Halaman

    Social Items

dog walking forests near me
Photo By: Airman 1st Class Alexandra Singer

A dog lover’s guide to the new forest
dog walking forests near me
ENJOYING THE NEW FOREST WITH YOUR  DOG
Dawn Rayment works for the New Forest National Park as a people and wildlife ranger, which she describes as “the greatest job in the world”.
“The New Forest is a world capital for wildlife, with a huge diversity of rare plants and animals,” she explained. “The unique landscape is shaped by the grazing of ponies and cattle that roam freely and is one of the last places in southern England to offer a sense of wilderness and tranquillity.
“It’s a wonderful place to explore with your dog, whether you like to walk through woodland trails, along streams and rivers, over heathland, or down by the coast; the New Forest has it all.
“My dog, the Cooper, loves the days when he joins me, but it’s a huge responsibility for me to make sure he can enjoy his walks without harming the precious and rare wildlife that we’re working to protect.
“Ground nesting birds are the toughest challenge for us. As a spaniel, Cooper would like nothing better than to flush them out and give chase. But every time a bird is disturbed, they waste precious energy, nests become vulnerable to predation, and many will be abandoned altogether.
“I do lots of activities to focus his attention on me and keep him walking on the main tracks away from the birds.
I always carry a lead so I can pop him on it whenever I need to.
“There can be ponies or cattle just about anywhere in the Forest, so it’s essential he has a good recall and I can steer him safely around them.
“It’s also important that his bouncy enthusiasm doesn’t cause issues for other users, so I don’t allow him to approach other dogs (especially dogs on leads and assistance dogs), cyclists, other walkers, or horse riders.
“I carry a Dicky Bag as products like these are an easy and hygienic way to carry his poo bags until I reach a bin or return home. Every year ponies die from ingesting discarded poo bags left on the Forest, so it’s essential they are always removed.
“The hard work is all worthwhile though as Cooper is a great companion and is the New Forest’s doggy ambassador for following the New Forest Dog Code. We call him our ‘bark ranger’.
● For details on enjoying the New Forest with your dog, visit www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/dogwalking.
The New Forest is a stimulating environment for dogs. 

Dog walking forests near me

Pet insurance covers breeding

Pet insurance can offer a vital lifeline if your dog gets ill or injured – but you need to read the small print first. MEGAN HARDING takes a look at your options and reveals the results of our survey...

Pet insurance is there to protect you, offering peace of mind so that if an expensive bill comes your way, you and your pet are covered. But deciding on which cover – or whether to ensure at all – can be a minefield.
Unlike car and house insurance, pet insurance often leaves you with less bartering power when it comes to renewal. Many owners feel compelled to stay with their current provider because pre-existing medical conditions and age can make it difficult to switch.
But regardless of what you think about pet insurance, it can offer a lifeline in the event of an emergency – but you must read the wording of the policy carefully to check what exactly is covered.
A 2018 Which? survey on pet insurance found that one in five pet owners had experienced problems with soaring premiums, with some dog and cat owners being charged as much as £2,000 to protect their pet. The average price of an annual lifetime policy costs £472 for dogs and £285 for cats, with French Bulldogs being the most expensive dog breed to ensure. The average amount for pet dogs aged seven to 10 years old is £526.
Risk assessments Generally, pet insurance options can be divided into two types: lifetime cover and accident-only, but there are other options that may be cheaper, such as time-limited where the policy covers you for a specific timeframe – usually 12 months – to cover accidents or short-term illnesses. These can be more affordable, but once the policy ends, you will need to find another, which could be an issue if you’ve made a claim, as providers will rarely cover pre-existing
conditions.
A pre-condition policy will cover you for a fixed sum to treat a specific injury or illness, also known as maximum-benefit cover. If the issue you have covered is chronic or requires additional treatment, you will only be covered up until the sum is used up and then you’ll have to pay the rest yourself.
The accident-only cover is exactly what it suggests – only covering your pet in the event of an accident.
It’s often the most affordable but won’t cover you for an illness, and according to the Which? the survey,
70 percent of inquiries are illness-related.
Lifetime cover offers the most comprehensive cover, but it also means it’s more expensive,
although it should cover your pet throughout his life, including any chronic conditions that arise. It renews every year, provided you pay the premium,
which will likely rise over time as your dog ages.
When choosing insurance, remember that no two companies are the same and many use a variety of different factors. Our Dogs Monthly insurance expert Neil Flint from VIP has 23 years’ experience in the industry. He explains, “Every pet insurance company is different and will base their quotations on different factors. Some companies may ‘postcode rate’ – with higher premiums in urban areas than in rural areas.
“Also, different companies will ‘risk rate’ a breed differently; some may think a breed is a higher risk or has a higher chance of developing a condition often seen in a particular breed, whereas some may not.
“Age does make a difference. A lot of companies view an older dog as being more at risk of developing a condition than a younger healthier dog and this may also affect premium cost.
“A policy that is more expensive is not always the best cover. Try to look into what the company base their quotations on and consider the different factors that may best suit you and your dog.
We ran our own quick survey just to get a taste of your experiences with pet insurance providers and it seemed to be a pretty clear split between two-thirds and one-third of respondents.
Everyone who took part in our survey owned at least one dog, with almost a third owning two, 13 percent owning three, five percent owning four and six percent owning five or more. Just less than a quarter also owned at least one cat and a small percentage owned a reptile, bird, small animal or other.
Sixty-eight percent had pet insurance. Of those, all chose either an annual or lifetime policy and
35 percent were very satisfied with their cover compared to two percent being very dissatisfied. As well as security, one owner said they chose lifetime cover because they wanted their dog, “to be covered for any illness for his life duration”.
We asked what mattered most to you when selecting pet insurance and topping the list was price, followed closely by lifetime cover. The third was customer service and fourth was ease of accessing documents, fifth and sixth were recommendations from friends and families and website reviews. The excess, ease of making a claim and how much cover could rise as a dog ages were also considerations.
But with rising premiums, not everyone is happy with their insurance. One owner said, “Once one of our dogs was classed as a senior, her premiums went up into the thousands, which I consider to be a ‘push off premium’ to off-load her. The insurance company could not provide me with an acceptable reason for the increase.”
Neil advises that if your premiums increase, it’s worth speaking to your provider about lower levels of cover rather than switching, especially in the case of a pre-existing condition. “You could speak to your insurance company about their lower levels of policy – this way, you may still have the ongoing continuation of cover and be able to claim for the same things if you need to, but just at a lower level of vet fee cover.”
When it came to switching providers, our readers were almost split 50/50 – 53 percent stayed and 47 percent switched. The main reason for the switch was due to a hike in premiums. Many said they switched with no hassle, but it was more difficult for those with pre-existing conditions, but Neil says there are some exceptions.
“Every company has its own way of looking at previous conditions and deciding what they would class as an exclusion. For example, some companies may place permanent or temporary exclusions where others may advise that if a condition has been clear for a period of time, they may no longer classify it as pre-existing. It is always best to check with a
company before a policy is taken out.”
One owner found this worked for her, saying, “With my previous dog, the premium went up by nearly 200 percent. Shopping around, I found an insurer for much less. I had to wait 12 months for one condition to be covered, which was fine.” 
Terms and conditions apply to  See the policy for details.

Pet insurance covers breeding

Why your first driving lesson wasn’t on the M25 – and why that matters to your dog

 Why your first driving lesson wasn’t on the M25 – and why that matters to your dog

Here’s the way the story goes... I’m in a consultation in the home of an owner whose dog shows reactivity to other dogs when on the lead in the street. While it no doubt started because Boris was scared, the behavior is now a habit and he ’s confident about doing it and the effect that it will have – on both his owner (who will move him away) and the other dog (who will move away too!). Naturally, the owners have been finding the behavior very difficult to deal with, as the dog is large and they live in a busy urban area where they are now developing something of a reputation. 
We’re in their home, and I’ve explained that we need to help the dog by teaching him an alternative behavior so that he chooses that option rather than his more overt display when he sees another dog.
So, to kick this off, I do a rather sexy bit of training, teaching Boris to turn towards me and take a toy in his mouth, and then hold on to it. This is a truly snazzy incompatible behavior – after all, he can’t lunge and bark if he’s turning away from the other dog and holding his mouth closed over a toy, can he?
It’s going really well, and on the third go, the dog practically whips his head around when I ask him to grab the toy. I’m ecstatic, and I honestly expected the owners to be, too.
But when I stop and look at them, they aren’t smiling as much as me.  “That’s great,” they say, “but
how’s that going to stop him barking at other dogs in the street when they suddenly appear round
the corner?” Ah, the M25. It’s crazy busy, that road. That’s why your driving instructor didn’t start your lessons there. No, instead she took you to a quiet area, with wide roads and very little traffic. She let you build motor patterns first, as you discovered you have to work your hands and feet together. Yes,  together, at the same time. She let you practice road positioning, the feel of the accelerator under your foot. She helped you build habits so that you didn’t have to think
about which side the indicator was or checking your mirror before
you set off – all those things were second nature by the time you even went on an A-road, let alone a motorway.
In other words, your driving instructor didn’t expect you to be an expert, experienced driver after just one lesson. He or she knew that you needed time and practice,  and many, many repetitions of the same, safe, comfortable behavior patterns in a non-distracting environment before ever putting them into a more emotionally stressful situation.
And so it is with training – and most especially retraining – our dogs. We need to set them up for success by teaching them a new behavior well away from any kind of emotionally difficult triggers. We need to help them practice in quiet, distraction-free environments so that they can get the new behavior ‘in the muscle’ and become not only proficient but perfect to the point that they can replicate the behavior anywhere and everywhere, no matter what else is going on.
And all this needs to happen well before we ever think of asking them to use that new behavior in an ‘old’ situation, one where there are known emotional triggers, or anywhere that might be overwhelming or challenging.
So, my job in this situation is to explain to Boris’s owners that he needs time, space and practice to get this behavior down pat. He needs to be able to get it right in multiple opportunities where nothing else is going on and no other dogs are present.
Once this is happening reliably, we then need to gradually – and I mean gradually – increase the distractions in the environment, by changing where we get him to perform the behavior and what else is going on while it happens.
This needs to be controlled.
Having firmly established the behavior in the front room, we might take it into the kitchen or the hallway. Having mastered it there,
the garden might be next. Once the behavior is reliable outdoors in a quiet place, we will probably need to add in some other movement, sounds, or sights – at a very, very low level, so we can practice and reward Boris for getting it right even in the presence of slightly distracting stimuli. We need to build on solid foundations and take things at his pace, not ours.
MOTORING ON
What we don’t need during this critical training phase are any surprises. Why? Because if at any point Boris is suddenly startled by something unexpected happening, my guess is that he will immediately resort to the coping strategy that he has already practiced – and that’s his lunging and barking. Instead, we need to manage and control the environment, our own responses and – wherever possible – the environment, to ensure that Boris has every chance to get it right.
My mantra here? The training situation is not a crisis situation! For some people, this part of the training experience is hugely enjoyable and rewarding. They like the step-by-step progress that they can see is part of a well-defined structure and get great satisfaction from the chance to retrain the dog to do something else well and reliably over a period of time. They can see and feel and understand the process of progression, and they appreciate the importance of it.
These people would make great driving instructors! They know that practice makes perfect and understand the need to get new behaviors solid before making them more complex or putting them into more stressful situations.
Then there are others that just want to get to the destination, never mind the journey. These folks are keen to make the new behavior work but are sometimes in a rush to get there and don’t understand that the old behavior probably took multiple repetitions to be practiced, and so the new one does too. They will need hand-holding and support in order to build the new behaviors up, and lots of chances to see that it’s working, is successful and they are genuinely moving towards their goal. They will get to drive on the M25, the goal is there; they just need to build the skills, experience, and confidence that it requires in advance.
Of course, when you start to think about it, this analogy is all-pervasive. It’s not just for dogs with behavioral issues but is relevant any time you want to teach your dog (or yourself!) something new. Whether this is just for fun, such as a cute trick that you want to get on cue, or because your dog’s safety and welfare rely on the task, such as a recall, it’s vital that you establish the behavior brick by brick. Build up the levels of complexity, distraction, and emotional intensity. After all, the M25 will then be just another road.  

Why your first driving lesson wasn’t on the M25 – and why that matters to your dog

Dangerous Dogs Act savaged

Dangerous Dogs Act savaged 
If you’re not normally remotely interested in the inner workings of government, you may not have noticed that there is both an Efra and a Defra. Efra is the select committee that examines the expenditure, administration, and policy of Defra (the government department for Environment,  Food and Rural Affairs).It was Efra that looked into puppy farming and recommended that Defra ban third-party sales.
Defra didn’t implement that, after some very unexpected secret charity lobbying. But, as you know, thanks to
Lucy’s Law, Efra’s recommendation did finally get adopted.
Efra spends considerable time collecting evidence and talking to experts before writing its reports.
The committee’s latest epic project was to look at the hugely flawed Dangerous Dogs Act.
This is a subject very close to the heart of Dogs Today.
For the last 28 years, we have campaigned hard to get this awful knee-jerk piece of legislation repealed.
Would Efra see what we all see? Back in the 1990s, when the DDA was even more vicious, our founder,
Lord Rothermere, was avidly reading the magazine’s coverage and getting more and more upset about the injustice to innocent dogs and their owners.
Being the proprietor of the massive Daily Mail, he obviously had special access to government officials. What he did with that power was really rather special. He confided in me later that he had invited the then Home Secretary around for dinner and then refused to let him leave until he had read our latest article on how the DDA was failing.
He actually stood over him and watched him read it.

HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS
Sadly, even holding a government minister hostage didn’t get the ghastly thing removed from the statute book – career politicians were terrified of repealing it, in case another child was bitten on their watch.
We seemed stuck with something illogical and unfair, that patently didn’t make anyone any safer.
Successive governments would tweak it, but it was still fundamentally flawed. You could not apologize for my language,
polish a turd.
Neil Parish is a mild-mannered Conservative MP. Not the rebel you’d really imagine would embarrass the government and show how the action brought in by his own party was literally a dog’s dinner.
Watching him chair the Select Committee inquiry via a live link was gripping. His bullshit monitor was quick to cut through the spin and he sometimes wore his heart on his sleeve while keeping his temper and his dignity.
Neil had obviously been deeply moved by his trip to Battersea to meet a very sweet-natured dog that, by law, had to be killed. The tape measure had decided the dog’s fate – it said the dog was dangerous despite it patently not being the case. Because the dog was a stray, it had to die.
Looking that one poor dog in the eye was enough to stir something in Neil; he was clearly a man on a mission. I awaited his report with considerable anticipation.
The government minister could not have been clearer that he wasn’t expecting to make a revision. The political line is always that the DDA is a hot potato; doing anything to it is probably a vote loser.
But, did the report hold back? Neil did that poor dog proud. Now, it’s over to Defra and we await news with great interest.
Should you feel like nudging them along, there’s a petition to sign, and writing to your MP would be a great idea. Make it clear that positive action on this is actually going to be a vote winner, too.
 
HERE IS THE COMMITTEE’S SUMMARY:
The UK is a nation of dog lovers. Whilst the vast majority of dogs pose no threat to the public, the concern is growing that the government’s current approach to dog control is failing to protect people adequately. In 1991, the Dangerous Dogs Act outlawed certain breeds/types of dog to protect the public from attacks, but since then the number of yearly fatalities has continued to rise.
Hospital admissions for dog attacks have increased by 81 percent since 2005. An unacceptably high number of victims suffer horrific life-changing injuries in these incidents. Even where no physical injury occurs, dog aggression can cause significant psychological distress. At the same time, too many harmless dogs are being destroyed
every year because they are banned and cannot be rehomed, even if they are well tempered and
pose no risk to the public.
The government has maintained that the breed ban is essential to public safety, arguing that these prohibited dogs pose an inherent risk. Our inquiry found insufficient evidence to substantiate this claim.
We agree with the government that it would be irresponsible to amend the breed ban immediately without adequate safeguards. That does not mean that the government should continue to sit on its hands.
Changing the law on breed-specific legislation is desirable, achievable,
and would better protect the public.
The government’s lack of action on this front shows a disregard for dog welfare.
The current approach to dog control is plagued with deep structural problems. Improvements to public safety that simultaneously safeguard animal welfare can only be achieved through an open-minded engagement with
new strategies. This will require time, commitment and political courage. To this end, we call on the
government to:
Immediately remove the prohibition on transferring a banned dog if it has been behaviourally assessed by experts
and found to be safe. This would prevent the needless destruction of friendly animals that could be
safely rehomed
 ■ Commission an independent evidence review to establish whether the banned breeds/types present an inherently greater risk than any legal breed or crossbreed
 ■ Commission a comprehensive review of existing dog control legislation and policy, with a view to developing an alternative model that focuses on prevention through education, early intervention, and consistently
robust sanctions for offenders
 ■ Ensure all future strategies are developed with a full and transparent commitment to
evidence-based policy-making.
If the independent evidence review concludes there is insufficient evidence to support the government’s position on
breed-specific legislation, this aspect of the law should be revised
 ■ Introduce mandatory training and education courses for minor dog offenses, similar to speed awareness courses for drivers
 ■ Support wider dog awareness training for schoolchildren, and run a targeted awareness campaign for dog owners and the general public on safe human-dog interaction
 ■ Increase support for local authorities and police forces to ensure they have the capacity to fulfill their duties
 ■ Engage with international partners to learn lessons and best practice from abroad 

Dangerous Dogs Act savaged

Secret Diary of a dog trainer

Secret Diary of a dog trainer
Braving the icy cold to track down a runaway Dalmatian isn’t the best way to start the year – not when your plans involved chilling under a duvet or two on the sofa... 

Happy New Year!’ cheered everyone around me, as I sat on the sofa, completely smothered in dogs,
cat, and a blanket to ward off the cold. Much to the amusement of my family, I spend the entire winter swaddled in huge duvet-style clothing, ski bottoms, thermals, fleeces, hats, scarves and special mittens that convert to fingerless when needed.
Everyone clinked glasses and looked distinctly red-faced and glowing, possibly due to the alcohol and lateness of the evening, but there was nothing remotely sparkling about me. I smiled wanly.
I was just so cold and tired, not even the warmth of my family could lift me that night.
It was part of the job, to be working outdoors, and my assistant Rosie and I constantly joked about how people might fail to recognize us in the summer. What usually happened was that our dog-owning clients would spot us in the supermarket and loudly exclaim, ‘I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on!’ which made for very interesting glances.
This year, it was worse than ever. After every training morning, I had to come home, run a very hot bath, and boil myself alive to try to get my body temperature back to something resembling normal. Otherwise, my teeth would be chattering all afternoon and no amount of steaming tea or hot-water bottles would stop the bone-chilling cold.
Even at night, husband Andrew would complain as he slept in boxer shorts, while I shivered under a pile of blankets and an extra duvet on my side of the bed.
If I dared to poke my foot across to his obvious warmth, it would be met with a tolerant sigh.
Being cold doesn’t really work when you have our job, even though we spend a lot of it moving about. That morning I
had taught an agility class, but I was still frozen. My sprinting around had achieved nothing to raise my body temperature when my clients were sweating.
Little momentsLara, a member of the agility group, exuded warmth and charisma that drew people to her,
and she was one of our longest-attending clients. Her dog, Jilly, a most beautiful Dalmatian, was a kooky and keen beauty of a dog. Massive, with long, delicate legs that strode elegantly, she had a crazy moment every now and again that sent her charging around the edge of the field madly without care.
Lara had joined the agility class in an attempt to improve Jilly’s recall. The Dalmatian had always been trained to come back, but there were times when she seemed to feel the caress of the wind in her fur, a scent carried on a breeze, and she’d be gone.
There was no telling when it would happen. At other times, Jilly would fly back happily to Lara’s side, her expressive face telling us all how much she loved her owner.
Lara had become so cautious about Jilly’s ‘little moments’, as she glumly referred to them, that she would not take the dog off the lead on walks, but used a long line to ensure safety. This was working well since it meant that Lara would at least not see her dog vanish into the distance at inopportune times.
Wanting a dog to come back to you is something all owners would like, but not many achieve it reliably. Working in training and behavior, we have specific rules that aid success, but there’s always plenty of competition for what a dog would rather do. I recall a famous trainer once being asked when the owner could ‘stop using rewards’. The trainer shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘Whenever you want, but good luck with it!’ Put simply, if you want your dog to turn away from something they would much rather do, and turn back to you, they have to be well paid.
Pain, no gain
In the bad old days of yelling, choke chains and force, we used to put the dog on a long lead and yank hard when they didn’t rush back. In some cases, it worked (until the long lead wasn’t on anymore), but generally, it was nasty,
painful and dangerous to do. Why would you hurt your best friend? All sorts of problems were caused by dogs being stopped on a long line when the dog was running fast. A cartwheeling dog is not going to be free from injury. Instead, we work on a highly repetitive, highly rewarding cycle of calling the dog, letting them move away, call again and reward, repeat, repeat, repeat. It ends up that the dog comes back so that they are allowed to move away – a nice cyclical learning pattern. We had done all this with Jilly to no avail. Jilly had a very strong affinity with people. She adored children especially, and would always welcome their approaches. She would let them handle her and was very gentle, lying down o let them pet her. She was the most extraordinary dog.
So, the agility field was the next option. A year ago, Lara had stated that her New Year’s resolution would be making the next 12 months ‘the year of the recall’. She worked harder with her dog than any owner I’d met.
In agility, dogs learn to be apart from their owners, but still maintain a strong connection.
The dogs learn that a jump means ‘clear it’ rather than ‘run under it or knock it down’, a tunnel
means ‘dive through the gap’, and an A-frame means ‘scurry fast up and down the other side and don’t leap off the contact points’ (which incurs faults and risks injury). The bond comes with the owner and the numbered agility course. The dog needs to listen to the owner or they can run the course in the wrong order or miss out an obstacle. Jilly would stay close to Lara for the majority of the agility lesson, and then... off she went.
Racing around and around like a dervish, no amount of calling or distraction would help. I’d seen it time and time again where a dog had launched after a bird, another dog, even a distant lorry, but in this case, this young dog just loved to run for the sake of running. Where’s Mummy? Lara and I had a strategy. The field was enclosed so we would call between us from either side of the field until Jilly suddenly clicked back out of her racing demon mode and ran to one of us for a bit of hotdog. Lara, much to her horror, was known as ‘Mummy’. Poor Lara had earned this moniker at a fun training seminar where the dogs were taught to seek a family member, and her daughter had taught Jilly to ‘Find Mummy’. Jilly had lapped it all up and ‘Mummy’ had stuck. I was known as ‘Find Aunty’, and clever Jilly
knew us both.

Secret Diary of a dog trainer

Do you speak dog

 Do you speak dog?
Do you speak dog? Do you understand what your best friend is trying to tell you all the time, or most times? If you answered ‘yes’, there is a good chance that you’re wrong! New research by Direct Line Pet Insurance reveals that British pet owners often have trouble understanding the emotion behind their dogs’ bark.
When asked to listen to a series of barks selected by an animal behaviorist and identify the emotion the dog was trying to communicate, the respondents found they were not as fluent in
‘dog’ as they thought they were. Nearly three-quarters were unable to recognize the sound of their dog barking in fear, with 35 percent mistaking it as excitement or playfulness. One in five thought it was boredom. Only 20 percent of owners could tell when the bark meant the dog was excited.
Print Powar, head of pet insurance at Direct Line, said, “Even the most experienced of dog owners can misinterpret what their pets are trying to tell them. Because animals cannot verbally communicate their feelings to us, it can be easy for pet owners to miss warning signs of distress or pain. “This is why owners need to be informed and vigilant. Learning to recognise symptoms of common ailments via an animal’s body language provides valuable cues for pet owners and may save invaluable time if your pet is ill and trying to communicate this to you.”

Do you speak dog?

How to establish trust with your dog

How to establish trust with your dog

Picture Buddy chasing a cat across the road. Your heart is in your mouth because you’re afraid he might get hit. When he finally returns, you’re angry and soundly scold him for chasing the cat and giving you such a scare. How does Buddy look at this situation? First, he chased the cat, which was fun. Then he came back to you and was reprimanded, which was no fun at all.
What you wanted to teach him was not to chase the cat. What you actually taught him was that returning to you is unpleasant.
One of the commands you want your dog to master is to come when called.
To be successful, remember this principle: Whenever your dog comes to you, be nice to him. Don’t do anything the dog perceives as unpleasant. If you want to give him a bath or a pill, don’t just call him to you. Instead, go get him or call him, and then first give him a cookie before the bath or pill.
No matter what he may have done, be pleasant and greet him with a kind word, a pat on the head, and a smile. Teach your dog to trust you by being a safe place for him. When he’s with you, follows you, or comes to you, make her feel wanted.
If you call him to you and then punish him, you undermine his trust in you. When your dog comes to you on his own and you punish him, he thinks he’s being punished for coming to you. You may ask though, “How can I be nice
to my dog when he brings me the remains of one of my brand-new shoes, or when he wants to jump on me with muddy paws, or when I just discovered an unwanted present on the carpet?”
We can certainly empathize with these questions, having experienced the same and similar scenarios on many occasions. We know how utterly frustrating a dog’s behavior can be. What we have discovered and accepted is
that at that moment in time the dog doesn’t understand that he did anything wrong.
He only understands your anger — but not the reason for it. As difficult as it may be, you have to grin and bear it, lest you undermine the very relationship of mutual trust you’re trying to achieve through training. (Take a
look at Chapter 5 for info on how to understand your dog’s mind and check out Chapter 4 for info on housetraining.)
Punishment after the fact is cruel and inhumane. Even if the dog’s behavior changes as a result of being punished, it changes in spite of it and not because of it. The answer lies in prevention and training.
Prevention means providing the dog with plenty of outlets for his energies in the form of exercise, play, and training.
It also means not putting the dog in a position where he can get at your brand-new pair of shoes.
Training means teaching your dog to sit on command so that he doesn’t jump on you (see Chapter 7 for training basics)

How to establish trust with your dog

Features of Dog and Cat Bite marks

Features of Dog and Cat Bite marks

Bitemark analysis will typically center on the pattern of incisor and canine teeth.  It is important to differentiate a bitemark caused by an animal from
a bitemark caused by a human.  Humans  have  four  incisor  teeth  per  dental

Veterinary Forensics
arch whereas cats and dogs each have six incisors per dental arch.  Animal bites are often distinguished by differences in arch shape and specific tooth morphology.
Generally speaking, dog bites have a narrow arch with deep puncture wounds (Figure 10.11). Dogs have an asymmetrical maxillary and mandibular arch. In one study, the overall arch size ranged from 30–55 mm and was circular to oval in appearance (Kashyap et al. 2015). The incisor morphology is rectangular to oval and canine teeth morphology is oval to round. In a study
comparing four breeds of dogs (Pomeranian, German Shepherd, Doberman,
and Indian), the shape of the arch, incisor tooth morphology, and canine tooth
morphology was similar; however, the arch size was different and there was
an increase of ICD between the breeds in the study (Kashyap et al. 2015). In another study comparing the ICD between dogs and humans, medium sized dogs (9.1–23  kg) had similar results to human  ICD  (Tedeschi-Oliveira et al. 2011).
Injuries from dogs may be represented by “V”-shaped holes which are
Example of a high-quality bitemark on the arm of a human who was bitten by a dog.  Note the incisor and canine teeth marks.  Insert of bite-mark with Photoshop image adjustment. Photo courtesy of Kenneth Cohen, DDS, DABFO.

produced by anchorage of a canine tooth and subsequent shaking (hole-and-
a-tear) (Fonseca et al. 2015).
The cat bite is much shorter and rounder than the dog bite.  The anterior portion of the dental arch is very linear (Murmann et al. 2006). Small round puncture wounds are more typical of injuries from a cat bite. In the cat, the mean ICD was 14.7 mm (range 8.3–20.6 mm) (Ratz et al. 1999). It should also be noted that claw marks (parallel scratches) can be found with cat bites.
Excluded versus Not Excluded
A bite mark is a pattern of injury and can be analyzed in order to exclude or not exclude a suspect animal.  According  to  the  ABFO  (American  Board  of
Forensic  Odontology  2016),  the following criteria are used for excluded and not excluded. For inconclusive, the criteria specifically mention a human bite;
however, the same criteria theoretically can apply to animals.
•Excluded: The bitemark demonstrates class and/or individual characteristics that could not have been created by the dentition in question.
•Not excluded: The bitemark demonstrates class and/or individual characteristics that could have been created by the dentition in question.
•Inconclusive: Although the analyst has concluded the pattern is a
human bite mark, there is missing, incomplete, or otherwise insufficient information to form an opinion whether the dentition in question caused the bite mark.
Once it has been established that the injury is a bite mark, the bite mark on the victim can be compared to data obtained from the suspect biter. It is important to note that clusters of bites may make it difficult or impossible to definitively identify individual bites, which was noted in a  study looking at predation on
penguin and albatross chicks (Ratz et al. 1999). Scientific exclusion of a suspect animal is possible and it is through bitemark analysis that determines if the animal could have bitten the victim can be determined. Intercanine distance can be used to exclude or not exclude a suspect animal. For example, 1 of 3 dogs in a
closed population was suspected of biting a 2-year-old child, bitemark is of good quality, and the ICD of the bite wound on the child was 40 mm. The maxillary
ICD of dog 1 was 22 mm and the mandibular ICD was 20 mm. The maxillary
ICD of dog 2  was  39 mm and the mandibular ICD  was  35  mm.  The  maxillary
ICD of dog 3 was 41 mm and the mandibular ICD was 36 mm. Based on the measurements, dog 1 is excluded because it could not have created the bitemark based on the  ICD, whereas dogs 2  and  3  are not excluded as possible suspects since it is possible that one of them could have caused the bite mark. One must also consider skin plasticity and hysteresis before excluding a suspect.
The features of the suspected animal’s dentition must show a strong and
consistent relationship to that of the victim impressions including tooth to
tooth and arch to arch with the pattern recorded in the bitten skin. In the case of a poor quality bitemark, an inconclusive opinion might be rendered.

Features of Dog and Cat Bite marks

Winter fun for you and your dog

 Winter fun for you and your dog
WHETHER YOU AND YOUR DOG NEED SOME EXERCISE, OR JUST A WAY TO CHASE AWAY THE WINTER BLUES, THESE ACTIVITIES WILL DO THE TRICK.

Once the holidays are over and winter settles in for the long haul, it can be easy for you and your dog to get bored or blue. As a dog mom, I try to give my dog Dexter a fun day, no matter what the weather. Here are some fun activities to help you and your dog kick the winter blues –  some of them will also help you both stay fit into the bargain! Just remember to keep safety in  mind,  don’t  push  your  dog  too  hard,  and  if  you’re  outside,
ensure he’s winter-ready with a warm waterproof coat, and dog boots if needed.

1.  Have an indoor snowball fight
What dog doesn't like to rip up paper? Grab a stack of white tissue paper and wad it up into “snowballs”. Grab one and toss it to one side of your dog as you encourage him to fetch or grab it.  After he shows some interest in the first  “snowball”, grab a second and toss it to the other side of your dog.  Repeat as long as you want.  When you’ve both had enough calmly pick up the pieces of paper and throw them away (don’t let him eat the paper).

2.  Go on a dog-friendly shopping trip
Pick up the phone, call some of your favorite local stores,  and ask if your dog can accompany you on a shopping outing. Not all will say yes, of course, but you might be surprised by how many do, as long as your dog is friendly and well-behaved.

3.  Enroll in a dog training class
A  dog can always benefit from a positive training class,  and it’s something you can work on during the winter as well as the summer.  In fact, training is an ongoing skill that should be practiced regularly. By enrolling in a group class, you and your dog will be able to get out and do something together that’s not only fun but also beneficial to your dog's behavior.

4.  Do some trick training
When you ’re engaging your dog and teaching him new tricks and behaviors in a positive way, you are stimulating the pleasure center of his brain. Your dog is learning cool things, but he is also learning that you are fun and rewarding to be around.

5.  Bake healthy dog treats
What dog doesn't enjoy a healthy homemade treat? Baking something from scratch can
be very satisfying for you too. By selecting quality ingredients your dog enjoys, you 
can create a custom,  healthy treat just for him.*  For winter treats, consider using energetically-warming ingredients such as chicken, cinnamon, sweet potato or quinoa.

6.  Build a fire and read to your dog 
On those really stormy days, nothing beats a warm fire and a good book.
Grab a cozy blanket or your dog's mat, then elect a comfortable spot for the two of you.  Choose a
lighthearted book that you will enjoy reading aloud.  Snuggle up and start reading.  You don't understand the story,  but he ’ll findheoundfour voice comforting.

Winter does n’t have to mean feeling blue or bored. By spending quality time with your dog on a daily basis, you’re not only increasing your bond and building your relationship. You’re also having fun and giving the both of you some mental and physical stimulation to help you through the colder months.

Winter fun for you and your dog

the canine athlete - Differences between human and canine athletes

 the canine athlete - Differences between human and canine athletes
We cannot extrapolate the results from human athletes to our canines
as the efficiency of the use of nutrients is different in each species.

1- They obtain energy from body fat
✔During exercise, the obtention of energy to maintain activity is done using body fat.
✔In these dogs, an increase in the lipoprotein-lipase of the muscle tissue and an increase of triglycerides in plasma have been observed. This makes us think, and it has thus been demonstrated,
that in the resistance training tests, the free fatty acids (FFA) from the food rations are the primary source
of energy for the muscle (they provide between 70-90 % of the energy): the concentration of FFA in plasma increases,
a greater assimilation of the chylomicrons and a lesser reuptake and synthesis of triglycerides (TGs) take place.
✔This fact is confirmed by an increase of the plasmatic glycerol, a decrease in the FFA: glycerol ratio in plasma and by the reduction in the use of glycogen.

2- Benefits of high-quality proteins
The administration of high-quality protein immediately after intense exercise provides benefits. The synthesis of protein lost during physical exertion is twice as fast and protein catabolism is reduced by half. In this case, it is not very clear when is the best moment to carry out a replacement.

exercise the metabolism
Cease in the myoelectric activity
✔The mechanism responsible for the digestive changes seems to be a cease in the myoelectric activity that controls
peristaltic waves.
✔It has been seen that the digestive resting time is related to the composition of the food ration and not to its energy
concentration. The myoelectric activity is abolished for a long time with fats > sugars > dairy proteins.
✔For this reason, and depending on the volume of the food ration,
it is recommended that 8-16 hours pass after ingesting a food
ration rich in fat before exercising.

3- Benefits of carbohydrates
✔Administrating glucose immediately after intense work enables the recovery of glycemia and the levels of muscular glycogen to values similar to those before exertion.
Between 30 and 120 minutes after finishing the exercise, this recovery is maximum. After 120 minutes, the depletion of glycogen decreases to half. Glucose in the portal circulation sends a signal that stimulates the synthesis of hepatic glycogen but inhibits muscular synthesis.

4- They do not present hypoglycemia after exercising
The occurrence of post-exercise ketosis and hypoglycemia is not common in dogs.
They are capable of performing resistance training tests after having been in fasting conditions for five days, without receiving any water while running (although their resistance is increased by more than 70 % when we provide
them with water during exercise), and show normal glycemia levels at the end of the test.

the canine athlete - Differences between human and canine athletes

artificial milk for puppies

 artificial milk for puppies
✔Milk substitutes represent a good alternative in dog and cat nutrition when litters are large
and the mother’s milk does not fulfill the requirements of all of the offspring, or when we are
rearing orphaned puppies or kittens.
✔Designing adequate artificial milk is not simple given the characteristics of the milk
from our pets. The formula should be as similar as possible to natural milk.
✔The mixtures of fats or of different types of carbohydrates (for example, substituting lactose
for other glucose polymers,) contribute to the creation of a good product, occasionally with
health benefits for the puppy or kitten: high levels of lactose cause diarrhea that can be avoided
with maltodextrin, for example.

1 How is a good milk replacement designed?
✔The challenge lies in the quality of the milk proteins. They are highly
digestible proteins (90 %), which belong to three classes:
Casein: it is the predominant protein and is synthesized in the mammary gland.
Serum proteins: albumin passes directly from the circulation to the gland.
Lipoproteins from the fat globules: this fraction is of little significance to us.
✔As a result, the serum protein: casein ratio determines the quality of the milk replacement depending on the requirements and conditions for their manufacturing. For example, formulas for children are predominantly 60:40, but throughout the lactation cycle, these proportions vary (90:10 to 50:50). That said, few substitutes for dogs and cats have been formulated taking into account these premises.
✔In dogs, the serum protein: casein ratio is 30:70 and remains constant throughout the entire lactation cycle, while in cats, the ratio is 60:40 and decreases to 50:50 throughout the cycle.
✔As we can see, casein is the predominant protein in dog’s milk (similar to cow’s milk), while in female cats, there is an equal division between both categories (similar to the case with mares). The predominance of casein affects the digestion of protein, amino acids, and minerals.

2 The composition of milk substitutes
Plant-based proteins have been used in certain recipes; however, this is
not ideal due to their richness in anti-nutritional factors, low digestibility,
and the development of food allergies (for example, gluten).

artificial milk for puppies

Pathologies of dogs - Incorrect practice can result in pathologies

 Pathologies of dogs - Incorrect practice can result in pathologies
Some incorrect practices in food management may cause certain pathologies in pregnant or lactating females.
This involves two processes:
peripartum hypoglycemia and pre/post-partum eclampsia

Gestational hypoglycemia
Possible Causes
The possible causes are not well defined, but various hypotheses
have been proposed:
✔ Poor management of the pregnant female’s diet:
•  Changes to the frequency of feeding.
•  Inadequate diets: high energy foods, rich in fat and poor in carbohydrates (without compensating with protein).
✔Poor body condition during pregnancy.
✔Uterine atony.
Other options are offered in human medicine as well:
forced fasting, fatty liver degeneration, insulinoma, and hyperadrenocorticism.

Symptoms
✔Infrequent acute process described in full-term female dogs (after day 50).
✔Neurological symptoms: muscle weakness 48 hours before the clinical condition appears, lack of response to stimuli,
clonic spasms (especially of the jaw) and general collapse.
✔The body temperature reduces by one degree. There are no changes to the respiratory or heart rates.
✔It is sometimes confused with eclampsia and treated as such, but the results are not satisfactory.
✔Blood values: marked hypoglycemia, with rates under 1.1 mmol/l (reference 3.5-5.0 mmol/l)
and ketonemia. Also hypoproteinemia and hypoalbuminemia. The rest of the biochemical and electrolyte values are normal.

Treatment
✔This is an urgent condition that requires hospitalization.
✔As a first step, we can administer 0.2 ml/kg of a glucose solution at 40 % in an IV bolus.
The muscular condition improves in a few minutes. Afterward, we can use the saline solution
with 4 % glucose at a velocity of 2 ml/kg/hour, monitoring glycemia levels.
✔Wet, carbohydrate-rich food can then be offered with values greater than 120 g/1,000 kcal ME
(for example, foods for hepatic diseases), or semi-wet food, as it uses simple carbohydrates as binding
elements and produces a glucose peak in a short period of time (20-60 minutes).

Pathologies of dogs - Incorrect practice can result in pathologies

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)