Issue #53
Did you know… between 2004 and 2017 the number of seniors with dog-walking related fractures grew from 1,671 to 4,396? Researchers on this first study of its kind found an uptick in the number of fractures associated with walking leashed dogs for older Americans. Most of the injuries are to the hip and upper extremities and are happening most often among women and 30% require hospitalization. Here’s why you may want to ditch that retractable leash.
Our canine enrichment challenge - #realtreatwork - is coming to a close! If you haven’t entered to win free treats yet, make sure to post a video and tag us in how you bond with your pups by adding in some mental work to your routine this month!
Real food is simple. Available until April 22nd, here’s the current lineup: 🦃 Turkey Breast 🐄 Beef Liver 🐟 Alaskan Pollock 🐓 Chicken Feet 🐑 Lamb Ear 🐄 Beef Backstrap 🐶 Super Chew: Pig Trotter
Want to give the gift the best treats ever? Subscribing members can text us anytime to send a whole gift box 858-348-5954. We’ll include a handwritten gift note and ship to any address in the US.
Darwin’s claps back. Darwin’s Natural Pet Products disputed an FDA warning regarding pathogens in its raw pet food. The FDA tested three lots of Darwin’s poultry meals, produced in October and November of last year, and claimed to find the presence of Salmonella in them. Darwin’s stated that the warning was inappropriate, as there is no inherent public health risk, and that customers were already aware of the situation as a result of the company’s own communications. Further, the FDA informed Darwin’s that it was issuing the warning because Darwin’s refused to turn over customers’ personal contact information which the FDA demanded to receive.
Mark Cuban invested $550,000 in a vegan dog treats. On Sharktank last week, the co-founder of Wild Earth was seeking $550,000 in exchange for 5% of the company. Wild Earth is a tech startup that has developed vegan protein treats (no fillers or fats) for dogs. The main ingredient in its treats is "koji" (a fungi superfood), which is its lab-grown protein. Sharks asked how he could value the company at $11 million if they hadn't even released the product commercially yet. The company has taken in a total of $4 million in investments so far, including one from billionaire Peter Thiel.
Are iPhones the future of pet care? Smart dog (pet) solutions are predicted to be a $22B industry by 2025. Fitness trackers to monitor vitals, activity, and behavior are on the rise - this data allows pet owners to gain deeper insights into the pet’s health and they are more likely to notice when irregularities in health occur. These apps or systems will also help identify symptoms owners may not know to look for, as it integrates machine learning, AI and veterinary expertise to help predict and treat many health problems.
Technology brings the Iditarod race to a global audience. Technology has increasingly made the 47-year-old race more immediate to fans and safer for competitors. Volunteers and race contractors monitor the dog teams through sleds equipped with GPS trackers that allow fans to follow them online in real time and organizers to ensure no one is missing. Some serve as aircraft dispatchers for a cadre of pilots who ferry supplies as well as mushers and dogs that drop out. Others process live video streamed from checkpoints along the rugged trail, using satellite dishes. Long gone are the days where some race updates came through amateur radio and faxes.
Failed drug-sniffer excels as a conservationist’s assistant. Train, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, sniffs out the scat, or poop, of elusive wild animals like jaguars and oncillas in the name of conservation. It might sound like an unsavory task, but these scat samples are goldmines for researchers like Train's owner, conservation biologist Karen DeMatteo. Train, alongside a border collie named April help researchers, determine which wilderness areas should be prioritized in conservation efforts in Argentina.
Rover offers $2500 scholarship to UNM students. To apply, students must write a 400-500 word essay focusing on technology and the impact of technology in the community. Essays will be judged based on 50% thoughtfulness of response, 30% relevance to prompt, 15% quality of composition and 5% grammatical accuracy. Rover is also leading a $7 million funding round for DogHero, a pet care marketplace based in Brazil. What do you think they’ll do with the information they collect?
China’s first cloned police puppy starts training. Kunxun, a two-month-old female Kunming wolfdog, was bred using DNA from an award-winning police sniffer dog. Earlier this month she began training at Kunming Police Dog Base in China’s southwestern Yunnan province. The puppy was born after scientists took a DNA sample from a seven-year-old female named Huahuangma, who has won a string of awards for helping to crack multiple cases. “Currently, police dog cloning is still in the experimental stage. We hope in the next 10 years, once the technology becomes more sophisticated, to mass-clone exceptional police dogs.”