Pet owners can identify with bonding when it comes to loving a particular pet, cat, dog, horse, hampster, ferret, pig, monkey, whatever kind of pet you choose, but one can only imagine what dogs and elephants have in common. Regardless of reason these two have a heart-warming affection for each other that goes beyond any animal bonding I have ever witnessed and has moved millions to happy tears & awe.

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Who Makes the Best Dog Food?

And what makes it the best? And is it the best dog food for your dog? I am getting a lot of flack lately about putting my dog on a better diet than dry kibble, specifically Purina's Beneful brand. My vet says it's a good food and my dog likes it, I supplement it with any kind of fruit or vegetable that he likes, which isn't many. But when I go to the local feed store here in my town, there are so many claims of the benefits of this or that dog food, hundreds of fancy labeled bags of dog food, each with it's own story (and a high price to match).

Image via Wikipedia

I even have people tell me they swear by the raw diet or the cooked foods diet. So, my question is, as the proud owner of a former rescue dog, now a healthy & happy 5 year old, 70 lab, how do I keep him that way?

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This particular article he wrote was back in July (when Phoenix temperatures hit 115 in the afternoons) and a woman had written him about a disagreement she was having with her mother: Seems that she leaves her medium sized dog locked up in a bedroom for 13 hours while she commutes to a 12 hour work shift. Her question to Clay was this:  "what would happen to my dog if shortly after I left for work the power went off,  and with it the air conditioning, would my dog still be alive when I got home?

Clay's response was classic Thompson stuff. Hmmm he says, what the heck are you thinking leaving a dog alone for 13 hours, never mind worrying about the power going off! That is not a good thing to do. Then he suggests that she look into other arrangements to have her dog kept by the mom or a neighbor. Other than that leave the dog plenty of food, water and some of their favorite toys.

It got me to thinking about how selfish people can be. This woman really has no business having a dog if she keeps it locked up for 13 hours! Dogs get lonely and bored and it's nothing short of cruel treatment if you ask me. I had a parrot once that I left in my bedroom while I was at work. I started working longer hours and I couldn't stand the thought of that bird being alone so I ended up giving him to a nice family with a stay at home mom. It pained me to let him go but it was best for the bird and that is what I think is most important.

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Does Your Dog Notice a Change in our Climate?

You may have thought that climate change issues were all about the planet and us humans but the lives of our pets are at stake too. Our dogs, cats, birds and other domesticated animals are affected by our changing climate. They depend on us for their very existence and we need to take action on this issue. Species are dying, the ozone is depleting, our polar ice caps are melting and the world is getting to be a hotter place.

Pets Adapt To Global Warming

But there is a limit to their adaptability, for example did you know that dogs and cats are now shedding their fur more, not just because summer is coming either.

There can no longer be a question of IF the climate is changing, it's scientific fact that Our Mother Earth is warming up, and there is now overwhelming scientific consensus that it is human caused.  With global warming on the increase, more cars, more industry, more pollution, causing species and their habitats to decrease, chances for ecosystems to adapt naturally are slim to none. And that puts our pets squarely in the crosshairs of a global warming dilemma that only us humans can do something about.

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Dogs and Cats Need A Good Pet Store – Pet Px is Here!

Your number one source for dog supplies is here at the PetPx. Dogs are the main focus at this particular moment but you will find pet accessories for all kinds of pets here. PetPx offers the best selection and prices, the best brands in dog food, dog treats, dog toys, dog beds, dog health, dog collars, dog crates, flea control for dogs, cats and a whole lot more.

Your dog or any dogs you know will appreciate it! Plenty of gift ideas for pet lovers here too. If you can't find what your dog needs here it probably doesn't exist!

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Image via Wikipedia

French Fried Dog?

Is not yet a delicacy we here in the USA typically enjoy, thank goodness! Who else but Dave Barry with his usual witty (tastes like chicken) nuggets of wisdom, usually funny as all get out, would see the humor in someones pets being deep fried and eaten in a domestic dispute over jewelry? Dave's always looking on the bright side when something tragic takes place in the world of pets.

It's not a story about dogs actually, thank goodness, otherwise nobody would be laughing about it. It's about a disgruntled wife (common law) who fried up 7 of this poor man's pet goldfish, because she was upset about some jewelry!

I eat a lot of fish myself, but I draw the line when it comes to some poor guy's goldfish. Then, to make matters worse she tells the cops who come to rescue the poor things that she has already eaten 3 of them! Yuck!

I don't care how upset I am about something I would NEVER even dream of eating someone's pet. Well, maybe my ex-wife's cat if I could have it slow- cooked. Or maybe a pet cow or something, I always enjoy a juicy steak. (just kidding all you cat lovers and 4-H guys and gals out there)

And I enjoy Dave Barry as well. If I had half his talent I could draw attention to pet issues, shelters & adoption et al, using a humorous approach, and without offending anyone! (or at least not many) I think that's part of Dave's gift, that and you always seem to know he's kidding around with you. I guess that's what a "humorist" does, huh?

I know he has pets, wouldn't it be great if he would guest post about an idea I sent him today? It's a thing I call "pet envy" and it has to do with peoples insecurities OR why you love your dog more than your wife. With his talent I can't wait to see what he does with it.

Stay tuned!

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Are There More Right-Pawed Dogs Than Left-Pawed Dogs?

A southpaw is what they used to call a left-handed pitcher in baseball and believe it or not, just like us humans where some of us are born right-handed and others left-handed, a dog can be either left pawed or right pawed. I always thought that was a funny way to describe a left-hander because when I hear "paw" I think of a dog, but baseball is a weird game anyway.

It has been well documented that some dogs will twirl when they get excited, especially the smaller ones like Yorkies or Pomeranian's. Which direction they twirl in, we suspect, has to do with the "handedness" of a dog. A right pawed dog would twirl in a clockwise direction and a left pawed dog would twirl in a counterclockwise spin. I got this bit of dog lore from Clay Thompson's column in the Arizona Republic although he does say he is only guessing when he responds to a reader with a question about twirling dogs. I think it's a reasonable explanation as to why some dogs twirl in a certain direction and others go the opposite way.

Of course once you think you have figured it out along comes a dog that spins in both directions, sort of ambigdogerous, which in baseball, means a switch hitter.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This handedness thing can also be true of other animals such as cats and birds. I used to have a pair of birds who would do back flips off of their perch to the bottom of the cage. One faced to the rear and the other faced to the front but side by side. They would both back flip off the perch at the same time in opposite directions. It was fun to watch and sometimes when on for 10 minutes or so. I never did figure out what got them so excited.

Next time your dog twirls, note the direction of the spin and see if that jogs your memory of any other things you have seen your dog do that would indicate their handedness. There are some dead giveaways, such as; how they hold a bone while chewing, which paw do they use to scratch with, when your dog lays down in his or her little doggy bed which side do they lay on? Which paw gets offered to shake hands with? Try to think of any other character traits your dog has exhibited that would indicate a right-pawed dog or a left-pawed one. Of course, the definitive test is; wait till they calm down, hand them a pen and see how they sign their name. That will tell you for sure!

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Last March when I was making jokes about the new Twitter toy by Mattel called Puppy Tweets, describing in a post about how your dog can make money online with this cool new toy, I was only half kidding about the whole thing. Although stranger methods have been known to cause things to "go viral" and go on to succeed at making money online using the power of social media. Any device, toy or not,  that professes the capability of  detecting what a dog is up to and then turns that into pet micro-blogging on Twitter with 140 character pet witicisms, is going to get MY attention!

So I am thinking that this could be a huge marketing tool for animal shelters. I keep thinking that if a dog could make money online for his owner (which is a stretch unless the dog can talk or count or something) why couldn't he make it for a good cause as well – supporting his fellow dogs, homeless dogs like little Beatrice here and ones in shelters that are in need of a good home?

I think there is an interesting concept taking shape here even though Mattel keeps saying that it's only a toy, Puppy Tweets just may have the potential to really help our shelter pets by raising more awareness of adoption versus breeders or pet stores.

Puppy Tweets is not available until fall 2010, my pre-order with Amazon was made months ago, this for a toy that resembles a dog-tag that your puppy wears on his regular dog collar. By communicating puppy "tweets" from the dog tag via your computer, some 500 unique micro-blogs such as I'm hungry, I want to play, scratch my tummy, let's go for a walk,  guess what I'm licking now, etc can be posted to your pooch's Twitter account. The logistics still need to be worked out for this crazy idea of mine but the time it's taken waiting for the toy to debut has given me food for thought.

A  Social Media Experiment Gone to the Dogs

I can write these trite little headlines but the truth is that if social media can elect a president of the United States, why can't it be used to help our canine friends. I am a strong advocate of the Payson branch of the Gila County Humane Society and wholeheartedly support their cause to find every dog and cat a great home and to provide the love and care our animals deserve while waiting for that to happen. However, volunteers and staff can only do so much with what they are given so it's up to people like me, serious animal lovers,  to think of more creative ways to get people involved in our cause.

Since discovering Puppy Tweets, this idea of mine might not be new or original but for my hometown animal shelter, it might just help spark a new movement that will help accelerate the plans to build that new animal  shelter that we (and our furry friends) so desperately need.

I'm going to invite all of my dog-loving readers, animal shelter friends on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube,  blogger friends of mine and other social media nuts to examine my plan, play devil's advocate, then help me figure out how it can be accomplished, then make a presentation to the animal shelter board here in my home town of Payson, Arizona.

Here is how I see it taking shape, the devil is in the details.

In a nutshell it involves corporate sponsorship of animals in shelters. It's something that's been done successfully in zoos and I think the idea is a good one, especially now with Twitter being so popular, pet ownership is at an all time high and Puppy Tweets is something we can start with that was made for the occasion – that of using social media applications to help network a dog or cat's availability for adoption!

At any given time there are between 40 and 50 adoptable dogs in the Payson Animal Shelter. What if we were to put a Puppy Tweet dog tag on each dog in the shelter that's available for adoption? Mattel says that they are going to cost about $39.95 each so what if we were to ask a Payson business to sponsor a dog with a Puppy Tweet?

We would ask for a dollar amount greater than the cost of the tag that covers the purchase of the Puppy Tweet and for their "corporate sponsorship" contribution we offer them a whole lot more, with the money going toward the new shelter:

(And here is where all you marketing genius's out there can take the ball and run with it.)

How about in addition to the pet sponsorship, along with that the company gets a free Google blog for their business, prominently featuring their new corporate mascot, Jake, Duke, or Fido, and the training in how to manage the blog and integration with Twitter. A Twitter feed to their blog with their sponsored dog's tweets would be cool and easy to do. And the best part is that when the dog finally is adopted by a loving family their blog keeps on working. The company sponsor is then assigned a new dog, while posting occasionally about the previous dog's new life and family. Kinda gets me all weepy!

The sponsoring company gets exposure via the town's newspaper and a link to the shelter blog for their business.

The business uses the blog to promote their products and services as well as networking their sponsored pet's availability for adoption among their customers and followers.

The possibilities are endless. Does anyone out there know of an animal shelter who has expressed a similar idea, a plan where corporate sponsors are solicited to "adopt" animals in the shelter. sort of an adopt a highway program adapted for shelter pets?

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Hard question to answer, especially if you found yourself in a situation similar to mine, that of having owned a dog for one day before he was  stricken with an almost fatal illness. It almost cost him his life and me money I didn't have. That's when you have to look within yourself, you know it's the right thing to do, that of giving a dog or cat a shot at a good life. But if the money isn't there what can you do?

The vet took one look at my dog's condition and his first words were "since you just adopted this dog yesterday, fortunately you have not had a chance to bond with this dog so we will prepare to put him down". I was agast, What was that you just said? 'Doc, this dog had me at woof, do what you need to do to save him.'

This was a question that I was reading about in a waiting room at the dentists office, just a month before I adopted my dog. This guy they were doing a story about had a cat that was blind and needed more work, surgery and care requiring thousands of dollars, all this  on a pet that was already 14 years old. I wondered then what I would do in a situation like that and since I didn't own a dog or a pet then, the clinical decision I arrived at would surprise me later.

He didn't hesitate to do what it took for that cat because #1, he loved it and #2 he could afford it. What about those of us who can't afford it, what would you do?

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Click here to view the embedded video.

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