Black cats have traditionally been the most notable animal target on Halloween, but they may have a competitor thanks to a cruel Internet posting that has gone viral, declaring Oct. 31 to be National Kill a Pitbull Day.

Though some animal activists are reportedly regarding it as a hoax, it is nonetheless disturbing to faunatarians, or animal lovers, who hope pet owners will take precautions to prevent any cruelty from occurring to man’s best friend.

The post says, in part, “After you take the kids trick or treating, keep your costume on, round up some friends and kill as many pitbulls as you can before midnight. Baseball bats, knives, bricks and poisons (a hotdog soaked in radiator fluid works well) are all suitable tools.”

“Hoax or not, this person is advocating something that is illegal and immoral,” said Joseph Pentangelo, a spokesman for the ASPCA, adding that animal cruelty is illegal in all states and can be a felony in New York.

Pentangelo said there has not been any recent uptick in cruelty against pit bulls or black cats, but advised that pet owners can never be too cautious when protecting their critters, whom he called “irreplaceable.”

“Pets are precious and due care should be taken to protect their safety, not just on Halloween, but all year round,” Pentangelo said.

Cats, especially black cats, which have been unfairly associated with “evil forces,” can become the unfortunate targets of pranksters on Halloween, notes People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In fact, many animal shelters refuse to adopt out black cats during the entire month of October, according to the group’s website.

PETA recommends keeping cats and dogs securely indoors on Halloween as oddly dressed strangers and loud noises can be terrifying. Also, canines can be injured if poked at through fences or pelted with eggs, and cats can easily run out the front door.

Rosie with Pogo, Charity and Gabriel 9/29/2012
Pogo was born without front legs and we adopted him in 2006 after his owners went to jail. Gabriel came to us in 2005. His owners closed a garage door on him and then dumped him when he could no longer walk. Charity was hit by a car and her spine was severed. She was left at the Lancaster CA shelter to be euthanized but a wonderful rescue got her out, fixed her up with a cart and we gave her a home. They have a good life and Rosie fits in here very well!

People aren’t the only ones who are affected by this cancer. By spaying and neutering your animals you greatly reduce the risk of them developing ‘mammary’ cancer later on in life.

The puppy cam. The kitty cam. This. We watch this stuff at work to procrastinate on our work, right?

Not necessarily, it turns out. It turns out, in fact, that looking at images of adorable animals could actually help us be better at our jobs. No, really.

In a study from Hiroshima University, scientists examined the effects of animals’ cuteness — kawaii — on human behavior. The researchers, Forbes’s Alex Knapp reports, conducted three experiments to determine those effects, measuring both subjects’ cognition and their dexterity. In the first, they asked participants — 48 college students — to play a Japanese game similar to our “Operation.” In the second, they asked participants to perform a visual search using number matrices. In the third, they tested participants’ focus.

And here is the good news for anyone who has ever gotten lost in the Internet Animal Matrix: In all three experiments, people who looked at pictures of cute baby animals outperformed those who did not. Even more intriguingly, they outperformed people who looked at pictures of adult animals. “Kawaii things not only make us happier, but also affect our behavior,” the researchers write in the paper. “This study shows that viewing cute things improves subsequent performance in tasks that require behavioral carefulness, possibly by narrowing the breadth of attentional focus.”

Those findings, Knapp points out, build on previous work about the beneficial effects of cuteness. A 2009 study suggested that simply looking at something cute would make people behave more carefully — also demonstrated through subjects’ dexterity with “Operation” — than people who weren’t under the influence of cuteness. The researchers conducting the earlier study suggested that this could be related to childcare: a response evolved in humans to ensure that we treat babies with extra care.

And while more work needs to be done to say conclusively whether and why cuteness affects our overall productivity, the current findings paint a heartening picture. (Of a cat. Embracing a kitten. Who is dream-twitching.) Which is basically all to say: Go watch that puppy cam feed. You deserve it. And your work demands it.

Shared from Western Arkansas’ wayward critter connection

National Walk Your Dog Week was founded in 2010 by Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert and Animal Rescuer Colleen Paige, to bring awareness to the ever increasing problem of canine behavior issues and canine obesity in America. Sponsored by Animal Miracle Network, it aims to improve the health and well being of America’s dogs and sends the message to unchain your dogs!

“With more and more people becoming sedentary and gaining weight due to a lack of exercise, say’s Paige, dogs don’t get the necessary outlet they need to stay physically and mentally healthy. I feel that part of the overpopulation of dogs in this country is hugely associated with our growing waistlines. Generally, the less a person exercises, the less a dog exercises. Having trained thousands of dogs in the last twenty years, it’s my estimation that at least 75% of dogs in shelters are there due to a lack of exercise, which has thus resulted in serious behavior issues such as aggression, destruction and separation anxiety issues. Often, dogs run away from home because they’re kept sequestered all day long in a crate or a small yard, says Paige, which only exacerbates a dog’s destructive, aggressive or anxious tendencies. This, coupled with too much fatty food, leads to obesity, as well as medical issues like pancreatitis, diabetes, heart disease and the number one killer of dogs – cancer. October is a beautiful time of year everywhere to get outside. Walking your dog on a daily basis not only increases the endorphins in both human and canine brains {happy chemicals} but it improves the bond between the two”.

Paige says she initially founded National Walk Your Day for October 1st, as a way to highlight these issues and encourage people to get out with their dog and start getting healthy, but later felt was not enough to stimulate a continued walking program, so she then founded National Walk Your Dog Week to be celebrated the entire first week of October. She believes that when people witness the changes in their beloved dogs by giving them a week of exercise they normally don’t get, not only will they see a massive difference in their dog’s behavior but the dog’s person will feel so good they won’t want to stop. This not only helps to save the life of the dog by promoting proper health and quelling behavior issues that might otherwise land him in the shelter facing euthanasia – but it will also help to improve the health of the human companion and possibly save their life down the road as well.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, more than 40 percent of dogs…a total of about 17 million in the United States, are overweight. “If you walk your dog just 30 minutes a day, you will meet national recommendations for heart health, says Paige. Asking your children to accompany you by walking the dog themselves while you supervise, will set them up for a better chance that they will continue to not only crave physical exercise, but that they will be responsible dog stewards when they’re adults.”

Remember…. a tired dog…is a good dog!

If you’re not an avid dog walker, spend a week walking with your dog! You’ll feel so good….you won’t want to stop!

Visit their website here to learn more about National walk your dog week! Get walking pals!

 The strong connection between emotions and smell is possible because the olfactory system is  connected to the limbic system, also called emotional brain. Composed by amigadala, that process emotions, and hippocampus, that process memory, the limbic system is the most primitive part of our brain and it allows associative learning. This process allows us to associate an odour with the circumstances in which we smelled it the first time so that we can recall memories from olfactory cues.

Scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel tested this mechanism by gathering subjects in a lab and presenting them a photograph of an object associated with a smell. A smell-making machine that is fancily called olfactometer generated the odour. The same procedure was then repeated a second time while the subject’s brain activity was measured in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner (fMRI). This two parts experiment was conducted a second time with a different image-odour association. The last part of the trial took place a week later when the subject was tested a third time with the same procedure. Scientists found that although subjects were able to remember both odour and image, a distinct pattern of brain activity was present when the first association was recalled, regardless pleasantness of the smell. Hertz and Schooler conducted a similar experiment using acoustic and visual cues; their results confirm the emotional nature of smell and its ability to evoke memories. This suggests that this phenomenon may be unique to smell.

This unique attribute of the olfactory system is not limited to the memory realm, smell also influence peoples’ mood and work performance. Scent marketing takes advantage of the link between odour and mood to manipulate our behaviour. For example real estate agents use smell to make clients feel at ease and companies are now developing “brand scent” to be used in unison with logos to identify brands and corporations.

The connection between sense of smell and flavour and the consequent craving for certain food is the base of another research conducted by Dr. Thomas Hummel at the University of Dresden who found that an appetite-stimulating hormone also makes people to sniff more. Dr. Hummel think that ghrelin, this is the hormone name, relates to the ability to detect calories in the environment and it may be linked with internal regulation of body weight. The food industry also utilizes odours to stimulate our desire towards a certain product. Dr David J. Moore researcher at the University of Michigan discovered that women in particular are sensitive to olfactory cues especially if the odour is sweet. These finding can be utilized in the fight against obesity, growing concern in western societies, by adjusting dieting on genetic and olfactory sensitivity profiles.

Smell is the most personal sense. What would be categorized as pleasant by somebody, may makes other to wrinkle their noses. Pleasantness depends on our genetic pool because affected by the spatial disposition of sensory cells but it is also influenced by pre-natal experience and nurture. So if you find the smell of garlic delicious and the smell of chocolate cake absolutely repellent you may want to investigate your mother’s diets when she was pregnant. However most scents are commonly judged as enjoyable or not by the majority of people, demonstrating a lack of training to judge subtle changes. Sense of smell is fundamental in mammals and regardless is rather dormant in humans, the complete lack of odour is perceived as unfamiliar and threatening, pushing Jean-Baptiste in “Perfume” (Suskind) to create a “human flavour” to blend in the society.

Odours is also at the based of aromatherapy a practice that utilize the emotional effect of the smells of essential oils to alter mood, cognitive function and health. Regardless lack of scientific evidences of its efficiency, aromatherapy has been used to enhance student abilities to learn, associating information provided to certain scents to improve memory. Also it has been utilized to reduce performance-related stress.

From the evolutionary point of view the role of smells and its strong link with memories could have facilitated discrimination of poisonous food and enhanced detection of calories rich ingredient. However nowadays we don’t enter in a grocery store sniffing our way toward blueberry muffin, we normally just follow our sight more than our ears. Therefore smell may seem a trivial and useless sense, although our nose deserves more appreciation and credit for allowing a more personal and strong connection with places and people.

Did you know that…
The humpback whale sings to communitcate with others for hours long.

A. Greeting people can be one of the most exciting things a dog does. Unfortunately, the ways in which dogs cope with excitement, such as jumping up, barking or — in your dog’s case — mouthing, are often at odds with our ideas of good canine behavior.

Mouthing is when a dog puts his teeth and mouth over a person’s skin while using little or no pressure from his jaw. It’s not to be mistaken for aggressive biting, which is done out of fear or frustration. Although mouthing is most common in puppies, adult dogs may also engage in this behavior in order to release stress or excitement.

In order to stop your dog from mouthing people, it is essential to give him a different go-to greeting behavior that will be equally rewarding.

Provide a Distraction

One way to help your dog manage the excitement of greeting people is to give him a toy to hold in his mouth; the toy will function as a pacifier and can be an acceptable alternative to gnawing on your guests’ hands. Keep a box of toys near the front door and hand one to your dog before he greets a new person. This is one of the easiest ways to stop your dog’s mouthing.

While a toy is a useful way to redirect your dog’s energy, it’s also important to teach your dog to cope with the excitement of greeting people even when he doesn’t have something to put in his mouth. In order to successfully break the mouthing behavior, teach your pet an alternative greeting sequence.

Recently I had a Golden Retriever named Maggie in class who would mouth her pet parents and people around her whenever she was excited, especially when greeting someone new. We chose three acceptable behaviors that were incompatible with mouthing to train Maggie to do when greeting someone: heel, sit for greeting, and hand targeting.

Teach a New Behavior

To break the mouthing cycle, Maggie was taught to heel at her pet parent’s side as she approached a person. If she began mouthing, her pet parent would freeze in place like a statue and wait for Maggie to stop mouthing before continuing to walk forward; when she heeled without mouthing, she received a treat. In Maggie’s old greeting sequence, she was rewarded for mouthing because she was able to keep walking toward what she ultimately wanted, which was the other person. In her new behavior sequence, she was rewarded for heeling. In a very short time, Maggie stopped mouthing her pet parents as she approached someone on a walk because she was being rewarded for an alternative behavior and mouthing hindered her progress.

The next step was to teach Maggie to sit when she greeted someone new. We taught Maggie to sit whenever she greeted anyone, whether it was her pet parents at home or people out on walks, and rewarded her with praise and treats for this behavior. Maggie soon learned that only once she sat with her bottom on the floor would she be given attention and occasional treats.

Since Maggie was an energetic dog and it was hard for her to keep still during the first 60 seconds of meeting someone new, we taught her to hand target, or touch her nose to an outstretched hand. We intermixed sitting for petting with hand targeting so that she could actively flow between both behaviors. Hand targeting was valuable because it allowed her to still touch the person when she greeted, but only with her nose and a closed mouth. Once she had other active behaviors to focus on, Maggie’s mouthing decreased and eventually stopped completely.

By replacing your dog’s mouthy greeting behavior with acceptable alternatives and being consistent about only allowing your dog to greet when he doesn’t mouth, you can increase the likelihood that your pet will use appropriate manners when he meets someone new.

It used to be that anything wrong with an older dog was just assumed to be part of being “old.” Even the most loving and attentive pet owners didn’t realize there could be ways to make getting older less painful for their dogs – and less difficult, too, for pet lovers to watch.

Trouble getting up after sleeping? “He’s old.”

Can’t get up on the couch anymore. “She’s old.”

Obesity? Exercise intolerance? Doggy breath so bad it could peel wallpaper? “Old.”

Think about it: It used to be that way in people too. Many of us remember when someone who was 50 seemed “old.” But now yesterday’s “geezers” are today’s active 50-plus generation. With a focus on exercise, healthy food and never giving up or in to aging, being old doesn’t mean what it used to.

The same is true for our dogs. With a change of attitude, good medical care and the strategic deployment of products aimed at the senior set, your dog can be happy, healthy and active for years longer than you’d ever have imagined.
Less Pain

The transition from puppy to active young adult to middle age comes quickly in dogs, especially big ones. The signs of aging turn up early in large dogs, and we veterinarians see them as early as age 5. (Little dogs age more slowly.) Middle age is the time when the annual wellness check really ought to be a semiannual, so that the changes brought on by aging can be quickly diagnosed and addressed. (Especially dental care: Doggy breath is neither inevitable nor normal.) Your veterinarian can recommend two products designed to help with mobility that really can make a difference in your aging pet’s life: joint supplements and pain medication.

The combination of glucosamine and omega-3 oils is clinically proven to help aging joints in both pets and people. My colleague Dr. Robin Downing of the Downing Center for Pain Management in Windsor, Colo., has long advocated for the use of these supplements. Like Dr. Downing, I lean toward recommending brands I know and trust, to be sure the ingredients are as advertised. If your pet seems to be having trouble getting around, talk to your veterinarian. You’d be amazed at what a difference these supplements can make.

Difficulty getting up and going can also be caused by chronic pain. Pain used to be ignored in pets, but now we know that it needs to be managed. Chronic pain affects both your pet’s quality of life and his overall health: Pain is stressful, and stress uses the body’s resources for coping, which can lead to other illnesses. Some of the changes brought on by research on pain management are so new that I had to revise Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual to get them in the book. In short, no more aspirin, not even buffered. Your dog doesn’t need ulcers. Ask your veterinarian to examine your dog and talk to him about prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that are effective and have good safety margins when used properly. Check out the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s pamphlet on NSAIDs for more information.

Better Food

While you’re at your older dog’s wellness review, you and your veterinarian should discuss nutrition. There are more choices in dog food than many of us could ever have imagined — reduced calorie, grain free, organic, “human grade” and even kosher — and pet food is available in formats from kibble to canned to dehydrated to freshly frozen. Products vary by location as well: Pet supply retailers, grocery stores and “boutique” pet retailers all offer different types of food, and that’s before you start shopping online. There is no “best food” for all dogs, and I pride myself on helping people select what’s most appropriate for their dogs no matter how much they have to spend or where they shop. Your veterinarian can do that too.

A Softer Bed

The hard floor is no place for an aging dog. No wonder he’s stiff getting up! Two more accommodations that you need to consider as your pet slows down a bit: a soft bed and a ramp.

Many people love sharing their beds and their couches with their pets. Ramps make that possible for you both as your pet ages. Check online for a large selection, or (if you’re handy) it’s a great do-it-yourself project. Use treats and praise to teach your dog to use the ramp to get both up and down. This is really important for long-backed dogs, such as Corgis and Dachshunds, who are already prone to back injuries. No big jumps for these little dogs! And don’t forget travel help: Ramps make getting in and out of your vehicle easier for your older pooch. (Check out this Vetstreet article on how to teach your senior dog how to use ramps and stairs.)

Teaching your dog to get up on the bed is a good start, but make sure the bed is really comfortable. If you’re crawling into your own bed every night in pillow-topped or cushion-foamed happiness, make sure your dog is likewise covered. Orthopedic foam beds are a must for older dogs, and as with so many other pet care products these days, there’s a bed for every pet and every décor. If your dog is sleeping on hardwoods, get him up and onto something that will support and protect those joints. You know he has a big day planned tomorrow – or he should.

By trying these easy steps, you may start seeing the clock roll back on your older dog. There’s no reason anymore to accept a limited life: Aging isn’t optional, but feeling old definitely is.

Does it take a tad longer these days for your senior pup to lumber down the street on his nightly stroll?
Common Causes Behind Reduced Mobility in Older Pets

According to Dr. Tamara Walker, DVM, a board-certified veterinary surgeon at Animal Critical Care and Emergency Services in Seattle, arthritis is the most common reason why cats and dogs don’t get around as well as they used to in their younger years.

“Just like in humans, animal joints experience a lot of wear and tear,” says Dr. Walker. “Over a lifetime of use, they can get inflamed and develop arthritis.”

But orthopedic concerns aren’t the only culprit.

“Neurological issues, like chronic disc disease in the spinal cord or degeneration of the spinal cord, can also cause slower movement in older animals,” she says, adding that if the cause is neurological, not only is there a lack of mobility but the animal is more likely to be wobbly, walk as if he were tipsy or drag his back feet.

Dr. Walker also points out that orthopedic and neurological issues tend to be more common in larger dog breeds — and often show up at younger ages. Other health issues, like diabetes and vision issues, can also exacerbate problems with agility as an animal ages.
What You Can Do for Your Mobility-Challenged Senior Pet

Fortunately, there are ways to help your pet age gracefully — and better cope with joint pain.

“The most important thing is to keep them active,” says Dr. Walker, adding that you should talk to your veterinarian about a daily exercise routine that takes your pet’s individual medical issues into account.

Another option for critters in their golden years: physical therapy. “Really old dogs can benefit from nonimpact activities, like using an underwater treadmill once or twice a week,” says Dr. Walker.

You can also talk to your vet about anti-inflammatories for an arthritic animal, as well as adding glucosamine to your pet’s diet. “Glucosamine is better as a preventive that’s introduced when they’re younger, especially for larger breeds,” she says.

Surgery has also been proven to treat certain orthopedic and neurological conditions really well — even in old dogs, says Dr. Walker. But it’s not right for every pet.

“It’s best for sudden injuries. For example, one day your dog is walking around just fine, and the next day he can hardly get up off the floor,” she says. “But if it’s a degenerative problem, and your pet is slowly getting worse, it’s rare that surgery can help. It’s better to manage the condition with physical activity and possibly medication.”

Q. Do pets recognize themselves in the mirror?

A. While many may think this common question is open to debate — or even a little silly — it’s actually neither. In psychology circles, the mirror test is considered an important evaluation of self-awareness in animals and a sign of the normal development of cognitive skills in children.

Humans are typically 18 months old before they are able to recognize themselves in the mirror. Among animals, currently only higher primates, dolphins, orcas, elephants and, surprisingly, European magpies are known to recognize that what they see in a mirror is a reflection of themselves. Even more interesting, perhaps, is that while pigs show no sign of recognizing their own reflections, they are able to use other information seen in the mirror, such as identifying the location of food placed behind them.

That doesn’t necessarily mean other animals aren’t intelligent enough to know when they run across other signs of themselves. The animals who “pass” the mirror test rely on vision as their primary sense. When a young cat or dog first sees his image in the mirror, he often reacts as if a strange animal suddenly appeared. But when the image doesn’t pass the “sniff test,” the pet generally decides to ignore it for good. Animals do recognize their own urine smell, however, as anyone who has ever walked a male dog knows. Checking “pee-mail” and hitting “reply all” with your own scented urine is a priority in any male dog’s to-do list.