When I was in veterinary school, I rotated through the behavior service. It's an elective, and interestingly enough not a particularly popular one; more's the pity for that. What percentage of relinquishments come on the tail end of a behavior issue that wasn't properly handled? (Answer: A whole lot.) Vets tend to avoid behavior stuff for a multitude of reasons: It's time consuming to work through a behavioral issue. It's complicated. Changing behavior isn't nearly as simple as ... Read more »
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Wordless Wednesday: uh oh
This can't end well. ... Read more »
Holy cannoli spicy guacamole
To steal my 4 year old son's favorite saying. It's been TWO YEARS since I started this blog! Two years since my inaugural post about the dog who pulled my shirt down in front of the surly bulldog owner, and it's been downhill ever since. Lots of things have changed, the passages of life we all deal with when we have animal companions, hellos and goodbyes and the like. Even those things that remain the same have evolved over time, my children growing up and teaching me about myself, the ... Read more »
Everyone Loves Pets
Some people take their kids to church on Sundays. Others take them to monster truck rallies. Me, I take my kids to as many animal related things as I can find. Sure, we try to fit in some culture here and there, and should they express an interest in attending a sporting event I'm sure we my husband will be happy to take them. But for now while they are young and subject to my whims, we do what I want, so we went to the San Diego Pet Expo this weekend. It was a fun place for the animal ... Read more »
Oh great, it’s you
I began my Sunday with a lovely walk through Balboa Park with Brody, my friend Star, and two of her gorgeous birds: a macaw and an African gray parrot. Brody was his usual "OH HI WOW I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE WORLD AND MEET YOU ALL" self, even at 8 in the morning, so Star suggested Brody take a jog around the dog park area before the walk to get out some of his exuberance. We headed down there and found the dog area surprisingly busy for 8 am, but the crowd was fairly sedate. I did say, ... Read more »
There are some angry people out there
As I get older, I am slowly coming to realize that all those mealy sounding platitudes and nuggets of wisdom from old people you conveniently ignored for the first three decades of your life are entirely correct. Number one: Whatever it is, it's probably not worth getting that worked up over. I get worked up more than I care to admit. For this reason I am grateful for my husband, who instead of feeding into my anxious energy tends to say something to make me feel like an idiot for being so ... Read more »
6 easy dog yoga poses (that you’re probably already doing)
Ever since I saw the local Doga group dog yoga session here in San Diego, I've been fascinated by the idea of dogs and yoga. Heck, even Bo the Presidential dog's gotten in on the act. Now, I watched that Bo video as well as the video of the San Diego 'doga' session, and I can't for the life of me figure out how the heck they got that many dogs to hold that still. I guess having a group of 15 pound dogs helps. In the spirit of adventure, I tried some of the stuff they recommended in that ... Read more »
Wordless Wednesday: BAD
I LOVE Shel Silverstein. ... Read more »
The Dog Ate My Fashion Sense
Oh, there were so many choices here, so many hideous items out there for us pet lovers. Where did we go wrong? Are we forever doomed to the land of fanciful vests and fanny packs, or is there still hope for redemption? The good news is everyone recognized "ugh" when they saw it, so I say yes, we should not despair. It took me some time to whittle down the choices, but I think it was worth the wait. So without further ado, I present to you in no particular order the finalists in the Inaugural ... Read more »
Airlines, young pets and the travel conundrum
This recent post over at Petopia about the tragic death of a young kitten who was being transported from Utah to Connecticut really made me sad. And then it made me angry. Here is the gist of things: A family purchased a hairless Sphynx from a breeder. On January 22, the breeder put the 11 week old kitten on a Delta flight from Utah to Connecticut. The plane landed in 7 degree weather, sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour, and, sadly, the cat died. This was totally preventable. TOTALLY. ... Read more »
