sandgrubber

This can backfire. If the water crazy dog likes to jump on other dogs in the water it will scare the bejezus out of him. One of my pups has turned her mother, who used to love swimming, into a very hesitant swimmer. I wish my pups were more afraid of water. Most of them dig in the water bowl, making a big mess.

Sugar gliders are widely available in Florida. They're not expensive, eg:. http://gainesville.craigslist.org/pet/4226682437.html ($100) But then, so are dozens of bird and reptile species, not to mention arachnids. The exotic animal market seems to have been hit hard by the great recession. Macaws, African greys, etc., regularly show up in our equivalent of Gumtree. So sad, given how long these birds live and how badly messed up they get in captivity. Fennec's would be a disaster in Oz . . . being native to hot desert, if they got loose they'd thrive in the interior. In the US they'd just be one more small predator.

Seems to me the possible downside to advertizing is that in the longer term it may bring on market mechanisms Advertizing generates demand. Increased demand may allow breeders to bring their prices up to the high levels commercial dog breeders charge, whereupon breeding becomes profitable, and there will be an incentive to breed more, which will, in the long term, drive prices down. The good side, hobby breeders take greater market share and puppy quality increases (hopefully): the bad side, hobby breeders get more commercial. I guess economists would call that a correction. The inferior product costing more is, in theory, an unstable situation, waiting to be corrected.

My understanding is that the diagnosis of epilepsy requires ruling out other causes . . . the blood tests help do that but do not show positive signs of epilepsy. As others have said, if your dog responds well to medications, epilepsy is easily managed with pills. The meds are cheap. The blood work to make sure the medication level is right can be fairly expensive.

Oh wow, great information. Thank you Did they say sweet potato also caused the same issues as normal potato? I didn't ask about that sorry, so no idea (we decided in that consult to substitute with pumpkin). Mind you, she was talking about dogs the clinic specializes in, with multiple allergy issues. A healthy dog can tolerate a wider range of foods no doubt. Hardly surprising. Lots of "grain free" dogfoods have been released in the last few years. Prior to that, most dogs had little contact with sweet or normal potatoes. Potato eaten with skins on is a reasonably good source of potassium; sweet potatoe is rich in several nutrients. So they do have some mild advantages over grains, in theory. But I doubt dogs are often deficient in the nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids) that they supply. Mostly they're a source of starch, like grains. You manage the toxin issue by not using green potatoes . . . same as making mashed potatoes. Green potatoes are toxic to humans too. The big food processors have procedures in line to avoid green spuds.

Mildly guarded yes. Dogs love the marrow and will quickly get that out of a soup bone, especially if it's cut short (say less than 100 mm). Some get too enthusiastic and may chip a tooth. So watch what your guy does. If he's highly energetic about chewing the hard outer part and seems to be chomping down on it hard with his molars, I'd take it away.

I take two Labradors with a recumbent trike. The younger (4) pulls quite a bit of the time and sets the pace. The old girl (9) has no trouble keeping up. We only go a few km and don't go very fast.

That requires a lot of flying blind. The epigenetic switching of the agouti gene in mice (resulting in higher frequency of obese, yellow mice) seems to be triggered by one chemical used in plastics manufacture . . . not a food (see http://www.nature.co...-regulation-927). The problem , if there is one, could come in the water or the air, or in everyday objects we thought were benign, or through exposure to UV light, or from a pathogen, or from being too hot or too cold as a neonate, or who knows what else, not just food. Feeding BARF? Could be that something in the slaughterhouse that processes the chooks could be a switch. Who knows. Found a good reasonably recent review article that can be downloaded free and is fairly understandable Lucia Daxinger and Emma Whitelaw. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritence: More questions than answers Genome Res. 2010 December; 20(12): 1623–1628.

I've often heard that said, but have not been able to find references. Any idea who did the study(ies) and/or where it/they is published? Dr Jeff Craig looks at how and what turns genes on and off in humans using twin studies. Here's the reference we should probably be using . . . but would have to pay for it and it would be hard slogging. Nat Rev Genet. 2012 Jan 31;13(3):153-62. doi: 10.1038/nrg3188. Understanding transgenerational epigenetic inheritance via the gametes in mammals. Daxinger L, Whitelaw E. Author information Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Herston, Queensland 4006, Australia. Abstract It is known that information that is not contained in the DNA sequence - epigenetic information - can be inherited from the parent to the offspring. However, many questions remain unanswered regarding the extent and mechanisms of such inheritance. In this Review, we consider the evidence for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance via the gametes, including cases of environmentally induced epigenetic changes. The molecular basis of this inheritance remains unclear, but recent evidence points towards diffusible factors, in particular RNA, rather than DNA methylation or chromatin. Interestingly, many cases of epigenetic inheritance seem to involve repeat sequences.

I'm aware of the mouse studies, but seems to me that people have overgeneralized from them. It's a long leap to go from a few studies of rodents to supposing that commercial foods or vaccines are causing disease via epigenetic mechanisms. This article is critiquing use of epigenetics to explain mental illness in humans . . . but similar arguments apply (though it's pretty hard to study identical twins with dogs). To my knowledge no one has found a smoking gun linking a specific epigenetic change to a specific disease (or allergy) in dogs. http://www.wiringthebrain.com/2013/01/the-trouble-with-epigenetics-part-1.html http://www.wiringthebrain.com/2013/01/the-trouble-with-epigenetics-part-2.html

Diet is clearly important, but not necessarily in the ways we think. Carefully conducted studies have shown that overfeeding increases chronic illness problems and shortens lifespan (reference below). It's hard to know what, beyond not overfeeding and meeting some minimum guidelines, is important. And I have little doubt that there's a lot of market hype to get us to spend more on our much beloved. I suspect all this 'grain free' stuff is bull dust, unless you have one of those dogs who is allergic to some grain. Kealy et al (2002) Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs https://www.avma.org..._220_9_1315.pdf I fed mostly BARF in Australia, but it's hard to source BARF at a reasonable price where I live now, and premium dry food is much cheaper in the US than in Oz (I pay ~$45 for a 15 kg bag of Eukanuba or ProPlan)...so I've shifted to dry food plus occasional veg, fruit, and bones. I can't see any change in my dogs health. I can't see justifying the extra $10 to $15/bag for super premium.

I've often heard that said, but have not been able to find references. Any idea who did the study(ies) and/or where it/they is published?

Everyone does not draw boundaries in the same place. I say, if it's harmless, let it be. I would not assume everyone who allows (or encourages) their dog to sit on a seat is undisciplined or has not trained their dog. They may just want their dog beside them . . . for reason of habit, comfort, or for better management of a stress situation. I see no parallel to children who lack respect or discipline. The assumption is like the righteous folk back in the early 1900s who assumed women were wanton because they showed their ankles or wore bloomers. Norms vary, and change. When I was a kid, a lot of people would have regarded crate training as cruel...but allowing a dog to run loose was normal.

I wish that option said "only of a certain type/look AND TEMPERAMENT". I care a damn sight more about how a dog behaves than what it looks like.

More than half the greyhound racetracks in the US are in Florida (12 of 21). The AR group, in conjunction with the industry, are moving to change (reduce if not eliminate) the greyhound racing industry here. In some ways, I can see their point. Track operators have been permitted to offer other sorts of gambling, like poker and pokeys, on the condition that they continue live racing. Interest in live racing has declined. Many (most?) of them find the other forms of gambling much more profitable than the dogs, and would give up racing if they could do so and retain their casino licenses. Looks very likely that they will permit some of the tracks to give up live racing and have patrons vote on simulcasts. See http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-03-25/news/fl-dog-racing-legislation-20110325_1_dog-track-dog-trainers-grey2k-usa

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out of curiosity, did the OP mean hidden fence, or the GPS controlled perimeter collars? I realize the post was about legality, and both are probably illegal. But they are quite different. The GPS units are designed to provide a mild stimulation when the dog nears the boundary and a shock when they hit the boundary. They have a couple advantages. You can easily move them, eg., use them when you go camping; they allow you to tell where your dog is if it goes outside the boundary, and, unlike invisible fence, they don't shock the dog when it comes back inside its boundary. Disadvantage . . . they require training.

For the rat phobes . . . dare you to watch this (clicker trained rats doing tricks you'd have a hard time teaching a dog)

If you're bothered by people's reaction to your dog, try walking down the street draped with a pet snake!

+1

Good on you. As it should be. It's not just dogs that get anxious in clinics. Sometimes, especially when there's a serious worry and a long wait, the owners get pretty strung out as well. If having their dog on their lap helps keep their blood pressure down, and generally makes the waiting room a calmer, more relaxed place, I'm all for it. Where the chairs aren't suitable, I've been known to sit on the floor at the vets to be next to my dog. I'm sure some people cluck with disapproval. But that's their problem.

Doesn't help that you can easily buy Service Dog ID stuff. Try looking on Amazon under Service Dog ID. Methinks they should require proof that you have a genuine service dog to get the stuff. eg, http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=service%20dog%20id

First year vets can be great, but it's best if they have an experienced vet around to fall back on. I would imagine it's pretty frightening for a vet to have attended one Ceasar in vet school, perhaps a dog, perhaps a sow, and to be thrown in to doing a Ceasar solo for the first time. Same with a lot of other procedures. It's even worse if they get put in an environment where they lack support and face pressure to meet revenue expectations . . . as is likely to happen in a franchise. The good side is that they tend to be up to date on newer findings, more open minded, and in many cases, better trained in communication.

Whatever you decide, you should thank the pound for being honest with you, and for cooperating. Xmas is an awful time for dog pounds.

In Florida, airlines aren't allowed to fly pets if the weather for the day is forecast to go over 85F at any point in the day. This basically eliminates flying from June through October. Vet check required within 10 days of boarding. I'm surprised that the same sort of rules aren't in effect in Oz . . . Florida is anything but a Nanny state (eg, it's allowed to use dogs to run game, no BSL, restrictions on breeds and numbers only found in urban areas).