PetPix Today!

Like the giggle of babies that charm us and restore our positive view of the world, a dog’s laughter has been proven to calm other animals. Yes, dogs do laugh. Many might mistake their laughter for heavy panting, but in fact Patricia Simonet, an applied animal behaviorist and research scientist, who counsels pets and their humans and researchs the behaviors of animals. She has studied dog laughter, dog rules during play and reducing stress in shelter dogs by broadcasting a recording of dog laughter.

With email messages circulating about fatal spider bites from the Brown Recluse spider and the appearance of many other types of spiders with the warm spring weather, questions about spiders are never far from ones mind… and certainly not questions about how to keep a spider a s a pet! There is no doubt that we are fascinated by spiders despite our real or imagined fears and that many people do get spiders as pets.

People in northern regions

Not so Zeeke!… a puppy-in-training that belongs to JJ Coat, a Pre-Vet major and honors student of Ohio Northern University. Zeeke has become part of the alumni. JJ has chosen to prepare Zeeke to become a service dog, as her Honors Project. Zeeke’s training period is 16 months and JJ has been given special permission by the university administration to bring Zeeke onto the campus where he has become an instant celebrity. This has also given the university much-needed celebrity as well. We’re thinking there may be more Zeekes in future classes…

The term designer dogs has taken on a new meaning as has the term “one-in-a-million” pet. A company called Bioarts International has successfully cloned a dog, after spending $20,000,000 that is. Three dogs have been produced to replace the CEO’s family dog Missy who died in 2002. The cloning idea came to mind in 1997 when Dolly the sheep was cloned.