Woof's Blog

Congratulations to our Drawing Winner Sandy Lassman

Sandy and her son Randall live in Maple Valley and take their annual summer vacation in Ocean Shores.  Sandy works as a pet sitter and dog walker for Creekside Critter Care in Maple Valley.  Randall helps out with pet visits during the summer.  Both are trained in pet first aid. Sandy writes: 

“We have two dogs and two toads!  There's Whoopi, a 7 year old Chow/Lab mix we rescued from an animal shelter in Spokane.  We fell in love with Ms. Whoopi online, and ended up having her transported to us in Seattle.  She is very loving and silly with us, but, true to the Chow breed, is a little reserved with strangers.  We also have Easter, a 3 year old Rottweiler we found running the streets on Easter weekend two years ago.  Easter was starving and flea bitten - she weighed only 42 pounds when we found her, and now weighs about 80!   She loves people - especially kids - but is very dog and cat aggressive.  It makes for an interesting household with two female dogs who don't get along, but we manage.  My son has two fire belly toads that have outlived their projected lifespan by a couple of years now.  They are very cute, and eat live crickets, which was something I had to get used to! 

Last year during our vacation in Ocean Shores, we were delighted to find Woof's - a store completely devoted to pets and their owners.  We had a great time shopping and chatting with the staff.  They have EVERYTHING you could dream of.  Woof's is a great shopping experience for the animal lover, and it's at the top of our list for places to visit when we go to Ocean Shores next summer.”

Congratulations Sandy! Enjoy your Egg Baby Platypus.  

--Kristina

Experts disagree on whether dogs actually see and recognize what is happening on TV. Some say dogs are just reacting to motion or to the sounds. Others say that what they do see is just a series of dark blobs because their eyes aren’t made to distinguish fine detail and can only see some variations in color. And some do acknowledge that dogs vary.

I’m an empiricist and what I’ve observed with Melanie and Molly is that some dogs see TV and some dogs don’t.  Melanie, since she was a puppy, would bark at dogs, horses, and other animals but not humans on the screen. The first time this happened was when they showed the riderless horse during President Reagan's funeral. As she got older she became more refined and now only growls or barks when she sees a dog, or a part of a dog. Sometimes even just a quick flash of dog that we don’t even notice can set her off. This drives Molly crazy as she immediately reacts to Mel’s alert and starts looking around and sniffing for the interloper, looking everywhere but at the television. So far Molly hasn’t responded to anything on TV. 

Catching the scene on the DVR and replaying it can be quite entertaining as Melanie gives an obligatory growl every time the dog scrolls by but otherwise doesn’t budge from her spot on the couch. Only if the dog appears aggressive or running toward the camera does she leap up and get into a protective mode. The longest she ever watched a video was once when we played an old movie of Richard at Hood Canal with Grandma and Grandpa. She stared at Richard, barked at the crows, and followed the dachshunds with her eyes as they moved across the screen. You might have met Richard at the store this summer. He's a lot taller now then he was back when this picture was taken!

Why some dogs see and some don’t is a mystery. But might have something to do with both vision and interpretation. Television is actually a series of images flashed on the screen at a rapid rate. For humans, once it gets over about 50 to 60 images per second (50 Hz to 60 Hz) it blends and the flicker goes away. Dogs, on the other hand can see flicker up to 70 Hz, which may cause enough of a distraction for many to miss what’s in the scene.  Or maybe some dogs just see slower.

So tell me, does your dog watch TV?

Our first drawing winner is Ronda Corey. Congratulations Ronda!

Ronda wins a stainless steel H204K9 water bottle. Keeping your dog (or cat) well hydrated is an important part of hot weather care. 

Ronda joined Greyhound Pets of America Greater North West Rescue in 1996 and lives in Tacoma with her greyhounds. Greyhounds are retired after 4  years of racing, or, until they are injured. GPA Greater NW  fosters Greyhounds for as long as it takes until they find a good home. Ronda has had rescued Greyhounds for a little as a few days to as long as a year before they were adopted.

GPA Greater NW is sponsoring a Fundraiser on Sept. 18th at Frontier Park in Graham, WA, from 11 am to 4 pm. There will be a Silent Auction and a Live Auction, with the proceeds going to the Greater North West Greyhound
Rescue Organization for care of the rescued Greyhounds. There will be Vendors selling Food, Stone Ware, Stemware, Dog Themed Products, etc. Come and have fun.