Active Canines

Saving Money on Pet Healthcare

ASPCA: Pet Care: Top 10 Ways to Save Money on Vet Care: Don’t skip your pet’s yearly exam. It’s much more expensive—and risky—to treat illnesses than to protect against them.

• Hard times are not an excuse to skip your pet’s annual shots, but it does make sense to talk to your vet about personalizing your pet’s vaccine protocol. Some vaccines are optional, while others are essential in preventing serious diseases.

• Spaying or neutering your pet can save a lot of money by preventing serious health problems including uterine, ovarian and testicular cancer. Many local shelters provide resources for low-cost or no-cost spay/neuter surgeries.

• Brush your pet’s teeth. Dental disease—such as tartar, gingivitis, loose or infected teeth—can lead to heart and kidney problems and expensive procedures. Start a daily dental routine to keep your pet’s teeth and gums healthy.

Keeping Tabs on the Dog

Marketwatch: SNIF Tag Monitors Dogs Remotely, 2008-Nov-10, press release: The small, stylish and comfortable tag attaches to a dog's collar and records its daily movements and social encounters and then uploads them to the Internet. A secure area of the SNIF website then allows the dog owner to monitor if their dog has had a walk, played and/or napped while they are away from home. ... The SNIF Tag compiles data on the dog, building a pattern that allows the owner to compare their dog's activities, health and habits with other dogs of the same breed or dogs in their neighborhood. Owners can also contrast and compare activity level with the dog's diet so owners can tweak their pup's diet accordingly to ensure optimum weight and size for breed.

Photographing Dogs Beautifully

Contra Costa Times: Pet-arazzi captures canine couture, 2008-Oct-6, by Ann Tatko-Peterson: The reporter interviews Karen Ngo, who says: I always had a secret life as a dog photographer. A couple years back, I was a creative director in fashion, and on the side I worked for a magazine that's no longer with us, New York Dog Magazine. I would do 10- to 12-page fashion stories on dogs in gowns and pearls or fall fashions, things like that. I started shooting dogs in clothes, and it just seemed to be a good marriage between my interest in fashion and my love of dogs. See Karen Ngo's photographs. See her new book, InDognito.

Way to Drive with the Dog

CarGoDogs.com: The concept for CarGoDogs.com was conceived during a trip from Southern to Northern California on a hot summer weekend in 2006. All of us were shopping for new vehicles and we discovered how difficult it was to find detailed information pertaining to cargo space, ventilation, and other features of particular importance to those of us traveling with dogs. Since we are all active with showing our dogs in various venues and sports, we are continually exposed to new products and methods of travel and transport. Through our experiences we hope to provide information that makes it easier for those looking for a dog vehicle, accessories or health and safety tips so travels with canine pals can be safe and enjoyable adventures.

Border Collie Now Mayor of Rabbit Hash

If you haven't heard of Rabbit Hash, you missed one of the best bogus elections of the year. Rabbit Hash is too small to really need a mayor, but they do need to raise funds to preserve their heritage. So every four years, the candidate that raises the most money wins. LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati: Lucy Lou the Border Collie Wins Mayor of Rabbit Hash, 2008-Nov-4: The Rabbit Hash Historical Society says a border collie has won the race for Mayor of Rabbit Hash. Ten dogs, one cat, one opossum, one donkey, and one human being vied for the ultimate position of political power in this small Ohio River community in Boone County, Kentucky.

Dogs Retrieving Birds

Gun dog training took place at Barkston Ash in Yorkshire, England on October 8, 2008. Not much information is available about these people, but enjoy the glorious pictures of these dogs doing what they were bred to do: retrieving birds. Lots of them: dogs, birds, beautiful green fields, glorious fall sunshine.See max1e's slideshow on Flickr.(No gore, I promise.)

References:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16523755@N06/sets/72157608515020642/show/with/2987965356/

Looking for Better Way to Neuter

The true heart of innovation is seeing a problem in a whole new way, and Gary Michelson sees pet population control as a problem of method, not intention. In other words, if we had a better method, more pets would be sterilized. USATODAY.com: Inventor Michelson offers $75M for a way to sterilize pets, 2008-Oct-15, by Sharon L. Peters (via Bark Blog): A very rich, very impatient retired surgeon wants the pet overpopulation solved. So Gary Michelson has put a hard-to-ignore enticement on the table: $75 million. The person or group that comes up first with a safe, one-time non-surgical means to sterilize male and female cats and dogs gets $25 million, Michelson's non-profit Found Animals Foundation will announce today .... And up to $50 million more will be available to support the research of one or several individuals who come forward with plausible approaches.

Getting the Dog a Dog

Lucy the Wonder Dog: Adding a Second Dog, 2004, by Louise Louis: Are you hoping to cure a behavior problem of your existing dog's? More likely the new dog will adopt the same neuroses. Are you trying to minimize the time you spend with your dog? Dogs need human company and most dogs benefit from a daily walk with their owner. You'll need to spend individual quality time with each dog to get to know him as an individual. Have you budgeted for two dogs? They may not be double trouble but they will be double bills. More food, grooming and vet bills can mount up rapidly.