Care

and quiet crates are always available for dogs who need time away from kids."

A dog fight that goes beyond a brief scuffle and doesn’t resolve quickly is frightening to behold. In fact, it’s one of the behavior scenarios most likely to result in significant injury to humans, not to mention the dogs. The first, most important thing to remember is keep yourself safe. After that, here are five things to do to try to end the conflict as quickly as possible, with minimal bloodshed.

Developing a holistic approach to your dog's health is a process … a process of self-discovery on your part, leavened with lots of trial and error. The real meaning of holistic dog care

Swedish dog owner Nina Ottosson first marketed some of her puzzles and games for dogs in Sweden in 1993; we first heard about them (and reviewed the original wood versions) in 2008. Since then, probably in a defensive response to a number of cheap plastic knockoffs of her designs, Ottosson has developed a line of high-quality plastic toys, though the original, beautiful wood models that are made in Sweden are still available.

Dog poop presents the environmentalist with a real problem. We would hazard a guess that most of us do the worst possible thing: use a plastic bag to pick up poo, and then throw it in a garbage can, bound for a landfill somewhere.

In cases of heatstroke (hyperthermia), the goal is to gradually decrease the dog's body temperature to about 104 F. in the first 10-15 minutes. Once 104 F. is reached, stop the cooling process and get the dog to the veterinarian as quickly as possible.

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, any medical condition is a symptom of an underlying disharmony within the body. This imbalance can be viewed through the yin and yang model, the base of TCM theory. Both exist within the body at all times. Yin represents the concepts of cooling, fluids, quietness, and passive behavior. Yang represents the concepts of heat, inflammation, outward energy, and aggressive behavior.

Who among us has not fretted over a seemingly sick dog, wondering whether we bring him into the emergency vet clinic – or wait until morning? Pretty much every dog owner has done it at some point. And most of us have probably frustrated the heck out of the vet’s receptionist. Telling her that the dog is “just not himself!” doesn’t give her a lot to go on; it leaves her no choice but to advise us to bring the dog in! It’s far more helpful to all concerned if you first examine your own dog, gathering solid information about his condition, before calling the vet.

People have been using vinegar for thousands of years, and while most of it goes into salads and condiments, vinegar can be used as a household cleanser, cosmetic aid, and health treatment. Many dog lovers add vinegar to their pets' food or apply it topically to their best friends. Advocates call vinegar, especially unpasteurized organic apple cider vinegar, a wonder food. Is vinegar really a health-improving supplement, a natural preservative, a nontoxic cleaning product, a disinfectant, a source of important nutrients, and an effective topical treatment for canine ailments?

I’m awakened by the exhalation of my Border Collie’s warm breath on my face: heh-heh-heh. I slowly open one eye and focus on the nose just inches from my own. I may be anthropomorphizing, but I suspect he’s grinning. There it is again – a breathy heh-heh-heh. Wait a minute! Is he just panting or is he laughing at me? Given the way dogs are designed, panting is a very normal bodily function. Dogs don’t have sweat glands throughout their body to expel heat like humans do.

Chloe, my eight-year-old Labrador Retriever, loves to swim. When we lived in New York, she spent almost every morning in streams and lakes, diving from high granite boulders in summer and breaking through ice in early winter. But when we moved to Montana, finding clear, open water for swimming was a challenge. Then we discovered the therapeutic pool at Apex Animal Hospital and signed up for recreational swims. Now every Tuesday Chloe swims laps while retrieving a tennis ball.

Swimming dogs, especially hunting dogs, sometimes experience acute caudal myopathy, which is more commonly known as cold tail, swimmer's tail, limber tail, cold water tail, broken tail, retriever tail, Lab tail, broken wag, or dead tail. In a study published in the November 1999 Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, this painful condition was linked to fiber damage in muscles at the base of the tail.