Preventing dog bites when you dont have a hero cat

(source)Hey Julie! So much going on I need to take three deep breaths to calm down! Firstly - we have a winner! Actually - thanks to the awesome crew at SPARCS, we have two! Very excited to meet Marsha P and Kristi M at #SPARCS2014 and want to thank all the excellent people who responded to our giveaway shoutout on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We hope those of your who werent successful will consider still coming along or joining us on the livestream broadcast. Secondly - I loved learning about the differences in UK and US shelter workers perceptions of pit bulls and all the associated bits and pieces that went along with that in our latest guest post by Dr Christy Hoffman. Really, really...

Read more

Do You Believe in Dog One year of believing

Happy anniversary Julie! Can you believe weve been exchanging blog posts about canine science for one year already? In some ways its gone so quickly and in others its hard to remember when we werent. I was going to do a highlights kind of post, but decided its all been so freaking fantastic, that I wouldnt know where to start or stop.In all ways, its FABULOUS, and I thank you from the bottom of my everything for answering my first blog post with a big, fat YES!#AAWS2013I attended the 7th National Workshop for the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy this week. It was a busy few days with lots of learning and networking going on, everywhere you looked. Stand out things you should know about: AMRRIC do...

Read more

Incorporating A Vibrating Dog Collar in Your Dog Training

In preparation for training your dog with your new underground dog fence, you’ll need to work with a vibrating dog-training collar. This collar teaches your pup to notice when she’s coming close to the boundaries of the fence and to stop BEFOREshe crosses that line.  Introducing The Collar To The DogThe first thing you’ll want to do is get your dog used to wearing her new vibrating dog collar. Because of the technology involved, these collars tend to be a tiny bit heavier and bulkier than regular dog collars, and you want your dog to feel comfortable wearing hers. Adjust the collar so that the prongs are just resting on her skin and not burrowing into her neck. You want to make it tight...

Read more

Von Moosbach Zuzelek puppies first tracking season Uncas Moose and Urho Mongo

In 2013 we had only one litter of puppies, which was out of FC Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek and FC Mielikki Raptor. Both parents are young dogs themselves. Sky comes from several generations of our own breeding that produced a family of very accomplished blood trackers. Mielikki comes from Nordic bloodlines and has a very nice pedigree, but when you do an outcross as we did in this case, you always take some chances. Sometimes you win a lottery, and sometimes you dont.The "U" litter was born on May 10, 2013 so these pups are just 5.5 months old. All of them have showed a lot of promise when we worked with them at a very early age. We are happy to see that this potential...

Read more

Be a Resource Full Puppy Owner

We though wed best follow up our joint-post about Books for Before & After you get a Puppy or Dog with some further resources. Because lets face it - you can never have enough resources to consult with a new puppy in the family! Here are some of our primary go-to places and wed love to hear your suggestions in the comments section below - lets turn this into a great resource-full page for everyone!Mia & JulieThe Other End of The Leash ~ Patricia McConnellIn 2012, McConnell gave her website a major overhaul. Readers can now follow along her weekly blog, as well as search by interest area and easily link to relevant blog posts and videos.McConnell’s Reading...

Read more

Tip of the Day Get off Your Bike if a Dog Chases You

Making it Worse?We are asked this question quite frequently: What should I do if a dog chases me or my kids while we are riding our bikes? Most adults assume that if they have good speed they can outride a dog. A cyclist in our area was badly injured when dog ran down a farm lane barking at him. He sped up to try to get away from the dog, lost control on the gravel shoulder and fell off his bike. The dog sniffed him and walked away.Avoid a ChaseKids on bikes should never assume that they can ride faster than a dog can run, because most likely they cant. If confronted by a dog while riding a bike, the best thing to do is to stop and if there is time get off the bike so that the...

Read more

How to Massage an Arthritic Dog

By Langley CornwellMy friend Karen recently adopted a senior dog with general arthritis and hip dysplasia. Good for her, right? It started with a conversation we were having about the high number of senior dogs in shelters, and how sad it was for an older dog to live out his or her days behind bars. In our local shelter, senior dogs make up about 10% of the overall population at any given time. When trying to understand why, a shelter worker told us that oftentimes families surrender their senior dogs when they reach an age where they require extra care. What a shame.Karen’s goal is to provide her new dog, Goldie Girl, with a safe and comfortable home during her twilight years. Their union is...

Read more

For The Love Of A Good Dog How To Train A Cowdog Part II

*Click HERE to read Part I of How To Train A CowdogBen starts his dogs on ducks before he ever introduces them to cattle. “Ducks stay herded very well and that helps those pups play off of their instincts. Don’t use chickens!” he warns with a laugh. “If you have access to them, I like to move on to sheep before I start my pups on yearling cattle. You just want to make sure and set it up so that they don’t get hurt. Graduate slowly and build that dog’s confidence up.” Jon agrees, “If you get them kicked too young, you can get the confidence kicked out of them and they’ll never get it back. I started using this one dog pretty hard at 6 months and she got cow kicked and she would never bite a cow...

Read more

The Science Surrounding Children Dogs Part 3 The Ugly

Cute or feeding an unrealistic fantasy? (source)Hey Julie,You raise such an important point! In the same way that popular culture can influence our perceptions and interpretations of ‘cute’ in domains like body image and kawaii, photos of babies with dogs can set us up with unrealistic expectations that might lead to ugly situations and devastating outcomes. And it’s some of The Ugly side of the science surrounding children and dogs that I want to share with you today. Dogs can hurt children and children can hurt dogs.  It’s ugly alright.Dogs biting kids:As you pointed out in your last post, part of the The Ugly is that dogs can and do bite babies and kids. (source)Dog bites are the...