Oily Drop Bullies

26/11/2025

🎇What NOT to feed the dog this Thanksgiving🎇

The internet has a bunch of do's/dont so i dont necessarily agree with everything here, but i will comment on some that should be a hard pressed "NO".

1️⃣ Turkey Skin, Drippings & Gravy
Fatty Foods are difficult for your dog to digest and commonly cause gastro distress. Avoid pancreas inflammation and/or pancreatitis in general (a very serious life threatening condition)
🎇White meat turkey is the safest to give them if you so wish as the dark meat is known to be "richer".

2️⃣ Turkey Twine
Aside from obvious gastro obstruction/ blockage. Twine also can carry harmful bacteria that can cause stomach issues. Make sure it goes in the garbage (and securely put out of the dogs reach)

3️⃣ Turkey Bones
Most of us already know that cooked bones can splinter and/or break causing obstruction in the digestive tract and/or tears to the lining. Just throw em away...

4️⃣ Ham
Ham and other Pork products are very high in fat and can lead to gastro upset, vomitting and diarrhea and of course pancreatitis.

5️⃣ Corn on the Cob
While corn off the cob should cause no issue fed in moderation (if the dog is not allergic to corn of course), corn does provide good sources of protein, carbohydrates, lineoleic acid and antioxidants as well as vitamins and minerals...
However, the cob itself, is a no no. for risk for obstruction/blockage.

6️⃣ Onion
Onions (raw or cooked) contain sulfides, which are extremely toxic to dogs. Digesting these sulfides can quickly cause anemia

7️⃣ Mushrooms
Not all mushrooms are the same, and although MOST mushrooms bought from your local grocery store pose no toxic threat to your dog, Mushroom Poisoning in dogs is a real thing and is common at the ER vets.....mushroom species in general is its own class room; unless you are a mycologist, I personally wont pretend to know how to identify what is or isnt toxic for them. So just my warning, to avoid them anyway on this holiday to be safe

8️⃣ Walnuts/ Macadamia Nuts/ Grapes/Raisins
Avoid "macadamia nut toxicosis" - typically within 8-12 hours symptoms present as vomiting, fever, tremors, unable to stand, elevated heart rates, etc.
Raisins and grapes can cause renal failure/ kidney damage.

9️⃣ Bread Dough
Funny enough, raw bread dough when ingested can "rise" in your dogs stomach due to their natural body heat which will naturally release toxic levels of ethanol into the blood stream.
Sounds funny, but unfortunately, it happens EVERY YEAR. As it expands in the stomach, your dog is commonly going to experience vomitting, severe abdominal pain and bloating (which can be life threatening)

🔟 Chocolate
We've all heard this before. However, im here to tell you, its the TYPE of chocolate that you need to be cautious of....
Dark Chocolate/ Bakers Chocolate - the most toxic to dogs
Milk Chocolate - less toxic, but may still experience gastro issues (diarrhea, vomitting, etc.)
White Chocolate - VERY low risk (unless it contains another toxic substance ie: raisins/nuts/etc)

1️⃣1️⃣ Alcohol
Both Ethanol (the intoxicating agent in beer/wine and liquor) and hops (used to brew beer) can cause alcohol intoxication in pets which can lead to vomiting, disorientation, high body temperature, muscle tremors and seizures.
In extreme cases; failure of the organ system and even 🪦⚰️...

25/11/2025

Many may have already been following the unfolding story of November 22nd's dogfighting raid in Newton County, TX

The Identities of the 43 arrested have been released

Identities:
https://shorturl.at/7pAtd

Full story:
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/newton-county-dog-fighting-bust/285-902393e7-17ce-4c56-9e7f-11aabe4da1df

22/11/2025

Random Poster in a dog group: "Who Feeds their dogs Yogurt? And what kind/how much? "

Me: This is a mix of yes and no...... so more people should indeed be informed about yogurt with their dogs.. :

1️⃣. Never feed a "flavored" yogurt -no vanilla, comes with fruit inside, etc
2️⃣. Be sure there are 🚫no🚫 added sugars or artificial sweeteners (Xylitol -can unalive your dog).

If you're feeding yogurt for the probiotics, this is not the best way to get these into your dog for a few reasons:

🅰️. pasteurization kills GOOD bacteria (the temperature during pasteurization is not high enough to kill DANGEROUS bacteria but the temperature is also too high so will kill many of the enzymes that are actually good bacteria and do help with digestion)

🅱️. Many dogs are actually "lactose intolerant" so you may very well notice diarrhea, constipation, frequent farting, stomach cramps, etc. STOP FEEDING IT if you notice these things...
c. Added Sugars/ Artificial Sweeteners (Xylitol/ Birch Sugar) - even in small dosages can be deadly to your dog -- its also pretty famous for causing liver failure or hypoglycemia, and can cause increased blood sugar levels. Either way, its a bad time for your pet, so just avoid it completely.

Even a Greek Yogurt or Nonfat yogurt still holds risk for pasteurization and lactose issues.... so if they're only being fed for the "PrObIoTiCs".... find a supplement (chew or powder) instead.... avoid the headache (and the atrocious farts 🤮)

✨Probiotic Supplement Shopping Tip: ✨
✅ Find a supplement that is soil-based (lactobacillus, bidifobacterium (sp?) type probiotics are not as strong and probably wont even survive the trip through your dogs stomach acid in the digestive tract)
✅ Find a probiotic that has more than one strain of bacteria (typically you'd want at least 5 strains) and has a *MINIMUM* of 20 billion colony forming units (CFU's) -- this is usually advertised on the sticker label itself.

Hope this helps someone🙏

23/10/2025

08/10/2025

In the heart of Buenos Aires, inside the old frigate Presidente Sarmiento, a secret is kept — one that doesn’t beat with clocks or cannons, but with the memory of a friend who never wanted to leave: Lampazo, the sailor dog.

He wasn’t born to be a hero, nor to have a place in a museum. He was a Newfoundland, with deep eyes and a thick coat, who one day simply climbed aboard the ship without asking permission, as if he had found his destiny.
They named him “Lampazo,” like the brush used to scrub the deck, perhaps because of his shaggy tail that swept the floor as he proudly trotted among the men. But in truth, he wasn’t a tool: he was company, he was comfort, he was laughter in the middle of the storms.

One day, the sea roared with fury and a sailor fell overboard. There was no hesitation. Lampazo leapt after him, facing waves that would have broken any man. He swam with the strength of a silent warrior and held the castaway until he was rescued. From that moment on, no one ever called him just a “dog” again: he was comrade, brother, guardian of the ship.

The years passed, and like every living being, Lampazo also came to know eternal rest. But the sailors couldn’t bring themselves to bid him farewell by casting him into the sea, because how could they throw into oblivion the one who had saved lives, the one who had shown them the meaning of loyalty? They embalmed him and left him there, on the frigate, so he would never abandon his post.

Today, when someone visits the museum, they find him. Behind a glass, his calm gaze still lingers, as if he were still watching over his companions. Children look at him with tenderness, veterans leave him flowers, and some whisper into the ears of their grandchildren:
—That wasn’t just any dog. That was a sailor.

And then, among old wood, silent cannons, and flags worn by time, Lampazo’s presence reminds us that true greatness doesn’t always wear a uniform, nor does it speak with words. Sometimes, it simply wags in a tail, beats in a furry heart, and becomes legend…

Because Lampazo never really left. He’s still there.
The purest loyalty can be found in the soul of a dog.

29/09/2025

Heads up! You may see these green, brown, or black pod-like balls on the ground in your neighborhood at this time of the year.

They are nuts from black walnut trees.

The picture shows black walnuts in various sizes and stages of maturity and decay.

⚡️⚡️Every part of a black walnut tree (nuts, shells, leaves, and wood) is highly toxic to dogs⚡️⚡️.

The initial symptoms of black walnut poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, and loss of appetite, followed by tremors, seizures, and jaundice.

The toxins in black walnut trees can be fatal to dogs if not treated promptly.

Do not attempt to use any home remedies if your dog has ingested black walnut.

Time is of the essence--get your dog to a vet immediately.

04/09/2025

Telling your dog you love them makes a huge difference!

A study conducted by Canine Cottages explored how dogs physically respond to hearing affectionate words from their owners.

The researchers monitored the heart rates of four dogs and found that when the dogs heard their owners say "I love you," their heart rates increased by about 46 percent.

On average, the dogs' resting heart rates were around 67 beats per minute, but after hearing the phrase, they rose to about 98 beats per minute.

This sharp increase is seen as a sign of excitement and happiness, much like how people experience a racing heartbeat when feeling joy or affection.

Importantly, the study suggested that the rise in heart rate reflects positive emotions and a deep bond with their owners, rather than stress or fear.

27/08/2025

🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🫣

04/08/2025

I once stitched up a dog’s throat with fishing line in the back of a pickup, while its owner held a flashlight in his mouth and cried like a child.

That was in ’79, maybe ’80. Just outside a little town near the Tennessee border. No clinic, no clean table, no anesthetic except moonshine. But the dog lived, and that man still sends me a Christmas card every year, even though the dog’s long gone and so is his wife.

I’ve been a vet for forty years. That’s four decades of blood under my nails and fur on my clothes. It used to be you fixed what you could with what you had — not what you could bill. Now I spend half my days explaining insurance codes and financing plans while someone’s beagle bleeds out in the next room.

I used to think this job was about saving lives. Now I know it’s about holding on to the pieces when they fall apart.

I started in ’85. Fresh out of the University of Georgia, still had hair, still had hope. My first clinic was a brick building off a gravel road with a roof that leaked when it rained. The phone was rotary, the fridge rattled, and the heater worked only when it damn well pleased. But folks came. Farmers, factory workers, retirees, even the occasional trucker with a pit bull riding shotgun.

They didn’t ask for much.

A shot here. A stitch there. Euthanasia when it was time — and we always knew when it was time. There was no debate, no guilt-shaming on social media, no “alternative protocols.” Just the quiet understanding between a person and their dog that the suffering had become too much. And they trusted me to carry the weight.

Some days I’d drive out in my old Chevy to a barn where a horse lay with a broken leg, or to a porch where an old hound hadn’t eaten in three days. I’d sit beside the owner, pass them the tissue, and wait. I never rushed it. Because back then, we held them as they left. Now people sign papers and ask if they can just “pick up the ashes next week.”

I remember the first time I had to put down a dog. A German shepherd named Rex. He’d been hit by a combine. The farmer, Walter Jennings, was a World War II vet, tough as barbed wire and twice as sharp. But when I told him Rex was beyond saving, his knees buckled. Right there in my exam room.

He didn’t say a word. Just nodded. And then — I’ll never forget this — he kissed Rex’s snout and whispered, “You done good, boy.” Then he turned to me and said, “Do it quick. Don’t make him wait.”

I did.

Later that night, I couldn’t sleep. I sat on my front porch with a cigarette and stared at the stars until the sunrise. That’s when I realized this job wasn’t just about animals. It was about people. About the love they poured into something that would never live as long as they did.

Now it’s 2025. My hair’s white — what’s left of it. My hands don’t always cooperate. There’s a tremor that wasn’t there last spring. The clinic is still there, but now it’s got sleek white walls, subscription software, and some 28-year-old marketing guy telling me to film TikToks with my patients. I told him I’d rather neuter myself.

We used to use instinct. Now it’s all algorithms and liability forms.

A woman came in last week with a bulldog in respiratory failure. I said we’d need to intubate and keep him overnight. She pulled out her phone and asked if she could get a second opinion from an influencer she follows online. I just nodded. What else can you do?

Sometimes I think about retiring. Hell, I almost did during COVID. That was a nightmare — parking lot pickups, barking from behind closed doors, masks hiding the tears. Saying goodbye through car windows. No one got to hold them as they left.

That broke something in me.

But then I see a kid come in with a box full of kittens he found in his grandpa’s barn, and his eyes light up when I let him feed one. Or I patch up a golden retriever who got too close to a barbed fence, and the owner brings me a pecan pie the next day. Or an old man calls me just to say thank you — not for the treatment, but because I sat with him after his dog died and didn’t say a damn thing, just let the silence do the healing.

That’s why I stay.

Because despite all the changes — the apps, the forms, the lawsuits, the Google-diagnosing clients — one thing hasn’t changed.

People still love their animals like family.

And when that love is deep enough, it comes out in quiet ways. A trembling hand on a fur-covered flank. A whispered goodbye. A wallet emptied without question. A grown man breaking down in my office because his dog won’t live to see the fall.

No matter the year, the tech, the trends — that never changes.

A few months ago, a man walked in carrying a shoebox. Said he found a kitten near the railroad tracks. Mangled leg, fleas, ribs like piano keys. He looked like hell himself. Told me he’d just gotten out of prison, didn’t have a dime, but could I do anything?

I looked in that box. That kitten opened its eyes and meowed like it knew me. I nodded and said, “Leave him here. Come back Friday.”

We splinted the leg, fed him warm milk every two hours, named him Boomer. That man showed up Friday with a half-eaten apple pie and tears in his eyes. Said no one ever gave him something back without asking what he had first.

I told him animals don’t care what you did. Just how you hold them now.

Forty years.

Thousands of lives.

Some saved. Some not.

But all of them mattered.

I keep a drawer in my desk. Locked. No one touches it. Inside are old photos, thank-you notes, collars, and nametags. A milk bone from a border collie named Scout who saved a boy from drowning. A clay paw print from a cat that used to sleep on a gas station counter. A crayon drawing from a girl who said I was her hero because I helped her hamster breathe again.

I take it out sometimes, late at night, when the clinic’s dark and my hands are still.

And I remember.

I remember what it was like before all the screens. Before the apps. Before the clickbait cures and the credit checks.

Back when being a vet meant driving through mud at midnight because a cow was calving wrong and you were the only one they trusted.

Back when we stitched with fishing line and hope.

Back when we held them as they left — and we held their people, too.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this life, it’s this:

You don’t get to save them all.

But you damn sure better try.

And when it’s time to say goodbye, you stay. You don’t flinch. You don’t rush. You kneel down, look them in the eyes, and you stay until their last breath leaves the room.

That’s the part no one trains you for. Not in vet school. Not in textbooks.

That’s the part that makes you human.

And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

09/07/2025

Predatory Motor Patterns

This Predatory Motor Patterns infographic is in my book and I've received several requests to make this chart available as a download/poster.

NOTES here: https://doggiedrawings.net/blogs/whats-new/new-free-download-predatory-motor-patterns

DOWNLOAD for free here: https://doggiedrawings.net/products/predatory-motor-patterns

Edit to add: What was the [breed] traditionally bred to do? Buy my book :) http://doggiedrawings.net/pages/dogs-of-the-world-book

19/05/2025

"Your dog having genetic health issues isn’t what you’re judged on in breeding 🧬 How you react to the "new" (to you) information is… 🧠 👈🏻"

📌The United American Bully Association (our National Breed Club) was able to successfully obtain our breeds acceptance into Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) CHIC program (March 18, 2025).

These are the "bare bones" of health testing that *should* be completed in breeding programs before even thinking about breeding x & y dog together.
(*Please Note* - We'd also HIGHLY encourage having Embark genetic panels done on any potential breeding dogs as well)

If you genuinely care about the puppies you are putting out into the world; and your own dogs (& programs) longevity at least starting here would make a giant step for the breeds preservation to the future, giving us MONUMENTAL health data for every single "bloodline" out there to breed more consciously going forward.
It literally can be YOU that changes the breed. Lets all take one giant positive step forward here...

---ABKC advertised (extensive) Health testing too in their updated Breed Graphics (2021)! so this is not for "just UKC bully people".... The breed genuinely needs every single person from every single variety from every single bloodline to participate, like asap... 🙃

We are always here to help anyone who asks for it; if you have any questions, please do not ever hesitate to DM us anytime.