The Dog Blog

Pages

New Year, New Developments

Dr. Nicholas H.... | Sun, 02/03/2008 - 11:17

It’s been a while since I checked in so I thought I would write a line or two about current goings on around Tufts. The good news for me is that my next book, which finally has a name – The Well-Adjusted Dog: Dr. Dodman's Seven Steps to Lifelong Health and Happiness for Your Best Friend – is off my desk and off to press. It is scheduled be on the shelves toward the end of June with the formal release date being around July 11th 2008. I got some really good quotes for the back cover from the likes of Jon Stewart of The Daily Show fame, Bo Derek, John Gogan (author of Marley and Me), and top psychiatrists Drs Judith Rapoport and John Ratey. As trainer Bash Dibra says about the book, "Finally! A book that deals with the prevention of behavior problems.” Let’s hope the book lives up to all the hype. I sure hope so because I feel this is my best dog book yet.

The Thai Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Roger Abrantes | Wed, 01/30/2008 - 13:06

We all know Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the brave mongoose from Kipling’s ‘The Jungle book’. This is the story of Mah Noy, the brave dog from Koh Lanta Yai in Southern Thai.

Koh Lanta Yai (เกาะลันตา) is still a well-kept secret of Thailand (I shouldn’t even reveal the name). Relatively close to the much more known Koh Phuket and Koh Pi Pi, but virtually inaccessible unless you want to take two flights, a long drive, and sail twice, this South Andaman island is definitely not overrun by tourists and almost devoid of western influence except for a few resorts for those who want a taste of unspoiled paradise. Koh Lanta Yai is the biggest of 52 islands of which only 12 are inhabited.

Early Education--for the Two-Leggeds

Nicole Wilde | Sat, 01/26/2008 - 10:48

My husband and I were watching a television show recently called “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” (It should really be called “Can you Still Remember A Dang Thing from Fifth Grade?” but that’s another story.) We got into a discussion of subjects that are taught in schools but never used in real life, in all but a few cases. I mean, really, when’s the last time you employed calculus to solve a problem? Or found yourself shouting the elemental name for salt as you grabbed it off the shelf at the market? That got me to thinking about the subjects that should be taught, things that would actually prepare kids for life and, heck, maybe even create better adults in the process. There ought to be classes on how to balance a checkbook, how to change a flat tire, and, without a doubt, how to care for a pet.

Wolves, Dogs and Rapture

Patricia McConnell | Fri, 01/25/2008 - 09:35

So… how would you feel going into a pen with a wolf? I just got the opportunity recently, and I don’t mind telling you that thought I’d be nervous. After all, I’ve worked with aggressive dogs for twenty years, and have seen and heard about enough serious injuries to last a life time. And we’re not talking dogs here, we’re talking wolves, who, by the way, have muzzles as big as tree trunks. “Why Grandma, what big teeth you have!”)

I Don’t Foresee a Problem

Cindy Bruckart | Sun, 01/20/2008 - 08:33

This is something my husband says to me all the time about our daughters and our dogs. I come up with many things to worry about, many possible outcomes that we should concern ourselves with and all he says is, “I don’t foresee a problem.”

Well, I suppose he doesn’t. He’s not a psychic, after all. Heck, he’s not even a professional dog trainer. He’s an optimistic step-father and an average pet dog owner. He believes the best of his daughters and his dogs, expecting that everything will work out fine because these are the beings he loves.

The Nightly Barking Crescendo

Roger Abrantes | Sat, 01/19/2008 - 13:37

Next stop is Portugal. I stay with my sister in Oeiras, on the beautiful Lisboa—Cascais coast. My sister was so fortunate to buy a house there, many years ago, when real estate prices were right. I always look forward to staying there, only 100 meters to the beach and the great Atlantic Ocean.

We have a good fresh seafood dinner in one of those restaurants that look like nothing but where the food is just divine. A walk home along the shore is just what I need before going to bed to get a good night’s sleep after a day of traveling with flight delays and overcrowded airports.

Lying in my bed, window half open, allowing some moonlight in the room, and especially the rhythmic sound of the Atlantic Ocean waves softly beating the cliffs, is the best lullaby one can wish, and a few moments later, I guess, I’m asleep. ‘Good to be home’, is my last thought, for even though I haven’t lived in Portugal since I was nineteen, a part of it always feels like home.

Doggy Bonanza

Roger Abrantes | Mon, 01/14/2008 - 13:31

Returning to Europe after a time in Asia and Africa is always a mixed experience for me. I’m looking forward to it, sometimes almost with a childish anticipation, and yet the harsh reality strikes me from the very first moment I land in Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen. Passport control: I show my passport, which the officer meticulously examines taking glances at me. ‘Why are you laughing?’ he asks. ‘Oh sorry,’ I hasten to say, ‘I’m not laughing, I was just smiling because I just came from a place where people smile to one another all the time.’ I had forgotten that in the West, you’re not allowed to smile to one another.

What is a “behaviorist”, anyway?

Valerie Pollard | Thu, 01/10/2008 - 12:58

“..I spoke with the behaviorist my vet recommended, and then I spoke with a local behaviorist that my neighbor told me about…”, the woman explained as we spoke on the telephone regarding her aggressive dog who had now bitten two people, requiring stitches in both cases. I nearly literally began to grind my teeth in frustration at the sound of that overly and misused term, “behaviorist”. In this case, I knew the people she was referring to as “behaviorists”.

Heeling Dogs Heals Hearts

Cindy Bruckart | Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:19

I had planned on writing about Canine Connections, a program at Echo Glen Children's Center in Snoqualmie, WA, a juvenile-rehabilitation facility. This is a program that pairs at-risk youth with death row shelter dogs. The teens train the dogs to make them adoptable, and in the process gain compassion and self-esteem for themselves. It’s an amazing and beautiful process that most dog lovers immediately understand.

As I started writing about this particular program, I remembered the woman I had the pleasure of sitting next to at the recent Association of Pet Dog Trainers Conference in Portland, OR. Her name was Keri Gorman, and she told me all about the program she worked with called Project Click, an animal training program offered by the Humane Society for Southwest Washington.

Snort or Growl?

Kelly Gorman Dunbar | Mon, 01/07/2008 - 14:18

Yesterday I was walking Dune, my handsome and strapping American Bulldog, in our neighborhood and we came across a familiar neighbor and Chiquita, her sweet little Chihuahua/Pug cross (Chug?)

Dune has met Chiquita many times before and though she has no particular love for him, I must admit he suddenly strained forward in an enthusiastic attempt to greet her. He has always been a victim of unrequited love.

He doesn’t normally do that sort of thing (lunge forward on leash during our neighborhood walks) and I was caught slightly off-guard. As a result I compensated by firmly planting my feet and tightening my grip on his leash and reflexively pulled him back. (Hey, it happens to the best of us…)