May 25th, 2010 §
Photo by seeks2dream. Licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Dogs have whiskers on their nose above the upper lip, chin, and forehead . If you trim them, it will not hurt them. However, they do use their whiskers as a sixth sense, so you might be limiting their ability to play or hunt for a while.
Dogs’ whiskers are called vibrissae. Their roots are three times as deep as ordinary hair and the whiskers themselves are twice as thick.
Whiskers are one of the ways dogs sense the world around them. They can feel air currents and dogs use that information to figure out the size and shape of nearby objects. They can also figure out how narrow or tight a hole is.
Whiskers also help protect dogs’ eyes like human eyelashes. If the whiskers are touched, they blink.
So you can safely trim your dogs whiskers (and they’ll grow back) but it might be like putting ear plugs in their ears or blinders on their eyes! There is no reason other than showing a dog to trim their whiskers.
November 4th, 2009 §
You should not leave your puppy alone with older dogs until it is four months old. Until they are four months old, puppies do not properly display submissiveness. In addition, they want to play! So they can end up pestering and annoying older dogs. Most older dogs will respond by growling or snapping at the puppy but they may also bite the puppy.
Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fpat/ / CC BY 2.0
Information from How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With.
March 17th, 2007 §
Greyhounds have been clocked at 35 mph! Our chocolate lab loves to get out of the truck at the beginning of the dirt road that leads to the lake. He then runs to the lake. He is so excited that he usually runs at 20 mph for almost a mile.
Note that your dog just doesn’t have to be predisposed to being fast, he also needs to be in good shape in order to run fast!
Photo by Amnemona.
November 10th, 2006 §
Chase didn’t like lying on the floor so he found a good spot with a view.
October 18th, 2006 §
Here are the 30+ staples Chase had after his diaphragmatic hernia surgery. He also had many stiches inside.
He pulled several of the staples out so we had to put one of those plastic cones on his head. He completely ignored the fact that he had a cone on his head. If it bumped into something he would just keep going until the thing moved or the cone bent. All of our furniture got rearranged during that period as Chase pushed chairs around with the cone.
October 4th, 2004 §
August 10th, 2004 §
When Koko the gorilla had a toothache, she signed that she had pain in her mouth. We know that dogs can learn hundreds of words, and we know that they can express excitement, anxiety, and disappointment. Does anybody know how to teach them to signal pain?
The New York Times > Science > In Pain, Gorilla Puts In a Call to the Dentist
August 8th, 2004 §
Here are some ideas of new products for pets. I liked the Soft-E-Collar.
Pet Entreprenuers
August 8th, 2004 §
Clone your pet now or just save the tissue for later.
Company Said to Be Ready to Clone Pets
