DOG OWNERSHIP

The night that a blizzard dropped a foot of snow in my area this past winter, little Rosie was having trouble making her way over a snow bank that separated the road from a park. Usually shes pretty tough, but that night she was spooked and, although I had her on leash, she kept backing up further and further into the road. I had already let Franklin off leash, and he easily made his way over the bank and was walking further into the park.

When pitbull mix Brooklyn came to live with Rochelle Lucas and Aaron Roylance at the ripe age of 9, he tipped the scales somewhere between 90 and 95 pounds. The vet said, he cannot stay at this weight, Ms. Lucas recalls. Thats going to be really hard on his joints."

A common question vets get asked is What would you do if it were your dog? says John Berg, DVM, DACVS,

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), dog owners spend an average of $1,314 on items for their small dog, $1,580 for a medium-size dog, and $1,843 for a large one - in the first year alone! Multiply that by the estimated 70 to 80 million pet dogs in the United States, and it adds up to quite a lot of stuff - toys, beds, and other pleasure- and comfort-giving paraphernalia. That means a lot of wear and tear on the planet through the use of materials and manufacturing processes that leave a large ecological footprint.

Some photographers of dogs are born great. Others have great photographers thrust across the street from them. It was my luck to have moved across the street from Michael Weymouth, one of the most highly successful and sought after commercial photographers around. Thats how I got this great photo of my son, John, and our first dog, Ellie, when John was two.

February 2017 - Full Issue PDF

You keep making a typo when you refer to one of the veterinarians on your editorial board, a reader wrote. Cailin Heinze is always called a VMD. But the designation for a vet is DVM.

Wait, before you start reading, go get your wall calendar, or date book, or smart phone, or whatever it is you use to remind yourself of your appointments. Well wait.

Of course, not all resolutions apply equally to dogs and people. Here are two to make for your pet that you dont need to make for yourself - but which will give you peace of mind.

Another year and with it, another list of resolutions followed by a few weeks of good intentions. But what if you were to shake things up a bit this go-round, incorporating your dog's well-being into the list of things you want to improve on? There is a good deal of overlap between a number of resolutions suited to you and to your dog, and if you make them with both of you in mind, you might be more motivated to stick with them. Here are five suggestions for resolutions that will lead to wellness benefits for you and your canine pal at the same time, allowing you to double-dip into improved outcomes.

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In the October 2016 issue we discussed which countries have the most pet dogs. But the more important issue is how the people in each country treat their dogs. No behavioral survey or study has been conducted that could give empirical evidence, but for a view toward a general understanding of how respectfully and lovingly dogs are treated in various regions across the globe, we spoke with Karen Menczer, founder and executive director of Animal-Kind International, a 10-year-old organization that raises money for animal welfare organizations in countries across Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Menczer has also traveled much of the world outside of those regions, always with an eye toward the care and protection of dogs and other animals.