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It’s that time of year again – when news reports start coming out of dogs dying after swimming in or drinking from ponds, lakes, and reservoirs polluted with toxic blue-green algae. The component of the algae that produces toxins is called cyanobacteria. Three dog deaths in July have been attributed to toxic algae at Grand Lake St. Marys in Ohio, but the problem can occur anywhere.

While visiting my own dog, post-surgery, at a large specialty & emergency veterinary clinic recently, I met a woman and her very sick dog. He had been a patient at the clinic for two days: He was lethargic, not eating, and running a high fever. The diagnosis? An adverse reaction to vaccination.

Welcome to the new WDJ website! I’m excited about it, and here are some reasons why. In particluar all current subscribers who are registered for access to the site (it comes free with your subscription, you just have to register and select a login name and password) can now access ALL of WDJ’s past content. No more paying for that back issue that you loaned to a friend and never got back and now really need!

I’m a huge fan of the Tour de France. I install cable every July just so I can spend every early morning for almost a month watching dramatic racing as well as absolutely stunning aerial views of France (and sometimes the neighboring countries that the race visits). But there is one sad certainty of every Tour: At some point, a leashless dog runs across the road, right in front of the racers.

It’s hot here in Northern California. And it’s just the start of a two-month annual period of the extremely high-temperature, dry weather we get here in the northeastern Sacramento Valley. I’m not crazy about it, but my dog Otto REALLY seems to hate the heat. Once the mercury hits 90 or so, he finds the coolest, darkest place he can find to hide out from the heat.

The Whole Dog Journal began in 1998 as a line extension of other subscriber-supported periodicals from Belvoir Media Group. Since 1972 Belvoir had polished the concept of advertising free journalism, and dogs seemed like an interesting fit.