Do you like the smell of dirty dog? Do you like seeing your pet infested with fleas or ticks? There is a high chance that you do not. The answer to this problem is to make sure your pet undergoes regular dog grooming.

It is not always easy to do, especially if your pet is not used to taking baths or having its hair cut but it is essential to maintaining a healthy coat and body.

Dog books and experts agree that dog grooming is an excellent way to foster a bond between pet owner and pet. It allows consistent contact and it helps assure the pet that its needs are being met in a safe way.

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Keisha in the dryer

I hope everyone had a happy new year!  I haven’t written an update for awhile now because I’ve been so busy!  I mentioned last year (that sounds so odd because it was only last month!), that I was going to teach Keisha to take clothes out of the dryer.  Well, it turns out that she was still a bit too short, but just before I started this entry I managed to “introduce” her to the dryer.

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The following is a guest post from Susan Daffron, author of two wonderful books about animal rescue.

Thank you for letting me write a guest post for your blog about my books Happy Hound (HappyHoundBook.com) and Happy Tabby (HappyTabbyBook.com).

I wrote these two books specifically for people who have adopted dogs and cats from animal shelters. After years of volunteering and working at animal shelters and at a low-cost vet clinic, I saw what happens when the relationship falls apart between pets and their owners. The reason I wrote the books is simple: I want to see more pets stay in their forever homes!

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When my nephew, Jacob, called to say he’d be in town for my birthday I really didn’t expect such a grown gentleman to show up at my door. Not seeing him for quite some time I didn’t really know what to expect. My fondest memories were of him with puppy Corona. So adorable together it was a shock to see Jacob so timid of the size this Dogo Argentino became although Jacob’s growth didn’t seem to faze Corona.

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Yesterday we went to the beach. Los Angeles has many beaches but dogs are only allowed on a handful, so we went to Leo Carrillo State Beach which is part of a big park of the same name. You can camp and hike in the park and the beach has tide pools and a giant kelp forest. You almost always see seals, otters and porpoises there because of all the fish that are in the kelp forest. In the winter, you can watch whales migrating by as they head south for the winter. There is a part of the beach that dogs are allowed on, but you have to be on a leash. I don’t mind, we have one of those 20 foot extending leashes, so I get a lot of space to roam. We set up camp and went down to test the water.

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Most dog bites occur around the neck, face, ears, and the upper chest area. And although most skin punctures from other canine teeth look simple and clean, there is often a considerable amount of damage through the flesh. Injuries, bites, or stings from insects and venomous animals are often difficult to find and administer symptomatic treatment. Contact your veterinarian if the dog shows any agitation at all. Below are several bite and sting descriptions as well as how to best deal with them.

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I got a great email recently about some ground breaking research done about the effects of sound on dogs. Joshua Leeds, a sound researcher, Susan Wagner a veterinary neurologist and Lisa Spector a pianist, have taken this work to heart and have presented it in a book along with a 45 minute starter CD for calming canines. It’s called Through a Dog’s Ear and will be released on March 1, 2008.

Here are some excerpts from the press release that I found interesting.

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The immune system is an intricate biological protection system responsible for determining what belongs to and in the body versus what does not belong and requires elimination. It defends the body against infection, disease and foreign substances.

Antioxidants are also frequently helpful in treating autoimmune disorders as they assist the immune system in eliminating free-radicals and reducing oxidative stress without directly stimulating an immune response. Antioxidants are extremley useful in countering the effects of some autoimmuine diseases.

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Welcome back to my continuing adventure at Joshua Tree Park! When you get to the park there is a nice information center with very helpful park rangers that can give you a map and tell you a lot of great things to see and do. The only bad thing for dogs is that we are not allowed on any trails and can only go within 100 feet of the road or rest areas. It’s ok because you can still see a lot of really amazing things! Besides, you don’t have to worry too much about rattlesnakes and other dangerous desert creatures in that safety zone.

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The coat color for the Labrador Retriever are either black, yellow, or chocolate.

Blacks: All black, with a small white spot on the chest is permissible. Eyes should be of medium size, expressing intelligence and good temper, preferably brown, although black or yellow is also permissible.

Yellows: Yellows may vary in color from fox-red to light cream with variations in the shading of the coat on ears, the underparts of the dog, or beneath the tail. A small white spot on the chest is permissible. Eye coloring and expression should be the same as that of the blacks, with black or dark brown eye rims. The nose should also be black or dark brown, although “fading” to pink in winter weather is not serious. A pink nose with no pigmentation is penalized.

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