Playful puppies chase their tails ... in adult dogs, it may be more serious

Human studies have previously linked high cholesterol to panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now, a new study says the same thing appears to be true of dogs.

The study took blood samples from 15 compulsive tail-chasers and 15 non-chasers; both groups were otherwise healthy. The tail-chasing dogs had significantly higher cholesterol, both LDL and HDL, than the control dogs.

The study also found that female dogs are more likely to be tail-chasers than male dogs, though they’re not sure why.

Some dogs doo more than others (print from Dogstuff)

Amelia Glynn gives us the scoop on San Francisco’s, and other cities’, dog-doo dilemma and potential responses, including a group in Ithaca, New York that thinks it can profitably compost its 50,000 dogs’ waste.

Notecard from Dogstuff

Lucey, who looks like a pit bull, was in trouble.

She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’s never acted aggressively or bitten anyone. But she lives in Salina, Kansas, which has a law against owning pit bulls or mixed breeds that are predominantly pit bull.

When animal control officers came across Lucey while responding to a complaint about another animal, they took her into custody. They told her owner, Angie Cartwright, that they were taking her to a vet to have her breed evaluated.

Cartwright, desperate, had another idea: what about DNA testing? She called her vet, and found out they did have a genetic test available.

The test revealed that despite her appearance, Lucey is no more than 25% pit bull (which the AKC defines as American pit bull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier or any mix thereof). Her predominant breed, according to the test, is Bernese mountain dog.

So Lucey is back home, with a grateful owner. “Maybe this can save someone’s animal, hopefully,” she said.

Card from Dogstuff

The drug is called Palladia and targets mast cell cancers. The Animal Medical Center in New York is treating canine patients now. Here’s a link to their PDF file about Palladia.

Notecards from Dogstuff

Go look at a dog. Go on, look – maybe at one lying near you right now, curled around his folded legs on a dog bed, or sprawled on his side on the tile floor, paws flitting through the pasture of a dream. Take a good look – and now forget everything you know about this or any dog.

From New York Times’ excerpt of Alexandra Horowitz’s new book Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know.