PetKnows

The Honda Element has consistently been cited by critics among the most pet-friendly vehicles available today.  It appears this feedback has not gone unnoticed by the Japanese manufacturer who recently displayed a “dog friendly” version of the Element at the NY Auto Show.  I was fortunate to attend this show and Honda did a great job of demonstrating the thoughtful design of this special edition Element. 

Honda says the dog friendly Element is scheduled to arrive in dealerships this Fall and while details are still being finalized, expect the affordable SUV (around $21,0000 USD) to come equipped with a cushioned pet bed with safety restraints in the cargo area, spill-resistant water bowl, ventilation fan and last but not least, an integrated ramp. The integrated ramp aids the dog’s ingress and egress from the Element rear hatch.  While I’m sure Honda used professionally trained dogs during the show, they appeared to have no difficulty using the ramp in the brief demonstration I witnessed in New York. 

Check out Honda’s website for more information: Dog Friendly Honda Element

Photo Credit: Honda & Associated Press

Forget the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar. And let’s put away the men of Fire Co. No. 55, ladies.  Make room on your wall for a calendar that will brighten your day. Yes, yes, I know it’s February, but so what? It’s never too late to start looking at the cutest mugs you’ll see all year.

The Cuddle Corner Calendar features some of the cutest pets around town, and I’d hate to see you miss the remaining 10 glorious months of these great friends. The calendar features mainly cats and dogs, but there’s even a horse on display for my equestrian readers.

The calendar is free to anyone with a printer and acrobat reader. So what are you waiting for? Download today: 2009 Cuddle Corner Calendar

As households across the U.S. are reevaluating their spending habits, many pet owners are looking for ways to offset the cost of routine preventative pet care and wellness. A 2007-2008 survey conducted by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) estimates that dog owners spent an average of $219 on veterinary visits annually, and that cat owners spent an average of $175 on routine veterinary visits alone.

Recognizing that pet owners are feeling the economic bite, companies such as Advantage® Topical Solution from Bayer Animal Health are launching campaigns to decrease the financial burden of routine animal care. Available from February 16-29, the Help Your Pet, Get to the Vet campaign is providing a limited number of $20 Veterinary Vouchers, good toward preventive veterinary care (vaccinations, wellness exams, flea and tick treatment and prevention, heartworm preventative, dental care, etc).

Still looking for ways to cut costs on routine pet expenses? Try the following tips and suggestions:

• Pet Insurance: While you may initially balk at adding another premium to your monthly expenses, consider the amount you may save if your pet has an emergency or develops a chronic condition requiring long-term treatment. Shop around; pet insurance can be incredibly affordable and save you thousands in the long run. Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) offers a helpful buyers guide and frequently asked questions to get you started before purchasing pet insurance.

• At Home Grooming: From clipping nails to regularly brushing your pet’s teeth and coat, at home grooming saves money and can also help strengthen the bond you share with your pet.

• Utilize Local Clinics/Animal Shelters: Check with your local animal shelter regarding spay/neuter services and reduced cost vaccination programs. As a service to the community, local animal shelters often provide these services at a minimum expense.
  

• Regular Exercise: Make it a priority to ensure that your pet receives an appropriate amount of exercise. Not only will they be happier, but regular exercise will contribute to weight management and overall health benefits for your pet (and you too!)

• Budgeting/Know What to Expect: Are you thinking about the joys of pet ownership, but haven’t taken the plunge? Adopting a pet into a loving home is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have, but be sure and do your research first. Check out this previous PetKnows post for information on calculating the real cost of pet ownership.

Do you have more cost saving tips to share with the PetKnows community? Please let us know in the comments section!

Photo Credit: Gimme Yo Lunch Money by TMeyer88

And thus wraps up another whirlwind year for the Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. This year, there was another surprise winner: “Ch Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee,” or “Stump” for short (logical transition), a Sussex Spaniel, took home the coveted Best in Show trophy.

Photo courtesy of Westminster Kennel Club

Stump not only holds the trophy for the fairest dog in the land, he also holds the record for the oldest Westminster winner ever. At 10 years old, (that’s 70 in dog years), Stump is a verifiable grandfather amongst younger puppies… a Meryl Streep amongst Hathaways and Winslets, if you will. Most show dogs’ careers peak between the ages of 2 and 6.

But while we revel at Stump at age 10, it’s even more fun to ooh and aah over the champions when they were puppies. Our friends over at Time Out New York put together a fantastic slide show of various Westminster contenders at their cutest.

This baby English Setter gave me the biggest ‘Awwwwww!” moment. Check it out!

Photo Courtesy of Time Out New York

Here is a unique take on the typical flowers and chocolates that St. Valentine is known for. The Washington Animal Rescue League, here in DC, is sponsoring a Compassion for Passion event. You can SPONSOR (or adopt) a pet in their shelter in the name of your sweetie. What a terrific idea - you can help save a pet!

For a small donation (substantially less than a dozen roses!) you can select the pet from their website and they will notify your loved one about your generous gift and give the pet extra treats and love on your loved one’s behalf.

So what are you waiting for?!!? Sign-up now! You must take advantage of this by February 12 (today!!) at 4pm in order to have your sweetie notified by Valentine’s Day.

I LOVE this program - enough to put my money where my mouth is. I just sponsored “Chrissie” the dog for my sweetie. Looking forward to his surprise when he gets an email from WARL alerting him that he is the proud sponsor of a dog!

We are proud to announce the winners of the Swiffer-ific Contest & Giveaway are…

jilltospill and Carolyn G!!!!

Each will receive a Swiffer Starter Kit.

We’d like to say thanks for participating in our first ever giveaway contest. Stay tuned for more to come in the future!

To the winners, please contact me directly at petknows@gmail.com with mailing information, so I can get these off to you right away.  Happy Swiffering!

Despite the title, Don’t Shoot the Dog, often called the bible of positive reinforcement training, is actually not a book about dogs — and I don’t mean in the “if you really think about it hard, there are universal implications” sense. I mean, the book barely mentions dogs at all; it’s about leaning how to communicate with all types of animals.

Dogs get a couple of mentions, but so do dolphins, elephants, pandas, lawyers, bosses, grandmothers and teenagers.

So if this book isn’t about dogs, why is it called Don’t Shoot the Dog? Karen Pryor — who wrote this book in 1984 and is credited with bringing positive reinforcement training to the general public — explains that there are eight methods for getting rid of an undesirable behavior in an animal.

If you have a dog that barks incessantly at night, these are your options:

1. Shoot the dog
2. Punish the dog for barking
3. Negative reinforcement
4. Extinction
5. Train an incompatible behavior
6. Put the barking on cue
7. Shape absence of barking
8. Change the dog’s motivation

Obviously, the first option presented is drastic in order to make a point. If the way to solve a problem was simply to make the source of the problem go away, she could simply have said get rid of the dog. But that’s often not an option. What if the annoying barking dog belongs to your neighbor? Or the “dog” is really an unruly teenager or overbearing boss? The list of solutions is presented to show you the progression of training techniques from crude or simple, to complex and effective.

The premise of the book is that positive reinforcement training is the best method to “manipulate” our training subjects to do our bidding. Positive reinforcement rewards a desired behavior and causes that behavior to occur more often. The important thing to understand is that in this type of training it’s all about giving the subject choices. Do as you’re asked and you get a reward; don’t do it, and no reward is forthcoming. Again, it’s about eliciting voluntary responses. (When you’re training a dolphin, Pryor discovered, it simply swims away unless you make it worth the dolphin’s while. Making the subject want to train, she learned as a result, was simple the most effective way to teach anything.)

Dolphins respond to positive reinforcement training.

While this seems like common sense among most pet owners nowadays, especially in dog training circles, this was far from standard practice prior to the success of Don’t Shoot the Dog. A lot of training at the time relied heavily on punishment for behavior modification.

But even if we know that positive reinforcement is “good” and punishment is doesn’t work, how does this help us become effective trainers? The book gives us the tools not only to understand operant conditioning and positive reinforcement training, but also to put these theories into practice for real results. You’ll learn the steps you need to take to stop a bad behavior entirely or teach a complicated “trick” and put it on cue.

The book is divided into 5 chapters with scientific sounding titles including words like reinforcement, shaping and stimulus control, but it’s a fascinating and fun read with anecdotes from Pryor’s dolphin training days, specific examples of how these training principles apply modifying specific behaviors, and plenty of food for thought about how we related to each other as well.

Don’t Shoot the Dog is about teaching you how to motivate others, and to make them not only do what you want, but want to do as you ask of them. Whether you have a dog that misbehaves, a cat you want to teach tricks to, or simply an interest in learning what motivates various animals (humans included), check out Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor. I promise it’s worth it.

Each year, the American Kennel Club compiles a list of the year’s most desired breeds. For 2008, I am happy to announce that the “top dog” (and reigning champ for the last 18 years) happens to be the breed closest to my heart: The Labrador Retriever:

The Labrador Retriever is the breed my family has chosen my entire life, so I can speak first hand about their ease with children, playful attitude, and loyalty. My nephews are toddlers and are quite fond of tail pulling, sitting on a sleeping dog, and ear tugging. My Labs take all the confusing displays of affection in stride, though their eyes sometimes indicate they are thinking, “Uh, can someone help me out here?” All joking aside, Labradors are well know as a family dog and are great around young children. In my experience, they also adapt very well to the other pets in a new home, which makes them a great addition to most household situations.

The Labrador is defined by its eagerness to please its owner which makes it an incredibly obedient dog, as well as a great student. They are easy to train and are extremely intelligent. What most people don’t know is that the Lab is also the most popular breed of assistance dog in the United States. Their intelligence makes them fantastic guide dogs for the blind,  a great asset to police forces, and a much needed team member for many search-and-rescue teams. However, as the name indicates, they are best know for their talent of retreiving. That said, you are sure to find a new hunting buddy or fellow fisherman in this breed.

Now, without further ado…here are the remaining top 10:

2. Yorkshire Terrier

3. German Shepherd Dog

4. Golden Retriever

5. Beagle

6. Boxer

7. Dachshund

8. Bulldog

9. Poodle

10. Shih Tzu

In the first paragraph, I linked to the AKC’s descriptive entry on this great animal. I have also included links to descriptions for the other top 9 dogs. However, should you like to share your joyful experience with your own pup’s breed, comment away! There are plenty of breeds out there , and we’d love to hear great stories about all of them.

Let’s face it, we’ve all been there, right? It’s no romp in the park. Ending a relationship can be difficult on everyone involved including you, kids (if any), friends, family, even your household pets. While your first inclination in any uncomfortable situation is to react, it’s important to stop and think about the consequences of your actions, particularly how they will impact your pets, and plan ahead.

I recently ended a relationship and had to change my living situation dramatically in the span of one week. While I will spare you the sorrid details of the break-up, I will tell you that between us we had three pets, Cowboy (Chiweenie), Scooby (Shepard mix) and Suki, (Himalayan). While the animals clearly had an established owner between us, these pets were bonded and spent much of the day getting into mischief together.

Knowing that my move to a new home would also impact Cowboy, I immediately started doing some research on how best to prepare for not only his new living quarters, but to also make the transition of not seeing his furry friends.

To ease the transition a bit, I also made arrangements with my ex to keep Cowboy in his home while I set up shop  so he wouldn’t have to be exposed to boxes, moving noise and chaos. This really was key into bringing him into a new environment and giving him time to explore the surroundings in a stress-free environment. Remember, animals feed off of your energy. If you’re stressed, they will know and react accordingly.

In the midst of my move, I did some research and uncovered some nice resources online including this mini list from Charlotte Reed at iVillage.com. In addition to placing his favorite toys, dog bed and treats in a similar scenario as my old home, I strategically scattered some of my laundry around my new apartment to make sure Cowboy knew my scent was everywhere and this was indeed home. Most of the articles I uncovered were consistent on the basics, including:

1. Keep your pets on their normal routine, including sleeping, eating and going for walks.

2. Try not to leave your pet alone right away and observe their behavior in their new surroundings.

3. Introduce your pet to new sights, sounds and smells of your new home, including your new neighbors.

4. Reward good behavior! This is your chance to reassure your pet.

5. If your pet has been social, continue to socialize them as often as possible.

So at almost two weeks, Cowboy seems to getting back into the swing of things, chasing balls, pouncing in the laundry basket and making new friends at the local dog park. While I’m struggling with teaching him how to climb stairs (he’s not a fan), he is quickly acclimating to his new home and is making strides each and every day.

And we lived happily ever after…

Who could forget “Uno,” the adorable Beagle who won the coveted Best in Show category at last years annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show? While “Uno” has enjoyed the status of top dog, and the media exposure that the prestigious award brings; it’s time to get ready for 2009’s 133^rd installment of the beloved Dog Show!

Beginning next Monday, February 9^th 170 Breeds and Varieties will be judged (including Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting, and Herding). You can tune into the live events Monday on USA Network from 8-9PM (ET) and continuing on CNBC from 9-11PM (ET). Tuesday’s live coverage will air on USA Network from 8-11PM (ET).

2009 welcomes the Dogue de Bordeaux breed, which will be eligible to compete for the first time, within the Working Group. With their massive stature (described as having quite possibly the largest head in the canine world!), this new addition will certainly make for fun and interesting viewing!

Don’t forget to tune into the action, and make sure to check back here for a complete round up of the events!

Photo Credit: Uno Wins Best in Show by Kristen & Joe