Avenue K9

California. I guess that’s not really a big surprise, considering it’s the state with the largest human population–more humans+more dogs=higher probability of dog bites.

In 2011,  State Farm insurance said they paid out more than $20 million total for the 527 dog bite claims they received. Illinois, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania round out the top five dog-bite states.

The State Farm press release that I read to get this information also included a few tips pet owners should/could/really outta follow to help avoid dog bites:

-NEVER leave a baby or small child alone with a dog.

-Be on the lookout for potentially dangerous situations.

-Start teaching young children — including toddlers — to be careful around pets.

-Children must be taught NOT to approach strange dogs.

-Always ask permission from a dog’s owner before petting any dog.

Based on the fact that these tips are mostly children-oriented, I think we can safely assume that a good number of dog bite claims involve kids.

Since we’re on the subject, here’s a quick personal tip to parents, based on my two years of experience working with homeless dogs at a humane society:

It may be great that your dog is super tolerant of your toddler pulling on his tail/ears/legs, but that tolerance will often wear thin if parents do not step in and teach their kids how to PROPERLY pet and play with the family dog.  So get smart, and keep both your child AND your dog safe.

The idea behind New York-based Dog Vacay, is to offer pet-owners a third option besides pricey kennels and begging/bribing friends.

Dog Vacay lets users search a marketplace of homes, by location, to act as hosts-for-hire for their pooches. The company vets potential hosts and lets customers leave reviews. It also offers insurance and veterinary care (through a partnership with VCA Animal Hospitals). Hosts are permitted to set their own price and schedule. Including insurance, range is about $15 to $100 per night, depending on the location.

So far, Dog Vacay had about 400 hosts signed up in New York and another 1,500 waiting for approval. Currently, about 30 percent of the hosts are professional dog-walkers or pet-sitters.

Source: betabeat

If you’ve ever experienced the nightmare that is flea infestation in your home and/or on your dog, then you know how much it sucks. Serious infestations can be very difficult and costly to get rid of–so here’s an idea: Before fleas get out of hand, follow these basic guidelines to help make this a creepy crawly-free season:

1) Stay away from the cheap stuff. Flea collars and flea/tick drops are virtually useless. Products such as Frontline and Advantage are much better at killing fleas and also preventing further flea problems. It’s not cheap (usually around $40-$50 for a 3-month supply), but it’s a lot better than spending potentially hundreds of dollars at the vet to treat flea bites (been there, done that).

2) Keep stuff clean. Fleas think it’s awesome to hide in pet beds, sheets and carpets. Vacuum carpets often, and wash pet bed covers and sheets in hot water to get rid of any flea eggs–they hate it when you do that.

3) Do coat checks–often. Keep an eye on your dog and make sure there’s no constant, hard scratching going on. Closely inspect your dog’s fur for any little black specks–just pretend you’re a school nurse checking elementary school kids for head lice.

May-September is considered prime-time flea season, so now is the time to go all Terminator on those little suckers!

Sorry puppy mills, but Facebook will no longer allow the posting of puppies for sale online in their Marketplace.

Thanks largely to the ASPCA’s “No Pet Store Puppies” campaign,  these puppy mill ads are already a thing of the past.

According to the ASCPA, puppy mills that sell directly to people over the Internet are exempt from any federal oversight, allowing unregulated breeders to sell tens of thousands of puppies a year via online transactions. The Internet Crime Complaint Center notes that hundreds of complaints are filed every year from victims who are scammed when buying a dog online.

Individuals may continue to use Facebook to post dogs available for a nominal adoption or rehoming fee.

Source:  aspca.org

The story goes something like this: Continental Airlines has an existing policy banning specific dog breeds—> United Airlines merges with Continental (Holy crap, they merged? I had no idea!)—> United Airlines adopts Continental’s policy banning breeds deemed “dangerous looking.”

Here is the list of dog’s no longer allowed on United flights:
Pit Bull Terriers
American Staffordshire Terriers
Presa Canario
Perro de Presa Canario
Dogo Argentino
Cane Corso
Fila Brasileiro
Tosa (or Tosa Ken)
Ca de Bou

Not surprisingly, animal rights and welfare orgs are not pleased with this policy, arguing that a dog that may look scary to some doesn’t mean the dog is dangerous.

Is this policy justified? Sound off below!

Worried about what your dogs are watching when you’re not home? The good people of San Diego–who happen to subscribe to COX Cable (channel 2635) or Time Warner (channel 148)– can tune their pooches in to DOG TV for $4.99 a month. DOG TV’s mission? Broadcasting dog content to keep dogs calmer or occupy them when their owners leave the home for work or other short trips.

Some dogs become anxious when left alone and can engage in repetitive destructive behavior such as chewing upholstery, drapes and shoes. DOG TV says they have three types of content: calming, stimulating and behavior reinforcing. Also the content has been made to be in synch with the colors dogs perceive and the sounds they find acceptable.

Will DOG TV eventually catch on and replace the old standby of putting the iPod on shuffle mode?

Only time will tell.

DOG TV has plans to soon become available to cable subscribers nationwide.

Source: care2.com

In a new TV commercial, the Nestlé company is using high-frequency tones  to try and arouse the interest of dogs.

Although the company has yet to show that using this technique in commercials pays off in terms of sales and profits, its efforts, which have been tested this summer in Germany and are this week being extended to Austria, are based on science.

Researchers found that some sounds used in the commercial, although some are inaudible to human ears, are appealing to dogs, which may prompt them to wag their tails.

While not all dogs (and dog owns) may react positively to the TV commercial, it is part of Nestlé’s marketing effort to bring animal clients closer to the company.

Nestlé earlier this year launched a campaign in which dogs were able to sniff the scent of Beneful from special posters on advertising boards in towns and cities in Germany.

You can check out the German version of the commercial below: