A reader recently emailed me about a hot topic of debate in his town of Carl Junction, Missouri. The town is considering revising their leash law to allow owners to walk their dogs on electronic collars including when they are running their dogs next to them in the street while driving golf carts. His specific question was, “Does this provide good control?” There are several factors involved in answering these questions. First, you have to understand how such collars work and how dogs need to be trained in order to learn the goal behavior of heeling next to their owners

It’s a multi-cat household where all get along, then one day a change and now everything’s wrong. Before they were buddies or at least sort of friends, but now one chases the other to no happy end. While disputes among human family members are often status quo, a sudden feud among felines can leave everyone frazzled. It seems strange that amicable individuals could erupt in a friendship-ending fight. Anyone who watches soap operas though sees it happen all the time with humans. Two college buddies are closer than a sock and a shoe. Then add a big party, alcohol, and

Every year members of the Golden Valley Harrier Running Club, to which I belong, start the New Year with a major fat burning event – an 18+ mile trail run. Well, I ventured on this run two years ago with Jonesy, my Jack Russell Terrier. He fared well. In fact, he probably ran 20 miles and had plenty of energy the rest of the day for other activities such as fetch. My legs however, were sore for days due to the several miles of downhill running right at the start. That and the fact that the longest I’d run in

What looks cute and charming when it belongs to a friend, but transforms into a screaming, food-throwing test of patience when it belongs to you? A five year old child? No, a parrot; one of the most demanding pets a person can own. According to Dr. Irene Pepperberg, adjunct associate professor at the Dept. of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA., “People often buy parrots because they think of them as low maintenance pets. They think they can put them in a cage, hang a toy, put in a bowl of seeds and that’s it. They don’t realize how intelligent these

Question: We have a Boxer and a Lab. Both are 5 years old. They get into the cat litter and we can’t seem to break them of this habit. We have a covered box for the cats and keep the opening facing the wall but cannot keep them from actually turning the box and eating the poo. Definitely yucky! Do you have any suggestions? Answer: Newsflash! National pet food marketing firm reports, “Next to week old fish, decaying road kill, and napkins from a woman’s monthly you know what, dogs vote cat poop favorite flavor.” Yuck is right, because immediately

While a dog’s or cat’s breath will never smell like a bed of roses, if it carries a stench that could wilt a dandelion, something’s amiss. That means it’s time for a visit to the vet. The most common cause of bad doggy or kitty breath is a losing battle with the bacteria or tartar in the mouth. In mild cases, the teeth are slightly speckled with tartar, the gums are inconspicuously inflamed and the odor is only faintly foul. In really bad cases, the gums are screaming for help and the teeth, blanketed under a calcified, yellow brown crust