June 20 is national Take Your Dog to Work Day in the United States, and thousands of dog owners will make the most of this opportunity on Friday.

A survey conducted by The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association in 2006 revealed that taking pets to work can lower stress, increase productivity, create a more co-operative working environment, increase the amount of overtime worked and reduce employee absenteeism - no wonder 17% of employers already allow their employees to bring their pets to work with them on a regular basis!

If you are lucky enough to take your dog to work on Friday, here a few tips to help make the day successful, and ensure your dog is asked again next year:

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Here's a fun quiz I found on the Discovery Channel blog.

Anna M. Taylor of the University of Sussex recorded 7 dog barks for her Vocal Dog Project and you need to identify which bark belongs to which situation.

Can you tell the difference between a disturbed Rottweiler growl-barking and a 4-month-old Labrador puppy crying? Take the quiz to find out!

Each Wednesday at OurDogLog Chris has a Wordless Wednesday where she just posts a funny dog picture which, excuse the cliché, really could say a thousand words.

I've been following Wordless Wednesday for a few weeks now, and one of my favorites "Gimme My Ball Back" is posted above.

Check out this week's Wordless Wednesday - it brings a whole new meaning to term "prewash cycle"! And take a look at "A Little Power Nap" - it's hysterical.

Priceless photos Chris - you'll have to start a separate category for them on your blog so we can keep track of them all!

Is your dog overweight? Statistics banded about say that over 40% of dogs in the United States are overweight/obese, and the percentage is as bad in Europe. However, the percentage of owners who think their dog is overweight is significantly lower than 40%.

Zoe was overweight; four kilos crept on after she was spayed last year and we spent several months getting rid of them.

The combination of a reduced diet, encouraging her to be more active when we were out walking and no more pigs ears as treats eventually did the trick.

Here are two quick tests to determine whether your dog is carrying more weight than he should:

When you run your hands along your dog's ribcage, can you feel his ribs? You should be able to count the number of ribs as you move your hands along your dog's body - if you can't then he's carrying too much weight.

Running your hands along your dog's side, does he have a 'waist' - by that I mean does his body tuck in in front of his hips? If there's a straight line from his hips to his shoulders, then he's overweight.

I found this useful flowchart for determining whether your dog is extremely thin, severely overweight or something in between. If you think that your dog is overweight then it's worth paying a visit to your vet just to make sure there isn't an underlying health issue that's causing the problem.

Provided you live in the United States, you can take part in the National Canine Weight Check during February; participating vets will assess your dog's weight for free and provide you with information and advice on the causes of canine obesity and the health problems it can lead to.

Should your dog's weight problem be down to over feeding and not enough exercise, draw up a plan for feeding and exercising your dog and stick to it consistently until he's lost the weight he needs to.

Like humans, it's better if the weight comes off slowly and adopting a healthier lifestyle is likely to be more successful than putting your dog on a crash diet and/or giving him some of the new weight loss medications that are now available.

From personal experience helping your dog lose weight is hard work - particularly not giving giving into those pleading 'can I have some more food' eyes - but it's worth it. Zoe's energy levels are now back to normal, and I'm finding it much easier to lift her on and off the grooming table!

It's often easier to see how to do things rather than read about them so today I've posted a video in which Stanley Coren shows you how to get your dog used to having his teeth brushed - the key is to take it in small steps and have some great tasting toothpaste to hand!

At the end of the video Stanley Coren says you only need to brush your dog's teeth once or twice a week in order to keep his teeth healthy. Whilst this is better than not brushing at all, ideally you should aim for a daily brushing to remove the plaque and remove the risk of your dog suffering periodontal disease.

I read that Richard Knerr died in January this year. Richard was a co-founder of Wham-O, the company responsible for making the Frisbee (as well as the Hula-Hoop).

Wham-O launched the Frisbee in 1958 and Frisbee Dog World Championships have been held every year since 1975 - though there are now several organizations around the world that run annual disc dog tournaments.

The format of disc dog tournaments usually consist of 'Toss and Fetch' and 'Freestyle' events. In the Toss and Fetch event points are awarded for catches at varying distances and in the Freestyle event short routines choreographed to music, with multiple discs being used, are subjectively judged for things such as canine athleticism, degree of difficulty, and showmanship. Wikipedia has a good page on the sport of Disc Dog and provides more information on Frisbee dog competitions.

The word Frisbee has been replaced by Disc to avoid trademark infringement - so when you see the term Disc Dog it's the same thing as Frisbee Dog.

Here's a 5 minute video showing clips from the Alpo Disc Dog Tournament Freestyle Event:

I've briefly tried to get Fritz and Zoe interested in Frisbee but I've not had much success. For one I can't throw a Frisbee very well, and secondly, whilst Fritz is interested in chasing after the Frisbee he prefers to shake it to death when he's caught it rather than bring it back to me. Zoe is the sort of low energy dog who prefers to stand and watch the Disc fly over her head!

Despite these teething problems, I think I shall have another go at getting them interested; Zoe's sister Jazz is besotted with her fabric Frisbee so there is some hope for Zoe yet.

If you're interested in teaching your dog how to play Frisbee I've read that it can take several weeks to months to teach your dog how to take the disc, so don't get disheartened if you don't get immediate results.

Some dogs seem to be more natural at it than others - in many of the videos I have watched the dogs all seem to be Collies or Collie crosses. However, we aren't all wanting to train world champion disc dogs, so any dog breed should be able to play Frisbee without too much trouble. If you have a dog that has plenty of energy that you need to channel into something constructive then this might be the sport for you (I've just realized why so many Collies are involved in the sport).

If you've got a puppy, then it's fine to teach them to chase after and retrieve a Frisbee, but don't train them to jump and catch the disc until they have physically matured.

Here's another video in which world class Frisbee dog trainer Zak George shows you some of the freestyle routines he has taught his dogs.

I hope this has inspired you to try a new sport with your dog - if it's winter where you are and you can't get out to exercise much, why not get your dog used to the Frisbee in the house and see if he wants to make it his new best toy whilst you are waiting for Spring to arrive.

To find out more about Disc Dog DogPatch has a great page of links to disc dog clubs, events, training, internet groups etc.

Finally, thank you Richard Knerr for bringing us the Frisbee and giving us another way to spend time having fun with our dogs!