Human products you can use on your dog

Products like baby shampoo, human hair conditioners and even saline eye drops can be used safely on dogs. Cats on the other hand are an entirely different matter since you can give a dog a baby aspirin for pain but it will kill a cat or make them extremely sick.

Some human products, while not useful if used in the same manner can be used in  pinch for a dog. For example the Avon product Skin-so-Soft bath oil can be used as a light spray to repel flies and ticks from a dog. Also a human acne wash can be used on a dog with skin irritations.

Other products that make great dog area fly repellents are pine-sol and vinegar. Mixed in equal amounts and put in a garden sprayer attached to a hose, it makes a great yard, dog run and patio fly repellent that lasts for several days. It also kills that doggy odor from the area.

High survival rate of puppies in a litter

I once adopted a beautiful Chow dog that had 4 litters of puppies by the time she was 4 years old. Her prior owners basically bred her for the cash the pups provided and did not care about her health. I don't even think they knew her bloodlines. When I asked about grand sires they had no clue. It was after I acquired her that I did a pedigree search and found out she had Belgian and Canadian Champions as her Grand sires and dams. It was then that I decided to breed her to my stud for one more time.

Her prior owners told me that she only had 4 pups in each of her litters and at least one pup died out of each litter. That told me that they provided very poor prenatal care for the dog. After doing a search for prenatal vitamin reviews for dogs (believe me, there were not that many, 18 years ago) I decided on feeding her Eukanuba puppy formula dog food.

The resulting litter was 7 very healthy pups. I kept one and since I had a waiting list the other pups already had homes waiting for them. The mother of the pups was spayed after the pups were weaned and lived with us until she died at a ripe old age of 17. 

Your dog and caffenine

Did you know that caffeine is toxic to your dog? Caffeine can cause death from a heart attack if dogs ingest it. Caffeine is not just in coffee, tea and colas, it is also present in chocolate, many different supplements and some of the best diet pills, so keep your dog away from those items.

Caffeine in conjunction with other toxins will speed up their effects so keep an eye on your dog, especially if your dog likes to get into the garbage or visit the neighbors house.

There is NO ANTIDOTE for caffeine poisoning. Signs to look for are:

• Excitement
• Increased breathing rate
• Increased heart rate
• Muscle tremors
• Fits
• Bleeding

Don't let your dog become a victim of caffeine poisoning, be a good dog owner and keep an eye on what your dog eats and keep caffeine items out of reach.

The little pup who wanted attention

I was told this cute little tale of a puppy that was bugging her college age owner. The student, in order to spend more time at home with the new pup, had signed up for some online college courses. It was during one of her Forex training webinars that the pup decided it wanted outside. She got up and let the pup out into her small backyard. Five minutes later she went to the door to let the pup back in and opened the door to find her pup had a new friend, a kitten!

The kitten ended up staying and the college student never did find out who the owner was nor where the kitten came from. That college student was one of my college teachers (when she was younger) and she told us that tale as part of her writing class. She asked us to write a paragraph describing her pup. My description came up very close to the photo above. In reality she told us her pup was a Great Dane.

Strange skin ailments of dogs

Dogs can have some of the strangest skin aliments. Everything from flea dermatitis (caused by an allergic reaction to fleas) to acne. Quite often the skin aliment can be corrected by a well balanced diet. A correct diet acts like a natural acne treatment for dogs. Diet can also be the cause of many odd skin ailments as well. Some dogs have an adverse reaction to soy or wheat in their diets, so you have to look at the ingredients closely on the dog food.

In determining the cause of a dogs' strange skin condition it is often just a matter of a process of elimination plus making sure the dog is on a well balanced but basic diet.

Warning dust settling - blog maintenance

Just doing a bit of blog maintenance. Adjusting the blogs' feed length and removing some spam comments that slipped under the radar, the ones that mentioned teenage acne treatment were hilarious but did not fit into the blog post discussion at all. I guess that it was the broken English that got me at the wrong time. I also removed some dead links to article or websites that have disappeared.

The blog dust will settle and then to play fetch with the little dog sitting at my feet.

Dog furniture

This post is not about furniture for dogs but furniture with a doggy theme. First is this coffee table with sitting labs for legs. It is not exactly the style of contemporary coffee tables, if it was, it would not be on this blog.

Next is this tall table with Dachshunds as "legs".

Both of those tables can be found at dogmt.com

Just in case you think you might like one of these, just be warned they cost around $950.00 and up.

Caring for your older dog

Dogs unfortunately get old rather quickly. The first signs of aging in a dog is those gray hairs that show up around their muzzle at about their 7th year. By the time they are 10 or 11 they start to slow down and sleep more than they use to. Around their 12th year you are now battling arthritis, tooth loss and often they start to lose weight. Here are some of the things you can do to help your older dog live their twilight years more comfortably:

• Provide a bed that is off the floor and out of drafts
• Feed senior dog food to your dog as it will be easier for the older dog to digest
• For arthritis feed your dog a supplement with yucca in it. Yucca has anti-inflammatory properties and works great for arthritis.

Caring for your older dog does not have to be difficult, just caring.

Why do people need diet pills for their dog?

I know that my vet actually prescribes diet pills for dogs. Now I fully understand why people take pills to curb their appetite because us humans have a problem saying no to food when it is constantly available to us. But dogs are different, we have to give the food to them in order for them to eat. All we have to do is restrict access to the food for the dog not to gain too much weight. Why do we need to give them a pill? Anyone have a thought on that?

Is it too early to talk about Christmas?

Ok, so it is only September but have you thought about the winter holiday season yet? Are you planning on going somewhere and leaving your pup in the care of others or boarded for the holidays? Some people think that not having their dog around during all the festivities is best for the dog as it might put undue stress on the pet. That could not be further from the truth. In fact the dog will experience separation stress from not being around their owner. So what are your ideas for the 2010 holiday season? Should your dog be with you as you exchange gifts and have visitors over? Or will you isolate your dog, thinking that your guests and your dog are better off? I would like your thoughts on the subject.

Indoor dogs shed the year around

Does it surprise you that dogs that are kept indoors shed all the time? It shouldn't since their bodies no longer have to adjust to extreme temperature changes. A dog that lives outdoors most of the time only sheds twice a year. So the next time you are vacuuming up bags full of dog hair or cleaning out your humidifier filters of dog hair, don't blame the dog, blame it on the fact that you keep your home temperature controlled.

High tech doggy style

I had to chuckle when I saw these products that are modeled after dogs and puppies. First up is a neat set of speakers for your computer:

Then I found this cute little flash drives in the shape of doggy paws:

Then of course there is this robot dog from Sony that is all the rage in Japan for families that cannot keep a dog.