The Raw Debate
Chef Kevyn Matthews, also known as the Dog Chef (Dogs 101/DOG-TV) is doing a booming business cooking for dogs in the Northeast. He prepares nutritious meals focused on healing specific ailments. He'll debate the pros and cons of a raw diet with Dr. Debbie.
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Mercury In Your Pet Food 
Postdoctoral Scholar Dr. Sarrah Dunham-Cheatham randomly sampled 100 pet foods. 16 of those samples had mercury concentrations that were well above the maximum tolerable limit. That's not the only thing she found.
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Regulating Groomers 
Hot on the heels of fatal grooming incidents at Petsmart and Petco, legislators are fast-tracking groomer certification for the unregulated business. Animal Radio's very own groomer, Joey Villani, is helping to push this legislation through. He'll explain what is currently happening in New Jersey and how that will become a model for the nation.
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When Are Puppies The Cutest? 
Everyone knows puppies are cute, but did you know that people find them at their cutest at eight weeks old? Experts at Arizona State University's canine-science laboratory now say they have discovered that Peak Puppy Cuteness serves important purposes and might even play a fundamental role in the bonding between a puppy and its adoptive owner.
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Tesla Offering Unique Dog Friendly Features 
One of Tesla's new car features includes a computer program that stops the car's interior from exceeding a certain temperature. A future update may include a special 'Dog Mode' that displays a message warning passers-by not to panic if they see a pet inside a parked vehicle. That future update could also include a display of the current interior temperature, so well-meaning strangers don't break the car's window to rescue your pup. The temperature-regulating feature is called Cabin Overheat.
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14-Year-Old Pet Product Inventor
Brooke Martin is only 14, but she sounds more intelligent than many adults. She is also the inventor of a device that allows you to have visual contact between you and your dog using a tablet or mobile phone. It also dispenses treats. Brooke believes this is an answer to separation anxiety.
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New Worm Threat 
Imagine a 6-inch worm coming out of your pet's skin. Sounds like something out of the latest horror movie. Unfortunately, it's a real new worm that poses a threat to your pets. Parasitologist Araceli Lucio-Forster explains this new discovery.
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Buzzfeed Beastmaster 
What the heck is a Beastmaster? Jack Shepard is a self-proclaimed Beastmaster at the Buzzfeed website. He gets paid to surf "animal-related" fodder and make it go viral on the incredibly popular website.
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My Bionic Pet 
Amputee Jennifer Robinson worked at a prosthetic manufacturer. Now she's showing off how artificial limbs are being used on dogs, cats, birds, and even sea life. She's a part of a PBS show called My Bionic Pet.
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Dog Sells for $2,000,000 
Only in China would a dog be sold to a 56-year-old property developer for a cool 2 mil. This isn't even the first time. The 200 lb. Tibetan Mastiff is treasured like the Panda in China. Some say it was all hype and that cash never actually changed hands.
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Faking It!
A new trend is the unfortunate and fraudulent use of "Service Dog" credentials for owners wanting to bring their dogs into restaurants, airlines, and hotels. Pawtopia's Colleen Demling explains the problem and why the disabled suffer.
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Aspirin and Pets 
Did you know that Aspirin can be toxic to your pet? Dr. Debbie dispels the myths about pain relief for your pet.
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Josh Duhamel Guests 
Besides a flourishing acting career, Josh Duhamel spends a lot of time speaking for the animals. He has a web series and he's back to talk about it...and to flirt with the ladies.
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A Shot To The Tail 
Don't be surprised if the next time your cat gets an injection, it's in the tail. Recent concerns have come up over treating rare but potentially deadly injection site sarcomas. Some vets then shifted the site to the hind legs, since an amputation, if necessary, would be easier and more successful.
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Pet ONLY Apartments 
Octogenarian and Landlord Judy Guth only allows tenants with pets in her apartment complex. Is this discrimination? Judy doesn't care. And if one of her tenants loses their pet, she'll even take them out to dinner and then to the shelter to find another roommate.
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Pet Spending At All Time High 
The American Pet Products Association reports we're shelling out nearly 60-Billion+ bucks a year on our animals. Research shows empty-nesters are now spending more on their four-legged children.
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Using High-Tech To Find Homes
Adi Pinhas is using facial recognition technology in his new iPhone app. You'll upload a picture of the pet you want, and it'll tell you all the adoptable animals that look like the original picture. The Verge Magazine uploaded a picture of Lady Gaga and got back an adoptable hamster.
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Pets In The Classroom 
New research says kids learn better when their classroom has a pet. Even truancy is down. We all remember the class pet. And if you were lucky, the teacher let you take the guinea pigs home for the summer. Brent Weinmann of the Pet Care Trust is making sure all kids get an opportunity to have pets in their classroom.
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Cure For Parvo? 
Researchers may have literally stumbled on a way to treat the usually fatal Parvo virus. It happened when a pharmaceutical was looking for a way to save flocks of geese that were mysteriously dying. They discovered an antibody that's harvested from the yokes of goose eggs that can stop the Parvo virus in as little as two days.
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Calf Gets Prosthetic Back Legs 
Kitty Martin loves her calf so much that she's put more than $40,000 into rescuing the steer after its back legs were amputated because of frostbite. She's the Hero Person this week with a great story to tell about the human-bovine connection.
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Sharing Your Bed With Your Pet Leads to Bad Sleep Quality 
If you have a cat or dog, chances are they sleep with you in bed. But new research says that sharing your bed with your pet can lead to bad sleep quality. Recently, at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, data was presented that showed at least 30% of pet owners say their pets wake them up at least once per night.
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Parrots Helping Veterans with P.T.S.D.
Dr. Lorin Lindner founded Serenity Park, a unique sanctuary on the grounds of the Los Angeles Veterans Administration Healthcare Center. She noticed that the veterans she treated as a clinical psychologist and the parrots she had taken in as a rescuer quickly formed bonds. Men and women who had been silent in therapy would share their stories and their feelings more easily with animals.
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Are Americans Too Attached To Their Pets? 
Psychological Scientist Dr. Clay Routledge believes young adults may be bonding with animals at the expense of vital human relationships. While the Animal Radio team may be divided on the health aspects of loving your pet "too much," there is one empirical fact: some of us have trouble prioritizing humans over animals.
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Gone to the Birds 
We often celebrate our cats and dogs, but today it'll be about the birds. We'll focus on bad bird behavior and training your parrot or cockatoo. Dr. Debbie breaks the myths about bird food and explains the nutritional value of seeds vs. pellets.
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Boy's Mission To Pet A Million Dogs
Gideon Kidd has a goal to pet a million dogs for his pet project. So far, the young boy has pet more than 750 dogs. He's chronicled his journey on social media, garnering over 200,000 followers. He'll tell us how it's going since we last spoke to him.
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Please Don't Repo Fido - Lawmakers Ban Pet Leasing 
Puppies sold in pet stores, most of which are sourced from puppy mills, are often accompanied by soaring sticker prices. To make the puppies appear more affordable, private lending companies are offering leasing plans. Miss a payment and they can repossess your pup. Bill Ketzer, from ASPCA Government Relations, is asking lawmakers to end this predatory practice.
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Millennials Choose Pets Over Children 
Millennials are less likely to become parents of "human children" because they are instead focusing on their pets. Apparently, 44% of millennials are unsure if they want to have children, but their rate of pet ownership continues to rise. These animals are acting as a substitute for children, according to psychology professor Jean Twenge. This generation is half as likely to be married than the generations preceding it.
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Convicted Deer Poacher Ordered to Watch Bambi Every Month For a Year 
A Missouri judge has ordered a convicted deer poacher to watch Bambi at least once a month during the year he will be spending in jail. The man is actually one of four family members implicated in a three-year hunting operation that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of deer. The prosecutor said the family mainly stalked their prey at night, killing the deer and taking their heads and antlers, and then they abandoned the carcasses. The state's Department of Conservation called it a thrill and kill sport for the men. By the way, the one-year jail sentence was initially suspended in favor of a two-year probationary period. But the guy who now has to watch Bambi quickly violated the terms of his probation, leading the Judge to reinstate the original one-year sentence with the additional Bambi twist.
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Pet-Friendly Housing
Standard Pacific Homes knows the 60-billion-dollar pet industry has a place for homebuilding. 27 of their developments now include pet accouterments, including a pet spa and TV exclusively for Fido. Standard Pacific's Danielle Tocco explains what they're doing to cater to pet owners.
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Heartworm Medication Causes Deaths 
There are more worries about the dog heartworm medication Trifexis. So far, 965 complaints about dogs dying after taking Trifexis have been filed with the FSA over the last three and a half years. The drug's maker, Elanco, says it's sold 70 million doses and has found no link between the pill and any dog deaths.
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No More Pet Piercing 
Assemblyman Carmela Garcia (Dem. N.J.) has written legislation that would outlaw piercings and tattoos on cats and dogs. Inspired by a lady who pierced her "gothic kittens," Garcia feels this ban would stop a burgeoning fad.
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Pet Oxygen Masks 
Does one size fit all? The Animal Radio Hero Person, Debra Jo Chiapuzio helps supply fire departments with life-saving oxygen masks for dogs and cats. She loves her job and has a great passion to teach others pet first aid.
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Moving With Pets Can Be Pricey! 
Apartments.com did the math in its Pet-Friendly Renting Trends Survey. It found that close to 80% of renters had to pay a deposit to have a pet, and it was more than $200 per year in more than half the cases. About 64% of the people asked said they had a hard time finding an apartment that allowed pets, even with a deposit.
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The Dog Park Phenomenon
Boston Globe TV Critic (a great gig if you can get it), Matthew Gilbert, investigates the dynamics of dog parks. He didn't like dogs. In fact, he was afraid of them until his spouse introduced him to a dog that would forever change his view. Matt shares stories about the nutty fellow canine-lovers at his dog park.
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Flea Wars 
Animal Radio Vets Dr. Marty Becker and Dr. Debbie are armed with flea-ridding tactics. Did you know that there are over a dozen different kinds of fleas? There's a difference between "cat" fleas and "dog" fleas. Most importantly, how do we get rid of them for good? We've got answers.
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Muffin's Halo 
Our Hero Person this week invented a bumper, or better described as a 'halo,' that protects blind dogs from bumping into furniture and other obstacles. Sylvie Bordeaux was tired of seeing her blind dog bash into stuff. With needle and thread in hand, she created a genius product that is helping vision-impaired pups from being discarded at shelters.
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New Uses For Unwanted Fur 
Now, a national organization called Born Free USA has come up with a fantastic idea. It collected unwanted furs and sent them to wildlife rehab centers in Texas. California and Missouri, where they were cut into small pieces and used for orphaned babies and injured animals to snuggle in.
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Declawing Is Major Surgery 
The American Veterinary Medical Association has amended its policy to clarify that declawing is a major surgery that should only be performed as a last resort to prevent destructive clawing, but it stopped short of suggesting a ban on it. The new policy stresses the importance of educating cat guardians about normal feline scratching behavior, alternatives to declawing, and that declawing is actually the amputation of the first digit of the cat's toes.
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Pets In Space
Celestis Pet will shoot your pet's cremains into deep space, or to the moon, or even into orbit around the earth. The rocket and space technology company has been launching satellites and human remains for over a decade. Now, they want a piece of the 58-BILLION-dollar pet industry. Top Dog Stephen Eisele explains what you get for your $1,000. It's pretty impressive!
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The Language of Dogs 
TV Dog Trainer Justin Silver is back with his really funny friend, Dave Donnenfeld. Together they're 'righting' canine 'wrongs' wherever bad dogs and bad guardians need them. "Their book is the Rosetta Stone of Doglish," says Animal Radio host Hal Abrams.
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Woman Does CPR on Bearded Dragon 
When you love your pet, you love your pet, no matter what breed or species he or she is. That explains the actions of a woman in Oregon. Sherrie Dolezal runs a bearded dragon rescue and came home the other day to see one of the lizards, named Del Sol, floating unconscious in the pool. She got him out, started pounding on her back, and doing chest compressions. She finally started CPR, and he started breathing again. Del Sol and Sherrie are now doing just fine.
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Big Choices For This Week's Hero 
When his agent asked, " Do you want to act or do you want to save animals?" after he kept missing auditions, he chose to dedicate his life to the creatures. That makes Leo Grillo, the founder of DELTA rescue, our 'Hero Person.' He has over 1500 animals on 115 acres. He doesn't adopt out any of these animals because his statistics say owners keep their animals only 2.5 years on average.
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An Emasculating Rooster
When Brian McGrory moved in with his girlfriend, he also moved in with a Rooster that did not like him. If Brian were to "make it work," he would have to learn a lot about how to befriend a foul with ruffled feathers. He joins us and we have copies of his best-selling book, "Buddy, How A Rooster Made Me A Family Man."
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Does Your Dog Know You? I Mean, Really Know You? 
A certain bark, a certain posture, a certain look. Your dog can tell a lot about you. They know when you're being unfair-to some extent. Researchers found that when dogs saw other dogs getting treats for a trick they'd been performing unrewarded, the uncompensated dogs became visibly distressed. It can even lead to depression.
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I Don't Brush, Why Should Fluffy? 
Home dental care is one of the best ways to help keep your pet's teeth and gums healthy. And unlike us, not brushing could be fatal for your pet. Start as early as possible in your furry friend's life so he or she will become accustomed to having the mouth handled. Use a moistened, soft, pet or child's toothbrush, finger toothbrush, gauze around a finger, or even a cotton swab. Stay away from human toothpaste....unless your pet has learned to spit afterwards.
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