🎃 Happy Howl-O-Ween 🎃 from the Girl Gang

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Sawyer 🎃

Scout 🎃

Skye🎃

Sutton🎃

10 Reasons Not to Use a Retractable Leash (sometimes called a Flexi)

10 Reasons Not to Use a Retractable Leash

1. The length of retractable leashes (name brand: Flexi), some of which can extend up to 26 feet, allows dogs to get far enough away from their humans that a situation can quickly turn dangerous. A dog on a retractable leash is often able to run into the middle of the street, for example, or make uninvited contact with other dogs or people.
2. In the above scenario, or one in which your pet is being approached by an aggressive dog, it is nearly impossible to get control of the situation if the need arises. It's much easier to regain control of – or protect -- a dog at the end of a six-foot standard flat leash than it is if he's 20 or so feet away at the end of what amounts to a thin string.
3. The thin cord of a retractable leash can break – especially when a powerful dog is on the other end of it. If a strong, good-sized dog takes off at full speed, the cord can snap. Not only can that put the dog and whatever he may be chasing in danger, but also the cord can snap back and injure the human at the other end.
4. If a dog walker gets tangled up in the cord of a retractable leash, or grabs it in an attempt to reel in their dog, it can result in burns, cuts, and even amputation. In addition, many people have been pulled right off their feet by a dog that reaches the end of the leash and keeps going. This can result in bruises, "road rash," broken bones, and worse.
5. Dogs have also received terrible injuries as a result of the sudden jerk on their neck that occurs when they run out the leash, including neck wounds, lacerated tracheas, and injuries to the spine.
6. Retractable leashes allow dogs more freedom to pull at the end of them, which can look like aggression to another dog who may decide to "fight back."
7. The handles of retractable leashes are bulky and can be easily pulled out of human hands, resulting in a runaway dog.
8. Along those same lines, many dogs – especially fearful ones – are terrorized by the sound of a dropped retractable leash handle and may take off running, which is dangerous enough. To make matters worse, the object of the poor dog's fear is then "chasing" her, and if the leash is retracting as she runs, the handle is gaining ground on her – she can't escape it. Even if this scenario ultimately ends without physical harm to the dog (or anyone else), it can create lingering fear in the dog not only of leashes, but also of being walked.
9. Retractable leashes, like most retractable devices, have a tendency to malfunction over time, either refusing to extend, refusing to retract, or unspooling at will.
10. Retractable leashes are an especially bad idea for dogs that haven't been trained to walk politely on a regular leash. By their very nature, retractables train dogs to pull while on leash, because they learn that pulling extends the lead.

Full Article: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/06/11/retractable-dog-leash.aspx?x_cid=20141014_ranart_petretracableleash_facebookdoc

Puppy Playtime

Flashback to a few days ago when the pups were introduced to the "Puppy Plaything". Please check the Photo Album for MORE photos ;) Link: Seeing Double Litter

Will Spaying /Neutering Your Dog Increase Its Risk Of Cancer?

Summary of "Evaluation of the risk and age of onset of cancer and behavioral disorders in gonadectomized Vizslas"

Objective:
To investigate associations between age at gonadectomy and estimated risk or age at diagnosis of neoplastic and behavioral disorders in Vizslas.

Design:
Retrospective cohort study. Animals 2,505 Vizslas born between 1992 and 2008.

Procedures: Data on demographics, gonadectomy status, and age at diagnosis of disease or disorder were obtained with an anonymous online survey and analyzed.

Results:
Dogs gonadectomized at ≤ 6 months, between 7 and 12 months, or at > 12 months of age had significantly increased odds of developing mast cell cancer, lymphoma, all other cancers, all cancers combined, and fear of storms, compared with the odds for sexually intact dogs. Females  gonadectomized at ≤ 12 months of age and males and females gonadectomized at > 12 months of age had significantly increased odds of developing hemangiosarcoma, compared with the odds for sexually intact dogs. Dogs gonadectomized at ≤ 6 months of age had significantly increased odds of developing a behavioral disorder. The younger the age at gonadectomy, the earlier the mean age at diagnosis of mast cell cancer, cancers other than mast cell, hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, all cancers combined, a behavioral disorder, or fear of storms.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance:
Additional studies are needed on the biological effects of removing gonadal hormones and on methods to render dogs infertile that do not involve gonadectomy. Veterinarians should discuss the benefits and possible adverse effects of gonadectomy with clients, giving consideration to the breed of dog, the owner's circumstances, and the anticipated use of the dog.

From: BioPortfolio, http://www.bioportfolio.com/resources/pmarticle/928848/Evaluation-of-the-risk-and-age-of-onset-ofcancer-and-behavioral.html. Study originally published in J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2014 Feb 1;244(3):309-19. doi: 10.2460/javma.244.3.309.

Properly Socializing Your Puppy - Whole Dog Journal Article

Young puppies have an important behavioral “sweet spot” between the ages of 8 and 16 weeks. During this critical period, your dog builds her impressions and attitudes about what is normal and acceptable. At this time more than any other, positive experiences with the world around her build a solid foundation for the rest of your dog’s (we hope) long life.

Read the entire article: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/16_12/features/properly-socializing-your-puppy_20878-1.html

New Owners: Please consider buying a yearly subscription to the Whole Dog Journal.

Puppy Enrichment Article

Fabulous article and video on how breeders can provide the optimal enrichment environment to puppies. Snippet (and link) below:

The Enrichment Triple Crown

1. Stimulating living area - for example, toys, visual objects, different types of footing,different sounds, and social interaction. Breeders have done a great job with this in recent years, and there are even a number of commercial “play pen” type products available for puppies.

2. Exercise - Including adequate space to move as much as the puppies wish to, “jungle gym” type challenges such as climbing and outdoor exercise, when possible.

3. Problem solving and learning - “Active” training challenges, where the puppy is presented with a problem or training task, and then asked to solve that problem for a reward. This is as opposed to “passive” challenges usually provided by breeders in the form of toys and interactive objects. Interestingly, it appears that the task has to be motivated by positive reinforcement for neural benefits to take place. Apparently, the hormonal effect (cortisol release) caused by corrections or aversives inhibits the growth and survival of brain cells.

Read the entire article:  http://www.puppyculture.com/the-enrichment-effect.html

The importance of leash manners . . .

The same as marijuana is considered a "gateway drug" loose leash can be considered a "gateway behavior".

It is very unusual to see a dog that walks nicely on a leash that has any behavior problems.

If you are struggling with your dog, don't try and train loose leash. Just make it happen. Pulling is forbidden, so don't allow it, ever, past the age of about twelve weeks.

A trainer once said to me "Why would you allow that to happen?" While the comment stung at the time, he could not of been more right. While I did not possess the solution to the problem, I lost all of my presence and belief that I could stop it. My defeat, in turn, made the problem exponentially worse.

Sometimes I need to find my inner little-girl, stomp my feet and say "You will not". As a kid I had much more determination to not allow something I didn't want. Yet as an adult, defeat can sometimes overwhelm us. We all need to find that inner determination, which in turn gives us mental-presence. We need to quit being victims, allowing our dogs to do stuff to us. Rather, we need to be determined leaders, stand tall, and take control of the situation, even when we have no clue how to fix it!

Monique Anstee

Victoria, BC