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Cats Dogs Life at Home New Pets

Before You Get Your New Pet: Plan for Success

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Successful pre-pet planning begins with a little foresight and preparation for the first few days together. Set yourself and your new pet up for success from the get-go and begin to foster a strong relationship built on trust and empathy. Before you get your pet, take the following steps: Puppy- or Kitten-Proof the Home Before […]

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Cats Dogs Life at Home

Why Pets Matter: How Cats and Dogs Affect Our Lives

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Reading Time: 3 minutes National Pet Month celebrates all things pets. For those who adore cats and dogs or other critters, our animal companions impact us in so many ways we can’t imagine living in a world without them. That begs the questions, how (and why) are pets so important to us? The Love Connection As social creatures, humans […]

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Dogs Senior Pets Veterinary Care

Heart Disease in Dogs: What You Need to Know

Article

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 […]

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Cats Dogs Life at Home Senior Pets

Why the Loss of a Pet Is So Challenging & Tips for Coping With Grief

Article

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 […]

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Dogs Veterinary Care

Prep School: Help Dogs Get Ready for Annual Exams

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re anything like me, you probably hug your dog several times a day. It wasn’t until I became a veterinarian that I realized many dogs don’t like being hugged, and if they do, it’s not by strangers poking them with needles at the vet clinic. Many dogs are also uncomfortable with having areas of […]

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Dogs Veterinary Care

IBD in Dogs: What You Need to Know

Article

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 […]

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Dogs Training & Grooming

6 Simple Secrets to Training Your Dog

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Reading Time: 4 minutes When you are training many dogs a day rather than just your own, it’s easy to find shortcuts and little tricks that make training a dog easier, faster, and more fun for both the human teacher and the canine student. It’s also easier to see things from the dog’s perspective which can be the hidden answer […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs

Pet Paraphernalia: What’s New For Cats and Dogs

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Reading Time: 6 minutes Global Pet Expo is the industry’s annual showcase, highlighting new and innovative products for pet parents to both spoil their pets and improve their general wellbeing. With more than 300 new products featured this year, here are our favorites. Some are already available; others will roll out in the next few weeks. For Any Pet […]

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Dogs Life at Home Training & Grooming

Keep the Dog Inside the Fence!

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes I was training a client and her dog outside in her neighborhood when a scruffy dog happily approached us. There was no owner in sight. I slipped a spare leash on him and checked his collar. Luckily, “Fred” had an ID tag. I called the number. “Hello,” I said when a woman answered. “I found […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Training & Grooming

Teaching the Seek Back as a Game

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Reading Time: 4 minutes The Seek Back is used by police to send a dog to search a large area where a crime may have been committed. A trained dog will search methodically, quartering the area and searching back and forth, the way you might mow a lawn, so they don’t miss a spot. Once they find something that […]