citrusnut, My friend (who is also president of our local animal welfare group) had a collie who died from eating pork chops. She only ate a few & you would think it wouldn't matter to a dog that size. I think she said there is an enzyme they can't digest, I will check with her & find out. Karyn, Tell her to get her dog to obedience classes & quick. What would happen if the dog drug her in front of a car? You really need to be able to control your dog to keep both of you safe & a well trained dog is a much better family member. 15 to 20 minutes of training twice a day for 6 to 8 weeks is all it takes. After all the excitement last week, Abbi took a whole head of cabbage off the kitchen table & started to eat it! I have spent her entire life hiding food from her. In the past she has eaten several loaves of bread (plastic & all) & she knows how to get a full pan of food off the top of the stove without spilling much. She clamps her mouth over the edge & lifts it off, I wish I had a video of it, it's amazing. She has also figured out how to open both the oven & fridge doors but she doesn't do it very often. In her younger days, she could clear a 4 foot chain link fence (Newfs are not supposed to be able to do that). She is 9 now & slowing down & she hasn't jumped the fence for a couple years (I have an American Eskimo to do that for me now). Linda

Our old dog, Biscuit, was a water-loving dog. He died a couple of years ago, and I miss him. If you held the hose in your hand and waved it around gently, he'd chase the stream of water and "chomp" at it trying to catch the water in his mouth. He'd get in the big pond (back when it actually had water in it all summer before the springs dried up) and swim for four hours if you'd let him. You could leave him swimming, go to the store, come back, and he'd still be swimming. I am sure it kept him cool, but I worried he'd tired himself, get way out in the middle of the pond and be too tired to come back. Tracey, Last year when we had the semi-feral mama cat with four feral kittens, they liked to lay right up against the foundation of the house where we ran a soaker hose periodically to keep the foundation area soil moist. They had a favorite shady spot, so I put a fan several feet away and aimed it at that spot. They spent most of every hot day lying on the moist soil near the fan. I'd always turn on the soaker hose for an hour or two early in the day so that there wouldn't be puddles of water there by the time they needed to chill out there beginning around mid-day. Finally, with temps exceeding 110 we used food to lure them onto the sunporch, slammed the door shut, caught them in our hands while wearing leather gloves (it was quite an ordeal) and brought them in. All of them became tame and now come inside whenever they feel too hot and also to sleep at night, except for MiMi, who thinks that coming inside the house is worse than the worst thing on earth. I don't know if we'll ever get her inside again. I taught my dogs to enjoy the wading pool by throwing in a toy or even a dog biscuit. They'd stick their head into the water to get the toy or dog biscuit and would decide that the cool water felt pretty good. After that, even the ones that are not fond of getting in the water will stick their heads into the water or sometimes sort of slap at the water with their front paws and make it splash a little. It is so hot, I expect the wildlife soon will be knocking at the doot wanting to come inside and cool off in the cool air from the AC. Dawn

I have HEPA air filters in multiple rooms of my house but it is still very dusty. I thought it was because the windows were open earlier in the year, because this is a dusty environment (Sierra Nevada mountains) but the windows have been closed for a month. There isn't forced air here, so it isn't the ducts. I vacuumed an entire bag's worth of dirt out of the carpets the first two months I lived here with a brand new Miele vacuum. I fixed the dryer vent which leaked. The dust still appears overnight! Help! I like the idea of a filter before the box fan although I am going to have to come up with something more attractive than duct tape to make that work in my bedroom!

Actually, cynthia, Max's issues were inborn aggression. He is an extremely aggressive and dominant dog that has to be the boss. Once I established I was tougher than he---all done mostly by using body language and grunts meaning NO!---he became a controllable dog. I am his boss---he is first an employee and second a pack member who gets people attention. Example; ever watch an dog nibble on another dog's neck/head? Like biting a flea? That is dog behavior for "I am your better". Max actually now comes to me daily for that 'nibble'---I use fingers and roughly approximate the act. I say nothing and he goes and lays down afterward. If I am gone for a day or longer, I have to do that almost immediately on return, or he is more aggressive. He and I play Tennis Ball Keep Away. I throw the ball and he chases and grabs it. Part of the time I 'chase' him and he avoids me---and will come close if I 'ignore' him, and even drop the ball. If I reach for it, he grabs it and prances off, to do it all again. Now and then, I take control, just to remind him I am still the boss---DROP IT and move into the dominant body position. He resists briefly and then drops the ball---respecting my authority. Now and then, he decides to test my authority. Totally normal for pack members to do that. He might even growl(seldom now) and not cooperate briefly. Twenty seconds later---back to being plain ol Max. That behavior is inborn. He is only scared of storms---when the barometer falls or there is thunder/lightening. He has shown no other fears---noises/people/dogs/cars---nothing. The original family from whom I got him had no idea how to control him---he was much more dominant than they were. He was one of those dogs Cesar Millan calls Red Zone. He would have bitten me had I not known how to handle him. I have never hit him at all. All my training/rehabilitation was done by actions and voice. I never relaxed around him for the first six months. Other folks could play/etc., but I was a rival---I made him obey. So, now that we have the routine established, I can have affection for him and he returns it---and could do a much better job of rehabilitating Molly than I early on in her stay here. But, due to his extremely dominant nature---I always make sure he knows I am the boss. That is pack leadership. Sounds corny and trite, but it is absolutely imperative.