Cait was on her fourth hour of homework when she looked over at me wearily and said, Tell me something profound, Mom. She shoved her geometry book aside in protest, propped herself up on her elbows and said, “All these math problems I’m doing are so meaningless. Who cares?
Slogging through my own pile of homework, her question jolted me upright. But I quickly regrouped, I knew exactly what she was asking:
So you’re thinking you might want to throw in with a dog lover? Let me share a few helpful DO’s and DON’T’s to help smooth the way.
Kiera, my Australian Shepherd, has a vocabulary of a hundred or so individual words and a couple dozen expressions — last time I counted. On the one hand it makes life much easier for me. For instance, I can just tell her to go get Cait for dinner, instead of yelling upstairs. Or I can ask her to help me find my other shoe that Graidy, my Border Collie mix, has hidden somewhere. The “helpful” list goes on and on. … Read More
Amuse themselves by putting on skating shows for the only friends to be found for miles — their animals.
(That’s Finn sitting on the fence post.)… Read More
Continuing with Andrew’s question for The Mail Bag: In my last post, I talked about some of the different factors that could trigger a dog to bite when on its own property. It boiled down to roughly three categories: a dog protecting its turf (including people, objects, and food); a dog undersocialized and/or uncertain or afraid of novelty (whether processed through smell, sight, or hearing); a dog in pain.
More than 4.5 million people get bitten every year, in … Read More
From the mailbag: Andrew writes: “In just the last couple of months I’ve had two scary run-ins with dogs and wish I knew what the reason was. The first incident happened when I was visiting a client for the first time and the dog came out and bit me hard on the leg. This was chalked up to the family’s new baby as it must have been protecting the family. But then today – visiting another new client and an … Read More
Most of us have wills providing for our significant others and children in the event something happened to us. But what about our animals?
If you were in an accident, or delayed from getting home from a trip, or you suddenly died, what would happen to your animals? Do you have a plan in place? Do you have people lined up and willing to step in and help? Have you set aside the resources to pay for food, vet care, … Read More
When is the right time to bring a new puppy or dog into the family?
Rarely is someone in the position of being in the perfect time/perfect place — home most of the time, big fenced yard, older or no children, significant dog experience, familiarity and experience with the intended breed, etc. But there are varying degrees of “the right time” based on the individual’s experience and life situation, which should include some combination of the aforementioned.
There are also … Read More
