In my online life, I often come across artists, cartoonists, and other creative people fighting an ongoing battle against constant copyright infringement. Their fans regularly spot and alert them that their work and illustrations being ripped off and used -- without any credit -- by others. Here are a few examples, and how you can help. 

Most of the time conversations about how dogs respond to noises focus on big, scary, sudden sounds like thunder, fireworks, and gunfire. A paper published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science in November 2021 looks at how common household noises affect dogs and how people often (mis)interpret dogs showing signs of fear and anxiety. For context, other studies reported the prevalence of noise sensitivities in dogs as high as 50%, so it's an important topic. I recommend you read the whole paper yourself. However, here are the highlights and headlines. 

In March 2022, Nature / Scientific Reports published a paper entitled "Aggressiveness, ADHD-like behavior, and environment influence repetitive behavior in dogs". Let's take a look at what they found, including types of repetitive behaviors in dogs, possible triggers for developing compulsive behaviors, which breeds are more likely to develop repetitive behaviors, and common treatments. I made a video, but you can also read the same information below.

I learned recently that the idea dogs are "seniors at seven" comes from a study of border collies only, not a spectrum of how dogs age from different breeds. Researchers also often focus on beagles for these studies. One new paper, published in April 2021, suggests 6 new categories for understanding a dog's age. Let's take a look.

Nationwide Veterinary Analytics released the second of three white papers with important canine cancer risk data in March 2022. Here's a video talking through the headlines and showing the main charts and much of the same information in text below too. They focused on the 25 top / most popular dog breeds, so many of us don't get information for our own dog breeds. It's still really interesting, though. Let's take a look at what we've learned. 

Families of hemangiosarcoma dogs share bonds of shock and heartbreak. A fairly common cancer, especially in some breeds, hemangiosarcoma often results in a sudden, quick end. Like fine one minute, critical the next. The tumors start with cells lining blood vessels, often attaching to the dog's heart or spleen. In many cases, symptoms begin with pale gums / tongue and collapse because of internal bleeding. It. Is. Devastating. We lost our yellow Lab mix dog, Cody, to it many years ago. New research uncovered a possible connection between chronic, but undetected, bacterial infections and this aggressive cancer in hemangiosarcoma dogs.

In January 2022, Nationwide® Veterinary Analytics released the first of three planned white papers. Before we talk about the key points in this initial doodle data, I thought it might help to discuss big data -- what it is, what it can / cannot tell us so that you can interpret and think critically about any big data you come across. I'm presenting the info both regular content and video. Choose whatever works best for you. Scroll all the way to the bottom to see the video.

I still need to publish a real post about Mr. Stix's full backstory, but this feels more pressing. For nearly 18 months, Mr. Stix's permanent nakey spot (from unknown injuries before he was rescued, including 15 fractures and this big patch of coat missing) has featured several inflamed, peeling areas. Initially I tried to fix it myself at home with things like aloe vera, vaseline, a veterinary ointment called animax that the shelter had give us while we fostered him most of 2019, etc. It's sort of a combination of steroids, antibacterial, and antifungal stuff. I took him to see our main veterinarian in spring 2020, when there was a 2-month wait to get into see a board-certified veterinary dermatologist. It has been quite a journey since then, and it's nowhere near over. Here's my best advice for dogs with skin issues. 

I recently ditched my affiliate relationship with a major / famous pet site that's owned by a huge pet products mega company -- both because I literally never earned a dime because their terms sucked so much and because I realized they sell (and lately promote a lot) shock collars (some of which now masquerade as GSP devices and dog activity trackers to mask their other purpose -- to train dogs using pain). So, if you're looking for new places to shop online, please consider K9Cuisine.com whom I have new affiliate relationship. Ditch the megastores. Support small biz.