Benefits of Canine Hydrotherapy For Your Puppy or Dog

By Karen Soukiasian

Canine Hydrotherapy is rapidly being recognized as a safe, healthy and helpful form of exercise and relaxation. If you are unsure of yourself, or your dog has specific needs, a professional can do it. Many times, the owner is encouraged to participate. They are taught how to make it an exercise experience they and their dog can share, that is relaxing and beneficial physically and emotionally. It helps create or reinforce that bond of mutual trust so vital to a healthy relationship with our pets.
Who Can Benefit?
It has been found dogs suffering from conditions such as hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, obesity, aging, lack of mobility, arthritis, joint problems, acute and chronic pain, circulation problems, stroke, TPLO surgery, tendon/ligament injuries, neurological problems, pre-and post surgery, spinal injuries, swelling, impact injuries, trauma, lack of confidence, and orthopedic problems to name a just a few, often respond positively in just a few sessions.
The buoyant sensation of weightlessness, and the calming resistance of water, offers dogs a form of moderate, yet painless and safe physical exercise that doesn't exacerbate existing conditions.
On the flip side, canine hydrotherapy also offers healthy, active dogs a really fun way for low-impact exercise, as a way to save wear and tear on their muscles and joints. An hour in the pool, diving in to fetch a tennis ball or floating weights is a great calorie burner, work up for endurance, and creative way to amuse and tire out your over exuberant puppy or dog. It's also an enjoyable way to work on obedience command training. This way, your dog won't have a feeling they are being trained... you're just having fun together!
For pool owners, knowing their dog is at ease in water, they are more assured, their pet will be able to find their way out of the pool, should they fall into it. The leading causes of most puppy and dog drownings are fear and panic! The animal usually panics, thrashes around in one place, frantically trying to climb out, until exhausted, and drowns. If they are relaxed and self-assured in the water, they will confidently swim around to find an exit.
Benefits
It's been shown to work for dogs of all ages. The sooner you start, the easier it usually is, to acclimate your dog to enjoying the benefits of being in the water.
Studies have shown, a quality 5-minute swim, is equivalent to approximately a 5-mile walk, without pain and other negative side effects. What a terrific way to exercise and spend quality time, your senior dog, who just can't take those long walks with you any more!
Besides building confidence and being fun, rehabilitative and preventative benefits include: bonding, strengthens heart and lungs, reduces stress, stretches and loosens muscles, relieves joint pain, increases circulation, reduces pain, decreases inflammation, improves range-of-motion, improves gait, teaches relaxation, burns calories, increases body awareness and endurance.
An added benefit is, by offering your pet a new, fun, and exciting low-impact exercise, it's a fantastic way to tire out that puppy or dog with no "off" button!
How It's Done
Depending on the animal's comfort level, reason for therapy, and as a general safety precaution, some procedures will require the puppy or dog wear a canine life jacket!
At first, the animal is gently introduced to the life jacket, then to the spa or pool. Depending on their size, they are either carried or lead into the water. The water temperature is normally between 80 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Until the animal relaxes, the handler will often sit with the animal on their lap, or hold them by the handle on their life jacket.
Depending on what the animal is there for, will determine the amount of time in the pool, and forms of exercises that will be applied.
Even if your dog is an experienced swimmer and is just there for the exercise, there should always be someone there to supervise when they are in or around the pool.
Therapy sessions can last from 15 minutes to an hour.
Bottom Line: If your puppy or dog is suffering from degenerative diseases, obesity, injury or aging, if they need rehabilitation and low impact exercise, or, if you are looking for a new way to have fun with your pet, consider canine hydrotherapy. It's great! It works! You will see, and your dog will feel the incredible results.

Via Dr. John Douillard, DC

on Dec 8, 2011

Could you be protein deficient? Here are the hidden signs.

             

 

 

Every winter I find myself treating an inordinate number of patients for protein deficiency. Most of them are quite health-aware and have made conscious decisions as to what they include—and don’t include—in their diets. But somehow, despite their best intentions, they find themselves with this very significant deficiency.
Many of these patients are vegetarian. Others—perhaps the majority—have stopped eating red meat years ago but continue to eat chicken or fish once in a while. Though it is my personal belief that a vegetarian diet may be the healthiest, it seems there is something in the way we are doing it that leaves us vulnerable to protein deficiency and its consequences.
Article-At-A-Glance
- Why is protein deficiency so common?
- Telltale signs of protein deficiency
- Effective protein-building strategies
Watch the video below and/or read on:

Why is Protein Deficiency so Common?
Interestingly, many traditional Asian cultures seem to do well eating a vegetarian diet. So why can’t we eat that same way and thrive? No doubt our genetics have something to do with it. Books like The Blood Type Diet and other body typing systems, including Ayurveda, have contributed many insights into this question.

Something not often brought up, however, is that most traditional Asian cultures still have someone in the family who cooks full-time. On my journeys to India I’ve observed that the cooks start cooking breakfast before anyone else is awake. Right after breakfast they start preparing lunch. After lunch, they are off to the market to buy food, and then right back at it to prepare supper.
By contrast, many of us here are too busy to cook and eating out has become the standard fallback. We race from one activity to the next, eating just to “fill the tank” for the next activity. Dining and enjoying a relaxed, home-cooked meal is becoming less and less common. As for the family cook, many parents have silently been elected the family superhero: holding down a job, driving and picking up kids, coordinating all of their activities and, oh yes, cooking for the entire tribe. Needless to say, this doesn’t leave much time for balanced meal preparation.
In trying to whip up our meals in minutes, we may be sacrificing our nutritional health.
I often say that to be a good vegetarian you need to cook at least two hours a day. That’s not to propose a strict numbers rule, simply to emphasize that being a healthy vegetarian takes extra work. And when we consider our current lifestyles, it’s not surprising that many of us don’t have the time for cooking, and our health may suffer for it.
So, how can you tell if you are protein deficient? Here are the signs:
The following discusses signs of mild and/or chronic protein deficiencies. Find a list of severe and/or acute deficiency symptoms at the end of this article.
Chronic Protein Deficiency Sign #1: Constant Craving
Carbs, sweets, caffeine, chocolate, pop, candy, pastries, or chips; constant cravings for these non-nutritional foods point to unstable blood sugar. Not everyone with cravings is protein deficient (otherwise we would really be looking at a country-wide epidemic!), but protein deficiency and unstable blood sugar are intimately linked.
    ~Blood Sugar Stability/ Protein Deficiency Home Assessment~
This short assessment may help discover a blood sugar imbalance that a blood test might not pick up.
1.    If you are a vegetarian or rarely eat meat and have a craving for carbs and just don’t feel satisfied until you are filled up on breads, pastas or sweets, you may have unstable blood sugar that may be due to a deficiency of protein.
2.    If you are a vegetarian and have a secret stash of candy, jelly beans or dark chocolate, you may have unstable blood sugar that may be due to a deficiency of protein.
3.    Try eating 3 meals a day without snacks. If you find you need to nibble or graze on anything other than water, you may have unstable blood sugar that may be due to a deficiency of protein.
4.    A blood test is most conclusive and indicated for anyone concerned about their blood sugar.
Chronic Protein Deficiency Sign #2: Muscle and/or Joint Pain
About fifteen years ago I had a sudden attack of severe neck pain. I got a massage, saw a few chiropractors, and got Rolfed, but nothing seemed to touch this pain. I remember it was in the fall because I had the thought that I might be protein deficient!
According to Ayurveda, during fall and winter the body starts to store proteins and fats to insulate and rebuild the body during the cold winter months. The body stores much of its protein reserves in the synovial fluid around the joints, to be used to rebuild the muscles and joints after strenuous exercise. When one is protein deficient, this reserve is the first to go. As a result, the joints stiffen and the muscles tighten. This kind of pain does not typically respond to standard musculoskeletal care.
I went down the checklist:
Yes, I had been a vegetarian for many years.
Yes, I did have a sweet tooth and loved carbs.
Yes, I was becoming a snacker.
Yes, it was winter and my joints were stiff and unresponsive to standard care.
The day I realized I might be protein deficient, I had two large whey protein powder shakes and added significantly more protein to my diet. With no exaggeration, my pain was gone by the end of that day. It just left. No pills or herbs, just more protein!
Ayurvedic Meat Eaters
Ayurveda is a vegetarian system of medicine. In fact, cows are sacred and it is just not cool to eat them. But in the case of protein deficiency, Ayurvedic doctors will prescribe the medicinal eating of red meat. One of the prescriptions I learned to resolve a protein deficiency is this:
Eat 4 ounces of red meat at the midday meal, each day for two weeks.
As a medicine, not a way of life.
I have used this recipe numerous times for protein deficiencies with amazing results. That said, not all of the vegetarians I have treated were willing to do this, so below I have suggested alternative protein rebuilding strategies.
Why Red Meat?

• Red meat is the most acidic of all meats and of all protein sources in general. The more acidic a substance, the deeper it penetrates the tissues and the better it is stored.

• Alkaline foods are great cleansers. They flush the lymph and help the body detoxify. The more alkaline a food or diet, the more efficiently it will remove waste and toxins.

• On the other hand, the more acidic a food is, the less easy it will be to remove or detoxify. While we tend to associate the notion of “acidic foods” with toxic or comfort foods, many acidic foods are actually very healthy and essential.

• This is nature’s way of balancing: we help rebuild the body in the winter with naturally occurring acidic foods and cleanse the body in the spring and summer with naturally occurring alkaline foods.

Consider: If a squirrel ate only broccoli in the winter, the squirrel would freeze to death. Luckily, nature does not make broccoli available in the colder winter months. The harvest during a cold winter was traditionally loaded with meats, grains, and root veggies—all primarily acidic, rich in protein, and rebuilding. This principle of eating naturally with the seasons is the main focus of my book, The 3-Season Diet.

Options for Treating Protein Deficiency
1. Medicinal Red Meat. Even the Dalai Lama and many of the monks in Kashmir eat meat. If you are not totally offended by this option try the two week red meat blood plan to rebuild protein and stabilize blood sugar: Eat 4 ounces of red meat a day for 2 weeks, preferably at lunch.
I believe this medicinal program is best and most effective when implemented with great respect and gratitude for the animal that gave its life to help yours.
2. Vegetarian Alternatives. If eating meat is not an option for you, try the following:
Have 3 whey, pea, rice, or hemp protein powder shakes a day; one with each meal.
Eat off the winter grocery list (see the winter grocery list from The 3-Season Diet in the library at LifeSpa.com) and emphasize the vegetarian proteins and fats listed.
Eat more of the high protein foods listed below.
Protein Sources:
Non-Vegetarian

•         Meat
•         Poultry
•         Fish
•         Dairy
•         Eggs

   Vegetarian

•         Seeds, sprouted
•         Nuts
•         Beans
•         Lentils
•         Whole grains (in order from highest to lowest protein content): Wheat, amaranth, oats, rye, triticale, teff, spelt, wild rice, barley, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, sorghum, corn, rice.
•         Soy
•         Peas
•         Peanuts
•         Spinach
•         Potato
•         Sweet potato
•         Algae
•         Seaweed

Note: This article focuses less on severe and/or acute protein deficiency, and more so on mild and/or chronic, sub-clinical deficiencies that may contribute to numerous other chronic health issues. Below is a list of symptoms related to severe protein deficiency.
Symptoms of Severe Protein Deficiency:

•     Edema (swelling)
•     Thinning brittle hair and/or hair loss
•     Ridges in finger and toe nails
•     Skin rashes; dry skin
•     Weak and tired
•     Muscle soreness and cramps
•     Slow healing
•     Skin ulcers
•     Sleep issues
•     Headache
•     Nausea
•     Fainting
•     Depression/anxiety

If you have these symptoms and suspect you may not be getting adequate protein, please see your primary healthcare provider for a blind test and evaluation of your total serum protein.

As you can see, your protein levels can really make a difference in how you feel, especially throughout the winter. Whatever your diet of choice, I hope you continue to stay balanced and use these tips to help find what works for you. And remember, your feedback is always valued!

Campfire Reading: Vintage Camping & Hiking Books

Caravanning and Camping
by A.H.M. Ward (1933)

The early days of towing caravans around Britain… before traffic jams.

During the Industrial Revolution, people flocked from the countryside to the cities to seek work and wealth. As urban areas expanded, city folk began to hanker for the countryside their fathers and grandfathers had left behind, and camping as a form of leisure was born.
But it wasn’t as simple as that. At the end of the 19th century, public transport was limited, camping equipment was rudimentary and not everyone was convinced that camping was actually fun.
The leisure aspect was to really evolve much later. Several key figures and some social movements believed camping was more than sitting around a fire and roasting marshmallows.  It was encouraged as a healthy pastime that would build character and well-being. Socialists, naturists, militarists, pagans and the Nazis have all valued camping, hiking, woodcraft and the outdoor lifestyle at one time or another.
Camping books poured out from publishers – how to camp, where to camp, what to take, what to cook.  Cycling and car camping evolved followed by caravanning. In the 1950s, the Americans began sending their kids to summer camps while the British created holiday camps. By the 1970s, campers were looking to push themselves to the limit by hiking to the world’s most remote places.
Fiction writers embraced the subject too. Camping plays an important role in Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five were often pitching a tent before discovering smugglers, and many juvenile books were published in the first three decades of the 20th century where camping was the key theme.
Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the Scouting movement, saw camping as a method of toughening up young men for when their country needed them in military uniform.  Henry Ford saw cars and camping going hand-in-hand, and staged high-profile camping trips to show how automobiles could ferry Americans in and out of the wilderness.
There are many books dedicated to camping from the past 120 years. Significant writers include Baden Powell, Ernest Seton Thompson, who founded the League of Woodcraft Indians, George W. Sears (known as Nessmuk and the author of Woodcraft), and Thomas Hiram Holding who wrote The Camper's Handbook and founded the Camping and Caravanning Club.

Vintage Camping & Hiking Books

Stories from Indian Wigwams and Northern Campfires
by Egerton R. Young (1887)

A missionary’s experiences with the Canadian First Nations.

Camping in the Canadian Rockies
by Walter Dwight Wilcox (1896)

Camping was a necessity as the Canadian wilderness was tamed.

Scouting the Balkans in a Motor Boat or an Escape From the Dardanelles
by Captain V.T. Sherman (1913)

An adventure story from an era where scouting was expected to produce men of action.

The Camper’s Own Book - For Devotees of Tent & Trail
by George S Bryan (1913)

Published by the Canadian Camp Club, this is a collection of articles by outdoorsmen.

The Campfire Girls Go Motoring
by Hildegard G. Frey (1916)

The Campfire Girls series of novels for children spanned four decades.

American Boys' Handy Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft
by Dan Beard (1920)

Everything you need to know about camping with 377 b&w illustrations.

Bob Hunt Senior Camper
by George W. Orton (1924)

Second of the three volumes in the Bob Hunt juvenile fiction series.

Hiking
by D. Francis Morgan (1927)

A practical manual on what to take hiking and how to use it.

Scouts in Bondage
by Geoffrey Prout (circa 1930s)

An innocent Scouting adventure that attracts much attention today.

The Camper’s Kitchen
by F. Marian McNeill (1933)

Recipes for British campers between the World Wars.

Practical Camp Cookery for Guides and Guiders
E.M. Anderson (1936)

Recipes and tips for Guides that was reprinted until 1968.

The Untutored Townsman's Invasion of the Country
by C.E.M. Joad (1946)

A British intellectual, Joad crusaded to preserve the English countryside.

With Rucksack Round Ireland
by John Wood (1950)

The author tramped a thousand miles in 60 days.

The Second Rucksack Book
by Margaret Playle (1954)

An illustrated collection of stories and Girl Guide-related articles.

The Camper’s And Tramper’s Week-End Book
by Showell Styles (1956)

Written by a Welsh mountaineer, this book describes how to camp in the Alps and Himalayas.

Popular Science
June 1956

Includes ‘12 New Ways to Camp in Comfort’ by Frank Rowsome, Jr.

The Camper’s Bible
by Bill Riviere (1961)

Riviere was an American camping icon in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Man Who Walked Through Time
by Colin Fletcher (1967)

This two-month solo journey in the Grand Canyon illustrated endurance camping.

Family Campers’ Cookbook
by Bill Riviere (1971)

Bill appears to be cooking on a massive cast iron stove.

Wilderness Cooking
by Berndt Berglund & Clare E. Bolsby (1973)

This book describes the Indian and Buckskin techniques of cooking.

The Canoe Camper’s Handbook
by Ray Bearse (1974)

Pack your tent into the canoe and paddle into the wilderness.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail
edited by James R Hare (1975)

A 2-volume set describing one of America’s more challenging hiking routes.

The Rucksack Man
by Sebastian Snow (1976)

A huge trek through South America starting at the world’s most southerly city.

Norman Rockwell’s World of Scouting
Norman Rockwell (1977)

250 illustrations from this long-time supporter of American Scouting.

Backwoods Ethics: Environmental Issues for Hikers and Campers
by Laura & Guy Waterman (1993)

A modern checklist for zero impact camping and hiking.

Chocolate Hokey Pokey Bites

Ingredients

75g Butter
300 g Dark Chocolate
2 Tblsp Syrup
3 x 40g Crunchie bars
Handful raisins (optional )
Handful digestive biscuits ( optional )

Melt butter, chocolate and syrup in a pan
Smash Crunchie bars and biscuits
Mix altogether and add raisins
Pour into a grease proof lined tin and put in the fridge to set
Cut into squares.

The last men on the moon: Nasa releases 1972 shot of Apollo 17's crew exploring lunar valleys in search of rocks

By Rob Waugh
PUBLISHED: 13:12, 25 June 2012 | UPDATED: 18:54, 25 June 2012
The 1972 Apollo mission 17 brought back 110 kilos of moon rock - but it's more famous as the last mission where astronauts walked on the moon.
Nasa released the image via its Astronomy Picture of the Day website - 40 years after the astronauts harvested 100 kilos of moon rock, by far the biggest haul of any mission.
In December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the Moon in the Taurus-Littrow valley, while colleague Ronald Evans orbited overhead.

Nasa released the image via its Astronomy Picture of the Day website - 40 years after the astronauts harvested 100 kilos of moon rock, by far the biggest haul of any mission

The three astronauts (from left to right - Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt) get the red-carpet welcome back as they splashdown on December 19, 1972

Apollo 17 was the sixth and last Apollo mission and the last time that humans walked on the surface.
The mission returned to earth on December 19, 1972.
The team carried out a series of experiments including seismic profiling, atmospheric composition analysis and lunar sampling, orbital and biomedical experiments.
The crew spent 22 hours on the lunar surface in total.

 

This sharp image was taken by Cernan as he and Schmitt roamed the valley floor.
The image shows Schmitt on the left with the lunar rover at the edge of Shorty Crater, near the spot where geologist Schmitt discovered orange lunar soil.
The Apollo 17 crew returned with 110 kilograms of rock and soil samples, more than was returned from any of the other lunar landing sites. Now forty years later, Cernan and Schmitt are still the last to walk on the Moon.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2164371/The-men-moon-Nasa-releases-1972-shot-shows-Apollo-17s-crew-exploring-lunar-valleys-search-rocks.html#ixzz1yq1nK5zM

'Syria's stonehenge': Mysterious ruins in desert could be 10,000 years old - but scientists can't get near to investigate

• Strange 'landscape of the dead' found 50 miles north of Damascus
• Ruins near site of massacres north of Syria's capital
• Scientist unable to investigate baffling find
• Stone circles, lines and tombs found in near-lifeless desert

By Rob Waugh
PUBLISHED: 15:06, 25 June 2012 | UPDATED: 17:15, 25 June 2012
A mysterious ancient building in Syria, described as a 'landscape for the dead' could be as old as 10,000 years ago - far older than the Great Pyramid.
But scientists have been unable to explore the ruins, unearthed in 2009, because of the conflict in the region.
The strange stone formations were uncovered in 2009, by archaeologist Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum, who came across stone lines, circles, and tombs in a near-lifeless area of desert.

The strange stone formations were uncovered in 2009, by archaeologist Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum, who came across stone lines, circles, and tombs in a near-lifeless area of desert near a monastery (pictured)

The strange formations were found around 50 miles north of Damascus. The area has been plagued by violence during the current unrest, including a massacre of 10 people in the village of Bakha north of the capital

Mason talked about the finds at Harvard’s Semitic Museum, said that more investigation is required to understand the mysterious rock structures - and how old they are - but Mason is unsure whether he will ever be able to return to the ruins.
The strange formations were found around 50 miles north of Damascus. The area has been plagued by violence during the current unrest, including a massacre of 10 people in the village of Bakha north of the capital.
Research teams have been unable to return to the area since the discovery.

Mason thinks that the rock formations could date to the Neolithic period or early Bronze Age, 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The stones are arranged simply to stand out from the landscape - and are highly unusual because there are no signs of dwelling places anywhere.

'What it looked like was a landscape for the dead and not for the living,' Mason said. 'It’s something that needs more work and I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen.'

The formations were found near a monastery, Deir Mar Musa, which was occupied until the 19th century, and is home to spectacular Christian frescoes

The formations were found near a monastery, Deir Mar Musa, which was occupied until the 19th century, and home to spectacular Christian frescoes.
Mason thinks the monastery may have once been a Roman watchtower destroyed in an earthquake.

Mason was searching Roman watchtowers when he came across the stone lines, circles, and possible tombs.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2164412/Syrias-stonehenge-Mysterious-ruins-desert-10-000-years-old--scientists-dont-dare-near.html#ixzz1yq1Flsaq

Behold the rings of Jupiter - that's right, we said Jupiter!

By Eddie Wrenn
PUBLISHED: 17:51, 22 June 2012 | UPDATED: 17:51, 22 June 2012 

It is probably one of the least-known factos ofo ur solar system - but Jupiter has a ring system.
Yes, the giant gas planet, the biggest planet in our system, has rings, which were first discovered in 1979 by the passing Voyager 1 spacecraft - which, 33 years later, is making its own voyage of discovery on the very edge of the solar system.
Data from the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003 later confirmed that these rings were created by meteoroid impacts on small nearby moons.
As a small meteoroid strikes tiny Adrastea, for example, it will bore into the moon, vaporise and explode dirt and dust off into a Jovian orbit.

This is it: The rings are shown in profile, created by small meteorite impacts on the moons of Jupiter

Pictured above is an eclipse of the sun by Jupiter, as viewed from Galileo. Small dust particles high in Jupiter's atmosphere, as well as the dust particles that compose the rings, can be seen by reflected sunlight.
The rings are not as well-known as Saturn and Uranus, partly because not many photographs of them exist.

 

The system is mainly composed of dust - caused by the collisions of meteorites on Jupiter's moons, and dust escaping from one of Jupiter's 60-plus moons, and the rings are probably as old as Jupiter.
Intriguingly, one of the moons of Jupiter, called S/2000 and about four kilometres in diameter, appears to have gone missing since it was first spotted in 2000. It is possible it crashed into a larger moon Himalia at 170 kilometres in diameter, and may have created its own ring.

The moons of Jupiter, with the rings circling in the same plane

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2163292/Behold-rings-Jupiter--thats-right-said-Jupiter.html#ixzz1yYLDIKTe