The story begins with the rescuers finding this poor little guy they named Ralphie Someone had  already taken him under their wing but weren’t equipped to adopt;

Ralphie, scared and starved, joined his rescuers…

I wouldn’t  think anything could live thru this…But we were
wrong.

This little  lady also survived that wreckage.

Here she is  just placed in the car – scared, but safe.

And then..they are  no longer alone!

Instant friends, they comforted each other while in the car.

Add two more  beagles found after that…

The more, the  merrier!

Oh boy, a new  traveler to add to the mix…

(note: the  cat coming over the seat needing   shelter… Now just how is this  going to work???
(and remember  they are all strange to one  another )

It’s going to work just fine, thank you very much!

Wow! The
things we learn from our animal friends…
If only all of mankind
could learn such valuable lessons
as this. Lessons of instant
friendship.. Of peace and harmony

By way of respect for one another — no matter one’s color or creed.

These animals  tell you… “It’s just good to be alive and with others.”

Yes, it  surely is.

So… Live,  love, laugh.

The reason one should groom his/her Dog is simple – your dog’s physical state influences the way he feels and the way you look at your dog. Extreme cases, where lack of proper care, cleaning and grooming can directly affect the behavior of your Dog, are not rare.

Proper grooming not only infuses a healthy glow to your dog’s appearance, but also helps develop his self-esteem; while it makes you a very proud parent, when you show off your Dog to others.

The first step involved in dog grooming is: Brushing!

Brushing has been universally acknowledged by expert dog groomers as the single most important step in grooming.

The benefits of brushing are many. To name a few:

*
Better blood circulation
*
Shinier and healthier coat
*
Better bonding

Subscribe to this FREE dog grooming mini course and learn more about brushing and combing and other grooming tools and their applications.

Even if you know how crucial brushing is for your Dog’s health and well-being, we all know that there is a right way and a wrong way of doing anything. And without doubt, you would like to do everything the RIGHT way when it comes to your Dog.

Yes, there’s a method to follow while brushing your Dog.

Here are FIVE steps to successfully brushing your Dog that will prove to be extremely useful:

* Brush against the growth of the hair first with a slicker brush and then with a medium or wide-toothed comb.

* The slicker brush removes all the loose hair and the comb takes care of the tangles.

* Brush your Dog along the hair growth and make sure you reach the skin as you brush his way.

* Then use a flea comb over the coat to get the fleas and remove any remaining tangles. Part the coat and start from the root and then comb through.

* If your Dog’s paw pads are hairy, then clip them using electric clippers. Do not clip the hair in between the pads. Clip only the excess hair.

Brush your Dog’s hairs to prevent it from matting. Matting can be a very painful experience.

Regular brushing untangles the matted hairs on your Dog’s coat. Since this is a risky job to do, the best way out is to prevent them from forming in the first place. And doing this is simple: just brush and comb your Dog regularly. If and when you see any mats or tangles, use a detangle solution and a medium-toothed comb.

Don’t wait until your Dog is dirty or matted to introduce him to grooming. That would make him associate the experience with unpleasantness. Moreover, many dogs learn to see their routine brushing as an alternate form of petting, i.e. another source of affection and attention.

Subscribe to this FREE dog grooming mini course and start Grooming your Dog all by yourself right from the comfort of your home Today.

House Training a puppy or adult Dog is such an essential issue for its owner that even a single exclusive tip turns out to be extremely helpful.

The first step in making your Dog fit for polite company would be to potty train him. Some see this training as a hassle and some as a challenge.

For me, it is part of bringing up a pet.

Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on housetraining puppies and dogs.

There are a few things you need to know before you actually start potty training a puppy or adult Dog. I enumerate these below:

Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on house training puppies and dogs.

Now we will move on to how to potty train puppies and adult dogs.

Potty Training A Puppy:

Irrespective of breeds, housetraining a puppy is considered to be one of the biggest challenges by dog owners. If you think housetraining your puppy simply involves a steady supply of old newspapers, then think again.

A puppy does not develop full control over his bladder until it is over 4 or 5 months old. Since they are growing and developing rapidly at this time, puppies eat more, burn more calories and need to eliminate more frequently than an adult Dog.

After each nap, meal, drink or play, take your puppy to his designated area (indoors or outdoors, wherever you have decided) and stay there until it eliminates. Then bring him to his crate.

Repeat this situation everyday until he has developed a habit out of it.

Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on housebreaking a puppy.

Potty Training An Adult Dog:

The best way to housetrain an adult Dog is to begin all over again.

Observe him very closely. Maybe even maintain a diary of where he goes and when. Whether he is pooping when you are home or only when you are outside; whether you can time yourself to be home when he feels the need to go outside.

You can try dog crates, but be careful to introduce him gradually to them.

Click here to subscribe to a FREE course on potty training a dog.

Remember, commitment, consistency and intelligent use of positive reinforcement will make you the owner of a perfectly housetrained Dog. Don’t expect miracles. You will only be disappointed.

Get this FREE course on potty training a dog.

Get this unique Housetraining guide and start Housebreaking Your Dog Today.

Why Won’t My Dog Listen To Me?

This is a common question that most first-time Dog owners ask me. Before I answer your question, let me ask you a few instead:

If your answers are mostly in the negative, its time you seriously reconsider your role as a sincere Dog trainer and an ideal pet parent.

Learn how to bond with your Dog with this free mini course.

Get Your Dog To Listen To You

Before you begin any training, you must first establish yourself as the "ALPHA dog" of your family. Your Dog must know that you’re the leader of the pack and it is YOU who is in charge.

Here is a list of simple DO’s and DONT’s that you must follow if you want to be the Alpha:

Once you successfully established yourself as the Alpha, training your Dog and making him listen will be a lot easier than you can imagine. Remember, if your Dog does not learn to "listen", all your training efforts will be in vain!

Does your Dog know his name? Does your Dog look at you whenever you call him by his name? This is the first and the most critical step involved in Dog Training. If your Dog doesn’t respond to his name, you cannot have his attention for teaching him any other commands.

To make sure that your Dog recognizes his name, take a treat in your hand and hold it away from your body. Call your Dog’s name. He is most likely to look at the treat in your hand. Continue calling his name untill he turns and looks at your eyes. Give him the treat immediately. Repeat this exercise by holding the treat in the other hand. Once you’re sure that your Dog has learnt to recognize his name, just call his name and reward him for looking at you by petting or with a hug.

You must understand that Dogs respond far better to positive reinforcement than they do to coercion or force.

Learn how to train your Dog better with this free mini course.

It’s essential for Dog parents like you to know certain basic factors that determine your relationship with your Dog and can go a long way in training him effectively.

Before you begin training your Dog, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your Dog to have complete trust in you.

Know more about Dog care from this free mini course

Let us see how…….

How To Bond With Your Dog

Building a bond with your Dog is the first and the most crucial step involved in training him successfully. As soon as you bring your Dog home, you must first try to develop a caring and loving relationship with him in order to win his trust and confidence.

When Dogs are secure in the knowledge that they belong to the family, they are more likely to respond better to their owners’ training commands. Just like with any relationship, there must be mutual trust and respect between you and your Dog.

Trust takes time to develop and respect comes from defining boundaries and treating any breach of those boundaries with firmness and fairness.

Without enforceable limitations, respect can’t be developed. And when there is no respect, building a bond with your Dog is almost impossible.

4 Golden Rules To Building A Relationship With Your Dog :

Love Your Dog and He Will Love You back

Once you’re succesful in building a bond with your Dog, you can rest assured that training him and teaching him new and clever tricks will be a cakewalk.

Learn how to bond with your Dog with this free mini course.

How Your Dog Learns…

Your Dog’s learning period can be divided into five phases:

The Teaching Phase – This is the phase where you must physically demonstrate to your Dog exactly what you want him to do.

The Practicing Phase – Practice makes Perfect. Once a lesson is learnt, practice with your Dog what you have just taught him.

The Generalizing Phase – Here you must continue practicing with your Dog in different locations and in an environment with a few distractions. You can take your Dog out for a walk, or to a nearby park and command him to practice whatever you’ve taught him.

Practicing the learned lessons in multiple locations and in the presence of small distractions will help him learn and retain lessons better .

The Testing Phase – Once you’re sure that your Dog has achieved almost 90% success….he responds correctly almost every time you give a command, you must start testing his accuracy in newer locations with a lot of distractions.

Example: Take him to the local shopping mall and ask him to obey your command. He may not come up with the correct response the very first time you do this, but you must not lose hope.

The idea is to test your Dog to see how he responds in an environment which is new to him. Set-up a situation where you are in control of the environment and your Dog.

There are only 2 possibilities:

Keep on testing until he succeeds. Follow the rule of the 3 Ps – patience, persistence, praise.

Internalizing Phase – Finally, comes the extremely rewarding phase where your Dog does everything he is taught to do even without your commands.

Remember:

Learn how to train your Dog better with this free mini course.

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In an act of kindness, the police took the dog,  which was a Greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton  Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff  Grewcock and known as a willing haven for Animals abandoned,  orphaned or otherwise in need.  Geoff and  the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several  weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved.

They  named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.

But Jasmine had  other ideas. No-one remembers now how it began, but she started welcoming all Animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn’t  matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting Animal, Jasmine would peer into the box or cage and,  where possible, deliver a welcoming  lick.

Geoff relates one of the  early incidents. “We had two puppies that had been abandoned by  a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and  another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when  they arrived at the centre and Jasmine approached them and  grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him  on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with  them, cuddling them.”

“But she is like that with all of  our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of  them and it helps them to not only feel close to her but to  settle into their new surroundings.

She has done the same  with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea  pigs and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her  nose.”

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became  the animal sanctuary’s resident surrogate mother, a role for  which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and  abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs,  four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray  puppies and 15 rabbits.

And one roe deer fawn. Tiny  Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon  arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her  warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the  greyhound showers Bramble the Roe deer with affection and makes  sure nothing is matted.

“They are inseparable,” says  Geoff . “Bramble walks between her legs and they keep kissing each  other. They walk together round the  sanctuary.
It’s a real treat to see  them.”

Jasmine will  continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be  returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not  be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on  the next orphan or victim of abuse.

To this day I can not speak of it without a lump forming in my throat. To someone who is not an animal lover I am sure the sadness can not be understood.

12 years ago today, August 20, 1996 my beloved Andrew died. We got Andrew from the Humane Society of Monroe County when he was about 5 months old. He was the cutest thing I had ever seen. He looked like a beagle but he had huge paws and very long legs. He was very clumsy. We would later learn he was a Walker Hound. He was the apple of my eye. I loved that dog more than words can ever express. He was my constant companion. I told my inner most thoughts to him as well as the events of my day.

The Humane Society adopted him out 2 times before we had the great fortune of getting him placed with us. What is it they say, the third time is the charm. The first 2 times didn’t end well. He was adopted to a young couple. Every time he would enter the room their baby would scream at the top of her lungs. The second time the guy he was adopted to got hauled off to jail and the puppy
was left in the home by himself for days until he was returned to the Humane Society.

Then he came to me. He was so happy to receive love and to give love. We were inseparable. Life was GOOD.
For 10 years we shared our life with Andrew. We also had a house full of unwanted an unloved cats and a couple of other wonderful dogs that we found along the road that people had discarded. But no love compared to the love I had for Andrew. Perhaps it was because I had no children of my own, who knows.    All I know is… I loved Andrew.

Then one Sunday morning Andrew started to cough. His cough was like a gag and it was getting worse. We headed for the animal emergency in Toledo. As we were getting close to our vets office we could see a few cars out front. My husband pounded on

the door till they let us in with our unresponsive dog. His eyes were just looking at me for help, of which I had none to offer.

The Dr. was checking this and checking that . He was asking lots of questions, but not offering any answers. Then out of the blue he said, “I do not remember Andrew being so big.” I said, “yes, I noticed on the drive  here he seems to be getting bigger.” The Dr. and the Vet Tech looked at each other as if a bolt of lightning had struck. He picked Andrew up as if his 87 pounds were nothing more than a feather.

The only thing that I knew of bloat was that cattle get it. That was all I knew on the subject of bloat. Large barrel chested dogs are susceptible to bloat but I am sure any breed can get it. Bloat is when the stomach flips and no air can escape. So my beautiful, wonderful dog Andrew was actually blowing up.

The Dr. did the best he could and made arrangements for me to take him to Michigan State University, This is where our Veterinary School is located. After hours of surgery and having his stomach stapled in place so it couldn’t move I was allowed to see him

for a few minutes. His eyes were still asking,  “why?” and “can I come home with you?” The next day he ate a little something and then died later that night.

We did all that we could but it was not good enough. Some people reading this will think how stupid!!  You did this for a DOG???

There was never a question of what should we do. The only decision we had to make was this going on MasterCard or Visa?

I will always remember this date, August 20. I hope each of you will find the love of a very special animal as I did with
my beloved Andrew. I certainly hope you have a much happier ending. Shelters everywhere need your help with not only cash but supplies and cuddlers as well as opening your hearts and your homes. Please call them and find out how you can help.

What timing!!
Just in time for me to start my blog
about critters I get a baby kitten.

Now I love animals, all kinds but I must tell you it is
hard for me to come up with something cuter than a baby kitten.

This little guy is jet black with wavy fur, most likely
will be a long haired feline. I would say not even 2 weeks old.
Just barely has his eyes open. What could be cuter?
I got his little angel from the neighbors.
They have many barn cats and not a one spayed or neutered.I am guessing that the mother was trying to move
her litter and lost this one. Or something disturbed her and she sacrificed this
wee one for the safety of the others. Can you imagine being within ear shot
and hearing your baby crying for you but instinct tells you to ignore?