Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Back-to-school season can be an exciting time for children, but a stressful time for dogs. After all, our pups love the extra time and attention enjoyed during summer vacation. During the coronavirus pandemic, our pets have been the beneficiaries of stay-at-home orders, as parents are often around more, too. Plus, many families have adopted pets […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s important for dogs to get daily exercise. In fact, many of us get dogs to help ensure that we get more exercise. But life gets in the way, and sometimes walking the dog falls low on the priority list. We get it. Walking a dog can be a big commitment, especially if you have […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes You have an adorable new puppy or just adopted a sweetheart of a dog from a shelter or rescue group. You can’t wait to spoil him or her rotten, right? Loving on a new pup is mandatory, sure, but it’s also important to provide him with a structured environment from day one. Setting clear expectations […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s conventional wisdom among dog trainers that a handler’s anxiety “travels down the leash” to influence the dog. To be honest, this had always sounded like some kind of woo-woo mystical nonsense to me. When I got my current extremely reactive Pug, the trainer I was working with – who I respected for being pretty […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Kids and pets go together like peanut butter and jelly. I should know. Our Pugs were my daughter Reagan’s best friends from the time she was born. Her canine “brothers” were there to greet her when we brought her home from the hospital, and it was no surprise that Reagan’s first word was a bark! […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes The human-animal bond is stronger than ever. In fact, research has found that spending time with our dogs makes us healthier.1-4 But more importantly, we enjoy being with our dogs. We like to take our dogs with us whenever possible: to the park, visiting friends and family, or on a family camping trip. The number […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Pets are so much part of our families that it’s easy to forget they’re different from us in many ways. To give them a good life, sometimes we need to get outside our human heads and understand what’s important to another species with different senses, needs, and instincts. Zookeepers are experts at this, and we […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The power of music is as old as the first human heartbeat. Music communicates emotions, inspires creativity, and provides healing. From 1697, literature gives us William Congreve’s play, “The Mourning Bride” with the famous opening line: “Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” Scores of studies […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Many pets are petrified of fireworks. And no wonder: no one tells our best friends that these incredibly loud and sudden and unexplained bangs are supposed to be a celebration, not an attack. For dogs and cats, becoming startled at sudden loud sounds can be a protective response. Who knows what could be making that […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes A commercial airing for a brand of cat litter shows a woman walking into her house and making a great “stank” face. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but who among us hasn’t entered a room and sniffed suspiciously? According to Cécile Pétel, writing in “Something in the air: why cat pee stinks and how to control […]