Scratchings-and-Sniffings |
| Let's Woof It Up for the Puppy Bowl! Posted: 06 Feb 2010 09:15 AM PST
The Puppy Bowl, on the other hand, is guaranteed to provide laughs galore! Laughing is better than shouting at the TV (you know that's what you'll be doing if you watch that other "bowl") This year, the AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association) fondly referred to as "AAHA", is sponsoring the Puppy Bowl, and just yesterday, Tom and I met with Jason Merrihew, PR Communications Coordinator at AAHA - wow, are we lucky! He's fantastic, and the work the AAHA does is fantastic! But, back to the Puppy Bowl. As part of the sponsorship of the show, AAHA is going to be airing commercial "vignettes" on Animal Planet that include things like pet care tips and more, from the Also, the commercials serve to show pet parents the value of visiting an accredited AAHA veterinary hospital. Did you know about vet hospitals being accredited??? I didn't. Bad me! Bad you! Is YOUR animal hospital accredited? Hmmm... seems there are a number around the country that ARE NOT accredited. Doesn't mean they're "bad" or they aren't good hospitals to take your pet to - it just means they might not have applied to be accredited. There are 900 quality standards to pass, btw!
Check out @HealthyPet and send in your questions. Interestingly, Dr. Mazzaferro specializes in emergency care at an AAHA-accredited practice at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital, Wheat Ridge, CO (in my backyard, so to speak!). I plan on meeting her in person soon, too! You'll be hearing more about the AAHA and Dr. Mazzaferro because they're doing something I can support, and something I think pet parents need to know about. Enjoy the Puppy Bowl - I know I will! |
| Why Does My Dog Roll in that Smelly, Stinky Whatever? Posted: 04 Feb 2010 07:49 AM PST
Seems he found a ripe skunk carcass to roll in. Nice. Not only did he get the tantalizing odor of rotting flesh on his coat, he got the bonus eau de skunk as a complement. Really nice. Miles refrained from the rolling action but, according to Chris, he was quite envious of Riley's find and new scent. What's up with that? Seems like dog's are always finding and frolicking in some of the most objectionable stuff imaginable. At least to us. To them it's an entirely different experience. As we already know, the dog's sense of olfaction is far more developed than our feeble human sniffer sense. Depending on how you measure it, a dog's ability to smell is somewhere between 100X and 1000X greater than ours. My wife is very thankful for that, by the way. The sense of olfaction is a very important communication tool for dogs and this highly developed sense of smell is very important for successful hunting in wild dogs. The latter fact may provide a clue about one theory regarding why they like rolling in smelly stuff. Dead animals are an important source of food for wild predators. Winter killed elk or moose can be a windfall for a pack of hungry wolves as the snow begins to melt in the spring. If a pack member finds such a prize they may roll in the carcass to take the scent back to the pack. Kind of a "hey, look what I found!" communication. "Follow me, it's just over that ridge, or just follow my newly acquired scent and you'll run right into it," might be the human translation. Another interpretation might be that Riley was laying his own scent on the dead skunk in an attempt to claim the prize as his own. That might be why Miles didn't partake. "Shoot, that Riley got to that skunk before me and now it's all his," could have been Miles' lament. There are other theories, too. Another involves hunting and suggests that a predator might be trying to mask his own scent with something dead to throw off the prey species. Olfaction works both ways when it comes to hunting and if an elk smells a dead skunk instead of a live wolf she's less likely to be on alert. Advantage: wolf. Finally, we have to understand that they are dogs. While we may really like the smell of lilacs, dogs may find lilac shampoo totally disgusting. How embarrassing to show up at the trail head or dog park with that nauseating aroma. "What will the other dogs think?" your pooch worries. "Oh look, a pile of dog poop and just in time." "Now let me off that leash, I've got some damage control to do." Problem solved, for the dog at least. |
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