Whole Dog Journal

As dog lovers, Susan and I want to know as much as possible about issues affecting our dog, more than we get told by a vet. The best source of infomration we have found is The Whole Dog Journal. It is described as "A monthly guide to natural dog care and training. "But our stated goal expressed in the mission statement that appears below is to offer useful, dog-friendly information that helps owners help their dogs. Our unstated mission (one that should be apparent due to our intentional lack of advertising) is to provide reliable information on topics you can't find in mainstream publications, where, in consideration of conventional, commercial interests (which contribute the vast majority of advertising dollars), hardly anything appears that runs counter to conventional practice."

They review wet and dry dog food every year, dog toys, treatments for various illnesses conventional and holistic, dog training and lots more. We have found it to be very helpful. Early this year both of our dogs develooped a hacking sneezing cough that lasted for days. We wondered if there was something we could give thme that would soothe thier throat. Our very good vet said no. As it turns out there is something does that, which we just read about in Whole Dog Journal.

Here are some recent articles:

January 2006

A Super (But Secret) Industry
We’re fans of wet pet food, but that hasn’t (yet) gotten us into a factory!

Language Barrier
Learn how to avoid “saying” the wrong thing to a dog.

Don’t Despair; Just Care
Holistic care and home support are effective for treating canine cancer.

Adoption Advice
Here’s how to make your new dog’s adoption work for life.

Aged to Perfection
Older dogs benefit from developments in veterinary geriatric medicine.

December 2005

Come to Me, Run to Me
To teach your dog perfect recalls, use praise, practice, and more practice!

Fending Off the Flu
It’s not neccessary to put your dog in solitary because of viral threats.

Conventional Cancer Care
Many well-known and new treatments are helping canine cancer patients.

Can We All Just Get Along?
A lot of normal dog “play” behavior looks scary to people.

To Crop and Dock? Or Not?
Some canine physical therapists say that dogs suffer from amputations.

Positively the Best
WDJ’s all-time favorite books on positive dog training.

2 Sample articles you can read online are

Sit Happens
After you learn how easy the positive approach to training really is, you’ll never push a pup’s butt to the floor again!

Toy Story
WDJ institutes a new grading system for reviewed products: 1-4 Paws.

In Future Issues
Here are some of the special reports and test comparison features we're working on for future issues of Whole Dog Journal.

Targeted Goal
“Targeting” is more than just a cute trick; you can use it to teach your dog many vital skills (and lots of other cute tricks!)

Brains of the Operation
The Tour of the Dog looks at the central nervous system.

Annual Dry Dog Food Review
What’s in the bag (and how you can tell whether it will be good for your dog).

Preventing Canine Cancer
The least-considered tool in the fight against canine cancer.

Training with a ZAP!
Shock collars are marketed as effective, simple, and humane training tools. We agree with only one of those words: marketed.

The Whole Dog Journal is available by subscription for $29 a year for 12 issues. It is well worth the money.