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Dogs Life at Home New Pets

Bringing Home a New Puppy? Ways to Lose the Stress, Add Success

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Your new puppy’s first few days can have a big impact on the rest of your lives together.

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Dogs New Pets Shelters & Fostering

The Best Puppy for You: How to Make the Choice

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Choosing a puppy is a momentous decision. Here’s what to consider. My friend Andrew wants a huge dog, a Newfoundland or perhaps a Mastiff.  His wife, Jane, wants a dog she can pick up and cuddle, one who will be easy to walk and undemanding. For some people, there are German Shepherds or Border Collies, […]

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Dogs Life at Home New Pets Training & Grooming

How to Raise a Fear Free Puppy

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Reading Time: 3 minutes You waited until the time was right to adopt, or you waited for a special litter to be born and ready to come home with you.  You want your puppy to be loving and funny, but also confident, able to go anywhere you want to take him with no problems at all.  But what do […]

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Cats Dogs Life at Home New Pets Veterinary Care

The Latest on When to Spay or Neuter Your Pet

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Reading Time: 3 minutes When do you spay or neuter a dog or cat? For years, you’ve probably heard that the best age for this reproductive surgery is six months, but times change. Veterinarians and pet owners are taking a closer look at when it should occur. And the answer isn’t what you might think. For kittens, the answer […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home New Pets Training & Grooming

New Puppy? Socialization Starts Now!

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Reading Time: 3 minutes The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy skittered into class and ducked under a chair, trembling. It was Pip’s first night of puppy kindergarten, and he was terrified. After class, I chatted with his parents. “Your puppy is really shy,” I said. “Sixteen weeks is the latest we’ll take a puppy into this class, and he’s […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Training & Grooming

Puppy Primer: Start Your New Dog Off Right

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Is a puppy in your near future? Here’s how to make his transition from rescue organization or breeder to your home as easy as possible. Bringing a puppy home is a joyous time for the people in a family, and it should be for the puppy as well. Planning, play, training, and timing are all […]

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Dogs Life at Home Veterinary Care

Puppy with Upside-Down Paws Gets Helping Hand

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Milo

Reading Time: 4 minutes Surgery is only the first step in repairing an injury or defect. Ensuring that pets rest during recovery is essential to the process. So is rehab. Here’s what to know about successful recuperation, through the experience of a lucky pup. Milo looked like a normal puppy when he was brought to Oklahoma State University Veterinary […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Fears & Anxieties New Pets Training & Grooming

Fear, stress, and puppy brain development: what to know

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Reading Time: 4 minutes The dog brain is very different from that of wild dogs, so that in some ways puppies are born ready to fit into the human world. But the puppy brain still has a lot of developing to do after birth, and understanding that process is important to raising confident, well-adjusted dogs. It’s now generally believed […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Life at Home New Pets Training & Grooming

Gotcha! Why grabbing your puppy’s collar needs to be fun

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Sometimes you need to catch your puppy by the collar if he’s eating something dangerous or about to take a flying leap and you need to stop him quick. Here’s how to successfully teach him to like having his collar handled so he doesn’t respond aggressively during these incidents. “Time out!” I called. Seven people […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Training & Grooming

When “Fine” Isn’t

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Socialization can go wrong when people don’t recognize a puppy’s signs of fear. Here’s what to look for and how to avoid problems. “We don’t understand where this aggression came from,” the woman said, tears in her eyes. “We took her everywhere as a puppy like you’re supposed to do. She went with us to […]