Pantops Pet Salon & Spa
Charlottesville's Professional Dog Grooming

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #18, December. 

I remember one Christmas when a friend of mine asked me to keep his new Bernese Mountain Dog puppy for a few days – he would pick up late on the 24th as a surprise for his children. It was fun to do, and she turned out to be the perfect pet. However, don’t get caught up in the gift-giving excitement—a dog is a large responsibility. Below are several points to keep in mind before you get that cute puppy:
1) Never buy a dog just for the children. While they may show interest at first, more often than not that interest will wane. Feeding, cleaning the backyard, exercising, and grooming are more like work – petting and playing are the fun part and guess who the work will fall to when the kids get bored?

2) If you’re single or a couple that works, training and housebreaking can be very difficult – maybe impossible. Once a dog is an adult and can stay in a nice backyard that’s fenced in with shelter to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer, you might get by 9 to 5. But a puppy needs socializing, training, and frequent outings for housebreaking.

3) While the upfront cost of the purchase is easily known, the costs of food, shelter, and veterinary care need to be budgeted for as well.

If you’ve got the time and money, I can’t think of a better present for the whole family than a brand new puppy – red ribbon and all!

One of our customers, Karen Waters, owns a Jack Russell/Beagle mix named Mark.  She arranged for her friend Cyndi Richardson, to care for Mark while she was away.  Karen lives close to Martha Jefferson Hospital.  Cyndi lives south of town, close to Tonsler Park.  Mark had never been to Cyndi’s house before.  He rode there in the car and was dropped off at Cyndi’s house as planned.  But once Karen left, Mark escaped out the door.  Cyndi called Karen to report him missing.  Two hours later, Mark showed up at home!  Think you could find your way home from a place you’ve never been before?  We’ve written about each of the senses—what helped Mark find his way home?  Smell, sight?  The mysterious dog radar!

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #10, April 

After three years of planning, I finally made my first trip overseas.  I spent two fantastic weeks in New Zealand and I was actually welcomed into the country by several dogs!  New Zealand has become known through movies for its gorgeous environment and one of their main means of revenue is tourism of that beautiful scenery.  The government of New Zealand is very concerned that care is taken with their environment so biosecurity is a serious matter.  All plants and animal products must be declared or an immediate $200 fine is given.  In order to ensure that seeds, animals (dogs have been known to eat their famous Kiwi bird!), and so on do not enter the country without authorization, a small group of Beagles met me while I waited in line at the biosecurity check point.  The calm and purposeful

Beagles sniffed not only luggage, but people too and while I was there, several people were asked to remove camping gear from their bags so that it could be disinfected so that no organic residue would affect the native life of the country.  See Mike’s article on the sense of smell to find out exactly how much better a nose dogs have compared to us.

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #11, May

While I was in New Zealand, I found the dog culture there quite different.  Dogs there are much more frequently treated as working animals—herders of the many sheep in farms from the top of the north island all the way down to the tip of the south island.  They are very rarely on lead, however they are excellently behaved.  I did not see one dog that was hyper, aggressive, or impolite in any way.  They were all very calm and I would say they were responsive to voice command except that it was more than that.  They understood what was expected of them and just did it—they didn’t need to be told.  I saw dogs in the city consistently stay within a 10 foot circle of their owner.  They would wander, sniff around, but never go beyond the 10 feet and never jump on or bark at a stranger or strange dog  If an owner stopped at a traffic light, so did the dog.  There was no “sit, stay” or lead enforcement….it was just done. 

There is a fascinating trust between owner and dog that I don’t see as much of in the US.  Often, we see owners fighting against their dogs or needing to use a fence or lead to keep them safe.  In New Zealand, I stopped on the side of the road at a corn maze.  My friend and I eventually got lost in the maze and the owner of the maze came to help us out with his dog.  Hickory was a

 little Brussels griffon mix who would disappear from time to time in the corn.  His owner was never concerned about his dog getting lost and did not even watch Hickory as he vanished.  There was an implicit trust that Hickory would not wander so far as to get lost and would not run into the highway just outside of the maze.  He never did and I was impressed.

I’m not sure if the sample of dogs I saw was representative of the entire country and I don’t know—but wish I did!—what type of training was used to accomplish such a relationship of consistently good behavior.  Our database software designer is located in New Zealand and agreed with my observations about dog culture.  He suggested that maybe it was because the dogs, as the people are reputed to be, are just very laid-back and on a permanent vacation!

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #5, November 

I often emphasize the importance of looking at the parents of your potential puppy in order to get a good idea of its future behavior and appearance (size, coat thickness, etc).  Yet, if you adopt from the SPCA (which I strongly encourage too) that opportunity usually is not available.  So, how do you determine which dog will make a good match for you if you have no access to the dog’s family and history?  Very carefully!  I know from handling thousands of dogs here that first impressions are not always accurate and the grooming experience can be unique.  Often, we receive dogs that are great with their owners, friendly toward us and would never bite—until the clippers come out!  Even a slow and easy introduction doesn’t always work.  More likely than not, the dog who is afraid of the vacuum or lawn mower will also be afraid of clippers and blow dryers.

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