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Activities & Enrichment Dogs

Dog Sports Roundup

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Is walking your dog getting to be a drag? Do you and your dog want to be more active outdoors? Have you ever thought it would be fun to try a dog sport but don’t know which one, how to get started, or where to practice? We have the answers that will get you and […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs

How Much Exercise Does Your Dog Need?

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s natural to wonder exactly how much exercise your dog needs. Your friend, the marathoner, runs with her dog. Your neighbor, the lawyer, who is gone all day and half the evening, has a dog walker. When you were a kid, you couldn’t wait to get home from school to go exploring with your dog. […]

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Cats Dogs New Pets Other Senior Pets Shelters & Fostering

Shelters Unleash Effective Tactics to Land Loving Homes for Older Pets

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes From waiving adoption fees to offering discounts for veterinary wellness visits to staging fun events, shelters are stepping it up for senior pets inside their facilities. There are many advantages to adopting an older pet over a young kitten or puppy. Topping the list: most older pets are housetrained, mellow, and less apt to chew […]

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Cats Dogs Holidays Life at Home Other

Celebrate Love Day With Pet-Friendly Treats

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Valentine’s Day is the sweetest of the holidays. It’s overflowing with boxes of chocolate and other sweet treats exchanged between lovers. While we don’t typically send Valentine’s cards or gifts to our dogs, cats or other animals, there’s no doubt that they hold a special place in our hearts. What doesn’t hold a special place […]

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Cats Dogs Life at Home Other

Ways You and Your Pet Show Love to Each Other

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes We love our dogs and cats. Mine are as much members of the family as my wife and children and my granddaughter Reagan. But do they love us back? I think so, and I think they show us that love—and we show it to them–in myriad ways individual to each pet and person. Body language […]

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Cats Dogs Other Training & Grooming Veterinary Care

Pet Experiencing Dental Pain? How to Know and What to Do About It

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes When Animal Control picked up a little stray Poodle that I’d later adopt, she was a mess. Among a host of health issues, Peach was missing 18 teeth and needed another seven extractions. So we’re protective of her remaining teeth, which my husband and I affectionately call “chompers.” But the other day, I gave her […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Other

Dressing Up Your Pet May Be Surprisingly Useful

Article

Reading Time: 5 minutes The idea of dressing up your pet may seem silly, eccentric, or just something novel to do for a couple of moments during the holiday season. But putting clothes on your dog or cat, and acclimating them to it, may be useful for a number of reasons. Take, for instance, the situation Paula G. found […]

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Cats Dogs Life at Home Other Senior Pets

Love and Loss: Helping Children Grieve When a Pet Dies

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes My 10-year-old daughter Reagan has experienced a lot of pet loss in the past year. Our 12-year-old black Pug, Willy, died suddenly and unexpectedly while my husband and I were out of the country, leaving Reagan and my mother Teresa to face his loss together. Then my parents’ 16-year-old canine cocktail Quixote passed away. At […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Life at Home

Fitness Resolutions Go to the Dogs

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Is getting—and staying—in shape one of your New Year’s resolutions? Include your dogs, too; it’s good for their physical and mental health. But before you haul them out on a five-mile run, talk to your veterinarian about their current condition and the best ways to make sure they don’t suffer from weekend warrior syndrome—the aches […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Life at Home Other

Gulp! Why Some Pets Gobble Their Food

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes When Karma-Kat showed up on our back patio, the 8-month-old kitten had been on his own for some time. Starved for attention, and for food, he ate anything and everything. Karma chewed through the dog food bag to munch kibble and practiced snatch-and-grab attacks to gobble food from our dinner plates. Our last dog, Magic […]