I know you think how great it would be to get the kids a puppy for the holidays. Yes, it would be, but wait until the craziness has settled down. Also, consider the fact that a puppy or other pet is not a toy, an object to get tired of — it’s a lifelong commitment. Make it an important event that involves the entire family when getting a puppy.

When you bring home a puppy, who has been with his mom and litter mates, into a new home with all the chaos of a holiday, it can be so unsettling and scary for the baby. Please consider waiting to take your puppy home. You can give the family a picture of a puppy, or put together a basket of accessories for the pup.

Also, training should begin right away with your puppy — not necessarily the obedience commands, but you need to start housebreaking, desensitizing, crate training, among other considerations of bringing home baby.

After the holiday hub-bub has subsided, then go and pick up your puppy.

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Shelter or Rescue??

Nearly six years ago, we were at the Dog Expo held annually at the National Western Complex in Denver. We walked through the rescue group area looking for the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue group. They were not there that day. However, the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies was there with two of their dogs. One was a seven month old, the other, seven years. The older dog nuzzled over to us, resting his head on our laps when we sat down. When we learned his name was Barney, the same name as our Rhodesian who had died a few months earlier, we knew another Golden Retriever would soon join our home. Right now Barney is asleep at my feet, secure in the knowledge that he has a forever home with us. I cannot fathom why someone gave him up, but very grateful that we were there that day to have him find us.

Where will you find this new member of your family? There are city and county run shelters in almost all communities. There are also many privately run shelters. Most will do their very best to avoid euthanasia, and use it only as a last resort when they are way too crowded. This is a hard reality that is unavoidable. Many of the private shelters are no kill shelters, and they have to work extra hard for donations to feed and shelter all the critters that come their way.

In addition to shelters, there are rescue organizations for just about any breed of dog you might be interested in. (more…)

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October was National Adopt a Shelter Pet month. November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month.

Barney enjoys hanging out with his family everywhere they go!

Every day of the year there is a need for homes for shelter pets. Right now the need is especially great, as more pets than ever have been turned over to shelters (or abandoned) as people struggle with job loss and lost homes. We have a promise with our dogs that were we to lose our home and we had to live in our car, they would live there with us. I hope we never have to put that promise to the test, but we do mean it sincerely. The car would get very crowded.

We’ve all seen the Pet of the Week on the evening news. The news organization works with a local shelter to feature a dog or cat each week. Seeing the living, breathing animal right there on your screen makes them real, as opposed to an assortment of pictures of shelter animals. It becomes harder to ignore their plight. Often, they are older pets.

Pets are relinquished for as many reasons as there are people. The owner dies, loses a job or home, someone in the family suddenly has allergies, etc. The point is this – there are many pets waiting for a new family to love. Many are well trained and already acclimated to our busy lives. They just need a new beginning. (more…)

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It has been about a week since we brought the baby home and all the sudden our two Golden Retrievers are refusing to eat.  With a little TLC and some canned dog food, Rankine, our youngest Golden Retriever was convinced to eat.  Unfortunately Kelvin, our 10-year old adopted Golden Retriever, was not interested in eating – odd behavior for our normal chow hound.  After about a day of fasting, Kelvin starting drinking large quantities of water and promptly vomitting. We were beginning to worry that he had eaten a diaper that was blocking his intestine, so we took him to the vet.

The vet ran a battery of tests and kept him overnight on IV fluids.  The next morning my husband went to pick him up and get the diagnosis.  Turns out Kelvin had an upset stomach which was attributed to the stress of the new baby.    Solution – special food and lots of TLC including walks and dedicated Mom/Kelvin time.

Despite the substantial vet bill, we were happy to find out that it was a relatively minor problem that could be easily resolved.  We only wished that we had paid more attention to Kelvin’s history that the Dumb Friends League had provided us when we adopted him – Kelvin had a history of upset stomach’s with his previous family causing him to be given up for adoption.

Lessons Learned:

1. Monitoring you dog’s behavior and food intake were critical to knowing there was a problem.  If we practiced “free feeding” it might have taken a few extra days before we realized something was wrong.
2. If you adopt a dog, be sure to ask for a health and behavioral history – you never know when it might come in handy.

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