Welcome to the Week’s Review of Canine Social Media
- Welcome to this Special Feature on the DoggieU K9 Blog for an update on this week’s dog-related media and social media from around the world. There are so many stories. Here we will share some of the best stories this week.
Enjoy & share them.
Portable Music As Therapy for Dogs
Research has demonstrated that certain music has a soothing and calming effect on dogs who are stressed and certain types of music seem to be better than others to calm anxious pets.
There are YouTube channels and most of the popular streaming services offer playlists for dogs. (See our DoggieU K9 recent blog post “The Hottest Thing on Streaming Services – Pet Playlists”
Portability Counts!
Well, if humans can listen to music on their phones or portable music players than why not our furry canine family too?
Introducing “Music Mutz” a patented calming collar for dogs!
The crowdfunding website Kickstarter has launched a campaign for the Music Mutz music collar. Â The company that created the music collar describe that “having friends and family with dogs that suffer from fear, anxiety and/or stress sparked the idea to create a collar with an MP3 player loaded with exclusive psychoacoustic music that soothes dogs.
- The Company conducted numerous group and individual tests with dogs that are jittery, distressed, and even panicky in certain situations. Pet parents found the Music Mutz Collar extremely effective at soothing dogs who react to thunder, separation anxiety, fireworks, riding in cars, screeching brakes, dogs barking, vet and groomer visits, illness, depression, loud voices and other stressors.
- The  patented collar design with speakers on either side and situated close to dogs’ ears is unique for not only optimal delivery of sound but also portability, as it goes where the dog goes.” Nearly every dog tested with the collar has responded amazingly well regardless of the type of distress.
- The comforting music has been specifically chosen with consultation from a music maestro
- The collar is adjustable to fit many neck sizes
- A rechargeable batter lasts 9-14 Â hours and is rechargeable in one hour.
- The Company plans to donate a portion of each sale to pet protection organizations. Music Mutz already supports several animal non-profits.
Music Mutz comforting musical collars can be purchased at a discount on kickstarter.com (search “Music Mutz”) through April 15. For more information, visit musicmutz.com. [Link]
This week many around the world celebrated the Hindu holiday of “Holi” or the celebration of colors.
The Holi festival is celebrated full of fervour and enthusiasm. Holi is probably the only Indian festival that brings together sworn-enemies with its sacred vibe by cleansing your heart of any 
animosities. Few people may know the significance of the Holi as it is celebrated due to the victory of good over evil. Soon after, the vivid imagery of the beautiful spring season takes over. Holi has become popular all over the world, inspiring concerts and local 5K races where people are showered with bursts of color from water balloons or powdered compounds. The colors may look amazing, but their safety for dogs is questionable at the very least.
The color of the festival fills our spirit, streets and faces with hues of love, harmony and a rainbow-like color chart. In the past, in addition to applying dazzling colors to themselves, many would also color their favorite dogs. This year everyone is being asked NOT to color their dogs.
Thou Shalt Not Color Dogs
Keep your pups away from colors. Although ancient Holi colors were made from berries, flowers and spices, today most colors in the market have some variation of Lead, Zinc, Chromium, Nickel, Cadmium, Mercury, Silica, Iron and some with Asbestos as well as Sulphites and Oxides. These components lead to irritations, asthma, allergies, cancers and organ failures.
Keep festival foods away from Dogs
No festival is complete without scrumptious food and desserts. The traditional Gujia (or deep-fried dumpling) rests in the heart of every holi lover. While you are feasting on these delicacies, please don’t feed them to your canines. It is important to keep in mind that raisins, sugar, artificial sweeteners, nuts, and chocolates- even though they are common sweet ingredients-are toxic for fidos. Let them steer clear of sugar-free desserts. A popular sugar-substitute called Xylitol can be lethal for your dogs.
For those who celebrate Holi, enjoy! For others, it is fun to learn about ‘Spring Festivals’ and how they are celebrated in other cultures and countries.
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Some wonderful dog situations from Social Media
Click to enlarge pics and for slide show view
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