The Times of India is reporting that many canines in
Mumbai are
suffering from lifestyle diseases. Those diseases stemming from insufficient exercise, poor nutrition, and obesity are also unhappily common in the United States. Please remember that treats are great...in moderation. The best way to pamper your dog is to feed a balanced diet and provide regular exercise, to help your pup have the longest and healthiest life possible. If you're looking for a great food for your pet, check out
Kumpi. It is specially designed by an animal nutritionist to provide complete nutrition to your pet.
ABC reported on some
amazing examples of intelligence by supposedly wild or feral animals. Stray dogs in Moscow have mastered the use of subways, to get to neighborhoods with better food, a house cat in England takes the public bus to get around town
unbeknownst to its owner, a jungle leopard in India, needing to cross a swollen river with its cub, gets a man to ferry her and her cub across in his canoe. These and more stories of animal intelligence are being studied and compiled to help us build a better picture of animal consciousness.
To help study the decline of Killer Whales in the Puget Sound,
an eight-year-old lab has been trained to sniff out whale scat. This allows scientists to study the diet of the whales and make hypotheses about what may be impacting the size of their population (such as high concentrations of foreign chemicals in their systems).
South Korea
has a dog cloning industry that is raising a lot of sticky ethical questions. I'm sure that we all remember
Dolly the Sheep, the first adult animal to be cloned back in 1996. A lot of the same questions that came up then are resurfacing, as cloning becomes a commodity.
An Australian newspaper
reported on a kelpie and his trainer, and what it's like to get animals trained for television and film. The pup,
Koko, is the star of an Australian film called
Red Dog. If you are interested in seeing the film, I would suggest checking out
Stadium Video Rentals--they are a great local movie rental place, and always have a great stock of foreign and rare films available for rent.
I also found this cute blog post about
5 things your dog wants from you. I especially agree with number two--your dog wants a pack leader. In the absence of a strong leader, your pup will feel the need to fill that role. Now, you wouldn't let your dog dress you or decide where you go for dinner on Friday night, so why would you want your dog to run any other part of your life? Dogs don't want to be "in charge"--that's a lot of stress and responsibility! They would much rather leave all that to you, if you can show them you are able to be strong and confident.
I hope that you guys enjoyed reading these stories! We'll see you again next week.
-Hope
