5 Tips To Choose the Best Dog Pulling Harness

When you have a dog, you want to make sure that your dog is happy and healthy. Your dog is a part of your family, and you will do everything in your power to make them feel included and loved. Normal leashes for dogs can be harmful; they can pull against you and hurt themselves and cause rashes and burns if the collar isn’t a comfortable material.

This is why dog harnesses were invented. A dog harness goes around their body like a protective jacket so that it doesn’t pull them in sensitive areas, and it won’t cause nearly as much pain when they try to run off. Here are 5 tips on how you can choose the best harness for your puppy pal.

When deciding on a harness for your dog, you first need to understand the two available styles. There are more styles than these two, but these are the safest and most common that you will find.

The back clip on harness.

This harness clips up on your dog’s back. You will be able to easily attach the harness to your dog, and take it off whenever necessary. These are usually used for bigger dogs but can be used for small dogs just the same.

Front clip harnesses.

These are meant more for small dogs because you can easily pick them up and clip on the harness with no trouble. When you have a bigger dog, you might not be able to get underneath them to hook on the harness properly.

Once you figured out the type of clip harness you want, you need to find out what kind of harness is best for you and your pup.

The anti-pull harness.

This harness doesn’t give your pup any chance to take off without your knowledge. There isn’t a cord that extends when your dog starts to walk off, so you will always know that your pup is nearby. Just because this harness doesn’t allow your dog to get far away does not mean that it isn’t a good pulling harness. It will still give your dog some space, but it doesn’t have an extended cord.

A standard harness.

This harness is nothing special, but it will keep your dog happy. It’s just a few clips and a cord that allows your dog to get a few steps ahead of you. These harnesses are perfect for anyone who wants their puppy to have a little bit of freedom, without letting them off of the leash.

The extendable harness.

These harnesses will allow your dog to take off running, while also allowing you to pull the cord back whenever they seem to be getting a bit too far away for your liking. This is the type of harness that you are looking for if you want more cord available for you and your dog. But if you don’t want them getting too far, you should use the standard or anti-pull harness.

The choice of dog pulling harness will depend on how you and your dog go about your walks. If you let them get a step ahead, the standard or extendable harness will work great for the both of you. But if you want them close by because they get a little bit too interested in things around them, then you can choose the anti-pull harness.

No matter what type of harness that you choose for your pet, you will always have the option for styles. The clips on the back or the front, the color, the length, and how big or small the harness is. You should think about all of this in order to make sure that you are choosing the right type of harness for your dog.

Your dog’s size and personality will really determine the best dog pulling harness, so think about how your dog acts on walks while also thinking about how you want them to act.

It is also important to keep an eye on your dog when using a harness. While it pulls less on their neck bones than collars and leashes do, they can still get rashes and irritation when using the harness too harshly. So, keep an eye on your little furry friend when coming home from the park.

In summary:

  • Find the clip option that works best for you
  • pick a size that works for your dog
  • pick a cord length that you’ll both like
  • find a color
  • make sure the harness material doesn’t cause irritation for your puppy
  • Do these things, and you will have the best harness.

What Breeds Are The Most Intelligent?

1. “Left for the wolves.”

In the late Spring of 1902, Constable Richard Morris, of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, reported an incident dealing with the native Cree Indians and their dogs. Stationed in a community north of Lake Winnipeg, he noticed that a number of dogs had been staked out in the forest. Each one was left alone and fastened to an iron stake by a chain. When he asked the reason for this, the Crees told him that the dogs were “left for the wolves.”

When Const. Morris objected to this treatment, the Crees explained that the dogs wouldn’t be harmed by the wolves. The dogs — Ungava huskies — were bitches in heat. Male wolves without mates of their own would be attracted to the bitches and mate with them, resulting in cross-bred puppies with “wolfblood.”

Morris said, “Oh, I see. This is so your sled-dogs will be bigger and stronger.”

“No,” said one Cree. “A wolf can outrace our dogs in a quick dash — but our huskies have much more stamina than wolves and can easily outlast them in a long run. Wolves make poor work dogs.”

“Then,” concluded Morris, “it’s because wolves are healthier.”

“No. They are the same.”

“Then — why?” asked the Mountie.

“Up here,” replied the Indian, tapping his forehead.

Father LeBeaux, an Oblate Missionary, later explained, “The Cree people believe that when an animal becomes domesticated, each generation loses in intelligence. That’s why wolves are more intelligent than dogs. The Indians say, ‘The closer to the wolf, the smarter.’ If it is true of domesticated animals, what does that say of civilized man, eh?”

2. “How intelligent are they?”

Our ancestors might have asked this 15,000 years ago when they played with their adopted wolf or jackal pups — the first dogs.

Even the ancient Egyptians asked that question, and studied their own dogs to answer it.

The first modern attempt was by Rene Descartes, who only went one step beyond the cloudy thinking of his time, saying all animals were just soulless biological machines. Descartes set up the narrow, human-centered theory of behaviorism that would dominate until well into the 20th Century.

For decades, behaviorists put animals — including dogs — through sterile tests in sterile labs, looking for mechanical results that proved worthless.

In the middle of this muddle came one sane voice: Donald Griffin, professor of biology at Rockefeller University, who said, “Behaviorism should be abandoned not so much because it belittles the value of living animals, but because it leads to a serious incomplete and hence misleading picture of reality.”

In 1953, Konrad Lorenz’s MAN MEETS DOG created an instant classic about canine intelligence. Written with humor, wisdom and great insight, the German Nobel Laureate almost single-handedly recreated our methods of exploring animal behavior.

In his ground-breaking 1994 book THE INTELLIGENCE OF DOGS — CANINE CONSCIOUSNESS AND CAPABILITIES, Canadian Stanley Coren, psychologist, dog trainer, “and avowed dog lover,” presented his controversial Ranking of Dogs for Obedience and Working Intelligence.

Coren ranked 133 breeds, from #1 on… The reaction was predictable: “The Poodle? He ranked a POODLE above my Belgian sheepdog?” “Come on! My Samoyed is smarter than any Australian Cattle Dog!” “No Papillon can out-think my Lassie.” “OK, maybe a Poodle is intelligent –but…”

“Controversial” doesn’t begin to describe the reaction to “Coren’s Ranking.”

But his observations have proven to be pretty accurate. Coren was testing, of course, pure breeds. The “purebred” Siberian husky, for instance, isn’t as quick-witted as the native husky of northern Siberia. This is even more true of the Alaskan malamute. We deliberately breed out some of the “wolfishness” in our pets.

3. “Never Cry Wolf!”

In 1963, Farley Mowat’s NEVER CRY WOLF appeared on the bookshelves. Described as “an intimate casebook in wolf sociology,” Mowatt described how, as a biologist employed by the Canadian Wildlife Service, he had spent a summer on his own, studying a pack of Arctic wolves. The book sparked an avid interest in wolf research that has never dimmed.

IN PRAISE OF WOLVES and SECRET GO THE WOLVES described R D Lawrence’s close experiences with wolves in Canada. DANCE OF THE WOLVES by Roger Peters describes his three winters in the forests of northern Michigan. These and others have shown us the remarkable lives and intelligence of the wolf.

R D Lawrence wrote: “Reality, particularly in the case of wolves, means that these animals have keen intelligence, excellent memory, and demonstrable capacity of conscious thought. When Shawano fed his pack before keeping a piece of chicken for himself, he demonstrated not only that he could profit from experience in a profitable way, but that other wolves could do so as well.

“This demonstration is alone sufficient to discredit the mechanistic theory which contends that evolution, by means of hereditary imprinting, has led to the thoughtless or automatic responses of animals to any one of an enormously wide variety of natural stimuli…

“Memory, by allowing an animal to benefit from experience, plays an important role in the formulation of conscious decisions; the better its memory, the better able will the animal be to adapt to a changing environment.”

It’s the wolf’s intelligence, as well as its loyalty and great heart that caused our ancient Northern ancestors to bring the wolf into their families, or to interbreed their existing dogs (probably of ancient jackal ancestry) with wolves.

“In the summers there is one visitor, however, to that valley, of which the Yeehats do not know. It is a great, gloriously coated wolf — like, and yet unlike all the other wolves. He crosses alone the smiling timberland and comes down into an open space among the trees.

“Here a yellow stream flows from rotted moose hide sacks and sinks into the ground, with long grasses growing through it and the vegetable mold overrunning it and hiding its yellow from the sun; and here he muses for a time, howling once, long and mournfully, ere he departs.

“But he is not always alone. When the long winter nights come on and the wolves follow their meat into the lower valleys, he may be seen running at the head of the pack through the pale moonlight or glimmering borealis, leaping gigantic above his fellows, his great throat abellow as he sings a song of the younger world, which is the song of the pack.” -Jack London, THE CALL OF THE WILD
Today, we mingle with wolves, in a sanctuary and in the wild.

What, then are the smartest breeds?

Taking in the conclusions of dog trainers, psychologists and researchers, as well as those who work with dogs in life and death situations, such as police, search & rescuers, and wilderness inhabitants — and balancing the Cree wisdom: “the closer to the wolf, the smarter!” with ongoing research into the evolution of dogs (the earliest dogs were probably adopted jackal pups), here are the TEN MOST INTELLIGENT DOGS:

1. Ungava Husky, or Wolf Dog

2. German Shepherd

3. Golden Retriever

4. Labrador Retriever

5. Border Collie

6. Poodle

7. Doberman Pinscher

8. Papillon

9. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

10. Alaskan Malamute

If your dog is not on this list, you can be sure it’s #11!

How To Choose A Vet

Your vet is a pretty significant figure in your dog’s life – and thus, in yours. Hopefully, you’ll only ever need him or her for routine checkups and preventative procedures; but just in case, it’s worth taking the time to develop a good relationship with a suitable vet, before you need their services.

Where to look:

Sure, you could just pick a vet at random from the Yellow Pages or from an Internet search; but having the right vet is crucial to your dog’s health and happiness (and, presumably, this plays at least some part in your own happiness and peace of mind as an owner, right?)

Think about it this way: if you were trying to choose a doctor for yourself, would you be happy to just select one at random from an impersonal list?

Probably not. You’d want somebody who comes highly recommended – somebody you feel like you can trust.
Your vet isn’t just your dog’s doctor; he or she is also the dentist, manicurist, psychologist, and – hopefully! – a friend. When you roll all these things up into one, you can see why it’s necessary to spend some time confirming that you’ve made the right choice.

The best place to start looking for a vet is by word of mouth. If you have any friends or relatives who take good care of their dogs, then that’s a great place to start: ask them who they’d recommend, and why. This last one is particularly important, because everyone has different priorities: for example, perhaps they like their own vet because he/she is a specialist in their own particular breed; or they don’t charge very much; or the clinic is only five minutes’ drive … their priorities are not necessarily yours, so it’s a good idea to make sure that your values coincide with the person giving the recommendations.

Another great place to find a vet is through local training clubs (Schutzhund, agility, herding classes, police K-9 academies, etc.) These organizations are almost guaranteed to place a great deal of importance on high-quality veterinary care, because the health and well-being of their dogs is such a priority.

Once you’ve got a list of vets that you’re interested in pursuing further, all you have to do is call up the clinic and explain that you’re looking to find a regular vet for your dog(s): can you come in for a quick chat, introduce your dog, and have a look at the premises?

HAVE A LOOK BEFORE YOU NEED TO
Before you decide to align yourself and your dog with a particular clinic, test the waters first. Ideally, you want a chance to talk to the vet, and discuss his or her philosophies and approach to pet care.

This is really important. If your dog ever really needs vet-care (if there’s an emergency, or if she needs an urgent short-term appointment), you want to be sure that you’ve made the best possible choice as far as her health and comfort levels are concerned. Neither of you should be subjected to any unnecessary extra stress at a time like that – and you can avoid a lot of grief by spending a bit of time in preparation.

THINGS TO ASK THE VET
While you’re at the clinic, you’ll want to be assessing your potential vet’s overall attitude and approach to health care and animals; and you’ll also probably want answers to some specific questions.
Here’s a list of useful questions to help you on your way:

– How many vets are there on staff? If you need to make an urgent appointment, you don’t want to be waiting around while precious minutes tick past. Ideally, there’ll be at least two qualified veterinarians on hand (not just technicians or assistants.)

– What kind of testing and analysis capabilities does the clinic have If they have to send away to a lab for this kind of stuff, it means that the results are going to be delayed. If your dog is very sick, time is an important factor: it’s best if the clinic has at least blood-analysis testing on hand.

– What after-hours services are available? A lot of clinics close the doors in the evenings and on weekends, which means that if there’s an emergency, you’ll have to go somewhere else – and subject your dog (and yourself) to an unfamiliar vet. (If you don’t mind this, then that’s fine; but be aware that in a high-stress situation when emotions are running high, it’s reassuring for your dog and yourself to deal with someone familiar.)

– What’s their price range? How are payments made? Is there a facility for payment plans in case of unexpected vet bills? The payment-plan option is particularly important. Even with pet insurance, vet bills can sometimes be astronomical – and not everyone has the resources to deal with large vet bills straight away. Ask the clinic how they cater for situations like that.

– How up-to-date is the staff with advances in the industry? Do the vet, the technicians, and the assistants attend seminars and workshops regularly? The field of medical care is always moving forward – responsible vets make the effort to keep up with the times, and see that their staff do, too.

MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE
When you choose a vet, you’re balancing convenience and quality. There’s no right or wrong vet for you and your dog – which is partly why making the choice can be so confusing. There are lots of vets to choose from, and they’re all different!

Even though it’s tempting to go for the one right around the corner with the rock-bottom prices, it really is worthwhile taking the time to shop around. Your dog is utterly dependent on you for her healthcare – and if you take her seriously as a companion and member of the family, you’ll want to do the best thing by her.

A good vet knows how to take care of you as well as your dog. The relationship that you have with your vet will hopefully be one that’s based around a healthy mutual respect and positive synergy – there should be very little scope for misunderstanding. When the two of you see eye to eye, it makes caring for your dog that much easier.

Gobone Techno Dog Toy, helpful with Dog Training or not?

When I first heard about it I thought it was a joke. Dog toys that can be controlled with smartphones from anywhere. Who would ever need such a thing? But after a few days, I had to go away from my house for a full day. Something I rarely do because it requires me to get a dogsitter.

Dogs in general and mine in particularly are not good at being alone. So if you leave them locked up for many hours in a house they can get a little crazy. We have all seen or heard about the destruction an anxious dog can bring to a living room.

The reason is that we have bred dogs for hundreds of years to be as well adapted to humans as possible. We have emphasized the traits that we liked most such as: attention to humans, obedience and affectionate behavior.

The flip side of this is that dogs have become less self sufficient and confident when they are not with their owner. Its something that we have secretively reduced by breeding the most affectionate and obedient dogs. And this is still a good thing because it’s the number one reason for people to get a pet.

We don’t need a dog to watch our sheep or guard our garden. We want a dog to play with and pet on the couch. Or to dress up like a pop star:) But it does mean we need to care for them in a good way. And this means we don’t leave them alone for too long. That is where the new Pet Toys are coming to the rescue.

They allow you to check up on your pet from work or anywhere. Some have the ability to play with your pet, such as the Gobone or Petcube. Some allow you to shoot treats at them.

Let’s see where this development is going. But I am pretty sure it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Kazan The Wolf Dog

KAZAN lay mute and motionless, his gray nose between his forepaws, his eyes half closed.

A rock could have appeared scarcely less lifeless than he; not a muscle twitched; not a hair moved; not an eyelid quivered.

Yet every drop of the wild blood in his splendid body was racing in a ferment of excitement that Kazan had never before experienced. Every nerve and fiber of his wonderful muscles was tense as steel wire.

Quarter-strain wolf, three-quarters ‘husky,’ he had lived the four years of his life in the wilderness.

He had felt the pangs of starvation. He knew what it meant to freeze. He had listened to the wailing winds of the long Arctic night over the barrens. He had heard the thunder of the torrent and the cataract, and had cowered under the mighty crash of the storm. His throat and sides were scarred by battle, and his eyes were red with the blister of the snows.

He was called Kazan, the Wolf Dog, because he was a giant among his kind and as fearless, even, as the men who drove him through the perils of a frozen world.

He had never known fear–until now. He had never felt in him before the desire to <irun–</inot even on that terrible day in the forest when he had fought and killed the big gray lynx. He did not know what it was that frightened him, but he knew that he was in another world, and that many things in it startled and alarmed him.

It was his first glimpse of civilization.

He wished that his master would come back into the strange room where he had left him. It was a room filled with hideous things. There were great human faces on the wall, but they did not move or speak, but stared at him in a way he had never seen people look before. He remembered having looked on a master who lay very quiet and very cold in the snow, and he had sat back on his haunches and wailed forth the death song. But these people on the walls looked alive, and yet seemed dead.

Suddenly Kazan’s ears became erect. He heard steps, then low voices. One of them was his master’s voice. But the other–it sent a little tremor through him! Once, so long ago that it must have been in his puppy-hood days, he seemed to have had a dream of a laugh that was like the girl’s laugh–a laugh that was all at once filled with a wonderful happiness, the thrill of a wonderful love, and a sweetness that made Kazan now lift his head as the man and woman came in.

He looked straight at them, his red eyes gleaming. At once he knew that the girl must be dear to his master, for his arm was about her. In the glow of the light he saw that her hair was very bright, and that there was the color of the crimson in her face and the blue of the in her shining eyes. Suddenly she saw him, and with a little cry darted toward him.

‘Stop!’ shouted the man. ‘He’s dangerous! Kazan-‘

The History of Dog Stories

We’ve been telling animal stories, of course, for as long as we’ve told yarns. And we no doubt told stories of our own dogs around ancient camp fires.

Our earlytales mixed myth, dream and fantasy with the real world. Our legends told of talking animals, including dogs. So did the tales of the Greek slave named Aesop. Well into the Nineteenth Century, dogs in literature were mostly creatures of fancy, often talking and thinking like humans, on which they were really based. Kipling’s JUNGLE TALES, an international bestseller, is a good example of the fantasy-form.

Sir Charles G D Roberts, a Canadian author born in 1860 in Douglas, New Brunswick, changed that.

Roberts grew up watching animals, both domestic and in the wild Northwoods, and wanted to write about them as they really lived. He said that the exciting adventure lies in the effort to ‘get under the skins,’ so to speak, of these shy and elusive beings. He didn’t want to write about human nature in animal form, but was determinedto write yarns about animals that caught their emotions and thoughts. In so doing, Charles G D Roberts created the one native Canadian art form: the Realistic Animal Story.

Although Roberts wrote about domestic animals such as dogs, it was the animals of the wilderness that caught his attention. Powerful stories such as The Passing of the Black Whelps and Wild Motherhood told stories of wolves, moose and bears. His books include THE LURE OF THE WILD and HAUNTERS OF THE SILENCES.

Fellow Canadian Ernest Thompson Seton followed with WILD ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN (1898), giving the animal story a new credibility and power as a literary genre. Two stories from this book told of dogs: Bingo, the Story of My Dog and Wully, the Story of a Yaller Dog.

In 1903, Jack London’s masterpiece THE CALL OF THE WILD appeared.

When Jack London wrote THE CALL OF THE WILD, he wrote the seminal Northwestern novel.

Jack London had already written THE SON OF THE WOLF and A DAUGHTER OF THE SNOWS, themagazine short story ‘To Build a Fire,’and would follow THE CALL OF THE WILD with his wilderness story of the wolf-dog WHITE FANG, a classic work of animal fiction.

Although many consider the 20th Century/Darryl Zanuck movie version of THE CALL OF THE WILD, starring Clark Gable as John Thornton, to be the best version, my personal favorite is the later Ken Annakin Film production, starring Charlton Heston. Heston — and Annakin — captured the spirit and character of Jack London the man and author better than anyone else has.

The theme of domesticity to savagery in THE CALL OF THE WILD and its opposite — savagery to domesticity in WHITE FANG, is a deeply human theme that is the soul of the Northwestern, and needs more exploration… -Brian Alan Burhoe, author of WOLFBLOOD: A Northwestern Story…

The American Jack London wrote of dogs against the background of the Klondike Gold Rush, red-coated members of the North-West Mounted Police, prospectors, trappers, outlaws and the white wilderness of the Alaskan and Canadian Northwest. His literary masterpieces created a demand for more.

Michigan-born James Oliver Curwood followed, becoming one of the world’s most popular adventure writers, as popular as Jack London and Zane Grey (whose KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED would establish his own foothold in the Northwestern genre).Curwood’s THE WOLF HUNTERS (1908) first caught public attention. But it was the publication of STEELE OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED and KAZAN THE WOLF DOG that made him a best selling author. With Kazan, he created one of the most enduring portraits of a real dog — a true literary masterwork. He wrote a sequel — BAREE, SON OF KAZAN.

Curwood actually travelled to the Canadian Northwest to research his books. Drawing on the Cree Indian meaning of Manitoba, Curwood coined the phrase God’s Country for the Canadian North, using it in the titles of several of his works. He was an experienced woodsman and hunter — and after an encounter on a hunting trip in the Rockies with the open jaws of a full-grown male grizzly bear which chose NOT to kill Curwood (Curwood had fallen and broken his gun),he wrote THE GRIZZLY KING, later made into the movie THE BEAR.

After that,Curwood favored the camera over a rifle because of his ever-increasing respect for animal life. Curwood fought to preserve the wilderness along with its inhabitants, which were being destroyed at an alarming rate at the turn of the century.

Max Brand (Frederick Faust) has been called The Shakespeare of the Western Range. (<emKirkus Reviews</em). He wrotefour classic Northwesterns about dogs in the Jack London tradition. In the 1920’s,Brand moved his family to Katonah, New York State, where he raised white bull terriers. He let them run free over his new estate, training them and intensely studying their actions. The result was one of his best ever novels, THE WHITE WOLF. This novel’s central character was a white bull terrier.

Another Northwestern by Max Brand was CHINOOK. The title character is a savage wolf dog, whose master’s life is saved by American Joe Harney. Reluctantly, the taciturn dog-master allows Harney and a mysterious woman, Kate Winslow, to accompany them to the Klondike gold fields.

Brand followed that title with MIGHTY LOBO, a novel about American Ned Windham, who has single-handedly built a homestead in the savage Northland. When a pack of wolves stalks down from the mountains to slaughter his sheep, he discovers that the wolves are led by a mixed-blood dog. A neighbour tells Windham: He’s the devil, done up in wolf’s fur. You go down the line a ways and get to the ranches. They’ll tell you plenty of stories about him. He comes out of the mountains like the wind, raises the devil, and goes back again. Thats why they call him Chinook!

Thefourth Northwestern by Max Brand is CARCAJOU. Carcajou is the French-Canadian name for the wolverine — a beast with the fierce power of a wolf, the tenacity of a bulldog and,theysaid, the soul of Satan. John Banner arrives in the Yukon Territory with a $10,000 price on his head and a plan to lose himself in the Arctic wilderness. But his plans change when he acquires the great dog called Slaughter, meets Anne Kendal, a woman who’s the match of any man, and joins a deadly search for lost gold — a quest that will lead him to a baptism of blood that alters the course of his life and earns him the nickname Carcajou.

A yellow light gleamed through the trees, and the sound of flopping, crunching snow came to the dog.

Now a man stood beneath him and great fear rose up in the heart of SILVER CHIEF. The stones and clubs and beatings that had been the lot of a dog that fell into the power of the man-gods he had known, was now to be his lot as he was their prisoner. But his fear shortly gave way to hatred. Man, strong as he was, might capture him, but man with all his magic would never break him. Not if he gave his life in fighting man’s bending him to his will.

Jim stood silently watching his captive. A smile of genuine happiness spread across his tanned face.

‘You’re mine, old boy. I knew I’d get you. But darn me if I know how I’m going to get you out of that tree. Those front feet and long teeth look bad… Now I’m going to lower you, old timer, and heaven help me if these ropes give way.’

Once he touched the snow, the dog thrashed wildly. With his great strength he bounded from side to side like a coiled snake. He snarled and tried desperately to reach the ropes with his teeth. It took all of Jim’s strength to keep the captive lines taut. Finally the struggle was too much for the dog, and he dropped back, exhausted but not beaten.

Thorne eased up a little on his rope and risked one hand to wipe his damp brow.

‘Mister, I’ll say you’re a powerful young feller’, he addressed the dog, who glared up at him with bloodshot eyes.

‘What would you do to me, if you could get me, eh? Well, I’m not going to hurt you. You and I are going to be friends.’

With these words, author Jack O’Brien described the capture of the wild wolf dog the Indians called Silver Chief by Sergeant Jim Thorne of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The book was SILVER CHIEF — DOG OF THE NORTH.

Jack O’Brien was described by his publisher as one of those soldiers of fortune to whom adventure and danger are the spice of life. As Chief Surveyor for Admiral Byrd’s first Antarctic Expedition of 1928-1930, O’Brien was in charge of the dog teams taken along on that historic trip. He drove huskies on prospecting ventures into Northern Canada and worked so often with the big sled dogs that he came to know them as few men do.

In his Silver Chief books, he told the stories of two generations of Mounties and three generations of dogs,from the early1930’sto 1960. The other books in this series were SILVER CHIEF TO THE RESCUE, THE RETURN OF SILVER CHIEF, ROYAL RED, SILVER CHIEF’S REVENGE and SILVER CHIEF’S BIG GAME TRAIL — the last book being completed by Albert G Miller, from research notes left by O’Brien.

Another classic Northwestern is George Marsh’s FLASH THE LEAD DOG. It’s a wonderfully detailed adventure of two trappers and their Ungava huskies on a trip into the unmapped North country.

Other writers of Northwesterns who included dogs as characters include: Rex Beach, Samuel Alexander White, James B Hendryx, Lawrence Mott, Harold F Cruickshank, Frederick Nebel, Victor Rousseau, William Byron Mowery, Ryerson Johnson, Robert Ormond Case, H Mortimer Batten, Roderick Haig-Brown and Francis Dickie.

In 1919, Albert Payson Terhune’s LAD: A DOG appeared. The book gained Terhune worldwide success. He followed with many other books, including BUFF: A COLLIE, THE HEART OF A DOG and A DOG NAMED CHIPS. A descendant of Dutch emmigrants, Terhune lived on a New Jersey homestead called Sunnybank Farm, where he raised collies. Today, there is a Terhune Memorial Park on the original farm site.

American military man and writer Colonel S P Meek first established his reputation in the science fantasy field in the 1930’s (at that time, he was a Captain) with THE MONKEYS HAVE NO TAILS IN ZAMBOANGA and THE DRUMS OF TAPAJOS. But it was his heartfelt and detailed dog novels that drew out his literary genius. His books include: BOOTS, THE STORY OF A WORKING SHEEP DOG — DIGNITY, A SPRINGER SPANIEL — FRANZ, A DOG OF THE POLICE — GUSTAV, A SON OF FRANZ — GYPSY LAD, THE STORY OF A CHAMPION SETTER — JERRY, THE ADVENTURES OF AN ARMY DOG — PIERRE OF THE BIG TOP — RANGER, A DOG OF THE FOREST SERVICE and RUSTY, A COCKER SPANIEL.

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Across the Atlantic, in England, animal fiction remained in the fantasy realm. Kenneth Grahame’s THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS was a popular example.

But in 1940, Eric Knight’s LASSIE COME-HOME appeared.It was a realistic animal story in the Roberts/London tradition. Set in pre-war Yorkshire, the novel told of the collie Lassie. Whena mining family, the Carracloughs, must sell their beloved pet collie, she’s purchased by the Duke of Rudling, who takes her to his estate in Scotland. But Lassie won’t be kept from the family she loves. She sets out on a long 400-mile journey south, to find the home where she belongs.

In October 1943, LASSIE COME-HOME was released as a movie, starring Lassie, Elizabeth Tayor and Roddy McDowell. More movies would come, such as THE COURAGE OF LASSIE, then radio and television. Lassie traveled across the Atlantic to find a home in America. The latest Hollywood production is a remake of the original novel, starring Peter O’Toole as the Duke.

Lassie wasn’t the first Hollywood dog.

Strongheart, a German Shepherd, had appeared in 1921 and became immensely popular in the U. S. and Canada.

Rin Tin Tin (found in amuddy trench by an American soldier during World War One), a genuinely gifted and intelligent German Shepherd, captivated audiences from his first appearance in 1924, becoming the first world-wide canine superstar. From early movies like WHERE THE NORTH BEGINS to the fascinating THE NIGHT CRY, Rinty drew audiences to the movies with more star-power than most human actors of the time. A literary account of Rinty’s life is THE RIN TIN TIN STORY by James W English.

Other dog stars were Cyclone, Sandow, Champion, Ranger, Peter the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Wolfheartand Dynamite. Lassie, of course, would become one of the Hollywood giants, followed by others, from Benji to Hooch (a Dogue de Bordeaux or French Mastif), London the Littlest Hobo, Diefenbaker the wolf dog, Air Bud, Beethoven and more.

One of the latest Hollywood releases is EIGHT BELOW. Based on a true story, EIGHT BELOW follows the adventures of eight husky sled dogs left behind in Antarctica after a major winter storm — and the struggles of researcher Jerry Shepard to rescuehis dogs.

Your dog wants to be your great companion– who does what you want, when you want him to do it. The more you train your dog, the better behaved he will be ALL THE TIME. That’s also why teaching tricks keeps your dog thinking and working for you. It increases his focus and his bond with you.

Richard Adams, author of the wonderful children’s fantasy WATERSHIP DOWN (1972), gave us THE PLAGUE DOGS in 1977. This novel tells of the escape of two dogs from a research facility in the Lake District of England. The dogs — a black Labrador Retriever named Rowf and a Fox Terrier named Snitter — must survive on their own. Believed to be carrying a dangerous plague, they are hunted ferociously by humans until they find sanctuary. Like other English novelists, Adams mixes talking-animal fantasy with the North American Realistic Animal genre — but his works are too much fun and are just as beloved by realists as fantasists.

In North America, more realistic dog stories appeared. A modern classic is THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY, by Canadian Sheila Burnford. It’s the story of three animals who walked home:Luath, a young and gentle Labrador retriever, with a reddish gold coat — Bodger, the old half-blind but tough Bull Terrier, with a strong doggish sense of humor — and Tao, a sleek wheat-colored Siamese cat…

Farley Mowat, whose NEVER CRY WOLF (1963) had sparked an interest in wolf research, gave us THE DOG WHO WOULDN’T BE, a warm, deeply-felt remembrance of his boyhood friend, Mutt.

Americanauthor Fred Gipson, who had first established his reputation with HOUND-DOG MAN in 1949, published his masterpiece OLD YELLER in 1956. The novel told the powerful story, set in 1860’s Texas, of a stray dog who helps protect a boy and his family while the father is away. The author dedicated the novel to his father and mother, Beck and Emma Gipson, whose memorable tales of frontier dogs supplied me with incident and background for this story. OLD YELLER won a number of awards, including the Newbery Honor. He wrote a sequel to this novel, titled LITTLE ARLISS,as well as CURLEY AND THE WILD BOAR andSAVAGE SAM.

A recent book worth finding is JOJOFU: A JAPANESE FOLKTALE, written by Michael Waite and illustrated by Yoriko Ito. Based on a Japanese folktale taken from the ancient Ima Mukashi scrolls, the story of Jojofu, who saves her master time and again, has delighted children and dog lovers for more than a thousand years. Though the hunter Takumi loved all his dogs as if they were his own family, his own favorite was named Jojofu (Japanese for Heroine) forhe considered her to be the bravest and smartest dog in the land.

Hundreds of more dog stories have appeared, many of them beloved literary works. Most aren’t adult fiction, like the works of London, Curwood and Brand. Most, in fact, are written for and marketed to children. Even so, they are all worth adding to your library.

Just some of the best works are:

THREE NAMES by Patricia MacLachlan

TIMBUKTU by Paul Auster

BOBBIE, A GREAT COLLIE by Charles Alexander

WHITE RUFF by Glenn Balch

BRYN by Hetty Burlinggame Beatty

GREATHEART by Joseph E Chipperfield

ALGONQUIN by Dion Henderson

NAVARRE OF THE NORTH by Esther Birdsall Darling

RED DOG by Louis de Bernieres

BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE by Kate DiCamillo

BORU, THE STORY OF AN IRISH WOLFHOUND by J Allan Dunn

JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick

SILVERSHEENE, KING OF THE SLED DOGS by Clarence Hawkes

SOUNDER by William Howard Armstrong

BIG RED by James A Kjelgaard

SNOW DOG by James A Kjelgaard

MY DOG SKIP by Willie Morris

SHILOH by Phillis Reynolds Naylor

BUGLE, A DOG OF THE ROCKIES by Thomas C Hinkle

BRIAR, A COLLIE by Margaret S Johnson

DINGO, THE STORY OF AN OUTLAW by Henry G Lamond

JET, SLED DOG OF THE NORTH by West Lathrop

NOSE DOWN, EYES UP by Merrill Markoe

A DOG’S LIFE by Peter Mayle

KAVIK THE WOLF DOG by Walt Morey

BOB, SON OF BATTLE by Alfred Olivant

TROOPER, U.S. ARMY DOG by Helen Orr Watson

STONE FOX by John R Gardine

A DOG OF FLANDERS by Ouida

THE DOGS OF BABEL by Carolyn Parkhurst

DOG ON IT by Spencer Quinn

CUJO by Stephen King

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by Wilson Rawls

BEAUTIFUL JOE by Marshall Saunders

THE 101 DALMATIONS by Dodie Smith

NOP’S TRIALS by Donald McCaig

THE UGLY DACHSHUND by G B Stern

FAITHFUL RUSLAN by Georgi Vladimov

HALF WOLF by Sewell Peaslee Wright

THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE by David Wroblewski

WHITE FANG I I: MYTH OF THE WHITE WOLF
by David Fallon &amp; Elizabeth Faucher

How can I prepare properly nutritious food for my dog?

It’s true that we shouldn’t just feed our dogs “table scraps.”

They need a diet that meets canine needs. But in response to all the news reports of unsafe pet food, what do we do? And just how bad is it? What are the experts saying?

World-famous vet and dog-care author Alfred Plechner, says the poor nutritional properties of commercial dog food inevitably lead to disease:

“Because many commercial foods are woefully deficient in key nutrients, the long term effect of feeding such foods makes the dog hypersensitive to its environment…”

Debra Lynn Dadd, author of ‘Home Safe Home’ says commercial dog food company claims their product is a complete and healthy meal are false… “Many pet foods claim to be ‘100% nutritionally complete and balanced.’ This claim legally can be made and printed on commercial products based on information studies using isolated nutrients and not whole food.”

Wendy and Jack Volhard are well-known  respected, 30-year dog training veterans. Wendy writes about how her dogs live to amazing old age through proper diet: “We have made our own food for well over 30 years now, and our dogs are living longer and longer each generation.

“Whereas the normal lifespan of a Newfoundland in 1998 was 6.2-6.7 years according to a national survey done by the Newfoundland Club of America, our dogs live up until 15 years of age.”

Andrew Lewis, author of the best selling DOG FOOD SECRETS, says there are three Steps to providing a proper diet for your dog:

Step 1: Stop using commercial dog food as your dog’s only or main source of food. This step is the most important and you should make the change in the next couple of days. But you can’t make this change unless you have a good alternative plan in place.

Step 2: Learn how to read commercial dog food labels. I understand it’s not practical for most people to never use commercial dog food ever again. Although not best case, you can use it sparingly for maybe a few meals during the week.

Step 3: Get some healthy, well-balanced dog food recipes and start feeding your dog home made food.

Says Lewis, “It’s very easy, if you know how to cook specifically for dogs. Just cook a large batch, freeze it and it can be eaten over several days. But be sure you have a good source of recipes written especially for dogs because they have very specific requirements, different to humans.

It’s possible to love your dog to death with too much of the wrong foods. If you are tired or busy and sometimes don’t want to prepare food for your dog, don’t feel guilty because it happens to all us! I’m the first to admit that sometimes my wife and I get home from work and the last thing we feel like doing is cooking for ourselves, let alone Ginger, our dog.

When that happens we order take-out for the family and I give Ginger a super-healthy serving of commercial dog food… but before you think I’m not practicing what I preach, let me explain… Occasionally the situation would occur where we didn’t want to cook but I had no dog food in the house because it’s all garbage… (ah… but not all of it.)

I realized I needed a solution to this problem so I hired a professional researcher to find the top 10 ultra-healthy, all natural commercial dog foods in all of North America. Using the checksheet of very high quality standards I demanded, she returned 8 days later reporting she could only find 9 that met every standard… in all of North America!

She prepared a confidential document for my eyes only and it has been my secret weapon. But for the first time ever, I’m sharing The Confidential Dog Food Report: The 9 Very Best, Ultra-Healthy, Dog Food Brands in all of North America with other dog owners like you..

“You’ll be glad you did!”

FEEDING: It is important that you go easy on doggie treats and table food. These can cause a number of digestive problems, not to mention problems that could effect their health and well-being.

Commercial dry foods and canned moist foods have their place. But professional dog breeders and handlers often develop their own formulas and recipes for their dog’s diets. Our favorite is dog-fancier John Miller:

50 years ago, a young dog-fancier, John Miller wanted to improve his dogs growth. After analyzing commercial dog food formulas, he found they were all loaded with unhealthy chemicals.

John developed a better recipe himself and tried it on his own dogs… using healthier ingredients…

He couldn’t believe how fast his dogs health and behavior improved. Also he reduced his dog food costs by 50%.

Happy with his discovery he tried, over the years, hundreds of new recipes in order to see their effects on dog health and growth.

Among his recipes are:
Healthy dog food recipes for young and old dogs
Natural recipe to keep flea away
Gourmet Biscuit recipes
Dozens of recipes for delicious, economical, healthful dog food
Treats (Your pet will love you)
Dog bones

“Consider the fact that many experts believe commercial dog food is actually unhealthy for dogs. Often the meat that is used in dog food is of a quality considered unfit for humans.” -John Miller