Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Whenever I comb my 9-pound Poodle, Peach, she cranes her neck, coos with pleasure, and wiggles her way into my lap to be as close as possible. She doesn’t approve when I try to comb her legs and feet, but having her neck combed when she’s not wearing a collar sends her into rapture. My […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes When my husband and I moved from a Colorado mountain town to Denver in 2018, our biggest concern was how our Lab mix, Rio, would adapt. The outdoorsy dog spent the first seven years of his life hiking off leash on trails a block from our home, swimming in alpine lakes, and running free in […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes An unusual form of animal-assisted therapy sprang from tough times. In 2016, Oregon resident Lainey Morse was coping with an autoimmune disease and a divorce while working a demanding corporate job. Her saving grace: sitting in the barn or fields on her ranch and spending time with her pet goats, including a Nigerian Dwarf goat […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes When my husband and I adopted a senior Poodle named Peach, we knew she had a heart murmur. But when she began coughing almost to the point of retching, our veterinarian referred us to a veterinary cardiologist for more testing. Sure enough, Peach has a leaky mitral valve. The resulting heart enlargement puts pressure on […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The death of a beloved pet is excruciating. With their shorter lifespans, it’s also, unfortunately, an inevitability. Therapist Susan Anschuetz, LMFT, co-founder of the Denver-based nonprofit Human Animal Bond Trust, has led free weekly pet loss support groups for more than 30 years. “There’s hardly a week that goes by where someone doesn’t say, ‘I […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020, animal shelters across America put out a desperate call for fosters and adopters to help clear their facilities—and Americans stepped up in a big way. Not only did people want to help, but during stay-at-home orders, pets provided a distraction and comfort from the […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes My Lab mix, Rio, has always had a bit of a sensitive stomach. But last fall when he vomited blood, we knew something serious was going on. After help from the emergency room at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital in metro Denver, Colorado, we scheduled an appointment with the internal medicine department. Biopsy results revealed Rio […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes When I was a young woman, people who lived on our street moved away. But about a week after they drove off in a moving truck, neighbors discovered they’d left behind their pregnant cat – who promptly gave birth to a litter of kittens. It made me furious that someone would abandon a cat so […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Like many animal lovers, Lili Chin decided to adopt a pet during the coronavirus pandemic. After the death of her beloved dog Boogie, the author/illustrator of the book “Doggie Language: A Dog Lover’s Guide to Understanding Your Best Friend” and her husband decided to branch into cats. With COVID-19 raging in Los Angeles, they reached […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, I was a frequent flyer. Sometimes I even traveled with my little Poodle, Peach, in her carrier after paying the required pet fee. As a pet writer and dog advocate, I grew increasingly concerned by the dramatic increase in fake service dogs and alleged emotional support animals (ESAs). It was […]