IMPORTANT INFORMATION

ABOUT DOG FOOD

People across the globe are striving to improve their health – through exercise and proper nutrition.   Every day we make informed decisions about the foods we eat.

Companies have recognized this trend and have begun marketing low-fat, low-calorie, or low-carb versions of our favorite foods. But with all of this attention to our own health, we may be forgetting the nutrition of our loyal companion pets.

Sure, pet food companies have created special formulas for overweight, older, or active dogs; but even these blends do not meet the necessary requirements for your pet’s health. In fact, studies have shown that your dog’s food may cause illnesses such as skin allergies, stomach problems, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

For more information see http://www.5stardog.com/dog-food.asp

Check out these great tricks performed by Kiko and Splash. Can your dog do any of these tricks? I think my dog can sit and that’s about it. Enjoy!

Dogs in your community need your help! Every day, dogs are left behind in the cold, abused and abandoned. The United States Humane Society estimates that of the 6 to 8 million dogs and cats entering shelters each year, 3 to 4 million of them get euthanized. Yet, there are several hundred thousand puppies that are being bred in puppy mills.

Puppy mills are mass breeding operations that are established strictly for profit. They are often in shockingly poor and inhumane conditions. The dogs are put in cages with hundreds of other dogs that are waiting to be sold for top dollar across the nation. Dogs raised in puppy mills typically leave with any number of health issues.

These unfortunate dogs prey on unwitting customers who are enamored by the resulting cute puppies in pet stores and on fancy websites. If a website has a constant availability of puppies of various breeds, the dogs are probably bred in a puppy mill.

How can you help?

Support your local shelter and rescue groups. If you come across any suspicious breeders or websites, report them to the ASPCA or the National Humane Society. If you do decide to purchase a dog from a  breeder or pet store, do as much research as possible beforehand, and make sure they are reputable dog lovers!

This is a vampire with a soft spot for shelter dogs. Okay, so Kellan Lutz isn’t a real vampire, but he plays one in the movie Twilight and the Twilight sequel New Moon. After watching Lutz’s interview on The Ellen Show, I became intrigued with him when he talked about Kola, the pup he rescued from a Los Angeles animal shelter. Lutz informed Ellen that he believes in adopting dogs and visited various animal shelters in search of a pooch.

Lutz saw Kola, who was shy and was hoovering in the back of the kennel. This tugged at Lutz’s heart, and he chose to take a closer look at this shy mutt. Despite discouragement from the animal shelter workers about this pup, Lutz was drawn to the dog he was told was not a good choice to adopt. As soon as the mutt was let out of the cage, she immediately went over to Lutz and put her head between his legs (awe, a puppy hug!), and it clinched it for Lutz that this was the dog for him.

Kola and Lutz are featured in the recent Doggie Aficionado and grace the cover. Many Twilight-crazed fans know who Kellan Lutz is, and more like the vampire, Emmett Cullen, who he portrays in Twilight and New Moon. But Kola, the mutt, just knows Lutz as the guy, who gave her a forever home and loves her unconditionally.

I was lying on the floor of our home office, holding Sam’s paw while he slept in his crate.  I was sort of crying, sort of sleeping, and unbelievably comforted by a dog–a neurotic, enemy-to-all- paper-products, shy, and at the moment “warm-with-sleep” (my term for the warm and mooshy quality dogs harness during their deepest sleep) Beagle. I had just gotten home after a long afternoon at the hospital where my husband (then-fiancé) would be spending the night.  When he left work at lunchtime earlier that day, he had been t-boned by an SUV and thrown across the median. Though seeing him in the emergency room completely beaten up bruised my heart, he was luckily going to walk away with only a fractured sternum and some stitches on his ear and head.

I remember feeling so alone on the drive home from the hospital, knowing that my protector was incapacitated, spending a groggy night in a hospital, 30 minutes away from home. I knew he would be okay, but I was dreading getting into an empty bed, in what I was imagining to be an empty house, and having to digest the last 10 hours by myself. But, I pulled into my parking spot and below the venetian blind that hung at our front door, I saw Sam’s eyes, and then his tail wagging, as he ran the length of our living room and kitchen, only to return to the door at the precise moment that I was coming inside. Dogs know almost everything. He knew Jason had never made it home at lunch to walk him. He was still a little guy at the time but in his frenetic state, he played the role of protector.

He sat by me in bed as I made the calls to insurance agents. When I went to go put him in his favorite cubby  in the wee hours of the morning, instead of playing his usual game of hide and seek all over the house for 10 minutes before finally surrendering, he dutifully walked right into the room and got  into his crate. He did his tight little circles, and then folded into his perfect snuggle position, licked his paws, and dozed off. I lay down next to him outside the crate, desperate for a hug and hoping that a quick cuddle with a dog would give me some sense of peace. I held his paw, something I had tried before unsuccessfully. I cried because I was exhausted, because I was still reeling from seeing Jason so battered, because I knew we were lucky that he survived, and because I knew Sam’s affection gave me every bit as much comfort as a hug from a good friend or a head rub from my mom. The feeling caught me off guard.

You can tell yourself in a moment of weakness that you have been fooled into believing that a pet’s love is enough when your heart needs holding. Or, you can decide to just believe that a pet can truly lift you. And, as in every healthy relationship, you can know that the feeling is mutual.