"dog-ma: the zen of slobber" should be your next read

When the weather turns cold, there is nothing more pleasurable than curling up by the fire with a good book. Make it a book about dogs, and I'm in heaven. Barbara Brunner's "Dog-ma: The Zen of Slobber" was my latest read, and it did not disappoint.

Brunner lets us know her dogs in true Larry McMurtry fashion, allowing her readers to know them and love them, no matter their antics, then making us feel her heart-wrenching pain as they inevitably leave her side. She paints an equally vivid picture of the settings in which her family has their adventures as she and her husband, Ray, move their pack from place to place. 

If you're a dog lover, you won't be able to put this one down. Be prepared to laugh and love with Brunner and her revolving door of canine family members. 

 


Barbara's vivid and dramatic stories, told with a wicked sense of humor, will make you laugh out loud. She definitely gets what living with rescued dogs (nine of them!) is all about. 

When Barbara meets her future husband, Ray, it is love-and dog-at first sight. Over the course of thirty-two years, seventeen relocations and nine dogs, their mutual love of dogs guides them on their unconventional path. The love that Barbara and Ray get in return is literally lifesaving, with one dog attacking a lethal intruder and another discovering Barbara’s cancer. Her own survival story underscores the story of how her dogs become survivors themselves. 

Each new dog adds its own dynamic to the family, sometimes upending it. From Turbo (whose Spock-like ears may have provided super powers), Barbara learns about the will to live; Lexington demonstrates incredible patience and an inexplicable love of golf; Madison teaches that laughter is truly the best medicine and that the whole “nine lives thing” is not reserved just for cats; Morgan should be sainted for tolerating Izzy, who is as cute as she is bad. Barbara is certain that somewhere in doggie heaven there is a poster that says “If you are sick, injured or in need of really expensive medical care, FIND THESE HUMANS!”

Throughout 2012 and 2013, Dog-Ma has been on the Bestseller lists of Kindle, Amazon and Goodreads as well as being named as a finalist in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the animal/pet category and presented with a medal at the Harvard Club in New York City - May 2013.
Buy the Book.......
About the Author
Award Winning Author, Barbara Brunner grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania with her parents, sister and always a dog, or two or three. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from a small women's college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Meeting her husband in Washington, DC, they continued together on a journey as self-proclaimed dog addicts. In the ensuing years, she founded three successful businesses in the Pacific Northwest and is a prolific fundraiser for breast cancer research. She and her husband are retired and now reside in Southwest Florida with two dogs and copious amounts of dog fur. She is currently working on indulging her well known flip flop addiction.

 Barbara is available for book readings, autographing and speaking engagements and may be scheduled for your book or dog event. 
Follow the Author...
Website, Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Goodreads 

      
"My inspiration for writing this book was driven by pure emotion and my desire to invite the reader to step into the journey of my utterly insane true-life stories."
– Barbara Boswell Brunner, Author, dog-ma



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 I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.


artificial food dyes and pet food

pet food image source: beneful.com

pet food image source: beneful.com

It seems these days that everything will kill us, and there's an argument against nearly every type of consumable, including pet food. We worry about fillers and protein content in our pets' food, and sometimes it can be overwhelming to have to think about one more thing. But we should.

Artificial food dyes are proven sources of health problems for both humans and animals, yet they are prevalent in processed foods. Why? They often make foods appear more appealing to the consumer. Processed foods are much different from the natural foods they are trying to mimic, so color is added to make the foods look more authentic or natural, or even more fun. But do dogs and cats care about the color of their food? I'm not a dog or cat, so I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing they don't.

Adding artificial dyes to pet food is purely for us, the pet owners, because we are the ones making the purchasing decisions. If a pet food claims to be healthy and contain real meat and vegetables, we might expect it to look like it contains meat and vegetables. Meat is red...vegetables are green. So let's add red and green to the kibble to make it look like it contains real ingredients.

The problem? Adding those colors likely has a negative impact on the health of the animal.

I am often asked "what should I feed my pet?" I always take the needs of the individual animal into consideration, and I recommend different things based on those needs. That being said, there are a few highly processed foods that contain artificial dyes that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. I hate to name names, but I'm naming names. One of the worst is Beneful. Let's check out why together. 

source: beneful.com

source: beneful.com

Beneful presents itself as a healthy pet food in every way. The name is awesome. It screams "beneficial" and "full of all that is good." Their sub-branding often uses the word "healthy." The packaging is great, too. The design is modern and fairly clean. The white background stands out among the competition and makes us feel like the food is clean and pure, and it gives us the feeling of trust. White is good. And then, just look at all of the real, healthy food pictured on the box. If they show all of those foods on the package, they must be in there, right? The image Beneful projects is nothing but positive, and it works. It sells.

Beneful makes all sorts of food and treats for both dogs and cats, but let's take a peek at Beneful's Healthy Fiesta dog food as an example. Here is the ingredient list, which I pulled from Beneful's Web site: 

Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), chicken, soy flour, rice flour, water, propylene glycol, sugar, tricalcium phosphate, salt, phosphoric acid, animal digest, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, dried carrots, sorbic acid (a preservative), dried tomatoes, avocado, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, Yellow 5, ferrous sulfate, Red 40, manganese sulfate, niacin, Blue 2, Vitamin A supplement, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, Yellow 6, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.

So that I don't get too far off track, let's forget about the fact that the first ingredient is "ground yellow corn." Let's focus on the dyes (I've highlighted them in bold). We have Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 2, and Yellow 6. 

Yellow 5     Also known as tartrazine or E102, this dye requires a warning label in Europe. It is commonly found in processed foods we humans consume as well as pet food, it is thought to cause neurochemical and behavior effects, including hyperactivity, aggression, and insomnia. It is also linked to asthma, allergies, thyroid tumors, lymphomas, ADHD, and chromosomal damage. 

Red 40     Perhaps the most well-known artificial food dye because of it's prevalence and bad reputation, it is tainted with cancer-causing contaminants. You've probably heard a lot about it because it is linked to ADHD and hyperactivity in children.

Blue 2     Often contains cancer-causing contaminants and may contribute to abnormal cell development, especially in the brain. It is most closely linked to brain tumors. May also cause allergic reactions.

Yellow 6     Has been reported to cause allergies and is linked to hyperactivity in children. Some studies have shown that it has caused adrenal gland and kidney tumors in animals. It is also linked to skin issues, asthma, and chromosomal damage.

Beneful is definitely not the only pet food that contains artificial dyes. 

Whether these dyes are dangerous and how dangerous they are is the subject of scientific research and debate. What no one argues about is the fact that artificial food dyes provide no health benefit whatsoever. 

Very little research has been done about the direct affect of artificial dyes on our pets, but it is better understood than ever before that they aren't good for humans. Still, we consume them, and, still, we feed our pets food that contain them. Who benefits from shielding us from their dangers? The companies who produce these products consider the dyes a primary marketing tool in making their food more attractive to the consumer. They want to keep using them so they can sell more product.

Artificial dyes are of no benefit to our pets. So if Fido and Fluffy don't care what color their food is, aren't we better off reading the labels and choosing foods that don't contain artificial dyes? Our pets are at our mercy, so let's choose wisely for them.  

This graphic is a fantastic look at some of the most common dyes used both in our food and our pets' food:

relieving canine anxiety the natural way with #ThunderShirt

This article first appeared last month on Hybrid Rasta Mama, where I contribute a monthly article about holistic pet care that you can read on the second Wednesday of each month. Head on over to Hybrid Rasta Mama to see this months article, "Dogs Going Vegan."

 

It seems everyone is anxious these days. There are bills to pay, mouths to feed, and politics to debate. 

Though they don't give a darn what's going on in congress, our dogs have their own anxieties. These anxieties can seem irrational and hard to understand since our pets can't pipe up and explain their feelings. 

Dogs have their own language to show anxiety. Signs that your dog has anxiety include:

• shaking/trembling

• destruction of things

• hiding/cowering

• pacing

• aggression

• restlessness

• excessive barking

• raised paw (as if injured)

• crinkled brow

• yawning (when not tired)

• excessive itching

• excessive paw chewing (or other body part)

• licking chops

• tucking tail between legs

Anxiety in dogs can be general, especially in a dog who has been traumatized or abused, but is more typically situation-specific. Some common anxiety-producing situations for dogs include storms, fireworks, or other loud noises, fear of certain types of people (children, men, etc.), travel, and separation anxiety.

We have the option to pop a pill to relieve our anxiety. And we have the option to do the same for Fido. But most of us don't wish to live life in a drug-induced haze, and we certainly don't wish to deal with unwanted side effects that these strong medications–however effective–can bring. Herbal remedies are an excellent alternative, as is behavioral modification, or a combination of the two. These methods can take time, and it's hard to be patient while we watch our pet in panic mode. Wouldn't it be great if we could just give our pooch a great big hug to melt his worries away?

We can.

Enter ThunderShirt.

HRMThunderShirt

HRMThunderShirt

After doing a lot of research, including case studies of my own, I now recommend my clients and friends try the ThunderShirt as a natural, quick, safe, and effective method to reduce canine anxiety. It doesn't work for everyone, but it does work for most, which is awesome. No medication required. No side effects. It seems almost too good to be true. So how does it work?

ThunderShirt uses gentle hugging to calm your dog or cat. With its patented design, ThunderShirt's gentle, constant pressure has a dramatic calming effect for most dogs and cats if they are anxious, fearful or overexcited. Based on surveys completed by over two thousand customers, over 80% of dogs and cats show significant improvement in symptoms when using ThunderShirt...How does ThunderShirt work? Experts believe that pressure has a calming effect on the nervous system, possibly by releasing a calming hormone like endorphins. Using pressure to relieve anxiety in people and animals has been a common practice for years...

thundershirt.com

Using pressure to relieve anxiety has proven to be effective for infants (swaddling), in people with autism, and by animal trainers and veterinarians to release a variety of animal anxieties.

Not all, but some, veterinarians can be quick to prescribe anxiety-relieving medication. They want to see quick results to help your animal, but some may be uneducated about alternatives, and some even have ulterior motives. I feel that for my family, including my pets, it is important to try natural methods before taking that route. ThunderShirt can provide relief that is just as effective and rapid as harsh medications, so, in my opinion, it's worth a try!

The first step when using the ThunderShirt is to slowly get your pet used to it in a positive way. ThunderShirt recommends that you feed your dog a favorite treat using the shirt as a plate. This way, your pooch will feel good about his new attire right away. The next step is to try the shirt on and use it for very brief periods. Many dogs achieve instant anxiety relief the moment the ThunderShirt is put on, but some may take a bit longer. There are countless stories of animals with extremely high-anxiety levels during a storm, for example, finding instant and complete relief, even falling asleep during a storm that would have otherwise thrown them into a complete meltdown.

ThunderShirt is not an affiliate of well minded, though I have been provided the ThunderShirt product in order to conduct some of the following case studies:

• the big, bad world: enter, ThunderShirt, part 1 (Rex)

• the big, bad world: enter, ThunderShirt, part 2 (Jack)

• the big, bad world: enter, ThunderShirt, part 3 (making it through the 4th)

• the big, bad world: enter, ThunderShirt, part 4 (Remington)

ThunderShirt is available for both dogs and cats and can be ordered online or purchased at most pet stores.

Have you tried ThunderShirt or another natural method for reducing pet anxiety? We'd love to hear your story!