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Index
False Pregnancy in Dogs
How To Empty Anal Sacs
Removing Adhesive
Tape-Cropped Ears
What to Do About a Mouthy
Puppy
Natural Approach to Fleas
Toenails
Tattooing vs Microchipping
What's a Good,
Non-Toxic Dog Shampoo?
Dogs *must* have false pregnancies if they have a normal season. The hormonal cycle dictates this.
The reason stems from the wild wolf pack where only the Alpha wolf is bred. The pack usually cycles together (this occurs in people too if you've ever heard statistics from boarding schools, etc!) so that if anything happens to the mother of the pups the other females of the pack will have the necessary hormones to be maternal (not kill the pups!) and will have milk. This ensures the survival of the pack.
The difference in dogs is 1) most pet dogs are spayed so that the physiology of the female cycle is not one commonly lived with and therefore thought about and 2) degree. Some dogs have just a mild pseudocyesis (haha--I can say big words!) and some get milk, adopt stuffed animals and get protective. There are also all degrees in between.
1. Go outside!
2. Don latex exam glove
3. Put something slippery on thumb & forefinger, I use dishwashing soap.
4. Insert thumb into rectum.
5. Find anal sac at approximately 4:00 and 8:00 on the imaginary clock face
6. With firm pressure, milk the gland upwards.
7. Either do other side by sort of twisting your hand upside down with thumb still in place (the way I do it) or, insert pointer finger instead.
8. There's very little way to direct the stream, so try not to be in the way.
9. Wipe dog with paper towel afterwards and wash your hands with toothpaste if you get some on you.
10. Hydrogen peroxide takes organic material out of clothes!
Have fun! You get used to it!
BTW--Much easier if you do it routinely when you bathe your dog. I don't even bother with gloves then! Does that REALLY gross you out? It washes off!
For an animation of the location of the anal sacs and another opinion, go to this link: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/anal_sacs.html
Removing Adhesive
Tape - Cropped Ears
There are various adhesive removers that make the tape slip off. It is a good idea to get one made for skin. Unisolve is a brand name we get in a pharmacy which carries a lot of prostheses and things for invalids. Another one is called Medi-Sol--it's an orange smelling light oil. It says "safe and non-toxic" on the bottle. Orange-Sol, Inc. 602-497-8822. Another product I bought, but haven't yet tried is by Hollister "Universal Remover for Adhesives & Barriers"--another one for people who have chronic bandages like tracheostomy patients who change a bandage daily. 2000 Hollister Dr, Libertyville, IL 60048. I got it in the pharmacy near the hospital.
What To Do
About a Mouthy Puppy
The first approach I use has no force or discipline associated with it.
1. Fresh, raw diet. (If the puppy is hyped up on sugar or chemical preservatives or poor quality ingredients in the food, it will not be able to respond to you no matter what you do. Refer to the books in the Puppy Guide .
2. Deliberately put
your hands in the puppy's mouth regularly and leave them there until the
puppy stops biting. Remove hand, praise (you'll get some bites this way, but
it teaches "bite inhibition." It's important for the puppy to know how hard
is too hard. This is my *preferred* technique despite the fact that you get
some bitten hands initially. With normal puppies,
you don't get *nasty* bites, just annoying puppy stuff.
3.I use growling quite a bit and it works well. *I* growl at the puppy, and praise when the bite is stopped. Only use the amount of discipline that is needed and no more.
4. You can screech *ouch* when the puppy bites too hard, then put the puppy in a crate for 10 minutes. Try again in after the "time out."
5. Make sure the puppy gets plenty of exercise. A tired puppy isn't frantically trying to interact.
6. Go to a clicker training class or a puppy kindergarten that teaches the Ian Dunbar method. Both are positive training approaches. Call the Center for Applied Animal Behavior, 2140 Shattuck Ave #2406, Berkeley, CA 94704 to see if they have an instructor in your area. This is for Dunbar. Get the book Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor and Gary Wilkes's Click and Treat Training Kit video. Both from Dogwise at 800-776-2665. Call around and see if clicker training instruction is available from someone near you.
Puppies can start
training at 8 weeks, but the instructors who don't take puppies know that
their methods are not suited for puppies.
7. Find other people
with puppies his age so he can play with someone his own size. This will
wear him down so he'll be less likely to be "wild" and will learn good
dog interaction skills.
Here is a 4 pronged natural approach to getting rid of fleas. There are other things that can be done in addition to these, too.
1. *Prevent* infestation
a. Feed a natural diet emphasizing some raw foods every day.
b. Enhance existing diet with supplements to boost the immune system.
c. Use vitamin B complex (50 or 100 mg) and garlic at each meal
2, *Remove* existing
fleas
a. Use a flea comb daily
b. Shampoo using Murphy's Oil Soap
3. *Remove* existing
fleas from the environment
a. Indoors
-vacuum daily; vacuum up some diatom dust to kill fleas in the bag
-discard or burn the bag in heavy infestations
-steam clean carpets
-use Fleabusters or borax, or diatomaceous earth (diatom dust) on
floors
b. Outdoors
-use nematodes to eat flea larvae
4. *Discourage* new
infestations
a. External
-natural flea collars
-natural repellants (citronella, eucalyptus etc oils)
b. Internal
-garlic
-B complex
-Hop Off
c. Mechanical
-Happy Jack Flea Trap (or similar ones)
- Ultrasonic collars
-use a used horse blanket for your dog's bedding and trade with a horse monthly
to keep the horse smell fresh
-cedar oil in bedding
Before you get to the stage where you use a grinder with a sanding drum to
groom adult nails, [or if you never do!] we've found that a RESCO guillotine
clipper is the weapon of choice.
They're usually less
than $10 in hardware & pet supply stores.
First critical step is to hold it correctly. This tool is often
used by vets to declaw
cats, and they often get in the habit of holding it upside-down, so watching
your vet may not be helpful! There's a guard through which the nail
goes, and a blade which slides up to shave the nail.
Hold the clipper so
the blade is toward you, not on the far side of the
guard. Seems backward
at first, but that's the right way.
The RESCO allows you to shave off tiny slices of nail. You'll find
that even with white
nails [where you THINK you can see where the 'quick' is], the best technique
is to look at the END of the nail, where you've just cut. At first,
it is hard tissue-- and 'nail-like.' As you shave it down, you'll
find a little 'bulls-eye' will appear. When you've shaved backfar enough
to expose the end of the quick [usually black or gray on black nails; may
be red, pink or grey on white nails]. That's as far as you can go...for
that session, on that nail.
If you have nails that are too long from under-attention, shave
DAILY to keep the end
of the quick exposed, and it will begin to retreat.
Should you whack one too deep [or should Rover jump, and 'help' you get too far into his nail!], this isn't life-threatening, although some dogs would like you to think so! We carry household cinnamon in the tattoo tack. It's finely ground, and mildly caustic, and easily packs into a bleeding nail and stops it. Or send him outside, and the dirt will pack it! Or use Quik Stop, or styptic, or talcum powder. For a REAL bleeder, ice cubes will stop it in pretty short order.
Nails should be done weekly. With a puppy, it's easier to handle
them, and they get used
to the routine.
An alternative method
is to use a nail grinder. A popular brand is Dremel. When you use the Dremel
Moto Tool, use the rubber drum attachment with the #408 coarse sandpaper
drum on it. Remember to tap, tap, tap the nail. Don't hold the grinder on
it or it will get too hot and the dog will have a vaild objection. Done correctly,
this method is quick, painless and leaves smooth edges. For instructions &
illustrations go to www.doberdawn.com
I've been tattooing dogs since 1973 and have done over 4000 dogs as well as other species.
I think chipping is possibly the way of the future, but here are my thoughts about how things stand currently:
There is not at this
time a universal scanner.
There is no central
registry.
The only information
is a number, not the medical history, which I'd like to see someday.
My friends with
Bloodhounds say not to chip loose skinned dogs as the chip has, in some cases,
migrated downwards to the chest cavity and killed at least one dog.
My veterinarian, a board
certified radiologist, tells me she has found chips in the armpit (despite
the fact that the chippies (is that what they're called?) tell us that this
isn't possible.
The "Branded Animal
Act" which protects tattooed dogs from being used in research facilities
and changes the penalty for being caught with a tattooed dog from a misdemeanor
to a federal felony has not been updated to include chipped dogs.
The "man or woman on
the street" who finds a chipped animal has no way of knowing it is identifiable.
Chips can be "scrambled"
by inserting a second one over the first and they can be removed.
Tattoos are permanent and painless and the *only* form of identification which carries the following additional safetys:
1) The act of tattooing a dog changes it's theft from a local misdemeanor to a federal felony. It then comes under the "branded animal act." The penalty for a felony is considerably stiffer than for a misdemeanor, making possession of a tattooed animal something the professional thieves don't want to mess with.
2) Tattooed animals cannot be sold to licensed experimental laboratories, making them useless if stolen for resale for this purpose.
A tattooed animal can
"phone home" if registered with one of the national registries.
Tatoo-A-Pet
6571 S.W. 20th Ct. Ft. Lauderdale FL 33317
Telephone: (954) 581-5834 or (800) TATTOOS (828-8667)
Fax: (954) 581-0056
info@tattoo-a-pet.com
AKC Companion Animal Recovery (CAR)http://www.akccar.org/enroll/index.cfm accepts all pets that
are identified with a microchip, tattoo, or the new AKC CAR collar tag. You
can enroll your pet today by simply choosing to enroll online, or call 1-800-252-7894
to request an enrollment form.
National Dog Registry, Box 116, Woodstock, NY 12498
1-800-NDR-DOGS
What's a Good,
Non-Toxic Dog Shampoo?
I've been using Murphy's Oil Soap to bathe dogs for at least 10 years since I first heard it was a mild, organic shampoo that killed fleas. Before using it on my dogs, I called the company and verified the information that it was safe. At that time, one of the recommended uses was pet shampoos. Recently (a year or two?? ago) the company was bought by one of the "big guys". They no longer recommend this use, but do *not* say "don't use it". They do say that the formula has not been changed since they bought it.
Also beforeusing it on my dogs, I tested the pH with litmus paper and tried a drop in my own eye to evaluate burning. I found a mild burn that rinsed out easily with water--better than my own shampoo I was using at the time!!
Advantages:
1. Mild
2. Organic (pine bark)
3. pH is right for dogs
4. mild to no eye irritation
(I don't protect the eyes when using this)
5. rinses in and out
easily (better than the expensive shampoo I have as an
alternative)
6. pleasant fragrance
that doesn't linger
7. inexpensive
8. cleans the bathroom
when you're through
9. available anywhere
10.leaves the coat silky
and shiny
11.kills fleas
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