Each year, millions of dogs enter shelters where many of them, if they’re lucky, get adopted by new owners. Likewise, every year outside of shelters, many dogs get handed down and passed along to new owners, whether because of hardship or inconvenience to the owner. New owners may wonder whether their adopted dogs remember previous owners, and the answer is: It depends on the dog, but anecdotal evidence seems to suggest they do.Have a question? Get an answer from a Vet now!

Argos, the Great Dog Who Remembered

Anecdotal evidence supports the idea that dogs do remember previous owners. Argos, as told in Homer’s classic, The Odyssey, waits 20 years for his master, Odysseus, to return finally from his worldly travels. As soon as the dog recognizes his long-lost master, he has strength only to drop his ears and wag his tail, and then dies. True, it’s a sad story, but it has become a strong metaphor for the faithfulness of dogs.

The Concept of Time & Remembering

Patricia McConnell, PhD, and author of several books about dog behavior, says it seems reasonable that dogs have some sense of time. As proof, she cites a study published in Applied Animal Behavior Science that found that the longer dogs are left alone, the more intense they greet their owners. So time — even 20 years in the case of Argos! — doesn’t seem to affect a dog’s memory of relationships, past and present.

Dog vs. Human Memory

Humans, unlike dogs, have a concept of time known as “episodic memory,” using artificial measures of time, like seconds, minutes, and hours, to distinguish events. Also, we tend to remember when something happened by relating it to other events. Dogs, on the other hand, can tell how much time has passed only since the event happened. Still, that doesn’t mean dogs can’t remember the past, or people from the past.

Survival, Fear & Trust: Reasons to Remember

Dogs remember for other reasons, too. It’s commonly believed they remember what they need to in order to survive, or because of fear. Dogs remember past unpleasant or dangerous circumstances to avoid having similar situations in the future. Finally, a type of survival memory is connected to remembering friends, owners, and those people with whom dogs generally feel safe and can trust. Therefore, if a previous owner was kind, the dog may well remember him.

An adoption event funded by Maddie’s Fund® and set for June 1-2 will be the first of its kind in the nation, offering free adoptions of an estimated 5,000 dogs and cats in eight communities across the U.S.

more than 200 shelters and rescue groups will participate in the adoption event, which will place thousands of pets into their forever homes.

The participating metro areas are:

New York City

Washoe County, Nevada

Dane County, Wisc.

Alachua County, Fla.

Santa Clara County, Calif.

Alameda County, Calif.

Contra Costa County, Calif.

San Francisco County, Calif.

The goal of Maddie’s® Pet Adoption Days is to give all healthy, senior and treatable shelter dogs and cats a second chance. As in past years when the event has been held in the San Francisco Bay area, adoptions of dogs and cats will be free to qualified adopters. In return, Maddie’s Fund has set aside $4 million so that it can give each shelter or rescue group $500 – $2,000 per adoption.

Maddie’s® Pet Adoption Days is being held to increase awareness of shelter animals and their need for loving homes, and to shed light on the tireless efforts of the shelters and rescue organizations across the country that work so hard to save the lives of countless dogs and cats every day. The adoption event honors the memory of the foundation’s namesake, a Miniature Schnauzer named Maddie. To learn more about the event visit:Adopt.maddiesfund.org

Maddie’s Fund will pay organizations $500 per regular adoption, $1,000 for each adoption involving a dog or cat who is seven years of age or older or who has been treated for one or more medical conditions and $2,000 for each adoption involving a dog or cat who is seven years of age or older and who has been treated for one or more medical conditions.

Maddie’s Fund® is a family foundation endowed by the founder of Workday® and PeopleSoft, Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl. The goal of Maddie’s Fund is to achieve no-kill nation by providing solutions to the most challenging issues facing the animal welfare community. Maddie’s Fund is named after the family’s beloved Miniature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997.

Caption: Dave Duffield, founder of Maddie’s Fund, has donated more than $300 million to animal rescue.

People and dogs both learn best when they are given praise and love for a job well done. Praising your dog while training is a very effective way to motivate him to learn and obey your commands. Decide on one or two words for each command, and use that same word every time you give the command.

Know When To Use Praise

Dogs don’t understand cause and effect unless one comes immediately after the other. When you praise your dog, he thinks he’s being praised for whatever he just did. So it’s important to say “good dog” or give a small treat the moment he does the desired action. It works the same way for reinforcing a command your dog has already learned. If your dog reliably lies down every time you say “down,” you should still praise him every time he does it, but praise him the moment he does it. If you wait another moment, he might stand up, and then he’ll think that’s what you’re praising him for.

Do Not Praise Inappropriate Behavior

This may seem obvious, but many dog owners reward inappropriate behavior by inadvertently giving their dog positive reinforcement. For example, if your dog greets you at the door barking, and you respond by hugging him and speaking to him in either an enthusiastic or a consoling tone, your dog will think you are pleased with the behavior and he’ll keep doing it. The best way to handle unwanted behavior is to ignore it. The moment your dog stops barking, or whatever he’s doing that he shouldn’t be doing, praise him lavishly.

ThinkstockIn households with school-aged kids, summers are typically full of fun for everyone in the family – including the dog. But what happens when the kids head back to school in the late summer and the house is suddenly quiet and lonely?

With this sudden change in daily routine, your dog may experience depression or separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is triggered when dogs become upset because of separation from the people they’re attached to.

Signs your dog might be suffering from separation anxiety include destructive or anxious behaviors like:

Howling

Chewing

Pacing

Housesoiling

Attempting to escape from the house or yard

The good news is there are things you can do to help relieve your pup’s distress. The Oregon Humane Society offers these tips to help your dog overcome the “back-to-school blues.”

Schedule an appointment with your vet. Your dog’s anxiety might have an underlying medical cause or your vet might have some additional ideas to help relieve your dog’s stress.

Consider preparing Kongs stuffed with peanut butter or some other favorite treat. Working to get the treat out will provide your dog a distraction from his stress and hours of enjoyment and mental stimulation while you’re gone.

Check out some doggie day cares in your area. A day or two of supervised play and exercise may be beneficial to your lonely dog.

Take your pooch for long morning walks to get him plenty of exercise and tire him out.

Spend quality time with your dog when you are at home; include him in family activities to assure him he’s still an important part of the family.

If your dog tests positive for heartworms, treatment to eradicate them can be tough. Although there’s a risk involved in heartworm treatment, there’s a greater risk in not taking care of the infestation. Once in a while, a dog succumbs during the course of heartworm treatment. However, he’s almost certainly going to have a shortened life expectancy if heartworms are left alone.

The Truth about Heartworms

Dirofilaria immitis, or heartworms, are found throughout most of the United States. Dogs come down with heartworm when bitten by a infected mosquito carrying the parasite’s microscopic larvae. If a dog is exposed to infected larvae, it’s a virtual certainty he’ll come down with heartworm disease. The number of heartworms infecting a dog can range from a single specimen to more than 250, according to the American Heartworm Society. They usually congregate in the heart’s right ventricle or the pulmonary arteries. Heartworms can reach a foot in length, living five years or more.

Does Your Dog Have Them?

It takes approximately seven months for larvae to grow to adulthood in a dog’s body. In the early stages of infestation, dogs are asymptomatic. As the heartworms grow, affected dogs develop a cough. Symptoms progress to include exercise intolerance and abnormal breathing. Signs of severe heartworm infestation include abnormal cardiac sounds, abdominal fluid accumulation and coma. Dogs might suddenly die.

Treatment Options

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved two medications for heartworm eradication in canines. Thiacetarsamide sodium, an older treatment administered intravenously, can cause numerous side effects in dogs because of its toxicity. A newer drug, Melarsomine dihydrochloride, is injected intramuscularly deeply into the lumbar area.

What’s the Prognosis?

Once heartworm drugs are administered, the worms start dying off. The dead worms break into pieces, which can cause a pulmonary blockage in your dog, killing him. It’s crucial that dogs undergoing heartworm treatment remain calm and quiet both during the treatment and for months afterward. It’s not easy to keep a young dog confined with minimal exercise for long periods, but it’s the best way to keep heartworm bits from heading into the lungs. When treatment is over, your dog receives medication to kill off the baby heartworms, or microfilaria.

Heartworm Prevention

A monthly heartworm preventative in tablet form or topically applied can keep your dog free from the travails of heartworm disease. Your vet must take a blood sample to ensure your dog is heartworm-free before prescribing the medication. Depending where you live, heartworm tablets or medications are given seasonally or year-round.

Your pooch might show an active interest in enthusiastically munching on every food that gets into his line of vision, but that in no way means that he should actually be eating all of those things. Salt, for instance, is a common component in many human foods — and at the same time should be carefully monitored around canines.

Sodium

Many people think of salt and automatically think of sodium, although the two are not exactly one and the same. Sodium is just one part of salt, as it also includes chloride. The bulk of commercial canine foods available on the market contain some salt. Talk to your veterinarian to get suggestions on dog foods that have appropriate levels of sodium. At suitable levels, sodium actually is helpful in dogs’ physiology, assisting in equilibrium of fluids.

Say No to Dogs and Salty Food

Too much salty food and dogs are not a good combination, however. If your dog enviously stares at you as you eat a salty French fry, don’t give in to the urge to feed him a bunch of them — or even one of them. If your dog takes in a lot of salt, it could trigger numerous not-so-pleasant health consequences, including immoderate urination, seizures, heightened thirst, uncontrollable quivering, depression, throwing up, runny stools and raised body temperature. Sodium ion toxicity in dogs can sometimes even be life-threatening, so take the possibility extremely seriously. Urgent veterinary assistance is crucial in these situations.

Dogs With Kidney or Heart Issues

The effects of salt might be even more harmful to specific types of dogs. If your pet has any medical ailments that involve the kidneys or the heart, then a veterinarian might recommend for him a diet that is limited in salt content. This also applies to canines with hypertension. Be extremely cautious about leaving salty food out around your dog, whether he has these health issues or not.

Inadequate Sodium

Just as too much sodium can be detrimental to a dog’s health, so can too little of it. If your pooch isn’t getting adequate amounts of sodium in his canine food, you might notice key symptoms such as lethargy, overly dry skin, growth problems, balance issues, fur loss, reduced H20 consumption and low energy. If you spot any of those clues in your doggie, talk to your veterinarian about planning for a nutritious diet that offers the amounts of sodium that his body needs for optimal health.

Grooming is an essential part of our pets’ health and hygiene. Pets with healthy, clean coats are happier animals! While some dogs and cats are easy to bathe and brush at home, others need regular trips to the groomer.

Here are some tips for finding the best groomer for you:

Ask for referrals

ThinkstockAsk friends and relatives for recommendations. If their pets come home from the groomer cleaned, brushed and sparkling, it is likely yours will too!

The Internet is also a great tool to do research. Many sites, such as Petfinder’s Local Service and Supplies listings, allow users to leave reviews — a great tool for research.

Your veterinarian may also be a great resource for finding a groomer. Using a groomer that both you and your veterinarian trust is ideal.

A good grooming facility will require vaccination papers from your vet. This helps to ensure that your pet will not contract any disease or infections from other animals at the facility. Regardless of a vet-recommended groomer, you should always leave the contact number of your vet in case of an emergency.

Questions to ask

Everyone wants to know that the groomer has your pets’ safety in mind. Find out if your town requires groomers to be licensed. This ensures that a groomer adheres to certain guidelines. When doing your research, don’t forget to ask the groomer if she is licensed.

Ask your groomer what her policy is if an accident occurs. It is crucial that your groomer be honest and let you know if anything occurs while you left your pet in her hands.

While accidents, such as cuts, scrapes and burns, can happen anywhere, it is important to check your groomer’s credentials first. Look into past accident reports or client complaints whenever possible.

What to look for at the grooming facility

Take your pet with you for a tour of the facilities before your pet’s first grooming appointment. This will give you an opportunity to see how the groomer interacts with other pets and you can ask other pet owners about their experiences with the groomer.

Your pet should become somewhat familiar with the place, and you should feel comfortable leaving your pet there. Be sure that pets are never left unattended while on the grooming table or in the tub.

While visiting, introduce yourself and your pet to the groomer and staff. This will help to make the next visit easier on your pet. Be sure to check that the facility is clean and equipment is sanitary.

What to tell your groomer

You need to discuss any health issues that your pet may have with your groomer. If your pet has specific skin problems, your veterinarian may want your groomer to use a certain shampoo on your pet.

Typically, veterinarians will not want a pet to visit the groomer if they have just undergone a surgical procedure — especially if they have stitches. Be sure to ask your vet about grooming restrictions after any veterinary procedure.

Your groomer is there to help keep your pets’ skin, ears and nails healthy and in good condition. They can be a great resource for noticing ear infections and other skin related issues, which you can then discuss with your veterinarian.