Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Storm phobia is a problem not just because dogs are afraid. The physiological reaction to fear is bad enough—the racing heart, the rush of stress hormones—but fear also causes dogs to react in dangerous or destructive ways. They may destroy doors or jump through windows in an attempt to escape the frightening situation. By the […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Do you jump at unexpected loud noises? It’s adaptive for humans and other animals to startle at sudden loud sounds. We might run the other way or hide if we didn’t understand what a certain sound was. The same thing happens with many of our pets when they hear fireworks go off. It’s not that […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Spring is the time for new beginnings, flowers, sunshine, and kittens. Yes, kittens. Spring and summer are known as kitten season, for good reason. It’s the time of year that the tiny cats-to-be are born and, at the appropriate age, go to their new homes. Before you bring one of these cute kittens home, learn […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s a reality that not everyone wants to hear: Not all dog parks and dog beaches are for all dogs or for that matter for all people. Here’s what I mean. I recently visited a dog beach, and one particular Mastiff was taking advantage of his size, acting like the beach bully. He bulldozed other […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes How much does your cat like his carrier? If your cat is like most, the answer is “Not at all!” Most of us drag the carrier out of storage minutes before we need it and wrestle our cats inside. If we are lucky, no one is bleeding and we can still get where we need […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes If your dog is fearful of storms with thunder, lightning, hail, or high winds, you’re not alone. There are no statistics on the numbers of pets with storm phobia–or to give the fear its scientific name, astraphobia–but it’s likely that the prevalence of this type of noise sensitivity in dogs is 20 percent or higher, […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes When I was a little girl, my cat Pretzel made it clear that she was not a fan of car rides. Luckily, my mom had a brilliant idea. “Let’s put your sweatshirt inside her carrier instead of that blanket,” she suggested. “It’s soft and smells like you. I bet she’ll find it comforting.” It helped […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes I just got a new kitten, and she jumps all over the kitchen countertops and the dinner table. This is dangerous for her and annoying for me, so she has to learn some boundaries. Friends keep telling me to squirt her with a water bottle, but I know that doesn’t work. Why does everyone else […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes This month we’ve watched lava flows from Hawaii’s Mt. Kilauea destroy homes and cars. Last month, two tornadoes hit Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the same day. Even if volcanoes don’t erupt down the street from your house and you don’t live in Tornado Alley, natural disasters and emergencies occur somewhere every day. And part of […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Kids and cats go together like mac ’n’ cheese. Cats offer warm companionship for children and the life-long value of compassion for sentient, living beings. In children, cats have a built-in playmate and attention-giver. What can be a special relationship takes work to build, though, to ensure that cats and children enjoy a stress-free experience […]