Continue reading... "how this freaky site works..."

This catalog is definitely worth a visit to the site to request it. It's well done (layout & photos) and the products are swanky. They've got the whole William Wegman line of dog things, funny dog art and cutesy dog clothes, among other things. A little on the pricey side as far as I'm concerned (around $70 for the quilted vest below), but worth a gander. And if you feel like how I feel about catalogs, this
one's a keeper. This one gets a 4 Hank heads rating. Click on the Hank heads to find out how I rate stuff. Request a catalog here.

And, perhaps the most compelling reason to git yerself a catalog from this company is this:

Continue reading... "Catalog Review- "in the company of dogs""

GUINEVERE

Hey there;
My girlfriend and I recently stumbled across your site while looking up information for our young
Italian Greyhound, Guinevere, born 5/31/05. She looks strikingly similar to the IG you posted about
named Swanky! She not only looks similar, but also seems to have many similar behaviors.

She is a terror when she starts play biting. She has learned to start barking at us incessantly when
excited. She gets very upset when place her in her kennel to leave the apartment...in fact, I'm very
concerned about that because she seems to be rubbing a spot on the top of her nose raw while in her
kennel. She will not sleep through a whole night in her kennel...she wakes up sometimes as many as 5 or 6 times (but lately we've been working on helping her be a lot more comfortable in there...she has
been waking up two or three).

She has made great progress in house training--she will relieve herself outside as long as we are near
and the backdoor is open. If the backdoor is closed or we are not near her (i.e., we leave the room), she will almost always relieve herself in the house seemingly out of spite (even if the door is open!).

We have tried many many things to calm her play biting. We have tried to tell her no and lightly
restrain her and hold her muzzle lightly, but she will become EXTREMELY agitated and fights harder and harder until we can't hold her anymore. We've tried (and currently maintain) saying "ow!" loudly and ignoring her, which worked at first, but now seems to entice her to bite more...or, when she wants us to leave her alone, she will start biting I think specifically because she knows we will leave her alone. We will sometimes spray our hands, feet, clothes, faces, ears with bitter apple to deter her when she gets too hyper. Recently we discovered getting down and growling/barking gets her attention quick, but she will jsut start barking when we do that now.

Ok...this message is certainly very long. Rest assured, we keep trying everything we can to condition her behaviors, but we're getting stumped. I'm tired of having scratched wrists and hands, tired of her barking, tired of waking up in the middle of the night to let her outside (she does not have a UTI, the vet double checked), and worried about her little nose when we aren't near her. Could you help? Any suggestions? Also, I would love to send you a picture of her, too...

Thanks so much for your time.

SWANKY

read my professional response here...

Continue reading... "questions from readers; "swanky's clone"..."

If you happen to have a hyper, aggressive or generally intense dog, change their diet to a low-protein dog food without artificial preservatives (look for about 20% protein). Any protein that they're not using for serious growth spurts is essentially extra energy ripping through your dog's system. Like ROCKET FUEL. UNNECESSARY ROCKET FUEL. Think about it...

Whenever you change a dog's food, do it gradually, 25% of the new food at a time. A quick change in protein levels most of the time results in stank, rancid loose stool. I don't think this is what you want. (is it?)
So, do it 25% new/ 75% old for a week or so, and if the dog's system can handle that, then go to 50%- %50, and so on...

About the preservatives: dog food contains lots of fats in it, which tend to spoil easily, thus the need for a preservative of some sort. Some smart idiot took a chemical that was originally used as a rubber stabilizer/ insecticide/ pesticide (ETHOXYQUIN) and decided to use it to preserve the fats in dog food. (hey, guys, i have this great idea!...) So now almost all of the dog foods on the market use this pesticide/ rubber stabilizer, which means our dogs are eating it. Me personally, i don't think it's a good idea to give it to them. So, i feed Wellness brand, which is probably not THE best food, but pretty darn good considering what else is out there. And Wellness (owned by Old Mother Hubbard) uses ethoxyquin-free meat sources, and there are no chemical preservatives in there. Check your dog food bags at home if you want, chances are you'll see that "e"- word in there somewhere.

Oh, and Nutro Natural doesn't use ethoxyquin, either.

Continue reading... "every dog needs a window..."

Here we are at the end of a long road, at times it was rough but we all got through it alive and contented. Swanky is now officially a member of the society of well-behaved dogs and he has a diploma to show all visitors who come to his swanky apartment overlooking New York's coveted Long Beach spread. He no longer humps legs OR arms, knows a handful of commands and their hand signals, is somehow mysteriously a hundred times cuter than the first time we met, and his once bad decisions are turning into better and best decisions.

Continue reading... "Swanky #6 (graduation time for Swank, time for Swank to graduate...)"

He's figured out that when he goes into his litterbox and makes the "I'm going to the bathroom" noise (moving around the litter pellets, shuffling around and coming back out), that he gets a treat just the same as when he actually outputs. Mother has caught on to the trick even when he presumptuously comes out of the litterbox and sits like a pro, waiting for the bit for his imaginary feat. I've only known of one other dog who has caught onto the possibility of faking a pee for a cookie. Swanky=specialness.

Continue reading... "Swanky #5. Smart enough to manipulate humans..."