As a dog owner, you should know by now that your dog should not eat chocolate. It is toxic and in a large enough quantity, it can kill! So let’s talk a little about chocolate and what’s in it that’s the problem.

• The toxic component of chocolate is theobromine.

• The half life in the dog is 17.5 hours.

• The Toxic dose in the dog is 100-150 mg/kg (kilogram (kg) = 2.2 lbs, milligram(mg) = 1/1000 of a gram).

So for a 50 pound dog, a toxic dose would be roughly 2.2 grams (2200 mg) of pure chocolate. For a 10 lb dog, the toxic dose is 500mg.

However the concentration of theobromine varies with the formulation of the chocolate so:

• Milk chocolate has 44mg/oz (154mg/100gm): toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 50 oz of milk chocolate.

• Semisweet chocolate has 150 mg/oz (528mg/100gm): toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 15 oz of semisweet chocolate

• Baking chocolate 390mg/oz (1365 mg/100gm): toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 5 oz of baking chocolate

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There was a time not so long ago that popular dog names used to be Spot and Buddy and Buster but nowadays the trend is to give human names to dogs. Popular names today include Max, Jake, Lucy and Molly. This change in popular names also shows dogs’ chance in status in family households. No longer are dogs just pets, they’re part of the family. A recent survey of dog owners showed that 88% of dogs owners consider this to be the case.

You can also see this trend in the 40 billion dollar pet industry with pet spas, boutiques and other businesses catering to pet products and services popping up all over. You also have more and more businesses such as hotels and restaurants becoming pet-friendly. People don’t want to travel without their furry family members. For those who do travel without their pets, no longer do they have to just stick their dog or cat in a kennel, there are now upscale pet accommodations. Dogs can have their own room complete with bed and television. Attendants will cater to them with specially prepared meals and social schedules.

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This tiny little 10 week old puppy is recovering after being rescued from a Madera apartment complex Dumpster in Fresno. “Unbelievable. I think it’s really sad because I don’t know how long the puppies been in the dumpster,” said resident Melissa Vasquez.

And the saddest part is that ‘Zoey’ as this sweet baby was named, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to puppy problems. Madera County Animal Services Director Kirsten Gross said that problems are only going to get worse with ‘puppy season’ arriving with spring.

The Madera County shelter which usually has about 600 puppies and kittens coming through a month expects to see about 900 a month for the next couple of months. Just in the past week they’ve has three litters of puppies dropped off. Tiny babies desperately in need of homes left at an already overcrowded shelter.

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House training is one of the areas of dog ownership that’s most subject to misunderstanding, confusion, and just plain dread!

I’m going to talk about how to deal with two of the most common problems surrounding the issue of house training:

- Submissive/excited urination

- Scent marking

Common house training problem #1: Submissive / excited urination

What is it?

A ‘submissive urinator’ is a dog that urinates on the floor and himself (and sometimes on you and any guests you may have!) in situations of extreme excitement or stress - like when you return home at the end of the day, or when he’s being told off.

Why does it happen?

Puppies are the usual candidates for submissive/excited urination, but it’s not uncommon to see adult dogs with the problem as well: usually, these are highly sensitive and timid dogs, and/or ones from a shelter/with a history of abuse (often these last two go hand-in-hand.)

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It’s one of the most perplexing health problems in dogs and one of the most dreaded by dog owners. It can strike at any time without warning. Often described as “the silent killer,” the complex disorder Gastric Dilatation Volvulus (GDV), also called bloat, is a life-threatening emergency.

Being aware of this potential killer begins by understanding just why GDV is dangerous and deadly. It is characterized by expansion of the stomach with gas or frothy material (dilatation). The stomach does not empty normally. It is difficult for food to advance into the intestines, nor will food pass in the other direction as vomit.

Dilatation can be followed by rotation of the stomach (Volvulos or torsion) which effectively closes the entry to and exit from the stomach. Relief from this distended state is not possible. This rotation compresses one of the major veins carrying blood to the heart, severely depressing normal blood circulation. Without immediate veterinary treatment this condition can rapidly lead to shock and death.

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Now they have this cute pup quite well trained…. maybe too well! I think he deserves a few extra treats for putting up with the teasing!!

Silly Dog

Didn’t you just want to get this dog a cuddle and biscuit?? LOL

If you’re an Oprah fan, dog lover, dog advocate, this is one show you’re not going to want to miss!! On April 4, Oprah is doing a segment on puppy mills and this should really help to bring more awareness to this horror. The segment is called “Lisa Ling Investigates the Hidden World of Puppy Mills” and it will be airing this coming Friday.

Seems a group placed a huge billboard near where Oprah tapes her shows begging her to address the puppy mill problem and obviously this got her attention and she followed-up. I applaud the group and Oprah. This is a topic that desperately needs to be addressed and people need to know.

Now I’m not a TV watcher or Oprah fan but this is one even I’m going to try to see because this is a subject very close to my heart. Puppy mills are houses of horror and Oprah has some serious clout and I most sincerely that people will watch and see and understand. So many people don’t even know or realize that puppy mills exist or what they are.

Oprah Winfrey plans to dedicate a show investigating abuses at puppy mills to her cocker spaniel, Sophie, who died last month from kidney failure.

“Sophie gave me 13 years of unconditional love. She was a true love in my life,” Winfrey says on the broadcast scheduled to air Friday. (Advance remarks from the show were released Tuesday by Harpo Productions.)

The show features special correspondent Lisa Ling investigating puppy mills, which Ling calls “horrific” and “haunting.”

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Sinisa Grozdanic, assistant professor of veterinary medicine at Iowa State University, has identified and named an eye disease not previously known. The disease, Immune-Mediated Retinopathy, or IMR, causes loss of function in retinal cells and, in some cases, blindness in canines.

IMR is very similar to a previously known malady called Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome or SARDS.

Both diseases occur when the dog produces auto antibodies that attack the retinal cells. The antibodies mistake retinal cells for cancerous tumors or tissues that need to be destroyed.

In the process of attacking the retinal cells, the auto antibodies cause the retinal cells to lose function and the dog to lose some or all of its vision.

The difference between IMR and SARDS that Grozdanic identified is that the auto antibodies that attack the retinal cells in SARDS patients are produced in the eye. In the newly identified IMR, Grozdanic found that these auto antibodies are produced elsewhere in the dog and travel to the eyes in the blood.

This is a critical step in treating the disease because the source of the problem is better understood, according to Grozdanic.

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Someone please tell me what kind of a sick person lures someone’s pet dog and then throws it from an overpass to the ground, 15′ below?

Well, that’s what happened to Haley Savage’s one year old boxer, Seven, last Wednesday. Witnesses reported seeing a woman in a red truck or SUV with a rack of some sort on top of the vehicle stop and throw the dog off the 3900 South overpass spanning I-15 in Salt Lake City, UT.

Luckily for Seven, a driver stopped his vehicle and ran after the injured puppy in the busy freeway. Other vehicles also stopped to let him manage to get Seven.

“Here comes a dog cruising down the car pool lane and a man chasing after him,” said Monique Latteier, an off-duty Salt Lake police emergency dispatcher and animal lover. “The dog just collapsed almost into the man’s arms, she was so exhausted.”

After the man managed to get Seven, Latteier offered to take her to a vet for emergency treatment. She was bleeding all over and her jaw was just hanging. At the time she didn’t manage to get the good Samaritan’s name but credits him with the heroic rescue.

After Latteier got back into her car with Seven, she called some friends at UHP’s dispatch center, and that’s when she found out other motorists reported the dog had been thrown.

“I was horrified. I am such an animal lover. I can’t even really comprehend anyone doing anything to such an animal. I was stunned,” she said.

Savage was contacted and went straight to the vet’s office.

“I was hysterical,” she said.

Seven had blood filling her lungs, a broken rib and a mangled jaw that required the insertion of several pins. She also had four teeth removed and will have to have another surgery in about a month.

“Her jaw split in half. It fractured the whole jaw,” Savage said. “It was pretty scary.”

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Rabies

Of all the introduced canine diseases, one of the most feared is the rabies as this virus attacks the brain of the dog and is know to be highly fatal. This disease can also be transmitted to humans and other animals. The mere mention of rabies often bring out pictures of uncontrollable dogs that are known to bite anyone within sight along with the telltale foaming on the mouth.

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Conan, a 150 lb Mastiff belonging to Liam and Amanda O’Hara, was shot in the chest with a razor tipped hunting arrow at his home in the 4200 block of Second Avenue Northeast, Wellington, WA on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. There were hopes that Conan, would survive, but sadly he didn’t make it.

“He had some internal bleeding in his lungs, and he couldn’t make it,” said Amanda O’Hara. “This was an intentionally cruel act toward our dog. It’s horrible.”

Initially they thought that the arrow missed his heart and lungs but when vets went to remove the arrow they found that the razor bladed hunting tips pierced his lung. There were able to remove the shaft but not one of the razor sharp blades which had broken off in his lung. The performed CPR Thursday but were unable to resuscitate the big dog.

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