Dogs On Duty At The Olympics

Dogs are once again keeping the Olympics safe and risk-free!

On patrol at the London Games are sniffer dogs for airport and transportation drug searches and security dogs for general patrol and crowd management.

Here are some of the Olympic crew, working like...well, dogs!

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Hope you're enjoying the games where you are!

And seriously, how cute is this little logo? Just for the dogs ;)

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Is A Clean Dog A Happy Dog...Or Is A Happy Dog A Clean Dog?

I couldn't resist sharing this video with you!

Is this guy happy or what? I'm not sure what gets me most - the fact that his eyes are buried under the water for much of the video, that he is so blissfully content (and calm) in the tub, or that he kinda' looks like a polar bear!

Juno is a good bather, but this guy takes 'good' to a whole new level. I'm sure my fellow dog owners wish their dogs enjoyed bath time this much.

Now that is a happy, clean dog!

Dogs In Popular Culture - Day 3: Beloved Dogs in Film

We're going photo style today everybody - so the guessing/head scratching is all up to you!

Be sure to sing your favourite dog's praises in the comments if I missed him or her in my list.

Could you guess them all?

Did I forget anyone?

Which one is your favourite? We're partial to Marley over here, for obvious reasons ;)

Images from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, 

here, here, here, here, here, here, and here

Dogs In Popular Culture - Day 2: Beloved Dogs in Literature

Continuing with our 'Dogs In Popular Culture' series, who better to celebrate these dog days of summer with than some of the 'Most Beloved Dogs in Literature'?

Here's my list - see if you agree! And if I've missed your favourite(s), then throw him or her a bone in the comments...

Argos, The Odyssey - he waited 20 years for his master to return!

Toto, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - yup, this was a book first! Dorothy's favourite little black dog and favourite sluggish companion.

Lassie, Lassie Come Home - also a book first, and a feature story in the Saturday Evening Post before that! Do I really need to elaborate on this one?

Old Yeller, Old Yeller - yet another 'book before it was a big screen hit'! From rascal to lifesaver, this story sure gave me some first big cries of childhood!

Bodger and Luath, The Incredible Journey - one more 'book before it was a big screen hit'! (N.B. Chance only joined in the movie version.) What a ragtag duo. My affinity for Labs may have its origins in this adventure series.

Buck, The Call of the Wild - a riches to rags story and a testament to the loyal bond between a man and his canine companion.

Clifford, Clifford the Big Red Dog - now I'm not sure this children's series can be classified as 'literature', but the shenanigans of this big, red, affable canine lulled me to pleasant sleep on more than one night as a little girl!

Snowy, The Adventures of Tintin - the fluffy, adorable, cynical foil to Tintin's eternal optimism.

Agree? Think I missed anyone?

Image from here

Dog In Popular Culture - Day 1: Idioms

Have you ever thought about how often we use dog-related expressions in everyday conversation?

Well, here's a preview - and it's a pretty long list! Has our art of conversation just about gone to the dogs?!

Bark up the wrong tree
A barking dog never bites
Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion
Big dog
Bird dog
Call off the dogs
Crooked as a dog's hind leg
Dirty dog
Dog and pony show
The dog ate my homework
A dog's breakfast
Dog days of summer
Dog does not eat dog
Dog eat dog world
Dog in the manger
Dog it
Dog-faced liar
A dog's life

Dogged me
Dog-tired
Done up or dressed up like a dog's dinner
Every dog has its day
Fight like cat and dog
Give a dog a bad name
Go to the dogs
Hair of the dog that bit you
Happy as a flea in a doghouse
Have a bone to pick
Hot dog!
Hounds of hell
If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas
In the dog house
Let sleeping dogs lie

Like a blind dog in a meat market
Like a dog with a bone
Like a dog with two tails
Like dog's breath
Love me, love my dog
Lucky dog
Meaner than a junkyard dog
My dogs are barking
Not have a dog's chance
Put a dog off the scent
Put on the dog
Quick as a dog can lick a dish
Raining cats and dogs
Sad as a hound dog's eye
See a man about a dog
Shaggy dog story
Shouldn't happen to a dog
Sick as a dog
Tail wagging the dog
There's life in the old dog yet
Throw you a bone
Throw someone to the dogs
Top dog
Two (or three) dog night
Wag the dog
Went off with his tail between his legs
Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
Work like a dog
You can't teach an old dog new tricks

If you're curious, and looking for the meanings and origins of this particular list of expressions, check out the post on Dog Idioms, over at Cesar's Way.

Throwing you a bone,
Danielle

Swimmer's Tail in Dogs

Ok, so I didn't think this was real. It is.

Swimmer's tail in dogs happens when the water they swim in is either too warm or too cold or they've been swimming for a long time and aren't properly conditioned for the activity.

Juno got swimmer's tail.

We don't know if it was because the water in our pool was, in fact, too cold for her at the beginning of the season (our first year with a pool), or because she got too excited and swam too darn hard for her first time in. She loves swimming, so she knows how to do it, and we know how to read her signals for when she's getting too tired, but she got it anyway.

Luckily, Juno's swimmer's tail only lasted 3 days and didn't seem to bother her too much - we could still touch and lift her tail, and she wasn't in any visible pain. She did chase her tail more than usual, and was a bit lethargic, but for our dog, lethargy is a relative state - she still had a lot of energy for a dog, just maybe a little less than 'her normal'.

But the tell-tale signs were there; a tail that shoots straight out about 3 inches, then hangs limp to the base, even when she's happy or excited. It was sad - and we felt so badly!

Juno's tail hasn't been plagued by swimmer's tail since - our pool water has warmed up and she's building up something of a swimmer's physique (!), so she can now easily out-swim her previously un-swim-conditioned self from earlier in the season. Here she is in better form:

 She has to wait for her 'swim word' first...

But check it out, for any dog's sake. You can read more (it's also referred to as limber tail syndrome, broken wag, etc.) here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limber_tail_syndrome

and you can see it in action below - (we didn't have the heart to capture Juno's particular experience on camera or on video):

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