Authorities investigate Sussex dog owner 

A Sussex County beagle owner is under investigation for possible cruelty after investigators found a severely injured dog among the 53 in his kennel. more…

The Greenbrier County man who is building kennels in an attempt to save his pets from being destroyed may not have enough money to spring the animals from the county’s custody. more…

Train Your Beagle To Become A Good Neighbor

Their world may not extend beyond a couple of blocks but nevertheless, dogs are an integral part of society. As a Beagle owner, you have a serious responsibility. You must mold your dog into a good neighbor - not a nuisance or a menace. Left to its own devices, a dog naturally might enjoy destroying someone’s precious lawn, chasing other animals or having a loud dialogue with the midnight moon. These and lots of other behaviors your neighbors will hate, of course, never strike your dog as anything but fun, unless it is properly trained and supervised. This is your responsibility. Certainly you don’t want your dog’s behavior to become a point of contention between otherwise compatible neighbors.

To begin with, no Beagle should be allowed to roam indiscriminately. Most people are reluctant confront the owner of an offending dog, but no one appreciates canine trespassing. Dogs
lacking human supervision will often leave destruction in their path, and you are liable for your pet’s activities. Don’t let bad feelings start because you have given your dog a free rein.

Furthermore, you put your Beagle’s life at risk every time you allow it such freedom. Your pet may attack or be attacked by other animals - wild (think about rabies) or domesticated. Chances are, at some point, the dog will be hit and perhaps killed by a car. A free-roaming dog is more susceptible to picking up parasites and disease. And it may simply disappear one day, leaving you to wonder whether it has been abducted or killed. Sadly, these are common occurrences.

If you want to keep your dog outdoors, an exercise run or a sturdy fence around your yard is mandatory. Hopefully, if your dog is a barker, your neighbors live a good distance away. However, in the densely populated urban and suburban areas in which most of us live, it is simply unacceptable to permit a dog to bark endlessly. You are going to have extremely unhappy neighbors. Breaking the barking habit can be a real problem; you can try working with a trainer to come up with a solution, or you may simply have to keep the dog indoors. Certainly, it is unfair to make other people suffer while you’re away.

Remember, barking is both natural for beagles and a learned behavior in certain situations. To correct unwanted barking, you must catch the dog in the act and administer a stern, forceful correction. You cannot correct undesirable behavior unless the dog is actually caught in the act of performing it.

Beagle Toilet Paper Blues

If ever there’s a time when beagles look like mischievous toddlers, it’s when they’re sitting on the bathroom floor surrounded by ribbons of toilet paper. The expression on their faces says, “Oh, did I do that?” Once they see you laughing, they’ll happily tear into it again. They may start pulling at the toilet paper because they’re bored or curious, but once they get going, it’s just plain fun for them!

Toilet paper is fun because it engages all of a Beagle’s senses. Toilet paper is soft and light, and it flips and flutters. The roll makes a great noise when dogs turn it. And best of all, the pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger. For dogs who are really captivated by visual stimuli, the ever-growing white thing they’re making is a huge reward for pulling on the roll.

Dogs can entertain themselves for quite a while with a roll of toilet paper, but what makes it
really fun is the reactions of their owners. Nearly everyone laughs when they see their dogs’ antics for the first time, and their dogs remember that. Even if you respond with a shriek, that high-pitched shout sounds a lot like a puppy’s yelp. It translates to Let’s go play!

Unraveling the roll is just part of the game. The other part is running through the house with the paper flapping. That’s the part a lot of dogs really enjoy! Toilet paper rolls aren’t very firmly anchored. Dogs get a lot of satisfaction from working them free from their holders and showing everyone in the family what they’ve done.

Not everyone appreciates replacing a roll of paper, only to see it in shreds a few hours later. But you should consider yourself lucky when you have a puppy who limits himself to this shred-and-chase game - it means he’s not destroying something else. It’s a whole lot easier to clean up toilet paper than to replace carpet or hang new curtains or bring in a new couch. Usually, closing the bathroom door does the trick.

How To Make Him Stop: Make it clatter. Most beagles outgrow this unraveling phase, but some keep doing it because it’s so much fun. Discipline may not help, because it only takes a few seconds for dogs to turn a roll of toilet paper into streamers - meaning, it’s hard to catch them in the act. One way to discourage them is to set a booby trap. Put an empty can or two on top of the roll. Put a few marbles inside the cans. When your dog gives the paper a pull, the cans will tumble, making a noisy clatter. After a few frights, most dogs will be convinced that grabbing the roll isn’t as much fun as it used to be.

Animals for adoption 

Humane Society
Source: www.reflector.com

Eyes on the prize 
The 4-H Seeing Eye puppy Club helps give a solid start to dogs training to be guides.
Source: www.ydr.com

Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends Review [DS] 
Dalmatian and Friends is still a charming, endearing game, though it’s also essentially the same game that was released in previous versions.
Source: www.gamespot.com

Pets, Pets, Pets 
Spaying and neutering pets prior to adoption is the only way to ensure that these animals won’t add to the staggering pet overpopulation problem. Bonds, vouchers, and certificates are not a sure thing. All municipal shelters in Nassau and Suffolk, with the exception of Babylon Town Shelter, now perf
Source: www.amityvillerecord.com

Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends Review [DS] 

Dalmatian and Friends is still a charming, endearing game, though it’s also essentially the same game that was released in previous versions. read…

Resorts go to the dogs with upscale boarding facilities renting for more than $30 a night. read…

More than 30 dogs and their owners attended the second annual Southern Arizona beagle rescue Halloween dog party Sunday. read…

Important Information About Beagles Giving Birth

A normal canine pregnancy lasts approximately sixty-three days following conception. Signs of pregnancy include increased appetite, weight and breast size. beagles with false pregnancy can also exhibit these symptoms, however. Veterinarians can usually diagnose pregnancy through abdominal palpation at twenty-eight days or by using ultrasound or X-ray tests.

Once pregnancy is confirmed, it’s time to review special feeding requirements and what to expect before, during and after the birth with your veterinarian. You should also be briefed on how to recognize and respond to an emergency.

A few days before she gives birth (known as whelping), the dog may refuse to eat and start to build her nest, where she plans to have her puppies. Unless you introduce her beforehand to a whelping box, the delivery room may be your closet, the space under your bed or any number of places you would probably consider inappropriate.

A whelping box should be sufficiently large to accommodate a comfortable stretch for the dog. It should have low sides and be placed in a warm, dry/draft-free and secluded place. Place towels or other soft material in the bottom of the whelping box. Fresh newspapers are also fine and may be easily removed and replaced as they become soiled during whelping. Once whelping is completed/ however, you should replace the newspapers with something that provides better footing for the puppies.

Shortly before whelping, the Beagle’s body temperature will drop to 99 degrees or lower (normal temperature for a dog is between l00 and 102.5 degrees). By this time, you should have shaved her belly, where appropriate, to allow the puppies to find the nipples. If she has a long or dense coat, you should also shave and clean the area around her genitals.

Approximately twenty-four hours after her temperature drops, she can be expected to enter the first stage of labor, when the cervix dilates and opens the birth canal for the passage of puppies. At this time, she will pant, strain, appear restless or may perhaps vomit. Vomiting is normal at the onset of labor, but persistent vomiting may be a sign of illness. This stage of labor is followed by actual abdominal straining and production of the puppies and placentas.

Most dogs give birth easily, without the need of human help. Each puppy emerges in its own placental membrane, which must be removed before the puppy can breathe. The mother usually takes care of this by tearing off and eating the membrane, and then severs the umbilical cord. After delivery, she will lick each puppy to stimulate its breathing.

Frequent licking, which continues for three weeks or so, also has another vital function: it stimulates the puppy to excrete waste. Without maternal assistance puppies cannot do so. At the time of birth, new mothers are also busy cleaning their offspring, warming them and allowing them to suckle. It is very important for the puppies to suckle soon after emerging from the womb. Suckling lets them ingest colostrum - a milk-like substance containing maternal antibodies which is produced in the mammary glands just after birth. Colostrum helps the newborn puppies fight infection in their early days while their own immune systems mature.