Pet (cafe) Society

Every evening Justin Rudd dines with his two English Bulldogs named Rosie and Riley at one of the many pet-friendly restaurants on Second Street in Belmont Shore, Long Beach, Calif. He is not alone. The outdoor areas along the sidewalks are filled with other doggie diners. Not to mention the after dinner strollers out window shopping and stopping off at the local pet bakery to pick up a treat for their dog before heading over to Starbucks to meet up with friends for a latté.

There is no question about it — Americans are barking mad about their pets and this vignette is a mere slice of our new café society lifestyle as cities like Chicago pass ordinances that allow dogs to accompany their owners in outdoor areas of restaurants, and states such as Florida write into the law that restaurants everywhere can opt for allow doggie dining if they choose.

“If you’re going to take your dogs with you to restaurants and coffee shops, you have to be mindful of others at all times, says Rudd. “If a restaurant is crowded on a particular night, we’ll go somewhere else. And it’s important that your dog is very well socialized around both people and other pets. I never let them beg at the table or feed them off my plate.”

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Everyone knows dogs have a better sense of smell than humans. But here at the Dolce Vita doggie blog, we always want to know not just what but why. Thanks to Newsday for the informative article giving us what we want:

Sniff sniff sniff.

You can actually see a dog's nose hard at work, picking up a scent wafting through the air, following the invisible trail a rabbit left in the yard, or investigating your pants leg for evidence of a secret meeting with a cat.

No one knows for sure how much more scent-sensitive dogs are than humans: a thousand times? Ten thousand?

But what is known is that a dog's nose has many more odor receptors, and an olfactory (smell) center that takes up much more room in the brain.

Human beings have about 5 million odor receptors, while dogs, depending on the breed, may have more than 220 million. The small human nose devotes only a postage stamp-sized area to odor receptors.

The average dog nose has a mucous-y scent receptor area which, if spread out, would cover a Kleenex tissue. A dog's nose - moist on the outside, as well as the inside - acts as a magnet to scent molecules in the air and on the ground.

Sniffing - a string of quick inhales and exhales - helps a dog rapidly identify a scent. Each deliberate sniff widens the dog's nostrils, allowing him to pull in more scent-laden air.

According to researchers, a sniff also temporarily straightens the dog's nasal cavity, allowing odor molecules to proceed directly to receptors deeper in the nose.

The contact between molecules and receptors generates nerve impulses, which travel along the olfactory nerves to the brain's huge smell center.

Presto: Scent decoded.

(Meanwhile, Jacobson's organ, a special chamber above the roof of a dog's mouth, has its own scent receptors. These transmit nerve impulses to the brain's hypothalamus, an area associated with social and mating behavior.)

The average dog's ability to detect a few scent molecules in a trillion others has created a whole industry built on canine noses.

Dogs sniff for hidden drugs in cars and planes, follow the trails of hikers missing in the woods, and find the remains of people in the rubble left behind by earthquakes and bombings.

Now, scientists are testing the ability of dogs to detect the distinctive smell markers of various cancers.

So far, it seems that dogs are good at detecting melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer. Dogs also have been trained to detect the waste products of lung and breast cancer cells, simply by sniffing a patient's breath. And some dogs can identify people with bladder or prostate cancer by picking up on odors in urine.

Dogs trained to detect certain cancers, scientists say, might someday help screen whole villages of people in remote areas without easy access to lab tests.

A dog's sensitivity to scents can even be used to calm it down, in a kind of canine aromatherapy.

Researchers in Northern Ireland found that dogs riding in a car filled with the odor of lavender spent more time sitting quietly, less time racing from window to window and yapping in the driver's ear.

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More links on the same subject:

Video of a dog's nose in action (from SciencCentral News)

An article from MSNBC.com about dog's potentially diagnosing cancer by smell. Really.

A highly recommened book by the Dolce Vita doggie blog.

An overview:

“Our dogs see us through more than they put us through,” Ken Foster writes in Dogs I Have Met, his collection of stories from readers whose lives were changed by the unexpected arrival of a dog in need. Foster’s new book introduces us to: a pit bull named Jimmy that is recovering from a hit-and-run in Oakland, California; a woman in Costa Rica who opened her house to fifty-five strays; a pit bull that raises a piglet as its own; a hemophiliac dog trained as a therapist; and the Ninth Ward dogs that returned with their owners to rebuild New Orleans.

Buy the book from Amazon.

Read a Voice of America review here.

Ever wondered if you need to turn the light on for your dog? Turns out, you don't need to.

As pointed out in Science Daily today:

"Dogs have evolved to see well in both bright and dim light, whereas humans do best in bright light. No one is quite sure how much better a dog sees in dim light, but I would suspect that dogs are not quite as good as cats,” which can see in light that’s six times dimmer than our lower limit. Dogs, he says, “can probably see in light five times dimmer than a human can see in.”

Dogs have many adaptations for low-light vision, Miller says. A larger pupil lets in more light. The center of the retina has more of the light-sensitive cells (rods), which work better in dim light than the color-detecting cones. The light-sensitive compounds in the retina respond to lower light levels. And the lens is located closer to the retina, making the image on the retina brighter.

But the canine’s biggest advantage is called the tapetum. This mirror-like structure in the back of the eye reflects light, giving the retina a second chance to register light that has entered the eye. “Although the tapetum improves vision in dim light, it also scatters some light, degrading the dog’s vision from the 20:20 that you and I normally see to about 20:80,” Miller says.

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Nepal is celebrating the festival of Tihar, its equivalent of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. In Nepal, on the second day of the feast, special honour is bestowed on dogs.

On this day, called Kukur Pooja or Kukur Tihar, its canines are garlanded, adorned with the Hindu powder of blessing, the tika, and given festive food including sweetmeats - jalabis.

Read and see more...

Really cool Wikipedia entry compiling all the pets owned by the President's of the United States.

Teddy Roosevelt wins for the longest entry!

- Pete, Bull Terrier
- Skip, Rat Terrier
- Blackjack, Manchester Terrier
- Manchu, Pekingese
- Rollo, Saint Bernard
- Sailor Boy, Chesapeake Bay Retriever
- Tom Quartz and Slippers, Cats
- Emily Spinach, Garter snake
- Algonquin, Pony
- Maude, Pig
- Josiah, Badger
- Jonathan, Piebald rat
- Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Fighting Bob Evans, and Father O'Grady, Guinea pigs
- Baron Spreckle, Hen
- Eli Yale, Macaw
- Fedelity, Pony
- Gem and Susan, Dogs
- A one-legged rooster

See the full list here.

Space exploration has been populating the solar system with manmade hardware for half a century, and last month marked the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, the planet’s first artificial satellite. But an even more significant breakthrough occurred less than a month later, on Nov. 3, 1957, when space hardware began carrying life forms into long-duration orbits.

This Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of that milestone mission — the Russian Sputnik 2 launch that put a dog named Laika into orbit. Most of the remembrances of "Muttnik" may focuse solely on the first dog in space and her sad fate. But in the annals of the expansion of earthly life to the universe beyond, the full story is much more profound.

Read more....

If "Sorry" and "Monopoly" have become stale, or if you just can't stand leaving Fluffy out of the hijinks, now you can play a board game with your dog.

Funagle, by Darf Inc, works like this: Players have one minute to "funagle" their dog into performing activities called out on removable tags that make up the game board. To funagle is to use your voice, treats and gestrures to get a dog to do a task. If your dog does the activity, you win a tag. Tags are stored on bone-shaped carabiners. The player with the most tags on their carabiner at the end of the games wins.

DEFINITION OF FUNAGLE - fu*na*gle (pronunciation: fuhn-ney-guh-L), verb, to finess a dog into performing an activity using treats, verbal and gestural communication.

According to the company press release, Funagle can be played by two to four people and one to four dogs. The game comes with a board, 50 tags, a die, four bone-shaped carabiners (to hold the tags) and a sand timer. The game is available at select dog boutiques, pet stores, doggy day cares, game stores, gift stores and at from the Darf Inc website.

Fascinating!

A discovery about the genetics of coat color in dogs could help explain why humans come in different weights and vary in our abilities to cope with stress, a team led by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine reports.

Read the who, what, when, where and why here:

Yep, you read that right...

A pair of dogs have become guardians of Korea's ancient palaces, trained to sniff out termites that damage the wooden buildings. The Cultural Heritage Administration said it's the first time dogs have been used to guard the palaces since Korea won its independence. It's also the first time animals have been used to help preserve the nation's cultural landmarks.

Samsung Life Insurance donated the two termite sniffing canines to the Cultural Heritage Administration on Wednesday, and the pair demonstrated their skills at Geunjeongjeon main hall of Gyeongbok Palace. The dogs are English Springer Spaniels named Woori and Boram. During the demonstration they successfully detected termites in eight barrels and pillars at the Chosun Era palace.

Read more, unless you are a termite lover.

From the Summit News, in Breckenridge Colorado:

Cold weather probably means more pain and joint stiffness for dogs who are arthritic or have some degree of hip dysplasia. Arthritis medication and exercise, therefore, is very important.

But exercise does not mean running your dog behind the snowmobile at 40 mph or following you on a four-hour cross-country trail.

Dogs, especially Labs, are willing to follow you anywhere and for as long as you want. Running in the snow, especially if it’s deep, is more strenuous on the dogs.

They can’t rationalize — they don’t understand they may be too sore to get out of bed the following morning.

If you have a long-haired dog or one that tends to have hair in between the toes, try to keep that hair trimmed or shaved down. This will prevent snow from getting caught there and causing the toes to spread out and the skin to split and bleed.

If you have a dog with short hair and sensitive skin, then you might need to put booties on its paws and not keep it in the cold too long.

Dogs can be left outdoors during the day. Most dogs — goldens, Labs, Aussies, malamutes, huskies — can tolerate the cold well.

But some dogs have been kept in our warm homes and may not be able to spend a full winter day in the yard if the temperature drops too low. Use common sense, and make sure there is a doggy house with a blanket, maybe a heated one, and plenty of water.

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From the Indianapolis Star...

If you think late arrivals and lost luggage are headache-inducing, try flying with your pet. But airline passengers traveling with pets can get some guidance from Petfinder .com, an online database for adoptable pets.

The Web site rates Continental as the airline that seems to care the most about jet-setting pets. Other recommendations:

• JetBlue for the best fare: $50 each way.

• Delta for those with unique pets: Dogs, cats, birds, ferrets, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs are allowed in the cabin.

• American Trans Air, America West, US Airways, JetBlue and Spirit for traveling with young pets: While some airlines only allow pets 8 weeks or older, there is no age requirement on these airlines.

• Spirit, American and Northwest for bringing more than one: Two pets per carrier are allowed.

• AirTran and Delta for traveling with heavy animals: No weight restrictions, as long as pets fit comfortably inside their carriers.

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From a reporter for the Korea Times living in Canada. On the worldwide "affluenza" epidemic and it's benefits to pets.

I have not seen in Korea the vast array and varieties of pet shops, training schools, and beauty spas that I see in Canada. While the idea of sending the family pet to a pet spa may have been considered a gimmick a decade ago, such animal beauty outlets are now a growing trend across the world.

The keyword here is "family.'' Canadians now refer to the pets as companions and family members. Many pet owners call themselves "pet parents.'' There were a few crazy people in the feudal world a few decades ago who prized their pets and lavished them with luxuries.

In our childhood we saw some period movies from Bollywood that showed feudal lords marrying-off their pets with great pomp and show. But today it is fair to say that domestic dogs and cats have gone through an evolution of status, from animal to pet and family member.

Today's pet shop is part high-end boutique, part learning center, and part community hangout. When you go away on holiday, business or perhaps into hospital ― you need not worry about your pets. While you're away pet shops provide pet sitters who take care of your pets.

A few decades back, when traveling, it used to be a hard proposition to find hotels that allowed pets. Now, pets are not just allowed in some hotels, they get royal treatment. Some hotels welcome pets with special pet pillows, toys, even a licensed doggie masseuse.

Psychologists and fortunetellers for pets are no longer bizarre thoughts. There are schools exams, which the pets have to undergo. My friend's smiling dog was disqualified for one year as he answered the question too eagerly without waiting for his turn.

For those who wish to keep their pets at home, there are even toys designed to keep them occupied and special DVDs for their entertainment.

Many owners like my friend take their pets to a doggie daycare for play and exercise and socializing. Cats are less social and hence they stay home. It is said that a dog boosts the ego of the pet owner while a cat deflates it.

There are pools to cool off when it is hot outside. You even have Reiki therapy for curing the aches and pains of pets. Burial and memorial services are available for them and for pet owners who do not like the burial of their loved pets; taxidermy is available as an alternative.

There is an explosion of luxury and designer pet products today. Staple products, such as bowls, collars, leashes, toys, beds and crates have gone through design transformations to make them more stylish, comfortable, safer or smarter. And they come with high price tags.

In today's world of affluenza, pets are having their best time.

Read more...

From the local paper...

If you want to get a cat in Seattle, you have a lot of options. You can go check the yellow pages for breeders. You can look online on countless Web sites, from personal pet breeder pages to classified directories like nwsource.com or Craigslist. You can peruse your neighborhood pet shop.

Or you can adopt.

From Jan. 1 through Oct. 21 of 2006, residents adopted 1,459 cats from the Seattle Animal Shelter. In the same time period this year, 1,392 cats have found home and shelter officials say they're on track to find homes for 1,700 cats by January.

The number of cats in the shelter hasn't changed much this year from last year. But on a longer timeline, it's a different story.

There could be several causes for what shelter director Don Jordan says is a steady increase in the number of homeless cats in Seattle -- from the fact that there is no cat leash law to an observed tendency not to spay or neuter cats as diligently as dogs.

But there's another possibility, and it might surprise you -- global warming.

"A decade ago or two decades ago, when there were cold spells in the winter, a certain part of the cat population died off. But if we're not having those real cold spells, a lot more animals stay alive through the breeding season," Jordan said. He hasn't seen any data to back that up, but it's "certainly been discussed" among directors of other shelters, he said.

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IAMI - Claire Laurence was incredulous when her veterinarian told her that her 16-pound DSH -- that's domestic short hair cat, for you motley mortals -- needed to lose some weight because he was in danger of diabetes and high blood pressure.

"Cats get diabetes?" she gasped.

Yes, ma'am. Dogs can too.

Our beloved animals also can get cataracts and brain tumors. Spinal-cord abnormalities, heart disease and hepatitis too.

Vets today can offer treatments for all of these ailments and many more, using diagnostic tools such as MRIs and CAT scans, thus bringing animal care up to a level once reserved for humans.

Read more...

May we also suggest, that some cats and dogs can benefit from the low-level heat provided by Dolce Vita Pet beds, available on this website.

Interesting! "Fluffy" may have long lost Dilmun relatives in Bahrain...

New scientific findings are leading international researchers to believe that the early domestication of cats may have begun in the Middle East and more specifically Bahrain.

Following the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sampling of Dilmun cats from Bahrain, UK and US scientists concluded that a good proportion had ancient DNA profiles.

New DNA techniques also showed that the domestication process started more than 131,000 years ago rather than 9,000 years ago (evidence from ancient burial sites in Cyprus).

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GROTON, Conn. - When her son Kyle was born, Sharlene Tupas noticed he wouldn't study her face, the way most babies do.

Instead, he would almost look through her, or around her. As he got older he babbled, but at his two-year checkup, he still wasn't talking.

She thought boys simply start talking later, but the doctor told her and her husband, Randy, not necessarily.

By the time she was pregnant with a second child, Kyle was diagnosed as autistic. His brother Austin would follow the same path.

After seven years of struggling with the boys' development _ and several years of splitting up the family so the children could live where the best treatment was available _ the Groton family is putting faith in a dog named Maggie.

Maggie, a mix of a Labrador retriever and poodle called a labradoodle, is being trained as a nontraditional type of service dog. Kyle, 7, has trouble speaking clearly.

He is on par academically and loves to play, but other children can be hesitant to play with him. Austin, 6, makes one-word requests, like "eat" or "drink" and mostly lives in his own little world, his mother said.

Unlike an assistance dog for the blind, dogs trained to work with autistic children serve as a bridge between the children and the world around them, said Patty Dobbs of the Storrs-based North Star Foundation.

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(KSDK, Missouri) - The Humane Society of Missouri rescued 25 pit bulls and one beagle Saturday night from a home in rural Stoddard County, just outside of Dexter. All of them, they say, were being raised for illegal dog fighting.

The Stoddard County Sheriff's Department says three men have been charged; Jamie Sifford, 29, of rural Stoddard County Mo., Jessey Short, 30, of Cape Girardeau Mo. and Curtis Pickering 28, of South Fulton, Tennessee.

Many of the dogs have injuries to their front legs, chest and face. Investigators say the dog fights took place for up to a year in a horse stall behind the home.

Investigators seized paraphenalia associated with fighting, including a blood-soaked rug the dogs used for traction during the fights and treadmills used to build endurance in dogs.

Tim Rickey is the Director of Rescues and Investigations for the Humane Society of Missouri. "Animal fighting is one of the most horrific types of animal abuse because these animals are tortured from just a couple months old up until the time they're killed in a fight or shot by their owner for not performing."

Kyle Held is a statewide investigator with the Humane Society of Missouri. "You couldn't adopt these dogs out and take them out to the local dog park or even take the chance of walking them on the street and meeting another dog because they are bred to do one thing and that's to kill another animal."

The three men arrested are being held in the Stoddard County Jail. Further charges of animal abuse and related dog fighting charges are pending. Dog fighting is a felony in Missouri. Watching a dog fight is a misdemeanor.

Top 5 comments on this story:

5. Is this suddenly becoming more common or just being reported more?
4. It's 2007 people, this story should not even exist.
3. If you know these people, do NOT post bail.
2. I say felonies for watching, too.
1. "One beagle." Snoopy vs pit bulls? Are you kidding,....?

My guess is this would make sense to a lot of people on this side of the pond as well...

It is quite natural that people want to get buried next to the grave of their loved ones after death, Now, a new poll has found that the most bizarre wish from Brits planning heir funeral is to be cremated with their pets’ ashes.

Read more!

Personally we'll stick to dogs and cats for the most part, to each their own...miniature pigs!

You are now booked on October 29.

A special Buddhist conversion ceremony is to be held for a spaniel and two puppies that were abandoned outside a Buddhist monastery at Stanley on Hong Kong island, the head of a dog rescue group said on Tuesday.

Sally Anderson, founder of Hong Kong Dog Rescue, said the event is intended to ensure the animals are spiritually cared for and "they will not have to come back in another life as dogs".

She said the spaniel, who is named appropriately enough, Stanley, has already landed on his feet after the nine-year-old dog was found a loving foster home.

Anderson added that the event, on October 29, will take place during a visit to Hong Kong by dog trainer Victoria Stilwell, who hosts a television programme, It's Me or the Dog, which helps tame disobedient and noisy dogs. - Sapa-DPA

Visit Ann and Geoff Riefe at their West Annapolis home and Theo, half Doberman, half chocolate lab, doesn't so much greet you as turn himself inside out for you.

His paws leave the ground, and he does this twisting, squirming, figure-eight thing with his body. He is physically happy to see you.

Clearly, Theo is off duty.

You can tell because he isn't wearing the red, capelike harness that warns, "Assistance Dog. Do Not Pet."

When Theo is in uniform, he resembles the RCA dog, stonily attentive to his master. Out of uniform, he resembles a kid out of school.

Theo is a service dog, matched with Geoff Riefe by the nonprofit Fidos for Freedom of Laurel.

Read more about Fidos for Freedom on the Baltimore Sun...

Have serious health questions about your pet?

Vets now have good tools to get answers.

Dogs trained to assist the blind may also guide scientists towards a cure for cancer.

Guide Dogs for the Blind will share medical data and DNA from its dogs with a National Institutes of Health researcher studying cancer in people and dogs.

The San Rafael group, founded in 1942, keeps track of the medical histories and DNA of its purebred dogs.

Interesting...read more here:

Sniffer dogs are a critical weapon in the fight against drug trafficking, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri has said.

Speaking at the 2007 police dog championships in Harare on Tuesday, Cde Chihuri said the proficiency of police dogs was critical in the detection of crimes such as robberies, drug trafficking and housebreaking and theft.

Read more about dogs fighting crime...

Thought you'd seen it all when it comes to pampering your pets? Leave it to Los Angeles dog owners to kick it up a notch with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for dogs.

Dog owner Melanie Marden climbed into the contraption with her dog Porsche, explaining, "Her energy's gone up, her fur is so much softer, like a puppy."

Marden admits, not everyone understands their $150 a treatment habit.

Read more about pampering your prince or princess...