After some time, it became apparent that only this customer was interested in the ball which did not justify our investment.  By adjusting the mold to attach the two balls with two center cords, a new toy resulted with the popularity one would hope for.

For more information, go to: http://www.ottoenvironmental.com/shopexd.asp?id=7188&bid=False&bc=no

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A pack has one leader – someone who bosses everybody else around and is respected by all the other members. Your dog knows that somebody’s got to fill that top dog position at all times, in case your group get attacked by another pack; normally he’ll be happy to leave that top spot for you, but if you’re not ready to step up and take that job yourself, then he’ll have no choice but to do it. Don’t give him that chance, or you’ll have a world of behavioral problems on your hands. Just watch one episode of Dog Whisperer and you will find that tons of people have out-of-control dogs but all of them have a relatively simple fix. Make sure you’re unquestionably the top dog – for your own peace of mind and for your dog’s as well.

-click this link for the source from PetSource.org.

Beagle Picture Source

Advantages

• Lively, happy and curious
• Cute and loveable
• Good with kids and other dogs
• Energetic, with lots of stamina

With its soft, pleading brown eyes, the Beagle can break a dog lover’s heart and is a master at getting its own way. There’s no wonder that this merry little dog is the 5th most popular breed registered with the AKC in the United States. The beagle’s friendly and loveable personality demands more attention than many other breeds, but the good news is that the tail on this happy little guy rarely stops wagging.

History and Origin

Beagle-type dogs were cited in Ancient Greece, but the breed’s precise origins are only vaguely known. Probably originating from a cross between the Harrier and other English hounds, the Beagle has been used for hunting hare, pheasant and quail. This dog was specifically bred to have a loud baying cry (a great convenience for hunters on horseback), but this inborn trait may not be considered so wonderful by your nextdoor neighbors. This breed doesn’t like being left alone, and will let the world know it. You may want to consider having two Beagles if you’re away from home a lot.

General Information

Gentle, sweet, loving and sociable, this happy little dog is excellent with kids and usually good with other dogs. With a natural curiosity, the Beagle wants to follow its own nose wherever it may lead, creating a tendency to roam away from home. Keep your pet safe inside a secure area or firmly attached to a leash at all times. The beagle needs plenty of regular exercise, but resist the urge to let this puppy run free in public spaces – if it catches an interesting scent in the air, you might never see your pet again. This alert and energetic dog with its fine nose and keen intellect, has served as an excellent narcotics detection dog and makes a fine family companion if properly understood. Stubborn and determined, this dog requires patient, firm training.

Health Ailments

This muscular hound is relatively healthy, but is susceptible to various diseases and ailments. These include skin allergies, eye diseases, deafness, kidney diseases and other problems.

Famous Beagles

One of the most well-known Beagles is the incomparable Snoopy of Charlie Brown and “Peanuts” fame. Confident and fearless, this Beagle moonlighted as a WWI Flying Ace, a bestselling mystery author and, occasionally, Joe Cool.

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Animal training not only benefits the personnel by facilitating daily husbandry routine, health care and research, but it benefits the animals by reducing stress and expression of abnormal behaviors.  Positive reinforcement training promotes positive interaction between animals and animal care staff, enhances social dynamics, reduces aggression and fear, achieves voluntary cooperation of animals in husbandry and veterinary procedures.

Staff training in environmental enrichment is increasingly important because behavior and environmental enrichment go hand in hand.  Classes on environmental enrichment are designed for animal care personnel, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and ACUC members.  The questions asked in these classes are: What is environmental enrichment? Why is enrichment important? How can enrichment be incorporated into the husbandry routine?

Setting goals for a program should consider the following: species’ natural history, individual animals’ medical and behavioral histories, limitations of the setting and/or research, safety for animals and personnel.  The species’ natural history includes its activity budgets, social system, foraging behavior, environmental ecology, territorial versus nomadic mannerisms.  Also, the individual animal history must be considered which includes the animal’s rearing environment, social history, medical history, behavior history.  Limitations must also be examined such as the size of the animal enclosure, husbandry routine, nature of the research, feeding restrictions, and cost.

The program set in place must be assessed such that questions are asked like: Is the enrichment being used? Are levels of abnormal behavior decreasing? Does the enrichment create an increased workload? Is it cost-effective?

The staff members play important roles in the creation of a successful environmental enrichment program through goal setting, planning, implementation, and assessment.

-written by Kristina Adams, M.S. Behavior and Environmental Enrichment Program Veterinary Resources Program, NIH.

The goal of enrichment is the promotion of psychological well-being while taking into consideration the animal’s ability to function within the parameters appropriate for its species. Environmental enrichment enhances species-appropriate behaviors and activities, increases behavioral choices, and encourages appropriate responses to environmental challenges.

When we modify the animal’s environment we stimulate physical and mental activity, promote species typical behavior and provide a means to cope with stressors.  These responses reduce aberrant behavior and lessen fear and distress which yields a healthier animal.

The benefits of enrichment are decreased chance of injury, improvement of performance in cognitive tasks, the slow of disease development, and reduced levels of abnormal behavior.  The best enrichments change over time as an animal interacts with them.

There are five types of enrichment: social, structure/substrate, novel foods, manipulanda, animal training.  Social enrichment consists of laboratory animal species that exhibit a wide range of social structures in the wild.  Social enrichment in biomedical research is very beneficial such that it encourages sensory and intermittent contact.  If animals are given full unrestricted contact with one or more individuals, there will also be a more positive response to humans.  While this is important, socialization considerations such as species, previous social histories, protocol limitations, housing limitations and risk assessment must be considered.

Structure/substrate enrichment encompasses the enclosure such that it promotes species typical behaviors such as locomotion, brachiation, and exploration.  Structure/substrate enrichment consists of things such as bedding materials, perches, visual blocks, nest boxes, huts, tubes, swings, and amount of usable space.

Novel food enrichment stresses that in their natural environments, most laboratory species spend a majority of their day searching for a variety of foods.  Examining this, food and treats should be time consuming, like unshelled nuts and frozen foods, and highly desirable, like marshmallows, dog biscuits, or juice.  Changing an animals diet by providing a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables yields a more natural intake of foods thus balancing their diet.  Placing food inside toys that are difficult for the animal to open encourage the animal to work for his food, as they would in the wild, as well as increase their cognitive and problem solving abilities.

Check back for more of Kristina Adams, M.S. words on environmental enrichment tomorrow!

-Singly housed or animals with special needs require additional enrichment. Ensure that they can see other animals be changing cage position and providing mirrors. These animals will benefit from more interaction with the caretakers and staff. (11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17).

-Document your enrichment and evaluate your enrichment program. Most of us know or work with people trained in behavioral evaluation and data collection. Involve them in creating and evaluating the enrichment plan. Many excellent references are also available, which discuss behavioral observations and how to collect and evaluate data. (18, 19, 20, 21).

Additional things to keep in mind regarding the enrichment plan:

-Animal caretakers must be involved in the plan, especially the choosing and designing of enrichment items. In most facilities, the animal caretakers are the most important part of the plan and no plan will work without their direct involvement. Enrichment can make extra work for caretakers particularly if the devices are hard to mount on cages or to remove and clean, or if the enrichment device increases the width of the cages making it hard for staff to move the cages through doors or down halls. Every institution is unique and the animal caretakers are the best people to design devices for your facility (22).

-Design new facilities or renovate with enrichment in mind. Caretakers and staff will have many good facility design ideas to make enrichment easier and provide more options. Is there enough space in a room to attach tunnels to cages, to have a play cage, to roll in an enrichment cart, to move the cages so all the animals can see each other? The design phase is the time to incorporate these ideas.

-Our understanding of what is enriching to the animals continues to change and grow. Read the literature. Attend seminars on enrichment and apply what you’ve learned. Enrichment for the animals in your care will continually change and your Enrichment Plan will need to change, too.

By: Carol L. Emerson DVM.

e. Exemptions - the attending veterinarian can exempt an individual from participation due to health or condition. The exemption must be reviewed at least every 30 days. If the research protocol requires exemption from an aspect of the program (i.e. single housing or no varied food items), the basis of the exemption needs to be reviewed at least annually. Records of the exemptions must be maintained and available for inspection.

The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals provides more specific information about what enrichment programs should include (5). The Guide reminds us that we must be familiar with the species that we care for in our institutions. We must know their social structure, typical activities and what is normal behavior. Also, the enrichment must be safe for animals and for people. Finally, we must evaluate our enrichment plan on a regular basis, continue to improve the plan on a regular basis, continue to improve the plan and document all of these activities.

How to create and evaluate your Enrichment Plan to promote psychological well-being:

The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates is an excellent reference (6). It covers the essentials of an enrichment plan. There’s more information on perches and toys (manipulada, foraging situations and furniture) and a discussion of housing design that takes into consideration nonhuman primate species typical behaviors and postures. The book emphasizes the importance of training the people that work with the animals to minimize any distress associated with cage sanitation and capture and to promote the positive effects from the interactions between the animals and people. If you follow the book’s outline you’ll end up with a thorough plan. You can break the plan into small-related segments and write standard operation procedures (SOPS) for your facility.

Here is a basic list of all the items that should be present in your plan.

-The most important part of the plan is pair or group housing for social species.

-Each cage or enclosure should have manipulada (items the animals can pick up and handle). There should be enough for each animal to use the items should be cleaned frequently. The novelty of new toys or the rotation of toys keeps the animals interested and using the manipulada. (7,8,9).

-Food items besides the basic diet can be added on a regular basis. Variety is important. The food should enrich not replace the basic diet. Overfeeding of enrichment foods can lead to obesity and poor nutrition. Veterinarians should be involved in creating or evaluation enrichment items including foods.

Don’t miss part 3 tomorrow!

It enhances the environment for animals and people. The brightly colored enrichments catch our attention, add interest to the environment, and remind us that we’re improving the quality of life for the animals in our care.  This secondary enhancement benefits the staff as well as visitors (3).

It’s the law. “Exhibitors must have a documented, species appropriate plan which is adequate to promote psychological well-being.  This is a quote from the Animal Welfare Act, which defines the legal requirements of an enrichment plan into five parts (4). The first two parts (Social grouping and Environmental Enrichment) describe the basis of a program and the last three mention other aspects of the plan (special considerations, restraint devices and exemptions) for animals that require additional enrichment. The five parts of the Animal Welfare Act regarding enrichment to promote psychological well-being are:

a. Social grouping – Social grouping is listed first since it provides the greatest enrichment for social species housed with compatible animals of the same species. Exceptions to social housing included: aggressive, old or debilitated animals and animals with contagious diseases.

b. Environmental Enrichment - The primary enclosure needs to provide species specific activities. Perches, swings, mirrors, objects to manipulate, varied food items, foraging or task-oriented feeding puzzles. Positive interaction with the caretaker or person familiar to the animal also provides enrichment.

c. Special considerations - certain animals need more enrichment. These include: infants and young juveniles, animals that have physical signs or behaviors consistent with psychological distress, those on research projects that restrict an animals activity, individually housed animals and great apes over 50 kg (110 lbs.) which need the spaces and materials to perform species typical behaviors.

d. Restraint Devices – non human primates can only be maintained in restraint devices if it’s associated with a health issue as determined by the attending veterinarian or it’s part of an approved research protocol. Restraint should be for the shortest possible time and if longer than 12 hours, requires at least one hour for unrestrained activity. Longer periods of restraint for research purposes require special consideration and approval by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Look for part 2 tomorrow!

Here is the link to buy a case of them.