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New Year’s Resolutions for Dog Caretakers

I had to check last year's blog posts to see if I had published any New Year's resolutions last year; I didn't, so I don't have to admit how much or even whether I met any of my resolutions. But this year, I want to give public resolutions a go, to see if it will help me get any of them done.

Thoughts from a UC Davis Veterinary Hospital Waiting Room

I am back at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital [VMTH] at UC Davis, just a week after my last visit. Last week, I was here with a dying puppy. This week, I'm here for an emergency ophthalmology consult for another puppy from the same foster litter. Not quite three weeks ago, the biggest, strongest pup in the litter suddenly developed a big swollen eye.

Frustration and Heartbreak on the Road to Saving Sick Puppies

I wasn't certain the pup would make it through the night, but she did. And while she had, as the vet put it, reduced mentation

Updates on Dog Food Recalls, the Camp Fire Aftermath, and My Sickly Foster Pups

In my neck of the woods, we still have a huge ongoing mess to sort out with trying to reunite animals with their people following the devastating Camp Fire. Currently, there are three temporary emergency shelters that are caring for hundreds of dogs and cats (and other animals). It's hard to get exact figures, but more than half of the animals have not yet been identified by any owners, for many reasons.

Camp Fire: More Notes from a Disaster Area

Tens of thousands of people and animals have been affected by the fire, and thousands of people are helping those displaced. Several emergency shelters were hastily set up to contain pets. Some of the pets were left at the shelters by owners who were themselves homeless and staying in shelters; many more were rescued and brought to the shelters with either an address or rough estimate of where they had been rescued from.

Camp Fire: Notes from a Disaster Zone, Part Two

I am having trouble keeping track of what day it is today

Camp Fire: Dispatch from a Disaster Area

By midday November 8, the adopt the puppies" project was forgotten; all local media and social media was about evacuation

Some Dog Food Recalls Are More Critical Than Others; This One Is Critical

On November 2, the FDA announced a voluntary recall by Nutrisca pet food. Three sizes of a single variety of Nutrisca dry dog food, Chicken and Chickpea, was found to contain dangerously high levels of vitamin D. The FDA also announced a voluntary recall by Natural Life Pet Products, whose Chicken and Potato dry dog food in 17.5-lb. bags was also found to have dangerously high levels of vitamin D.

A Glut of Puppies at My Local Shelter

The shelter broke up this litter of 10 into two groups, and altered the four largest, healthiest puppies first; this happened two weeks ago. Those four puppies went up for adoption while I was out of town for six days, and every day while I was gone, I checked the shelter website to see who got adopted. Not ONE got adopted!

Coming Home to My Dogs

Like most dog owners, my dogs top the list of things I have to deal with when I come home from a trip. I was away from home for five nights and six days, having traveled to Memphis for the Association of Professional Dog Trainers' annual conference (which was awesome), and then one extra night in San Diego, to watch my son compete in the national championship for his sport.

Pat Miller Honored with APDT’s Lifetime Achievement Award

I felt strongly compelled to make the journey to Memphis to see Pat honored in this way, because she's been extremely important to WDJ from day one and remains so today. You can read more about her professional accomplishments in this press release from the APDT, but if you don't mind, I'd like to tell you about why I appreciate Pat Miller.

National Association of Professional Petsitters

The professional" dog walkers have all but taken over all of the dog parks in the area

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Don’t Adopt Littermates

STOP! Don’t do it! Whether the idea of adopting two puppies just occurred to you, or you had been planning to adopt two all along, every trainer I’ve ever met would advise you to think twice and adopt just one. Because training and socializing littermates well is more than twice as difficult as training and socializing one puppy.