Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: < 1 minute Frustrated by your dog’s pulling or other unwanted behaviors on walks? Don’t turn to punishment-based training tools such as choke, prong and electronic collars. Our Fear Free handout shares better, kinder, more effective options.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ramps can be invaluable tools to help make pets–old and young–safer and more comfortable.
Reading Time: 3 minutes The idea of having an open lawn—a requirement in some communities for aesthetic reasons—and still being able to keep your dog from roaming is enticing. Electric, in-ground fence systems cost less to install than traditional fencing and they may meet the requirements of your homeowners association. But the cost to your dog can be much […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes “CAN HE HAVE CHICKEN?” I yelled, projecting over the commotion of the terrier barking and growling at me. He was safely behind a baby gate, something I had arranged ahead of time with my client. This was our first meeting. “SURE!” the client yelled back. I tossed a piece of freeze-dried chicken over the baby […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes When I pull out the vacuum, Mollie disappears. Fortunately, our house is large enough that she has plenty of “safe” places to hide – often the linen closet upstairs or inside a kitchen cabinet. There’s a name for this fear: Zuigerphobia. It’s a specific phobia, which is an irrational, yet excessive fear of a particular […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Tara, the farm manager, discovered them on the edge of the herb farm’s property, under the porch of the shuttered farm store. After feeding the two hungry and scared kittens for a week, Tara was able to grab them. They hissed, scratched, and bit her, but she got them into a carrier and brought them […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes After a few days of quiet adjustment, your bird is ready to become a part of your life. Your first interactions with your new bird are extremely important, because they set the tone for the kind of relationship you’ll have for life. You need to assure your new bird that you’re a wonderful, kind, and […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes When Olivia Emenaker decided to train her Basset Hound, Dublin, to alert her before she had a seizure, it was partly because he seemed to already have a talent for it on his own. At the time, she was living with her mother, because her seizures made it unsafe for her to live on her […]
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 “The monster must DIE!” At least, that’s what I imagined the Chow mix was thinking as she launched herself at the vacuum cleaner, growling and snapping as if she were taking on a zombie horde. I cued the owner to shut off the machine. “You’re right,” I nodded. “She hates the vacuum cleaner.” Now that […]