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Your dog look-a-like

We think the cute Chihuahua Turbo has some similarities with the figure Gizmo from the movie Gremlins.



What do you think?

Do you have a dog that looks like a famous movie star or another celebrity? Or maybe your dog looks more like your neighbours cat?!

If so, please send us the picture and we will publish the most funniest look-a-like!

Send us your dog picture at blog@sniflabs.com

"Ask the trainer session" with Vera Wilkinson

Last Saturday Vera Wilkinson, certified pet dog trainer held a "Ask the trainer session" in the pet shop Cause to Paws in Brookline. People could come with their dogs to the shop and question Vera about every thing from behaviour problems to training of their puppy.


Vera answered the queries and suggested solutions on the dog owners concerns. Vera also talked about the dogs heritage from the wolfs and the dog as a pack animal in the family, and that you rather should act as a leader to the dog, than a member of the pack to train your dog new things. She talked about different training methods like clicker training, one of here favorite training methods:

"Dogs love it and become willing partners in the training process. Briefly, a clicker is a noisemaker that when paired with food gives your dog a clear signal that a specific behavior is desired. Once a behavior is learned, the clicker and food are no longer necessary. Of course, you can still give your dog a treat!"

In the pic below is the pretty bull dog Maddison in the arms of her owner Jonathan coming to Cause to paws to hear Vera's speak.



And here is the 4 months old puppy Bonzai sitting on his owners lap.



Vera offers different classes for dog training, for puppy's and adults, private in home training, agility, tricks and games and behaviour consulting. She also holds work shops and seminars.

Here next talk is at Cause to paws
Saturday, May 19th from 3-4pm

"What To Do With A Puppy! Have you read too many books and are now totally confused? Vera outlines your puppy's first four months of development and what you should be doing now in order to have a well-behaved adult dog later. Don't miss this window of opportunity!"

For more information take a look at Vera's web page The Pet needs company

The Pet Shop Girls

Do you have a dog and a cat? A good place where to buy food and accessories is the The Pet Shop Girls, located in 12 Union Park St, close to Shawmutt Ave, in the South End area of Boston, MA.





Open the door and Pedro, the cat who lived here since ever, will welcome you. This is your last month to have a chance to pet Pedro! In fact, Pedro, and all the shop are moving. Pedro will be adopted by one of the employees, and the shop will be relocated at the Doggie Day facility, in 400 Tremont St.

Other than Pedro (reason n. 1!) my personal main reason to go to the Pet Shop Girls is the good quality food they sell, and specifically the frozen food. Another reason is that they have the most furnished cat section of the area (other than a dog section), including treats, food, toys and accessories.

Turbo the cross-eyed Chihuahua

Turbo, the cross-eyed Chihuahua, visited our office!

Here is Turbo with Silvia, Liz and Tine, the sniffing girls.



And yes, there are sniffing boys, too! Here is Turbo with Daniel and Greg.





Turbo is always ready to lend a paw if you need it!
Pictured below is Turbo helping Phil and Greg while they work at their desk.

Tall Tails and Dog Heaven

If you live North of Boston and you drive to the city to go to work, you might be interested in Jordan's services for your dogs. A growing number of people are dropping off their dogs at Tall Tails, a day care, located at 2K Gill St., Woburn, MA, on their way to work in the morning. They then pick them up in the afternoon, at the end of the work day.



Jordan loves dogs, and pioneered his hobby into a business enterprise when he started Tall Tails 6 years ago, after working for a year in another day care.
He owns both Tall Tails, and Dog Heaven, a hiking service.





There are 40 to 60 dogs a day your dog can play with and the space is huge. When it is sunny and not too cold, dogs can run free in a very big fenced-in area.



If it is too cold, dogs play inside Tall Tails facility: they sleep in the beds or jump into a dog car!





During the day Jordan, personally, goes hiking in huge parks and reservoirs. Dogs jump in the truck, and after a short drive they have fun in the lake and can run off-leash. Two other dog lovers watch the dogs at the day care, in the meanwhile.







Dogs really have a lot of fun here: in the pictures you can see that they can take a bath in the swimming pool, have fun in the beds, and even relax at the shadow of a big colorful track.







At the end of the day, mom or dad come to pick up their happy dog! Ready to go to sleep after so much fun...






It was very lovely to spend some time talking with Jordan and assisting in the pick up "ceremony". There was nothing different from the care your child would be provided in a nursery!

Dogs talk with their tails

We know that a dog wagging his tail means "I am so happy to see you!".
But did you know that the dog is expressing different feelings depending on which direction the tail is wagging?

This newly discovered feature about dog body language was presented in the study "Asymmetric tail - Wagging responses by dogs to different emotive stimuli" in a issue of Current Biology.
When dogs feel fundamentally positive about something or someone, their tails wag more to the right side of the rumps. When they have negative feelings, their tail wagging is biased to the left.

Pictured below are some dogs playing in Peters Park in Boston. How are they expressing their feelings towards each others?



The dog Jack and his owner in Newton. Does the body language and the direction of the tail-wagging of the dog express the same feeling?




Read more about this phenomenon in the Herald Tribune's article by Sandra Blakeslee:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/24/healthscience/snmood.php

Bubba visiting our office

Here is Bubba visiting our office!
We met Bubba during the Brighton All Dogs Play Group.

Bubba recently moved to Boston. He used to live with another dog, and when they got separated he was feeling very alone. New city, new house... Bubba needed new friends, too! To help Bubba to meet new dogs his owner Elisabeth started a meet up group. Bubba was shy at the beginning, but he became every day more social.





Check the Brighton All Dogs Play Group webpage if you think your dog would like to play with Bubba and his friends!
They usually meet at Brookline Playground (pictured below).





They also organize short trips to amazing beaches and parks around Boston.
Here is a cute pic of Bubba that Liz took at the beach.




Check here to see more pics of the pretty Bubba!