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Those of you that follow us regularly may have noticed we haven’t been posting recently. We wanted to give you an update and fill you in on what’s been happening here at SlimDoggy. We have been busy with our dogs, Jack & Coco. Jack is recovering nicely from his toe amputation, but he... »
The SlimDoggy family has expanded. We have adopted a sweet little chocolate morsel named Coco. Coco was turned into the shelter when her family lost their home in the fires in Kern County, California this summer. She was then taken in as a foster by an LA rescue organization. We first saw her on Pet... »
Jack has lost a toe…no it hasn’t been misplaced, it’s been amputated. Our story begins a few months ago when we started taking Jack to a dog gym/vet who offered water treadmill therapy. His hind end has been getting weaker and our regular vet suggested some additional... »
This past Saturday morning, we lost our Maggie May. She fought a year-long battle with osteosarcoma and lived life on her own terms right till the end. That morning, she was happily awaiting her breakfast when she collapsed and died within moments. When you have a dog that is terminall... »
You never used to hear too much about dogs getting cavities. That’s because dogs don’t normally eat the sugary sweets that cause dental caries. But, recently vets report an uptick in cavities in dogs – mainly because people are feeding them more human foods – and not all of t... »
One of the most lovable behaviors of our dog Sally was her affection for her stuffed bear. When we first brought her home as an eight week old puppy, we gave her a stuffed bear that was about the same size of her for comfort. She became attached to that bear from the very beginning. She slept with i... »
In our last post, we discussed the problems with using the feeding instructions on dog food labels. Following these can easily result in over-feeding. Today we will examine the monetary cost of overfeeding your dog. We will use the example that we used in Part 1 of this series. We had a 60 lb. ... »
Skin problems are pretty common in dogs. They can range from a simple itch related to a bite to more serious diseases such as mange or melanoma. Some of our dogs have had sensitive skin and have frequent “hot spots” (Jack). My dog Max had mange that resulted in her scratching up h... »
It’s been almost a year since Maggie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her left shoulder. She’s been through a lot of treatment and has been a model patient throughout. Read about Maggie’s treatment Part I and Part II. Maggie has just turned twelve and amazingly, she... »
We’ve had some health issues with both Jack & Maggie lately and a lot has happened since our last post about them, so I thought I’d provide an update and outlook. I’ll start with Jack and provide a post for Maggie after her Doctor’s appointment this week. J... »
I remember when Tino developed glaucoma and was going blind. It was a pretty traumatic experience – more for US than for Tino. He actually adapted quite easily and quickly. But for us, it was hard because I felt such empathy for him. I wanted to baby him and take care of him, but realized that... »
We don’t discuss dog training very much here at SlimDoggy. Mainly because we are not dog trainers and to be honest, not even very good at training our dogs. We train them just enough so they are as well-behaved as we need them to be. Quite a justification, huh? Maybe we’re just la... »
Many of us have experienced the loss of a dog and those of us with multi-dog households have dealt with not only our own mourning but possibly our dogs mourning the loss of their sibling. None of our dogs have been ‘close’ to each other – it was more a mutual respect and agr... »
A few years ago I wrote about the dangers of foxtails. I told a story about when foxtails actually benefited us as it allowed us to catch the two strays we’d been after for a few days. One of them (Bernie) had a foxtail between his toes that had festered and swollen his paw so large he couldn&... »
In the second part of our SlimDoggy Health Check series on Rabies, we are going to take a look at canine rabies, it’s symptoms and treatment. As we explained in Part 1, rabies is carried in the saliva of an infected animal. A bite or scratch from an infected animal could easily transfer the vi... »
Dear Labby, We’ve been thinking about adopting a dog from the shelter. I don’t think we’re prepared for a puppy, but I worry about an older dog. Will they bond to my family? Is it better to get a puppy? Does it upset a dog to get a new family? Will they ever learn to be loya... »
You may have seen a series of article recently regarding the advisability of hugging your dog. In the initial article titled »
Dogs bark. It’s a fact of life. Some bark more than others, some howl, some yip, some have a deep resounding bark. It’s one of the ways that dogs communicate with us. Sally was probably what I would call an average barker. She’d let out a bark or two when someone knocked at ... »
We all LOVE our dogs, that’s a fact. It’s unlikely you would even be reading this blog if you don’t have a dog that you love. But dogs can also be the most frustrating family member. Right? Our first dog, Sally was a beautiful little bundle of Chocolate Lab lov... »
We are not a big traveling family. We’ve traveled so much for work over the years, getting to stay home is a luxury. Plus, with two “large” dogs, traveling can be a challenge. I am uncomfortable with putting the dogs in the cargo hold on a plane, so that limits travel to places we ... »
Rabies is a serious and deadly virus that attacks the nervous system of an infected animal causing brain disease and eventually death. Rabies is typically transmitted through a bite from a rabid animal and is most commonly found in raccoons, skunks, bats and foxes. Dogs are a common carrier, but glo... »
Dear Labby, My 10-year old Cocker Spaniel has started licking their elbow joint all the time. I checked to see if there was a cut or a tick or something irritating him, but I don’t see anything. What’s up with this licking behavior? Worried Mom Dear Mom, Good ... »
We’ve been focused on the Nervous System recently in our SlimDoggy Health Check Series. This includes the spinal cord and the brain. One of the more common brain related disorders that our dogs get is epilepsy. I feel fortunate that none of my dogs have ever suffered from this disorder (knock ... »
We’ve never been big on dog tricks. Yes, we’ve taught our dogs to fetch and sit and lie down – but those are hardly what I would call tricks. I’ve always wanted to have a dog that could play dead when I pretended to shoot him or balance things on their nose, or even high five... »
We continue our SlimDoggy Health Check look at the Nervous System today by looking at brain disorders. A dog’s brain is divided into three parts: brain stem, cerbellum and cerebrum. The brain stem controls basic life functions, the cerebrum controls decision making functions and cerebellum is ... »
We’ve all seen some of those funny YouTube videos showing a dog doing some basic yoga poses. Heck, a couple of our favorite yoga poses are named after stretches that dogs do. We are all probably familiar with yoga and the benefits it can bring your health and well being. I have practiced Bikra... »
It’s been a few months since I updated Maggie’s status relative to her osteosarcoma. It’s been almost eight months since her initial diagnosis and we’re happy to report she is going strong (knock on wood). She completed her chemotherapy treatments for the osteos... »
We’ve all seen the internet memes about the “cone of shame” and the poor dogs who have to suffer through the wearing of them. We’ve probably even had a few dogs who had to wear them at one time or another. Poor dogs, what’s the point of these stupid things... »
Dear Labby, I was watching a funny video I saw on Facebook last week of an energetic boxer breaking out of their crate. I think the owner that posted it thought it was funny and I admit I laughed a little – he was so determined to breakout. But the comments from others on the FB post we... »
Just over a year ago we started a new ongoing series at SlimDoggy called SlimDoggy Health Check. The purpose of the series was to examine the wide variety of diseases and ailments that might afflict our beloved dogs and provide our readers with a brief look at the symptoms, treatments and prognosis ... »
Most of you have probably seen the outcry this past week regarding the poor conformation of the German Shepherd Dog that won Best of Breed in the recent Crufts Dog show in the United Kingdom. If you haven’t, you can read about it here (Crufts plunged into cruelty row over ‘deformed’... »
We’ve probably all heard it said, or been warned by a dog trainer that dogs playing tug of war leads to aggression and should be avoided. Makes no difference if they are playing with you or with another dog, the act of tug and the associated victory of possession creates jealousy and possessiv... »
First and foremost I want to say that there are absolutely legitimate reasons for people to require the type of assistance that service dogs can afford them. Trained guide dogs for the blind, dogs like our Becca who was trained to carry a backpack for her wheel-chair bound owner, dogs who detect sei... »
The canine nervous system is comprised of the central nervous system (CNS) made up of the brain and the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system, the nerves that run from the brain and spinal cord throughout the dog’s body. These peripheral nerves carry the signals from the brain to comma... »
One of the main training techniques every dog owner tries to master is recall, getting your dog to come back to you when you call them by name. Dogs easily learn their names and respond to it – whether they come back to you or not is a different story. But what about cats? They are noto... »
If you follow us on Facebook, you know that a few weeks ago my sister’s dog Tally passed away. She was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma about 4 months ago. She initially had surgery to remove a large tumor in her abdomen and then was treated conservatively. She had a few months relatively “... »
We are almost at the end of the month, but we wanted to mention that February is Pet Dental Health Month. Awareness of pet dental health has become a hot topic in recent years – much more so than in the past. Folks used to think that giving your dog a nice bone to chew on every once in awhile ... »
I know dogs don’t really “talk”, at least not in English…or any other human language. But do they still talk to us with their barks, their eyes, their body? I noticed something about Jack recently that has sparked this post. Jack developed some incontinence issues abou... »
We’ve covered the eyes and the ears, so naturally next up is the nose. At first I was uncertain about what types of diseases or problems dogs might have with their nose. We previously wrote about a dog’s wet nose and whether it was a sign of health – which of course is a myth, but ... »
It’s that time of year again – the 140th Westminster Dog Show begins today – or at least the televised version. We have always followed Westminster since I was a kid and my grandfather raised collies. None of them went to Westminster, but Papa was quite proud of his beautiful dogs.... »
Between Maggie’s cancer diagnosis and Jack’s recent bout of pancreatitis, we’ve been spending a ton of money not only on vet visits, but on medications. We are so grateful that our pet insurance plan from Healthy Paws has covered 90% of both Jack and Maggie’s treatment. It co... »
In the past we’ve written about the various crops grown at the farms around our house where we walk the dogs. We have avocados – tons of them – even in our own yard, lemons, oranges, tomatoes, celery and red peppers. A few months ago, we noticed they planted something differ... »
Last week Jack got diagnosed with Pancreatitis. He’s been on anti-nausea medicine and a bland diet since then and is doing much better. We wrote about Jack and some initial information about pancreatitis and today we want to follow up with more details on the causes, treatment and prevention. ... »
We have probably all heard the phrase “Let sleeping dogs lie”. Wikitionary defines it as meaning: To leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting or rekindling an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past. I think that is sound advice to be followed in many sit... »
Jack has been diagnosed with Pancreatitis. Never a dull moment around the SlimDoggy household. We’ve never had a dog with pancreatitis before, we’ve only dealt with Jack’s IBS which is actually pretty mild, so this is all new to us. It started Sunday night about 8pm – ... »
Folks have been asking how our Maggie is doing, so I thought I’d provide a brief update. Maggie is almost 6 months out from her osteosarcoma diagnosis. She has been through the advanced Sterotactic Radiation treatment and six rounds of chemo which included an infusion of Pamidronate, a bone st... »
Dear Labby, We recently rescued a dog from our local shelter. He’s a good boy and is getting used to our home and lifestyle quickly. One behavior that has bothered me is he sometimes growls at people when we are out together. It’s not all the time, just sometimes and it’s ju... »
Jack holds the crown in our household for eating the most gross things, although Sally would be a very close second. Jack’s first instinct is to put it in his mouth. Hold something out to him and he goes to eat it, whether it’s food, a paper towel, a toy or his leash. “Eat first, a... »
I got a great gift from my sister-in-law for Christmas. It’s a book called “I Could Chew on This…and other poems by dogs” by Francesco Marciuliano (who also wrote I Could Pee on This). It’s been out for a few years, but this is the first I saw it. It’s a gr... »
Jack’s hearing has been declining the last year or so – to the point where if he is more than a few feet away, he really only responds to clapping and if more than a few feet, well forget it. I thought I would buy a dog whistle to see if that helped, or if he could hear it better or at a... »
We talk a lot about improving your dog’s life span by making sure he is healthy and fit through exercise and proper nutrition. Many of us do what we can to help them live longer by following these guidelines. But if dog’s are man’s best friend, and I would certainly argue that they... »
Over the last year I’ve noticed that Jack has slowly started to lose his hearing. Last time we were at the vet’s for his Senior Wellness check, I asked the vet to check them. Other than a little dirt build-up he didn’t see anything amiss and chalked up Jack’s hearing problems... »
For the 2014 New Year, we asked our readers to share a photo of their dogs proclaiming their resolutions for the year. Many of you participated and we hope you go back and look at your resolutions and see how you did. Last year, we didn’t make any ‘formal’ resolutions for 20... »
Does your dog howl? Of all of our dogs, only Tino howled, and only occasionally – mainly when he heard fire engines or the ice cream truck. It was odd because those two don’t have the same pitch or tone at all. They sound nothing alike, so why did he howl to them? Steve could also get Ti... »
The other day, we turned the blog over to Jack for his letter to Santa…Maggie insisted on her own time for her letter too, so here you go: Dear Santa, My brother Jack has asked for a freezer full of bacon for Christmas and listed all the ways he has been good this past year. I will admi... »
Dear Santa, I have been an EXCELLENT dog this year and have followed every single one of the house rules. Mom even wrote about it: “Rule Follower and Rule Breaker” so there is documented proof. I have: Followed mom everywhere she goes as closely as I can even though it gets crowde... »
A few weeks ago Jack had a visitor for a couple of days. We introduced her on Facebook, but thought we would write a post about Jack’s new girl, “Z” a 2 year old Pittie – isn’t she cute, what a face! Actually, Jack is a little perplexed by “Z”.... »
I felt compelled to write this post as I know there are many pet owners/pet parents/pet lovers out there who, like us, are living with a terminally ill pet. In an effort to provide a community for our shared experiences, I wanted to offer what little comfort or words of advice that I could about our... »
It’s been several weeks since we added to our SlimDoggy Health Check series having spent the last few months focusing on Maggie’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. Although we’re going a little out of order, we wanted to discuss eyes and eye problems today. In the past we̵... »
You are probably familiar with the Dr. Seuss book, “Oh, the places you’ll go”. It was his last published book and has evolved into somewhat of a motivational tome for graduates, or anyone facing a life change or challenge. I just think it’s a fun book with some fun quotes tha... »
We were fortunate to be given a copy of Pippa Mattinson’s new book: The Labrador Handbook to review. Pippa is a zoologist and the founder of The Gun Dog Trust, the UK’s first gundog training and welfare charity. She manages a website of her own as well as The Labrador Site which h... »
Jack and Maggie want to wish all of our family, friends, dog buddies and even the cats who follow us, a very Happy Thanksgiving. Remember not to eat too much, but if you do, make sure to get out for an afternoon walk and work off those extra calories. The last two years, we published our Than... »
I have to admit that Maggie has been getting most of the attention around the house lately…and many of our blog posts are related to her and her care. Jack is demanding equal time, so today is Jack’s day, devoted to all things Jack. We thought a good place to start would be a review of h... »
On July 28th of this year, our life went sideways. That’s the day our Maggie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, bone cancer. Since that time, we’ve gone through a new form of radiation therapy called Sterotactic Radiation, four rounds of chemotherapy, countless blood tests and trips to the... »
We have had nothing but senior pets in our family since we adopted Becca in 2009. Tino was already eleven when we adopted her after our Sally passed at age 12 and Becca was 8 at the time. Jack and Maggie were both around 8 when we adopted them too, so we have lots of experience in caring for senior ... »
You may have heard that saying from your vet, or you may have been told “Let’s watch it”. Certainly it’s your choice whether you pay the money to have a lump aspirated and tested or wait for it to grow or change…we’re just suggesting it’s better to be safe r... »
I’ve written before about dogs watching television and what they really “see” when watching. None of my dogs have ever paid any attention to the TV, so I assume they just don’t see it. But what about music? Do dogs hear and/or appreciate music? Slimdoggy Steve i... »
Today we wanted to cover Dr. Mahaney’s recommendations for Maggie as a result of her visit with him. Note: these recommendations are specific for Maggie, her age, weight, overall health and type of cancer and her cancer protocol. Please don’t take them as definitive advice for your own d... »
A while back I wrote a post about why I love my dog and included a list of five things Jack does that make me smile and think how lucky I am to have him. It’s easy to love Jack. He’s a love bug. He loves us and shows it in everything he does, every look, every action, all day, every day.... »
SlimDoggy has had a long standing series on dog myths called Mythbusters. We’ve addressed all sorts of different dog myths from Dogs and cats hating each other to dogs being colorblind. Today, I wanted to take a mythbusting look at BREED myths. Many different breeds have myths associate... »
During Maggie’s consultation with Dr. Mahaney, he suggested that we administer a titer test that measures vaccination failures to prevent over vaccination. The test is called VacciCheck. (Full disclosure, Dr. Mahaney is a spokesperson for the company). I’ve always worried about Ja... »
A few weeks ago, we took Maggie to see Dr. Patrick Mahaney, a veterinarian who specializes in holistic medicine treatment options. He is also an active blogger, so you may have come across his blog or writings in other places. We are fortunate that he practices within the same group as Maggie’... »
How we care for our dogs has certainly changed over the last few decades. I remember when I was growing up, my grandfather owned a kennel and he raised collies and boarded dogs. The barn (or the kennel) was a great place, each dog had it’s own indoor/outdoor run of maybe 10X20 for the boarders... »
I was reading a blog post the other day that was reporting on the increased level of oxytocin found in the bloodstream of people who had been gazing into their dog’s eyes, It found more oxytocin in the dog’s urine as well! They called it an oxytocin feedback loop – “A dog’s g... »
It’s been a couple of months since we added to our SlimDoggy Health Check series. We got side-tracked by Maggie’s cancer diagnosis and devoted several installments to her cancer and her radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Last time we examined some general breathing problems found in ... »
October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog month. You will see all sorts of news stories, blog postings, photo contests and even TV specials about adopting shelter dogs. It’s great to devote a whole month to raising awareness about the importance of adoption and we can’t say enough in support of it.... »
Dear Labby, My daughter has a wonderful pup, about a year old who is a sweet thing, but has the bad habit of jumping on people. It was fine when she was a pup, but now she weighs 50+ LBS and I worry she is going to knock me, or one of the kids over and hurt someone. I’m not there... »
October is a month focused on pet fitness. It’s Pet Obesity Awareness Month and the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention runs it’s annual survey. The first week of October is also Walk Your Dog Week which was started a few years ago by Colleen Paige, a self-ascribed “Celeb... »
Maggie has had two chemotherapy treatments and we’re happy to report she seems to be doing great, no side effects other than a little tiredness. In the course of my research into her cancer treatment, I came upon some materials regarding safety for your self and your other animals if one of yo... »
Friends have asked how Jack is doing through all of the family upheaval surrounding Maggie’s illness. Jack can be an anxious dog, but we’ve worked to keep his routine the same which alleviates his anxiety. He still gets his morning walk at the park, sometimes with Maggie, sometimes just ... »
We mean besides you of course. Does your dog have a best ‘dog’ friend – someone they play with, go on adventures with, share trouble-making schemes? Is it another dog in your household, a neighbor dog, or someone they play with at the dog park? Jack and Maggie are both loner... »
It’s been about 8 weeks since our Maggie was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma. We’ve been through a lot since then and you can catch up on our story in our posts Part I and Part II. Today I wanted to talk about our experience with chemotherapy. In addition to the SRS treatments, our ve... »
Since Maggie was diagnosed with OSA, we’ve been adjusting our exercise routine with her. We’ve stopped running with her and reduced the length and speed of her daily walks. Jack has benefited from our reduced routine since his age is starting to show and he doesn’t really need to r... »
I was flipping through TV channels the other day and came upon a different Cesar Milan show. I think it was the Cesar 911 show. The premise of the show is to introduce a shelter dog to a family hoping for a match. They get two weeks to make a decision about whether to keep the dog, with one mid-tria... »
Over the past few weeks, I have detailed the steps that are needed to determine the proper amount of food to feed a dog each day. The steps involve a few calculations but are well worth the effort in the long run. For those pet parents who have worked through the steps, determined a daily pet feed... »
When I was younger, the Guinness Book of World Records fascinated me. I don’t know why, I never had any designs to actually BE in the book, I guess it was just fun to read about the crazy stuff people would do to get their name in the record book. They used to be pretty straightforward, the bi... »
Today I want to cover Maggie’s diagnosis and the first phase of her treatment. As I mentioned in Part I of our series on Osteosarcoma, Becca was diagnosed with OSA based on her xrays. They displayed what is a typical “sunburst” pattern in her shoulder. Her vet eventually per... »
Our neighbors recently got a new dog, an Australian Shepherd. Seems like a nice enough dog, but these folks let their dog run free. We leave in a fairly secluded spot – at the end of a dead-end street and it backs up to what is called “open space” in California. They previously had... »
Since Maggie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (OSA) last month, I’ve done as much reading as I could about the disease. Having had two female black labs who both developed it, I also wondered about breed propensity for OSA. And finally, I looked at treatments recommended – particularly th... »
Dear Labby, Our neighbors just got a new dog, not a puppy, but an adolescent. Judging by how often they YELL and SCREAM at the dog, I would guess he’s a teenager full of hormones and bad behavior. I want to tell them that yelling doesn’t really help and may harm their relat... »
Over the years we have had both male and female dogs. We did a post a while back on the difference in appearance between males and females, but today we’re going to take a look at differences in behavior. Conventional wisdom used to be that male dogs were tougher and more aggressive tha... »
Next up in our SlimDoggy Health Check Series is Respiratory disorders. We previously wrote about SlimDoggy’s cousin Taj and her problems with pneumonia which is obviously a major respiratory problem. We also discussed Lungworm in our Parasite post. Today we will cover a few other common breath... »
Once Maggie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (OSA), our objective was to find comfort for her and to give her as long a life as possible. The vet ruled out amputation, but suggested a newer procedure called Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS). In order for Maggie to be a candidate for this procedu... »
Our Sally loved to swim. Any chance she got she would splash in a puddle, wade in a stream or jump in a pool. Once she even hopped into the horse trough at Griffith Park. She loved water…except bath water. She would allow us to lead her into the bathroom, lift her into the tub and bath ... »
We’ve had a tough week in the SlimDoggy household. Our Maggie developed a pretty severe limp over the last few weeks. Increasing her medication and rest did not seem to resolve it, so off to the vet we went. The initial diagnosis was not promising – the vet was concerned it was osteosarc... »
You can’t get away from all the cooking shows and competitions on TV anymore – it seems they are on 24/7. I like watching them and learning about different spices and herbs to use in cooking. It got me thinking about spices and herbs that are good for our dogs too, so I raided our Dog Fo... »
There are so many dog bed choices out there, and it seems fancier – and more expensive beds are introduced all the time. Years ago when I had my first Lab, Maxine, she slept on the floor with a couple of blankets. Sally & Tino both slept on the bed, although we had a couple of dog beds in... »
When we lived in Pasadena, we had a neighbor with a cute bull terrier named Lucy who would come over for play dates with Sally & Tino several times a week. They would race around the front yard for 30 minutes or so chasing each other or chasing a ball or playing bite face. One of Tino... »
We continue our SlimDoggy Health Check series, moving on to the Cardiovascular and Circulatory systems of the dog. As in humans, the heart is the most critical organ in your dog’s body. It is responsible for pumping blood throughout their body and carrying life-giving oxygen and nutrien... »
We have had five dogs over the course of the 20+ years we’ve lived in California. We started with Sally, who we got as a sweet little 8 week old pup. Then we added Tino about 2 years later. When Sally passed away we adopted Becca, when Tino passed away we adopted Jack and then when Becca passe... »