Meet Chewie: The dog who’s the neighborhood garbage man

Chewbacca Villalpando has his head deep into a bag that once held mahi mahi. He found it empty on our neighbor’s lawn. Nicole Villalpando/For America-Statesman   April is Earth Month, and while I’m not sure that my 1-year-old German shepherd/retriever mix has any concept of the calendar, Chewie (short for Chewbacca) is a one-dog neighborhood…

Keep a Watchful Eye on Your Pet with These Monitors

In recent years, webcam technology has taken a step in a pet-friendly direction. Besides watching your furry friends while you’re away, you can interact with them by using one of several cutting-edge pet cameras. Keep an eye on your pets from work or while you’re out running errands to give both you and your pets…

What you need to know about Canine Influenza, aka the Dog Flu

Canine influenza (CIV) first hit the United States in 2005. Since then, the virus has been recorded in every US state except Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota and Nebraska. Two dogs in Ontario, Canada, were recently diagnosed (Jan 2018). Dogs have no natural immunity to the canine influenza virus. Therefore, prevention is key to containing spread…