Posts from — January 2008

Sam, my creative Beardie, became very agitated during that long hot summer and kept coming to tell me of his worry that the wild ponies on the moors opposite were thirsty. He also told me that if we rigged up the hosepipe so that it poked through our hedge, this would give the poor ponies a much-needed source of water. In case anyone is wondering, he did the telling by barking in the ponies’ direction and then bringing me one end of the hose so that I’d get the message.

Unconvinced that the ponies would appreciate his efforts, I nevertheless responded to Sam’s urgent pleas and then watched from my front drive as curiosity brought the first pony (a young foal) over. So I saw the concentration involved in working out how best to benefit from this hedge-fountain and had a clear view of teeth and tongue as the pony experimented with a variety of angles for the drinking process. Soon he was gulping the water down and pawing the now wet ground. Some of his elders, drawn by the baby’s strange behaviour and by the sound of running water, then decided to follow his lead and venture over … and I noticed how patient they were with each other as they waited their turn at the ‘tap’. Meanwhile, Sam was looking extremely pleased with himself and eying me as if to suggest that he had earned a biscuit or at least some praise. I gave him both, also finding some carrots and bread for the ponies, which were of course suffering from more than a shortage of water, the drought having turned the grass yellow and left them with insufficient grazing. How did they repay Sam for alerting me to their needs?

A few days later Sam and I were respectively whizzing and walking on Three Cliffs Bay. The sun shone from a clear blue sky and there seemed to be no hazards on our horizon. With neither sheep in sight, nor any horse-riders (Sam objected vociferously to humans on horseback) and with gulls preoccupying him as usual, I felt that we were set fair for a stress-free stroll. Will I never learn?

To my surprise, as we rounded the Three Cliffs, I saw that the ponies had come down to the river to drink. It was early for them to have descended into the valley, besides which they had crossed the pebbled area from marshland on to the actual sand. This was most unusual. In fact, it was the first time I had ever seen the whole herd gathered on the beach. Suddenly, without any apparent reason, they started stampeding. Sam – never one to miss out on anything – decided to join in.

Before I could stop him, he was haring across the beach … and, heavens above, in among dozens of thumping hooves! There must have been thirty horses in the herd and Sam was now running with them, apparently not a bit bothered to be surrounded by galloping animals several times his size. Oh me, oh my! I closed my eyes.

What else was there to do when he was hardly likely to hear me calling him above the din of the hooves and when, if he were to hear me and – wonder of wonders – try to respond, he would most probably be trampled on? The thundering stopped. Was Sam lying on the sand, accidentally battered to death by the ponies? I finally found the courage to look and see. The ponies were again drinking from the river that spirals across the beach … and Sam was panting in front of me.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief I snapped on his lead. I’d had enough excitement for one day and my hair was already a comprehensive grey. What happened next? Something, or someone, startled the ponies before I could take another breath and – manes and tails flowing – they were on the move again, cantering right past Sam and me. I hardly had time to give thanks that he was safely on his lead before this snapped as he strained to break free. Then he was running among his big friends again, oblivious to danger and to my fears.

Hard not to feel fearful … and foolish: I was unfit to own such a spirited Beardie. He might survive such an adventure once, but could even Sam manage to survive it twice? Being the boy that he was, he did. Or were the ponies protective of him because he had fed and watered them?

Copyright: Pamela Glynn

I think it was probably writing stories about Sam years ago for the Southern Counties Bearded Collie Club’s ‘Beardie Times’ that gave me the confidence to move on to novels. I’m now a published author, often exploring spirituality and/or the elusive nature of Time. I’ve recently completed two e-books, the first of which follows a baby bird along his most unusual path to maturity. This can be read on two levels – simply as an adventure, or also as a journey toward personal development – and can be accessed via the link: dustysjourney.com dustysjourney.com
The Portrait (a love story across time) can be found at: pglynn.co.uk pglynn.co.uk

Now I’m not saying that pics of dog’s are bad, I’m just saying that everyone
should have there pet represented in the form of a painting. As a dog owner myself,
I have several pictures of my little dachshund Max, and my yellow lab Sasha.
They are good pics and I’m glad I have them, but I also have had a few painting’s
done of them by one of my favorite artists. These paintings capture my dogs
spirit so much better than any of the pictures I have.

In fact the face and
body in these paintings LOOK more like my dogs than half of my pictures. Only
because the artist that I used had the talent and vision to create such a great
work of art. He looked through the pics I already had and wasn’t satisfied
with using any of them. He actually took some pictures of his own and used
those as reference for his painting. Out of 25 or thirty pictures, he felt
only 2 or 3 were worthy enough to use for a painting. I thought the pictures
he used were really good, and then I saw the finished painting and thought
it was even better than the pics.

Now I have this cool surrealistic painting that really represents how I feel
about my dogs in an Iconic way.

The beauty about a painting, whether it’s done in oil, acrylic, watercolor,
ect. is that the artist is able to take out any unwanted imperfections you typically
get with a photo like red eyes, heavy and dark cast shadows, fur frizzes, an ear
folded back, any ugly items that the dog might be sitting next to. ect.

I have had one person tell me that “Max seems to be more than just some dog in
this painting”. This remark coming from a friend of mine that doesn’t like
dogs very much, but he made it apparent about how cool he thought the painting
was. I take a great amount of pleasure knowing that this painting had given
him a new appreciation for animals that he didn’t have before.

I had the idea to have portraits painted of my dogs when I was thumbing through
a dog art book one day. Here are just a few paintings that
inspired me. Just copy and paste the text into your browser. Enjoy!

mwernerart.com/sitebuilder/images/contemp_doxie_reg-347×270.jpg mwernerart.com/sitebuilder/images/contemp_doxie_reg-347×270.jpg

imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/NYG/8633~Island-Farmhouse-1969-Posters.jpg imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/NYG/8633~Island-Farmhouse-1969-Posters.jpg

puppysites.com/deluxe/dogartdog.jpg puppysites.com/deluxe/dogartdog.jpg

Michael Werner is an artist/writer. please click on his link to see his dog art.
mwernerart.com/petportraits.html mwernerart.com/petportraits.html

It wasn’t that long ago our Chessie/Golden mix, Sonagh, would go into a state of complete apoplexy with the arrival of guests. She would be completely out of her mind . . . to the point where I couldn’t open the door. Well today, I can report both of my dogs stay in their sit position and are perfectly quiet when anyone arrives at the door.

This article will show you what you need to do to stop your dog from jumping up on everybody who enters your house.

And here’s the good news: Your problem is solvable, because dogs are very trainable. That behavior just needs to be modified into acceptable house manners.

So the first thing you want to do, if you don’t have one, is get your dog a Gentle Leader. You can find one at your local vet office or pet supply store.

Now here’s how the training starts: Before company comes, take your dog for a good, vigorous, half hour walk, making sure they stay in a heel the whole time. You want to be in charge of the walk, not your dog. No sniffing and exploring on this trip. This does two things.

1 – It uses up some of your dog’s energy

2 – It establishes your leadership

Next, when company comes, pick a spot you want to establish as your dog’s “company spot.” This can be 4-5 feet back from the front door. Next, have your dog in their Gentle Leader with the leash clipped to it. Then put them in a sit/stay and step on the leash so your dog can’t get their head any higher than a normal sit position.

Praise them for sitting nicely and give them a special treat you use ONLY when guests are coming. Try some dried liver bits – disgusting to us but candy for dogs. Now have someone else answer the door while you continue to manage your dog. Keep them focused on the treats, their sit/stay and your praise.

You may even want to develop a command for this activity. If you tell your dog “Company!” they will eventually associate their “company spot” and the desired behavior with this command.

It’s just that simple.

Now I’ll be honest, you will need to practice this quite a bit before you can expect a calm dog when people come into the house. So make people coming and going from your home a regular thing rather than a special event.

I think one of the other factors is how your guests react to your dog. You can help coach them so they can change their behavior. This will help with your dog’s behavior, because their anxiety over the bouncing, jumping dog is being conveyed to your dog and she is, in turn, reacting to it.

Your dog will probably continue to try your patience – that’s what puppies and dogs do. Just hang in there, because it will be worth it! Ear scratches to wee your dog! Tell them, with your help and dedication, they’re going to be an incredible dog some day!

May you all have great moments with your dog.

Edie Mackenzie has been a dog nut for longer than she can remember and
is the author of two books on designer dogs, the

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. Or so the old saying goes. However, wishes were horses but not horse supplies as well, then the beggars in question would not be riding.

To begin with, anyone who wishes to ride a horse, will need horse supplies in the form of tack. Even the roughest rider who enjoys bareback riding will require a bridle, and most of us would prefer to have a saddle between us and the horse’s spine.

Most saddlers will stock a variety of bridles and saddles, along with a selection of different types of bit, depending on the needs of you and your horse. Other tack items available at a good retailer of horse supplies should include halters, cruppers and breastplates. Other horse supplies are more concerned with the horse’s comfort and well-being.

A horse kept stabled will require good quality food, ranging from the traditional hay and oats to more modern pellets and grain mixes. Racehorses and show horses in particular will require very high quality, high energy feed and supplements in order to perform at their peak.

A horse kept outdoors in pasture will also require hay and other feed supplements, especially over winter. A horse kept in pasture will also require a cover to protect it from the elements, and occasionally an additional neck rug.

Even if you are using your horse for everyday hacking rather than competitions, you will still require a few more items in the way of horse supplies. Grooming is a pleasure for both horse and rider, and for this you will require a body brush or dandy brush at the very least.

A hoofpick is also a vital piece of equipment in order to ensure that your horse’s hooves are in good condition and to make sure that the sensitive frog of the hoof is not being damaged by stones or other hard objects.

If you choose to leave your horse “barefoot”, you will still need to care for your horse’s hooves, which sometimes means filing them – which in turn means a specialized file. Stables and fields alike need to be kept clean from droppings, so a good set of implements such as a shovel, a rake and a wheelbarrow are vital, although you do not need to buy these at a specialist horse supplies retailer – any good garden or hardware shop should stock these.

If you wish to use your horse in competitions, you will need further equipment, and extra grooming equipment such as curry combs and hoof oil are just some of the items on your list. A horse trailer is vital for transporting your mount to the location of the competition.

The feet and legs of your horse will need to be protected with brushing boots and/or bandages. As turnout is an important part of many shows and gymkhanas, you will also require a collection of ribbons for braiding into the mane according to competition standards. Western riding, of course, has its own set of equipment and requirements, chief of which is the specialized Western saddle.

Other supplies could be better referred to as “people supplies.” These are the essential items for the rider. The most important of these is the hard hat or helmet, which comes in a range of styles and types, depending on your needs and any showing you hope to be doing.

Jodhpur boots are robust enough to work outdoors in or if a horse accidentally treads on your foot, but are also shaped to slide in and out of the stirrup easily – hiking boots and Wellington boots run the risk of being caught in the stirrup, which can lead to horrific consequences in the case of a fall. These items of protective clothing, plus others, can easily be bought at a good horse supplies retailer.

For more information on horses, try visiting interestinghorses.com interestinghorses.com – a website that specializes in providing horse related tips, advice and resources including information on interestinghorses.com/horsesupplies.html horse supplies.

Why paint your cat? After all cats are beautiful creatures if you want to appreciate the appearance of a feline, you look at the cat not at a painting.

Some of the reasons that you may want to paint your cat are:

To capture your pet at a particular age, in a particular pose, in a particular place. To have a permanent reminder of your companion when she has moved on to feline afterlife. To give as a gift to a fellow cat lover.

So you figure how hard can it be to turn out a pleasing semblance of your moggy? You are no Van Gough, but you know how to handle a paint brush. You have all the materials that you need in order to paint your cat, the paints, brushes, stuff for cleaning, you even have a home made easel. Boy, it sure is going to be fun to paint your cat.

There she is, curled up asleep by the window, a look of cat contentment upon her face and the sunlight giving her coat an extra gloss. What a magnificent painting of your cat you are going to produce. Quietly you set everything up, you have your canvas propped on your easel and your paintbrush in hand. You turn to face your subject, and…

She’s gone. Your little darling had been snoozing in that spot for most of the morning and now that you are ready to produce your masterpiece, she decides that someplace else is where she needs to be! Well, she is not going to get away with it, you have decided to paint your cat, and that is just what you are going to do.

You search for her. Eventually you find your feline subject siting at the top of the stairs without a care in the world. Scooping her up, you carry her back to the sunlit window so she may cooperate with you and resume her pose. But cats don’t cooperate. She paces up and down, and you know that the only thing stopping her from making a bolt is the fact that you are betwixt her and the door. The fact that you want to paint your cat is of no importance, the only thing that is of any concern to your cat is what she wants!

You consider for a moment the possibility of restraining her, like Guliver lashed to the ground by the little people. No chance, no chance whatsoever. So what to do? Of all the creatures on this earth the cat is the last one to be told what to do.

You conclude that the only thing that you can do to paint your cat, is to forget about producing a detailed precise painting. You will paint your feelings about your cat. This will not be a long drawn out process, get it on the canvass, let your subconscious communicate the essence of the feline! Looking at your cat and not your canvass, you start to paint. Rapidly you slash with your brush, you don’t worry about the colors that you use corresponding exactly to those of you cat, it is the feelings that they represent that is important.

Meanwhile, your cat looks on bemused.

At last you are finished. Time to inspect your art work, you turn and look and your jaw drops. Well it could be some kind of animal, those lines in purple do seem to represent a tail. And that is an eye, no mistake about that, but whatever eye it is, it’s not your cat’s eye!

Ah well! At least you tried to paint your cat. Don’t think of it as a failure, after all you did produce something, and who knows, your cat at least, may have enjoyed the experience! Meanwhile, your cat has resumed its perfect pose, asleep by the window.

About The Author

Larry Chamberlain is a lifelong cat lover and webmaster of best-cat-art.com” target=”_new best-cat-art.com – Cat art posters, art prints, cat calendars and cat collectibles. Great cat gifts for yourself or your cat loving friends; mailto:Larry@best-cat-art.com Larry@best-cat-art.com

Whether or not animals are “smart” or just react according to instinct has been debated for many years. A German shepherd grabs the back of a three-year-old’s pants as she tries to climb over the backyard fence: Is that herding “instinct” or the intelligence of a pet knowing the child was not supposed to be climbing over the fence.? I am one of the people who say some animals, especially some pets, understand us and show intelligence.

The German shepherd mentioned previously grew up with our daughter. When both were nearly three-months old, I sat the baby in an infant seat just inside the back screen door, where I could see her, while I hung up clothes on the line. Pepper ran around the fenced yard, coming by for attention before taking off again. My daughter, who had been happily playing with her hands, started crying. I put the diaper in my hands back in the basket of clothes and started toward the door. Pepper rushed by me, hopped up the steps, and gave a soft “woof” at the baby. The baby stopped mid-sob, stared wide-eyed at the dog, and burst into giggles, her first laugh.

I returned to my task while Pepper remained outside the screen door for a few minutes. Then she jumped down to run over to me. I petted her head. “Good girl. You are the best babysitter, Pepper.”

A few minutes later, the baby cried again. Pepper ran to the screen and woofed at her again. My daughter laughed. That became the procedure for the rest of the time I hung clothes.

This dog could be shown the limits of our yard, and she would not cross that imaginary line unless my husband or I gave her permission, no matter what the temptation provided.

But Pepper wasn’t the only pet who “understood.” Shadow, a miniature black panther (he looked like one and moved like one), definitely understood what people said and acted more human than many people. When we lived in the country, we had a mouse problem, but Shadow would not lower himself to catch any of them. We got another cat who was an excellent mouser. One day the other cat caught a mouse, and I told Shadow, “See, Tabby knows her job.”

The male cat glared at me and stalked to the door, demanding to be let out. I opened the door for him, and he streaked outside. A few minutes later, he scratched at the door. I opened it to find him on the porch, a rat under one foot. He looked at me a few seconds before slapping the rat off the porch. Guess he showed me what he could do if he wanted.

Sometime later, we were given a Siamese kitten, one supposedly a female. The kitten was so scared that its tail curled up between its hind legs. We never checked its sex because we were told it was a she, and most tomcats won’t tolerate another one. Shadow sniffed at Taffy and walked away. That night we put “her” in a box in the bathroom next to our bedroom. Shadow slept in the top stacking basket on the bookshelf headboard above my head. When the kitten started yowling, before I could crawl out of bed, Shadow leaped to the floor and ran to the bathroom (he could open the door). When I arrived, the huge male was cleaning and comforting the tiny kitten.

When Taffy no longer had to stay in the bathroom, he followed Shadow everywhere. But the night we went to bed, Shadow and my husband with me, and found Taffy in Shadow’s bed, I had to leave the room to laugh. Shadow jumped up, booted the kitten out, and pushed him into the second basket down before jumping into his own bed. He hung his head down to stare at Taffy, said a few choice words in catanese, and went to sleep. Taffy slept in the lower bunk from then on.

As we prepared to moved to town, my daughter helped me pack. We took a break in the living room. Shadow lay in the middle of the carpet, sleeping. My daughter asked me what we were going to do with all the cats. I told her that all but Shadow had new homes.

“Then since you’re going to be in town, you’ll need to have him fixed, won’t you?” she asked.

Shadow’s head flew up. He stared at my daughter and then shuddered all over.

We both laughed as he glared. (Yes, cats can certainly glare.)

Several months later, one of my former students wanted to practice his vacuum cleaner presentation, so we agreed. He sat in the middle of the living room visiting after he had given his spiel. I was on the couch, Shadow beside me.

“That’s one big cat,” Jack remarked, “but I like dogs better because they’ll roll over and let me rub their stomachs.”

Shadow jumped down, walked in front of Jack, flopped down, and rolled over. Jack sat staring at the cat.

“Go ahead, rub his stomach,” I said.

Jack did as he laughingly remarked, “I think he really understood me.”

I have given only a short list of the anecdotic examples I have just from my own pets. I firmly believe that animals can and do understand, that they have more than instinct to guide them. Yes, some are not as intelligent as others, but those who live and interact with people can and do understand. Too bad we can’t understand them as well.

A retired English and composition teacher, Vivian Gilbert Zabel now concentrates on writing, with books Hidden Lies … and Walking the Earth… found on Amazon.com and a portfolio on writing.com writing.com. This article has been submitted in affiliation with PetLovers.Com/ PetLovers.Com/ which is a site for PetLovers.Com/ Pet Forums.

There are several reasons why dogs dig. One of them is to bury food, bones or toys.

My dog, Brownie had the habit of burying dry food and chew bone in my yard but never retrieved them. He drove my mum mad by leaving a trail of holes and dead plants.

One day, my mum was weeding when she stumbled upon something … a carelessly buried chew bone that belonged to my other dog, Bo. Seeing my mum had discovered his ’stash’, Brownie wagged his tail vigorously. As soon as she had cleaned the bone and left it to dry in the sun, Brownie quietly went off with it again! I just could not help laughing.

Such behaviour is not only uncommon but a natural instinct in dogs. In the wild, dogs and their wolf ancestors hunt and kill prey animals for food. When a kill is too large to be eaten all at once, any surplus food is buried and hidden from other animals for later consumption.

This behaviour remains ingrained in some domestic dogs. They hoard food in case they want to eat them later. In most instances, they never recover their stash. Pet dogs are fed adequately and regularly, so they are unlikely to go hungry.

If your dog digs to bury, here are some tips to discourage this behaviour:

1. Your dog should be fed at scheduled times. It is crucial not to free feed your dog to avoid interrupting his eating pattern. If your dog is burying food, you may want to restrict the amount of food or treats that you give him. Consider limiting access to your yard until he has eaten his food. If your dog does not eat his food immediately, remove his bowl and give it to him later. Remove leftover food so he does not have the opportunity to bury it.

2. Fill up holes with your dog’s poop. As it is unpleasant for dogs to dig their own poop, this can deter your dog’s unwanted behaviour. I have used this method successfully with my dog. However, some dogs may look for other ‘clean’ areas to dig.

3. If your dog tends to revisit a particular spot, cover the surface with large rocks or wood. Alternatively, try burying chicken wire under the soil. You want to make it difficult or unpleasant for your dog to dig.

4. Consider fencing off sections of your yard that you do not want your dog to destroy.

5. When you catch your dog digging, reprimand him by saying “NO” firmly. You want to teach him that this is an unacceptable behaviour.

Sometimes, it is best to limit or not to give anything to your dog that encourages him to bury. Brownie never liked chew bones so I stop giving him any. When I feed him with biscuit and he does not eat it immediately, I will take it back instead of leaving it in his bowl. Since he has nothing to bury, he stops digging altogether.

Nicole Knight

A Maltese Dog Lover

Get free information about house training Maltese dogs at:
maltesedogtips.com maltesedogtips.com

When it comes to electronic pet doors, there is a huge variety in the market to choose from. These pet doors are made a little differently from the flap doors; they are more like grooved, sliding doors that reduce draft, in turn reducing the loss of heating and air conditioning. Being power driven, these doors are electronically operated by the sensor attached to the pet’s collar, allowing only your pet to come in and go out and not the strays.

The opening and the distance need to be adjusted until the pet becomes familiar with the door. Made up of golden brown, transparent lexan, it is framed in strong, black aluminium that is anodized. The interior plate is made up of textured acrylic, which can be painted black to match the exterior trim plate. These doors operate on 115 volts of current. The power cord is supplied, along with the kit, which contains two sensor keys (these sensors are of different sizes for small and big pets) and an attachable clip for the pet’s collar.

These doors can be installed anywhere from walls, doors, sliders to French windows and can be installed by the home handyman, too. Also available are electronic doors made of unbreakable lexan with a four-way setting. It includes a breakaway collar and batteries but locks only in one direction, which could perhaps be a disadvantage.

Infrared pet doors could also be an option. In addition to keeping the house safe, these doors also restrict entry to unwelcome pets from outside. This door comes with two infrared keys, along with the collar and an optional power transformer that allows you to use regular power so that you can save on batteries. Ideal for small pets, these doors can be fitted onto doors of a maximum of two inches depth, or on walls or glass.

Most of these doors have common features like magnetic collar keys, restricting the pet’s movements, and nearly all of them can be installed on a door, glass, or walls. There is another kind of a door that needs to be fitted onto a panel. These electronic panel doors have the same features as the other electronic doors except that they fit into an assembled panel. The large-size panels have various size and height options. Small and small/medium-sized doors come with collar keys, while smaller keys that are more appropriate for cats can be bought for a bit extra.

Whether one opts for an electronic pet door or an infrared door what matters most is the convenience these doors offer the pet owner and of course, pets, too.

e-PetDoors.com Pet Doors provides detailed information on Pet Doors, Electronic Pet Doors, Patio Pet Doors, Magnetic Pet Doors and more. Pet Doors is affiliated with e-PetBeds.com Luxury Pet Beds.

Do you have a child who is longing for a pet but can’t have one because of allergies? Do you want a low maintenance pet with a long lifespan and few needs? Then the African Clawed Frog is for you.

The African Clawed Frog or Xenopus Laevis is a wonderful pet for people who have allergies or live in a place that doesn’t allow furry pets. They also are great learning tools for schoolrooms and for children to learn about how a frog changes from a tadpole to an adult.

You can purchase a frog from Grow-A-Frog online, or from the fish section of your local department store. These frogs are used extensively in laboratories for research because of the properties of their skin. They used to be used for pregnancy detection before more sophisticated tests were available and were released into the wild in the USA when they were no longer needed. Because the frogs will eat just about anything and have a long lifespan, they started to threaten the local fish and frog populations, and are therefore not legal in some states.

Habitat

African Clawed Frogs are from the cooler places in Africa. They like to live in areas of stagnant fresh water like ponds, rivers, and pools. For your frog, you will want to buy an aquarium and allow for ten gallons of water per frog. Because your frog breathes air, the water should be six to twelve inches deep so he can swim to the surface easily. The tap water has to sit for 24 hours before you put the frog in it, or use a dechlorinator crystal you can buy from Grow-A-Frog. Frogs are happiest when the water temperature is about 74-78 degrees F, so you may need an aquarium heater. A filter can be used to keep the water clean.

Whether or not to use gravel or stones on the bottom of the tank is debatable. Some frogs will eat the gravel if it is small, and they could die. If the stones are big enough, you could put them on the bottom. Also, provide your frog with some cover to hide, with plastic plants and decorations. Don’t use real plants, because your frog will destroy them.

Be sure to have a tight fitting lid on the top of the aquarium. Your frog is a master at escape and can jump right out of most places.

You don’t have to use direct light or artificial light for your frog. They like indirect light the best.

Food

African Clawed Frogs are not fussy eaters. You can feed them the prepared fish pellets from Grow-A-Frog, or you can feed them brine shrimp, meal worms, guppies, or Tetra Rept-min. They will even eat the fish in your aquarium, so be careful you don’t put them in a tank with little fish.

Lifespan

These frogs have an official lifespan of eight to ten years in captivity, but most African Clawed frog owners will tell you their frogs can live fifteen to twenty years.

Care

Clean the water once a week, less if you use a filter. Feed him. Watch him (don’t hold the frog; they have chemicals in their skin which may cause an allergic reaction for some people). Listen to him sing! (males sing, females don’t).

Benefits

The African Clawed frog if bought as a tadpole is a great learning tool for children. They will get to watch the frog grow from tadpole to adult swimming frog. If you buy a male and a female frog, with some luck, you can watch the mating process and enjoy the babies that may result.

The male frog has interesting vocalizations for different occasions. There is the ‘feed me’ song, the ‘I want a mate’ song, and the singing for singing sake song. Both sexes use their front legs to grab and eat, and look like they are begging for more food.

If you want a non-allergic pet with interesting habits and simple requirements, than the African Clawed Frog is for you!

This article has been submitted in affiliation with PetLovers.Com/ PetLovers.Com/ which is a site for PetLovers.Com/ Pet Forums.

Mary Casey is the proud owner of a sixteen-year-old African Clawed Frog named Mup.

How we love our dogs in the United States! We spend billions of dollars not only on necessities like food and medical care, but on luxuries such as clothing, carriages, and knick-knacks that our forefathers could never have imagined buying for an animal. We believe that the pet industry has our animals’ well-being as its number one priority. The sad fact, though, is that most companies that make and sell animal food and supplies really are concerned with one thing: making money from our devotion to our animals. Stark proof of this came earlier in 2007 when scores of American pets died due to a toxin added to pet food to boost the protein. This event has caused us all to be more skeptical of the commercial dog food industry.

What is in dog food anyway, and is it beneficial or detrimental to our beloved dogs? Any astute dog owner is wise to ask this question, and will most likely be shocked by the answer: lots of garbage, waste, fillers, and toxins go into FiFi and Fido’s kibbles.

First of all, many dog foods contain grains, such as wheat, oats, rice, barley, and corn, as the main ingredient, rather than animal protein. Dogs are carnivores and were not designed by Mother Nature to digest and use large amounts of grains. Carnivores’ diets should consist almost exclusively of animal products. In the wild, you see wolves eating animals that are vegetarians. That is, given the choice, they kill and eat deer, elk, buffalo, and other hoofed mammals. They resort to smaller mammals like rodents and rabbits when large game is unavailable. Wolves just don’t raid our gardens or destroy our wheat and corn fields. Nature intended for canines to eat animal protein. Forcing our dogs to eat lots of grains causes all sorts of digestive problems and is thought to be a major reason why dogs develop allergies.

As bad as it is for our dogs to be subsisting on grains long-term, the animal products used to make commercial dog food are often much worse. Read the label on any dog food you purchase. You want to see the word “meat” first in the list of ingredients. That word can only be used to refer to the muscle tissue of cows, pigs, sheep and goats. So far, so good. After all, that’s what humans are eating when we enjoy steak or pork chops, the muscle tissue of the animal. Be aware that when you see the words “meal” or “by-product,” your dog could be eating heads, hooves, organs, or any part of any animal. Now for the worst part: these two terms encompass not only beef, pork, or sheep, but may refer to road-kill, waste products (yup, feces), or even euthanized pets. Any number of poisons, toxins, and bacteria can be present in dog food that has been made using such waste and detritus. Don’t feed your dog any food that lists meal or by-products in the ingredients! Your dog can suffer illness, poisoning, stomach upset, diarrhea, disorientation, or even death from ingesting these ingredients.

Finally, watch out for fillers and preservatives. These ingredients aren’t even good for omnivores, like humans, who have digestive systems designed to handle variety. But for dogs, who are supposed to be eating only meat, these additives are unnecessary and unhealthy. Additives in dog food are good for one thing: to boost the bottom line of the manufacturer. They certainly aren’t intended to enhance your dog’s health.

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