By Chad Love

The world of companies who specialize in gundog training products is - when compared to other segments of the outdoors market - a relatively tiny one. Let's face it: we'll never rival bass fishing or deer hunting in terms of market share and future growth. But at least one company is betting there's enough profit potential in the gundog world to make expansion worthwhile, and on Friday afternoon it surprised everyone by announcing that it had acquired one of the most venerated names in gundogdom.
 
From a press release on the Garmin website:
 Garmin Ltd., (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced that one of its subsidiaries has signed an agreement to acquire Tri-Tronics Inc., the leading designer and manufacturer of electronic dog training equipment.  The acquisition will allow the combined company to expand its leadership position in both the tracking and training of sporting dogs and household pets alike. “We are delighted to have Tri-Tronics join the Garmin family.

By Chad Love

One of the most fascinating things about the human/dog relationship is our constantly-evolving notions of how dogs think, understand, learn and interact with us. Every day, it seems, some new bit of research is shedding heretofore unknown insight into dog behavior, and in the process sometimes standing conventional wisdom on its head. Such is the case with "Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet" (Basic Books, 2011)  by anthrozoologist John Bradshaw.

Bradshaw, using the latest findings in canine research, argues that much of what we take for granted about dogs is completely wrong. He claims that, among other things, the "alpha dog" theory is inaccurate, that new research show us that dogs are both dumber and smarter than we think, that dogs have evolved to become physically and emotionally dependent on humans, that dogs trained with positive reinforcement have better retention and don’t suffer from fear-based aggression like those trained with other methods, and that environment is more important than breed when it comes to raising people-loving dogs.

By Chad Love

Summer isn't technically here yet, but the daytime high temperatures for my part of Oklahoma are beginning to approach cake-baking levels. That means all my dog training has shifted to an early-morning and late-evening schedule, for my comfort as well as the dogs' safety.

Heat is a killer, so as you train your dogs in the summer months, make sure they stay cool and well-hydrated. How important is water? In terms of safety and health, a whole lot more important than food, actually. A dog can lose 50 percent of his muscle and body fat, but if that same dog loses 10 percent of his water, he can die. Eighty percent of a dog is water, so in an average 50-pound dog, fully 40 pounds of that is water.

Here are a few interesting canine hydration facts and watering tips I learned from an informative seminar at this year's Pheasants Forever Pheasant Fest. The subject was canine hydration, given by Steve Ries of Native Performance Dog Food:

- An average 50lb. housedog needs about five cups of water a day, but with active dogs that jumps up to 12 cups.

- A housedog loses about 23 percent moisture from respiration and 70 percent from urine, while a hunting dog can lose up to 40 percent form respiration, five percent from feces and 55 percent from urine.

By Chad Love

This is a seven-inch Zoom Mag Super Fluke. It's one of my all-time favorite lures and it's a fantastic bait to throw to spring bass. It is also, apparently, irresistible to English setters, because this particular fluke made it about halfway down my dog's throat before I could grab it (just) by the tail end and pull it out. My children had apparently been "fishing" with the fluke it in our backyard water garden, left it sitting and when I went out to work the dog she found it and immediately scarfed it down.

It reinforces the point that dogs will eat anything. Literally, anything. Socks, balls, children's toys, dead birds, pieces of rope, there is no rhyme or reason to what a dog will try to swallow. I know everyone has a tale of some outlandish item their dog swallowed and then either brought it back up or sent it out the other end, and a lot of said tales tend to be of the humorous, head-shaking "dogs-will-be-dogs" variety, but it's no joke, and no laughing matter.

Each year thousands of dogs die of bloat (which basically, is a condition of excessive intestinal gas) brought on by gastric torsion (twisting of the stomach) or intestinal obstructions.