Theres a horse show across the state in a few weeks, and youre planning on being there with your horses. However, its been awhile since you last pulled a horse trailer, and youre a little concerned about your trailering skills. After all, you want to arrive at your destination safely, with the horses as calm and relaxed as possible.

Guiding a loaded horse trailer down a country road or highway requires practical experience and know-how. Theres very little room for error. What do you do to ensure a safe, uneventful journey?

How to Ensure Safe Trailering

If youre out of practice, or if youve never towed a trailer before, obtaining adequate personal experience prior to the actual event is of the utmost importance. Just as if you were learning to drive for the first time, you should begin by practicing basic driving skills before getting out in traffic with the trailer.

The more experienced you become, the more prepared you will be for anything that may potentially happen. With more confidence and a higher level of awareness and preparedness, you should be better able to handle any unexpected situation that comes along.

Find a level field or a parking lot in which to practice. Mark your course with several highway cones, then, set out to work on the following driving skills:

Ready for the Highway

After youve practiced all the basic driving skills while pulling your horse trailer and you feel confident in your ability to handle the rig safely, youre ready to test your skills out on the road.

Try towing your trailer for short distances, at first. Make sure that you feel comfortable with turning corners in traffic, with backing your trailer, with parking on a grade, and with being able to stop your trailer quickly (should the need arise). Once you are confident in your towing abilities, youre ready to travel any distance with your horses.

Just remember to always be alert when out on the roads. Drive defensively and be prepared for any possible situation.

More articles at articles on database

Theres a horse show across the state in a few weeks, and youre planning on being there with your horses. However, its been awhile since you last pulled a horse trailer, and youre a little concerned about your trailering skills. After all, you want to arrive at your destination safely, with the horses as calm and relaxed as possible.

Guiding a loaded horse trailer down a country road or highway requires practical experience and know-how. Theres very little room for error. What do you do to ensure a safe, uneventful journey?

How to Ensure Safe Trailering

If youre out of practice, or if youve never towed a trailer before, obtaining adequate personal experience prior to the actual event is of the utmost importance. Just as if you were learning to drive for the first time, you should begin by practicing basic driving skills before getting out in traffic with the trailer.

The more experienced you become, the more prepared you will be for anything that may potentially happen. With more confidence and a higher level of awareness and preparedness, you should be better able to handle any unexpected situation that comes along.

Find a level field or a parking lot in which to practice. Mark your course with several highway cones, then, set out to work on the following driving skills:

Ready for the Highway

After youve practiced all the basic driving skills while pulling your horse trailer and you feel confident in your ability to handle the rig safely, youre ready to test your skills out on the road.

Try towing your trailer for short distances, at first. Make sure that you feel comfortable with turning corners in traffic, with backing your trailer, with parking on a grade, and with being able to stop your trailer quickly (should the need arise). Once you are confident in your towing abilities, youre ready to travel any distance with your horses.

Just remember to always be alert when out on the roads. Drive defensively and be prepared for any possible situation.

More articles at articles database

I have kept up many aquariums (marine and freshwater) during my years of aquarium maintenance. It was more of a challenge than my personal aquariums as many of customers overfed or did not tell me fish were sick until it was too late. That is why prevention is the best remedy.

[1 Cleanliness; regular quality water changes are extremely important. By quality I mean to not over clean the water by taking fish out and washing the gravel. You want to use a gravel vacuum and do partial water changes that disrupt the fish as little as possible. The purpose of this is to remove organic debris before it can fully go through the Nitrogen cycle, eventually increasing your Nitrates and lowering your ph. You also want to dechlorinate the water so as to not stress out the fish or environment. There are many good products for this: Novaqua, Start Right, Stress Coat, just to name a few.

[2 Good filtration. I recommend two filters for redundancy, and I never totally throw out all media, rather I rinse part of the filter media in used aquarium water so as to preserve beneficial (aerobic) bacteria for proper biological filtration (ammonia and nitrite removal).

[3 Use ultra violet sterilization. UV sterilizers prevent many bacterial, fungal, and protozoa diseases. In addition they help with oxidation properties (Redox Potential) of the water and in so doing, water clarity.

[4 Do not overfeed! Use quality, aquatic based foods, not foods high in cereal, beef proteins and fats, and soy proteins. Some good brands: HBH, Ocean Nutrition, Blue Lagoon, Sanyu, Hikari, Spirulina 20, Omega. Some brands to avoid: Tetra, Hartz.

[5 Watch water chemistry, such PH, ammonia (0), nitrites (0), nitrates (below 30 ppm), hardness, KH (80 ppm or higher), ECT. Note that ammonia is more toxic at a higher ph!

[6 When you do treat for disease, do not over medicate or under medicate, then change water. Medicated wonder shells work well for ich and are buffered, which makes one of the active ingredients; malachite green, safer (malachite green is more toxic at lower ph). There are many other excellent treatments such as Pimafix (a great Natural remedy for fungus and flexibacter.

[7 When you purchase fish; First make sure all the fish in the aquarium are healthy (if the fish store has a centralized system [which I do not recommend, check ALL the aquariums). Second, float your fish in the bag for 30-60 minutes for temperature and osmotic stabilization, then open the bag and SLOWLY add your aquarium water to the bag. Third, dispose of the water in the bag to avoid contamination. Fourth, add a shock preventative like Novaqua, ECT.

By Carl Strohmeyer

http://aquarium-info.blogspot.com/

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/

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Theres a horse show across the state in a few weeks, and youre planning on being there with your horses. However, its been awhile since you last pulled a horse trailer, and youre a little concerned about your trailering skills. After all, you want to arrive at your destination safely, with the horses as calm and relaxed as possible.

Guiding a loaded horse trailer down a country road or highway requires practical experience and know-how. Theres very little room for error. What do you do to ensure a safe, uneventful journey?

How to Ensure Safe Trailering

If youre out of practice, or if youve never towed a trailer before, obtaining adequate personal experience prior to the actual event is of the utmost importance. Just as if you were learning to drive for the first time, you should begin by practicing basic driving skills before getting out in traffic with the trailer.

The more experienced you become, the more prepared you will be for anything that may potentially happen. With more confidence and a higher level of awareness and preparedness, you should be better able to handle any unexpected situation that comes along.

Find a level field or a parking lot in which to practice. Mark your course with several highway cones, then, set out to work on the following driving skills:

Ready for the Highway

After youve practiced all the basic driving skills while pulling your horse trailer and you feel confident in your ability to handle the rig safely, youre ready to test your skills out on the road.

Try towing your trailer for short distances, at first. Make sure that you feel comfortable with turning corners in traffic, with backing your trailer, with parking on a grade, and with being able to stop your trailer quickly (should the need arise). Once you are confident in your towing abilities, youre ready to travel any distance with your horses.

Just remember to always be alert when out on the roads. Drive defensively and be prepared for any possible situation.

More articles at articles host

Canine Possession Aggression

Canine Possession Aggression……..object guarding, this is the act of aggressively protecting objects such as toys, pigs ears, rawhide chews, bones, or articles that the dog has found or stolen, such as socks shoes underwear tissues and human food.

The ears going back will be part of typical body language relating to this behaviour. The dog then will go into a crouch over the object, displaying a whale eye, that is the head turned away but the eyes are swivelled back towards you the perceived threat to his possession, the whites showing, you may also find the lips are slightly pulled back almost in a grin. Look at pictures of whales and you will see why whale eye gets its name. Mine! All Mine.

So why would the dog want to protect these objects? Simple answer is that its normally a learned experience. Either it is a reaction from their siblings taking and tugging objects away at an early age, or we teach them this behaviour by our actions and reactions. As a puppy, your dog wandered through parts of the house, picking up and investigating any little object left lying around. However as soon as he picked up something we did not want him to have, we immediately snatched this precious possession away.

Before long, our intrepid pup would pick up an object then run away so we couldnt take away his find, he would scamper either to another room, the garden, under or behind a table, settee, or chair anywhere where we could not easily relieve him of his treasure.

So what do we do? We follow him to wherever he has hidden away, shouting leave it, or drop! What does the little monster do, he whale eyes you and starts to growl. He has now learned a couple of very valuable lessons.

1.When you give a command, he does not always need to

obey.

2.If he shows aggression, you back off. And by our

actions, we have successfully taught him to resource

guard.

Advice?
Well meaning friends and of course the inimitable doggy experts. You will find these in abundance in any park, street, pub or internet forum, they will tell you to grab the dog by the scruff of the neck then forcibly remove the object, put the dog into an alpha roll position, or give it a good thump. The tips and advice are endless. If you analyse them all you will find that nearly every suggestion will be confrontational, these methods will inevitably have the exact opposite effect to what you are hoping to cure.

What you will rarely be told is to train the dog so that it wants to give up the object, that the dog will think it is fun and rewarding to let you have these treasured articles back.

Start Early
Your puppies and adult dogs should be used to having their mouth touched, when you then wish to remove something it isnt seen as confrontational. From the day you get your dog, either as a puppy or adult dog, brush his teeth, play with his flews (the floppy bits on the upper lip), open his mouth, check his tonsils, look down his throat, do this in a positive fun way with lots of praise and the occasional treat.

Purchase a long rawhide knot or bone. Hold on to one end of the knot while the dog chews on the other. He may want to play tug, but just hold do not pull away, in time he will get used to your presence and relax and just chew.

It is important for your dog to view you as the provider of all good things. You can do this by tightly controlling the dog’s environment. Keep all but one or two toys up off the floor and take the others down only when you want to play. Make sure you offer an item with a command like Take it. When you are tired of the game (you that is, not the dog), tell the dog to Drop or Dead Give him another item or treat in exchange, and then pick up the first object and put it away.

Do you know your dog’s likes and dislikes? Compose a list of all the things your dog really enjoys including food, toys, treats and activities, rank them in a hierarchical order, In exchange for dropping the first item give your dog a second, better item. For instance, if tennis ball retrieving is third on your dog’s list, reward him with cheese, frankfurter or puffed jerky for dropping the tennis ball. If your dog attempts to pick up a bit of rubbish in the street, command him to drop and then throw or give him his tennis ball.

Give a Cue
Teach the word dead, drop, or give, do it in a fun way with a happy high silly voice. Start by allowing him to have something that is not so valuable then trade with him for his favourite treat, what is his favourite treats or game? Do you really know your dog’s likes and dislikes?

This is fine for teaching young pups or dogs that are not presently guarding but what about ones that are already way down the road of resource guarding. Training a young puppy is relatively easy. Re-training an older dog is more difficult, but not impossible.

Trade and Reward
Firstly take away all objects the dog is guarding, that could be toys, tissues, chews, bones, pigs ears or sleeping places, that includes beds, sofas or chairs. You may not be able to move the latter but you can cover it, put a box or something else on it that will restrict access. Do not allow access to these precious resources a number of days.

You need to prepare for the next stage if the guarding is articles such as toys chews bones etc, prepare some of the dogs really favourite treats, cheese or frankfurter tends to be high on the list. Then get a low value object, it may be a tissue or a sock, a pigs ear for instance may be perceived as high value. Try to be slightly to the side of the dog rather than face on and relax, take the tension you may feel out of your body as the dog will both smell and sense your fear and this could trigger a reaction.

Offer the object to the dog but try and keep hold of it as the dog takes it, use whatever release command you have decided on it could be dead drop leave or trade immediately produce the tasty treat from behind your back and exchange. Praise when the exchange takes place and give back the object you first exchanged.

Set scheduled times to repeat this exercise at least four times a day but also just do it in opportune moments. Gradually up the anti of treasured goods. Over a period of time the dog will start to look forward to your approach and game. It is at this time that you give your dog the object and walk away, at first come back immediately and trade gradually making the time and distance you walk away longer, until you clearly see the dog is having no problems with your approach whatsoever. Then only give a treat every third time, then every tenth, take the object away and immediately give it back extending the period on this until the guarding behaviour disappears.

As with food guarding, you want to build a positive association around people approaching the objects being guarded. The dog needs to understand that approaching people and the removal of objects can be positive and rewarding. Location or Bed Guarding

This is not always as simple as it may seem, as the severity or incidence may be related to who is approaching. It may be that a woman can approach the bed or sleeping place but not a man, an adult but not a child. It is not always tied to the object being guarded, but more to the relationship or lack of it of the person approaching the resource.

Sometimes this behaviour manifests itself when we try to move the dog off a sofa or when we handle or stroke the dog. It is worth in these cases making sure the dog is not ill or in pain as this could stimulate aggressive reactions.

As with other forms of guarding, make this a positive experience. Gauge how far you can approach before any aggressive reaction occurs. Initially keep to this distance and as you pass throw a treat, praising the dog at the same time. Make sure you do not praise or treat if there is growling or any show of aggression. Gradually decrease the distance over a period of time, do not rush the exercise, if the dog starts to react go back a few steps and start again. Change your angle of approach and the person who is approaching. Always try not to approach head on come in at an angle from the side give lots of verbal praise for a calm and passive reaction from the dog.

Maintain the Status Quo
Over time your pet will come to realise that your approach is a positive experience and the guarding will hopefully cease. However if it starts up again repeat the exercise. You should practice once a week exchange or trade, for the remainder 0of the dogs life.

If you are already at the point where the dog has actually bitten you, then I would suggest you get professional help. This should be from a behaviourist or a trainer who understands aggression. You should look for one that comes to your house. I never understand how professionals can assess your dogs behaviour from the confines of a vets or an office. The dog reacts very differently when out of its own environment. Stan Rawlinson

24 July 2005

Stan Rawlinson.
Dog Behaviourist & Trainer
www.doglistener.co.uk
enquiries@doglistener.co.uk
H 0208 979 2019
M 07976 153161

Stan Rawlinson Dip MTCBPT. PAACT
Dog Behaviourist and Obedience Trainer, who has owned and worked dogs for over 25 years, starting with gundogs then moving to the behavioural and obedience side of training companion dogs. He now has a successful practice covering Greater London, Surrey, and Middlesex.

Stan is recommended by numerous Vets, Rescue Centres, and Charities. He writes articles and comments on behavioural issues and techniques for dog magazines including Our Dogs, Dogs Monthly, K9 Magazine, Shooting Times, Pet Talk and Pet Owner Magazine. He is also a behavioural spokesman for Disney and has appeared on Television, Radio and in National Newspapers on many occassions

Stan Rawlinson
Telephone: 0208 979 2019
Mobile Number: 07976 153161
E-mail:enquiries@doglistener.co.uk
http://www.doglistener.co.uk
Founder Member
PAACT
Professional Association of Applied Canine Trainers
Membership Number 101
http://www.paact.co.uk

More articles at free articles database

Canine Possession Aggression

Canine Possession Aggression……..object guarding, this is the act of aggressively protecting objects such as toys, pigs ears, rawhide chews, bones, or articles that the dog has found or stolen, such as socks shoes underwear tissues and human food.

The ears going back will be part of typical body language relating to this behaviour. The dog then will go into a crouch over the object, displaying a whale eye, that is the head turned away but the eyes are swivelled back towards you the perceived threat to his possession, the whites showing, you may also find the lips are slightly pulled back almost in a grin. Look at pictures of whales and you will see why whale eye gets its name. Mine! All Mine.

So why would the dog want to protect these objects? Simple answer is that its normally a learned experience. Either it is a reaction from their siblings taking and tugging objects away at an early age, or we teach them this behaviour by our actions and reactions. As a puppy, your dog wandered through parts of the house, picking up and investigating any little object left lying around. However as soon as he picked up something we did not want him to have, we immediately snatched this precious possession away.

Before long, our intrepid pup would pick up an object then run away so we couldnt take away his find, he would scamper either to another room, the garden, under or behind a table, settee, or chair anywhere where we could not easily relieve him of his treasure.

So what do we do? We follow him to wherever he has hidden away, shouting leave it, or drop! What does the little monster do, he whale eyes you and starts to growl. He has now learned a couple of very valuable lessons.

1.When you give a command, he does not always need to

obey.

2.If he shows aggression, you back off. And by our

actions, we have successfully taught him to resource

guard.

Advice?
Well meaning friends and of course the inimitable doggy experts. You will find these in abundance in any park, street, pub or internet forum, they will tell you to grab the dog by the scruff of the neck then forcibly remove the object, put the dog into an alpha roll position, or give it a good thump. The tips and advice are endless. If you analyse them all you will find that nearly every suggestion will be confrontational, these methods will inevitably have the exact opposite effect to what you are hoping to cure.

What you will rarely be told is to train the dog so that it wants to give up the object, that the dog will think it is fun and rewarding to let you have these treasured articles back.

Start Early
Your puppies and adult dogs should be used to having their mouth touched, when you then wish to remove something it isnt seen as confrontational. From the day you get your dog, either as a puppy or adult dog, brush his teeth, play with his flews (the floppy bits on the upper lip), open his mouth, check his tonsils, look down his throat, do this in a positive fun way with lots of praise and the occasional treat.

Purchase a long rawhide knot or bone. Hold on to one end of the knot while the dog chews on the other. He may want to play tug, but just hold do not pull away, in time he will get used to your presence and relax and just chew.

It is important for your dog to view you as the provider of all good things. You can do this by tightly controlling the dog’s environment. Keep all but one or two toys up off the floor and take the others down only when you want to play. Make sure you offer an item with a command like Take it. When you are tired of the game (you that is, not the dog), tell the dog to Drop or Dead Give him another item or treat in exchange, and then pick up the first object and put it away.

Do you know your dog’s likes and dislikes? Compose a list of all the things your dog really enjoys including food, toys, treats and activities, rank them in a hierarchical order, In exchange for dropping the first item give your dog a second, better item. For instance, if tennis ball retrieving is third on your dog’s list, reward him with cheese, frankfurter or puffed jerky for dropping the tennis ball. If your dog attempts to pick up a bit of rubbish in the street, command him to drop and then throw or give him his tennis ball.

Give a Cue
Teach the word dead, drop, or give, do it in a fun way with a happy high silly voice. Start by allowing him to have something that is not so valuable then trade with him for his favourite treat, what is his favourite treats or game? Do you really know your dog’s likes and dislikes?

This is fine for teaching young pups or dogs that are not presently guarding but what about ones that are already way down the road of resource guarding. Training a young puppy is relatively easy. Re-training an older dog is more difficult, but not impossible.

Trade and Reward
Firstly take away all objects the dog is guarding, that could be toys, tissues, chews, bones, pigs ears or sleeping places, that includes beds, sofas or chairs. You may not be able to move the latter but you can cover it, put a box or something else on it that will restrict access. Do not allow access to these precious resources a number of days.

You need to prepare for the next stage if the guarding is articles such as toys chews bones etc, prepare some of the dogs really favourite treats, cheese or frankfurter tends to be high on the list. Then get a low value object, it may be a tissue or a sock, a pigs ear for instance may be perceived as high value. Try to be slightly to the side of the dog rather than face on and relax, take the tension you may feel out of your body as the dog will both smell and sense your fear and this could trigger a reaction.

Offer the object to the dog but try and keep hold of it as the dog takes it, use whatever release command you have decided on it could be dead drop leave or trade immediately produce the tasty treat from behind your back and exchange. Praise when the exchange takes place and give back the object you first exchanged.

Set scheduled times to repeat this exercise at least four times a day but also just do it in opportune moments. Gradually up the anti of treasured goods. Over a period of time the dog will start to look forward to your approach and game. It is at this time that you give your dog the object and walk away, at first come back immediately and trade gradually making the time and distance you walk away longer, until you clearly see the dog is having no problems with your approach whatsoever. Then only give a treat every third time, then every tenth, take the object away and immediately give it back extending the period on this until the guarding behaviour disappears.

As with food guarding, you want to build a positive association around people approaching the objects being guarded. The dog needs to understand that approaching people and the removal of objects can be positive and rewarding. Location or Bed Guarding

This is not always as simple as it may seem, as the severity or incidence may be related to who is approaching. It may be that a woman can approach the bed or sleeping place but not a man, an adult but not a child. It is not always tied to the object being guarded, but more to the relationship or lack of it of the person approaching the resource.

Sometimes this behaviour manifests itself when we try to move the dog off a sofa or when we handle or stroke the dog. It is worth in these cases making sure the dog is not ill or in pain as this could stimulate aggressive reactions.

As with other forms of guarding, make this a positive experience. Gauge how far you can approach before any aggressive reaction occurs. Initially keep to this distance and as you pass throw a treat, praising the dog at the same time. Make sure you do not praise or treat if there is growling or any show of aggression. Gradually decrease the distance over a period of time, do not rush the exercise, if the dog starts to react go back a few steps and start again. Change your angle of approach and the person who is approaching. Always try not to approach head on come in at an angle from the side give lots of verbal praise for a calm and passive reaction from the dog.

Maintain the Status Quo
Over time your pet will come to realise that your approach is a positive experience and the guarding will hopefully cease. However if it starts up again repeat the exercise. You should practice once a week exchange or trade, for the remainder 0of the dogs life.

If you are already at the point where the dog has actually bitten you, then I would suggest you get professional help. This should be from a behaviourist or a trainer who understands aggression. You should look for one that comes to your house. I never understand how professionals can assess your dogs behaviour from the confines of a vets or an office. The dog reacts very differently when out of its own environment. Stan Rawlinson

24 July 2005

Stan Rawlinson.
Dog Behaviourist & Trainer
www.doglistener.co.uk
enquiries@doglistener.co.uk
H 0208 979 2019
M 07976 153161

Stan Rawlinson Dip MTCBPT. PAACT
Dog Behaviourist and Obedience Trainer, who has owned and worked dogs for over 25 years, starting with gundogs then moving to the behavioural and obedience side of training companion dogs. He now has a successful practice covering Greater London, Surrey, and Middlesex.

Stan is recommended by numerous Vets, Rescue Centres, and Charities. He writes articles and comments on behavioural issues and techniques for dog magazines including Our Dogs, Dogs Monthly, K9 Magazine, Shooting Times, Pet Talk and Pet Owner Magazine. He is also a behavioural spokesman for Disney and has appeared on Television, Radio and in National Newspapers on many occassions

Stan Rawlinson
Telephone: 0208 979 2019
Mobile Number: 07976 153161
E-mail:enquiries@doglistener.co.uk
http://www.doglistener.co.uk
Founder Member
PAACT
Professional Association of Applied Canine Trainers
Membership Number 101
http://www.paact.co.uk

More articles at database for articles

Recently, a New Jersey Superior Court in Mercer County awarded $100,000 in damages to a UPS driver for injuries he suffered while trying to deliver a package. The homeowners dog was roaming alone loose on the property, had a history of viciousness, went at the driver, and the driver severely and permanently injured his knee trying to escape.

Also, recently, an unrestrained dog jumped out of its owners car window and viciously attacked a woman and her dog. The attacking dog was reported to be a repeat offender.

New Jersey law holds dog owners liable, or financially responsible, for injuries caused by their dogs behavior in three possible and very common scenarios.

First, New Jersey law says dog owners, and only the owners, are strictly liable for injuries caused by their dogs bite, so long as the victim was lawfully on the property and regardless of the dogs history.

However, if the dog has a vicious propensity that the owner knew or should have known, then the dogs owner or even the dogs keeper are responsible for any injuries caused by the dog even if not caused by biting and biting was not involved in the incident. Vicious propensity can be proven simply by the dogs history of biting, jumping, chasing, scratching, or even being overly affectionate or playful. Down boy!

And, third, even if the dog did not bite and did not have a vicious propensity, then the owner or keeper may be liable for injuries because they failed to exercise a reasonable degree of care for the safety of others.

Owners have a duty to provide safe premises for those invited onto its property and a duty to control their dogs. It is considered dangerous to allow a dog on your property unleashed, unrestrained or unfenced, or to roam free, unsupervised or in an area where it is likely to encounter strangers. At least a clear warning of the dogs presence should be posted.

People visit for a variety of legitimate reasons every day: Mail carriers, newspaper carriers, package deliverers, utility & maintenance workers, fundraisers, friends and family. Knowing this, owners must anticipate their dogs behavior. Dogs protect their turf. They investigate strangers. They approach and greet anyone who enters their turf. Unless the dog is responsibly controlled, preventable injuries are likely to happen.

Even friendly dogs can cause serious injury unintentionally. A big, friendly dog that gets excited when visitors arrive can knock the visitor down, wrench their back, twist their ankle, or otherwise kill them with kindness and curiosity. Just the sight of a large dog on the loose and coming toward a visitor can frighten them into hasty escape and injury. Not everyone shares enthusiasm for dogs, especially a 100-pound German Shepard rushing to say Hello or Get lost. And thats their right.

When dog owners fail to exercise care and visitors are injured, peoples lives can be ruined and courts will impose substantial money damages to compensate victims. Compensation has been recovered for injuries when someone was running from a dog, when someone fell after being chased by a dog, or when someone was knocked to the ground by a dog.

Owning a dog carries special responsibility to ensure others safety. If you are a delivery person, newspaper carrier, utility worker, or any visitor to anothers property where a dog is present, and are injured by the dog, you have a right to recover money damages under the law.

Thomas R. Smith, Esq. is a partner in the Princeton-based law firm Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman who specializes in personal injury and criminal law with 17 years of trial experience. You can reach Mr. Smith at 609-520-0900, or visit http://www.pralaw.com

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So you have bought a new cat bed but your cat doesn’t seem to like it? While the majority of cats adore their new beds straight away, some cats don’t seem to take to them straight away. This isn’t a problem.

Sometimes a new bed straight from the store may have that new smell, or a different smell your cat just doesn’t like. Try airing the new bed for a couple of days where the cat can’t get to it, and then try reintroducing her to it.

If you have bought a second hand cat bed you will need to clean it thoroughly to get rid of any remaining smell from the previous cat. If it has a removable cover, take it off and hand wash it with mild soap. (Never use harsh detergents or cleansers as this may cause your cat to have a skin reaction). If the bed has a frame, wash thoroughly with a mild cleanser (baking soda and water is perfect). Air the bed for a couple of days and make sure it is completely dry before your cat sleeps in it.

If your cat normally sleeps in a place that’s warm, make sure the new bed is also in a nice, warm, inviting place. If your cat likes to sleep high, put the new bed high also. In other words, study your cat’s favourite sleeping places and then use that information to decide the best place to put the bed. Remeber, your cat will only sleep where it is comfortable!

If your cat loves your smell, you can put a piece of your worn but unwashed (so it still has your scent) clothing on or around the cat’s bed. An old jumper is perfect. Leave it there until your cat gets used to sleeping in it’s own bed.

If your cat goes onto her new bed of her own accord, make sure you give her plenty of attention and praise! Cats react most favourably to love and affection. Whatever you do, don’t try and force your cat or hold your cat onto it’s bed – this is most counter-productive. Just be patient and keep moving it somewhere else every few days.

If you leave the bed, and remove the temptation of other good sleeping spots(such as closing doors of rooms they like to sleep in, or putting a pile of books on their favourite sleeping shelf, or disturbing them while they are trying to sleep on the lounge) you will find they will move to their new cat bed by default.

Thomas Sodor is a cat expert helping cat owners understand their cat’s behaviour. You can find out all you need to know about cat beds and see cat bed photos at his website.

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Pets are just like people. Yes, they may have fur and a tail but they still need the quality of life that we all enjoy. If you can not provide the basic essentials to a pets life, you just shouldnt have one. It is that simple. But, what are these? Pets need many things. We have compiled a few answers here to this question. Ask yourself if you can provide each of these key components to a pets life.

-Shelter. Shelter must be provided for animals. Even if you do want your pet to be an outside animal, you must provide a place for him to go in extreme weather conditions like very hot days or very cold days.

-Food. Not only does your pet need food but it needs to be healthy food. If you give your pet a bad quality food or do not feed your pet correctly, they can become ill. Or, they can become under or overweight.

-Water. Water must be clean, chemical free and provided often. Do not let your pet drink water that is full of germs and bacteria as they too will get sick!

-Health care. Just as you would take your child to the doctor for annual check ups, your pet needs these too. Pets get vaccinated in different amounts at different times. They need to see a doctor to check their ears, eyes, and teeth. They need to see the doctor also if they get sick or hurt.

-Pets need the right amount of space. If you purchase a large dog, you need a place for him to run and play. You need to provide for the animal a good outdoor environment as well.

More and more people want to have pets, but there are many people who can not provide the right environment and the right nutrients for the animal. For those who are considering the purchase of pets, insure that you realize the costs of all of the above as well. For those who are looking for more expensive or exotic pets, insure that you can provide the right situation for your pet as well. Large snakes shouldnt be around small children who may free them. Certain dogs shouldnt be around children as they can attack.

The most important thing to provide for all of your pets is love. Sure, it sounds silly but if you are purchasing an animal of any sort, you need to care for it and show it affection. All animals need to feel like part of the family in order to be emotionally stable. If you can provide all of these key ingredients to your pet, then by all means you should purchase them!

Tia Jackson
Pets Directory

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In February of 2005 my girlfriend and I rescued a Great Dane from the Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue. She was six months old, severely malnourished and cute as can be. We already had 2 rescue dogs (Henry and Morgan) so we had some experience with the behavior, diet and socialization anomalies that adopted dogs can bring with them. The night we picked her up, the foster family told us how she spent her first six months of life. She and her two sisters had been found in a garden shed in Nebraska. They were all scared and emaciated but completely adorable. Our baby, LuLu, was the worst of the three. She was afraid of every noise, walked with a tucked tail, never barked or whimpered and didnt know how to play. She didnt understand typical canine social cues: Week two in our house when she approached Henry while he was eating a bone, he gave her a warning growl. She didnt have any idea what it meant. She didnt recognize play behavior and didnt understand why Morgans tail was always wagging. The rescue advised us to get her some formal socialization. Since LuLu was our baby (still is, really), we wanted to find a worthy dog daycare and kennel to take her one or two days a week to help her understand the fundamentals. Thus we embarked on a thorough search of the Denver dog daycare market.

We used the typical search tools to identify our prospects (yellow pages, Google, Yahoo, etc). Dog daycare isnt a new concept in Denver there are several establishments operating all over the metro area. We identified the ones closest to us, asked everyone we knew for ones we may have missed and visited each one asking the most detailed questions possible. We may have spent more time interviewing these places than some people do looking for child care.

We asked about outdoor terrain, playgroup segregation, permissible toys, dog to staff ratio, operating hours, incident handling procedures, feeding and medication procedures, nap time requirements, water intake monitoring, staff education and cleaning habits. We werent surprised to find that many places have similar setups. There were a couple of great places that we loved but they were either too far or booked out three weeks in advance. We just werent satisfied with the level of care provided in the places closest to us that had immediate availability. Thus, we decided to start our own establishment.

My girlfriend and I approached a fellow dog lover (she too has two rescue dogs) with our idea to start a dog daycare and kennel. We all three volunteer with rescues and other dog organizations, have a passion for animal care, donate to several animal causes and want our babies to be spoiled at all times. These philosophies created a strong foundation for Mile High Canine Club.

The three of us spent weeks searching for the perfect facility. We wanted something with a large outdoor and indoor area. We wanted something close and convenient but far enough from a major intersection (just in case a dog got off leash during drop off or pick up). We wanted something with multiple outdoor access points (to allow playgroups to go out different doors). After 2 months of searching, we found the perfect place. It was zoned correctly, the landlord welcomed our application (many others denied us based on the animal aspect), and the indoor area was huge (4,800 sq ft) with multiple access points to the 7,500 sq ft outside space (already enclosed by a 6 foot cedar fence!). We immediately signed a lease and hired a contractor to begin building our dream canine palace at 1346 W. Cedar Avenue.

We hired a designer to do our space planning and building layout. She measured the place, designed a beautiful lobby with lots of windows (so owners could view the playgroups), and created four distinct play areas that could be collapsed into two (in case we had larger playgroups). She designed the entrance door on one end and the exit on the other to eliminate the congestion of dogs in one opening. She picked great colors, great materials and the build out began.

During the construction phase, we joined a few email group lists for dog daycare and kennel owners. This provided valuable information and lessons learned from around the nation. One of the advantages to working in the dog care field is the willingness of others to share information. After all, we do have the same goal in mind: canine care. Through these email discussions we learned best practices for interviewing dogs, feeding restrictions, effective operating procedures and much more.

We used all of our research and past experience volunteering with rescues and humane societies to create our own operating procedures to support our philosophy. We are differentiating ourselves by spoiling our members the way we spoil our own dogs. We do this by providing more amenities like purified water and filtered air, dog beds, lots of toys, healthy treats, plenty of playtime and cuddle time, a trained and educated staff, an onsite manager with Veterinarian Assistant training, partnering with a knowledgeable vet, an outdoor area without pea gravel (to minimize irritated paws) and calling customers to provide updates on their dog while they are out of town. Our web cams provide customers with the ability to view their dogs while they are away. We ask owners to provide food to mitigate unnecessary gastrointestinal disruption. We administer medications and dont charge a premium to do so. Our kennel rates are the same 365 days a year; we dont charge more for holiday stays. Our goal is to make the dog and owner happy. We believe that a well socialized and loved dog is a happier dog. We created an environment that allowed our LuLu, to gain confidence and make friends (she actually wags her tail, fetches and barks now!). We would like to share that environment with your babies.

In addition to providing exceptional canine care to our customers, we also continue to assist the rescue organizations. It is our mission to partner with area rescues and assist in facilitating fundraising events as often as possible. In our first month of business we hosted a dog wash to benefit the Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue. We charged $10/wash and 95% of the money was given to the rescue. In November 2005 we are hosting the Good Samaritan Pet Adoption Center Holiday Open House. We are allowing them to use our facility free of charge. We have also contacted other local rescues and humane societies offering our facility and time. Promoting these worthwhile organizations is important to us. After all, they started this mission by bringing LuLu into our family.

If you are in need of dog daycare and/or kenneling, give us a call. We would be happy to provide your dogs first day free of charge, after they pass the initial behavioral interview, that is. Come in today to see what a day does for your dog!

Mile High Canine Club
1346 W. Cedar Ave
Denver, CO 80223
303-722-2011

info@milehighcanineclub.com

http://www.milehighcanineclub.com/

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