 There are lots of ways that people choose a new family dog. Some may search the newspaper for advertisements from breeders who are selling new puppies; others find breeders via listings on the internet, while still more may simply purchase a puppy from a local pet store. Perhaps the best method, however, in terms of being helpful to society in general is to adopt a dog from a local animal shelter. Adopting a dog brings a new friend into your life and it also helps to reduce the number of unwanted and homeless dogs in your area. Unless the shelter is a “no kill” facility (and these are sadly few and far between), it will also save a dog’s life. Animal lovers everywhere champion the adoption of dogs from shelters as opposed to any other method of bringing home a new pet for this reason alone, but there are other reasons to choose the adoption option. Add Comment  I have not finished this book but I had to recommend it to everyone right away. Anyone who has an older dog or has a dog approaching old age, read this book today! The faculty of Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University have done a wonderful job gathering basic information on everything you need to know about your aging dog and have presented it in a straightforward, easy to understand way. There are clear explanations of which situations are an emergency and what behaviors should be watched for. They begin with a breakdown of what is considered "old" for dogs and the general aging process. We have one copy available to borrow from our Library, or go buy yours today!  In a couple weeks I will be taking a course to become a PetTech Instructor. Over the next couple of months all of our sitters will take the course and become certified at which point I will begin offering these courses to the public! It is a great 8 hour course that covers:
I will be blogging and posting on Facebook about what I learn and I am very excite about our team learning all of these new skills. You can be sure that Sidehill Sitters are watching out for your pets with the best knowledge available! Learn more about the course and let me know if you would like to take a class in the future. I can contact your when we get the first class scheduled. Quinn and Tilly are two of our favorite pups! Here they are having a great time playing during one of our visits. Quinn sounds so fierce! I came across this video on my phone recently and had to share. This was taken just shortly before my pup Xander passed away so you can tell he does not feel great, but he and our cat Aislinn always got along wonderfully and this cleaning was almost a daily activity. Sorry for my terrible video skills! I am going out of town next month for a business trip, the first time I have been out of town in a year and a half. In order to get ready I have been planning for months. I have notified my sitters that they might need to do last minutes visits while I am gone. I have booked the hotel and flight. My husband and I have hired and trained a new employee for our retail store. My last thought was concern about my own pets as they are pretty simple and I have a handful of sitters that work with me, whoever is available will just watch my house, no biggie. Today I had some free time while being a dog valet for the winter farmer's market (that is another story), so I began to type up my pet sitter instructions on my little smartphone. After 3 pages I came to the realization that I am completely dilusional: I do not have easy pets! From scanning over the details on how to feed (different if you are staying or leaving), when to feed (3 or more times a day or they will throw up), etc, there is no other conclusion to be had than my pets are a handful! My dog Xander needs to be fed 3 times a day or he will throw up. He also needs to poop after the last feeding otherwise he will throw up. He will not poop unless you tell him to. What dog does this? Mine! The cat Aislinn recieves medication in frozen balls of wet food (prepared in large batches and hand rolled) which can only be given once a day when you are leaving. The fact that more than one will make her throw up does not prevent her from crying in the kitchen periodically in case you change your mind and want to give her another one. It is no wonder why I am never surprised when clients have special requests or leave a long list of instructions; no one is more particular than my house! I spend a lot of time walking dogs and see many other owner out walking their dogs. So often the owners are talking on their cell phones or otherwise not paying attention. I admit I can be guilty of the same thing when I am walking my dog but a couple of weeks ago I was reminded of how much we can learn from the dogs just by paying attention! I was walking a client's dog, a rescue she had recently adopted. As we were walking, a motorcycle came racing around the corner and I was surprised to see how excited the dog was! She was dancing at the end of her leash, her ears were up and she tried to follow the bike as it went past. We went on, me not thinking much of it, but I mentioned it to the owner in my note. Later I found out that the dog's name had been Harley when she adopted her! From that quick moment I was able to learn so much about her previous life, especially since she was excited to see the motorcycle rather than upset! It reminded me value the time I am walking my own dog as the special bonding time that it is. | Liana - owner of
|
RSS Feed