Mittens to the Max Pet Blog » Dog Lovers

Dog Dials 911 on Cellphone and Saves Owner’s Life!

Max and Mittens — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:16:18 +0000

Now I gotta tell you, I’m so impressed with this little Beagle named Belle. Of course, I think all dogs are great, but this one has really made me proud. Now, I don’t normally buy gifts for dogs, but in this case, I’ll have to make an exception.

Most dogs are able to run and get help, drag an owner to safety or something heroic like that, but I’ve never heard of a dog being able to make a phone call! But, that’s exactly what she did.

Seeing her owner Kevin Weaver of Indianapolis, IN lying unconscious on the kitchen floor from a diabetic seizure, she immediately fetched the cellphone and bit down on the number 9. It had been pre-programmed to call emergency services. Belle repeatedly barked into the phone at the emergency dispatchers, who immediately sent help. When paramedics arrived, they found that Weaver had suffered severe hypoglycemic shock and had collapsed on the floor. As they rushed him to the hospital, Belle rode along in the ambulance to make sure her “patient” would be okay.

How’d she get so smart?

It seems that Weaver has had type 1 diabetes most of his life, but when the seizures became more frequent a year ago, he enlisted the aid of his faithful friend, Belle, and trained her to become a diabetes alert dog. It took about nine months, but as you can see, the specialized training paid off.

Impressive? But that’s not all!

As if being one of the first dogs to actually dial a cell phone in an emergency wasn’t impressive enough, she can also help monitor Weaver’s blood-sugar levels. With a keen sense of smell, she is able to detect when levels are abnormal. The dog periodically licks Weaver’s nose to take her own reading of his blood-sugar level. If something seems off to her, she will paw and whine at him.

“Every time she paws at me like that I grab my meter and test myself,” Weaver said. “She’s never been wrong.”

Every good dog has its day!

Her good deeds haven’t gone unnoticed. She is the first non-human to receive the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award. The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association awards the VITA award to individuals who “demonstrate the courage and instinct to think of their wireless phones as a life-saving device during demanding emergency situations.” The name VITA (which is Latin for “Life”) is so appropriate since that’s what she gave her owner a second chance at.

~Max

My Newly Sodded Backyard VS. Three German Shepherds: And the Winner Is…

Max & Mittens — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:17:08 +0000

Long story short: Sadly, the long-fescue sod is losing. We desperately needed to renovate our backyard, which had become a large expanse of dirt sloping toward our recessed patio. When it rained, the mud poured onto the patio and into our home via many muddy paws. The inside of our house is a disaster area which we’re determined to renovate and paint this summer, but we first had to stop the tide of mud entering the house, so the backyard had to be our first project. You’ll have no problem recognizing which photos are before and after . We were thrilled…for about two days.

At the moment, we have three German Shepherds—two of our own and a foster. Those giant paws running rapidly from one end of the yard to the other several times a day are tearing it up slowly. But that’s not the big problem…

Hindsight Is 20-20

I’m still working on training all three to relieve themselves in the far-back part of the yard, which is mostly brush and trees. Not happening as quickly as we’d like. After a few days, the yellow spots began to appear, followed by big patches of dead grass and dirt.

About that same time, I noticed an ad for a product that neutralized the high nitrogen content and high ph in dog urine to prevent this problem. I hit the dog-supplies trail and purchased two products—one for the dogs and another to spray on the yellow spots and neutralize everything at the point of contact (which, of course, means I have to watch them while they’re in the yard to see where they go and run outside with the spray bottle, hoping I’ll remember the exact spot where the stream landed. Easier said than done.) So, right now, it’s hard to tell if it’s working. We wish we’d started them on the edible prevention well before the sod went down.

It’s Not Too Late For YOU!

If you have dogs and you’re planning to install new sod, the easiest protection may be to simply train your dogs to do their business in one spot specially designed for them, filled with either river pebble or Astroturf for easy clean-up. But just in case, you should know about the different kinds of urine neutralizers. There are products on the market for both dogs and lawns. Ingestible urine neutralizers are available as chewables or liquids/sprays for their food or water. And you can choose from a number of lawn treatments on the market. I’m off to do some research on repairing my lawn before the problem gets any worse. Meanwhile, our beloved dogs are enjoying the heck out of their new backyard “digs.”

Dogs Dig Gardens—How to Plan a Pet-Friendly Veggie Patch

Max & Mittens — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:37:40 +0000

Hi, friends! Max here! You know, flower and vegetable-garden season is upon us, and I’d be willing to bet there are multitudes of loving dog owners who plant backyard beds, only to discover their dogs are garden-fresh food lovers, too.

Not that we precious pups are alone in our passion for home-grown peas, potatoes and petunias—rabbits, deer and other critters will also invite themselves to dinner at your expense. A fenced yard can help keep the feral feeders to a minimum, but what about us four-legged fur kids?

No matter how many dog treats you give us, we’re still going to be tempted by the rows of delightful choices (veggies, flowers and shrubs) you nurture diligently over the summer months. (My exception is lima beans. You can plant acres of them, and you won’t have to worry about me eating even one. They’re all yours.) For us, it’s like a trip to the grocery store. At the risk of disappointing all my buds (no pun intended) out there, I thought I’d give you some help, especially because my buds and I might ingest something we shouldn’t (like lima beans,) so it’s important to all of us. We learned these great tips for designing a dog-friendly garden from Judi Gerber at Care2.com, a blog that’s all about green living. Here they are…

When planning your garden, create some dog-friendly elements so that your garden isn’t a more attractive place than his or her own area. Include designated paths that your pooch knows where it’s okay to roam.
Usually a dog uses the same path over and over. (You should see the trails I’ve mapped out in Mom and Dad’s backyard!) Use pavers or some other kind of hardscape to clearly delineate the paths, Don’t use something loose, like gravel, mulch or bark—that’s an open invitation to dig and bury things.
Eliminate any bare dirt areas with some pet-friendly plants, grasses and ground cover to deter not only your dog, but bothersome weeds, too.
Design a separate spot for your dog to dig and play in. If you consistently play with your pooch in that area and leave some favorite toys in there, he or she will come to recognize it as his/her “turf.”
Create raised beds and fencing. Looks nice. Dogs stay out.
If you don’t have room to fence off a separate area, use tomato cages around tomatoes and other small, tender plants. Trellises and tepees will keep dogs off the plants, and so will growing the plants close together, because it’s easier for dogs to go around clumps of plants.
Playful, unstoppable pup? Put your most delicate plants in containers, hanging baskets or window boxes.
Most important—avoid planting things in your garden that are toxic or harmful to your furry babies. Check aspca.org/toxicplants for a complete list.
Consider your dog before growing spiny or thorny plants, which can grow at a level that can cause serious eye injuries to dogs. And take care of those overgrown weeds with foxtails or seedhead that are sharp—bad news if your dog swallows or inhales them.
If you must, ALWAYS USE NON-TOXIC fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides.

Thanks to Judi and YOU for protecting us pups from our own curiosity. On behalf of my buds and me, Way to Grow!

Introducing — The Growl Whisperer!

Max and Mittens — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:27:50 +0000

Well, it took a minute for humans to finally figure out that all growls aren’t the same. There’s a growl that says “Back off! I’m protecting my owner” and a very different growl that let’s the owner know that the dog collar is too tight. Much like a baby’s cry, each sound has a different meaning and identifies a different need. Not to be outdone by the horse whisperer, a bunch of dogs in Hungary were able to shed some light on the messages in the growls. Since dogs don’t speak Hungarian, you might be wondering how they were able to communicate that to the researchers. Well, here’s what happened.

According to new research described in Discovery News, Peter Pongracz, a behavioral biologist at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, recorded growls from 20 pet dogs while engaging in three different activities:

Watching a threatening stranger approach

Playing tug-of-war with their owners

Facing off with another dog for a bone

Not really detecting much audible difference between the more aggressive growls, he played the recordings to other dogs as they chewed on meaty calf bones to see if they would detect a difference. Reportedly, the dogs that heard tapes of the bone-guarding dogs backed away from their bone in direct response to the threatening growls. Recognizing the difference between the sounds, the dogs that heard the playful growls kept on chewing.

Upon further investigation, Pongracz and his team analyzed the growls with a computer and found some notable consistencies. The playful growls were typically shorter and higher pitched than the threatening growls, according to Discovery News reports. But, even as technologically advanced as computer are, they’re no match for dog ears because the computers still couldn’t detect the difference between the two threatening growls based on pitch, volume, etc. (Go dogs!)

Chalk it up to our super-sonic hearing and the ability to say–er–growl what we mean.

“Stamps To the Rescue” Help Shelter Pets Find Homes

Max & Mittens — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:07:56 +0000

I, for one, I’m thrilled the US is not an environmentally correct “paperless” society–at least, not just yet. Many of us still use snail mail to communicate with friends, mail in bill payments, send out wedding and other invitations and fill up our mailboxes with advertising materials. The more letters, the better!

That’s because the US Postal Service just launched their Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet commemorative postage stamps as part of their Stamps to the Rescue promotional campaign.

Animal advocate Ellen DeGeneres announced the program on her show April 30, when the stamps went on sale nationwide. The loving pets you see in on the stamps are actual shelter pets photographed by veteran stamp photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce. She chose five cats and five dogs, and I’m happy to announce all ten animals were adopted from a shelter in New Milford, CT.

Postmaster General John E. Potter said, “This campaign will increase public awareness about sheltered pets, and our hope is that it will encourage pet adoption and promote humane and responsible pet care.”

Amen. Every year 6 to 8 million cats and dogs end up in animal shelters and, of that number, nearly half are euthanized. If everyone who wants a furry, four-legged companion chooses to adopt a shelter pet and spays/neuters their pet, we’d move toward eliminating not only a horrible end for these poor, sweet, defenseless animals, but we’d also help put unconscionable puppy mills out of business.

You can order the stamps from the postal service at StampsToTheRescue.com or by calling 1-800-STAMP24 (1-800-782-6724.) If you’re like me, you believe there’s nothing as wonderful as a beloved pet licking your face. Well, here’s your chance to lick back–and give another sweet pet the chance to love and be loved.

Thank you, US Postal Service, for caring so much, and thanks to every one of you who adopts your pets from shelters and animal rescue organizations. We have two incredibly loving rescued pets at home, and we simply can’t imagine life without them.

Hero Dog Risks Life To Save Another

Max and Mittens — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:10:06 +0000

The Good Samaritan. You know the story. A man who had been beaten and robbed was left by the side of the road to die. Several people passed by, but no one help. Finally, a man–the Good Samaritan–stopped to help the man and get him to a place where he could stay.

Well, if there was ever a “Good Samaritan” in the animal world, this dog would be it. Amazed at the video, I just had to share. We often see trained animals step in to help someone and even pets do great things to save their families. Yet, rarely do you see a dog leap into action, based purely on instinct, to help another dog. But, that’s exactly what happened. Seeing another dog who had been struck and fatally injured on a busy highway, this pooch protector crosses THREE lanes of rushing traffic to pull the pup to safety and out of harms way. Take a look at this heartwarming video.

Doesn’t that make you just want to put a paw to your chest?! Here’s to the nameless hero who makes us all proud. If there was a dog who deserved a lifetime of dog treats it is this one. The care and concern this dog demonstrated for a complete stranger is amazing. I tell you, people could learn a lot from this dog!

Dog Slobber May Save Your Life One Day!

Max & Mittens — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:15:55 +0000

Greetings, everyone! Max here with some exciting news! But first…

Admit it! Sometimes you cringe when a dog (or any dog, for that matter) gives you those big, sloppy, wet kisses on your face, don’t you? It’s not that you don’t love us like crazy. You just might find it a little icky from time. My mom and dad call it “getting slimed.” Well, the next time you get slimed, think about this…

FOX news reports researchers have found that the DNA on my tongue might be the key to new treatments for rare cancers in both humans and dogs.

According to FOX news, “The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), developed the Canine Hereditary Cancer Consortium, to understand why people and their pets get sick. The study used saliva, blood and tumor samples of dogs volunteered by private pet owners for testing in hopes that by studying canine cancer, oncologists can determine the cause of human cancers.”

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Why Dogs Matter!

“Rare diseases in humans also show up in dogs. By studying the DNA of canines, we expect to more quickly discover the genomic causes of disease and more quickly find ways to better treat dogs, and people,” said Dr. Mark Neff, director of the new TGen-VARI Program for Canine Health and Performance.

The testing, approved by the American Kennel Club and Morris Animal Foundation, will be animal-safe, and funding will be supported by private donors, along with a $4.3 million dollar federal stimulus grant.

They said cancer is the cause of death for nearly 50 percent of all dogs older than 10-years-old. Pretty scary, but I think I speak for all my canine comrades when I say we’re glad we can help change that for the better. Since my mom and dad found out about this, they let me slime them to my heart’s content!

Are Human Pets Lovable? Find Out Today!

Max & Mittens — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:30:13 +0000

Ooooooh, Boy! Here’s a site we knew would pop up eventually! Since Mittens and I and the rest of our kind always get the most hugs, cuddles and kisses in our forever homes, we knew humans would want to get in on the act sooner or later. And here it is—HumanPets.com. Everyone on Human Pets is an animal. You can be fed, combed, pet, taken on trips, nicknamed, and more!

Customize Your Profile, and Then Buy Pets!
Are you a wolf, a cat, or a bird? Choose which animal you want to be and also pick a habitat. Then, check out all of the other human pets, and buy a few to take care of!

Search for Pets
You can find “human pets” near you, and become real life friends! Or, check out the random profile viewer and meet people from all over the world.

Besides online auctions, chats and blogs, games, discussion boards and classified ads, you can create similar interest groups known as “herds,” and discuss your hobbies with new friends. There’s an online market, so you can go shopping and find new items for your pets. You can even open up your own shop and earn virtual points from sales. We think they can take it even further!!

Let’s See How THEY Like It!

You know how much humans like to dress us up in ridiculous outfits they wouldn’t wear in public themselves? Well, Mittens and I think this Web site provides a great opportunity to turn the tables. After all, turn-about is fair play. You know how my Mom and Dad put me in dog sweaters every once in a while? I just suck it up and have fun with it, because it makes them happy. With this new site, you all have a chance to have your pet stroll the neighborhood streets au natural—naked, nude, like pets are supposed to be. Won’t that be fun!? America, get your cameras ready!

A Cool Place for Your Pet Birds to Tweet!

Max & Mittens — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:10:16 +0000

And your dogs! And your cats! And your horses! And your fish! Got a ferret, a frog, a hamster, a gerbil, a pot-bellied pig, a python, a rabbit or a chinchilla? No problem. If you’re looking for a place online where your pet, whatever it is, can connect with others of his or her species, we found it. Check out YouPet.com, where all are welcome and revered!

I love this site! Created for people who treat their pets like family (and that would definitely be me,) it features a health center and an encyclopedia of animals, where you can find out about hundreds of potential pets. There are also forums for all kinds of pets and some fun games.

Mostly, it’s about hooking up socially active pets and their people, encouraging inter-species connections, too. Just because you have a dog or a cat doesn’t mean you can’t “hang” with a fish or a rodent. You’re invited to create a free profile for your best friend, where you can share photos, videos and information about favorite activities, favorite toys, even the energy level of your pet. The site covers dog breeds extensively, and you’ll be happy to know the many breeds of cats, horses, fish, birds, etc. are given equal time.

Especially touching is Rainbow Bridge–a place on the site where people can memorialize the pets they’ve loved and lost. The page includes the beautiful work of an unknown author who wrote comforting words about where our deceased pets go and the extraordinary moment when we’re reunited with them.

And, of course, there’s a blog–Cindy’s Blog. She’s a former surgical veterinarian technician and education specialist for the Humane Society. Covering everything from ear mites to raising chickens as pets to heartwarming orangutan/dog relationships, Cindy gives great tips for caretakers of precious pets.

Why not head over there and browse awhile? I think you’ll be amazed, not just at the variety of pets people share their homes with, but the deep, enduring love at the heart of those relationships.

Where Funny Dog Videos Go, Dog Lovers Follow!

Max & Mittens — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:48:50 +0000

Hi! Max here! If you’re a dog-loving Internet surfer, you already know there’s no shortage of funny dog videos out there. As a species, we’re pretty darn amusing, which is why we’re such a popular pet. And that also means there’s always room for one more funny-dog-videos Web site! I think I’ve found a winner at FunnyDogSite.com. Like everyone else, I’m a sucker for puppies, and this site has some videos starring puppies and dogs that will melt everyone’s heart—including yours.

I’m particularly fond of the video with the dog in the swing. She (or he—I really couldn’t tell) seemed to be enjoying it, so I’m thinking of pushing Mom toward the park playground the next time we’re out to see if she’ll push me in a swing. The two salsa-dancing puppies are so cute, I just want to take them home! (Sound familiar?) If you’re like me, when you see stuff like this, it’s hard to wipe the smile off your face for the rest of the day! There’s a lot of other heartwarming dogs vying for your attention on the site, too, so check it out!