pet connection

Study: Removal of ovaries could affect lifespan. A potentially groundbreaking study examined aging in Rottweilers.   The work by a team led by Dr. David Waters of Purdue, published in the December 2009 issue of the journal Aging Cell, strongly indicates that the length of time a dog retains her ovaries is directly linked to how many years she will live.

Dr. Waters’ team spent a decade collecting and analyzing medical histories, longevity, and causes of death for 119 Rottweilers in the United States and Canada that survived to 13 years of age. These dogs were compared with a group of 186 Rottweilers with more typical longevity.

Researchers found that female Rottweilers have a distinct survival advantage over males—a trend also documented in humans. That advantage appears to be determined by whether the female dog is sexually intact, however. “Taking away ovaries during the first four years of life completely erased the female survival advantage,” Dr. Waters said.

This isn’t just an interesting factoid that will impact the spay-neuter debate with respect to dogs.  It could have a lot to say about research into human longevity as well.

Dr. Parker’s group studied more than 29,000 women who underwent a hysterectomy for benign uterine disease. The findings showed that the benefits of ovary removal—protection against ovarian, uterine, and breast cancer—were outweighed by an increased mortality rate from other causes. As a result, longevity was cut short in women who lost their ovaries before the age of 50, compared with those who kept their ovaries for at least 50 years.

How ovaries affect longevity in Rottweilers is not understood, but Dr. Waters’ research points to a new set of research questions, recalibrating the conversation about removing ovaries.

Breed-specific legislation redux: Florida legislators are throwing the baby out with the bathwater by moving toward enacting sloppy, breed-specific laws again, substantively reversing their prohibition of such a thing more than 10 years ago.  The bill under consideration is Florida HB 543 (Senate version: SB 1276).

In effect, they will be turning back the clock to a time when blaming the dog, independent of contextual evidence, was acceptable.   State Rep. Thurston (D-Plantation) isn’t suggesting any move towards owner responsibility.   And the fact that identifying breeds accurately is, at best, a crapshoot, has eluded Thurston, as well as his co-sponsors.    Solving those problems can’t be done through the legislative process.  The losers here will be good, innocent dogs and responsible owners. If you live in Florida, it ’s time to make your voice heard (thanks to Cathy A for the cite).

Cat killed despite microchip:  Sorry, but we’re not done with the Sunshine State yet.    A couple in Broward county lost their Bengal cat, O’Malley.  Fortunately, O’Malley was microchipped.  That’s good, right?  If he is found by authorities, he can be quickly identified and returned to his anxious parents.   Good news:  O’Malley was found by the authorities.  Bad news, according to the Sun-Sentinel: he was put to death anyway.

The cat’s death has the family and county commissioners wondering if the scandal-plagued agency – which was restructured in 2008 after facing criticism for animal abuse and misconduct – has reformed its ways. The county is apologizing, but officials aren’t sure what exactly happened and are waiting for an internal investigation to be completed.[...]

An audit of the agency two years ago found food for dogs and cats in short supply, animal carcasses rotted in maggot-infested bags and workers taking valuable dogs for their own profits. Officials were forced to change procedures to reduce the problems.

“I’m furious,” said Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl, who led the drive to reform the agency. “I’m tired of it – how many years will this keep going on?”

Excellent question, Mr. Mayor.

For some good news, we fly up to New York…

The angel of Union Square: Emelinda Narvaez has rescued 10,000 dogs out of her mobile van in lower Manhattan.  You read that right.  Ten thousand dogs.    This profile of Ms. Narvaez, a cancer survivor herself, shows her to be a truly remarkable woman.

[She] believes dogs are the “Angels of This Earth.” But to the more than 10,000 dogs she’s rescued in New York, Emelinda is the angel. She does her miracle work through her nonprofit, Earth Angels, a no-kill canine rescue and adoption organization established to rescue homeless and abandoned dogs.

For the past 41 years, every single day, rain, shine or sleet, Emelinda has been saving dogs on the streets and taking canines from overcrowded shelters (that otherwise would’ve been euthanized). She then nurses the dogs back to health and finds happy, healthy homes for her four-legged friends.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication, Emelinda.  I have to agree with the author of the Huffington Post article, on behalf of the 10,000 lucky dogs.  You are the angel.

Bow to wow: Now let’s hop on the subway and head a little north, to midtown.  We’re stopping at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.  As part of the adoption drive for Animal Care & Control of NYC, a gorgeous golden retriever named Bailey was on the set of The Today Show last week.   Also present was gold medal winning U.S. Olympian Steven Holcomb, pilot of the victorious and historic “Night Train” four-man bobsled team (the U.S. had never won a gold in bobsled before the Vancouver Games).  Steve met Bailey, and promptly adopted her…a golden for a gold medal winner  (a golden tip of the cap to Jennifer Fearing of the HSUS for the story).

Paws for poetry: Switching gears entirely … April is National Poetry Month. (I learn so many interesting tidbits on this beat.)  In celebration, I’m volunteering you, so listen up.  Paws for Poetry is running a contest, and you are invited. See rules and regulations here for prizes and details.  The deadline is April 15, so you have a little more than  a month.  Good luck!

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credits:  Chow and pit bull terrier: Laura Dapkus, examiner.com.  Steve and Bailey: msnbc.com.

Four voices on lessons learned: Opinions abound on what happened in Sea World last week, but I want to highlight four responses to the death of Dawn Brancheau, not from armchair pundits but from thoughtful voices of considerable experience.   First, Dr. Mehmet Oz’s editorial in The Huffington Post, “A Requiem for the Pursuit of Knowledge”, which contains a kind tip of the cap to our own Dr. Marty Becker, and an important point.

This world is too precious not to take an active role in understanding its other tenants.  While killer whales will always remain wild animals and command respect and reverence, gifted animal trainers like Dawn Blancheau and Julie Scardina devote their lives to furthering the boundaries of relationships humans can have with them. Dawn gave her life in the name of science and discovery, and her efforts brought enlightenment to thousands of people.

Second, consider Jean-Michel Cousteau’s compelling, eloquent YouTube commentary.   Next, a response from widely respected training guru Karen Pryor’s clickertraining.com blog.  Finally, our friend Heather’s sharply acerbic rant the day of the tragedy in the most wonderful RaisedByWolves.

Drive or walk — not both: The weird story of the week comes to us from the London Guardian.   A 23-year old man in County Durham had his license revoked after he was caught walking his dog — from his CAR.

Sharon Lowrie, prosecuting, said a cyclist alerted police that two men were dragging a dog along from a car. She said: “The driver was hanging on to the dog’s lead through the driver window, approaching a blind summit.” [...]

Paul Donoghue, defending, said Railton had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. “He accepts it was a silly thing to do and there was an element of laziness. He does not usually drive in a such a manner,” Donoghue said.

“Not usually”?  Why does that not make me feel better?

The problem with bad breeders: One more example of FAIL, courtesy of trusty reader/researcher Susan and the fabulousness of YesBiscuit…we take you to Greenville, South Carolina.  A pit bull breeder had entirely too many dogs of the wrong color.   Well, he can’t dump them with his pickup, right?  So he drops them off at the Greenville Animal Shelter in a U-Haul.

Shelter manager Shelly Simmons says it’s evidence of a growing problem…. “We’ve never had a U-Haul before,” she said.  Simmons said the owners were trying to breed “blue” pit bulls because they sell for higher prices. Instead, they got 17 puppies in every color except blue.”You have amateur breeders who try to have puppies for the wrong reason and when they do that they end up over their heads,” Simmons said.

This isn’t funny.  The Greenville facility where the puppies were dumped is a kill shelter.   I won’t get into the whole fallacy of the color issue.  It’s bad enough as it is.

Beautiful and amazingly creative furnishings: Another tip from YesBiscuit….if you have a cat, need a new coffee table and have the money to spend, you have got to check this out.  A seriously gorgeous table with an integrated cat hammock.  You read that right: cat hammock.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an email.

Photo credits:  Trainer with whale, KCPT. Cat table, O VALOR DO DESIGN, via bookofjoe.com.

Several months ago, I volunteered my dog training business, Kindred Spirits Dog Training, to work with the residents of base housing on the US Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Because of some serious incidents, the Marine Corps had released an order requiring that all pit bulls, pittie mixes, Rottweilers, rottie mixes, and wolf hybrids pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen test or some other behavioral evaluation. Some of the bases went with behavior evaluations but Camp Pendleton decided to go with the CGC.

Now I am not and have never been a fan of breed specific legislation and have written and talked about this numerous times. But as a former Marine, I know fighting the Marine Corps would be difficult, so in this instance, we decided our efforts should go towards helping the residents of base housing keep their family dogs.

As I posted here previously, our association was a little rocky at the start; very few of the dogs had any training and almost all needed at least some basic obedience training. But the owners were motivated, we had three dogs pass the CGC within a month, and many more were in training.

In the first few months we had a few dogs show aggression towards other dogs that was worrisome and we had two who showed aggression towards people. But overall, things settled down and we have been working dogs through the training they needed and most passed the CGC. More will pass this month.

The deadline for the dogs passing the CGC is rapidly approaching – April 1. Now we’re seeing the dogs who have known — to their owners — behavioral problems. Far too many owners tell us their dog never leaves the house or backyard because they can’t control him.  We’ve had a few walk into our training yard so aggressively we can’t deal with them at all.

This past week, a Rottie scared me badly and I don’t scare easily. And they have two kids at home. Plus the woman kept making excuses for him, “He was trained as a puppy but the kids keep me busy now. His jumping on you (and wrapping his front legs around your body and holding on while staring you in the eyes) is friendly.” Yeah, right, lady, his hackles were up and he was growling.  He’s not going to pass the CGC.

In more than 25 years of dog training, I’ve been bitten a few times. But, when talking about the problems with breed specific legislation, I always said, “I have never been bitten by a pit bull.” I can’t say that any more.

A few weeks ago a pittie was walked into our training yard by his owner, the wife of a Marine, and immediately the dog lunged towards another dog, aggressively, dragging his owner behind him. I stepped in to prevent a problem, grabbed the dog’s leash and he went for my face. I stopped him, asked him to sit and he jumped for my face again. I stopped him again, but he went for my face a third time and this time he got me. Luckily I’m pretty fast and it wasn’t bad. Most of the teeth punctures have healed well but one is going to leave a scar.

There was a back story, of course. The dog is an intact male, used for breeding, never attended a socialization puppy class, never went to a training class, and never goes on walks because the owners can’t control him. The young couple, who have two young kids, don’t know anything about dogs, breeding, genetics, or temperament. The only reason they came to us was because they needed the dog to pass the CGC, which he will now not pass.

Kate and Petra, my partners at Kindred Spirits, and I were talking the other day about some of the dogs who won’t be able to pass the CGC and we said the rescue groups were going to be overwhelmed. After calling some friends I found out the shelters and rescues are already over capacity. Because so many of the dogs being given up now have aggression problems, they are not going to be considered adoptable.

This past weekend I talked to a friend who does pittie rescue. She says now she has gotten much better at evaluating which dog to bail out of the shelters, not only because she can’t save them all, but because she was recently bitten quite badly by a pittie she took out of the shelter in northern San Diego county, just south of Camp Pendleton. She’s going to be okay, but she’s more careful now.

It’s a sad situation all the way around.

We have been told over and over again that a wagging tail means a happy dog but that isn’t necessarily true. A moving tail is a sign that the dog is feeling emotions, but those emotions can range from happiness through unease to worry or even aggression.

Recently a dog owner called me in hysterics because her dog had bitten someone. She said, “I let him go up to the person to say ‘Hi’ because he was wagging his tail.” She misunderstood what her dog’s tail was saying.

I’ll admit, though, that reading tails can be tough. Not only do tails differ – from the Pug’s tightly curled tail to a German Shepherd’s sickle, plumed tail – but each dog’s personality is unique. So each dog will show his emotions in his own way.

But a tail’s posture and movements can give us some clues to what the dog is feeling, so let’s talk about some common tail postures and movements.

A dog who is comfortable and relaxed will generally move his tail in sync with his body (if walking) so it’s usually gently swinging.

A friendly dog will stand naturally, comfortably, with the tail in a neutral position. The tail may be moving back and forth in a wide wave.

A friendly dog greeting a known friend may increase that movement to a wider, more active wave back and forth. The hips may also get involved, increasing the tail’s action.

A friendly dog who is asking another dog to play — in a play bow with front end down and hips up — will generally have his tail lowered. During play, the tail is usually wagging, however the speed of the wag and the position of the tail — up or down — depends on the dog’s mood and position during play.

The dog who is the chaser during play will usually raise his tail high while the one being chased may lower or even tuck it, even though the play is friendly. When moving, the tail is usually sweeping wide during play but at times, depending upon the emotions, it may or may not move during these communications.

A dog who is stalking something — bird, mouse, person, or another dog — will usually hold his tail high and still.

An adult dog correcting or disciplining a puppy or adolescent will also hold his tail high and still.

A worried dog will tuck the tail close to the back legs. A fearful dog will, too, although a very fearful dog may pull the tail between the back legs to the belly. The tip of the tail may still wag or twitch.

A focused dog — one looking at a squirrel or giving you his total attention — will usually hold his tail in a neutral position but quite still. However, if you then praise for his attention, the tail may begin to move slowly from side to side. Should your praise turn into a jackpot reward, it will begin waving wildly.

Then there are tail-less dogs. Although my husband and I have owned dogs with tails, including German Shepherds and Papillons, for the past twenty years our breed of choice has been Australian Shepherds, a tail-less breed.

There have been quite a few discussions that tail-less dogs are at a disadvantage when in groups of other dogs. It’s been stated that without tails to communicate, fights are more apt to break out when a tailed dog plays with a tail-less one.

I disagree. Canine body language and communication are much more than just a tail or the lack of a tail. Although many dog owners such as my student look just at the tail for information about the dog’s emotions, it’s best to look at the dog as a whole. What are the dog’s facial expressions telling you? What is the dog’s body posture? Is his head up or lowered? Is he making eye contact or not? All of these things are part and parcel of reading the dog.

The tail is a part of the entire picture, yes, and at a quick glance the tail can tell us a lot. But for the complete reading, look at the dog as a whole.

Pet killing debate now high profile issue in Illinois: This November, Illinois voters will be going to the polls to select a new governor.  You remember the whole Rod Blagojevic mess?  Well, he was replaced by Lt. Governor Pat Quinn.  Quinn (a Democrat) is now running for election in his own right, and last week came out with a statement about who his prospective running mate might be:

“I think it’s important for our lieutenant governor to be someone who loves dogs,” Quinn said.

That might sound a little odd for a governor’s race, but The Huffington Post tells us the remark has its roots in an ongoing debate over the use of the carbon monoxide gas chamber to kill shelter pets in multiples.

In 2009, the Illinois legislature passed a bill banning the use of carbon monoxide gas chambers for the mass [killing] of dogs. At the time, Sen. [Bill] Brady voted against the bill. And recently, just days after the Feb. 2 primary [for the GOP nomination]  he introduced a new bill to re-legalize the practice.

Brady took considerable flak over the proposed legislation from the Humane Society [of the United States] and the story garnered a good deal of media coverage.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Brady was pretty quick to back off this porcupine:

Brady  gutted the legislation Wednesday and turned it over to another sponsor after the Humane Society of the United States condemned the measure and characterized the procedure as cruel.

“A constituent asked me to do it, and I have an obligation to represent my constituents,” Brady said.

“I was never for it, but I thought it was a subject that deserved discussion. But the politics surrounding me being the nominee created an environment that’s more attack mode than discussion mode, so we shelled the bill.”

The Sun-Times reports the “constituent” was an animal-control facility in Brady’s district, apparently one with management that believes killing pets in a cruel and terrifying way is preferable to, you know, just plain old killing them. Someone, please, get those people information on building a no-kill community. Or better yet, replace them with people who at least live in this century.

Oly the Olympic puppy: You may have seen something about a bunch of winter sports taking place in and near Vancouver over the last couple weeks.  Jordan Malone is an American short-track skater. He didn’t have a great Olympics, but he did have a best friend who got him through it all.

Uncanny canine carousel carvings: You may know Tim Racer as one of the co-founders of BADRAP. However, you might not know about Tim’s phenomenal talent in creating drop-dead gorgeous canine carousel sculptures.   Tim takes up to 700 hours getting these works of art exactly right, and has been known to fly across the country to meet his models, using the opportunity to take precise measurements with calipers.   Thanks to Susan and Gina for tipping me off to this SFGate article.

So what does “Cami Missy Diva Piglet Punky Girl” mean? I’m a sucker for psychological discussions that try to analyze tidbits about me and use those little factoids to draw broad-brush conclusions.    This one from Forbes Magazine is perfect, then.  What you name your pet gives clues as to your personality.

Your dog’s name says a lot about who you are. “The name of a dog reflects the personality and sense of humor of the owner,” says Lisa Peterson, spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club. “For example if you name your toy poodle ‘Brutus,’ that shows a sense of irony.”

Ok, so maybe I won’t learn as much as I hoped, but you should still check it out.

Funny things that veterinary clients say: PetConnection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly has a funny piece on Dolittler about great stuff uttered by her clients.  The comments yield even more, so be sure to read them too.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an email.

Image:  Ruff weekend on the campaign for state Sen. Bill Brady (HuffPo image).