Can I use a really bad Ed Sullivan imitation to say we have a really great sheow for you this month?
First, we present our annual dry dog food review the focus of much research, years of refinement, and worth the price of the annual subscription, or so weve been told by countless dog owners.
Next, a concise lesson on a skill that can get and keep your dogs attention on you, no matter what distraction or danger surrounds you.
Famed herbalist Greg Tilford returns this month with information about chamomile, one of the safest, most versatile, and well-documented herbal pet remedies. Dont worry! While we let Greg take a month away from writing for the holidays, hes got a number of articles about fantastic herbs planned for WDJ this year.
My old dog Rupert, now 14 years old and tottery, is receiving treatment for chronic kidney failure, so holistic veterinarian Randy Kidds article on urinalysis is timely and helpful to me. I hope your dog is healthy and the in-depth piece is of no practical use to you now; but keep it on file, especially if your dog is older, or prone to urinary tract problems.
I was roundly chastised by eagle-eyed readers for a reference I made about my Chihuahua, Mokie, riding in the car lying across my lap. I promptly assigned crack product reviewer C.C. Holland the job of testing canine seat belts, and her review of the best and worst models appears in this month’s issue. Yes, Mokie now wears WDJs top pick in seat belts when riding in the car.
I asked Training Editor Pat Miller to write an article about what to do if you have a dangerous dog or dogs in your community, after I received a call from a very rattled colleague at Belvoir Publications headquarters in Connecticut. Mona was walking Cami, her beloved yellow Labrador, on leash through a pleasant suburban neighborhood not far from her house when three large, loose dogs attacked Cami. Fortunately, the dogs owner and several neighbors responded to Monas screams of terror, and helped her beat the dogs off of her torn and traumatized Lab.
Having just read an article in my local paper about a San Francisco woman who was mauled while defending her Jack Russell Terrier from an attacking pack of five loose dogs, I told Mona she was lucky to have escaped injury herself.
But since in both cases the dangerous dogs were known to neighborhood residents as frequently loose and often aggressive, I wondered what it takes for a citizen to get their local law enforcement agents to take protective action on behalf of the community especially before a gory mauling occurs? Millers article contains the answers.
-Nancy Kerns
