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While some essential oils can benefit dogs, others are extremely dangerous - especially when used in their concentrated form. Tea tree oil demands extra caution around dogs, cats and small children. Although exposure to any essential oil is generally most concentrated when it directly contacts skin, tea tree oil diffusers and liquid potpourri present specific health concerns to dogs. These items release essential oils like tea tree continually into the air, risking exposure by inhalation.

Also called compulsive behavior disorder, this is a mental health disorder characterized by the excessive performance of repetitive behaviors that don't serve any apparent purpose

There are foods people designate strictly for human consumption which our dogs could (and arguably should) be eating regularly too. Yogurt and eggs top that list. Raw honey is a well-known and tasty way to treat canine ailments like kennel cough and topical wounds. And do you personally know a dog who can resist a scoop of peanut butter when presented with one? These are the more widely accepted human foods for dogs, but there are plenty of other great foods to taste-test with your dog.

facial and otherwise. The beard

Most of us love snuggling with our dogs and burying our noses in our dogs' soft, shiny coats. But if you find yourself avoiding that last activity due to your dog's persistent unpleasant odor, read on!

A couple of weeks ago, out of the blue, I received a message from Patty, a massage therapist I know. I'd call her my" massage therapist

Last month, in Bravecto

If you do nothing else about the aggression between your dogs, you must scrupulously manage their movements and activities. Every time your dog successfully engages in a behavior that you don't want her to exhibit, it makes it that much harder to convince her that it's not a useful behavior strategy. Every time your dog aggressively communicates to another canine family member, it increases the potential for unresolvable aggression between the two and serious injury to one or both.

Beyond the human hang-ups and logistical challenges associated with a dog who now displays reactive behavior in the presence of other dogs, we must consider the impact on the dog. Reactive outbursts are the product of distress, and distress is serious business. It takes a long time for the body to recover from the jolt of hormones that happens during a distressful event. This altered brain state can leave your dog susceptible to triggers he might not otherwise react to, which is why many dogs can seem edgy" for some time following a particularly stressful event."

Older dogs, like older people, have an easier time getting around if they aren't overweight. Losing weight can be a challenge for dogs at any age, but more so as dogs grow older. Still, weight loss for dogs is worth the effort. Slender dogs not only get around more easily, but also actually live longer. A 14-year study showed that dogs fed 25 percent fewer calories than their free-fed littermates lived nearly two years longer, showed fewer visible signs of aging, and enjoyed an extra three years of pain-free mobility before developing canine arthritis.

We'd love for you to take our dry dog food selection criteria into account as a starting place – only that, though, because there are a lot of other factors that people take into consideration when buying food for their dogs, and everyone will weigh these factors differently, depending on their individual needs and beliefs. If we made up a pie chart illustrating the weight of these factors, each dog owner's important food buying factors" chart would be different

The companies that appear on the Whole Dog Journal “Approved Foods” list offer products that meet Whole Dog Journal's basic dog food selection criteria: they contain good ingredients, they don’t contain any “red flag” ingredients, and their makers are reasonably transparent about their manufacturing and formulation. This dog food list is a start – meant to give you examples of companies with better-quality products than those found in grocery and big-box stores, and lower-end pet supply stores. The list purposely contains products that range in quality and cost, from “wildly expensive” to “not cheap.” Inexpensive foods will not meet our selection criteria, because it’s impossible to make a low-cost dog food that contains superior ingredients.