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Many of us love chocolate, and our dogs may seem interested in the tasty treat they see us eating. Our dogs can smell it (even better than we can) and they see us indulge. But they do not know that chocolate can make them very ill, or could even be fatal. There are two ingredients toxic to dogs in chocolate, theobromine and caffeine. Caffeine can cause tremors, increased heart rate, and other cardiovascular side effects. Theobromine is actually the more … Read more

[IHD_Article-Above] We know the scenario. You have a snack and your dog is watching you expectantly, even though you know she just ate. It makes you wonder if you are feeding her enough or maybe it was someone else’s job to feed her today and they have forgotten. The sound of candy wrappers will summon your dog like nothing else. Someone who did not know would swear he was starving, but you know he is not. Why does your dog … Read more

We all love our dogs from the tip of their nose to the tip of their tails, but dogs’ butts are not usually the topic of dinnertime conversation. A dog’s anus and the surrounding area (called the perineum) are not what we think of first when we think of our dog, but there are some important things that all dog owners need to know about their dog’s butt. Butt It’s About Multitasking A dog’s butt is more than just a … Read more

There are two camps of people in the world, dog people and… everyone else! I am only kidding, but there are people that think dogs are “only animals” and do not need all that we provide them with. For those people I have a thought: our dogs are not wolves and not even wild animals at all. We have taken them into human society and they have adapted to it. This process is domestication. Domestic pets, especially indoor dwelling ones … Read more

Some dogs really hate the mail man. We humans know that the mail must be delivered and that there must be someone to do it. We are grateful for the delivery and often wish that our dogs would feel the same. Some delivery people carry dog treats for the dogs along their route and not all dogs seem to hate them, but many do. The ones that do hate delivery people seem to really hate them fervently. To get to … Read more

Fortunately dogs do not crave salty fattening snacks like some of us (specifically me) do. They tend to be more opportunistic eaters and are grateful to get a taste of whatever we offer. If you indulge in salty, greasy snacks, it is not great to share those, but you can choose from the better alternatives and be healthy for you both. Read on for some of our favorite snacks to share with our dogs! Blueberries Blueberries are tiny powerhouses. They … Read more

Have you ever walked up on your dog wearing a hat and she seemed to panic like she did not recognize you? Frightened dogs can start to bark furiously and seem like they cannot be reasoned with. It can be a scary experience for you both. We humans surmise that our dogs are not able to recognize us when we have head gear on, but have you thought about why? It seems crazy. Our dogs know us. They know our … Read more

Ear infections are one of the most common presenting complaints for dogs in the United States. Veterinarians across the nation regularly see patients with ear disorders. The most common is called Otitis Externa or more simply “inflamed outer ear”. Ear infections can also be in the middle and inner ear, but these are less common than otitis externa. Although otitis can be caused by a bacterial infection, there are many causes and complicating factors, like fungal infection, parasites and allergic … Read more

Every dog needs medications at some point in his life. Funny thing is… we are supposed to be the smart ones, right? Then why is it that our dogs completely have our number when it comes to taking medications? There are lots of reasons that your dog knows what you are up to and we have to consider each one to win this battle. We know that the way to a dog’s heart is through his stomach, but we also … Read more

It is culturally expected that most human beings shower or bathe everyday. We can even bathe more often as circumstances present themselves. We all know that gross feeling we get when we know we need a shower and we may get kind of paranoid that we smell bad. Your dog has no such concern. She does not care how bad she smells and probably even rolls in bad odors just for the fun of it. WE care how our dogs … Read more

Lots of dogs are afraid of thunder. We are fairly sure that the sound is what triggers the fear for most dogs, but some believe that barometric pressure and other features associated with storms may also elicit fear. A dog has learned that storms are unpleasant and for certain dogs, the tendency to develop phobias is already present. Fear is a natural response to a threatening situation and thunder can seem threatening to many dogs. Fear becomes classified as anxiety … Read more

Some dogs truly adore riding in the car, to the point that the excitement associated with opening the doors can make them tremble or jump up and down. On mornings when I can take my dog, Skye, to work, she is overjoyed. She races back and forth to the door out to the garage if I do not come along as quickly as she would like. It makes me smile and I love to take her because she seems so … Read more

Everyone knows their own dog’s voice. But does it surprise you to know that dogs seldom bark to communicate with other dogs? I think we can all agree that barking is a form of communication, but our dogs have learned through watching our responses that certain things will prompt us to perform certain actions. They bark for our benefit! 1 Animal experts agree that barking is certainly an attempt to convey a need: physical, emotional or social. A bark could … Read more

Everyone that has ever met a dog has been jumped on. Puppies do it almost reflexively and it is a behavior that seems to be present in most dogs and must be trained away and replaced with something else. Animals do things for a reason (even if that reason is merely that they like it). I think that there is more to jumping up than just a bad habit. It might help to try to see the world through a … Read more

No one has even been able to completely explain how our dog friends came to be our friends. It is a special and unique interface that we have. Dogs live with us in our homes and walk with us on the paths of our lives every day. We want to reward them for their friendship, but since we cannot ask them which rewards they like best, we just don’t know exactly how. Dogs seem to like food rewards and they … Read more

Have you ever seen a dog lying down asleep, but his muscles are twitching and jerking? Actually, it happens to humans too, but we are asleep and probably don’t notice! Involuntary muscle twitching is called myoclonus and it routinely occurs in both species. Dogs are actually a lot like us when they sleep. Polysomnography (a sleep study that records brain waves) proves that dogs experience similar brain changes when sleeping as humans. They can engage in all kinds of movements, … Read more

“Humping” in our pet dogs is awkward to us because it is not a behavior that we exhibit in public. Sexually explicit behaviors are not well received in human society and are even against the law in some cases. But those social rules only apply to humans. To dogs, mounting is not particularly associated with sexual behavior.  It is just another way to communicate when one cannot use words. So we have to subtract our human nature and try to think like … Read more