Food usually abounds at holiday time and Thanksgiving is a time we often want to share our warm feelings with our pets by offering food treats. Then too food left out at mouth access height can be impossible to resist temptation for a pet. The wrong kind of treat can make the holiday weekend extra long as you try to find an emergency vet instead of the best shopping spots so its best to be careful what treats your pets get.

• Make sure dips, and nuts, particularly macadamia nuts, are well out of reach. Don’t rely on the trash can to safely contain anything as scrumptious as turkey bones, ham rind, turkey skin or any sort of cooking fat etc. Foils covered with foods may also be consumed by a dog that smells only the yummy treat on the surface.
• If you want to share a treat with the dogs and cats then make sure it’s a low fat one. While turkey is not ‘poisonous’ to dogs or cats a sudden influx of fat from turkey skin or gravy can cause digestive upset so limit treats of turkey to small portions of the plain meat. Remember it doesn’t have to be a big amount to be a treat and small dogs and cats should only get a very little bit.
• For dogs a spoonful of squash or sweet potato can be a nice treat but skip the butter or sour cream! Avoid any chocolate, fatty foods such as green bean casserole, and of course onions are not a good idea even if the cream sauce is inviting.
• Make sure the pets are safely confined to where an open door will not mean an escape and where they can’t get on the laden table to help themselves while the humans are busy getting ready for the meal.
• Keep alcoholic drinks out of reach. While eggnog may be yummy to a pet’s nose the alcohol is apt to be a danger for the smaller body sizes of pets.
• Inform guests that the pets are not to be fed without asking you first as you don’t want them to get ill. For expert beggars you might want to add a nice bright bandana or t-shirt that says “Don’t Feed Me!” to remind company to ignore those melting eyes.

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We find Halloween fun and exciting but our pets may find it confusing and scary. Fear, anxiety, frequently opened doors and new unexpected household dangers can all be dangerous for our pets at Halloween. Below are some tips to keep your pet safe and happy.

Candy, especially chocolate, should be kept well out of reach from your pets. Not only is chocolate toxic to pets but wrappers, made of tin foil, Mylar and other plastic, can also get stuck in your pet’s throat or digestive tract causing choking or upset. There are plenty of safe, healthy treats you can give your pet on Halloween. Try to have some on hand so your pet can share in the fun without getting ill!

Choose costumes for pets very carefully if you dress them up. It’s best not to have your pet wear a costume unless you know they will accept it. If you plan to dress up your pet, practice ahead of time and use plenty of praise and treats while getting your pet used to the costume.  Be sure costumes are safe and will not choke, tangle, overheat or frighten your pet. Make sure the costume doesn’t block your pet’s view or hearing and that the nose and whiskers are not covered, plus be sure they can move freely.

Make sure your own costume doesn’t scare your pet. Give them time to see it and get used to you in your new ‘outfit’! We know that people are inside the costumes but a pet who isn’t expecting the new ‘look’ of the humans may get quite frightened by the people they meet who are dressed up in a way they’ve not seen before.

Be careful of holiday decorations. Jack-o-lanterns if they contain a real candle can be a hazard. Your pet might knock them over and get burned or start a fire. You might consider using a long lasting battery operated tea light or a light stick instead of a candle. Your pet might get tangled up in decorative lights or streamers and panic or choke. Be sure decorations are out of reach of paws and mouths!

Keep your pets inside or under your complete control or supervision. Pets can become easily frightened, especially with big groups of people in odd costumes and loud and unexpected noises. Pets can also easily become victims of bad ‘tricks’ played by trick-or-treaters if left outside and unattended.

When you open the door for trick-or-treaters, be very careful your dog, cat or other pet does not rush outside. For dogs, it may help to keep them in a separate room and provide a chew toy or long lasting treats, to help reduce stress and keep them entertained. Or you might want to make sure your entry is safely blocked with a baby gate. Nervous pets may do best safely confined away from the ‘scary’ door where they don’t have to deal with all the ‘intruders’.

With cats and other pets a closed door in another area of the house might be best. Be sure the cats have access to food, water and litter box as usual. Playing calm music or the television, in the room where the pets are confined, can help block some of the stressful sounds of trick-or-treating.

If you have to take your dog with you outside, make sure you use a short leash for the most control, and that your pet is highly visible at all times. Also make sure your pet doesn’t stop to eat anything off of the ground. Check your yard before letting the dog out even if you have a safely fenced yard. Candy or other things sometimes get tossed into yards and can cause trouble if your pet gets into them.

Make sure pets are wearing current identification. A pet that gets spooked and escapes will have a better chance at coming home safely with good identification on.

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Does your dog seem shy to you? Is your dog afraid to meet new people, new dogs, or walk in new areas? Does your dog jump away when something new is experienced?

Shyness in dogs has many causes. Sometimes it is due to lack of socialization when the dog was young. Those early weeks where the pup is learning about the world are a very important time for the pup to be introduced to as many things as possible so they become comfortable with them.

Sometimes a health issue makes the dog fearful due to a flood of hormones or possibly an illness. You might check a shy dog for health issues if you have not already done so. Thyroid problems, which are seen in many breeds and mixes, can cause behavior changes as can tick carried diseases for example. Checking for a health issue when temperament or behavior suddenly changes can be a good choice.

Sometimes shyness is inherited or possibly learned from the mom during the time in the uterus and the first weeks when mom cares for the pups. A pup that has inherited shyness and doesn’t get much socialization can have twice the problems to deal with.

A good reference site on coping with shyness is here

Often training designed to teach the dog how to cope with or handle new situations is a big help, as is desensitization training where you teach the dog that what was once considered scary can now be viewed as a great opportunity to earn rewards.

One training method that can help with that sort of confidence building is clicker training. You first teach the dog that the click means ‘that is right’ or ‘good’ or ‘yes’ and you then have a way to easily and quickly tell the dog which behavior is what you want. You can see some very good clicker training videos as you scroll down on this page past the ads to get an idea of the way the training works

If you prefer not to use a clicker then positive reinforcement with verbal praise may also work for you.

The way you would apply this type of training, to say a fear of new people situation, is to have a friend that the dog usually reacts to help you do the training by coming to where the dog can just see the person it fears. This may be a good distance away to start with.

When your friend appears you start clicking and treating the dog with small tastes of a favorite food item. Your friend then walks out of sight and then you cease the click and treat response. Gradually you build up to working the same way with the dog seeing other people, seeing people closer and you reward the dog only when strangers are near. The idea is that what was scary now becomes a source for good rewards. You can do this in your home also by having her on a leash while someone else answers the door for the friend to come in.This is of course only a brief overview and in person training help would be best for specific problems. http://www.apdt.com/ may help you find a trainer to work with or you may want to ask your vet for a referral to a veterinary behaviorist.

A veterinary behaviorist can not only give you a training plan but may also prescribe a medication for your dog. While meds on their own seldom cure a behavior problem, what they can do is to allow the dog to be calm enough for training to work. A dog can’t learn while petrified, as the mind shuts down with fear, so a veterinary behaviorist could decide the best option is to prescribe a med that reduces stress to allow the dog to learn as well as giving you a specific training plan to help your dog past any fears.

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Why on earth would anyone have ping pong balls in their bathtub, particularly in a home where there are no children? I can give you the answer in one word – Kittens!

While you and I might see a tub as a place for a shower or a bath, or as something that needs scrubbing, for the kittens the tub is their very own ‘half pipe’ where the ping pong balls roll up the sides and back down and all over, making marvelous noises and unpredictable turns, while never ‘escaping’ beyond landing in the drain hole. Well, every once in a while a strong hit sends one flying over the side of the tub but normally there is a human who handles the ‘offsides’ when they occur.

One can go out and buy all sorts of toys for pets but often the home made ones are just as amusing for the pet and much easier on our budgets. While I don’t make ping pong balls at home of course, they are pretty inexpensive at the Dollar type stores. The addition of placing them in the bathtub, or maybe a big box can make them hours of fun. Everyone of course knows that ping pong balls when left loose in the house tend to come to rest under low cabinets, furniture no cat can get under, or under the foot of some human who is not paying attention so I find the container idea works well. (Note: Do be careful if you also own dogs that are large enough to get a ping pong ball caught in their throat – keeping the cat toys away from larger dogs is usually the best choice.)

Other fun toys can be made from things you normally find in the home. For kittens a Q-tip with a paper stick center (the plastic ones are not so safe to use), a drinking straw, the rings off the neck of water or milk bottles where you take off the plastic cap, the old standard a toilet paper roll tube, sliced up paper towel tubes, or the cap to any smaller type container all can work as great toys. Plastic or paper bags also provide lots of amusement, as do hair scrunchies, ribbon and string. (Be careful that nothing gets swallowed.)

For dogs there are lots of entertaining things found at home too. A short length of natural fiber rope tying plastic milk jugs or juice bottles together can make a fun pull and chew toy. Scattering a few doggie treats inside the containers to rattle can add to the fun.

Pups can enjoy big boxes or even paper bags depending on their size. I’ve even snagged a packing crate from work, cut a couple of holes in the side for ‘doors’ and let pups play with that. I used the lid as a ramp to the top of the box. Of course you do have to check for protruding nails or splinters to make sure the box is safe.

Strips from old t-shirts or bathrobes or even sheets can be braided together to make toys for tug and fetch games. But you have to be sure your dog will not be mistaking your clothing as more of the same sort of toy so this isn’t a good idea if clothing is commonly left around your house within dog reach.

An oatmeal box, or a plastic peanut butter jar can make a good roll, rattle and shake toy with a few grains of kibble inside of it.

Of course for most dogs an appropriate sized bone provides lots of entertainment too.

With the addition of a length of stick and some string the old ‘boring’ soft toys that perhaps are now missing their squeaker can become a new chase interactive toy to play with. Many dogs enjoy chasing ‘prey’ that you move around with the ‘fishing rod’ much like cats and kittens do.

You can also stuff a toy the dog finds boring down into his kibble to make the toy smell much more enticing. A dog who might have little interest in the new tennis ball, for example, may find it lots more fun to chase and grab when it smells like food.

On a hot day ice cubes can be fun for a dog or pup. Some dogs are happy to play with plain bits of ice and others become more enthusiastic if the ice is flavored with a baby food meat or a spoonful of dog food dissolved in the solution before freezing. Just be careful not to add those to your own drinks!

Got any great ideas for home made pet toys? Tell us in the comments!

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A purebred dog or cat is one with a known heritage where all the ancestors were dogs or cats of the same breed. This known heritage can usually be tracked back through a pedigree on registered purebreds but it may only be word of mouth on the breeding background, plus the physical appearance and behavior of the particular animal that is being considered.

Some people mistake color differences as different breeds and some mistake cross breeds as a breed.

For example I recently saw an ad for a ‘mix’ between a black and yellow Labrador stating the pup looked just like a black Lab. And well it should look like a black Labrador Retriever as black, yellow, and chocolate are all simply colors of the same breed and the pup was not a mix at all even though its parents were different colors.

Another color difference often mistakenly described as a breed is seen in pit bull terrier type dogs. You might see ‘blue nose’, ‘red nose’ advertised as if they were different breeds from the other colors of pit bulls but they are not different in any way other than color. You may also see famous kennel names attached to certain dogs but this does not make them a different breed just the product of one kennel’s breeding program for the same breed. For example a Razor pit bull is not a new or different breed.

I also frequently see mixes advertised as purebreds. But the fact that they are mixed means they are not purebred anything.

A Siamese is a purebred but an ‘all black Siamese’ doesn’t exist and is most likely a cross between a purebred Siamese and some other type of cat.

A Pekingese is a purebred dog as is a Poodle but a Peke-a-poo is a mix not a new breed. Even if you breed two Peke-a-poos together you do not have a breed. It takes more than one generation to create a breed and its not as easy as it sounds to cross dogs and get consistent results.

The same holds true for a Labradoodle or GoldenDoodle these are simply mixes between purebred Poodles and Labradors or Golden Retrievers. While there was an attempt in Australia to create a new breed by these sorts of crossings, through many generations of breeding and careful selection of offspring for specific traits, it did not work and the breeding program was discontinued because they had no luck creating what they hoped for in a new breed.

It takes 6 generations of the dogs breeding true, to a type defined in a written standard, to be able to consider a dog a purebred. By true to type I mean the offspring mature as adults to look and act like the parents in most ways. Cat breeders have similar rules to follow.

You can see AKC standards for dogs here by clicking on the breed name

http://www.akc.org/breeds/complete_breed_list.cfm

And CFA standards for cats here

http://www.cfainc.org/breeds.html

While you can create a new type if you have a mutation to work with, for example American Hairless Terriers and curly coated cats, or a specific type in a standard that you can reproduce consistently, simply crossing already established breeds doesn’t do it.

When you are seeking a pet you can often weed out breeders and even rescues that are not the most informed, based on how they advertise. If they claim a mix is a breed, or that a purebred is a mix, or special because of its color, then you have a fair idea that this could be someone who isn’t really an expert on the animals they are trying to sell.

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Kitten season coincides with allergy season it seems. When kittens are most abundant, pollens and molds are everywhere in the air, so it’s naturally a time when many people are feeling their allergies the worst. You see it time and again kittens in the 10-12 week old age or a little older being offered again for a new home due to ‘allergies’ in the home that first adopted them. But is it the kitten itself that is causing the problem?

After 20 years we lost our old cat, though we still had our ‘young’ cat, the 13 year old, when we brought home our new kitten. Suddenly allergies were a serious issue. Was it just the timing as July and August are often peak allergy times for us, or was it the new kitten?

There seemed to be an awful coincidence that every time the kitten was on my chest (he likes to snuggle near your face) that my eyes were watering, my head was clogged, and I was sneezing! The reaction lingered on just like the fur from his kitten coat stuck to my shirt. How could this be? I’ve even been tested for allergies and I’m not allergic to cats (just everything else) according to those tests done some years back anyway! I take allergy pills on a daily basis as it is, so what more could I do?

Then a discussion with my husband brought a new fact to light. He had not been able to get our regular cat litter. He had purchased a different brand because kittens use a lot of litter and he didn’t want to run out. As the litter boxes were in the cellar workshop, and as he is the one who cleans them, I had no idea that he had purchased scented cat litter! My horrible allergic reaction might be from the litter not the cat!

Kittens use a cat box far more than an adult cat does and some, like mine, play or lie in the box playing stalking games. My adult cat uses the box a couple times a day and a couple times overnight normally, and is in the box far less often than the new kitten is. The kitten was pretty thoroughly soaked in the cheap perfume scent from the new cat litter. Perfume is something I know I’m allergic to!

A change in litter to unscented again, a good wash of the cat boxes (which still have a hint of that pervasive perfume anyway) before putting the new litter in them and suddenly I’m not so allergic to the kitten anymore. Now that I’m not quite so stuffed up I can smell the odor of the perfume faintly still on my kitten’s coat and can only hope that the scent wears off the boxes and him soon.

So if you are having an allergic reaction to a new cat, and have had cats with no problem before, you might consider checking out what you are using for a cat litter and see if it is the litter that is bothering you and not the new kitten! It might be that it is the perfume in the litter, or a high dust level from the brand you chose, that is aggravating your or a child’s allergic reaction!

As the cat litter goes away when the kitten leaves it would thus appear that you were allergic to the kitten but maybe it really was the cat litter! It’s worth checking that possibility out before you have to give up your new pet!

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Ick! Ticks! I know that is always how I’ve felt when I found one on a pet. Typically my dogs come and bother me any time there is a tick on them, insisting that I remove it. I suspect all that stuff about mutual hunting and dogs hanging around the camp dump and ending up with humans is a simple disguise for the fact our dogs know we have fingers and that we know how to use them! But fingers are not the best way to remove ticks.

The easiest way to remove ticks is to apply a drop on tick medication, such as Frontline or Revolution, or one of the collars containing Amitraz such as Preventic or Tick Detach.  An excellent set of tables showing the products that control fleas and ticks with their pluses and minuses can be found here: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=545 (it says flea products but it shows tick effective products in the second table).

The collars containing Amitraz really do work, but the risk is that, if your dog chews one, it is really toxic so it’s not always best to use these on pets in a home where dogs grab collars while wrestling or try to chew off their own collar. It’s also not safe to use them if your cat washes your dog. In general within 24 hours of the products being used the ticks are dead or dying and will detach and fall off.

But if you do not have access to a tick prevention product and you want that tick off the dog the best method of removal is to use a tick remover tool or a pair of tweezers and get right down near the skin to pull on its head. You pull gently upwards until the head comes out of the skin. Drop the tick or ticks in a previously prepared small lidded container that has rubbing alcohol in it. Plan to throw the tightly shut container away ticks and all when you are done.

You want to make sure to NOT squeeze the tick’s body as that can push fluids into your dog increasing risks of infection. You also want to keep your hands away from any fluids in the tick for the same reason. People can also catch tick carried diseases.

During removal all too often the head comes off the tick no matter how careful you are when pulling upwards on it. The dog’s skin will eventually reject the tick head and it will come off, often with the scab that forms at the site. To avoid skin infection, and to limit infections from the bite whether the head comes out or not, you can apply some Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic ointment to the area or clean the spot with Betadine (or generic Povidine) solution.

• Check the bite spot over the next couple of days to see if it needs more antibiotic ointment or cleaning.
  
• Watch for signs of tick carried illness in your dog and be sure to screen for them when you do your annual vet visit even if you see know signs.
  
• Typically it takes 36 or more hours of attachment for the tick to transfer disease to your dog (if that tick has one to pass on) so keeping up with checks for ticks limits chances of infection as does use of a prevention on a regular basis during tick season.
  

You can read about tick carried diseases in dogs here:   http://mirage-samoyeds.com/tick.htm there is an excellent FAQ on the topic.

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When it comes to taking medicine some dogs are easy and some are a challenge. Because my most challenging dog is a wily female I’ll talk about ‘her’ in this but the methods apply to male dogs as well!

There are ways to get pills into even the most suspicious of dogs.

Before your dog eats is often a good time to sneak a pill in a treat while the dog is hungry enough to be extremely interested in a taste thrill.

The way I do this for suspicious dogs is I set up three treats of something the dog really likes that can hold the pill inside. This could be cheese, a hot dog slice, a bit of chicken liver, canned dog food, liverwurst, canned cat food – whatever the dog adores that will hide the pill inside it.

Some people find putting the pill in one of the pill pockets and then hiding the pocket inside a better tasting treat works too.

With the three treat method, the first treat is small and will have no pill in it. You hand the dog that one to eat and check out how wonderful the flavor is. Just as she finishes that first tiny taste, you hand her the medium sized pill filled treat and then, as she grabs that, you shove the third treat right in front of her nose, all set for her to grab just as soon as she bolts down the one with the pill in it. When you stick that third treat right in front of her nose, she should gulp the second pill filled treat to grab the third one. If you have a second dog the competition for the food treat can make the ill dog gulp even faster. Don’t forget to give the healthy dog a reward too to keep the competition up.

You do have to figure out what it is the dog really likes for treats. Some people find a lower level treat followed by a higher value treat, followed by the ultimate treat, which the dog would turn inside out for, helps the process along. So a bit of cheese, then some hot dog with the pill followed by some liverwurst might work for one example of escalating value treats.

Appealing to greed usually works.

But if she is too smart for that, and some dogs can spit a pill from a treat faster than you can read the words about her doing it, then you can get the pill in a more forceful way.

Stand behind the dog with her sitting between your legs. For big dogs you can stand and for smaller dog sitting can work. Raise her muzzle up at moderate angle and with your fingers roll the upper lips in over the upper teeth on either side to hold the mouth open. The lips covering the surface of the teeth should keep the dog from biting down on your fingers.

Stick the pill down the throat as far back as you can get it, almost into the throat, and shut the mouth (release the lips as you close the mouth so the dog isn’t biting herself). Keep the muzzle angled up a little, the mouth shut, and stroke the throat until the dog swallows. The moment the dog swallows the pill you praise her to high heavens and then hand her a good treat to be the ‘spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down’.

If you have an eye dropper, dosing syringe, or a sports bottle you can add a squirt of water to the mouth, putting it in right after the pill is given, or by squirting it along the rear inside of the lips when the mouth is shut, to help prompt swallowing and to wash the pill down the throat so it doesn’t stick in the mouth saliva.

You can try the same hide it in a treat trick for liquid meds if the volume given is small enough. For liquids you can also use a variation of the pilling technique too. Tilt the dog’s muzzle up. Slide the dosing dropper inside the cheek of the dog between the teeth and cheek. Drip the liquid med in near the rear teeth. Keep the head up until swallowing happens. The liquid medicine should seep around the back teeth to the throat forcing the dog to swallow it all.

One warning, releasing the head before the dog swallows can result in a coating of liquid medicine all around the room and even on you! This typically happens when you are dressed for work and the meds are brightly colored!

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The Fourth of July is coming and summer thunderstorms are already being heard. Does your dog fear loud noises? Does your pet frantically try to get away or hide? Is your dog at risk for being one of the many missing pets after 4th of July weekend celebrations that include fireworks?

You might want to discuss with your vet considering what melatonin may do for reducing or eliminating your dog’s fears. It can work for noise phobic dogs to help them be calmer and you can then work on training to gain a more appropriate response to the scary loud noises.

Dr.’s Dodman and Aronson at the Tufts behavior clinic have found melatonin works in better than 80% of dogs with serious noise phobias including thunder, fireworks and even dogs that are overly reactive to other noises such as birds or machinery.  You can read about use of this hormone for noise phobias in dogs here

On this site they discuss melatonin and other therapies that may work for some dogs.  While some people just try melatonin it is advisable to make sure your vet is in agreement that this is safe for your special dog. With the other remedies on this  site I’d be very careful to not try any of them without making sure your vet agrees. Wrap therapy could be dangerous for a dog in warm weather for example and could be dangerous for a dog with a heart or breathing issue.

I’d also not trust a dog loose and unleashed outside no matter what remedy you are trying (many dogs escape from fenced yards when terrified by loud noises), and not totally rely on any of them to make up for the presence of a trusted human to help reduce the dog’s fears.

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Does your dog or pup have a mistaken idea of who is in charge of the house? Does he or she think the dog rules over all of you?

Does your dog get angry or upset if you try to leave the ‘pack den’?

Does your dog act like all the toys and food are his and that no one else gets to have it if he wants it?

This is not an uncommon problem with strong personality dogs of any size and frequently the smaller ones get away with it so long they believe they rule the world.

Dogs do like to be the boss if they can. They may see children as low ranking ‘puppies’ that can be bullied or your spouse as a lower ranking pack member..

You can change your dog’s mind about who the pack leader is and who makes the rules. Probably your dog has had lots of practice thinking about your relationship in the wrong way so it will take some time to convince the dog that you humans are the leaders.

One thing that can help change a dog’s view on you is using the nothing in life is free program which you can read about here.

This is a non violent way of putting yourself in the leader role. Think of it as making him say please and thank you instead of demanding what he wants. I sometimes think of this as the old joke that ‘if mama is happy everybody is happy!’ and NILIF works to make sure mama is happy!

If you have problems leaving the house, then instead of trying to punish your dog’s behavior just before you leave try settling the dog down with something good and distracting. Many people like a food stuffed Kong type toy for this.

When you come home do not make a big fuss of your dog but instead ignore your pet for those first few moments and then greet only when the dog calms down.

If your dog grabs items and holds them ‘hostage’ from you here is an article that discusses a way to get the dog to allow you to remove things he should not have such as the toys or juice bottles etc.

Changing behaviors is not easy and often is not quick, but I can tell you that working with the dog is your best chance at changing any behaviors you are dealing with and need to change and training is far better than putting up with behaviors you do not like.

Rewarding right behavior can be a huge help to changing a dog’s attitude about doing what you want and can making living with your pet in your home far more pleasant for you and your family.

Some people find that clicker training helps them quickly tell the dog yes that is right and speeds this sort of communication along. This site has clicker training demonstration videos so you can see how the training works.

You may also find some good positive type (i.e. not punishment) training clues here for specific issues.

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