Biography: Leigh

You were first introduced to Donna’s two dogs in last Sunday’s post Are pets people too?, now you can learn more about Leigh.

The following article was written by Donna Fournier for PetKeyBlog.

Leigh Fournier’s life began in a loving home, with children, as one of five puppies born of a German Shepherd and a Great Dane. She moved around a lot in the beginning, and when she reached two years of age, her loving family had to re-home her due to moving out of the state into an apartment where large-breed dogs weren’t allowed. Leigh’s future became uncertain … Where would she end up? Would there be more children to play with? Would her next family love her as much? So many questions, with no answers in sight.

DOGstar Training video: Housebreaking

DOGstar Training has released their first full-length training segment on YouTube. If you have recently brought a new puppy home and are looking for some guidance to get you started with housebreaking, this is a must-watch!

You can also subscribe to PetKey’s YouTube Channel to see more video clips as they are released.

Are we anthropomorphizing more than we should?

The follow article is being republished with permission from it’s author, Donna Fournier.

This past Mother’s Day, while visiting with my mom and sister, I was recounting an incident my youngest dog had. Right away, my mother, who doesn’t believe in crate training, jumped on me saying “He’s mad at you because he spends all day in the crate while you’re at work”. The typical argument ensued… “No,” I say, “Dogs don’t have the capacity to hold grudges or hurts. They live in the moment; dogs have no past to reflect on and no future to plan for or worry about; they only live in the now.” To think otherwise is Anthropomorphizing.

Anthropomorphizing is attributing human characteristics to non human things; most commonly, animals. Believe it or not, this harms the relationship between humans and animals. When humans believe that a dog or cat has human characteristics, we tend to expect more than the animal is capable of producing. By doing so, we find ourselves more easily upset and angered by the animal’s behavior, instead of understanding why the animal isn’t following the rules.

Find your lost pet, protect yourself

Technology, including microchip identification, email, and even social networking sites, have all been successfully employed to help search for and return missing pets. However, while the internet, by providing a quick and easy means of far-reaching communication, can help bring a pet home, it can also help opportunistic individuals prey on others who are in the unfortunate situation of having lost a pet. When a pet escapes or is stolen, many pet owners are desperate to do whatever they can to make sure their pet is returned safely back home. If you have ever had a pet go missing, you know what an awful experience it is without having to worry that someone may try to take advantage of your plight. Fortunately, there are some basic precautions that you can take to help prevent yourself from falling victim to a scam artist who can make the situation even worse.

Since we have been working to help reunite lost pets with their families, there have been a growing number of different organizations offering various means of helping you to find your pet. While many of these businesses provide a legitimate service which may be able to notify others in your area more quickly and efficiently than you can yourself while protecting your personal information, others are fly by night operations, and the worst may not even provide the service they claim to. How can you tell that a company is legitimate, trustworthy, and has results worth the investment that you will make by subscribing to such a service?

Are pets people, too?

Results of an AP/Petside poll were released and indicate that half of American pet owners consider their pets to be just as much a part of the family as more human members of the household. I know that I am definitely amongst that 50% — Rogue (a tortoiseshell cat) and Deacon (a pitbull mix) are certainly family to me. While technically smaller than him, being about a year and a half older makes Rogue the big sister. In addition to a canine aunt and uncle (my mom’s dogs), they have a full spectrum of human relatives as well: grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins. Before moving in with my fiance, I was also one of the 29% of dog owners who loved to have their pooch cuddled up in bed with them at night; now Deacon has his own bed, right next to my side of the bed. And of course they get birthday and Christmas presents! I also have a betta fish named Hedwig, and while he’s not quite as active a member of the household, I still tell him “good night” when I turn the light above his tank off at night.

Of course I already know just how crazy I am about my pets, so I thought I’d show the results to my co-workers here at PetKey and see what they had to say about the poll.