Subscriber Archive
A dog can act out in embarrassing, destructive, or even dangerous ways. If you could just teach them to stop those bad behaviors! Training can help but you’ll need to understand the problem in order to bring out the best.
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First in a series It was about 8 in the evening. I was juggling one appointment after the next, along with sick pets who needed to be worked into the flow. As usual I was falling hopelessly behind. I had already poked my head into the waiting room; it bordered on standing room. Then Martha interrupted me in the exam room. I’d been clear: our clients time with me was sacred. But I knew she would never break that rule without good reason. I excused myself from the wellness exam in progress and closed the door behind me. “Martha, what’s up?” Normally composed, she blurted out, “A dog just came in staggering badly with a whole lot of drool. She’s been vomiting on the way over. I think it’s an emergency.” In the treatment room Amos was already on it. Gently holding Alita, a tan and white spaniel mix, our…
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Do you live in a litter pan? OK, not really – but does it feel that way when you find cat urine around the house? I feel your pain; one of my cats is prone to this odious behavior. Nobody’s happy. Let’s get serious.
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Question: We have a 12 year old German Shepherd female who started chewing on her tail! She sits on it between her back legs and chews until the hair is chewed off and it sometimes bleeds! Is she just bored? She has 3 Min-Pins and a little terrier so she shouldn’t be bored and we give her a lot of attention as she is ‘Queen Bee’ at our place! Dr. Nichol: Your big elderly dog is not self-mutilating because she’s bored. She incessantly licks and chews her tail because it’s painful and possibly itchy. All that saliva plus heat from her thighs is a formula for a bacterial population explosion. Your girl’s attempts to heal her wound are causing it to worsen. Aging big dogs are more prone to painful arthritis than their pint-sized compadres. And if your German shepherd is like many spayed females of a certain age she may…
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Do you know an adolescent of full grown dog who still can’t find the bathroom? Maybes he eliminates outside sometimes but not always? Or you have a handyman dog – one who does odd jobs around the house and then makes a bolt for the door?
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Last in a series M. Scott Peck began his seminal book, The Road Less Traveled, with “Life is difficult.” Old Scott was right. Daisy, itchy to the point of agitation, felt trapped indoors whenever that arrogant racoon violated her yard, leading her to treat her affable roomie Astro like a feline punching bag. He, in turn, communicated his angst by spraying urine, the feline version of ‘talking it out.’ The humans in this political nightmare had assumed that their sofa soaker was their only problem pet. They finally understood that everybody’s life was difficult. Claritin reduced Daisy’s urge to crawl out of her skin while the Reconcile improved her anxiety. But that stinking pork-face varmint remained a burr under her saddle. Territorial by nature, she perched on the sill of her screened-in porch, smoldering over the neighborhood’s lax immigration policy. Sure, racoons have rights, like raiding trash cans for the…
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We love our pets like little people in furry suits but if they bite, chew, bark, or relieve themselves indoors they need to stop that @#%& right now, don’t they? Even if you’re not a violent person you could be tempted, but please don’t spank him. Way back in the day, I was an undergraduate student – a pre-veterinary major, at Michigan State University. Getting accepted to veterinary school someday in the future, required having math, physics, biology, and inorganic and organic chemistry blasted into my brain by fire hose. We also swallowed livestock sciences plus English and humanities. It was during this challenging time that I became fast friends with Connie and her significant other Lloyd. Connie and I, each aspiring veterinarians, shared an almost identical class schedule. We often studied together during the week and, well, we were college students, so there was some minor weekend partying which…
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Aggression and destructive behavior are not what we cat lovers have in mind when adopting a pet. Injuries and furniture damage have to stop! Hint: What feels best actually works better.
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Do you need to establish dominance over your dog so he’ll know that you’re in charge? Ah, no, you don’t. Dogs are not man’s and woman’s best friends because they fear us. In fact, they love us when our leadership inspires trust and security.
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