Month: September 2016

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.

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 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-‘