Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 4 minutes More than 30 years ago, I said to my husband, “Someday I’d like a gray kitty – a Russian Blue.” Armed with an issue of Cat Fancy, he found a breeder in New Jersey and we traveled two-plus hours to pick up Ashley, my first Russian Blue. Thus began a love affair that continues to […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes What is the most critical period of your puppy’s life? It’s not her first snowfall, the day you met, or the first time she sits when you ask her to. It’s the time between roughly 3 and 14 weeks known as the “socialization period.” Pet owners often ask what’s so important about this time. They […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes June is both the ASPCA’s Adopt a Shelter Cat Month and the American Humane Association’s Adopt a Cat Month. Either way, it’s a very special month for cats. Cats definitely need adopting. According to the ASPCA, about 3.2 million cats enter shelters annually. However, only about half are adopted. While some are euthanized for medical […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Picture this. You work in an open-plan office, but you simply don’t get along with the person in the desk alongside yours. Or someone in the office insists on wearing perfume that gives you a headache. Once you leave that office environment and go home, it’s fine, but the tension starts up again the next […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes When I graduated from college a few centuries ago, I wanted an apartment, a car, and a kitten. (I was lucky enough to have a job lined up.) While cats were a part of the family when I was growing up, this would be my very own cat. I adopted a kitten from a college […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy skittered into class and ducked under a chair, trembling. It was Pip’s first night of puppy kindergarten, and he was terrified. After class, I chatted with his parents. “Your puppy is really shy,” I said. “Sixteen weeks is the latest we’ll take a puppy into this class, and he’s […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes At what cost do you save a life? Or is that not even the right question to ask? What motivates this story is local dog trainer, near where I live, who was recently “outed” for alleged use of aversive methods to save lives. That in itself sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it? When animal control […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Thinking about a kitten? Consider adopting two. Acquiring a pair of kittens is good for their physical and emotional health and fun for their humans. Here’s what to know. Anne is a curious caramel tiger kitten, who chirps sweetly to herself as she goes about her day, jumping in and out of laps, proudly carrying […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes If kittens don’t receive appropriate handling and socialization early in life, they can develop undesirable habits. Here’s how to help tame their behavior. Mollie was turned in to the shelter when she was approximately 4 weeks old, a singleton with no mom in sight. She languished in a cage until we saw her photo posted, […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes The dog brain is very different from that of wild dogs, so that in some ways puppies are born ready to fit into the human world. But the puppy brain still has a lot of developing to do after birth, and understanding that process is important to raising confident, well-adjusted dogs. It’s now generally believed […]