Dog Articles

Training your dog is an amazing way to build your bond together, keep them mentally and physically exercised, and show off to your friends that your dog actually listens to you.

Typically, you have two things on-hand when training: a clicker and treats. However, only one of those things has the potential to contribute to obesity and nutrient imbalances if overused. You might have guessed it’s not the clicker.        

Too many dog treats = obesity

Treats are an essential part of positive reinforcement, rewards-based training, but you also need to be mindful to balance your dog’s treats with their overall daily calories. Give them too many treats and you won’t just spoil their appetite for actual meals, but you could also make your dog overweight and unhealthy. Read on to learn how many treats are too many for your dog and how to best balance treats with your dog’s normal food.

 
You may have read scary reports about toxins such as lead turning up in dog toys, or shady manufacturing processes for dog chews and toys brought in overseas from places like China. But there's one thing you probably haven’t heard: How to tell whether the dog toy you just bought, or are about to buy, might be toxic.

 
On June, 2016, United Airlines flight 1859 landed in Phoenix with a dead Yorkshire Terrier, Diamond, in its cargo hold. Official cause of death was complications due to “cardiac arteriosclerosis.” A month earlier, Pinkerton was also found dead when United Airlines flight 0722 landed in Phoenix — the cause of death in that case was listed simply as “heart failure.”

Those are but two deaths out of a total of nine that United Airlines reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2016, the most of any airline that year. All airlines are required to make these “animal incident reports” of death or injuries to animals on their flights. United reported 23 incidents (deaths and injuries) in total, but they weren’t the only airline to have pets die on their planes.

What could possibly be more adorable than a happy, bouncing puppy, amirite?

But most would agree that a bouncing 20, 30, or 50-pound adult dog is decidedly less cute.

Lots of puppies greet people by jumping. This is because dogs greet other dogs by sniffing each other’s faces… and other regions. When your puppy is bouncing like a fluffy little wind-up toy, they want to get up high enough to greet you properly. It’s no surprise that most people are happy to oblige their little ball of energy, scoop them up, and enjoy a few puppy kisses. But this becomes less cute with an adult dog. It might even stop being cute when they're still a puppy, like on those days when you only want to get through the front door without being accosted.

Is CBD a cure-all, snake oil, or something in between?

If you have spent any time researching cannabis for dogs, and specifically cannabidiol (CBD), you have probably found yourself wondering whether these products are safe, and even if they will offer any real benefits for your pained, anxious, or elderly dog.

The simple story about CBD is that there is no simple story about CBD. Though CBD is a non-psychoactive chemical derived from cannabis or hemp that won’t get people or animals high like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it still falls into both a medical and bureaucratic black hole where it can be nearly impossible to extract definitive information.

But we have done our best to stare into the CBD abyss and pull out as much as possible to help you decide whether it might be good for your dog. As you’ll soon see, vets are placed in a difficult position when talking about these products, but you will hopefully walk away from this article with enough information to help you make a more-informed decision.

Many companies now allow their employees to bring dogs to work, and more workplaces are doing the same. According to the 2015 Society for Human Resource Management survey, 8 percent of American workplaces allowed employees to bring pets to work, which was up from 5 percent that had such a policy two years earlier. 

Amazon, for example, has not only opened its own downtown dog park, but “more than 2,000 dogs are brought in regularly to Amazon's main campus where about 25,000 employees work,” according to CNBC. 

You could even say that modern workplaces have really... gone to the dogs (cue rimshot).