Sometimes you just have to quote from the press release.

"On December 20th, Americans nationwide had the opportunity to vote online to raise funds for five national pet-related charities. Over the course of the day, Purina ONE beyOnd donated $200,000 total to the charities and the online voting determined how much of the monetary pool each charity would receive. 

Well, the results are in and here is the breakdown of how much each nonprofit will receive as a result of the online voting: 

We spent the Holidays in the Valley of the Sun, aka Phoenix, with my wife's parents watching the rest of the country get pummeled by winter. Actually it was kind of cool in Phoenix barely making it to seventy most days. I did manage a couple of mountain bike rides in the White Tank mountains in my summer attire and I walked around in shorts most of the time.

My wife's parents live on the Western fringe of Phoenix in a house ruled by two dogs. Dog number one is Mickey, a Bichon Frise and dog number two is Zach, a Cairn Terrier. Both are neutered males that pretty much have the run of things. They do spend nights in their respective crates in the garage, but by day they lounge on any available piece of furniture.

I was in the gym this morning warming up on the bike, trying not to watch the TV. I slipped up and noticed a story about dogs on one of the cable "new" channels. Turned out to be a pretty interesting story about military working dogs and the Veterinary care they receive if they are injured in the line of duty.

I followed up when I got home and found the web site for the Holland Military Working Dog Hospital. I took a spin around the site and came away very impressed with the level of care provided at Holland. The have a complete facility with radiology, CT scans, surgery and even rehabilitation services.

Happy! Happy! Holidays!!!

As many of you probably know, I've been working with my new dog, Emily, on her walking on a leash skills. She's a tugger. Actually, more of a pull-me-off-my-feeter. Emily wants to always be in front and in charge.

Since I don't ascribe to the belief that I need to dominate Emily - at our house no one is pack leader, there is no alpha, there is only... Mom, and everyone knows Mom is always in charge. (Tom is sometimes in charge as the "Dad"... but, the saying, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" rules at our house) Even Emily gives me my due indoors.

A question came in from a reader following the post I did on my friend Jonathan's dog. You may remember that he had a facial swelling and my guess was that he had a fractured tooth. I suggested that root canal therapy would be a possible treatment in a case like this. The reader wanted to know what was involved in root canal therapy. Good question.

First of all the root canal is the space inside the tooth that houses the dental pulp. Dental pulp is the soft tissue component of the mature tooth and is comprised of blood vessels, connective tissue and sensory nerves. If the pulp is exposed to bacteria through a fracture or some other trauma the resulting infection can lead to loss of the tooth. 

Are we pet people out of control? I don't think so, but some folks who are not as "pet friendly" as we are might think so.

Looks like Christmas has become a pet holiday, sort of. This article, "We Woof You a Merry Christmas and a Happy Mew Year" from the WSJ, is hilarious on one level and oh so true on another! I'm already receiving cards from friends' pets! And, Twitter has hundreds of accounts written by pets. Additionally, my favorite online greeting card site consistently offers greeting cards from pets.

My friend Jonathan lives in the wilds of Patagonia with several dogs and cats. His girl friend is a friend to all critters and there is never a shortage of strays to take in and they take in more than their fair share.

The closest Veterinarian is about six hours away by car over a pretty good dirt road, but it still takes six hours and that's if you drive like Jonathan. It would take most of us eight hours.

As a result, I get a few e-mails and phone calls every year looking for a consultation. This latest one comes complete with pictures and I thought it was interesting enough to share. Jonathan has a dog with an intermittent facial swelling.

I find the mystery of how dogs came to be dogs, fascinating. The old ideas of looking backwards to the wolf are being challenged. Oh, all right - we know domesticated dogs came that route, but how we ended up with the many breeds we have, and how they came to be the loyal, loving companions they are, is a story that will be told over and over, for centuries to come. And, each time it's told, it will change.

I'm reading a great book called The Dog's Mind: Understanding Your Dog's Behavior, and it's teaching me a lot of the scientific insight into how dogs think - more so than any other book.

I'm into the book and taking my time because it's so focused on science and anatomy than I expected. And, it's not really helping me understand my dogs' behavior. But, I still have a ways to go.

I do know that this is true, "Through genetics," the authors Bruce Fogle and Anne B. Wilson write, "we can quantitatively influence behavior but no more than that. We can make dogs less aggressive, or more maternal, but we can't teach them to understand abastract thought or conditional sentences. 'If you do that again, I'll be very angry!' will only ever be a tone of voice or a body gesture to a dog - no more."

We did a post earlier this week on a great new book entitled Good Old Dog. One of the topics covered in this book is nutrition for older pets. I was thinking this subject merits a post all its own.

There is no single best diet for an older dog. You'll need to take several things into consideration to come up with the best diet for your own older dog.

For instance, just how old is your dog and what kind of dog is he? We've mentioned this before, but dogs of different breeds and sizes age at different rates. An seven year old Shetland Sheepdog is really more of a middle aged dog. A seven year old Great Dane is a senior citizen.