ForYourCanine.com

8 Facts About Dachsunds

8 Facts About Dachsunds

• Dachsund in German means “Badger Dog”.
• Due to their excessively long spine, Dachsunds are prone to back and spine injuries.
• Famous owners of Dachsunds: Pablo Picasso, Kaiser Wilhelm II, David Hockney, and General Claire Lee Chennault.
• Legend has it that the American Hot Dog may have been inspired by the Dachsund.
• The first written references to the Dachsund occur in books from the early 1700’s.
• The Dachsund was the first official mascot (named Waldi) of the 1972 Olympic Games in Germany.
• When used for hunting wild boars, Dachsunds were trained to allow themselves to be chased and then lay down and attack the boar from underneath (in the throat or genitalia).
• Famous fictional Dachsunds: Schotzie in That 70’s Show, Slinky in the Toy Story movies, Itchy in All Dogs Go To Heaven, Wiener Dog on The Norm Show, Fetch Armstrong (Stretch Armstrong’s pet), Odie from the Garfield comic strip and movies, Hundley in Curious George, and Mr. Weenie in Open Season.

A Look Back At The 2007 Pet Food Recall

A Look Back At The 2007 Pet Food Recall

2007 will go down in pet circles as the year of the pet food recall. It was a very scary moment for pet owners everywhere when it seemed like every day there was new information regarding contaminated pet foods that were not only causing sickness in pets, but death too.

In March of 2007 reports started coming in worldwide of pets suffering from renal failure. Such widespread problems caused concern and government agencies as well as the pet food companies themselves started looking for a cause. When a company test showed not only sickness but death in test animals, Canadian pet food manufacturer Menu Foods became the first company to issue a voluntary recall on March 16, 2007. Initially the recall was confined to wet pet foods and was traced to wheat gluten from a single Chinese company. Later, other contaminations would be discovered that would lead to a complete investigation of Chinese food exportation. This investigation would also find contaminated rice protein that was related to kidney failure in pets.

Although the actual number of infected pets and pets suffering death as a result will probably never be known due to the lack of a centralized animal death registry, the number was originally reported as around 100 at the end of March and has grown to be reported as multiple thousands. When all was said and done over 5300 pet products were recalled by multiple companies and a true cause was never completely discovered.

With several lawsuits still pending litigation and an investigation that found the distribution point, but not the source of the contamination, many wonder what the long term effects of the pet food recall of 2007 will be. Perhaps the long term effects will be what some people want, government regulation of the pet food industry.

8 Facts About Greyhounds

8 Facts About Greyhounds

• Most Greyhounds are able to reach a speed of 45 miles per hour in less than one and a half seconds (usually within three strides).
• Greyhounds originated in Egypt where signs of them have been found in pyramids.
• Greyhound racing was first introduced to both the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1920’s, before that Greyhounds were primarily used in hunting.
• When running at full speed, a Greyhound has all four feet off the ground twice during each stride.
• Greyhounds have a difficult time sleeping on hard surfaces because of their lean body makeup.
• Greyhounds have higher levels of red blood cells than most other breeds; this is one of many reasons for their superior speed.
• Due to having no undercoat, Greyhounds generally don’t affect people’s allergies to dog hair.
• The “grey” in Greyhound does not refer to the color, but is from another root word origin meaning “fair”.