Roundup #12 – Our Favorite Dog Articles of the Week
First of all I want to say thank you to everyone who shared and commented on last weeks roundup – it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Secondly if you’ve read anything awesome about dogs lately pass it on; I’m always looking for contributions.
I hope you have an excellent weekend, enjoy some of this beautiful weather, and have a chance to sit back and catch up on this weeks dog stories.
We’re going to be having nothing but tongue out days for awhile with this weather
Our Favorite Dog Articles of the Week
Fighting For Her Life & Others – What an Inspiration – A young girl whose been fighting for her own life is helping to inspire others by reaching out to help dogs in need (such as a therapy dog named Bocker whose undergoing treatment for lymphoma). A beautiful story about how we can all make a difference and inspire hope.
How to Quickly Get Dogs Adopted – Decreasing Time of Stay in Shelters – A few great tips on how some shelters have been able to get their pets adopted out quickly. I especially love the tip on having open adoption policies – it could save a lot of frustration from potential adopters if they know beforehand whether or not they’ll be approved.
On Osteosarcoma and Amputation – If you’re ever faced with having to make touch medical decisions (especially an Osteosarcoma diagnosis) when it comes to your pet this is a must read.
“You chose to amputate the leg,” the oncology resident nodded. “It’s not an easy decision but, I think, the right one.”
Why Do Some Dogs Chase Their Tails? Scientists Hope to Discover the Answer – There are many theories but scientists are conducting new research to try and get to the bottom of the tail chasing behavior.
Chasing your own tail” may have passed into the language as an expression for performing futile, energy-sapping tasks, but the reasons why dogs do it and the extent to which such behaviour should worry their owners are not fully understood.”
Zoomies: Why Does My Dog Get Them? – We’ve all seen it; that moment your dog seems to loose control and fall into a temporary moment of blissful insanity.
While getting the Zoomies is normal behavior, it can wreak havoc on a small house or apartment. If it’s an issue, one way to avoid the Zoomies is to make sure your dog is thoroughly exercised.
The Fatal Epidemic of Animal Care Workers That No One is Talking About – Have you heard of compassion fatigue? It can take a real toll on certain professionals and appears to be especially widespread in the animal care field.
The first ever mental health survey for veterinarians revealed that one in six of them have contemplated suicide. A recent study by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reveals that animal rescue workers have a suicide rate of 5.3 in 1 million workers. This is the highest suicide rate among American workers; a rate shared only by firefighters and police officers. The national average suicide average for American workers is 1.5 per 1 million.
Should Dog Training be 100% Positive? – A thought provoking look into what we think of when we use the terminology aversive – and whether it always leads to pain and fear.
Even telling a dog “that wasn’t the right choice” by using a marker like “oops!” during your training can be a mild aversive. Is it okay to train with mild aversives? Everyone has to answer that question for themself, but from my perspective, of course it is.
Mother Captures Heartwarming Images Between Son and Dogs – Polish photographer Agnieszka Gulczyńska captures beautiful images (as shown in the feature image) from the special relationship between her toddler and their three adopted dogs. See more on her official facebook page.
Death Throes of the Guilty Look – We tend to think our dogs exhibit their own ‘guilty’ look after doing something wrong. Here’s a great scientific look at how the owners reaction seems to be the determining factor in whether a dog exhibits these appeasement type behaviors.
This series of studies tells us that at least some dogs who show signs of appeasement, submission or fear (aka the GL) upon greeting their owners will do so regardless of whether or not they misbehaved in their owner’s absence. We also know that an owner’s behavior and use of scolding and reprimands are the most significant predictor of this type of greeting behavior in dogs.
Holy Fatness! Labs, Flab, and the Delusional Fancy – Some breeds have changed a lot over the years; take a look at how one of our favorite breeds has changed over the past 50 years when it comes to standards in the show ring.
The tragedy is that the show-ring could play such an important role in protecting against pet obesity by ensuring that its winners are truly fit and lean. Instead, exhibitors and judges continue to cite the hallowed standard as the justification for the choices they make while anyone with eyes in their head can see that the dogs aren’t even close.
Springtime Dog Safety Alert: Watch Out For Weed/Lawn Products -While most lawn products state that they’re safe for children and pets there’s some fine print that needs to be followed – especially when you’re relying on mother nature to do the watering for you.
But if it doesn’t rain, or it doesn’t rain enough to break these pellets down, that means dogs walking on parking strips could be walking through toxins. And they could bring those toxins on home.
Charlie the Failed Guide Dog Goes to School – Cute story about a dog who had to undergo a career change – proving that just because you fail at one thing does not mean you’re not perfect for something else.
Charlie was in his element: inquisitive, happy and frolicking, sticking his nose into anything that looked interesting, particularly bins. It’s just the sort of behaviour that saw him fail as a potential guide dog and instead start a new life as a companion dog at the Bunbury SHS.
Charlie may have failed as a guide dog but he’s won my heart
Best Dog Deals of the Week
- Entirely Pets Sale – up to 80% off toys, treats, and medications
- Only Natural Pet Spring Sale – 65% off select products through 05/05
This post contains affiliate links, if you make a purchase I might earn a small commission.
Favorite Dog Videos of the Week
So much love for this “trick”
Puppy seems a bit confused – where are these hiccups coming from?
Brave kitten
Do you ever get the feeling someone’s watching you?
Awesome Inforgraphic of the Week
Moving is stressful on anyone, and that goes for our pets as well. Here’s some great tips on making your move it easier via Taylor’s Relocations
Tips for Moving With Pets via Taylor’s Relocations
Great post! I really liked the article about dog training being 100% positive and it lead me to her article on the foxes, which was also really neat! 😀
I’ve added her blog to my must read list – it’s fascinating stuff for sure
I saw the Animal Care Worker article this week too. It made me cry. I know entirely too many animal control officers on antidepressants.
Great article wrap -up, we’ve always wondered why dogs chase their tails so are going to check that one out!
Really great roundup, and we’re so grateful to be included! Thank you!!
I haven’t read most of the articles you mentioned, and many of them sound really interesting to me. I’m especially curious about the one related to “compassion fatigue.” I also want to check out the article on being 100 percent positive with training.
I used to assist a class that was 100% positive… woah is that unlike the training we usually encounter. It make sense, I can grasp it, but there are a few “real world” scenarios where I wouldn’t use it personally (one is when your dog picks up a bad thing to eat or is otherwise in danger… I’m using whatever necessary at that point!), and I really don’t think that when a human/dog pair have a solid relationship that using “aversive” verbiage in non-negative yet firm verbiage (no, etc) is a bad thing as construed in 100% positive training methods. I think it’s just clear communication, direction, and boundaries that doesn’t damage the relationship. Anyway, enough rambling should check out that article!
I agree – and there’s been a few moments with Laika where she’s picked something up and I swooped in to grab it rather than remaining calm and asking her to please drop it. I love that article because it addresses the terminology we find ourselves having to be tethered to when we say we use positive reinforcement methods only. Aversive itself is even hard to define on a person to person basis. And I just found that dogzombie blog this week and I’m loving what I’ve had a chance to read so far – another one to add to the must read list.
Great roundup! I read the Xylitol one and glad it’s being shared more! So many people don’t know about it.
Thanks for highlighting that article about compassion fatigue for animal care workers! It is such a real issue with fatal consequences.