10 (More) Easy Pieces to Liven Up Your Dog’s Meals Surprises from the grocery shelf By Roschelle Heuberger, PhD, RD

In part one of this article, we asked the rhetorical question: “If you’re going to feed your dogs ‘people’ food, shouldn’t you feed them something that’s actually good for them?” and answered it with a list of 10 healthy, easily obtainable options straight from the shelves of your local market. As promised, here are 10 more “easy pieces” for your consideration. (Part One can be found here.)

As before, we urge you to keep a few cautions in mind: None of these items by itself constitutes a “complete and balanced” meal. If your dog has health or weight issues, check with your vet before adding any of them to your dog’s food dish. And, as always, start with a small portion and introduce gradually.


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Ten Commandments of Veterinary Office Visits Become an advocate for your dog By Nancy Kay, DVM

How much easier it would be if vets had Dr. Dolittle’s ability to talk to the animals—when we took our pups in for a check-up, they could speak for themselves. Since that’s not the case, our dogs rely on us to act as their advocates in the exam room. In Dr. Nancy Kay’s ground-breaking book, Speaking for Spot, she provides us with the tools we need to do just that, relayed clearly and with gentle humor. We’re pleased to offer our readers a sample.

Here are 10 tried-and-true secrets to making every visit to your dog’s veterinarian exceptional for you and the entire office staff. They also directly benefit your dog’s health—and nothing is more important than that.

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Social Networking for Dogs Online or on the ground, 21st-century technology provides options By Peter Bronski

Proper and regular socialization is an important aspect of life for any pup. My dog, Altai, is no different. He’s a Korean Jindo, and a highly energetic, loving and sociable one at that. He’s a lover and a licker, and put simply, he needs to get out and see other dogs. As a self-employed writer who works from home, I can certainly sympathize with his desire to leave the house and mingle with the outside world. If we didn’t, who would blame Altai—or me—for coming down with bad cases of cabin fever?

For both of us, avoiding that ailment has usually meant a trip to our local Boulder, Colo., dog park. A fenced-in OLA adjacent to the East Boulder Community Center, most of it is dirt and rocks. There’s some grass around the perimeter and in the far corners, a tree or two; on one side is a lake where dogs swim, wade in to cool off, or chase tennis balls and sticks.


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