milo85

I know that Diamond makes Costco's Kirkland brand, as well as its own Diamond brand, and both are highly rated by DogFoodAdvisor.com. But what I want to know is if there is any difference between the company brand and store brand dog foods in terms of formulation or taste? (Please stay on topic, folks. I know all about the recall last year.) It's a huge savings for a very highly rated dog food, enough that it would pay back Costco's membership fee in no time.

We recently got a new high-efficiency dishwasher, and we have enough dog dishes (for 2 large dogs) to go between times we run the dishwasher. We have always washed the dog dishes by hand, but lately started to wash them in the dishwasher. But we are wondering which way is more water and energy efficient? I'm guessing the dishwasher, but not sure as those dog dishes take up a lot of space and cause us to run it more often. Thanks.

PS: I'm asking this in both the dog section and the laundry section.

We recently got a new high-efficiency dishwasher, and we have enough dog dishes (for 2 large dogs) to go between times we run the dishwasher. We have always washed the dog dishes by hand, but lately started to wash them in the dishwasher. But we are wondering which way is more water and energy efficient? I'm guessing the dishwasher, but not sure as those dog dishes take up a lot of space and cause us to run it more often. Thanks.

PS: I'm asking this in both the dog section and the laundry section.

I'm not really asking this particular question, but sharing a link for people (and kids) who need to know about the cost of owning a dog. I see a lot of questions here that this would answer:

http://dogs.about.com/od/becomingadogowner/a/costo...

...in Northeast Ohio. I'll talk to a vet in the morning, but now I'm curious what the people here say. I usually start in April but it has been unseasonably warm all winter and spring. Although it has been on and off cold (30s-40s) today we were in the mid 70s. So I'm thinking I should start right now, but on the other hand, I'm wondering if the fleas have had a chance to hatch (or whatever they do)? What do you think?

I've got an old dog with arthritis in her rear legs, and we are giving her a whole bunch of pills (under the advice of a vet) to keep her going. But she doesn't like taking them. We've gone from cheese slices to ham (she separated the pills from the meat really fast) to peanut butter and now cream cheese, which she is already tired of. I'm aware of the Greenies pill pockets, but they are pretty expensive given the amount of pills involved. Any other ideas out there for something reasonably priced, tasty to the dog, and gooey enough to hide the pills?

I just went to the closet shelf where I keep a number of dog biscuit packages (my dogs like variety in dog biscuits) and found something strange. A new bag of biscuits, the Target brand, was empty, a hole in the side of the plastic package. The remnants from the package were on the shelf. No other packages were disturbed. There were no "droppings." We have had no pest control problems that we know of. They are far out of the dog's reach. Anybody have an idea who stole the dog biscuits? (And please no lectures on the evils of store-brand dog biscuits - stay on topic.)

Who was at fault here? The greyhound owner, the puppy owner, the dog park, everyone, no one? Or the newspaper for the way it wrote about it?

Greyhound kills puppy at Barrington dog park in ‘unfortunate incident’

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, September 26, 2009

By Linda Borg and Richard C. Dujardin

The Providence Journal

Journal Staff Writers

Bear, a 6-month-old puppy, was killed by a greyhound at the Barrington dog park Thursday afternoon.

Courtesy of Kristyn Sousa

BARRINGTON — The town will hold a vicious-dog hearing in response to an attack at a local dog park in which a greyhound killed a 6-month-old puppy in front of its horrified owner.

The 70-pound greyhound, owned by Albert Lee, of East Providence, will be confined to his home for the time being, according to Barrington Animal Control Officer John Duffy. Duffy visited Lee on Thursday and said the greyhound didn’t appear to be aggressive at home. Duffy said the dog “slept the whole time I was there.”

The greyhound was adopted from a greyhound rescue organization about six weeks ago, Duffy said.

The puppy’s owner, Kristyn Sousa of Attleboro, said she had taken her Pomeranian-poodle mix to the dog park, located behind the baseball fields in Haines Park, because “I was trying to do the best thing for him,” and thought it was a safe place for her dog to socialize. Sousa said she and her boyfriend, Ricardo Massa, had been at the park about 10 minutes when her dog, Bear, was attacked.

“There were a bunch of owners around me, and my dog was at my feet, when, out of the blue, this big greyhound jumped in front of us and bit my dog in the back of the neck,” Sousa said. “It was horrible. I was trying to get my puppy out of this dog’s mouth, but it wouldn’t let go.”

Sousa said she and her boyfriend were quickly surrounded by at least 10 other dogs during the attack. It took several minutes before other dog owners were able to restrain their animals. And it was several more minutes before the greyhound finally released her pet, Sousa said. Her dog suffered bite wounds to its chest.

Sousa said she and another woman raced from the dog park to the Riverside Animal Hospital, where the dog was pronounced dead.

“It was a very unfortunate incident,” Barrington Police Chief John LaCross said Friday. “We’re not sure exactly what happened. It was very crowded at the park.”

Duffy said the vicious-dog panel will be composed of a representative of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a member of the Police Department and an animal control officer from another town. A vicious dog faces a range of consequences, from being muzzled to euthanasia.

The Haines Park dog park is no more than three years old, and, while there have been a couple of incidents, they have been minor in nature. It is not formally supervised; in fact, owners are warned they are bringing their dogs at their own risk.

You might want to check this out:

http://www.projectnoahsavethepets.org/

They are in Ohio; don't know about Cleveland.

Economic constraints have forced me to suspend my lawn service and buy a used lawn mower. I have an old gas can (plastic) that hasn't been used in 5-10 years - it's been empty. Is there any reason not to use it now?

I've seen the warnings about mulch made from cocoa being potentially harmful to dogs. So I'm wondering what to look for, what's good? Our backyard has been torn up some by the dog running around, so we were thinking of covering it with mulch. Any other ideas?

This is about good dogs, not aggressive ones. When and how is the best way to correct occasional growling? Something I've heard and experienced is that if you teach a dog not to growl, someday it will snap without warning. Yet no one wants to tolerate growling. So what do you think?