Photo by Ixiana Hernandez of Petographs.com

Fear Of Fireworks In Dogs By Andrea Arden

Most people respond to a fireworks display with delighted “Oohs” and “Ahhs.” Unfortunately, what most Americans consider the ultimate way of celebrating the Fourth of July may cause their dog to wish they could hide under the covers until it is all over. The dog’s highly sensitive hearing paired with the over the top stimulus of the low-frequency, thundering, prolonged, booming sounds of fireworks, and the fact that it is an experience that happens only once a year for most dogs (which means it is unfamiliar) can result in an extremely jarring and stressful experience for your canine companion. As a result, the dog may shake, drool excessively, whine, and even the most normally well-behaved and friendly dog may become unpredictable and destructive.

Helping your dog cope with fireworks is a process that should ideally begin in puppyhood. Many dogs will startle at loud noises (just like people), but can bounce back quickly, especially if they have been raised in a home that focuses on early and ongoing habituation to a variety of sounds and other stimuli. If you are raising a young puppy, consider that while fireworks have some unique sound qualities (i.e. the volume, duration, frequency) you can help a young, impressionable puppy to develop the ability to better cope with loud sounds in general which may help them cope with the specific sounds of fireworks. If your dog is currently suffering from stress due to fireworks, consider that helping them to develop the skills to better cope during this experience can be a lengthy process which needs to also be paired with management techniques on the day of. Some of the following tips should help your dog make it through the day with as little stress as possible.

Minimize Exposure: You may able to at least partially drown out the noise of the fireworks display by turning on the radio or TV and a fan or air conditioner. You can also minimize your dog’s exposure by setting them up in an area of the home where they are least likely to hear the display of fireworks. If your dog has learned to enjoy spending time resting in a crate where they are fed some of their meals and offered safe chew toys to play with this might be a suitable, safe resting spot during fireworks. Be sure to close and secure doors and windows and consider closing drapes or blinds. Also be sure to reduce any additional stimulus (such as visitors) which may further excite or stress your dog. If you live near the site of a fireworks display, consider having your dog stay at a friend’s home that your dog is familiar with who is farther away. Just be sure they have made visits there previously and that being in that environment will be more conducive to a peaceful experience.

Provide Exercise: Plan for a vigorous walk (appropriate for your dog’s age, health and the temperature) earlier in the day prior to the fireworks display. Burning off mental and physical energy may aid the dog in being better able to cope later in the day.

Offer Potential Distractions: Be sure to provide your dog with safe chew toys so they have something to occupy them. Those which can be stuffed with food are usually most likely to effectively act as a behavioral pacifier.

Do Not Leave Your Dog Unsupervised in the Yard: There are always risks associated with leaving a dog unsupervised in a yard (they can get stolen, agitated by passerbys, or escape). However, you should be especially careful not to leave a dog unsupervised outdoors on the day of a fireworks display. The stress of the experience may cause even an otherwise calm dog to go to extreme measures to escape.

Consider the Use of Calming Aids: Over the counter calmatives such as DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) which mimics the natural pheromone a mother dog releases when nursing to calm herself and her pups, or rescue remedy may help. The Anxiety Wrap, a vest that wraps snugly around the dog’s chest may also help to soothe them. If you are considering the use of sedatives be sure to have a detailed conversation with your veterinarian about the specifics of the use of a prescribed medication.

Provide Gradual Exposure to Loud Noises: Integrating loud sounds into the dog’s daily routine, especially during those times when they are engaged in a pleasurable activity such as eating or playing games, should be part of a plan to help them become familiar and less sensitive to these stimuli. Keep in mind that careful observation of your dog is required in order to keep the set-up stimulus below the threshold that triggers a potentially high stress response. Working with a qualified trainer is advisable as they can help you set up a plan for gradual exposure which may include: Playing tapes of fireworks sounds; Exposing your dog to sparklers, bright lights, and toy roll caps which produce a popping sound and the smell of gunpowder (similar to fireworks); Loud popping sounds from a balloon or blown up paper or plastic bag.

Avoid Inadvertently Reinforcing Fear: In most cases it is advisable to avoid hugging or petting a dog in a state of fear as this may inadvertently reinforce the response rather than help to alleviate it

Many cases of firework phobias cannot be completely resolved. But, with careful management and a focus on behavior modification your dog should be able to cope with the experience in a more peaceful and stress free manner.

Andrea is currently on Animal Planet’s shows Underdog to Wonderdog, Dogs101, and Cats101. She was the trainer for The Pet Department, FX’s Emmy award winning daily show, and appears regularly on The Today Show. Her appearances also include 20/20, Dateline NBC, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Live with Regis & Kelly, The View, CBS News, CNN, Fox, PBS, Fox News, and Lifetime, as well as numerous radio shows.

Andrea Arden has written five books including Dog Friendly Dog Training (Wiley, 2007), Train Your Dog the Lazy Way (Macmillan, 1999), and The Little Book of Dog Tricks (IDG, 2002). She has been the behavior columnist for Dog Fancy and The New York Dog magazines as well as a contributing writer for the AKC Gazette, Modern Dog and numerous other publications.

Andrea has served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Animal Haven Shelter and Sanctuary.

Andrea is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer through the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers and a Certified Pet Partners Team evaluator for the Delta Society and the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test. She is the director of Andrea Arden Dog Training, and was named the best dog trainer in New York by New York, W, Time Out and Quest magazines and the Daily News.

Check out Andrea’s Website right here!

BY Rosemary Black For The NY Daily News

Lap dogs they’re not. The three exotic pooch breeds newly recognized by the American Kennel Club are all athletic, large and ripped. And while new to the AKC, they’re actually old breeds. All have been around for centuries, but only now have joined the list of 164 breeds already registered with the AKC, according to MSNBC.com.

The Icelandic Sheepdog, part of the family that includes chow chows, once was used to herd sheep, horses and cattle. The large but cuddly Leonberger, which can grow as large as 170 pounds, according to Dictionary.com, is named after Leonberg, Germany, and supposedly was bred to resemble the lions on that town’s crest. Originally, the Leonberger was thought to be a cross between a St. Bernard and a Newfoundland.

The third dog, the rare, muscle-bound Cane Corso, at one point faced extinction but was brought back in the 1980s by enthusiasts. A member of the mastiff family, Cane Corsos are considered easy to train and very intelligent.

But being a distinctive breed is not all it takes to win a place on the official AKC list, says AKC spokeswoman Christina Duffney. And there’s no hard and fast rule about how long it takes to be recognized. “There’s not a set number of years,” Duffney told the TODAYshow.com. “You never really know how long it’s going to take.”

As of today, she says, all three dogs may compete in AKC shows and participate in other AKC activities.

Cane Corso

Leonberger

Icelandic Sheepdog

By Ray Leszcynski for DallasNews.com

Garland Animal Services has rolled out new fencing requirements for pit bull dogs and pit bull crossbreeds. One goal is to contain a breed responsible for the most dog bites in the city. But another ramification will remove the breed-specific ban for adopting out pit bulls and crossbreeds from its animal shelter in favor of matching the right dog with the right (properly fenced) home.

A full 27 percent of dogs caught running at large in the city are pit bulls. The new ordinance will require owners to maintain the animals within a 6-foot fence.

Pit bull owners are exempt from the new requirements if their dogs are properly registered prior to Aug. 1, and if they maintain compliance with all applicable ordinances such as the display of city tags and not allowing the dogs to run at large.

To read the rest click here.

From FOXNews.com

THE man who bred the first labradoodle – and in the process made the mutt a desirable accessory – says it’s the great regret of his life.

The coveted accessory has pushed out other breeds in terms of desirability.

Wally Conran, 81, coined the term labradoodle in 1988, when he was the manager of the puppy program at the Royal Institute of the Blind.

He received a letter from a woman in Hawaii who needed a seeing eye dog, but her husband had allergies. She wanted a dog that would not shed hair.

Mr Conran crossed two popular pedigree dogs: a labrador from breeding stock at the institute and a poodle owned by his boss to create the labradoodle.

Click here to read more!

Donna Smith of Coopersburg, Pa., won a first-place ribbon in the "Bred by Exhibitor" class for 2 1/2-year-old Taliesin's Willow Glympse. (Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun / March 28, 2010)

By Eileen Ambrose For The Baltimore Sun

They released the hounds in Ellicott City on Sunday, where the animals trotted in a circle – still on a leash – showing off their stride and strength for the judges.

The event was the 23rd annual Potomac Valley Irish Wolfhound Club dog show at Turf Valley Resort, which attracted nearly 200 puppy and adult wolfhound entries. The two-day competition runs through today.

For those unfamiliar with the Irish wolfhound, think pony.

Irish wolfhounds are the tallest breed, averaging about 36 inches from paw to shoulder, and edging Great Danes out by an inch or so, said Robert Brehl, the show secretary and owner of 10 Irish wolfhounds in Dickerson.

To read more click here.

From BBCNews.com

A Hungarian Vizsla named Yogi has won Best In Show at Crufts.

The seven-year-old beat off competition from six other dogs in the culmination of the four-day show at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC).

Yogi is the first Hungarian Vizsla to win Best in Show. Handler John Thirlwell said his “wonderful dog” from Carlisle, Cumbria, is likely to retire.

Rico, a Scottish Terrier from Russia, took second prize at Crufts, the largest dog show in the world.

And Judge Valerie Foss said of the winning dog: “He is such a lovely mover, so powerful, so free.

“He is just a very, very good dog.”

The Kennel Club said nearly 22,000 dogs across 187 breeds were entered into this year’s Best in Show competition.

‘Wonderful diversity’

Thousands had packed the arena to cheer on the finalists. Earlier, judging of the Gundog category, which Yogi won, was interrupted by a streaker.

The dog showcase was broadcast on More4 this year after the BBC – which began screening Crufts in 1966 – announced it was dropping its coverage in 2008.

That decision followed a BBC documentary which claimed Crufts allowed damaging breeding practices that caused disease and deformities.

Welfare concerns also prompted the RSPCA to withdraw its support in 2008.

Kennel Club communications director Caroline Kisko said the canine show is “a celebration of healthy, happy dogs which recognises the special and unique bond between dogs and their owners”.

She said anybody who had watched the coverage “will have seen the wonderful diversity of dogs, the fact that they truly are fit for function and how much dogs and people enrich each other’s lives”.

Also, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dogfiles

Also, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dogfiles

By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY

SHUNYI, Beijing — One is named Obama, another goes by Son of Bush. They charge tens of thousands of dollars for sex. Convoys of luxury cars, driven by fans, greet the most expensive studs at airports. Meet the canine gigolos — the purebred Tibetan Mastiffs that have become the latest symbol of China’s growing wealth.
Pet ownership is booming in a nation where dogs and cats are featured as part of meals and animal abuse remains widespread. But none carries the cachet of the Tibetan Mastiff, one of the largest dog breeds, which can weigh 180 pounds.

Last month, a Nanjing breeder paid $234,000 for his purebred pooch, reported the Yangtze Evening Times. In September, a young woman in Xian paid $600,000 for her pet, according to the Xian Evening News. Both led airport welcomes with long convoys of pricey automobiles.

“It’s like gambling, as people think they can earn large sums from expensive dogs, but the reality is that it’s very hard to breed a top quality purebred Tibetan Mastiff,” Beijing breeder Zhao Yanjun says.

Others buy to show off their status. “Like men around the world, Chinese like to own big dogs as it shows ‘I am successful, I want to dominate more women and big dogs,’ ” Zhao says.

In the USA, $5,000 is the upper limit for a show quality puppy, says Martha Feltenstein, president of the American Tibetan Mastiff Association. In China, prices have leapt this year amid a nationwide “Tibetan Mastiff fever” that shows little sign of cooling.

From the frozen steppes and remote monasteries of Tibet to the gated communities of China’s urban rich, this guardian dog has come a long way. Movie stardom beckons, too, in two feature-length animations. Tibetan Mastiff, a Sino-Japanese adaptation of a popular novel, premieres next year. In 2011, Tibetan Rock God, based on rock star Zheng Jun’s comic book, will follow the hero, Metal, from a Tibetan temple to the Chinese capital.

The dog has changed breeder Zhao’s fortunes.

The former chicken farmer, 48, bought his first Tibetan Mastiff in 1990 and earns up to $440,000 a year at his Oriental Treasure breeding center near Beijing.

“They are beautiful, loyal, fierce and run like a lion,” he says of the breed, which has a bear-like head and shaggy mane.

Despite enticing offers, Zhao promises never to sell Son of Bush, out of loyalty to his favorite, Bush, who died last year at 11.

“I will never be a high official, but I had fun shouting ‘Bush, over here!’ ” jokes Zhao, who also named and raised Putin, Sharon and several others named for world leaders.

Obama, worth almost $300,000, was born to a dog Zhao sold to Chinese actor Wang Fei. Zhao says Wang charges up to $30,000 per breeding session with Obama.

The top dog among breeders is a celebrity himself. With his “Ma Family Army” of record-breaking female runners, track coach Ma Junren conquered the athletics world in the 1990s. As he pushed his charges through midnight marathons on the high-altitude Tibetan plateau, Ma discovered the region’s native Mastiffs.

Ma is still trying to represent his country by pushing for China’s full membership in the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the World Canine Organization. It’s a tough sell, Ma admits, as the FCI is concerned by China’s low level of vaccinations, the culling of dogs to prevent rabies and the eating of dog meat.

Those worries are well-justified, says Jeff He, China communication manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), an advocacy group. Culling continues in some areas, he says, even though vaccination and education are more effective. “The No. 1 threat to companion animals is the lack of animal welfare legislation in this country,” he says.

Respect for animal rights is growing, says Qin Xiaona, chairwoman of Beijing’s Capital Animal Welfare Association, but the absence of laws slows progress, she says. Last month, Qin rushed to nearby Tianjin to help rescue 800 mostly stolen cats that were locked in cages en route to diners in south China’s Guangzhou.

Qin opposes the “Tibetan Mastiff fever.”

“They are wild animals, it’s cruel to let them leave their habitat,” she says. “We should send all of them back to their habitat.”

In New York, mastiff owner Feltenstein complains that Chinese traders are importing the large breed into the USA for new owners who simply find them “too much dog,” leading to a “huge rescue problem,” she says.

“It’s unfortunate that the Han Chinese are profiting from these dogs and exploiting them, and breeding in other breeds to make them more ferocious,” Feltenstein says.

At American Tibetan Mastiff Association shows, winners parade before a large snow lion flag, a symbol of the Tibetan independence movement that is banned in China.

In response to reports that the purebred Tibetan Mastiff was under threat in its homeland, the China National Kennel Club (CNKC) has sent dozens back to Qinghai province since 2005 and encouraged local authorities to stop their annual cull, says Zhang Xiaofeng, CNKC representative in Beijing. Market forces are helping increase and improve the Mastiff population, he says.

Owner and breeder Zhang Liyan rejects any argument against domesticating the breed.

“Unlike other dogs, the Tibetan Mastiff can be like your son, not just a friend,” she says at her Big Sister Zhang breeding center near Beijing. “I can’t sell my bigger dogs as they become part of the family,” says Zhang, 50, a former restaurant owner who travels to the Tibetan plateau each year.

“When I was young, no one could afford to raise pets, or have a big enough house. But now society has developed, and people are richer.”

Potcakes are indigenous dogs found on several Caribbean islands, namely the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. Potcake is a name derived from the food caked on the bottom of the pots that the Bahamians cooked in. Bahamians would feed these leftover cakes to the stray dogs of the islands, and eventually, the dogs came to be known as Potcakes.

Although officially considered mixed breed dogs, Potcakes are recognized as a breeded dog in The Bahamas. Though Potcakes display a wide variety of characteristics, they generally share certain physical traits due to their isolated gene pools. Each island’s gene pool is slightly different, accounting for the variations between islands. The typical Potcake has a smooth, short coat, little or no undercoat, a long snout, and floppy ears. Colors vary widely, including black, white, yellow and brown. They generally have the same temperaments: laid-back, smart, good with children, other dogs and cats. They usually reach 45-55 pounds when full grown, although some of the smaller potcakes only weigh in around 40.

Depending on what genes are available on any Bahamian island, Potcakes strongly resemble each other. Some island’s Potcakes look more like the typical “pariah dog” found in locales such as India and North Africa. Elsewhere, their lines hint at hound, mastiff, spaniel, terrier or retriever ancestors.

Some believe the original Potcakes came to the Bahamas with the Arawak Indians from Central or South America. If so, Potcakes are as close to nature’s perfect genotype dog as possible. More recently, in the days of Tall Ships, The Bahamas Islands played a major role in maritime commerce. Early terrier breeds, carried aboard ship to keep provisions safe from rats and mice, probably ended up as shore dogs in places such as Eleuthera, New Providence and Abaco. Add to this genetic soup the distinctive (and still existent) North Carolina dog, who came — primarily to Abaco — with Loyalist Tories who settled during the Revolutionary War, and you have the basic ingredients of a modern-day Potcake.

A Potcake’s general physical description calls for a dog genetically engineered to tolerate heat, long term physical stress, extreme competition for food and low protein diet; it’s a marginal existence at best. Yet, this is how Potcakes live and survive in their natural, compromised environment.

For roaming street dogs, these qualities provide necessary survival skills. In a companion animal, they comprise the “traits of the breed.” Given half a chance, Potcakes are highly intelligent, fiercely loyal and enthusiastic companions.

Because Potcakes have “roaming in their blood” they need to be safely contained within a fenced yard or on-leash. If given an opportunity, Potcakes, like border collies, have a strong tendency to wander off or run. Born with an innate drive to survive at all costs, Potcakes need to learn, through positive reinforce and gentle correction, that they are a member of your pack; otherwise they believe in the axiom: lead, follow or get out of the way!

They adapt rapidly to cold weather exercise but prefer to be house dogs. Because they have a strong sense of territory and loyalty, they are nature’s answer to the mechanical door bell; no one will ever walk across the threshold without your Potcake announcing his arrival.

Potcakes are an excellent choice for someone who wants to share their life with an extremely intelligent, quick witted and bonded companion. They are beautifully graceful runners, intuitively empathetic, and the right match for someone desiring a long-term, interactive relationship with another intelligent species.