The Western Dragon

Guster has taken to the cat wheel

A picture is worth a thousand words...image credit International Canine Behaviorists

Introducing Guster, Tysen's Best Friend.

Sorry that I haven’t posted any new pictures / videos of the fur kiddos. We have good news and bad. First the good, we have a foster failure that we acquired the day after returning from our Vacation in March. His name is Guster and he and Tysen are best buddies when Tysen is not going over the top trying to engage him trying to win him over even more. The bad news I have not been able to post about because it was so sudden and tragic and It’s taken us a many weeks to process. Our sweetest Coraline, the greatest escape artist that has ever owned us lost her battle with the cycle of life by escaping at dawn only to become a victim to a Coyote attack in our neighborhood right across the street from our house. We are devastated at the loss of our little ninja princess Houdini.

Interesting read

Retrievers have a mutation that makes them hungrier, study discovers Labradors and flat-coated retrievers could have a gene that causes hyperphagia

Happy Birthday JASPER!

Tonight

See May's full 'Flower Moon' rise this week close to a red supergiant star May 2024's full moon, also known as the Flower Moon and the Planting Moon, will be at its fullest on Thursday, May 23. It will also appear bright and full on Wednesday and Friday.

Full Moon this week

🌕✨ Mark your calendars for May 23, 2024! The Full Flower Moon is coming, and it’s the perfect time for moon-gazing. 🌟⁠
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🌼 Why is it called the Flower Moon? Because it happens in May when lots of flowers are blooming!⁠
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🌟🦂 Some astrologers say the Flower Moon is a perfect time to share your deepest feelings and really open up. They also believe that May’s Full Moon is influenced by the sign Scorpio. In 2024, May’s Full Moon will indeed be positioned in the constellation Scorpius (however, the constellation may vary from year to year).⁠
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🌌 Learn more about the May Full Moon: https://starwalk.space/news/full-moon-may
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Happy World Bee Day

Happy World Bee Day 🐝

There are 7 species of Honey Bee, however, most Bees are Solitary and there are over 20000 other species. Here are a few examples..

HOT TAKE 🔥 about shaving dogs

I am not a groomer and my dog has no fur, so I quite literally do not have a dog in this fight. But I want to talk about physics.

It's fine to think twice before shaving your dog, but keeping their hair long will not necessarily keep them cooler. There is a persistent belief that a double coated dog's fur traps a layer of cool air and that if you shave them they will heat up faster.

The main problem with this idea is that dogs are constantly producing body heat. Any air trapped in their coat is going to warm up from their body heat and stay there and keep warming up until that heat has somewhere to go. This is why long-haired dogs tend to do better in the cold than say, Kuiper. It's also why we wear more clothes in winter.

In reality, nothing is either "hot" or "cold." Outside of a carefully controlled lab, everything is always in a state of getting either hotter or colder because the universe likes equilibrium. "Cooling off" is really just getting rid of heat, which gets tricky when you have both heat coming in from a warm environment as well as heat that the dog is producing by virtue of being alive.

You may be surprised[1] to learn (I was) that below about 88 degrees F (31 C) air temp, panting only accounts for about 20% of a dog's ability to cool itself (another 20% is through sweat.) Panting only becomes the main cooling mechanism at around 97 F (36 C.) Until that point, dogs mainly cool themselves via convection (losing heat through their skin into the air.)

When it is warm outside, air trapped in a dog's coat is warm to begin with and both body heat and the sun will make the coat even warmer. Under equal environmental conditions, convective cooling is going to have more of an impact on a shorter haired dog than a longer haired dog because short fur does not trap air.

tldr; Short coats lose body heat more easily. Long coats hang onto body heat. Shave* or don't shave, but definitely brush.

* It is usually better to clip fur shortish rather than actually shave to the skin, because sunburn is a real risk.

[1] I have a ZILLION references for this post. Here are some (DM me if you'd like help finding the full texts):

Hammel, H. T.; Wyndham, C. H.; Hardy, J. D. (1958). Heat Production and Heat Loss in the Dog at 8–36°C Environmental Temperature. American Journal of Physiology-Legacy Content, 194(1), 99–108. doi:10.1152/ajplegacy.1958.194.1.99

C. J. Chesney (1997). The microclimate of the canine coat: the effects of heating on coat and skin temperature and relative humidity. , 8(3), 183–190.
doi:10.1046/j.1365-3164.1997.d01-12.x

K.G. Gebremedhin (1987). A model of sensible heat transfer across the boundary layer of animal hair coat. , 12(1), 5–10.
doi:10.1016/0306-4565(87)90015-5

Aoki, T.; Wada, M. (1951). Functional Activity of the Sweat Glands in the Hairy Skin of the Dog. Science, 114(2953), 123–124. doi:10.1126/science.114.2953.123

Iwabuchi, Takayuki (1967). General Sweating on the Hairy Skin of the Dog and Its Mechanisms1. , 49(1), 61–70.
doi:10.1038/jid.1967.104

And here are some blog posts that are more digestible:

https://drdavidmarlin.com/how-do-dogs-regulate-their-body-temperature-and-is-sweating-important/

https://theeducatedgroomer.com/2018/06/25/shaving-double-coated-breeds/

https://theeducatedgroomer.com/2019/06/30/a-deeper-look-into-the-coats-role-in-the-dogs-thermal-regulation/

p.s. There are many, MANY other factors that impact a dog's ability to keep cool, ranging from coat color to fitness to size to whether a dog is hanging out in direct sunlight. Humidity also plays a big factor (high humidity makes panting less effective, since panting relies on evaporation.) I merely question the assumption that giving a dog a haircut will always make a dog hotter or uncomfortable. I won't dispute that clipping makes some dogs look very silly and that there are other reasons not to shave, but sometimes it is the best solution for e.g. an old dog's comfort.

The rumors are true! Stokes Pharmacy to Offer Legal FIP Treatment in the US Available June 1st. Stokes Pharmacy has formed an exclusive partnership with the Bova Group to offer a U.S.-made compounded oral treatment for feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). This treatment is supported by Bova’s unique drug formula, which has been utilized in clinical research studies across the globe and is currently in use in the UK and Australia.

Stokes Pharmacy’s compounded preparation will be available by a veterinarian prescription only. In order to prescribe, please sign up for iFill at https://www.ifill.com/

More information coming soon!

Tysen went to "Camp" here while we were traveling and had an AWESOME time. So sad, my heart breaks. Please help out if you can.

Twisted Oak Farms in Need of a Helping Hand, organized by julie lerum This morning, Tiffanie Moyano with Twisted Oak Farms and Dog Logic had a house… julie lerum needs your support for Twisted Oak Farms in Need of a Helping Hand

Update:

Boarding your dog for the holidays? Know these symptoms of the mystery canine illness Cases have been reported in Oregon, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Washington, Idaho, California and more.

Happy Valentine's Day ❤️

image by Jim Hunt Illustration

New reporting

Veterinarians say fears about 'mystery' dog illness may be overblown. Here's why Reports of an "outbreak" of some as yet unidentified canine respiratory illness are scaring dog owners. But veterinarians and researchers aren't panicking.

Tysen has a new chew "bone"

Goodbye, November!