DOG OWNERSHIP

Because you're in a rush, you call your dog in a somewhat irritated voice to come back to you once he's had his walk off leash. But just to get your goat, it seems, he makes his way toward you slowly — and in a curve rather than a straight line, which only makes him take longer. And the more annoyed you get, the more slowly he goes. So of course you scold him once he gets to you.

Or perhaps you want your dog to do something, and his response is to act "stubborn," or perhaps "distracted." Maybe you're yelling at him to comply one way or another and all he does is sniff the ground.

I'll be out of the office until Monday, March 28, on pawternity leave. I will be checking my email only occasionally.

So went the automatic reply that came to us from a business associate. He had taken several weeks off from work to stay home with his new puppy, which he adopted when the dog was eight weeks old.

Over the top? We dont think so. To bring a puppy into your house after it has been with its littermates, and then the next day go off to work - youre rupturing that delicate bond at the beginning of life, says Tufts Animal Behavior Clinic Director Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, DACVB.

Carol Costello was nervous. "I'd never had a dog before," she says, "and it bothered me that Teddy would be home by himself for so many hours every day while my husband and I were at work and the kids were at school."

Teddy was the malti-poo — half Maltese, half poodle — that the Massachusetts-based Costellos were adopting from a breeder in Spokane, Washington, and Ms. Costello's consternation actually began even before the 12-week-old dog stepped into her house. "I was concerned about his transition all the way across the country," she says. "I didn't want him being ‘shipped' in a crate in the cargo load.

"While it is generally true that all dogs need lots of aerobic exercise," says veterinarian Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, in The Well-Adjusted Dog, "breed requirements...

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Constance smelled smoke. John, then 12, was showering in preparation to go to a French lesson. Franklin and Rosie were hanging out in their usual spots-he under the couch; she, on it. I was at the office. Typical day.At first she tried to ignore it. Someone must have their fireplace going. It was one of those raw March days. But the odor grew stronger, and seemed to be more prominent on the side of the house, whereas its usually our neighbors across the street who are the most likely to throw logs on the grate.

In his delightful book, Off the Leash, about a grown mans very first year with his very first, very beloved puppy, author Matthew Gilbert asks, Why get a dog when its life will end, probably before yours? He then goes on to answer the question: Because its worth the pain of loss."Like so many others, he had, as he puts it, begun to understand and accept the bargain. He acknowledges that his yellow Lab, Toby, would leave…someday. But, he says, I was blocking that fact as much as I could, successfully, rather than obsessing about his death so much that I forgot to enjoy him. I was not pregrieving him, just savoring him.

The best way for an old dog to die would be the same as the best way for a person-peacefully, in his sleep, and suddenly, because of a stroke or some other incident that takes his life in a single moment. Unfortunately, as with people, most dogs dont die easy. Theres a better-than-even chance that euthanasia is one of the choices you will make for your pet.

1. Your 13-year-old dog has laryngeal paralysis, a progressive condition that is making it harder and harder for her to breathe. She's getting to the point where she's literally struggling to take breaths. You

a) Schedule a surgery to treat the condition.
b) Know that the breathing problem is going to continue to worsen and will just put her down when you have to because the risks of anesthesia that go along with the surgery are too great for her.
c) Wait and see.

The second Saturday in May is National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day (May 14th this year), and by the look of things, preparedness for disaster is becoming all the more important. Last years wildfire season shattered national records, with more than 10 million acres burned. And while tornado season is officially mid-March through June, violent tornadoes and major tornado outbreaks have been documented in the United States in every single month of the year.

A few years ago Hill's Pet Nutrition started a Disaster Relief Network as an extension of its Food, Shelter & Love Program. It is comprised of more than 100 shelters nationwide that are on board to expedite fulfillment of dogs' and other pets' food needs when the areas they are in or near are affected by catastrophic events, disrupting lives.

[From Tufts August 2010 Issue] Its a hot summer day, and you return to your car after shopping at the mall. As you look for your keys, you glance at the car next to you and see a dog inside, panting, obviously in distress. What should you do? First and foremost, a concerned citizen should try to find the owner of the vehicle, says animal law attorney Jonathan Rankin, a graduate of Tufts Universitys Master of Science…