I think a lot about a year of firsts for humans and animals. Last year was my and my animals first year living with all the changes surrounding my cancer diagnosis and treatment. 2022 is our first year in that nebulous physical and mental environment known as “cancer-free”.
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I’m only offering animal behavior and bond phone consultations at this time, thanks to COVID – 19. That’s not as bad as it may sound for several reasons:
Read more →Still some final tweaking to do, but today the new site replaced the old. Thanks to all who previewed and critiqued the site and those who provided pictures that have greatly enhanced the site. Last but definitely not least, a special thanks to my son Jeremy who has shown extreme patience during the past 6 months. Animal aggression and anal glands I can do. But Internet technology? That’s a different story.
Read more →I spent the weekend at a vet emergency and critical care seminar and, aside from happily learning that even at that level they’re advocating keeping the animal and environment calm for the sake of the dog instead of emergency doc-jock reactivity, I discovered that the speaker hates to see excited dogs (especially Labs and goldens) engaged in fetch and barking marathons in public parks. In their most benign form, these displays upset me because these animals are so obviously stressed in that environment and their owners so oblivious to this fact. These dogs aren’t frantically going after that ball
Read more →Every holiday season I tell myself I should decorate more than I do, which is minimal. This discussion invariably includes the more practical me listing all the reasons why I shouldn’t: a small house heated by wood tree-friendly; the cat will be alone for a few days over Christmas and any decorations might be too tempting to ignore. That sort of thing. Even so, the longing remains. This morning for some reason it hit me especially hard as I went out with the dogs. Apparently the Christmas spirit took notice of my mood because while the dogs were doing
Read more →I’ve known for years that I have bears wandering through if not actually living on my property. Once a young black bear veered off toward my place after loping down the road beside my car for a while as I was driving home from the dump. Other times, I watched them destroy bird feeders less than 15’ from the front and back doors of my house, effectively ending my bird-feeding days. And I’ve felt them watching me from the woods above the house. At first that used to bother me, but more because I had no idea what the
Read more →who has responded to these podcasts and blogs. Of all the net-related activities that get foiled by my dial-up, this one is especially slow. That’s saying a lot considering how slow everything else is! But I do want you all to know that I greatly appreciate your comments and read every one of them. and often feel greatly depressed when I can’t respond as I’d like to. Some day…
Read more →A few weeks ago I read an article in the local paper touting the value of home-grown food that incomprehensibly segued into a tirade about laws that prohibit the keeping of chickens and other farm animals in suburbia. That surprised me because keeping farm animals in more complex suburban and urban environments isn’t a good idea for multiple reasons. It’s not good for the farm animals and it’s not good for the area’s companion animals and wildlife, to say nothing of the people who live in those areas. But while the reasons for this seem pretty obvious to me
Read more →Apparently the cybergods think play is an important subject too, because this link just showed up in a veterinary news service I receive. Enjoy. Play. Smile. 🙂
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