Ani-mail Post@ Animal Designs September 2005
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1. What's New
2. Pet Journals
3. Featured Item
4. How Dogs Think
5. Drawing and Fun Stuff
6. Comments-Questions-Suggestions

1) WHAT'S NEW
After a summer recess, our newsletter has returned. We hope you had
a great summer and welcome back. The move to our new location was a
success and all our animals have settled in and are doing quite
well. We are developing new designs and exciting products, so be
sure to add Animal Designs to your favorites list.
www.animaldesigns.com

2) PET JOURNALS
You know your pets have total control when you have to sneak around
in order to leave the house! I've been known to slip my purse into
the garage, as well as my shoes, while the dogs are in another room.
Those items are a dead give away if you hope to get out of this house
without a ruckus. I was simply going to the bank to drop off a
deposit at the drive-through, but since I know Shiloh and Hank love
the doggie treats that are delivered by the mysterious tube, I
decided to take the little monsters along. After all, it had been a
while since they'd gone along to woof at the tellers. I should have
known it was going to be a bad trip after the wrestling match in the
utility room. I'd just about get Hank's collar on when Shiloh would
pick up his leash and give it a good yank and I'd have to start all
over again. Then I'd begin to hook Shiloh's collar and Hank would
high jump her or shove her so he'd be closest to the door. One of
us, or both of us, would lose our balance. I'd lose my grip and have
to start all over. It should not take ten minutes to attach collars
and leashes on two small dogs! Next was competition to see who
could get in the car first, followed by console-standing rights.
Naturally, I keep my trusty towel along to prevent toenail
scratches. Two blocks from the house I made my first stop to scold
them, and reposition the towel. Four blocks further down the road I
stopped again for a repeat performance. At last, we arrived at the
bank and I pulled up to grab the tube that would swish my deposit
away like magic. As the window started down, Shiloh launched herself
from the back, through the console opening, and landed on my neck.
There she was -- stuck between my neck and the headrest and I didn't
even have the deposit tube in my hand yet. Somehow she had also
tangled her leash with my seatbelt and it took some fancy moves to
remove her, since I couldn't even see what was hung up on what! Once
she was in the backseat again, I made another attempt to retrieve the
tube. As I was doing so, I noticed a BMW in the next lane. The lady
inside was all decked out in her business suit but her eyes were the
size of plates, like she was watching a sideshow or something.
Evidently she's never taken her dog to the bank! Oh, finally, sweet
success! The tube was now swishing it's way up, up, and away, as I
yelled hello to the teller through a two-inch crack in the window. I
noticed she had a strange look on her face too, much like the lady in
the BMW. I soon heard the tube rattling its way back down the
shoot. I opened the window, pulled it inside quickly, and ran the
window back up. I opened the lid and both dogs went berserk as the
aroma of the treats permeated the interior of the car. They were
fussing and grumbling as they struggled for position on the console
again. I could hardly wait to cram a treat into their yappy little
mouths to calm them down and shush them up, but the treats were like
molten lava. And, they were just the right size for a couple of
miniature Schnauzers to choke on. Suddenly my nose was nearly
touching the floor carpeting, the seatbelt was gouged into my tummy,
and I chomped down hoping to shatter the lava into bite-sized
pieces. I was praying the tellers in their "window to the world"
thought I had simply dropped something. I smiled and waved to the
tellers as we drove out, and continued to give each little monster
tiny bites. I had one more hunk of lava in my hand, which I tossed
out as soon as I rounded the corner where the treat-giving tellers
couldn't see me. By the time we got home my nerves were shot. I
hung up my jacket, checked the answering machine, and then noticed
both little monsters already sound asleep smack dab in the middle of
the king size bed. Ah -- they looked just like two precious little
angels.
www.petwarmers.com
We all have stories that we like to tell our friends about our pets,
so send us your favorite "tail", and we will select one each month
to feature in our newsletter.

3) FEATURED ITEM
Our softsided cell phone cover is made of cotton fabric outer
shell/polar fleece inner lining, built in belt loop, velcro closure,
and measuring approx. 3" by 6". It will fit most cell phone brands
providing great protection and is washable too. Be sure and check out
our entire collection of pet and animal cell phone covers at:
http://www.animaldesigns.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

4) HOW DOGS THINK
Listen to the Future
We know, for example, that dogs have very sensitive hearing and this
can account for some apparent instances of precognition. A recent
incident involved Valerie Smith of Plymouth and her collie Tommy.
Valerie, who is partially deaf, was walking down a public path with
Tommy. She reported, "He stopped and just stared at the trees. As I
stepped forward he turned and barked at me, which he never normally
does. When I went to walk on again, he really turned, baring his
teeth. He stood still as if to say 'Stay There.' Within seconds, a
large tree crashed down on to the path, so close to Valerie that it
scratched her right arm. "I was just so shocked to see the tree,
which was about five meters long. It was covered in ivy and you could
see the bottom half was rotten, but Tommy knew it was coming down."
Although one could attribute Tommy's behavior to some form of
precognition, in this case it seems more likely that the dog's sense
of danger came from the popping and cracking sounds the tree made as
it began to fall. We do know that dogs have sensitive hearing, at
least for some frequencies of sounds. The dog's sensitivity to
specific frequencies depends, in great degree, on the size of the dog
or, more specifically, on the size of the dog's head. For a large dog
with a large head the ear is correspondingly larger. That means that
the canal that lets sound into the ear is wider, and every structure
in the ear is correspondingly bigger. A small ear is tuned for higher-
pitched sounds while a larger ear is tuned for lower-pitched sounds,
much the way that a small, narrow organ pipe will produce a higher-
pitched sound while a long, wide organ pipe, will produce lower
sounds. This means that smaller dogs have an advantage in hearing
higher-pitched sounds but may have greater difficulty in hearing
lower-pitched sounds. On the other hand, some researchers believe
that dogs with big, square, mastiff-type heads, which includes the
Saint Bernard, New-foundland, and Great Pyrenees, can actually hear
subsonic tones. These are very low-frequency sounds which are far to
low for humans to hear. This may explain how the Saint Bernard is
able to hear the faint low frequency sounds made by people trapped
under snow by avalanches, while dogs with smaller heads may not sense
them at all. The dogs detect these avalanche victims, not because of
some psychic power of location, but simply because they hear the low-
frequency sounds that make their way through the snow.
This is an excerpt from Dr. Coren's latest (ISBN 0-7432-2233-4)
Adapted from the Animal Radio Network http://AnimalRadio.com.

5) DRAWING & FUN STUFF
September's drawing is a tissue box cover. After entering your name,
check out the rest of the fun page at
http://www.animaldesigns.com/trivia.htm Thanks to Janie P. for this
month's pet photo of her adorable rabbit, Felix. We want to honor
your pet next month, so send us a copy of their photo either by email
or snail mail.

6) COMMENTS-QUESTIONS-SUGGESTIONS
"I was so pleased when my ordered arrived!! The tote bag is exactly
what I wanted , especially made with the beautiful cat print .Thank
you and I will be sure to tell my friends." Thanks again, Sandy C.

As always, we appreciate your comments, questions and suggestions and
we've provided this link for sharing this newsletter with your
friends. http://www.animaldesigns.com/tell-a-friend.htm Thank you
for taking the time to tell your friends and family about Animal
Designs. It is the ultimate compliment and we greatly appreciate it.

All the Best,
Jeanie
Animal Designs
www.animaldesigns.com
1.866.468.1739