Videos
Bringing out the best in a cat or dog is a hands-on task. Seeing it in a video is often better than reading it. My goal with these videos is to make behavior management easier to understand and implement.
Avoid the Mess: Set your Cats Up for Success – The scent of urine in all the wrong places is a drag on everybody’s wellbeing – your cats’ and yours too. They need easy access to clean litter pans because they really hate stepping around in a stinky soggy mess, holding their little noses to get it over with as fast as possible.
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A peaceful existence is difficult for a lot of us in today’s world. Strife and acrimony should be rare. For a canine senior called Grace, getting up and around is becoming increasingly difficult; she has a bad back and structurally incorrect knees. But she runs and sniffs and eats and plays with the other free-ranging dogs. If you watch carefully you’ll see them making allowances, giving her a clear path. She is one of them. She belongs. Grace’s good life, as a disabled pint-sized member of a big, active canine social group, would seem anomalous but not if you understand…
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A scroungy stray kitten called for help and taught lessons. Live in the moment and listen. We’re all in this life together. Lifelines come when they are needed the most.
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Housetraining can feel like such a challenge that many people just give up and mop up. You can get so completely flummoxed and frustrated that you lose their patience. You can teach your spiffy new puppy – in just one day – where to find the dog bathroom. He’ll learn that all good things come from you. Get ready to be the benevolent and loving head honcho who controls the resources that you will be delighted to help your puppy learn to earn. I hope you find this information useful. You’re welcome to share this video with any of your…
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Can you choose the great feline friend who will be the excellent companion you have always wanted? I think you can if you follow an objective method. Allowing fate to make the call for you may work OK but you’ll want to avoid the cat who could make your life a living hell (or a living heck, if the cat is only moderately evil). Our cats’ wellbeing matters too. They need forever homes. Temperament testing the candidates is a matter of patience. Watch the litter politics being played out in front of you. Quietly let each baby sit in your…
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So what can you do if the dog who’s stolen your heart damages your house while you’re away-often? If you have a dog like this you can feel desperate. Dogs with separation anxiety can actually look forward to their alone time because that will be their chance to engage their innate survival instincts. I hope you find this information useful. You’re welcome to share this video with any of your pet-loving friends. If their dog is miserable when home alone or if they arrive to find their house damaged they’ll be glad for the advice. Each week I share a…
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It would seem logical to correct or punish a destructive cat but these apparently nefarious acts are actually part of the normal feline behavioral repertoire. Feliscratch is a synthetic analogue of the scratching pheromone that cats feel compelled to spread around their territories. Applying liquid Feliscratch, where you want your cat to scratch, will communicate in cat-speak that you actually want scratching and this is where you want it. Making it easy for a kitty to succeed is good pet-parenting and better for the spirit than angst and frustration.
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Teach her that good things come from the man in her life Some dogs are genetically programmed with low-status personalities. They can lose the heebie jeebies if a man ignores them as he drops a few small bits of tasty food. After he repeats this dozens of times he can reach down with a tender morsel-while completely ignoring the bunny at his feet. When she’s relaxed eating from his hand he can steal a glance at his little cupcake. Only when his new admirer confidently gazes up at him should he try slowly crouching next to her. I hope you…
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This is the story of Sherman, a well-loved cat with long-standing defensive-aggression in veterinary clinics. It was so bad that his people quit taking him for routine wellness exams. As a result his kidney failure wasn’t diagnosed until its advanced stage. It wasn’t that Sherman’s people didn’t feel that medical care was important; he just hated going. During one veterinary visit, the staff had taken Sherman to the treatment room for his vaccination booster. His folks heard their boy cry out. The next time routine care was needed, after a lot of pushing, shoving, coaxing, and cajoling to get Sherman…
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Hey-it’s a holiday. Let the good times roll! Maybe not for everybody. Some pets get badly unsettled and engage in unhealthy and dangerous behaviors because they’re nervous or scared. The racket from people they hardly know, moving around in their house can be a major fear trigger. Anybody coming near a stressed dog can cause her to raise her lips, growl, and maybe lunge and snap. They can be quick as a snake. For overwhelmed dogs it’s all about fear and a sense of overwhelm. It might seem natural to manage potentially dangerous behaviors with a stern reprimand or even…
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