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