How did this foster kitten learn to be so tolerant? She doesn’t mind being held in this awkward manner. She went through kitty socialization class. Every year, thousands of stray kittens are fostered and adopted out. The foster caretakers do their best to address the kittens’ medical health, but did you know that perhaps the most important action a caretaker can take that will help kittens find a permanent home is to actually socialize them. That is, give the kittens positive experiences around many different people, animals, unfamiliar kittens, environments, and for many handling procedures too. The resulting kitten is

      low-stress-book-and-dvd Low Stress Handling® Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs & Cats Every day, pets are brought to our hospitals in this state of confusion and fear and we expect them to remain calm and cooperate for procedures. We poke them and prod them and carelessly flop them into various positions when they have no clue what we want. Then, in the name of speed, we react to the struggling pet by imposing some type of “death grip” hold instead of taking a step back and evaluating whether a more thoughtful approach might work better. What’s the

One of the first things I did after graduating from veterinary school was to learn some survival skills. I took a personal finance and an investment class designed for economics majors. Within the first week, I knew the investment class would provide me with perhaps the most important information of my life, because the instructor, a highly successful investor, promised to tell us the one secret in investing that would make everyone rich. For days he hinted that the secret was coming, and students judiciously came to class knowing that if they didn’t hear it first hand, they would miss

National Dog Bite Prevention Week, May 15 to May 21, 2011, is coming to a close today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the articles and downloads. Here is a listing of the resources we’ve provided this week both on this website as well as on the Huffington Post Blog and Victoria Stilwell’s Positively.com.  We will add a few more related prevention articles in the upcoming two weeks too. So stay tuned! Thirty-second animated Dog Bite Prevention PSA for adults and teens shows the precursors to bites and the result of ignoring them.  Please share this PSA. If we have enough views on youtube we will be

Download these illustrations in our “How to Greet a Dog” poster here. The consensus among animal behavior professionals is that the major cause of dog bites to humans is related to the failure of owners and dog bite victims to recognize when dogs are fearful and know how to approach and greet dogs appropriately. But what exactly is the correct approach and why do so many people fail to do it? One issue is that we humans have an instant gut reaction to the cuteness of some dogs. It’s the same reaction we had as a child when we saw a

        This poster clearly illustrates both the overt and more subtle signs of fear and anxiety in dogs. Feel free to make copies for your clients, colleagues, and friends. Check out our “Free Posters” blog post here for more posters and handouts!