Humane Society Angel Trees 2008

Hey Everyone,

I know it's not even Halloween yet and the Christmas decorations are out at Wal-Mart. Heck, I'm pretty sure Hobby Lobby has had Christmas trees up since July. I am usually a hardcore opponent of doing anything related to Christmas before Thanksgiving, but this past weekend I bent my rules and had a great time doing it.

What am I talking about? No, I haven't finished my Christmas shopping already, so don't start hating me. We were fortunate enough to host the Humane Society's Angel Tree and Angel Wreath making at Bigwag on Sunday. The store became a center of bells and glitter, Christmas trees and wreaths, ribbon and decorations for a few hours. I imagine it's what Santa's Workshop would look like if you ever had a chance to visit. We had lots of fantastic volunteers working to create beautiful trees and wreaths with a purpose.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Humane Society's Angels Trees and Angel Wreaths, they are much like any other angel tree, you take a tag off the tree and purchase that item to donate to the Humane Society, then return it to the Humane Society or one of several other collection points.

Now, I know this is a rough economic year and everyone is cutting back on Christmas. But, I would ask you to think twice about giving a little something to the animals at the Humane Society. The Humane Society runs completely on donations. They don't receive any local, state or federal funding. That means they depend on you to help care for homeless dogs and cats until they find forever homes. And you don't have to donate $500 to make a difference. Many of the items on the Angel Trees and Wreaths are cheap items, things like bleach and dish detergent.

So please, look for Angel Trees and Wreaths starting in November at the following locations: All Dogs Clinic, Animal Medical Center, Bigwag Dog Bakery, Camp Bow Wow, Faithful Friends Animal Clinic, the Humane Society for Animals, Murphy Dog Park, New Hope Animal Hospital, Rose Antique Mall and Flea Market, and Quality Pet Supplies. I'll add more locations as I become aware of them.

Items may be returned to Bigwag Dog Bakery, the Humane Society for Animals, Rose antique Mall and Flea Market and Quality Pet Supplies.

In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of our wreath making event. And if you have any questions about how you can help out, call us or email us here at the store and we'll either answer your questions or point you in the direction of someone who can! Thanks in advance for your support of this fantastic cause.

Charitably Yours,
Erin

Special Kitty Dry Cat Food Recall

Salmonella contamination from Mars Petcare…

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — October 27, 2008 — Mars Petcare US today announced a voluntary recall of a limited number of bags of SPECIAL KITTY® Gourmet Blend dry cat food sold at Wal-Mart locations in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled following a positive test result indicating a potential contamination with Salmonella.

Pet owners with questions about the recall can call 1-877-568-4463 or visit www.petcare.mars.com.

Recalled Pet Food

Product: SPECIAL KITTY® Gourmet Blend Dry Cat Food
Best If Used By Date: AUG 11 09
Best By Date Location: Back of bag
Production Lot Code: 50 XXXX X (Found on back of bag just after “Best If Used By” date. Consumers should look for “50″ as the first two digits of the second line.)

Easy Pill Pockets - Giving Your Dog Medications

I just read a review for greenies pill pockets. While I am sure that this product probably works, I am not a big fan of the original greenies because of their digestibility issues, and to be honest, I don't know much about these pill pockets. But, I have always failed to understand why someone would need a special pill pocket to give dogs treats when every dog I have ever owned took pills so easily.

Whats my secret you ask? I use one of four human foods to give my dogs pills. First I'll try bread. I'll take a corner, and mash the bread around the pill until it's pretty dense. Most dogs swallow this so fast they don't even realize it's a pill. If you keep it small (just a corner) they will barely even taste it.

Second try, if that doesn't work, I'll do the same thing with a bit of sliced American cheese. Cheese is perfectly safe for dogs, and they love it. I don't give my dogs too much cheese, as too much might constipate them. But, a little corner or even one slice has never hurt them. I have medium sized dogs, so just vary according to the size of your dog.

Third try, if that doesn't work, I'll slice up a piece of hotdog, and poke the pill into the center. I rarely have to get to this stage, but I have not known too many dogs to need to get past this point. Sometimes I wonder if the pill even touched their tongue. Thsi is usually the express elevator to their stomachs.

TOP SECRET: I have had one dog that could tell the difference of a pill in any of these foods, and at that point no soft food, including pill pockets will help this situation. They are just too smart and have sensitive teeth. To get past this one problem, I took a corner of bread, and spread crunchy peanut butter over it, placed the pill in the center, and rolled it up like a mini burrito. Wasn't too messy, and it was virtually impossible for her to distinguish the pill from the other crunchy nuts. This never failed. The sticky quality of the peanut butter made it impossible to separate, and the nuts made it indistinguishable.

The true grace of these methods for pill pockets is that I usually have most of these items in the house already, so I don't need to rush out and buy anything to give my dogs pills. Second, they are 100% digestible, and I don't have to worry about poor quality ingredients, because they are all human grade ingredients. I don't have to worry about giving my dog sugar laden candy that is most of the commercial pet treats on the market today. If anyone else has any suggestions, please share!

Hartz Mountain recalls Rawhide

The FDA announced Hartz-Mountain is voluntarily recalling a small batch of chicken basted rawhide strips due to salmonella contamination.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- October 20, 2008 -- The Hartz Mountain Corporation, Secaucus, NJ is voluntarily recalling one specific lot of Hartz Chicken-Basted Rawhide Chips due to concerns that one or more bags within the lot are potentially contaminated with Salmonella. Hartz is fully cooperating with the US Food and Drug Administration in this voluntary recall.

To see the FDA post, visit here.

Solid Gold Tiny Tots Recall

Solid Gold announced a recall of their Tiny Tots treats due to mold contamination:

Tiny Tots Dog Treat Voluntary Product Withdrawl

October 13, 2008

Due to some instances of mold growth in a single batch of Tiny Tots, we have decided to voluntarily withdraw the entire production run from the market. We would like to assure our customers that there have been no reported serious health effects on dogs that have consumed Tiny Tots from this batch.

If you have a bag of Tiny Tots with a Best Before date of April 2009, please return it to your retail store for a full refund. No other batches of Tiny Tots or any of our other jerky treats are affected.

Solid Gold is committed to producing the healthiest food, treats, and supplements for your pet. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please contact us at 800-364-4863 or online at dane@solidgoldhealth.com.

If you would like to see their post on their website, visit here.

Getting Started in Lure Coursing

We have another guest blog, this time from June Sayer, who works at Lowell Veterinary Clinic as their staff groomer, and also works with the NWA Kennel Club. She and her husband have started a lure coursing group here in NWA, and have been holding trials and fun runs at various events such as Ward Nail park in Lowell, and Murphy Dog Park.

Getting Started in Lure Coursing

The purpose of non-competitive lure coursing tests is to offer sighthound breed owners a standardized gauge to measure their hounds' coursing instinct. The purpose of the competitive lure coursing trial program is to preserve and develop the coursing skills inherent in the sighthounds and to demonstrate that they can perform the functions for which they were originally bred.

Although lure coursing events are artificial simulations of coursing, they are designed to measure and develop the characteristics of the sighthound breeds.

Lure coursing tests and trials are sports and all participants must be guided by the principles of good sportsmanship both on and off the test and trial fields (Regulations for Lure Coursing Test and Trials Handbook, Chapter 1, Section 1, page 1).

Sighthounds are a special group of hounds that are bred to hunt by sight. The sighthound breeds are: Whippets, Basenjis, Greyhounds, Italian Greyhounds, Afghan Hounds, Borzois, Ibizan Hounds, Pharaoh Hounds, Irish Wolfhounds, Scottish Deerhounds, Salukis and Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

To provide a test for these breeds AKC instituted the Lure Coursing tests and trials in July, 1991. These Tests and Trials utilize a 'lure' of white plastic strung around a course of 600 to 800 yards in an open field. They are meant to preserve, test and develop the coursing instincts in these breeds. Your first step to learning about lure coursing is to get a copy of Lure Coursing Rules and Regulations and familiarize yourself with what is required to enter the various events offered. Dogs must be at least one year old to run at an AKC-approved event. Dogs with breed disqualifications are not eligible. Check the standard for your breed or the Lure Coursing Regulations for more information.

The lure coursing Tests offer the Junior Courser (JC) and Senior Courser (SC) titles. In the Junior Courser test the dog runs solo and is required to run at least a 600 yard course with four turns under two different judges. For the Senior Courser test the dog must be eligible to run in the Open Stake by virtue of having a Junior Courser title; must run with at least one other dog and must earn a qualifying score at four AKC tests under at least two different judges. To earn the Master Courser test the dog must earn 25 qualifying scores in the Open, Open Veteran or Specials Stake and have a Senior Courser Title.

In the lure coursing Trials the dogs can earn a Field Championship (FC) by accumulating 15 points with at least two first place wins of three points or more under two different judges or judging panels and at least one point must be earned in competition with at least one hound of the same breed.

Once a dog has earned an FC, they may continue to compete in order to earn a Lure Courser Excellent title (LCX). They must accumulate an additional 45 Championship points at which time they receive the LCX title. If they wish to continue to compete, they can continue to accumulate Championship points in increments of 45 and earn additional LCX levels, i.e. LCX II, LCX III, LCX IV, etc.

To find out more information on lure coursing or sighthound clubs in your area you can find them through the Club Search and for information on lure coursing events in your area use our Event Search. Coursing is a good way to keep your sighthound mentally and physically fit and nothing is more fun that seeing the sheer joy on your sighthound's face as he courses his 'quarry' instinctively.

June Sayre

These events are very exciting to watch, and if you have dogs that love to chase, this might be an ideal sport to get into. If you would like more information on Lure Coursing in NWA, please contact June at skbt4@sbcglobal.net.