?
Just what do papers mean?
There are four main breed registrations for most breeds. There may be specific breed registries for rare breeds that the larger groups haven’t recognized yet. It’s “buyer beware” when you’re told the puppy you are buying has “papers.” If you are planning to breed this puppy, you need to know a lot more about it.
AKC - American Kennel Club
Established in 1884, this is the oldest breed club. This is the most well known breed registry and widely accepted by dog shows. This is not to say that if your puppy has AKC papers that its parents are truly AKC dogs. The mother may be, but who is the father? That information is on the “honor” system, which asks if the breeder witnessed the breeding. What if your breeder isn’t honest?
Did you know that more than one male could breed a female in the same heat cycle and she can have puppies from each male? If your dog is a German Shepherd and she is bred to another German Shepherd, and the neighbors Doberman, and to the stray Basset Hound mix, she can have some puppies that are 100% German Shepherd, some that are German Shepherd /Doberman, and some puppies that are half German Shepherd / Bassett Hound mix. You can’t always tell when they are born what you have. Unfortunately as the puppies grow and one has unusually short legs, it becomes apparent!
The papers are a birth certificate only. The person breeding the dogs is the one with the integrity. They have to be responsible enough to ensure the female didn’t come into any contact whatsoever with another dog! At this time, AKC does not require DNA testing on all breeds but it is coming.
UKC – United Kennel Club
Established in 1898, the United Kennel Club is the largest all-breed performance-dog registry in the world, registering dogs from all 50 states and 25 foreign countries. More than 60 percent of its 12,000 annually licensed events are tests of hunting ability, training, and instinct. UKC prides itself on its family-oriented, friendly, educational events. The UKC has supported the "Total Dog" philosophy through its events and programs for over a century. As a departure from registries that place emphasis on a dog’s looks, UKC events are for dogs that look and perform equally well.
Their shows do not use handlers other than the breeder. They focus on form and function, conformation and performance trials. Dogs can be doubled registered AKC and UKC when they meet all the criteria. This club is as reputable as AKC, and is a good registration to have. Again, they do not require DNA testing of all breeds at this time.
CKC- Canadian Kennel Club
This kennel club is in Canada and registers all purebred dogs similar to the AKC. The Canadian Kennel Club is a national, member-based, non-profit organization, incorporated under the Animal Pedigree Act of Canada. It provides registry services for all officially recognized breeds of purebred dogs, provides governance for all CKC approved shows, trial and events. Finally, the CKC is a communication organization informing all people interested in dogs. This CKC is not to be confused with the next kennel club.
CKC – Continental Kennel Club
This organization will register any dog without proof of heritage for a small fee, including mixed breeds and dogs of unknown parentage. They do not require DNA testing for parentage. Dogs that cannot be registered by any other breed registry are often “registered” by the Continental Kennel Club in order to provide registration papers with puppies.
Buyer Beware!
It is buyer beware with any dogs that have any registration papers unless there is DNA testing that proves scientifically, the parentage of the puppy you buy. Registrations are birth certificates and do not guarantee the health, breed standard, or quality of any puppy that it registers. It’s up to you to research the breeder and know your breed standards if you are looking for a purebred dog.
There are numerous genetic disorders that dogs have. If you are buying a puppy, you want to make sure you know the possible genetic disorders that your breed has screening for and that the puppy’s parents, and other generations have been tested and certified free of these disorders.
OFA is the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals that test dogs for bone disorders such as hip dysplasia, knee, and elbow disorders that are genetic in origin. You should have testing performed on breeds prone to these disorders before breeding and creating litters. The organization works with your vet for testing, and dogs are graded as to the degree of their fitness and certified so you can breed them. This certification does not guarantee the dog will never have these disorders; however, they won’t be genetic.
CERF - The Canine Eye Registration Foundation is a registry that keeps dogs tests for PRA on file with the breed registries to prove the dogs had testing for PRA and do not carry the gene for it.
Some of the disorders OFA and CERF test for are listed below. In my opinion, ALL breeders should have their dogs tested and certified BEFORE breeding them, and only dogs that pass the test 100% should be allowed to be bred. This would cut down the enormous problems we face now paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars for surgery to repair these problems, not to mention the pain and suffering by the innocent puppies who were born with these defects.
Hip dysplasia
Many large breed dogs develop hip dysplasia in their lifetime, which can be genetic. You can oftentimes manage hip dysplasia with pain medications, and surgery may be necessary to correct the malformation. This disorder is extremely painful and debilitating, and the dog’s quality of life is impaired.
Luxating patella
This is more common in small breeds such as Yorkies and Toy Poodles and its symptoms include, the dog holding up a hind leg to walk, showing lameness, and the knee joint making a popping sound when you lift the hind leg up. This usually requires surgery to correct and you need to make sure the dog doesn’t jump off furniture or spend lots of time jumping and potentially re-injuring the knee. This is a proven genetic disorder, and if the parents of the puppies have the disorder it’s very likely, the puppies will too. This is a painful and very disabling genetic defect.
Growth Plate Problems
Dogs and cats under one year of age have growth plates, which are located near the ends of the bones of the limbs. These growth plates are responsible for the growth of the bones. They are much softer than other parts of the bone, and are more prone to injury and fracture. Growth plates normally fuse and close as the pet matures, usually by age one year. This is a genetic problem and if fracture occurs, surgery is necessary.
Epilepsy
Epilepsy can be genetic, due to chemical allergies such as heartworm or flea medication or it idiopathic, meaning they don’t know why the dog has seizures. Usually you can control epilepsy with medication. However, sometimes the seizures become worse as the dog ages, medication no longer helps, and the dog is euthanized.
PRA- progressive retinal atrophy
This eye disorder causes early onset of complete blindness, usually before the age of two. It is genetic and you can have the parents of puppies tested to see if they are carriers of the disorder.
Deafness
The hearing test known as the brainstem auditory evoked response or BAER test will test puppies for deafness in breeds prone to it. Puppies with hearing parents may still be deaf. It is a genetic disorder that may go back several generations, and it’s related to color. Dalmatians, Harlequin colored and white Great Danes, and English Cocker Spaniels with the roaning or speckles in their coats and merle colors tend to have deafness in the genes. In addition, blue eyes can be a hallmark of deafness, but not always. Deaf puppies are hard to place in homes, and many times the breeder has the affected puppies euthanized after having this test performed.
If you want a particular breed for showing or breeding, or just a quality pet, then you should go to a reputable breeder that shows the breed, knows all of the heredity disorders, and does testing. Backyard breeders don’t do this. Puppy mills don’t do this. Pet stores don’t do this. So do your homework.
October 27, 2008 Wife Swap?
October 27, 2008
Wife Swap?
Well this day fits in the “it could only happen to me” file.
I check my email and get this invitation to be on the ABC series “Wife Swap” on Fridays at 8 pm. This series is about families who trade moms to see how the other folks live and then halfway through the week, they change the rules and you have to live by the new mom’s rules. Amazingly, they are looking for a family that has a pet boutique, and has at least one child between the ages of 7 and 17. Well, I fit that description, and I’m sure they won’t choose me but of course, I got a big giggle out of it, and some friends put my name in anyway!
My husband got a huge grin on his face when I told him and he said sign up! He is under the assumption he will get someone “better” than what he has, oh poor misguided soul!
Now unless the woman who takes my place can groom dogs, run a salon, and homeschool her kids, I can’t foresee anyone taking my place at all. Not to mention run a houseful of pets and do it all without a husband around because he works seven days a week and is on the fire department, so even when he’s home, he’s usually out on a run or at a meeting. Yeah, good luck getting some help from him!
On the down side, I could see some woman coming in and being horrified that my house isn’t as pristine or kept as Martha Stewarts, and with a houseful of pets, plus the ones I groom, if you think my house doesn’t have pet hair in it, you are sorely mistaken! If I took the time to clean all the pet hair up, there wouldn’t be any time to groom or homeschool the kids, or do any of the millions of things I do but can’t think of right now.
Meanwhile I’m thinking if I get to step into the shoes of my polar opposite, for me this can’t be a bad thing. Maybe I’ll get the life of a pampered princess of a woman who probably has a housekeeper full time, and spends her days at the salon getting her nails done and a massage. Yep, for sure the person who gets my life is getting the short end of the stick!
I can’t think of any life that I couldn’t handle. Hard working? Sure, no problem! Lots of pets and squirrelly kids? Let me at ‘em! I’ve done plenty of hard jobs in my life, I’ve had farm animals, pigs, chickens, ducks, guineas, horses, miniature horses, llamas, you name it, and it’s been at my house. If it hasn’t, then I can manage anyway.
There haven’t been too many grungy jobs I haven’t tried either. I’ve cleaned pit toilets at Turkey Run State Park. Top that!
If by some reason they end up picking my family, my fear is they would get a person who keeps house like Martha Stewart and cooks a lot. That is something I’m sure my family could get used to, but how much fun would she be? Would she be able to write a book? Write a column? Laugh daily at herself? I may have my shortcomings, but thank God, I have a sense of humor about it!
For instance, this morning I was trying to reach Arnett Clinic, or Clarian Health or whatever they are called now, about some x-rays of my shoulder. The nurse had left a message on my answering machine a couple of times telling me to call them back for the results. Honestly, do I care if they blurt out my test results on my machine? It’s my shoulder for heaven’s sake and my phone; it’s not as if it’s a big secret. So I call the Otterbein clinic and am now greeted by a machine, press this to reach this . . . I press the number to get x-ray results and it says to speak to the desk press *, which I do and it says we can’t transfer you at this time, to go to the main menu press 1.
I can see this is getting me nowhere, so I call the main number for Arnett and tell them my dilemma, the woman says, “hold on and I’ll transfer you”. Then someone answers. “This is Dave”, I say, “Hi Dave, are you with the radiology department?” He says, “No ma’am, this is Caterpillar”. “Oh, well then Dave I guess you don’t have my x-ray results then do you.” I say laughingly. “No ma’am I don’t” “Sorry Dave, Arnett Clinic transferred me to you somehow.”
So, I call Arnett back and say, “Oops you goofed, you sent me to Caterpillar.” “No ma’am, that must’ve been someone else, what do you need?” and we get to go through the entire scenario again. Finally, I get to the right person and she is able to let me speak to the nurse who called me, and I get my answer of my x-ray, “Sandy they found nothing wrong at all on your x-ray”. “So that explains the knot on my shoulder and the pain” Must be in my head right? Sigh.
Guess I’ll take some ibuprofen and forget about it.
Meanwhile, I decide to hem up my new jeans that are supposed to be short length but are 6 inches too long. Why do jeans makers think if you have a big butt, you must also have long legs?
So, I grab a pair of jeans and I am on the phone doing my normal multi-tasking and I get 4 inches cut off, and sew up the hem and I turn them right-side out only to discover they aren’t my jeans but my sons!
About this time, he walks into the room and I bust out laughing. This is one of those it could only happen to me moments. Luckily, I didn’t cut off too much and his needed a little trim too, he just can’t grow anymore or he’ll look like a geek.
Wife Swap, bring it on! I double dog dare anyone to take my place and make it look easy. If they have a better way to do things, I’m game to learn it! Meanwhile I’ll enjoy my life on the beach they call their family to see how the other half lives! However, don’t hold your breath, I’m sure once they get a view of my life they’ll avoid us at all costs! Even T.V. can’t come up with a reality series as crazy as my life! Nobody would believe it!
Wife Swap?
Well this day fits in the “it could only happen to me” file.
I check my email and get this invitation to be on the ABC series “Wife Swap” on Fridays at 8 pm. This series is about families who trade moms to see how the other folks live and then halfway through the week, they change the rules and you have to live by the new mom’s rules. Amazingly, they are looking for a family that has a pet boutique, and has at least one child between the ages of 7 and 17. Well, I fit that description, and I’m sure they won’t choose me but of course, I got a big giggle out of it, and some friends put my name in anyway!
My husband got a huge grin on his face when I told him and he said sign up! He is under the assumption he will get someone “better” than what he has, oh poor misguided soul!
Now unless the woman who takes my place can groom dogs, run a salon, and homeschool her kids, I can’t foresee anyone taking my place at all. Not to mention run a houseful of pets and do it all without a husband around because he works seven days a week and is on the fire department, so even when he’s home, he’s usually out on a run or at a meeting. Yeah, good luck getting some help from him!
On the down side, I could see some woman coming in and being horrified that my house isn’t as pristine or kept as Martha Stewarts, and with a houseful of pets, plus the ones I groom, if you think my house doesn’t have pet hair in it, you are sorely mistaken! If I took the time to clean all the pet hair up, there wouldn’t be any time to groom or homeschool the kids, or do any of the millions of things I do but can’t think of right now.
Meanwhile I’m thinking if I get to step into the shoes of my polar opposite, for me this can’t be a bad thing. Maybe I’ll get the life of a pampered princess of a woman who probably has a housekeeper full time, and spends her days at the salon getting her nails done and a massage. Yep, for sure the person who gets my life is getting the short end of the stick!
I can’t think of any life that I couldn’t handle. Hard working? Sure, no problem! Lots of pets and squirrelly kids? Let me at ‘em! I’ve done plenty of hard jobs in my life, I’ve had farm animals, pigs, chickens, ducks, guineas, horses, miniature horses, llamas, you name it, and it’s been at my house. If it hasn’t, then I can manage anyway.
There haven’t been too many grungy jobs I haven’t tried either. I’ve cleaned pit toilets at Turkey Run State Park. Top that!
If by some reason they end up picking my family, my fear is they would get a person who keeps house like Martha Stewart and cooks a lot. That is something I’m sure my family could get used to, but how much fun would she be? Would she be able to write a book? Write a column? Laugh daily at herself? I may have my shortcomings, but thank God, I have a sense of humor about it!
For instance, this morning I was trying to reach Arnett Clinic, or Clarian Health or whatever they are called now, about some x-rays of my shoulder. The nurse had left a message on my answering machine a couple of times telling me to call them back for the results. Honestly, do I care if they blurt out my test results on my machine? It’s my shoulder for heaven’s sake and my phone; it’s not as if it’s a big secret. So I call the Otterbein clinic and am now greeted by a machine, press this to reach this . . . I press the number to get x-ray results and it says to speak to the desk press *, which I do and it says we can’t transfer you at this time, to go to the main menu press 1.
I can see this is getting me nowhere, so I call the main number for Arnett and tell them my dilemma, the woman says, “hold on and I’ll transfer you”. Then someone answers. “This is Dave”, I say, “Hi Dave, are you with the radiology department?” He says, “No ma’am, this is Caterpillar”. “Oh, well then Dave I guess you don’t have my x-ray results then do you.” I say laughingly. “No ma’am I don’t” “Sorry Dave, Arnett Clinic transferred me to you somehow.”
So, I call Arnett back and say, “Oops you goofed, you sent me to Caterpillar.” “No ma’am, that must’ve been someone else, what do you need?” and we get to go through the entire scenario again. Finally, I get to the right person and she is able to let me speak to the nurse who called me, and I get my answer of my x-ray, “Sandy they found nothing wrong at all on your x-ray”. “So that explains the knot on my shoulder and the pain” Must be in my head right? Sigh.
Guess I’ll take some ibuprofen and forget about it.
Meanwhile, I decide to hem up my new jeans that are supposed to be short length but are 6 inches too long. Why do jeans makers think if you have a big butt, you must also have long legs?
So, I grab a pair of jeans and I am on the phone doing my normal multi-tasking and I get 4 inches cut off, and sew up the hem and I turn them right-side out only to discover they aren’t my jeans but my sons!
About this time, he walks into the room and I bust out laughing. This is one of those it could only happen to me moments. Luckily, I didn’t cut off too much and his needed a little trim too, he just can’t grow anymore or he’ll look like a geek.
Wife Swap, bring it on! I double dog dare anyone to take my place and make it look easy. If they have a better way to do things, I’m game to learn it! Meanwhile I’ll enjoy my life on the beach they call their family to see how the other half lives! However, don’t hold your breath, I’m sure once they get a view of my life they’ll avoid us at all costs! Even T.V. can’t come up with a reality series as crazy as my life! Nobody would believe it!
October 14, 2008 Brittany or Lassie?
When you have children, everything changes. When my son was two, and I was pregnant with my second son, I found myself looking for a kid friendly dog. I had gotten in touch with a sheltie rescue that had come to the house to interview us, but at that time, they didn’t have a dog that fit our particular needs. I was a busy mom who ran a grooming salon and had one small child and another one on the way. I didn’t need a puppy. I preferred a dog with more “experience”. I remembered a collie breeder Estella Thomas from Spice Rack Collies near my old hometown and decided to give her a call. I told Estella my situation and asked her if collies would be a good match for small children. “I think I have just the girl for you,” she said, “if you don’t mind an older female”.
“That’s EXACTLY what I had in mind!” I said and off we went to meet her. Brittany was a beautiful 6 year old, tri-factored sable collie that was calm and laid back and oh so loving. She took to us instantly and she immediately became part of our family. My son would walk around with the cereal box and learned sharing, one for me, one for you. She was our constant companion.
One day while I was out in my salon grooming and Drew was napping, I saw Brittany jumping up in the windows outside the salon on my property. She was frantically barking, but I could barely hear her due to the noise of the blow dryers and clippers. I shut off the dryers and noise so I could check on her, and then I hear the baby monitor. I heard Drew crying, he was awake and she was coming to tell me!
She took her babysitting duties very seriously. When we were moving from the farm to a house in town, we were selling all of our horses and equipment and a friend stopped by to check out what was for sale. She left her sleeping infant in her van with the car running. Nobody could hear him, but Brittany did. She began barking and pawing at the van door. I hurried to get her away from the van before she scratched the paint, and sure enough, the baby was crying!
After the move and birth of my son, Lane, Brittany stood watch over the little guy as he lay sleeping on the floor. She literally stood over him, straddling his body, and as babies will do, he reached up and pulled on her long flowing collie hair, on her sensitive stomach! Before I could get to him, I saw her wince yet she still stood there as if to say, “It’s ok, he’s just a baby, I can take it”. She wouldn’t dream of biting a child, no matter what the torture! I kept her hair shorter after that so it wouldn’t be so tempting to grab.
She lay on the floor beside the kids while they napped, once, Lane managed to toddle to the dog door and fall backwards out of it! Lucky for him Brittany had just gone outside, and she was there licking his head while he cried. She knew how to make it all better.
She would stand between the kids and a strange dog if she had bad vibes about them. She stood between dogs that I had to groom that had aggressive tendencies and me too. She didn’t have an aggressive bone in her body, yet she stood there as if to say, “You’re going to have to go through me first”. She always made her point in the most well-mannered and subtle way.
We adopted Katy a standard poodle who was about Brittany’s age all the way from Texas. We rolled in the driveway about 2am and being a groomer and excited from the trip I decided to give Katy a haircut and bath right away. I trimmed up her hair before I decided to bathe her, and while bathing her I saw Brittany walk over the pile of black curls on the floor and pee all over it! I was shocked! Brittany NEVER did that! She never showed any type of dominance to the hundreds of dogs that had strolled through my door before. Other than the time of day, how did she know this dog was going to stay and she was telling her in dog speak, I was here first this place is mine, and now you are mine too.
I cleaned up the mess while the two dogs got to know each other. There were never any lifted lips, growls or any differences of opinion between them. They would each patiently wait for the other one to eat, and then they would eat. They shared everything.
One day it was storming and the tornado sirens went off. My husband is a firefighter and his radio was confirming sightings of a tornado coming our way. He had to run and help the fire department during the storm so I put the kids into the basement and grabbed the dogs; I had to force them to walk down the stairs because they had never seen stairs before, so I pulled the two 60lb.dogs down with me. The dogs paced and Brittany kept going up to the staircase and taking a step or two then she backed down. We stayed in the basement until the storm passed and after we all came up, I looked down and there was Katy at the bottom of the stairs, pacing and worried because she didn’t know how to come back up. “Oh Tim, for Pete’s sake go down and get Katy, she can’t come back up” I said to my husband. Just then, Brittany looked down at her friend, went down by herself, nudged Katy gently on the side, and walked up beside her. True friendship! Brittany was “Lassie” in so many ways over the years. I truly don’t know how I would have managed to raise two small children without her.
October 9, 2008 Baby-proofing your home for pets
October 9, 2008
Baby-proofing your home for pets
There’s nothing like getting a new kitten or puppy to remind you how unsafe your house is. Let’s face it, our older pets have gotten used to the place and don’t bother things but bring in a new pet, especially a baby or young one and you get a new appreciation for those older pets!
Just last night I was reminded of that fact when I went to make some toys for our latest acquisition, a kitten who found us. I tied a mouse toy to a piece of string and put it up on top of her cat climbing post I just put together. I forgot about it, and we had put a little bit of kitty kibble up there to entice her to use it. My husband asked, “What is she eating?” I said, “Oh, that’s just some kitten food”. However, as I looked at her, I saw her gnawing on something and got closer to see her working on the end of the mouse toy, with the entire string INSIDE of her!
I gently pulled on it and out came about 18 inches of string! If my husband hadn’t said anything, I may not have noticed. Cats eating string is deadly. It doesn’t always pass. My old cat Fuzz used to like to get into my sewing area and he became sick one day, over the weekend, began vomiting and by the time I got him to the vet, he was in very bad shape. They didn’t find anything, took some blood, and kept him overnight. When they called me the next day, he had died in the night. The only thing they could attribute his death to, was some thread that was wrapped around a tooth. When they ingest thread, it can strangulate the intestines and cause the symptoms he had. We didn’t know. Fuzz was only one year old.
Animals get into EVERYTHING. Trash for instance; forget all the bad stuff that’s inside your garbage, the wrappers of trash are deadly. Plastic bags and even a potato chip bag with an enthusiastic pup snarfing down the crumbs can cause suffocation and death. It’s happened to some friends of mine.
If you have a trash hound, put your can away where the dog can’t get to it, inside a cabinet, closet, or pantry. Remember to take out your trash every night before bed, so your little adventurer won’t have anything to get into. We tried putting the trash can on top of the kitchen island, which worked for a while until I caught my cat working in cahoots with the dogs and knocking it over for them. I went to Pamida and bought a cabinet for the trashcan and that works. Nobody is in the garbage now.
You can use baby gates to block off areas that are off limits. You can also use a crate to keep your pup in when you can’t supervise them. You need to get on your hands and knees and crawl all around your home looking for things that harm your pet. Electrical cords, things that have been eaten by your couch but you can’t see like pens, pencils, small toys, marbles, coins, etc. There is no end to the number of seemingly harmless things that are deadly to your pet.
Want some incentive to put away your laundry? Wait until you get a puppy that eats socks and underwear that you have to pay a few hundred for surgery to save.
Veterinarians are constantly trying to help animals that get into foreign things. Pets are JUST LIKE TODDLERS. If you have kids or grandkids you know that you have to watch them constantly and keep harmful stuff locked away right? Well guess what, you have to do the same thing for your pets. If your pet gets into something and gets sick or dies, whose fault is it?
Even food items can be deadly, onions, macadamia nuts, walnuts, raisins and grapes for example, you should never feed to pets. Many pets have died from those as well as ingesting pills that have fallen on the floor that you lost. Aspirin is toxic to cats! Aspirin is okay to give to a dog, but a cat can go into seizures and die.
I know that I have taken my house for granted for several years now, because I’m used to older pets who don’t feel the need to get into everything, but no more! We have made it a family rule to all get on our hands and knees, inspect everything, and get things up off the floor we don’t normally see. We will move furniture and leave no stone unturned!
Guess what’s coming up soon? I know, I really hate to admit it, but the season to be jolly is coming up quick and oh boy, a new kitten and a Christmas tree! What was I thinking? Oh my gosh, ornaments and those hooks! I can already see disaster in my house. I know I have to keep a few ornaments put away until this kitten grows up and learns to leave things alone. Well, if I want to keep the ornaments and the cat. I’m sure I can come up with some kitten safe stuff to decorate the tree. I know what is likely to happen; kitten will climb up the tree and knock stuff off. It may as well be stuff that can’t break and cause shards of glass to get into your feet, or hers. I’ll put that on my list of to do’s before the big event. Cat’s can climb over anything, but if you have a puppy, you can put an x-pen around the tree, it effectively blocks off things or you can confine your puppy to it when needed. A child’s playpen can work too, believe it or not, to put the Christmas tree in to keep the puppy away from it, if the tree isn’t too big.
What if your puppy eats a glass ornament? This is what to do: get some cotton balls, the real cotton type, not the synthetic, and dip them in milk or half & half and feed them to your dog, the cotton will pick up shards of glass inside your pets stomach and intestines so they cause less damage, of course then take your dog to the vet immediately!
Of course, since Halloween is upon us soon, be sure to keep the candy put up away from the pets! Artificial sweeteners in some candies are deadly to pets. Remember cats can climb on top of just about anything, and chocolate, especially the dark chocolate or bakers chocolate can make your pet very sick, and can cause death too.
Okay, well that should be enough to scare the wits out of you. Who needs Halloween, just let me scare you! I hate to be the grim reaper, but if you don’t already know this stuff, and something happens to your pet and I hear about it, then I’m going to feel guilty that I didn’t warn you. If you have a puppy, kitten or even a new adult dog or cat that isn’t used to your home, take heed of these warnings. If you have older pets that never get into things count your blessings and give them a big hug! Just remember even the most obedient pets get into things they aren’t supposed to occasionally. Keep them safe. Dig out your kneepads and get to work!
Baby-proofing your home for pets
There’s nothing like getting a new kitten or puppy to remind you how unsafe your house is. Let’s face it, our older pets have gotten used to the place and don’t bother things but bring in a new pet, especially a baby or young one and you get a new appreciation for those older pets!
Just last night I was reminded of that fact when I went to make some toys for our latest acquisition, a kitten who found us. I tied a mouse toy to a piece of string and put it up on top of her cat climbing post I just put together. I forgot about it, and we had put a little bit of kitty kibble up there to entice her to use it. My husband asked, “What is she eating?” I said, “Oh, that’s just some kitten food”. However, as I looked at her, I saw her gnawing on something and got closer to see her working on the end of the mouse toy, with the entire string INSIDE of her!
I gently pulled on it and out came about 18 inches of string! If my husband hadn’t said anything, I may not have noticed. Cats eating string is deadly. It doesn’t always pass. My old cat Fuzz used to like to get into my sewing area and he became sick one day, over the weekend, began vomiting and by the time I got him to the vet, he was in very bad shape. They didn’t find anything, took some blood, and kept him overnight. When they called me the next day, he had died in the night. The only thing they could attribute his death to, was some thread that was wrapped around a tooth. When they ingest thread, it can strangulate the intestines and cause the symptoms he had. We didn’t know. Fuzz was only one year old.
Animals get into EVERYTHING. Trash for instance; forget all the bad stuff that’s inside your garbage, the wrappers of trash are deadly. Plastic bags and even a potato chip bag with an enthusiastic pup snarfing down the crumbs can cause suffocation and death. It’s happened to some friends of mine.
If you have a trash hound, put your can away where the dog can’t get to it, inside a cabinet, closet, or pantry. Remember to take out your trash every night before bed, so your little adventurer won’t have anything to get into. We tried putting the trash can on top of the kitchen island, which worked for a while until I caught my cat working in cahoots with the dogs and knocking it over for them. I went to Pamida and bought a cabinet for the trashcan and that works. Nobody is in the garbage now.
You can use baby gates to block off areas that are off limits. You can also use a crate to keep your pup in when you can’t supervise them. You need to get on your hands and knees and crawl all around your home looking for things that harm your pet. Electrical cords, things that have been eaten by your couch but you can’t see like pens, pencils, small toys, marbles, coins, etc. There is no end to the number of seemingly harmless things that are deadly to your pet.
Want some incentive to put away your laundry? Wait until you get a puppy that eats socks and underwear that you have to pay a few hundred for surgery to save.
Veterinarians are constantly trying to help animals that get into foreign things. Pets are JUST LIKE TODDLERS. If you have kids or grandkids you know that you have to watch them constantly and keep harmful stuff locked away right? Well guess what, you have to do the same thing for your pets. If your pet gets into something and gets sick or dies, whose fault is it?
Even food items can be deadly, onions, macadamia nuts, walnuts, raisins and grapes for example, you should never feed to pets. Many pets have died from those as well as ingesting pills that have fallen on the floor that you lost. Aspirin is toxic to cats! Aspirin is okay to give to a dog, but a cat can go into seizures and die.
I know that I have taken my house for granted for several years now, because I’m used to older pets who don’t feel the need to get into everything, but no more! We have made it a family rule to all get on our hands and knees, inspect everything, and get things up off the floor we don’t normally see. We will move furniture and leave no stone unturned!
Guess what’s coming up soon? I know, I really hate to admit it, but the season to be jolly is coming up quick and oh boy, a new kitten and a Christmas tree! What was I thinking? Oh my gosh, ornaments and those hooks! I can already see disaster in my house. I know I have to keep a few ornaments put away until this kitten grows up and learns to leave things alone. Well, if I want to keep the ornaments and the cat. I’m sure I can come up with some kitten safe stuff to decorate the tree. I know what is likely to happen; kitten will climb up the tree and knock stuff off. It may as well be stuff that can’t break and cause shards of glass to get into your feet, or hers. I’ll put that on my list of to do’s before the big event. Cat’s can climb over anything, but if you have a puppy, you can put an x-pen around the tree, it effectively blocks off things or you can confine your puppy to it when needed. A child’s playpen can work too, believe it or not, to put the Christmas tree in to keep the puppy away from it, if the tree isn’t too big.
What if your puppy eats a glass ornament? This is what to do: get some cotton balls, the real cotton type, not the synthetic, and dip them in milk or half & half and feed them to your dog, the cotton will pick up shards of glass inside your pets stomach and intestines so they cause less damage, of course then take your dog to the vet immediately!
Of course, since Halloween is upon us soon, be sure to keep the candy put up away from the pets! Artificial sweeteners in some candies are deadly to pets. Remember cats can climb on top of just about anything, and chocolate, especially the dark chocolate or bakers chocolate can make your pet very sick, and can cause death too.
Okay, well that should be enough to scare the wits out of you. Who needs Halloween, just let me scare you! I hate to be the grim reaper, but if you don’t already know this stuff, and something happens to your pet and I hear about it, then I’m going to feel guilty that I didn’t warn you. If you have a puppy, kitten or even a new adult dog or cat that isn’t used to your home, take heed of these warnings. If you have older pets that never get into things count your blessings and give them a big hug! Just remember even the most obedient pets get into things they aren’t supposed to occasionally. Keep them safe. Dig out your kneepads and get to work!
September 29, 2008 Things I've learned about dogs over the last 40 years.
September 29, 2008
Things I’ve learned about dogs over the last 40 years.
I recently celebrated a milestone birthday…the big 40. Gosh, I don’t feel 40! That used to be considered “old”, or at least “middle aged”. In some ways it’s empowering, and in other ways it’s just plain scary!
I look back at my pets over the past 40 years…well ok 36, I can’t remember much before I was 4 years old, but that is when I had my first dog, a Chihuahua named Dolly. I was born and raised in California and I guess we were rather progressive back then overall, because we actually had Dolly spayed at a low cost spay neuter clinic for a whopping $5.
Dolly ate Gaines Burgers dog food back then mostly, and some table scraps of course. I remember her eating canned Skippy dog food occasionally, because I remember tasting it for her! Hey, I was only five, it happens!
She was plump, not terribly fat, but pleasingly plump. We never heard of heartworm disease back then, and for fleas, we used flea powder. How she breathed through that fog of dust is beyond me!
I remember my mom always complaining that she was stinky. She truly was, you could bathe her and the next day she reeked! What we didn’t know back then was that her diet played a huge part of that odor. We didn’t know about tooth care or brushing teeth. Though my memory is a bit fuzzy, I’m sure her teeth could’ve used a dental cleaning many times. I don’t remember ever hearing of dogs getting their teeth cleaned back then.
I remember her nails as I grew up how long they were. I never knew what a groomer was back then. I’m sure either we did it ourselves, or had it done at the vet occasionally, but we rarely ever went to the vet.
I remember her scooting across the carpet on her rear and laughing, not knowing back then that it was because she had impacted anal glands.
I remember we used Sulfodene on her skin for her constant scratching, which back then my mom attributed to fleas or dry skin if she scratched and nobody knew then what impact diet played on the skin of dogs.
I remember moving to Indiana in 1981 and going to the IGA in Rockville and reading on the cans of Alpo, “with real horsemeat chunks” and thinking EWWW! I was a horse lover and couldn’t fathom anyone feeding horsemeat! I’m guessing that bit of information must’ve caused problems because they no longer have that on the cans.
I remember as she aged, that she didn’t take anything for arthritis, yet she walked so stiff, and she lived in the garage, with her bed in an old hamper turned on its side with a heating pad inside it. I guess my parents thought that was spoiling her back then. Animals weren’t allowed in the house when I grew up.
Looking back, we weren’t good pet owners. How poor Dolly managed to live to be 17 is beyond me. I know now that if she were alive today, she’d be in much better health, living in my house, eating decent food without by-products, corn, wheat, animal digest, and animal fat (non-specified) BHT and BHA in her dog food.
Now I know the damage that those ingredients cause. I’m not saying she didn’t live a long life, but it could have been so much better! If we had the flea control products available today back then I’m sure she would’ve been allowed in the house more.
If Dolly were alive today, she would live inside the warm house in a soft comfortable bed for her old joints; she would be on glucosamine products and painkillers to help with her arthritis. She would eat Eagle Pack Holistic or Innova Evo, she would have a shiny coat, no dandruff, no dry or oily skin, no itching, no scratching, and no odor, and of course, if she were alive today I’d be taking care of her anal glands. I would take care of her teeth and have them cleaned so she didn’t suffer with a mouthful of gingivitis. She would live the life of a member of my family, as it should be.
She still loved us, the poor dear, and I feel so bad that she lived that way back then. I know that if we knew then what we know now, she would’ve been better cared for, yet I still see dogs living that way now. Now there is no excuse for it. Unless you live under a rock, I know you‘ve had to see commercials or read about flea control. I know that a good veterinarian would give a more thorough exam today, point out bad teeth, and try to educate you on proper care. Today groomers are an extremely important part of pet health care. Groomers see pets more often than the veterinarian does, generally speaking, and groomers are the ones who find lumps, bumps, inflamed skin, allergy ears, bad teeth, and are the first ones to point out these issues to the pet’s owners. Most groomers are good at recommending a good food to feed your pet, because we see the effects of a poor diet daily.
Just yesterday, I had informed a client that her brand of dog food, Pedigree has been recalled due to salmonella. In fact, Pedigree, Special Kitty, and Ol’ Roy are some of the brands in this newest recall. Why haven’t we heard about this? Luckily, I get my information from the internet lists that I’m on that try hard to keep us all informed of pet food recalls and problems. Look it up for yourself at www.petcare.mars.com
Times have changed, pets are family and if someone isn’t willing to take proper care of their pet, why on Earth do they have one? Why are people willing to pay over $1,000 for a puppy at a pet store but they won’t buy decent dog food to feed it, and then they spend a fortune on vet bills to treat all the symptoms caused by a poor diet?
For that matter, why aren’t more vets enlightened about pet food ingredients? I recently reconnected with a veterinarian in Pine Village at Hoofstock Veterinary Service. Dr. Cathy Alinovi who has recently gone “holistic” in other words, she received more than her veterinary education about pet food. She learned what all those ingredients in foods really are, and she learned that some of the “prescription diets” aren’t what they are cracked up to be ingredient wise. She knows the connection between ailments and pet food and she’s happy to recommend the same foods that I do. She has done her homework on ingredients! She does more than just treat symptoms; she gets to the root of the problem. So many pet ailments can be avoided or treated simply by changing the diet.
You don’t know how happy I am to finally speak to a veterinarian that does some research! It’s nice to be validated by a veterinarian! You also don’t know how happy I am to be able to buy awesome quality pet food at K&K feed store in Attica. I know now that I’ll never let another animal live the way my poor Dolly did when I was a kid. I’m so glad that I grew up, learned more about pet care, and continue to learn. Pet care isn’t just my job, it’s my mission! Education of pet owners is my goal. I promise that I will always answer your questions and try to point you to the best resources. Don’t let Dolly’s life be in vain. Take a close look at your pet and your pet’s care. Are you treating your pet as a member of your family? Do you care for your pet as you do your children? If not, make some changes today. It’s time that we are informed and make better choices for our pets.
Things I’ve learned about dogs over the last 40 years.
I recently celebrated a milestone birthday…the big 40. Gosh, I don’t feel 40! That used to be considered “old”, or at least “middle aged”. In some ways it’s empowering, and in other ways it’s just plain scary!
I look back at my pets over the past 40 years…well ok 36, I can’t remember much before I was 4 years old, but that is when I had my first dog, a Chihuahua named Dolly. I was born and raised in California and I guess we were rather progressive back then overall, because we actually had Dolly spayed at a low cost spay neuter clinic for a whopping $5.
Dolly ate Gaines Burgers dog food back then mostly, and some table scraps of course. I remember her eating canned Skippy dog food occasionally, because I remember tasting it for her! Hey, I was only five, it happens!
She was plump, not terribly fat, but pleasingly plump. We never heard of heartworm disease back then, and for fleas, we used flea powder. How she breathed through that fog of dust is beyond me!
I remember my mom always complaining that she was stinky. She truly was, you could bathe her and the next day she reeked! What we didn’t know back then was that her diet played a huge part of that odor. We didn’t know about tooth care or brushing teeth. Though my memory is a bit fuzzy, I’m sure her teeth could’ve used a dental cleaning many times. I don’t remember ever hearing of dogs getting their teeth cleaned back then.
I remember her nails as I grew up how long they were. I never knew what a groomer was back then. I’m sure either we did it ourselves, or had it done at the vet occasionally, but we rarely ever went to the vet.
I remember her scooting across the carpet on her rear and laughing, not knowing back then that it was because she had impacted anal glands.
I remember we used Sulfodene on her skin for her constant scratching, which back then my mom attributed to fleas or dry skin if she scratched and nobody knew then what impact diet played on the skin of dogs.
I remember moving to Indiana in 1981 and going to the IGA in Rockville and reading on the cans of Alpo, “with real horsemeat chunks” and thinking EWWW! I was a horse lover and couldn’t fathom anyone feeding horsemeat! I’m guessing that bit of information must’ve caused problems because they no longer have that on the cans.
I remember as she aged, that she didn’t take anything for arthritis, yet she walked so stiff, and she lived in the garage, with her bed in an old hamper turned on its side with a heating pad inside it. I guess my parents thought that was spoiling her back then. Animals weren’t allowed in the house when I grew up.
Looking back, we weren’t good pet owners. How poor Dolly managed to live to be 17 is beyond me. I know now that if she were alive today, she’d be in much better health, living in my house, eating decent food without by-products, corn, wheat, animal digest, and animal fat (non-specified) BHT and BHA in her dog food.
Now I know the damage that those ingredients cause. I’m not saying she didn’t live a long life, but it could have been so much better! If we had the flea control products available today back then I’m sure she would’ve been allowed in the house more.
If Dolly were alive today, she would live inside the warm house in a soft comfortable bed for her old joints; she would be on glucosamine products and painkillers to help with her arthritis. She would eat Eagle Pack Holistic or Innova Evo, she would have a shiny coat, no dandruff, no dry or oily skin, no itching, no scratching, and no odor, and of course, if she were alive today I’d be taking care of her anal glands. I would take care of her teeth and have them cleaned so she didn’t suffer with a mouthful of gingivitis. She would live the life of a member of my family, as it should be.
She still loved us, the poor dear, and I feel so bad that she lived that way back then. I know that if we knew then what we know now, she would’ve been better cared for, yet I still see dogs living that way now. Now there is no excuse for it. Unless you live under a rock, I know you‘ve had to see commercials or read about flea control. I know that a good veterinarian would give a more thorough exam today, point out bad teeth, and try to educate you on proper care. Today groomers are an extremely important part of pet health care. Groomers see pets more often than the veterinarian does, generally speaking, and groomers are the ones who find lumps, bumps, inflamed skin, allergy ears, bad teeth, and are the first ones to point out these issues to the pet’s owners. Most groomers are good at recommending a good food to feed your pet, because we see the effects of a poor diet daily.
Just yesterday, I had informed a client that her brand of dog food, Pedigree has been recalled due to salmonella. In fact, Pedigree, Special Kitty, and Ol’ Roy are some of the brands in this newest recall. Why haven’t we heard about this? Luckily, I get my information from the internet lists that I’m on that try hard to keep us all informed of pet food recalls and problems. Look it up for yourself at www.petcare.mars.com
Times have changed, pets are family and if someone isn’t willing to take proper care of their pet, why on Earth do they have one? Why are people willing to pay over $1,000 for a puppy at a pet store but they won’t buy decent dog food to feed it, and then they spend a fortune on vet bills to treat all the symptoms caused by a poor diet?
For that matter, why aren’t more vets enlightened about pet food ingredients? I recently reconnected with a veterinarian in Pine Village at Hoofstock Veterinary Service. Dr. Cathy Alinovi who has recently gone “holistic” in other words, she received more than her veterinary education about pet food. She learned what all those ingredients in foods really are, and she learned that some of the “prescription diets” aren’t what they are cracked up to be ingredient wise. She knows the connection between ailments and pet food and she’s happy to recommend the same foods that I do. She has done her homework on ingredients! She does more than just treat symptoms; she gets to the root of the problem. So many pet ailments can be avoided or treated simply by changing the diet.
You don’t know how happy I am to finally speak to a veterinarian that does some research! It’s nice to be validated by a veterinarian! You also don’t know how happy I am to be able to buy awesome quality pet food at K&K feed store in Attica. I know now that I’ll never let another animal live the way my poor Dolly did when I was a kid. I’m so glad that I grew up, learned more about pet care, and continue to learn. Pet care isn’t just my job, it’s my mission! Education of pet owners is my goal. I promise that I will always answer your questions and try to point you to the best resources. Don’t let Dolly’s life be in vain. Take a close look at your pet and your pet’s care. Are you treating your pet as a member of your family? Do you care for your pet as you do your children? If not, make some changes today. It’s time that we are informed and make better choices for our pets.
September 15, 2008 Butterfly Births and Broken Hearts
My kids and I witnessed something rather amazing today. I had bought a squirrel feeder a couple weeks ago and I hadn’t had time to put it up yet, so it was just leaning against my porch. When I was ready to hang it, my son tells me, “no Mom, you can’t hang it yet, it has a cocoon on it”. Sure enough, underneath the little seat where the squirrel would sit to eat his ear of corn, a little chrysalis was hanging. I left it alone until yesterday when we showed the little chrysalis to a friend. I could start to see through the tiny green bag and could see the outline of wings. We put the squirrel feeder upstairs on our screened in porch so we could observe it as it went along.
Well, today we went out, and it had hatched! A wet Monarch butterfly had just crawled out of the now transparent chrysalis and hadn’t even opened up its wings. My son couldn’t resist and he put his hand out for it to crawl on. The little butterfly took to him right away and we watched it for a long time and even took several photos of it walking all over him, up his arm, on his head. I had never been this up close with a butterfly before. Usually they fly away so fast I can’t get any photos. This one however was still trying to dry out from hatching, no easy feat on a rainy day.
We took the little butterfly out to our newly planted mums and it sat there with its wings held together looking rather miserable with the nasty weather. The kids even made a makeshift umbrella for it, so it wouldn’t be rained on. I gave up and said, well let’s put it back upstairs on the porch so it can dry out and we’ll check on it later.
Never missing an opportunity to learn something, we looked up Monarch butterflies on the internet and found out some fascinating facts. For instance, did you know you could tell the difference between male and female Monarchs? Females have wider veins in the wings, therefore darker wider lines. Our butterfly was a girl! The kids even named her “Julie”, and between doing some writing and learning all about butterflies and their lifespan, habitats, migration and body parts, they kept a close eye on her and checked on her to see if she was ready to fly yet.
I went up to check on them and they told me they saved her from a cobweb in the corner, apparently, she walked up the screen and managed to be caught. They killed the spider, knocked down the web, and set her free again. Julie looked indeed grateful! She continued to walk all over my son, and make herself comfortable on her new “Mommy”. Since he was the first person she saw, I told him that she must think he’s her mom. Well that and from our research we found out butterflies are cold blooded and don’t care to be cold, so sitting on his head was a nice warm spot for her!
We got on with our day, leaving Julie upstairs until we were sure she was ready to fly. She could easily escape, the spaces between the deck boards were wide enough she could go through them. I didn’t expect her to be there later when they went back up.
To their horror and mine, they came down yelling that a praying mantis was eating Julie! Oh no! I went upstairs ready to do battle with the killer bug that was eating our friend, armed with a 3-foot long piece of PVC pipe. There it was, high on the screen with poor little Julie in its grasp. I knocked it down, but it was too late. Julie was dead. Therefore, in a period of about 8 hours, we witnessed the birth and death of something beautiful. Sometimes life just isn’t fair, rescued from a spider, only to die by a praying mantis. The circle of life around here goes too fast! It’s so hard to deal with death when you are a child. No matter how small or insignificant, life means something.
I’ve discovered my son has a way with animals of all types, and a tender heart when things go wrong. I guess that goes to show you how much love when you become a “mom”, even if you become a “mom” to a little butterfly.
September 1, 2008 It's official, I'm an author!
This month has been a whirlwind of things going on. After the fair, I was gearing up and growing out Jasmine for The All American Grooming Show, for creative grooming, in between grooming my customers dogs for the summer of course. August 1st, the book I wrote last summer was finally published and on the market! “The EVERYTHING Dog Grooming Book” by Sandy Blackburn has finally been born!
(Clears throat, ahem… “I’d like to thank all the little people….”)
It’s a surreal feeling, being a published author. I know writers try for years to become published and honestly, this was just a fluke, I did not intend to write a book but they approached me! How could I say no? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to make my mark on the world. I have to say, I’m proud of the book as a whole.
Adams media is the publisher and they have a series of EVERYTHING books about well, just about everything! It’s a lot like the “for dummies” books you see at the store, very easily explained only they don’t insult you by calling you a dummy. (I have some of the “for dummies” series of books at home too, but the title really does put me off, I’m no dummy.)
It’s a how to manual about grooming your pet, well everything you can cram into 255 pages. There is so much to grooming there’s no way you can put it all into one book, which explains why I have my own library of grooming books at home. I used this opportunity to explain all that groomers do. Unless you watch the entire process, I can assure you that you have no idea how much work is actually involved. Most people go to groomers not only for haircuts, but also for bathing and nail trims because it’s just not that easy to get the job done at home. My book has a lot of information on training your pet to accept grooming more willingly and different household products that you can use to help you groom your pet.
Some people have asked me if I’m shooting myself in the foot by writing a book telling people how to groom their pets at home. The simple answer is no of course not, once people try it themselves, they will either: A. Like it and decide it’s something they want to do or B. Try it, decide it’s too much work and call in reinforcements.
I’m not offended either way. There are enough dogs in Attica for 10 groomers!
However, it was nice going into detail about exactly what we do and how we do it. I’ve been grooming for so long I had to stop and really think about questions that I had before. I asked numerous people what they wanted to know how to do, or why we do it, and I was surprised at some of the questions that I just assumed everyone knew the answers to. You never stop learning!
Writing the book was the easy part, I wrote the book last summer from April to July. I had a killer deadline! Waiting for the entire process of editing, rewriting, reviewing, and numerous changes later, actually seeing the book in print took about a year! I still don’t know a whole lot about the book publishing industry, as I did this all via computer and online to editors. What I do know is, there are tons of people with certain jobs to do and they do a very thorough job at that!
I was glad that I had the final word over what changes I would accept and my editors were very patient and nice to me and walked me through the process.
I’m still on such a high since the books arrived that I haven’t come down yet! Now I truly appreciate what writers go through and the ups and downs of getting a book published. I get why it’s such a big deal now!
I so admire those who can write novels and stories that they can make up in their heads, which will never happen to me. I can’t do fiction. I have zero imagination for making up stories and plots. I’ll stick to the how to manuals and writing true stories, that’s more my style. I’m sure teachers who read this column shake their heads at my grammatical errors, sorry people; spell check only does so much. This is just me; this is how I speak and how I write. I’d love to write flowery words and poetic verses but that’s not going happen either. I’m a “tell it like it is” sort of person. Thank you to “The Neighbor” newspaper for accepting me and my frank opinions and bad grammar! So, if you are looking for a how to manual on dog grooming, “The EVERYTHING Dog Grooming Book” is available in bookstores and online and of course, at my salon!
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