As it turns out, yes dogs can get a strain of the virus and it may be coming here to the USA.  In fact, it may already be here.  The American Medical Veterinary Association reported last month that a cat in Iowa had contacted the H1N1 virus.

Since that point in time, two more cats have gotten the virus (one of them died) and China has stated that have identified the virus in two dogs.  There is probably many more cases of H1N1 that has not been diagnosed as there has been little testing for the virus.

Do we have to worry about our pets getting us sick?  One medical person says we may pose more risk to our pets than our pets to us.  It has been reported that Dr. Tony Johnson, a clinical assistant professor at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, has said that the cats that have been diagnosed lived with human family members that had a respiratory illness.

The same appears to be true with the dogs in China.

It is too early to say; but it could be possible that once the disease mutates in pets it could be a health hazard to humans.  Don’t flip out.  Use common sense and the normal good health practices you would use in flu season.

To read more about H1N1, go to the American Medical Veterinary Association website or visit the news article at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/12/01/petscol120109.DTL .

Have you ever come home and your puppy or dog was standing in the yard or at the door just happily waiting to greet you? Such a nice feeling that is … except when he is so excited, he begins to pee on your shoe or on your nice hardwood floor. This is called Excitement Urination.

Excitement Urination

Excitement urination is a fairly common occurrence among dogs, so there is no need to be alarmed if your pet pooch dribbles away happily whenever he is excited. It is caused by lack of bladder control and is more often seen in puppies, especially when they get overly excited. However, it is not uncommon in adult dogs too.

When and How it Happens

Excitement urination usually occurs during greetings and sometimes at play time. You may notice that every time you return home, your dog tends to dribble urine while jumping up to greet you. This is not a problem behavior.

Dogs get so excited to be greeted by humans, that they temporarily lose control of their bladder and urinate. Excitement urination in puppies is a result of nothing more than just infant muscles that are still too young to have any self-control. The bladder muscles have yet to be trained. Most puppies will outgrow this problem as their muscles get stronger and they gain control of their muscles.

In older dogs, this is mostly because no steps were taken to stop it and it has simply become a habit. This has nothing to do with housebreaking. Excitement urination can happen even in dogs that are otherwise perfectly toilet trained.

You should be able to differentiate between excitement urination and submission urination.

Excitement urination is accompanied by a lot of tail-wagging and joyful barking, whereas submission urination will be accompanied by a lowered head and the dog will usually have his tail between his legs.

What not to do when faced with excitement urination

Having this happen everyday can be very annoying and tiring. However, keep in mind that this is normal and your puppy may not even be aware that he is urinating. Excitement urination is just a passing puppy phase and will eventually stop if the right steps are taken at the right time.

What not to do when faced with the problem of excitement urination:

• Do not get angry with your puppy - Your puppy is not aware that he is doing anything wrong. Even when he does, he may be much too young to control it. Shouting at him for something that he cannot do anything about will create other problems and could even lead to submission urination later on.

• Do not just shrug it off as just a passing phase - You need to take active steps to stop it. Though most puppies eventually outgrow this phase, some do not. If your puppy is not aware that there is something wrong, he may see no need to change his behavior. Also, the longer it goes on, the harder it will be to break the habit later. A little pup dribbling urine may be a mere annoyance, but still tolerable. A full-grown dog urinating can be a downright nuisance and your guests are not likely to like you or your dog.

• Do not excite your pup - Excitement urination is induced by excitement. So it is extremely important that you do not unnecessarily excite your pup, at least until he has gained some control over this behavior. Don’t contribute to the situation by greeting him exuberantly when you get home. Don’t use that I am ‘so-glad-to-see-you-too’ voice. Tone down your greeting and stay calm and avoid all eye contact.

The following infrmation has been extracted from www.containapet.com. Any questions or concerns about the content should be addressed to them.

I am biased; but, I believe in most cases (not all) that the best dog fence is from Contain-A-Pet.  This is going to be a series of dog fence review articles that may help you to decide if a electric dog fence is right for you.

Should I buy a dog fence via a retail store, catalog or the internet?

As a master dog trainer and a electric dog fence owner, I would emphatically say No to purchasing via this route!

Why?

First and foremost, it is very easy to psychologically damage your dog if the proper dog training and dog conditioning is not done.

Most people  just put the electronic dog fence collar on their dog, spend one to two days training and shock the heck out of their dog.  Some dogs (depending on the dog personality or dog temperament) do learn this way; but you terrify them doing it.  You can scar a dog doing this especially if this occurs during one of the two fear imprint stages a dog progresses through during their early years.

The correction is not the reason most dogs stay in their yards! Proper training and conditioning is the reason dogs stay in their yard.  I often hear people tell me about the dogs they see running down the street that are on these store bought dog fence systems.  Training, conditioning and system reliability may very well be the reason this occurring.

Other dogs (the more dominant or stubborn) tend to think this sensation they are receiving around their neck (correction) is just a part of life.  They learn to ignore it.  If they see something outside the dog fence they want, they go.

The only way I would buy one of these electric dog fence systems (via the method mentioned above) is if I knew a professional dog trainer that could help me.

This is true with a full service dog fence company as well.  I would just not assume that the person working with my dog is qualified to train.  I would make sure!  And, in most cases I would make sure my trainer is a real dog trainer capable of reading my dog’s personality and temperament.

As a caring dog owner, this would be one of the primary criteria I look at when performing a dog fence review.  Would you like to read more on choosing the right dog fence for you?  Feel free to click Dog Fence Review for a series of articles on this subject.

The following information has been extracted from www.containapet.com with their permission. Any concerns about the content should be adressed to them.

This is another installment on our Dog Fence Review articles we have started.

Buying the best dog fence system that is being offered in your location is one of the easier steps to do if you do your homework. However; the responsibility does not stop with choosing which dog fence system to buy..

To prevent psychological damage to your dog and to ensure your dog’s safety on the dog fence system, I would urge that you find a professional dog trainer that has used these type of dog fence systems or the electric dog collar in general. Very few dog containment companies have real dog trainers in their workforce. If your local dog fence company does not have a professional dog trainer, hire a trainer locally who is familiar with training dogs on electronic dog collars. You will be glad you did.

Personality, temperament and drive is what makes each dog who he is. Like humans, each dog is a little different. This is why we recommend you have a professional trainer to assist with dog training on the fence.

This is what happens in the training process AFTER the dog evaluation occurs (Do not follow these guidelines for your dog unless you have seen or have been advised by a professional trainer. This is just a general review of what happens during training.):

The first step in training before you leave your dog unleashed on the dog fence system is to acquaint him to the boundaries of your property. You could use flags to mark the boundaries. (Your Contain-A-Pet dealer/trainer may also recommend a string and flag fence if your dog is of a certain temperament.) Once you start using the electric dog fence it is these boundaries that the dog would have to learn in order to keep the electronic dog collar from beeping. You have to teach your pet the boundaries of the dog containment system. You have to teach your dog that when it hears the tone it must run away from the boundaries towards the center of the yard. This will teach him that he needs to be within the boundary in order to avoid the beeping sound and correction. This process usually lasts approximately 5 to 7 days.

The next step would be to attach a long leash line to your dog and have someone walk towards the boundary and see if your dog would follow. If he tries to cross the boundary then it may mean that you will have to repeat the first step again. If your dog does stop at the boundary, he has learned the first lesson correctly.  Now you can increase testing to ensure he does not cross the boundary.

Use bigger distractions like balls, Frisbees, etc thrown outside the boundary and watch whether your dog will get them. If he does, go back to step one. If he adheres to the boundaries, praise him tremendously. It is now time to leave your dog unleashed but always under constant supervision until you’re completely satisfied that he will not test the boundary.

Be patient and be sure your dog has adjusted to the dog fence system before you allow him to run unsupervised. You can begin removing flags when you’re sure that the dog has learned the boundary limits. Always ask your trainer first.

This is a general guide to the proper training on the dog fence system. Only the ill-informed or uncaring dog owner would turn their dog out on the dog fence without training. Remember, to always ask a professional trainer the proper way to train your particular dog before you get started.

The following information has been extracted from www.containapet.com with their permission. All questions or concerns should be addressed to them.

This is the next installment for our Dog Fence Reviews series of articles.

You purchase an underground dog fence  to keep your dog or cat in their yard, right?  What happens if your dog starts running through it?  If you are like me, you would want your money back if you did everything requested by the manufacturer.

Sadly, that doesn’t always happen.  Did you know that most (probably all)  hardware or catalog stores have only a thirty day money back guarantee on their dog containment systems?  That is not nearly enough time to be sure a pet fence will contain your dog the rest of his or her life.

It doesn’t get much better with professionally installed dog fence systems.  You have to do your home work before you buy.

Some companies have the same miserable thirty day guarantee that the catalog stores do.    There is no way I would buy one of those fences for my dogs.  Even if I was sure my dog would be contained, why would I want to take that chance if there are better guarantees out there?

Others don’t mention their containment guarantee at all (at least not on their websites).  I wonder why they do that? :)  I’ll let you be the judge of the reason for this glaring omission.  I can tell you one thing,  containment is an important issue with dog containment systems.

There are a few companies that offer a one year dog containment guarantee.   Even the companies with a one year pet containment guarantee requires some scrutiny.

One company offers a one year containment guarantee with a caveat … If your dog is not contained after 30 days, you only get refunded the cost of the equipment.  You lose the labor portion of the installation cost.

There is only one company in the world that offers a full one year dog containment guarantee.  That company is Contain-A-Pet.  The only thing you have to do is follow your Trainer’s guidelines for containing your specific dog.  If you do that and the dog cannot be contained, you will be refunded the purchase price of your system.  Why do they do that?

By now you know we are Contain-A-Pet.  Why can we offer this No-Risk guarantee to you?  We use sound dog training and behavior principles to teach your dog how to stay in his yard.  It doesn’t take any longer than the other companies’ fence training; but, it is very effective.

If you are trying to decide if a fence is for you, you can read more articles by clicking Dog Fence Reviews.

Dog cloning is in the national news again. Lancelot, a yellow labrador retriever puppy has been delivered to a couple in Boca Raton this week.

Lancelot is not the first dog cloned (first in the United States for commercial purposes), but he is the most expensive. $155,000 was the price the couple paid to have their former dog cloned. A California biotech company called BioArts teamed with a South Korean company, Sooam Biotech Research, to clone the dog.

The 10-week-old golden Labrador retriever is a clone, created in South Korea by a California biotech firm from the DNA of the first Sir Lancelot, the beloved pet of Ed and Nina Otto of Boca Raton.

The leading scientist was Dr. Hwang Woo-suk who lost his research professorship at Seoul National University in 2004 after fraudulently claiming he had cloned human embryos and stem cells.

The original ‘’Lancelot'’ died last year. Five years ago the owners, Ed and Nina Otto, had cryogenically banked DNA samples hoping that some day they would be able to clone Lancelot. They did. His name is Lancelot Encore. You can see the video below.

Please see the below linked article on parent companies national website.

Puppy owners beware

Here is another article on the "Fear Imprint Stage"

Here is a whole series of articles on "Fear Imprint" stages.

Here's a good link to our national headquarters on choosing the right dog fence

 How do you choose the dog fence that is right for you?