With the upcoming Olympic Games, the world’s attention is focused on Beijing and our four-legged friends are (at least temporarily) benefiting from this attention…dog is off the menu in Beijing for the duration of the Games!!

But dogs in Beijing aren’t quite celebrating yet - a long-standing Beijing law prohibiting dogs taller than 35 centimeters (1.1 feet) is still being enforced.  A friend sent me this really interesting article about the law and its origins.  Apparently, historically dogs in China were primarily kept as pets by the wealthy.  During the rule of communist leader Mao Zedong, dog owners were “scorned as bourgeois timewasters” and strict laws were enacted that still are enforced today.

It’s ironic that a country that has given us so many varied breeds of dogs has become so unfriendly to canines.  The Shar-Pei, Chinese Crested, Pekingese, Chow Chow and Shih-Tzu are just a few of the popular breeds that have originated in China.

Local dog lovers are hoping that the attention focused on China for the Olympics will force officials to address their outdated dog-UNfriendly attitude.  With registered dog ownership in Beijing up a staggering 17% from 2006 to 2007 (~600K –> ~704K), there is certainly a huge dog-friendly contingent growing in the capital city - keep in mind that only dogs meeting the 35cm or less rule can be registered!!

Two bizarre dog-related stories in the news this past week…

First a girl in Queens is reunited with a dog that she lost 5 years ago.  He turned up in 850 miles away in Georgia!! 

More cute pics of Natalie & Rocco can be found in the Post Photo Gallery.  I really need to get Oscar micro-chipped…

Next, a scary story from the Bronx…a pitbull was bitten by a rattlesnake on Tuesday in a public park near the Bronx Zoo.  Stone (the dog) was rushed to the hospital and treated with anti-venom.  The parks department is searching for the snake, which they believe is probably someone’s escaped pet. 

We wish Stone a speedy recovery and hope Natalie & Rocco enjoy their second chance!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Best Friends Again dog cloning auction that was held in mid-June .  (Click here if you missed the first post.) Still no word on how much bidders were willing to pay for each of the 5 doggy cloning slots - bidding started at $100K.  But there is some news on the cloning front…

I don’t know how I missed this (because I surely would have entered Oscar), but there was an essay contest to find the most “clone-worthy dog” with the winner receiving free cloning of their dog. 

I guess it’s just as well that I didn’t spend too much time working on my “Why Oscar Should Be Cloned For Free” essay, because it sounds like there was some stiff competition.  As WONDERFUL as Oscar is, I’m not sure that he could compete with Trakr…

Trakr is credited with finding one of the last survivors at Ground Zero after the Septermber 11th terrorist attack.   The 15-year-old German Shepherd suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder, which experts believe could be related to exposure to toxic smoke from Ground Zero.

Will be keeping an eye out for Trakr II…

Come cheer on the competitors in the Iams Doggy Duathlon this Sunday!  I hear the swimming portion has been cancelled, due to logistical problems, but those duathletes are going to need some strong encouragement to run a 10K in this nasty July weather!

WHAT:           For far too long, canine athletes have faithfully trained alongside their human counterparts, only to be left on the sidelines on race day. No longer!  The Iams Doggy Du gives man (or woman) and best friend the chance to compete in tandem over a 1500 meter swim and 10 kilometer run course.

WHO:             Meet the canine competitors

WHEN:           July 20, 2008 during the 8^thAnnual NYC Triathlon.  Start time TBD

WHERE:         Swim:   The Hudson River between 99th and 72nd streets.

Run:   Central Park from 72nd and Central Park West, clockwise around the northern loop and finishing on Dead Road just west of the bandshell on the 72nd street transverse. 

Right now, Oscar is a kibble dog.  He gets a mixture of Nutro and Beneful (plus a little taste of whatever I’m eating - I know, bad…) every day and he seems pretty happy about the situation.  He’s only 2 and a half, but seems to be pretty healthy, his teeth are very clean and he rarely has “dog breath”.  So, if it ain’t broke - don’t fix it, right? 

Maybe, but I have a few friends who feed their dogs a raw diet and they SWEAR by it - they believe that their pets have increased energy, thicker/shinier coats and a healthier weight since they switched to feeding them raw food.  Plus there have been a lot of scares lately with processed dog food… 

Experts who recommend the raw food diet cite studies where animals who are fed processed food appear to be healthy when they are young, however, as the animals reached adulthood, they supposedly begin to age more quickly (than dogs fed a raw diet) and also develop chronic degenerative disease symptoms.  These proponents claim that your dog would be healthier if his diet more closely resembled what he would eat in the wild.

And mimicking the type of diet they would have in the wild does make some sense to me.  I was also pretty surprised to find that Oscar seemed to LOVE the raw food meal that he tried at his friends Arnold & Giuseppe’s house.  So, as long as it won’t do him any harm, why not try it?

Well there’s cost and effort…depending on the raw food diet you choose it will probably take more effort that throwing down some kibble and will definitely be more expensive.  Okay, well that’s no problem - I love to feel like I’m spoiling King Oscar. 

My friend recommended the Volhard Natural Diet Foundation (NDF) - AM & PM. 

I’ve also heard good things about The Rotation Diet from Nature’s Variety.  What I especially like about the Nature’s Variety plan is that they encourage switching between types (raw, kibble, cans) of food.  I like the idea of keeping some kibble in Oscar’s diet to keep his teeth clean and breath smelling…well, not like dog breath!  I’m not really into canned food, but the combo of raw and kibble is appealing to me.  I really like the feeding guide on the NV website…it’s easy to use and helps you to figure out how much of each type of food to feed your dog each day. 

So, what do you think?  Should I give it a try?    I would love to hear about your personal experiences with a raw food diet.

You know what’s wrong with this blog lately??   Not enough pictures of Oscar, that’s what!!  Well, I’m about to remedy that problem AND display the newest addition to my Oscar art collection….the Oscar sculputure!!

In my ongoing quest to fill our apartment with all things Oscar, I discovered another artist (Kathryn Nicholoas of Pet Sculptures) who specializes in turning your little beast into a work of art.   I think that you’ll agree that she did a FABULOUS job!    And for a very reasonalble price - individualized sculputures start at $95 plus s/h (but check out her website for current pricing).

Now, I had this marvelous plan to take picture of Oscar next to his mini-me sculpture, but due to some very bad planning on my part, I forgot to take the picture before Oscar’s latest grooming and now he looks like a totally different dog…

Oh well, nobody’s perfect (well none of us with 2 legs anway).  But I think you’ll agree that the sculpture looks exactly like Oscar looked in the orginial picture I sent Kathryn…

If you missed the first installation of “Oscar Art”, you can check it out here. 

So, I’ve stumbled across a few articles that claim to list the breeds of dogs that are best suited for life in New York City, but I can’t say that I agree with their choices.  First of all, neither list includes the Brussels Griffon (unfortunate oversight, I’m sure).  

The Nouveau Native recommends only dogs that are small or medium sized (yet not the Brussels?!?), but I think they are missing out on some great large breed dogs - the giant breeds that tend to be more sedentary (Bernese, Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Newfoundlands, St. Bernards, etc.) seem to do very well in an urban environment.  Although it may not be completely intuitive to have a large breed dog in an apartment, these dogs need far less exercise than labs, goldens or other Sporting or Herding breeds.  The laid back personalities of these large breeds also make them ideal for an environment where they are likely to be exposed to many other dogs and people.

The New York Magazinehad a much more diverse selection of recommended breeds in terms of size and I love that adopting a mixed breed dog was #1, but Greyhounds, Labradors & Portuguese Water Dogs??  Really??  Those dogs need a ton of exercise…I’m not saying that these breeds shouldn’t live in NYC, but the owner really needs to be dedicated to making sure that these breeds get the exercise that they need.  I can’t tell you how many neurotic labs and goldens we see in the dog run and I’m convinced that it’s because they just aren’t getting the exercise that they need.  The good news is that there are now services like dog running to help busy owners keep their pets healthy and happy.

 So, there you have my non-expert opinion.  What do you think are the best dog breeds for NYC living?

When we leave Oscar home alone, we always try to leave the radio on…I would say that the purpose is two-fold.  First, we want him to be calm and relaxed, but we also want to drown out the city noises so that every truck going by and person ranting incoherently doesn’t drive him crazy.

Or at least those are the reasons that I leave the radio on for Oscar.  I normally leave the radio on low-volume and tuned to some easy-listening station.  But somehow it always manages to get cranked up and turned to the classic rock station…okay, it’s not a mystery how it happens - my husband says that Oscar “likes rocking out to the Classics”.  Of course, once again…I’m proven right (by a vetrinary neurologist, no less).  According to Susan Wagner, dogs are calmed by music with slower tempos, fewer instruments and simpler melodies.  Maybe it doesn’t seem like rocket science, but this article from the Worcester Telegram is all the evidence I need to make my case.  

Apparently many animal hospitals and shelters have been reaping the benefits of music therapy to calm the animals in their care.  The Telegram article specifically mentions our very own ASPCA, as well as two county shelters in California that installed a continuous Muzak system.

Continuing on the music in shelters theme, a recent article from the Downtown Express talks about how music is used at two different shelters in downtown Manhattan - Animal Haven & Pet-I-Care.   While I’m very familiar with Animal Haven from meet-ups and training classes we’ve attended there, I don’t know very much about Pet-I-Care.  I love that they provide free lifetime surgery to all animals adopted from their shelter, but maybe they need to rethink their music selection…

Oscar and I are counting down the days until the first episode of Greatest American Dog, which will happen on July 10th at 8:00pm.  Even though Oscar will always be the greatest American dog in my book, we are pretty excited for the first dog-related reality show.  I’d certainly much rather watch some crazy dog people co-existing for 40 days than see a bunch of desperate women trying to get hitched to a farmer/millionaire/rapper.

There are certain tried and true reality TV formulas that tend to showcase the harsh realities of human nature (THINK: college kids, booze & no responsibility OR starving people, big $$ and an island), but I think we’re in for a real treat when 12 dog-obsessed people and their pups try to coexist for 40 days while competing for $250K.

Sure, they all look normal and nice enough in this picture, but I will be severely disappointed if there aren’t a few crazies in the group.  The only disappointing thing so far is that it seems like there are a number of “aspiring actors/actresses” on the human side of the teams.  Oh well…if reality TV really is a sign of an imminent apocalypse, I say…bring it on!!  

There are two local New Yorkers competing for the title of Greatest American Dog - Elvis (a 2-year-old Parson Russell Terrier) and Bella Starlet (a 10-year-old Toy mix)…oh yeah, and their respective owners - David & Beth Joy.

Best of luck to all of the contestants!  What do you think…Oscar for season #2?!?!

Lately it seems like all I do is read bad news about pet food…a salmonella outbreak is traced to tainted dog food, pet food companies settle for 24 million related to the 2007 pet food recall, and now pet the price of pet food is rising along with gas and everything else.

And there is so much conflicting information out there…what pet food is the best?   Human grade?  Ones with ground organs and bones?  The raw food diet?  Meat vs. meal…ugh, I can’t take it anymore.  All I want to do is give Oscy the best, but I can’t even figure out what that is!!

Would love to hear some advice from anyone with some knowledge on the subject…