I think that we as pet owners, we should give our special friends our undivided responsibility all year round.  Being a responsible pet owner should include the following:

Considering getting a pet?

- Study and learn all you need to know about certain breeds you are interested in.

_Consider adopting or rescue centres.

-Avoid buying from puppy mils, flea markets or other  shady places.

-If buying from a breeder, research their reputability.

If you already are a pet owner:

-spay or neuter your pet.

-Do more than provide food, water and shelter.

Give your pet lots of love and attention.

-Teach your children how to properly care for pets and how to play responsibly with them.

-Provide regular, daily obedience training to your dog.

-Keep your cat indoors.

-When taking your dog out for a walk, follow your town’s leash laws and pick up after them.

-At dog parks, follow posted rules.  Owners who don’t follow those rules can put the park at risk of being shut down. DON’T BE THAT GUY!

There are of course, many other ways to be a responsible pet owner.  But this is a good time to review the way you care for your pets, the routines you have fallen into

the training you have meant to start– and to plan new fun and activities for your pets and family.

We as lovers of our pets, whether it be birds, dogs, cats or what have you, tend to get carried away with our business of Christmas for the human efforts.

Just a  few things that pet lovers must remember to treat our special friends with the care they need.  There are things that our devoted friends must not be expected  to indulge in.  I know  that we tend  to forget this when we are planning the holidays, such as not leaving things like chocolate accessible  to our pets., by  leaving it around for the  for them to help themselves to, this is deadly for them.

Our pets are not humans, as much as we would like to think that they are, they see see us with things they would very much want.  Some are certainly not for them.  Leaving candy wrappers around with good smells , are also enticing to them and may cause big problems for them.

When decorating our trees, we must also remember that some decorations must not be placed on the tree in places that are accessible to them.

We purchase gifts for our pets that ,may or may not be realistic for pets.  When doing so, think about how good these gifts will be for our pets.

All of our thoughts are good intentions for our pets, however remembering those that have no homes and are the responsibility  of shelters, they would appreciate donations to help feed and shelter the ones that have been left with no warm bed or food to fill their bellies.  Our shelters would appreciate donations to assist them with their charges.

Enjoy your preparations for the holidays and be careful, with sensible thoughts for your pets.

Some people just do not get the fact that cats that have not been nuetered  can breed  within six months of age.  These cats are a problem with our special kittties ,who have been treated with tender loving care and the owners, have taken the time and love to have their cats neutered for reasons being.

We have a little female cat of which was neutered at young age, and is special to us.

One day we noticed that she had become very skittish and was refusing to go into the where she was fed and had a cozy bed for her to sleep in.  Well to our amazement , she had reason to be unsettled.

Someone had dropped off a male cat that they had trapped and didn’t do the right thing, and have this big tom looked after.  By the time we realized  the reason for our cat’s skittishness he had beaten her terribly.

Our solution was to keep our cat inside and trap this wild animal and had to take him to the authorities that would treat him properly.

It’s so so easy for some people to have the attitude of: out of sight out of mind!

I hope that if this is you , you are feeling guilty.

Be A Leader

Domesticated dogs have human friends as their pack, the same as the wolf packs, recognizing who is the leader.  It is very important that you take the role as leader in your relationship with your pet.  Most dogs recognize a leader and are constantly looking for acceptance from their leader.  That is why dogs fit into a family setting.

Listen To Your Dog’s Instincts

Barking is a natural behavior to keep intruders away.  It is a way of communicating a dog’s location to his pack, giving a heads up warning. Most of these behaviors can be trained out of domestic dogs.

Understand Why Accidents Happen

You might also notice, mostly when your pet is still in the puppy stage, that they will soil the carpet or other particular areas of  your home.  This also goes back to the days of the wild, when wolves would use their stool or urine to mark their territory.  This being critical to protect their pack from intruders.

I hope that this article will will help first time

pet owners to Understand why Dogs do what they do.

During the searching for loved ones we have somehow taken for granted the searching for lost people by unsung heroes “The Dogs” that worked tireless hours along with their masters.

I have just read a article on this subject in a local news  paper, telling of dogs who did just this.

Omar Rivera and Michael Hingson were  inside the World Trade Centre with their dogs Salty and Rosella.  Both men are blind, but when the plane hit the tower one, the guide dogs went to work.  With all the panic and commotion of thousands of fleeing people, guided their masters to safety and out of the building minutes before  the collapse of the building.

The first dog at the scene of the disaster, was a golden retriever named Bear.  He too worked tirelessly searching for survivors and victims.  Even though he never found survivors he recovered several victims.  Bear suffered from environment toxins later and died shortly after.

More than 350 dogs and their trainers came from the United States and Canada to assist in searching efforts at the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.  They came from police agencies and private search and rescue groups.

The dogs of 9/11 not only assisted in search and rescue but also served as therapy dogs.  They were of every imaginable shape and size and breed.  They provided comfort to many rescued workers, grieving families and desperate fire fighters that were forever changed by the disaster of the day.

HATS OFF TO THEM!