Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Holiday celebrations include visits to or from family and friends. Since we consider cats and dogs part of the family, holiday visits that include them require special preparations. Changes to routine can increase fear, anxiety, and stress in everyone, especially our pets. Hitting the road also raises stress levels, so unless your pets adore car […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Our dogs need mental and physical stimulation all year round. With a little ingenuity, you can keep your small dog happy and active even in winter months!
Reading Time: 3 minutes Florida resident Britani Atkinson was sitting on her porch, catching up with her brother and other family members who’d just arrived for a visit, when her teen son called her cell phone. His urgent message: “You need to come inside and see this.” Atkinson rushed in to find their 5-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever, Link, lying […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Bring up the subject of dog parks to a group of dog trainers and watch their heads explode. You’ll get a slew of opinions, most unfavorable. While I confess I have occasionally rolled my eyes at the topic, I don’t hate dog parks. They can be a good place for some dogs to run off […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Stealing boxes of chocolates. Climbing the tree. Eating the decorations. When it comes to celebrating the holidays at home, many of the things that make the season merry and bright for humans are potential dangers to four-legged family members. But not all of them are as dangerous as you may think. We take a look […]
Reading Time: 6 minutes Connecting with your dog is more than attaching the leash and going for a walk together. Attention must be paid. When I first got my Pug, she was reactive to everything: dogs, people, cars, the sound of birds. She’s better now, but one thing she still barks at is kind of funny: people who are […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Hiking is one of the most special ways to spend time outdoors with dogs. Besides the activity aspect, they open our eyes to the presence of birds and wildlife—I still remember fondly the time my dog Bella “pointed” mule deer—and remind us to stop and smell the flowers, listen to the bees and woodpeckers, and […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s a worldwide trend: Our pets are joining us more and more on vacation. That was happening before the pandemic, and it hasn’t stopped. But with that comes the importance of ensuring our pets’ safety on the road, especially with car travel. A study published last year on PubMed compared pet travel in the United […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes National Dog Bite Prevention Week has come and gone, but preventing dog bites is a year-round endeavor. Prevention as well as education are key. That was the theme of a recent Zoom press event featuring experts from various fields. Here’s what they had to say. “Dog bite prevention may have more meaning this year than […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes My dog Rio, a friendly Lab mix and former therapy dog, has been attacked numerous times over the years by other dogs – both leashed and unleashed. Once, we even had a dog jump out a car window to try to bite Rio. Panicked, I screamed while Rio defended himself before the owner came running […]