Choosing the Best of the Litter

If you are going to choose a puppy make sure you do it from a reputable breeder. Puppies are ready to be chosen when they are about four weeks old.

Puppies come with as many different personalities as humans do. And no matter what their breed is any single one has the potential to become an introvert or an extrovert: a grouch or a goofball; an athlete or a couch potato; a jealous neurotic or a clever escape artist.

Dogs like people take some time to get to know. A dog that is from a breed that is known to be a good lap warmer could just as easily turn out to be an enthusiastic ankle biter. Almost any dog is capable of being difficult to train, deaf when it convenient and aggressive with strangers. The key to picking the best pet is to find the one that seems the most socialized. In other words it is the dog that seems to be relating the best to human contact.

Before you buy a dog you should first ask to observe how it acts in its own litter. If it is playing with other dogs then it is a sociable extrovert. If it is huddling by itself in a corner it may be irritable or sick.

A healthy puppy will be one that does not wince at human contact and instead jumps up to lick your hand or check you out. A lack of inquisitiveness can mean the dog is sick or has a lower intelligence.

Before selecting the puppy you should also examine it physically. First figure out or ask whether it is a boy or a girl. A healthy puppy should have a slightly plump rebounded tummy. There should be no fleas or sores on its body or bald patches in its fur. The eyes should be clear with no watery discharge or reddish looking streaks alongside its nose. It’s ears shoulder clean and pink, and the puppy should not be sniffling or sneezing

Never pick up or handle a puppy that is less than three weeks old! It is fragile; needs its mom and you could injure its delicate body with too much manhandling. Let it alone so it does not develop a fear of humans.

During each visit, observe the puppies as a group and take note of the different personalities. Characteristics worth noting include activity level, social interactions, vocalizations and the puppy’s response to a visitor. Puppies that are shy, retiring or snap at you are not good choices for pets.

Beware of a puppy that repeatedly mouths and claws at a visitor’s hands. This puppy might have dominant or aggressive traits that might make it difficult to get along with as it gets older.

There is still much to learn about how we can predict adult behavior from the behavior of a puppy (or a puppy). However, personality traits do appear over the course of days or weeks, even during a single introduction, and can help you decide whether a particular puppy would be a good match for your lifestyle.

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Snakes in Your Suitcase

According to a story in the China Daily newspaper he craze for unique pets among residents of Guangzhou has created a thriving market for illegally imported animals. The most sought after animals that are found in suitcases for smuggling to North America are snakes and lizards. No wonder we are so concerned about finding ,snakes on a plane., The threat is very real and not just a joke.

Customs officials recently cracked a case in which a South Korean man tried to smuggle 50 boas and 56 lizards into Guangzhou from Jakarta, Indonesia, by air. Customs and anti-smuggling officials spotted 10 suspicious bags and three boxes in his suitcase as his luggage passed through a scanner on December 14. Just even in terms of animal cruelty it is difficult to think what physical effects all of that radiation might have had on those snakes. The airport saner probably sterilized them.

Closer investigation revealed the contraband snakes and lizards. Animal experts said the animals belonged to 10 different species. Sixty-seven of the reptiles were on the appendix ii list of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, making them subject to limits when it comes to international trade.

Of course one cannot help but wonder what kind of packing job needed to be done to get so many reptiles into a suitcase and just how happy the snakes might have been to have the suitcase finally opened so they could jump out at the customs officials. With that many snakes in one suitcase it might have been like those novelty cans full of spongy snakes that pop out in your face.

Apparently there is an absolute passion for rare snakes in Guangzhou and this has skyrocketed the price of certain snakes. They have become real status symbols. It is much cheaper to have a snake or two smuggled in for you as they cost two thirds less than the normal price for a snake in this Chinese province. This is how this lucrative smuggling business ever came to be in the first place.

Chen Xi, vice-president of an environmental protection society at South China Agricultural University, said it had become a fad among local residents to own unique pets, rather than the more traditional cats and dogs. This is causing a scary number of non-indigenous animals to be imported into the country which of course could be of great damage to natural species if they were somehow let loose. It only takes one pregnant animal escaping to cause havoc and a disturbance to an entire eco system. Not only would these important snakes be threatening to the population of natural snakes but also to any type of rat or other vermin they may snack on.

His group, the Environmental & Science and Technology Association, launched a one-year study of the trend in August, hoping to measure its impact on the environment.

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