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by Mark Tarnsterton
Many peoples like to take their dogs along with them when doing outdoor exercise such as jogging or riding bike especially in the summer season. Even though it is nice to have your pets near you all the time everywhere you go but you must be really careful and make sure that you do not over heat them because your dog can get heat stroke and die.
Dogs especially long hair breeds need time to cool down the heat inside their body because they do not have sweat glands like humans so external source like water is crucial in helping the cooling process. Dogs main cooling system is their nose, tongue and paw pads.
What is the causes of heat stroke?
Heat stroke occur when a dog lose ability to control or regulate its body temperature. Dogs lower their body temperature by panting and if it cannot get rid of the heat fast enough the heat stroke occur.
Dog heat stroke symptoms
breathing rapidly
heavy panting
salivation
fatigue
muscle tremors
staggering
vomiting
diarrhea
convulsions
collapse
Dog heat stroke treatment
If your dog body temperature raise above 105 fahrenheit and started to show signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion then you must quickly move your pet to cool and shady place and apply water to important part of the body such as head, neck and chest area. Blowing him with cool wind can help speeding up the evaporation process.
Never apply ice when your dog is having heat stroke because it can constricts blood flow and reduce efficiency of lowering the body temperature. Try giving water with ice cubes instead and take your pets to a veterinarian as soon as possible for further effective treatment.
Be aware that body temperature over 106 degree can permanently damage your dog liver, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, heart and brain so immediate action is very important.
Prevention of heat stroke in dogs
Avoid exposure in hot weather and shorten exercise period. Just because it's hot outside doesn't mean that you should stop your pets from getting exercise and the best time to take your dogs out for exercise is in the early morning and late evening because the weather is cool and your dog won't get heat stroke easily.
About the Author
Dog is your best friend. Learn all the initial signs and dog symptoms check in details at dogsymptomscure.com including dog heat stroke symptoms and dog heat symptoms.
My Seattle Pets
BLACKWOOD, N.J. -- Fat, happy and no longer homeless.
That describes life for the 44-pound New Jersey cat who became an overnight sensation.
A vet has found "Prince Chunk" healthy aside from his weight. The big cat doesn't have a thyroid condition, after all.
The vet also has prescribed a high-protein, low-carb diet for the tubby tabby, who is within three pounds of the heaviest on record.
Some 400 people applied to adopt the 10-year-old cat who once was called "Powder." He was found lumbering around Voorhees after his owner lost her home to foreclosure.
New York's Daily News reports the Camden County Animal Shelter has selected a south Jersey family who already has two cats.
"Prince Chunk" is to move next week.
Minneapolis Pets
According to BBC News, "Yawning is known to be contagious in humans but now scientists have shown that pet dogs can catch a yawn, too."
Researchers say the copying activity suggests that canines are capable of empathizing with people.
I could have told them that—and they could have witnessed it—when I first brought Meadow into my home more than seven years ago.
Meadow was a few months old and had been living with us for only a couple of days when I experienced a rather painful event. I was crying into my husband's arms when Meadow sat down next to me and started whimpering. I'm not saying that Meadow was also expressing grief—but she was definitely expressing distress that was sparked by me.
Until now, only humans and their close primate relatives were thought to find yawning contagious.
I'm probably going to get criticized for this next sentence, but here it goes. In my opinion, the research supports that animals are in tune to human emotions, they understand more than we give them credit for, and they themselves have the capacity to experience emotions —although in ways that don't fit into our human definitions.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think treating animals like humans is good for anyone. But realizing that another being may be thinking and feeling and to share an understanding, that's a good thing—for everyone.
So, how 'bout it? Does your dog empathize with you?
Comments
Laura French (not verified)
I have heard and read that
I have heard and read that yawning is a dog's way of calming itself. It seems logical that the dog would respond if the owner seems to be signaling "Let's stay calm!" I absolutely believe that pets empathize with the moods of others (humans and fellow animals). A few decades ago, my first clue that I was stressed out would be when my Siamese cat started driving me crazy--I would always realize, on reflection, that he was just picking up on my mood.
reply — Jeff (not verified)
Our golden doodle goes crazy
Our golden doodle goes crazy when we kiss. Maybe he thinks we're playing, but he could want to share in the intimate moment. Either way, it drives him nuts.
And did I mention he has his own blog?
Houston Pets
We have a young dog 1-2 yrs old part dauschund part blue healer, as well as 3 older dogs of various mixed breeds. They all get along very well. The young one does have a bad chewing habit that he has yet to outgrow or we have yet to get him to stop. We use Bitter End on things we don't want him to chew and that works. We have an electronic dog door which we and the dogs love, however the young dog will eventually chew the sensor off the other dogs necks and I have to replace them which is getting very expensive. I was getting ready to put Bitter End on one of the sensor collars when it occured to me that it might bother the dog wearing the collar. What do you think? This dog doesn't chew on the dog collars of the other dogs so I tried attaching the sensor to the dog collar, he still chewed on it. Is it something about the sensor that is bugging him? Or is it just his bad chewing problem. Any ideas on what to do about the chewing would help also. Thank you so much!
Taste deterrent products are generally safe for animals and should not irritate them, but you should check with a veterinarian just to be sure. For the chewing, there are many things you can try! First, redirecting your dog onto appropriate chew toys and praising him for chewing on those is recommended. Next, training him to leave things alone on command can be quite useful with heavy chewers. We have short courses and basic training to help teach commands - our next "Leave It!" class is scheduled for Saturday, September 13 at 1 pm! Also, for more detailed tips on how to address chewing, please read our Destructive Chewing handout.
Los Angeles Times
Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- A woman who made news around the world when she had five pups cloned from her beloved pit bull Booger looked very familiar to some who saw her picture: She may be the same woman who 31 years earlier was accused of abducting a Mormon missionary in England, handcuffing him to a bed and making him her sex slave.
A paper trail of court documents and jail booking information uncovered by The Associated Press suggests 57-year-old dog-lover Bernann McKinney is Joyce McKinney, who in 1977 faced charges of unlawful imprisonment in the missionary case. She jumped bail and was never brought to justice.
British tabloids first recognized the blonde woman's smiling face when she appeared in news photographs this past week with the five pit bull pups she paid South Korean scientists $53,000 to clone from her pet dog Booger who died two years ago.
There is indeed a striking resemblance between Bernann McKinney and Joyce McKinney. Arrest records and court documents for the two names over the years show other similarities: the same birth date and Social Security numbers, the same hometown of Newland, N.C., and Joyce McKinney's middle name is Bernann.
"It fits," said Utah filmmaker Trent Harris, who made a documentary about Joyce McKinney's case. He said photographs of McKinney and the dogs left him with no question about her identity.
"I said 'Oh my God, that's Joyce,"' he said.
Bernann McKinney has flatly denied any connections to Joyce McKinney and says she planned to take legal action against those who suggested otherwise.
"I'm filing a $10 million libel action and I don't think you want AP to be part of that," McKinney said before boarding a plane to return to the U.S.
While in South Korea, she told reporters she was a screenwriter and handed out business cards with a Hollywood, Calif., address. The AP found that address did not exist.
In a phone call later Friday to the AP, Bernann McKinney repeated she had nothing to do with the Mormon abduction story and only wanted to talk about the cloning of her dog.
"It's a story of courage, of a very brave service dog taking care of me. He passed away. I was so depressed. I had him cloned," she said.
The story of Joyce McKinney is the stuff of pulp fiction: a North Carolina-born beauty queen who moved west, won the title Miss Wyoming USA, converted to Mormonism and went on to college at Brigham Young University, where she became obsessed with a Mormon fellow student.
When that young Mormon took a missionary trip to England, authorities say McKinney hired a private detective so she could locate and follow him.
She and a male accomplice were accused of abducting the 21-year-old missionary as he went door to door, taking him to a rented 17th-century "honeymoon cottage" in Devon and chaining him spread-eagled to a bed with several pairs of mink-lined handcuffs.
There, investigators say, he was repeatedly forced to have sex with McKinney before he was able to escape and notify police.
In a 1977 court hearing mobbed by the British press, Joyce McKinney said she'd fallen head-over-heels in love with the Mormon man and acknowledged tracking him to England. "I loved him so much," she told a judge, "that I would ski naked down Mount Everest in the nude with a carnation up my nose if he asked me to."
But she denied a sexual assault, saying the young man was a willing partner.
"I have been played up as a very wicked and perverted woman," she told the court. "It's not true."
McKinney and her accomplice spent three months in a London jail before being released on bail.
Press reports at the time that said the pair then jumped bail, posing as deaf-mute actors in Ireland to board an Air Canada flight to Toronto and eventually a bus to Cleveland, where investigators lost their trail.
Joyce McKinney surfaced again in Utah in May 1984 and was arrested for allegedly stalking the workplace of the same Mormon man she was accused of imprisoning in England. News reports say that police found a length of rope and handcuffs in the trunk of McKinney's car, along with notebooks detailing the man's daily activities.
Set to stand trial for lying to police and harassment in 1986, McKinney again disappeared just before proceedings and the case was dismissed.
It now appears Joyce McKinney may have escaped justice in the long-ago British case also. London police told The AP they've consigned the case to the history books because of its age and won't seek McKinney's extradition.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the 1984 Salt Lake County booking documents, which lists McKinney's full name, address, Social Security number and birth date. The AP compared the data to court and address records on file in North Carolina.
In both states, documents list McKinney's full name as Joyce Bernann McKinney and cite an Aug. 6, 1950, birth date, along with a hometown of Newland, N.C. A comparison of Social Security numbers on the documents show an exact match of the first five digits, the only numbers typically available in public records.
At the Avery County courthouse in McKinney's hometown of Newland in the western North Carolina mountains, a clerk said she instantly recognized the woman snuggling puppies as the Joyce Bernann McKinney who has a been a frequent defendant in court cases there.
"She is a person of note in our little community," said clerk Julia Henson.
Avery County Sheriff Kevin Frey said there are several charges on file against Joyce McKinney, including an active warrant seeking her arrest on a 2003 charge of communicating a threat against another woman.
Other charges include passing bad checks, an assault on a public officials and an 2004 animal cruelty charge alleging she failed to take proper care of a horse. That charge was dismissed.
James Stamey, the husband of the woman McKinney was charged with threatening, said McKinney left Newland about two years ago and no one had really seen or heard from her.
Until she showed up in the news about the cloned puppies.
"That's our Joy," Stamey said from his home in Newland.
Years ago, Stamey said, McKinney was a beautiful girl worthy of the Miss Wyoming USA crown.
"She's ugly as sin now," he said. "But, sure enough, that's her."
Treating Your Dog For Skin Problems
by JK MacDonald
Copyright (c) 2008 JK MacDonald
From my experiences of dealing with my dog for skin problems. I have a lot of research time and suggestions to assist other canine owners in learning how to treat a dog for skin disorders. In my experience the most common disorder found is itching, and chewing and on one certain area on the dog. If your dog has an allergic reaction to something, it will cause red patches, bald spots or irritate the skin. If open wounds or scabbing appears, the next thing that can happen is a bacterial infection.
Allergies are a very common occurance in canines. Skin irritations along with ear infections are 2 of the more commonly found issues for dogs. Skin problems normally present themselves in "hot spots", sush areas as eyes, mouth, stomach, anis, and armpits.
How To Treat Dog For Skin Problems;
You could apply a solution made of Oxy-Drops to the area. To mix the solution use 1 teaspoon of oxy-drops to1 cup of distilled water. Now you should get blood testing done to pin point the exact cause on the problem. As mentioned earlier itchy skin is one of the most commonly found signs of a skin irritation in dogs.
On the flip side, a dog that is allergic to fleas may have a severe reaction that can cause very itchy skin. These conditions can cause a dog to chew and scratch the area and leave open wounds where a bacterial infection can start. If your dog is always chewing and digging at their skin causing open wounds and sores, try the following.
The use of a shampoo that contains eucalyptus and aloe vera can greatly reduce itchy areas on your dog's skin, and help to heal the irritated areas. Diets with vitamins, minerals and fatty acids can help keep your canines skin clear, clean and healthy. Dogs have a different reaction to allergies than we do as humans, we have nasal problems, where as dogs have skin irritations.
An allergy to food can also be a cause for skin problems in dogs, and can cause sickness in dogs aswell. Thankfuly food allergies can be stopped by simply changing your dogs diet, so it is an easy fix. Hypoallergenic dog food would help resolve this problem.
Five very likely causes of dog skin problems are, contact allergies, bacteria, atopy, fleas, and food allergies.
Sometimes using flea medications can cause worse issues for your dog than the fleas do. These problems may include skin infections, irritations, even seizures. As you can see there are a number of causes of skin problems in dogs, and many ways to treat a dog for skin problems so you should always consult your vet.
One of the most commonly over looked causes of skin problems in dogs, is an allergic reaction to something in the food they are eating. Some commercialy made dog foods contain minerals and dyes, that can cause an allergic reaction, or even be very harmful to your dog's body system.
About the Author
JK loves dogs. He specializes in helping people with animal care, and takes great pride helping people with information that can help dog owners everywhere. To find out if commercial dog food is harming your dog check out http://www.symptomdog.com
How To Potty Train Your Cat In 3 Steps
by Katherin Towers
Does your cat or kitten defecate and urinate all over your house? Is this driving you nuts? Then you need to train them to use the litter box. First, you do know what a litter box is, right? I am not being sarcastic here, but I know of some cat owners who have no idea that these things exist. And second, you have to accept as a fact, that cats can be trained. Some cat owners allow their cats to run wild, adamantly refusing to believe that cats can be trained.
Assuming that you accept that you can train your cat not to mess up all over your home, how do you do so? To start, you need to gather some intelligence. You need to know when and where your cats like to defecate and urinate. And you need to learn how to recognize the signs when they are going to shit and pee. Luckily, cats are creatures of habit. They like to do their business in the same places, around the same times. Most cats eliminate when they wake up, after they eat or after they exercise. They usually go to some corner or behind a piece of furniture and sniff the floor there just before elimination.
Next, you need to prepare a litter box in a quiet, out of the way location. Just like you, your cat prefers to have privacy during the process of elimination. The litter box should have high sides to keep the litter in when your cat scratches in it. The litter itself should be clumpable and scoopable. You have to remember to clean the litter box everyday, and replace the litter every week. Cats are clean and fastidious creatures, so if you fail to keep their litter box clean, they will soon start doing their business elsewhere. There is one additional point regarding the litter - do not change brands. Once your cat gets used to a particular brand of kitty litter, it will refuse to use another brand. If you are forced to change to another litter, you will need to retrain your cat.
As the final step, of course, you need to train your cat to use the litter box. Every time you see your cat giving its signal, you need to carry it to the litter box. This action does two things. It breaks your cat's habit of eliminating in its old spot, and it conditions your cat to eliminate in the litter box. Immediately after it uses the litter box, you should also give it a treat or reward. This further reinforces the new habit of eliminating in the litter box. Obviously, your cat will refuse to use the litter box in the beginning. Do not scold or beat him. You do not want kitty to associate the litter box with punishment. Otherwise it will learn to deliberately avoid the litter box, which is not what you want. Just be patient and consistent and your cat will eventually learn to do its business in the right place - the litter box.
Follow these steps and your cat will stop making a mess all over your house. You will only need to clean the litter box, instead of having to track down every spot kitty makes a mess.
About the Author
Who else wants to learn more ways to potty train your cat? Click here to learn other ways to potty train your cat in 13 days.
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