www.5stardog.com

3 Crucial Tips to Care For Siberian Huskies

Pets Articles At iSnare.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When considering adopting a pet dog, there are certain factors that you have to take note of These factors include the nature of the dog, the characteristic of the dog and the temperament of the dog For example, some dogs are very dependent on the owner while some dogs are very independent...

Best Dog Breeds For Growing Families

Pets Articles At iSnare.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

GOLDEN RETRIEVERS: Golden Retrievers have beomce increasingly popular because of their easy-going nature and loving personalities Their gentleness, easy-going attitude and intelligence when responding to commands makes them an ideal family pet They have the reputation of being one of the most sought after breeds and the popularity of the Golden Retriever will continue to escalate in peoples' hearts...

Bilateral Elbow Dysplasia - $5,900 surgery

Embrace Pet Insurance Blog — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

At Embrace, we aren't perfect but we darn well try hard to be. We are mere mortals though and it seems like we spend all our time focusing on our failings instead of celebrating the good that we do.

So I wanted to share with you an email we received today from Donna. She sent it after we approved a pre-certification for bilateral elbow dysplasia surgery that Huck, her Bull Mastiff puppy, is going to have before Christmas.

Huck's estimated surgical bill is $5,900 and if the actual vet bills comes out the same as the estimate, we'll be paying just over $4,100 (Donna has a $500 annual deductible, 20% copay and no take-home drug coverage - annual premium $349.06.)

When Donna heard this good news this afternoon, she sent us this email:

Dear Christine and everyone at Embrace,

Spread the word? I will SHOUT it from the roof tops!!!! Embrace has saved Huck and I. As a reasonably intelligent person, I did all my homework and thought I was doing my very best to purchase a great healthy puppy. Then real life happens, as it does with humans and here we are, in this terrible economy, with this very expensive problem.

My decision to purchase Embrace is the one of the wisest decisions I have made in my 52 years. You bet I will spread the word, and I know so many dog people who are as crazy in love with their dogs as I am Huck. Bless you all for this terrific news! You have saved my beloved pet as well as my 29 year marriage:) To see Huck pain free and happy and healthy will be our Christmas miracle. He is a wonderful, sweet soul, and he deserves to feel good. I cannot thank you all at Embrace Pet Insurance enough.

Very gratefully yours, Donna C & Huck the Mastiff

It's a nice way to end the week.

Great Dane gives birth to great litter: 16 puppies

AP Top Strange News At 7:32 a.m. — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

FRUITVALE, Colo. (AP) -- Stephanie Pino was expecting her Great Dane to give birth to about a dozen puppies, but instead she got 16. Pino's dog, Kyla, had the doggy baby boom in 20 hours of labor on Sept. 11. She had 19 in all but three died....

Make the dog trainer happy :-))

The Dog Blog — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I’ve had a lot of people pay me a lot of ways over the years, but one of today’s clients did it up right!

Here’s the setup:

A great golden retriever puppy that is 14 weeks old.
A very cool client family with 2 kids which are fantastic and work a lot with the puppy.
A lot of hard work done over the last three weeks training with the puppy.

So, after the lesson today the Mrs. says “hey, we need to pay you for the lessons, let me get the checkbook” and walks inside the house. When she comes back outside Stella (the puppy) runs over to her on the front porch and waits while she writes the check. After she finishes signing everything she rips the check out, hands it to the puppy and yells at me to call Stella over. One quick “Here” command and Stella flashes across the yard to bring me the check! No chewing, no slobber, no running off with a multi-hundred dollar check, just straight to me in that wonderful Golden Retriever “I’m doing the right thing” way. Amazing.

Now, I ask you, is that a well trained puppy or not?

So, if I can have a wonderful ending to any Monday I think this would be it. A Golden puppy running across the yard bringing me a check. That makes today a VERY good day indeed.

Steve Haynes
A very PROUD Austin dog trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

Miniature Schnauzer

About Dogs: Most Popular Articles — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Miniature Schnauzer is a sturdy Terrier with an active personality. Find out more about the popular Miniature Schnauzer dog breed, including appearance, history, personality and potential health problems.

Re: dog food

Big Paws Only — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Yep they are all right. My breeder was even feeding purina due to it being cheap and he had 29 puppies. Then he put them on Science diet - not really good either for Great Danes or any other BP pupper. If you can find what you want to try at a local fe...

Re: Mastiff tail wacking

Big Paws Only — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We had this battle with Merlin also. Months of oral antibiotics, twice daily bandage changes with an assortment of ointments, get it all healed and he'd break it open again days later.
He finally ended up getting a staph infection which was antibiotic ...

Tag, I'm it!

Cairos Place — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Gucci tagged me with the name game. So, here I go.

What is your name? Cairo. My mom originally wanted to name me London or Burberry but my daddy didn't like those names. He thought I looked like a Cairo. I responded well to that name, so it stuck.

If you could change your name, what would it be? Supreme Empress of the World.

What is your pet's name? I have several toys...there's Leo the Lion and a giraffe carcass I call Randy. The problem is - most of my toys don't live that long because I destuff them within a few days of meeting them. I like my squeaky soccer ball.

If you could change your pet's name, what would it be? The Dude.

What are your brother and/or sister's name/s? I had two other sisters but I haven't seen them since I was a baby. I live alone with my parents and have the house all to myself! My closest friend is Max the Black Pug who lives with my grandparents.

If you could change their names, what would they be? I would change Max's name to Zoolander, because he acts like a male model.

. . .

I am going to tag Cubby, Bella, Eduardo, Chef and Lorenza.

What's On Tonight: Two TV Movies, Palin on 'SNL'

Roger Catlin | TV Eye — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Instead of gathering celebrities for a telethon to raise awareness (and money) for cancer research, Lifetime got a roster of stars to take part in a made for TV movie called "Living Proof" (Lifetime, 9 p.m.) about a cancer-fighting doctor.

Harry Connick Jr., who seems to always play doctors in his TV roles, portrays the real life doctor who helped develop Herceptin.

Among those portraying the patients in his trial are Bernadette Peters, Jennifer Coolidge, Trudy Styler, Tammy Blanchard and Regina King. Also appearing in the film co-produced by Renee Zellweger, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are Amanda Bynes, Angie Harmon and Amy Madigan.

The slow moving film moves predictably and as flatly as if were actually still a five minute video on the real life doctor, Dennis Slamon. Nevertheless, the tinkly piano works over time and several actresses get the opportunity to really overact.

It is still better, at least, than the other new TV movie tonight, the super tedious "Ladies of the House" (Hallmark, 9 p.m.) film that's partly about three church women of a certain age who try to renovate a donated home even as they have to deal with their newly-retired husbands at home. Florence Henderson, Donna Mills and Pam Grier star; there are a few too many of those scenes where the men at the permit office and the hardware store have to talk them through it.

Palin on 'SNL'
Who could be better than Tina Fey to play Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 11:30 p.m.)? Well, how about the sitting governor of Alaska?
The McCain campaign confirmed Friday that Palin will make her debut performance on the show tonight, although in what capacity it was not clear. Josh Brolin, currently in theatres playing the President in Oliver Stone's "W" hosts; the British soul singer Adele is musical guest.
It will be interesting, too, to see how much producing the new weekly Thursday night edition eats into the mother show's material. Tonight is the first time they've try to produce two live shows the same week.

Also On Tonight
Last stop for D-listers who can't keep from doing reality shows: "Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling" (CMT, 8 p.m.). Danny Bonaduce, who tried to inject himself into every aspect of last weekend's tawdry "Fox Reality Channel Really Awards" is part of the hopeful pugilists, as are such reality show retreads as Todd Bridges, Trishelle Cannatella and Dustin Diamond. Rounding out the field are Dennis Rodman, Frank Stallone and the pop star Tiffany. A couple of the fighters are real stretches: ButterBean, a super heavyweight boxer and Erin Murphy, who as a child played Tabitha on "Bewitched."

Coaching the teams of contestants are a couple of hasbeen wrestlers as well: Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Brian "Nasty Boy" Knobs. Hogan plays the mentor role.

Miranda Cosgrove is guest star as Nat's new love interest on "The Naked Brothers Band" (Nickelodeon, 8:30 p.m.).

Jason Hawkins' new series "Eating CT" (CPTV, 6:30 p.m.) noses around Northwest Connecticut and particularly the restaurants of Fairfield.

Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, Joe Ely and John Hiatt trade songs on a new "Austin City Limits" (WGBY, Chanel 57, midnight).

John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, Annie Lennox, Bryan Adams and Peter Gabriel play the Peace One Day Concert (Palladia and mtvU, 9 p.m.) on two of the MTV off channels that probably nobody receives. Palladia is the HD channel; mtvU its campus offering. The concert was held at Royal Albert Hall in London Sept. 21.

You'll be watching Red Sox, either continuing its unlikely comeback against the dominant Devil Rays in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series (TBS, 8 p.m.) back in Florida, or ending its season for good.

Tonight's college football includes Missouri at Texas (ABC, 8 p.m.), LSU at South Carolina (ESPN, 8 p.m.) and Virginia Tech at Boston College (ESPN2, 8 p.m.).
Last night's high school game of Simsbury vs. Southington (WTCX, Channel 59, 7 p.m.) is on as well.

Bobby and Winston

Funny-Pet-Pictures.com: New pet pictures — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Bobby, the Maltese in foreground likes the pellet stove for the warmth. Weimaraner Winston is a 3 y/o adoptee-- this is the first he has seen of a pellet stove. He watched it for hours..

Bulldog Reporter: New Conference Reveals How to Tell Stories in Social Media Networks Like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Beyond

Market Wire - Full Feed — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

OAKLAND, CA (MARKET WIRE) PR and marketing professionals who want to learn inside tips and techniques for using various online social networking tools, channels and sites for PR purposes will discover practical strategies at a new audio conference from Bulldog Reporter's PR University: "Using Social Networks for PR: How to Tell Your Story in Online Communities Like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Beyond." Attendees will come away with practical ideas on what generates buzz online -- and how to use that knowledge to create powerful social media campaigns.

Cat Vs Dog Fight With Yakety Sax

Admirable-Dogs.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Starring Tiggy the cat and Wiggy the cat VS Diddy the poodle!!…

Seeing eye dog proves his worth (Braintree Forum)

Dog Training — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Gerald Richmond would not be able to enjoy a leisurely stroll in Columbian Square by himself, but his seeing-eye guide dog Kirk, a golden Labrador retriever, helps him safely across busy streets and enjoy a night out on the town.

Seeing eye dog proves his worth (Weymouth News)

Dog Training — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Louis-the-Dachshund

The Daily Puppy — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Little Louis is growing by the day! His favorite things are toys which squeak, laying in the sunshine and cuddles from his mummy and daddy. He is a little adopted brother for the big dogs, Mollie and Mitze - Labradors. They absolutely love him, as does everyone who meets him. He is full of character and not a day goes past without him being a right little charmer.

Click for more pictures and comments...

yuva arayan disi golden

homelessdogs at Yahoo! Groups — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

... From: Feryal Sehsuvar To: golden retriever ; golden yasam ; yuva ariyorum Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 8:44 PM Subject: [yuvaariyorum] yuva arayan disi

Braewyn-the-Basset-Hound

The Daily Puppy — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Braewyn was born in Granite Falls, North Carolina, and we made the trip home to West Virginia when she was six weeks old. From the start she's been such a funny puppy with her almost boundless energy, antics and kisses! Braewyn loves ice cubes, playing with squeak toys, Hippo & Foxy, and swimming in our river. Some days, after playing, she runs down to have a quick dip. Big 'sister' Baylee (who's almost 13) and Braewyn share sweet moments together romping on the hills. We love Braewyn's cuddles and kisses and are truly blessed to have her in our family!

Click for more pictures and comments...

Dog rescued following cliff fall

Dog News — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A Rottweiler is rescued in the Isle of Man after falling over a cliff edge.

Link to full story Latest Dog News from K9 Magazine and Content aggregated by Dog News

Jackson-the-Golden-Retriever

The Daily Puppy — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Jackson came to live with us in August and has won our hearts. He is wonderful, mild mannered, and loves everyone.

Click for more pictures and comments...

Top 10 Human Medications That Poison Dogs

Dogster For The Love of Dog Blog — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With Halloween only two weeks away there are many articles warning about chocolate being potentially fatal to your dog if ingested.

What pet owners may fail to realize is that everyday over-the-counter and prescription medications are the cause of over 89,000 calls to the ASPCA Poison Control Center.

The experts at ASPCA have complied a list of the top 10 human medications they receive the most emergency calls about.

NSAIDs
NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like ibuprofen or naproxen are the most common cause of pet poisoning in small animals, and can cause serious problems even in minimal doses. Pets are extremely sensitive to their effects, and may experience stomach and intestinal ulcers and-in the case of cats-kidney damage.

Antidepressants
Antidepressants can cause vomiting and lethargy and certain types can lead to serotonin syndrome-a condition marked by agitation, elevated body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure, disorientation, vocalization, tremors and seizures.

Acetaminophen
Cats are especially sensitive to acetaminophen, which can damage red blood cells and interfere with their ability to transport oxygen. In dogs, it can cause liver damage and, at higher doses, red blood cell damage.

Methylphenidate (for ADHD)
Medications used to treat ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in people act as stimulants in pets and can dangerously elevate heart rates, blood pressure and body temperature, as well as cause seizures.

Fluorouracil
Fluorouracil-an anti-cancer drug-is used topically to treat minor skin cancers and solar keratitis in humans. It has proven to be rapidly fatal to dogs, causing severe vomiting, seizures and cardiac arrest even in those who’ve chewed on discarded cotton swabs used to apply the medication.

Isoniazid
Often the first line of defense against tuberculosis, isoniazid is particularly toxic for dogs because they don’t metabolize it as well as other species. It can cause a rapid onset of severe seizures that may ultimately result in death.

Pseudoephedrine
Pseudoephedrine is a popular decongestant in many cold and sinus products, and acts like a stimulant if accidentally ingested by pets. In cats and dogs, it causes elevated heart rates, blood pressure and body temperature as well as seizures.

Anti-diabetics
Many oral diabetes treatments-including glipizide and glyburide-can cause a major drop in blood sugar levels of affected pets. Clinical signs of ingestion include disorientation, lack of coordination and seizures.

Vitamin D derivatives
Even small exposures to Vitamin D analogues like calcipotriene and calcitriol can cause life-threatening spikes in blood calcium levels in pets. Clinical signs of exposure-including vomiting, loss of appetite, increased urination and thirst due to kidney failure-often don’t occur for more than 24 hours after ingestion.

Baclofen
Baclofen is a muscle relaxant that can impair the central nervous systems of cats and dogs. Some symptoms of ingestion include significant depression, disorientation, vocalization, seizures and coma, which can lead to death.

This is great information to have, keep those drugs away from busy paws. Be sure to keep your vet’s, and emergency vet’s, info handy at all times.

Who needs veterinarians when you have totally stupid pet legislation?

Pet Connection Blog — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In the 90s, the county where I lived decided to get into the veterinary medicine business. They tried to pass a law mandating what vaccinations pets in the county should receive, and when, and how often.

Totally genius move, particularly as it was the very dawn of the “maybe we don’t need to give our pets annual vaccinations for everything under the sun including all these diseases that they are already immune to” age, in which we are now firmly living. I had earlier protested similar language in my previous county’s animal control laws, asking the head of animal control why she, and not my vet, should make those decisions. She wiped the language and went with something about “being on a program of disease control under the care of a licensed veterinarian,” and I thought that was about as good as could be expected.

My new county wasn’t so reasonable, but when a bunch of veterinarians showed up at the next county meeting and said hello, we will not write laws if you will not practice veterinary medicine, that part of the proposal vanished.

You’d think the nation’s lawmakers would have learned, but no. The state of Massachusetts thought it would be good to try the same thing, as part of their “even worse than AB 1634″ House Bill 5092, a proposed law to ban some breeds of dog, require mandatory sterilization of all adult dogs unless their owners pay annual fees of up to $500 per pet, and the same kind of punitive “run loose, get your sex organs removed” penalties that were so roundly rejected in California already.

It’s all bad; telling people what medical procedures their pets should have just makes it worse. Details on barking back are here.

Fun With Scammers: Golden Retriever Receives Check For $150,000 [Scams]

Consumerist — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations! Your dog is rich! Oh wait, no. It's a scam. Meet Bruce Gadansky of the Louisville BBB. He got an email from some internet scammers and decided to reply — as his dog. The email was from a "company" looking for help cashing a check.

From WLKY:

Gadansky replied, using the name "Clancy The Dog LLC."

"I told them I was in the fertilizer business, which Clancy does a lot of, fertilizing the back yard," Gadansky said. "That smacks of the truth. Then I waited. I didn't expect to even get a response."

On Tuesday, a very authentic-looking check from a real Canadian company came in the mail.

"I'm supposed to deposit the check," Gadansky said. "I get to keep 5 percent and then wire back the remainder of that money. So I keep $7,500 and wire them back over $140,000. You're wiring them back real money, but that check is a phony, and your bank will figure that out in a few days. It's an old scam for which people are still falling."

Clancy is a crimefighter. Yes he is. Awww.

Golden Retriever Gets $150,000 Check In The Mail [WLKY]

Adopt a Shelter Dog Month

Big Paws Only — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month! You can learn a bit more here:

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=asdm

Banana Peanut Butter Dog Cake Recipe

Urban Pug — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This is the recipe for the cake I made for Gizmo and Gadget’s 5th Birthday. Just as a note, I think dog cake recipe I made last year came out better, except I like the icing on this one a lot better. It’s essentially peanut butter buttercream, and who doesn’t like that?

This recipe is relatively easy to make. The only part to note is that it does take a relatively long time to bake and cool, so plan ahead. And don’t ice until it’s all the way cooled down!!

For cake:
2 cups water
2 ripe bananas
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour (whole wheat preferred, but I used all purpose
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey

For icings:
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (or butter)
food coloring
enough powdered sugar

Instructions
Heat oven to 350.
Mix cake ingredients.
Place in one 8 or 9 inch cake pan.
Cook for 60 to 75 minutes.
For icing, mix cottage cheese and if you’re feeling nice, a bit of powdered sugar and food coloring in a food processor until smooth. Use this to top the cake. Then, take the peanut butter and shortening or butter (at room temp) and mix really well. Then, add powdered sugar a little bit at a time, incorporating it into the icing completely before adding more. Keep adding until it’s sweet enough for your birthday dog.

Cover the cake with the cottage cheese icing, then decorate with the peanut butter icing. The peanut butter icing has extra sugar in it, so don’t use too much. However, this is a treat, so you be the judge.

To decorate, you can put the icing in a ziplock bag with a corner cut off, and use that as a piping bag. If you have icing piping nozzles, then you can do some really nice decorations with this icing. If you NEED a piping bag and nozzles, you can get them from Amazon relatively cheaply.

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Biased reporting of a breed

Bark N Blog...nuttin but the dog in me! — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As a Mastiff, I believe it is the intentional reporting of the media on certain breeds like pitbulls (not really a breed btw) that makes people want to see the genocide of a breed. And on the other side of the fence, it is also said that all breeds are the result of genetic tampering. [...]

Edmonton police shoot and kill one dog, Taser another after attack ... - The Canadian Press

dog - Google News — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Edmonton police shoot and kill one dog, Taser another after attack ...
The Canadian Press, EDMONTON - 33 minutes ago
EDMONTON — Edmonton police shot and killed a pit bull and Tasered a Rottweiler after the dogs attacked a man in his 20s. Officers were called to a ...
City police shoot one dog, taser another, following attack Canada.com
Edmonton Sunflashes Edmonton Sun
all 10 news articles

Morgana-the-Adoptable-Puppy

The Daily Puppy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Morgana is a beautiful Australian shepherd mix girl. Some people found her in the woods after hearing her crying. She was all by herself with no food, no water, no shelter, lonely and probably realizing that she was going to die. She is completely recovered from her ordeal, and is so very, very happy to be rescued. She is a cheerful little puppy who loves to play with anything or anyone who looks fun. She's working on walking on a leash, but she's too young to be tuned into it 100% just yet. She wants to learn, though, and is a very smart girl. She was born in May or June of 2008 and weighs 16 pounds at this moment. She is a growing girl! Please visit Hearts United for Animals at http://www.hua.org/ for more information on Morgana and other dogs awaiting adoption. Hearts United for Animals is a national no-kill animal shelter, sanctuary and animal welfare organization dedicated to the relief of animal suffering.

Click for more pictures and comments...

Wiener Take All

Google Blog Search: dog news — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Congrats goes out to 'Speckles' of Rogers, Arkansas, for taking the prize at Bella Vista Animal Shelter's Second Annual Wiener Dog Races on Saturday in Bella Vista, Arkansas. About 400 people showed up to watch 84 dachshunds race. ...

Anyone else have terrible puppy fever?

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

From seeing all these wonderful puppy pics on this forum and being around a lot of puppies lately I want one so bad! Well, two actually. I'd like to get a yellow lab and a boxer but I know that won't fly at this house right now. Seeing all this stuff on the forum feeds the fire but I can't help it! I even catch myself asking about local rescue groups. Anybody else yearning for another furry face around their house?