Ghost Busters: Dog Edition?

Ghosts. Some believe in them, some do not. Whether you believe in them or not, I do. I am sure most of us have heard that dogs and small children/babies can see or sense ghost. But, is there any truth behind this? I've always loved scary movies. In many scary movies that involve paranormal activity, there is always a dog or child who begin to act strange. I decided I would do some research and find out if a dog can truly spot a ghost.

If you've ever watched a ghost hunting show, you see the different steps they take to try to detect a ghost. I went onto "Terribly Terrier: Can Dogs See Ghosts or Spirits?" and they outlined the steps ghost hunters take, and compared them to the natural abilities that dogs have.
1) Hearing: Ghost hunters use amplified microphones to attempt to hear littler sounds that could be a ghost or spirit. Dogs naturally hear at a higher frequency than us humans do, making it easier to hear these type of sounds.
2)Visual: Ghost hunters use night cameras in attempt to see better in the dark. Dogs can naturally see better than humans in dim light, which was mentioned in a pervious blog.
3) Electromagnet Fluctuations: This is a popular tool ghost hunters use to measure the surrounding electromagnetic field. Many people believe that dogs also have the ability to sense electromagnetic changes as well.
4) Smell: As most of us know, dogs smell 100 times better than humans do. It is possible that ghosts and spirits can be detected through odors us humans don't know exist (Jobe Can Dogs See Ghosts or Spirits?).
I then went onto Animal Planet to continue my research. On "Can Dogs Sense the Supernatural?" They discus a story in which dogs and cats begin to act weird after their owners pass away. The dogs and cats would huddle around one area with the cats purring and arching their backs, and the dogs, flipping onto their backs preparing for belly rubs, and wagging their tails in excitement. Do you believe that this could be a 6th sense connecting them to the supernatural or paranormal? Dog psychologist Marti Miller believes that both dogs and their owners posses this 6th sense. "But humans judge and deny what they are feeling, dogs do not," says Miller. 
I did not find any hard evidence on whether dogs can see paranormal activity or not. So when your dog reacts to something you cannot see, do you believe it could be a ghost? The decision is yours (Can Dogs Sense the Supernatural?).
Work cited: 
Jobe, Mat. "Can Dogs See Ghosts or Spirits?" Terribly Terrier. N.p. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
"Can Dogs Sense the Supernatural?" Animal Planet. N.p. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Eating Disorder?

Is there such thing as "Eating Disorders" for dogs? My dog, Peewee, has always seemed to have a problem when it comes to eating his food. He REFUSES to eat his dog food unless someone is out there with him while he eats. Now, when my dog was a puppy, he had an incident where he chocked on a bone that he had chewed down to a very small stump. He always had the eating problem before, but it dramatically increased after that incident. So I began taking his eating problem as a fear of chocking again. But after a while, he began eating human food again without being supervised, and continued to refuse his dog food. We tried pretty much every brand of dog food. He'd somewhat eat it for a day or two, and then completely stop. We decided we'd try switching to wet dog food instead of dry dog food like we had been trying. He ate it. But, not very far into the road we noticed he began developing tummy aches from these wet dog foods, so we had to stop giving him them. He continued to refuse his dry dog food. It freaked us out that he was barely eating. We didn't want him to lose weight and get sick or unhealthy. So my dad decided we'll start buying him cooked chicken and feeding him that with rice. He thought that since dog food claims to have "real chicken" and some of his wet dog foods contained rice and he seemed to like it, that it was fine to feed him. He LOVED it, like any other dog would. But we knew he wasn't getting the nutrients he would normally get from normal dog food. We continued to search for dog food. 

Recently we found this dog food called "Come and Get it: Cookout Classic" by Purina. He'e been eating it for about a week now. But I fear that being his second week eating this food, he is going to start to refuse it again. We bought some treats to feed to him after he finished a bowl of food, for motivation. We're hoping it works, but I don't want to get my hopes up. 

I put this eating problem out here to see if anyone else has experienced this. We tried a lot of different methods, which included different food brands, different "textured" foods, and even tried a more extreme method of putting out his food, and if he didn't touch it within 20 minutes, taking it away, and returning it 10 minutes later, and repeated this until he'd eat. None of these worked. So if any one has experienced this before, and got past it, please let me know how and what you did! I really love my dog and i don't want him to become unhealthy. 

Dogs, Lipstick, and Kisses, Oh My!

Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE lipstick. It adds so much personality to a simple outfit. Today, I was wearing a purple Wet N Wild lipstick. I went out to feed my dog at around 5:00, still wearing the lipstick. When he came up to me, I gave him a kiss on the head. I wasn't thinking about my lipstick transferring onto him, until I saw a tinny bit of purple on his white fur. Now, I don't believe my lipstick has ever transferred to him before today, but I'm not sure. It kind of worried me because I don't think lipstick is safe for dogs.. I mean, if we can't test makeup on animals, I'm pretty sure it shouldn't transfer to them. (To clear things up, I am COMPLETELY against testing makeup on animals.) So I decided I would look up some things about makeup getting on dogs.

          I looked up, "Is lipstick on a dog's fur harmful?" All I could find was an answer about cats. But I figured cats and dogs and somewhat similar, so that is what I'm going off of. According to vetinfo.com, "My Brother Put Lipstick on  my Cat, What should I Do?" It says it is completely fine for lipstick to get on a cat's (or in my case, a dog's) fur. It says lipstick is made of inert ingredients such as petroleum jelly, bees wax, flavoring, fragrances, and natural pigments. Although the lipstick may claim it is "animal testing free," sometimes in the life span of each ingredient, they were tested on animals, even if the company of the makeup brand didn't do it themselves. This was done to make sure it was safe for human use.  

       In all honestly, I was probably just paranoid. But I've seen the horrific picture of how animals look after they get makeup tested on them, and I didn't want my dog to get sick or anything even though the lipstick was not ingested. It's disgusting knowing people will put an innocent animal through such horrible pain just to test makeup. It is time for all of us to take a stand and give these poor innocent animals a voice. Here is a list of companies/brands that STILL test their products on animals.  http://www.thevegetariansite.com/ethics_test.htm Take a stand. 

Work Cited: 

Feldman, Leah. "My Brother Put Lipstick on My Dog, What Should I Do?" Vetinfor. N.p 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 2 Nov. 2014. 

Sparkle, Marcella. "Stop Animal Testing." Pinterest. N.p, 1 Jan. 2012. Web. Nov. 2014

Can Dogs See in the Dark?

      My dog, Peewee, sleeps in the garage every night, year around. On occasion, we let him sleep in the laundry if its to cold or hot in the garage. We don't always leave the lights on though. The other night, I got home from going out with my boyfriend. I walked into the garage to go see my dog and do my observations. When I walked in, the lights were off. But he came right up to me. It made me begin wondering, if dogs can see in the dark, or if they simply sense/smell their way around when they're in darkness. So I did a bit of research.

     I went to "Animal Planet" and learned that although dogs can not see as well as cats in the dark, they can indeed see in "dim light." The structure in their eyes allows them to do this. Their large pupils let in more light than a human's would. Their retinas have a lot of light-and-motion sensitive cells called rods, which distinguish light from shadow. But most importantly, dogs, like many other animals, have a mirror-like membrane called tapetum lucidum at the rear of their eyes. This membrane allows more light in, allowing the dogs to see better ("Can Dogs See in the Dark?").

     Now, while I did not fully learn whether or not dogs can see in full darkness, I do now know that my dog isn't in complete helplessness when in the dark.




Peewee in his "room."

                                                             Work sited
 "Can Dogs See in the Dark?" Animal Planet. N.p. n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

Barking

My dog tends to bark at everything and nothing. He'll bark at other dogs and people, which is fairly normal. But, he also barks at leafs, wind, fences, and trees. I mean it didn't start off like this. As a puppy, he NEVER barked. We used to wish he would bark, because all he would do was cry. We never thought it'd happen. But I still remember the first day he barked. We were out back, and we through a ball to him, and he barked! We thought it was adorable, but little did we know, it was the beginning of the deadly barking curse.
Today, October 19, 2014, I got home from going to the pumpkin patch, and I noticed that my front door neighbor was outside working on his car. I thought nothing of it. It was around 5, so I went straight outside to feed my dog. It started off pretty calmly. But I think my neighbor dropped a tool or something and my dog went into a complete barking spree. My dad always told me not to touch my dog while he was barking, in fear that he'd attack me. Well, I am not a very good listener. I bent down to go and pet my dog to see if I could possibly calm him down, I didn't want him to anger the neighbors. When I went to pet him, he jumped up on me and laid his head down on my legs, and stopped. I began wondering, does my dog bark because he feels threatened and alone? Does he feel like if me or my family are out there with him, nothing will happen? Do dogs look at us as their protecters, the same way we look at our dogs as our protecters?

The Story Behind Peewee

I have had my dog Peewee for 7 years now, and to this day, I remember the first time I ever saw him. I was in the third grade. I was driving in the car with my sister, who at the time was in the 5th grade, and my parents. Me and my sister were arguing, which was nothing new. We were driving down Vista to go to the mall. On our way there, we drove past McDonald's . They were selling puppies outside on a little corner right out front. Me and my sister begged my parents if we could get down to go see them. They agreed, and we got out of the car. There were so many cute little puppies! The pups parents were there too, and they were so beautiful. There was this cute, chubby little black and white puppy, that everyone else was ignoring. So naturally we were attracted to him. It was love at first sight. He was so sweet, loving, and fluffy. Me and my sister begged my parents for him, but my mom didn't want a dog. She was a clean freak and thought he'd make to much of a mess and she'd everywhere. Crying, me and my sister put the puppy down and my dad told up to get in the car. As we were about to shut the car door, we heard Awwing, and we turned around. This cute little fluffy puppy was crawling on the floor towards the car, whimpering. It broke and warmed our hearts all at the same time. My dad is not a very emotional type person, but he couldn't help but smile and laugh. So against my moms will, we got back out of the car with my dad, and picked the puppy up once more. We went to go ask the man who was selling these puppies, how much he wanted for him. He told us they were $500, but that since the dog was so attached to us already, we could have him for $300. My dad gave him the $300 and he was finally ours. My mom was mad at first, but couldn't resist the cuteness of the puppie that was later named Peewee.
Now let me tell you, he was a handful! The first thing he did when we arrived home was pee inside, which I had to clean of course. He tore up our shoes, and peed everywhere. His first night home was the roughest, he cried all night long. It drove my parents insane. But we adored him. So did everyone else. We couldn't take him anywhere without getting approached about how cute he was. He always did the cutest things as a puppy. I remember when he first learned to climb the stairs inside our house, he'd run all the way up, and just cry at the top of the stairs because he was scared to come back down. So everytime one of us had to go rescue the little demand from the top of the stairs.
Peewee has now been in our lives for 7 years. And they have been such memorable years  . He will always be part of our family.

A Dogs Love

Do you ever wonder what your dog thinks of you? If they love you the same way you love them? Or if they have their own special type of love? The other day I was sitting with my dog Peewee, and he jumped up on me, laid his head on my knee, and wrapped his paws around my leg. I couldn't stop wondering what he was thinking. How deep is his love for me? What would he say if he could talk to me? Do you guys ever wonder the same thing?