News, Advice and Resources for Thoughtful Pet Owners
It’s not a recent story, but it is an amazing one—a crow that took a stray kitten under its wing. Moses the Crow picked bugs out of the grass to feed to Cassie the kitten, played with Cassie, and even scolded the kitten when it ventured into the street.
Here’s to mothers in whatever form they take!
We picked up a copy of The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health for $13.99 at Costco last night. I don’t know if all Costcos have it, but it’s worth checking out. The regular price is $22.95 and Amazon charges $21.95 with shipping.
The book is a very comprehensive guide written by the people who wrote The Merk Veterinary Manual which is the most used vet manual. The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health covers dogs, cats, horses, and, to a lesser degree, birds. There are also sections on exotic pets including:
According to the New York Times review, owners of exotic pets also need a book dedicated to the species they own. The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health would give you a good idea of what it takes to keep those exotic animals though.
This is a smart purchase. The book also includes sections on diagnostic tests–what they are and what they’re for, drugs and vaccines, pain management, and has the longest list of zoonoses I’ve ever seen.
The number of animals being surrendered to animal shelters is soaring as the US foreclosure crisis grows—some shelters have 35% more animals now than this time last year. As more and more people lose their homes, 100’s of animals are being surrendered. Even worse are the animals just abandoned without out food or water—sometimes left locked inside homes. It’s often the real estate agents and property inspectors who are finding the abandoned animals in horrible conditions and sometimes already dead.
Another outcome from the surge in foreclosures, is fewer new homeowners. Fewer homeowners means there are fewer pet adoptions taking place across the country. There aren’t enough people to adopt the influx of pets.
Sadly, many people facing foreclosure are waiting until the last minute to make plans and many families are having a hard time finding rentals that allow pets, especially medium and large dogs. It is illegal in most states to abandon your animals not to mention barbaric.
The Philadelphia SCPA is waiving fees for surrendering pets due to foreclosures. And the Salem Animal Rescue League in New Hampshire is looking at providing temporary shelter for pets until their families get back on their feet after a foreclosure.(via therealestatebloggers)
The crisis is widespread enough that the Humane Society of the US and the ASPCA have issued statements urging people facing foreclosure to plan for their pets. The HSUS has good tips on how to protect your pets:
The HSUS also has tips on lowering the costs of keeping your pets:
Riley, with Brian and Mary Ann Reynolds and daughter Briana Carilli.
After allegedly kicking her ex-husband’s six month old dog with both feet, Cassandra Reynolds was ordered to have no contact with the Golden Retriever, Riley. The judge issued the order of protection under Connecticut’s new law called “An Act Concerning the Protection of Pets in Domestic Violence Cases”.
Pets are often victims in domestic abuse cases. Abusers use threats against pets to control their human victims. And abusers follow through with those threats to punish their humans victims. Agencies across the U.S. are realizing domestic violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty are often closely linked and where there is one form of violence, there may well be the others. Police, homeless shelters, and animal control services are learning to recognize and respond to the signs of animal cruelty, domestic violence, and child abuse.
Read more about the studies mentioned in the New York Times article—The Abuse of Animals & Domestic Violence: A National Survey of Shelter for Women Who Are Battered and Animal Welfare & Domestic Violence. Learn more about what can be done for victims of domestic violence who fear for their pets from the book Safe Haven For Pets: Guidelines for Programs Sheltering Pets for Women Who Are Battered(pdf), by Frank R. Ascione, Ph.D. Check if your community’s shelters and animal welfare agencies are cooperating to help victims of domestic violence and their pets.
Imagine, you’re assigned a task you aren’t clear about, you’re not sure what’s wanted or what the instructions are, but it looks hard. Maybe you’re anxious about the whole thing. And to top it all off, your supervisor is getting increasingly angry at you. Finally, you think you know what the supervisor wants and you preform the task. And then your supervisor tells you angrily what a bad person you are, or worse, thwaks you in the forehead. Or they don’t do anything, just irritated silence. What have you learned? That you work for the Supervisor From Hell? You certainly don’t know if you ever preformed the task the supervisor wanted.
I see this played out repeatedly at the dog park. Someone wants their dog to retrieve a ball, but their dog is understandably distracted by all the other dogs, frisbees, etc. or may not understand. The human gets increasingly more frustrated. It comes out in their voice and their body language. Still the dog doesn’t retrieve. The human gets more frustrated. Finally, the dog brings the ball. Now is that human’s chance to praise the good. The dog did retrieve. Now is the time for a affirming Good Dog!. Instead, most dogs get scolded, some get their collar yanked, usually the best they can hope for is a Big Nothing. Without the praise, how is the dog to know that they have done what you want?
We humans are really good at reacting to behavior in our animal companions that we don’t like—pulling on the leash, scratching furniture, nipping fingers. But we often fail miserably at praising good behavior in our pets. It’s what they’re “supposed” to be doing, right? But our pets don’t always know what we want from them. And even when they do know, it’s still important to remind them and reinforce with praise. Let’s get something straight, you aren’t rewarding bad behavior. You’re rewarding the dog for retrieving even if it took a while to happen. It’s most important to reward when the dog has the hardest time doing what you want. Put yourself in his place. What would you want and need?
So, don’t just correct behaviors you don’t want. Praise and reward the behaviors you do want. This requires a shift in perspective for most of us. Our cat, Raven prefers to scratch on our couch, so when she uses a scratching box or post we throw a little praise party. Plenty of Good Girl!’s and What a good kitty!’s. It’s not easy to remember, but it makes a big difference. Our dog, Saffron is nervous around traffic and sometimes pulls on the leash on busy streets. So when we walk down a street with lots of traffic and she doesn’t pull, she gets a bunch of encouraging praise. And those happy looks she throws at me over her shoulder because she knows she’s doing what I want? They’re the best.
Teach you animals what you want from them. Don’t teach them that you’re the Supervisor From Hell.
