Many owners find themselves in a panic when their dogs begin urinating inside the house. No one likes the messy clean up and the lingering scent of urine. Urinary incontinence affects many pets but often goes ignored and untreated. "Many pet owners ignore inappropriate urination or are embarrassed by it. They don't understand why their dog is suddenly being 'bad.' Push that embarrassment aside and ask your veterinarian for advice!" says Dr. Christine Merle, a veterinarian at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in Urbana. "The first question to answer is 'Is it a behavior issue or is...

One reason why some dogs grew up to look different from other dogs was that they lived in different kinds of climate. For example, Wild Dog and his children, grandchildren, and their grandchildren who lived for many hundreds of years in a northern country all needed thick coats. Without these, they died of the cold. Only the thick-coated dogs survived, and gradually a thick-coated kind of northern dog developed. Breeds like the Eskimo dog, who pulled sleds in the Arctic, and the Saint Bernard, who saved lost mountain climbers in the snowy Alps, developed in the cold countries. But if...

Perhaps the best known breed in the whole Sporting Group is the cocker spaniel. He belongs to the largest dog family, the spaniels, but he is the smallest of all dogs that are regularly used as gun dogs. He got his name from the days when he was used to hunt woodcock. This is a small bird which keeps low to the ground and often hides in thick underbrush. Because the cocker was smaller than other hunting dogs, he could flush this bird better than they could. First he was called the "dog for woodcock," then the "cocking spaniel," and...

To call the breeds in this group "Non-Sporting" is not quite accurate. The name was given to them, however, because by and large they have lived with men as companions for such a long time that they are now known mainly as -pets. Originally, all the breeds in this group came from different lands and served different purposes. They were all raised and bred for some specific work or sport. Although almost always considered pets today, they could still be used for their specific purpose if trained properly. An exception to this rule is the Boston terrier. As far as...

Some scientists believe that the earliest wild dog originated in North America fifteen to thirty-five million years ago, long before any men lived there. No one really knows which animals were the ancestors of this first dog in the world. They think that he probably had a wolf father and a jackal mother. And the descendants of this puppy were the very first wild animals that primitive man ever tamed. Now, man might have tried to tame many other small animals. Why did he choose the primitive dog to be his first animal friend? Perhaps it happened this way. Food...

The dog known as the Newfoundland dog is one of the handsomest and best beloved of the dog family. He is distinct from the Labrador dog, which is more slender in make, has a sharper muzzle and is generally " black in colour with a tawny nose and a rusty spot over each eye". The Labrador dog and the Eskimo have been credited with the parentage of the Newfoundland species. At home the Newfoundland is made useful for the purpose of drawing loads, being harnessed to small carts and sleighs for carrying wood and other commodities. Abroad like the prophet...

The shepherd's dog rivals, if not surpasses most other dogs in intelligence, though his intelligence is less general and more particular than that of other dogs, i.e., more special to his own profession and probably more due to training and culture. The principle of heredity operates conspicuously in the case of dogs, and shepherding being one of the oldest occupations of man, the shepherd's dog has probably been under culture for a longer period than any other,-hence his proficiency in his work. Buffon credited him with being "the parent stock of the whole species", and Colonel Smith with civilisation at...

The St. Bernard Dog always honoured for his work's sake, resembles the Newfoundland in form, hair, colour, and size. "There is another race," says Colonel Smith, "trained to the same service, with close short hair, and more or less marked with grey, liver colour and black clouds." Bass, a famous St. Bernard, the property of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, is thus described by him in a letter to Mr. W. H. Lizars printed in Vol. XIX of "The Naturalist's Library":-"My St. Bernard was brought home direct from the Great St. Bernard, when he was a puppy of about four or...

The Greyhound is characterised by elegance of form and grace of movement; he has also great powers of speed and endurance, is mild and aflectionate in disposition and sagacious in matters other than those connected with the chase. "The narrow, sharp head, the light half hanging ears, the long neck, the arched back, the slender yet sinewy limbs, the deep chest, showing the high development of the breathing organs, and the elevated hind quarters, says Mrs. Bowdich, all shadow forth the peculiar qualities of these dogs. Their coat has been adapted to the climate in which they originally lived: here...

"The rough, large-boned, ill-looking Lurcher," says Mrs. Bowdich, "is said to have descended from the rough greyhound and the shepherd's dog. It is now rare; but there are some of its sinister-looking mongrel progeny still to be seen. They always bear the reputation of being poachers' dogs, and are deeply attached to their owners. They have a fine scent; and a man confessed to Mr. Bewick, that he could, with a pair of lurchers, procure as many rabbits as he pleased. They never give tongue, but set about their work silently and cautiously, and hunt hares and partridges, driving the...