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The Bulletin Board
This is the place for timely and/or newsworthy items from Tracie. Read on...
The Dog Bible Needs a Correction About Omega-3 Oils
Hi Tracie - we met at Glen Highland (I'm the herding instructor) after your talk on nutrition. I'm really enjoying your book (as I am your podcasts) and have a question; re giving your dog oil.......you gave each of us a wonderful bottle of Nordic Naturals fish oil in our “doggy bags”and touted it's benefits, but your book says giving dogs oil generally produces little effect as they tend to pass it on through.
I know I'm missing something - could you clarify please?
Thanks in advance.
Tom Leigh
Tracie responds:
Tom - I am SO glad you caught this. Very astute of you - I had realized it myself and the contradiction was frustrating. As it turns out, I was in the process of working out how to update/replace that piece of The Dog Bible on oils. Believe it or not, when I was researching the book - let's say from 2003-2004 (the book was published in 2005) - there was NOTHING about omega-3's anywhere. Now it is such a hot topic.
So you are the FIRST person to see the new paragraph, which will be in the next printing of the book starting very soon:
OMEGA-3 FISH OILS (page 452)
Even dogs on great diets are still deficient in the Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. Research suggests that daily supplementation is a "health tonic" for dogs (and for us, too) - important for skin and coat health, the well-being of the eyes, heart and brain, and proven to reduce inflammation, especially in the joints. The oil capsules sold by vets usually don't even contain fish oil. I recommend and use the brand Nordic Naturals because the oil comes from fish in the cleanest waters with the strictest oversight by the Norwegian government in the purity of the oil.
Cat Chat's® "Dear Sally" LIVE - OCT 16, 23, 30
Cat Chat's® Official Behavior Consultant DEAR SALLY Live and In Person - OCT 16-23-30. Click here for details.
Cat Vets
Are you looking for a "cats only" vet to make going to the veterinarian a more peaceful process for your pussycat? Now the American Association of Feline Practitioners has made that possible on their website, www.catvets.com.
Follow one of the 4 main links on the home page to "find a feline practitioner." One of the fields is a drop-down, so you can limit the search to cat-only veterinarians if you want, and search by name or city or state. Your kitty will thank you for it!
Hey Everybody!! I've Got Such A Cool New Partner Ready To Support Causes I Love
Starting very soon you'll see a daily DOG BIBLE TIP on Dogster.com and a CAT BIBLE TIP on Catster.com - and we're kicking off this new partnership by owner Ted Rheingold's offer to take charities I respect and have all the new sign-ups from DOG TALK® and CAT CHAT® listeners count as contributions to my wonderful charitable choices.
Sign for Dogster.com and Catster.com with the links below. Your Dogster sign-up will fill a piggy bank for the Canine Cancer fund at the Morris Animal Foundation and sends much-needed help to Feline Outreach when you sign up for Catster. Click below - it takes only a second, costs you nothing, will actually be fun for you, and may be life-saving for dogs and cats someday.
Dogster Sign-Up
Catster Sign-Up
From Baghdad to America:
Life Lessons from a Dog Named Lava
Jay Kopelman
Jay will be a guest on Dog Talk® on August 23, 2008.
Click here to go to Amazon to buy From Baghdad to America.
House-Train a Puppy in 24 Hours (Tracie's Howdini Video)
House-training a puppy means house-training you, too. If you follow dog expert Tracie Hotchner’s simple rules, you’ll have your puppy going where he’s supposed to, and not on the carpet, in no time.
Watch Tracie's Howdini video on How to House-Train a Puppy in 24 Hours.
Other Tracie Howdini videos:
How to Greet a New Dog
How to Pick a Healthy Puppy
How to Pick the Right Puppy for Your Family
Meet The Good Breeders On Dog Talk®
Please come Meet the Good Breeders halfway through every Dog Talk® — breeds you've heard of but don't know how to find and others that are wonderfully rare. But I also need you to tell me what breed you'd like to hear about! What breed are you eager to connect with? Let Dog Talk® bring the breeders to you every week.
Every week in the middle of the show you're going to meet a dedicated "hobby breeder," someone who has dedicated a good portion of their lives to learning all about the breed they've chosen, bringing puppies into the world to place carefully into the right homes, going to dog shows and competitions for the fun and glory of it all - and generally adoring and celebrating their dogs. (THE DOG BIBLE explains the difference between these wonderful people and the horrors of mass produced puppies in volume breeding facilities - they are night and day.
There is way too much knee-jerk "all breeders are bad" sentiment in the dog rescue/shelter world and I am going to do my part to put an end to that by inviting you to meet real live breeders every week. I also hope to introduce you to kinds of dogs you've never heard of or considered - purebreds with specific personalities, physical abilities and characteristics that might just ring your bell. I am doing this for fun and learning for all of us, myself included, but also because I want to find new ways to BEG and convince you to never got into a pet store and to avoid these overnight sensations of mixed breeds for which you're paying purebred prices and have absolutely no way of knowing the emotional and physical liabilities they bring with them - since mixing two breeds to make a buck can result in dogs that sound like cute funny names and even look cute as puppies (heck, what puppy isn't cute??!) but have costly and frustrating consequences as they mature.
Go to the Meet The Good Breeders On Dog Talk® Page.
2 Dogs, 2000 Miles
DOG TALK® and CAT CHAT® will be following Luke every week and rooting for him and his handsome Great Pyrenees, Hudson and Murphy, as they take a 2,000 mile journey on foot to bring attention to the epidemic of canine cancer in the United States. They want to help fund research to find solutions to the heartbreak of cancer, and also along the way to reach out to folks who have lost dogs to cancer - as Luke did with Malcolm, who inspired this walk. Please go to the www.2dogs2000miles.com website and pledge what you can for a terrific cause.
Read UDPATES on the Journey on our 2 DOGS 2000 MILES PAGE.
Puppy Mill Raid
If you ever doubted what I have been telling you about puppy mills, have a look at this video and you'll never condone shopping in a pet store ever again. Every puppy bought in a pet store condemns her parents and future siblings to this horrible existence.
Watch the Puppy Mill Raid Video.
NOTE: The AKC DOES register puppies from puppy mills across the country, so having AKC registration papers does NOT protect you or the puppy from being part of this travesty.
Dead Dog Beach in Puerto Rico
Jessica Higgins of the Humane Society of the United States spoke about Dead Dog Beach in Puerto Rico and how we can put pressure on local authorities by choosing not to spend our vacation dollars in Puerto Rico and also writing to explain that decision is based on cruel treatment of dogs inPuerto Rico.
Here are sample letters you can send and where they should go.
Puerto Rico Official Contacts (DOC file)
Tourist Letter (DOC file)
We also heard on the air from some folks rescuing Satos dogs and here is her comment on what to do and how to learn more:.
The web link to Second Chance is secondchancesatorescue@gmail.com
You can also view the dogs up for adoption at www.SCSR.petfinder.com
This group is making a difference one dog at a time with a lot of love and dedication. Ideally a change in attitude and proper funding of a feasible program for the over population would be the next step but for now Second Chance is giving these dogs a second chance at life."
Dr. Phil's Answers
See Dog Talk's® own official vet Dr. Phil Padrid of Chicago show us all how it's done on www.AnswersTV.com (the links to Dr. Phil's page are on his page of DOG TALK®.
Please Print & Sign this Petition to Stop the Selling of Cat Fur in Switzerland
Did you hear the recent discussion on both my shows about the sale of dog and cat fur? We talked about how shocking it is that killing and skinning cats in SWITZERLAND is legal. The Humane Society of the United States is assisting a Swiss group that is gathering signatures to outlaw this barbaric practice. Please note that because they must have the signatures by June 5th, mailing will not get there in time. The other choices are to FAX (see below - but be aware that it is an international call), or to scan and email. This is one of those petitions that really will make a difference - especially coming from Americans.
The group is S.O.S. Chats [pronounced "Esse - Oh - Esse -- Shah" ("chats" is French for cats)]
Letter from SOSCHATS:
Dear Tracie,
Pierre from HSUS told us what you have done for helping us to protest against cat killing for cat fur in Switzerland. We are so glad to have your support. It really would help us if also the Americans would sign our petition. The parliament decided to discuss our motion and the petition and to vote for changing the law only in october 2008. So we still collect signatures.
Personalities like Brigitte Bardot and Michael Schumacher have already signed.
Thank you so much.
Greetings from us Elisabeth ,Tomi and the cats from SOS CHATS NOIRAIGUE
P.S. Pierre also told us that Martha Stewart has made a declaration against fur and if she would know about our campain she would maybe decide to help. Could you inform her about us and the movement against cat fur trade in Switzerland.
You can find more informations at: www.soschats.org
Email: soschats.et@bluewin.ch
Tel. 0041-32-8632205
Fax: 0041-32-8632692
Adress: SOSCHATS
2103 NOIRAIGUE
Switzerland
English version of Website: http://tinyurl.com/3vuayd
Here is the petition: www.soschats.org/soschats/public_temp/petition_fourrure_anglais.pdf
HSUS Letter on Swiss Cat Fur Trade (PDF, 870KB)
Want To Go To Camp With Your Dog And Meet Tracie??
I'm going to be spending a fun day at Camp Unleashed, giving out fantastic Doggy Bags of good stuff and doing a presentation on "The Uncensored Truth About Pet Food" - and answering all your questions in person and selling THE DOG BIBLE & THE CAT BIBLE with proceeds going to charity. [You can even just come for that one day Sunday September 28th if you cannot do the whole weekend].
Camp Unleashed, September 5, 2008, www.campunleashed.com
Unleash your dog's true canine spirit! Three-day "sleepover" summer camp experience for dogs and their people in the beautiful Berkshires of western Massachusetts. Meals and lodging for you and your pooch in rustic cabins plus activities including Agility, Dock Diving, Tellington Touch, Off Leash Hikes, Swimming, Wellness Workshops, Canine Massage Therapy How-to, campfires and more! Limited to 50 people and their dogs.
Tracie Appeared on Martha TV Show Again
Tracie and the other 4 Martha Stewart Radio hosts got to come on the TV show and answer questions from the audience. It you missed it, write in to the show and say you'd like to see her on again soon! A new show aired on JULY 16, 2008!
Did you miss Tracie on TV? You can watch right from here: http://tinyurl.com/3mfao6
Wacth Tracie's second appearance on Martha's TV show.
Scroll through the video clips on the right hand side of the page to find Ask the Experts, then click on that clip to play.
Tracie Scores Another Discount For Her Listeners!
20% Off On Pet Food Direct!
Tracie wants to thank you all for improving your pet's nutrition — so now everyone can enjoy premium and hard-to-find brands of pet food at the best prices.
It is easy as pie to use this discount.
No mumbo-jumbo - just go to their website, PetFoodDirect.com and pick some foods (I click on the "natural foods" to narrow down the choices and eliminate the highly commercial foods). When you check out at the end you'll see a box for "coupon code" — enter the single word (one word) DOGTALK or CATCHAT (no spaces) — they both work and you'll get 20% sliced right off your total. It allows you to try some of the super-premium gourmet foods like Weruva, which you might otherwise not find or find too costly.
I know it works because now I'm using it too — thanks to you wonderful listeners I have now been introduced to the ease of having heavy bags and boxes of cans arrive right at my door with a big discount. Very sweet deal.
More Good News About A Special Discount For My Listeners!
You get 10% off on any order from The Honest Kitchen - the food I often mention as a raw dehydrated food made in a human food factory in san diego.
This is good news for folks in parts of the country where premium pet stores don't exist or don't yet carry this superb food that all my dogs get at every meal.
So go online to TheHonestKitchen.com and at check out put this code in the box:
THWFF0810
And write or call me on either radio show and tell me how your pooch likes this yummy stuff!
The Cat is Out of the Bag!
The book you've all been waiting for is finally ready to find its way into your hands — your cats have waiting for you to read it and know everything there is know about them. So don't disappoint them, and do treat yourself to the one book any cat lover needs to fully understand and take care of their feline family members.
Order your copy from Amazon.com today!
The Cat Bible - Reviewed
Read a review for The Cat Bible by Sally E. Bahner
[Dr. Jack Stephens, Founder of Pet Insurance, Answers Pet Parent Questions (PDF)]
Tracie is a passionate believer in the value of insurance for every pet (which she writes about in both books). She wants people to have the financial protection necessary with today's sophisticated and costly medical options for pets.
