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Karen B. London
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Sharing Life With Dogs

It’s the togetherness that makes those who live together and share their lives feel like a family. That’s what’s so great about having a dog in the house. The close proximity makes us realize how much a part of the family the dog is.

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Guest Posts
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It’s the Dog, Stupid

Every presidential campaign season there is one issue that carries the day. Famously, it was the economy at the heart of Bill Clinton’s 1992 win over George Bush. And really, the economy is the central issue again this year, but that’s not for lack of effort on the part of folks like Scott Crider of Dogs Against Romney and New York Times columnist Gail Collins to keep Seamus in the spotlight.

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Shea Cox
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Keep your Lawn Free from Urine Spots

 It is a common misconception that "acid" in a dog’s urine is what causes the brown spots left behind on our lawns. However, the culprit is actually the high nitrogen content of the urine. Nitrogen is “the waste” in the urine and is the result of protein breakdown through normal body processes. Because a canine diet is very high in protein, there will be high levels of nitrogen, and you’ll be battling blemishes for as long as your pet uses the lawn for its place of business. 

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Editors
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Changing Societal Mores

Nicholas Kristof, of the New York Times, writes an intriguing column today about novel public health efforts to help mitigate the harm of guns in our society. In his column he cites the work done by David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health, who has studied just that, the public health approaches to firearms. He talks about changing societal norms that this will require. Hemenway has seen evidence that such change is possible and says, “Where I see social norms changing is dog poop.

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JoAnna Lou
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Honoring their Final Minutes

A photographer in Taiwan is on a mission to get people to take a serious look at the way animals are treated in his country. Tou Yun-fei takes photos of dogs at the Taoyuan Animal Shelter in the moments before they are euthanized. In the last two years, he's captured the images of 400 dogs.

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Photograph by Tou Yun-fei

Guest Posts
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Shelter Euthanized Dogs It Claimed Were Adopted
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JoAnna Lou
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Sniffing Poop to Save Wildlife

 

Families often misjudge how much exercise dogs need, which is how many pets end up at the animal shelter. Insatiable play drive is bad for the average home but great for working canines. The Center for Biology Conservation adopts many of these dogs and trains them to sniff out wildlife droppings. Yes you read that right!

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Screen shot by the Center for Biology Conservation

Guest Posts
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Keeping Dogs Cool

 

Summer means all sorts of cool things: the beach, more time outside, summer reading, barbeques, vacations. But it also means hot dogs. Dogs of any variety can and will be affected by the rising temperatures and for all the joy and happiness that summer brings to dogs and their humans alike, it can also pose a dangerous health risk to our four-legged friends.

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Karen B. London
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Reactions to Hugs Between Humans

Hugging is very human. Actually, this behavior occurs in our species as well as quite a few other primate species, as we primates seem to seek out and enjoy ventral-ventral contact with one another.

Dogs are quite different, as they typically don’t enjoy hugs, no matter how accommodating they are to the humans in their lives who insist on it. To see a dog look displeased, or even disgusted, giving one a hug is often all that’s required.

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Photo by cobalt123/Flickr

Shirley Zindler
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Finding a stolen dog

The frantic voice on phone belonged to my dear friend Carrie. “Emmy’s gone and we can’t find her anywhere!”

Oh no! Emmy was a tiny, beautiful and beloved Shih-Tzu. She had just participated in Carrie’s wedding the day before, walking down the aisle with the flower girls. (Emmy was not going on the honeymoon but was going to be looked after by her brother  who lives with Carrie.) “What happened?”

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