Question: I have a 17-month-old Labrador Retriever who has a very bad habit. When I let her out in the backyard, she bites off the watering jets of our irrigation system. Worse, if I leave her out for a long time (over five minutes), she gets at the main irrigation hoses and she has chewed right through them. This is a nightmare in terms of repairs, costs and loss of function. Can you offer any advice? Answer: Like furniture scratching problems in cats, one strategy for curbing the destruction here is to direct the behavior at a more appropriate object,

The problem with treating pets is that they can’t tell you what’s wrong which can make being a veterinarian quite tricky. For instance for the general practitioner in a busy area of town, not a week goes by where someone comes in with an animal with an old festering wound or a large relatively slow growing tumor, who says, “It just appeared yesterday”. Or owners who have no idea if their pet’s appetite or energy level are normal. Luckily for veterinarians, sometimes owners are quite observant and help draw a beeline to what’s wrong. Take for instance my visit with

It’s wonderful to come home after a long day of work to relax and spend quality time with your pet. But when quality time includes the following pet owner’s predicament, relaxation is far from the picture. “My Springer Spaniel barks constantly at the table when we eat dinner and it’s annoying,” says one perplexed pooch owner. “He gets table scraps occasionally but he always has dog food available. Any ideas or thoughts?” At this point, cat owners are gloating over their choice of a more peaceful pet, but before you feline fanciers let it go to you head, listen to

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

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