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Pet Sitter Hiring Tips
Labels: dog walking, doggie daycare, pet boarding, pet sitting Wednesday, July 08, 2009
To most of the readers of this blog, your dog is more than a pet. They are simply family! We put love in every detail, from food to exercise. This attention to detail doesn't stop with us. When we are away it is important to find some one to take care of our babies who have the same love for our little ones. Here are some hiring tips when your choosing a prospective pet sitter:
- Ask to see proof of current insurance and/or bonding.
- Ask for client references and testimonials and verify them.
- Find out how long has the pet sitter been in business.
- Make sure to know what experience they may have as a pet sitter.
- Do they know animal first aid and CPR?
- What are the sitter's emergency procedures?
- Sitter should ask for your pet’s routine:eating, sleeping, potty breaks, walking, exercise, medications, medical history, hiding places, favorite toys, frequent problems ,vaccination history, your veterinarian’s place of business and telephone number.
- How long will the sitter visit?
- Ask how you will communicate in case of an emergency.
- Trust your gut. Does your sitter seem trustworthy and dependable? If there is any reservation... pass.
Our beloved Chihuahua, Sox, pictured at left in our dog football sweatshirt, used to struggle with being just a bit overweight. These days, the problem of obesity seems to have run over from our cup into the lives of our pets. More and more I see owners walking around with obese dogs.
It’s not that the owners don’t love and adore their pets. They even pamper them with cute little dog costumes at Halloween and sweaters for their dogs at Christmas. However, the precious little pooch that is overweight will have a shorter lifespan no matter how many clothes are in his closet. Sox’s vet said that he needed to lose one or two pounds. This doesn’t sound like much, but considering Sox was a total of 13 pounds, that’s almost ten percent of his body weight.
If it were me, that would mean losing 15 pounds, which would take a lot of work. We tried many different kinds of dog chow with no real success. We tried limiting his daily serving to the lowest amount possible, and that only made him hungrier. During this last food recall, we started making all of our dogs’ food from scratch. It took getting used to the extra work. We have to cook a bunch of rice and veggies, which takes some time. Then, we had to cook a bunch of chicken and pull it off the bone which is labor intensive. Now, we actually feed them a recipe of rice, lentils, mixed vegetables and boiled eggs. It’s faster and easier to make and they are thriving on it. The important thing is that as soon as we started making their own food, Sox lost the weight and is now healthier than ever. Our oldest dog, Jaz, used to have numerous bowel movement problems and those have gone away as well. I strongly suggest looking into making your own dog food and looking up treat recipes for their optimal health.
How we finally house trained our Chihuahua
Labels: chihuahua, crate training, dog training, obedience training, potty training a dog
Coco, our youngest Chihuahua baby (pictured at left in a pink collared shirt), is just now getting to a point where we can call him house broken. Unfortunately, it took a year and a half, whereas it didn’t seem to take that long with our other Chihuahuas. He got to where he was pee pad trained pretty quickly, but he sort of stalled. I think being a little dog it’s not always pleasant to go outside, especially in cold New Jersey winter.
So, he would just pee inside and save himself from having to endure going outdoors. We bundled him up in a small dog sweater and a small dog coat, and that did help a lot. He would finally start going on walks with the other dogs, but I could tell he wanted nothing more than to get back indoors as soon as possible. He wasn’t focused on doing his business at all.
This led to many gross problems, not the least of which was the stink from dirty pee pads. Our oldest and largest dog, a Labrador and Maltese mix, had taken on the bad habit of eating Coco’s feces from the papers. I read that sometimes wolves in the wild will do this as a way of keeping inferior members of the pack from leaving their mark on the territory. Whatever the case, it’s just plain nasty. Now we’ve started strictly crate training him; we only let him out of the crate when it’s time for his walk. It seems to be finally working, and we were finally able to take up the pee pads. Also, there’s no more poop eating…yeah. Coco likes being secure in his space most of the time; after all, he’s perfectly bred for cute small dog carriers, right?
Wendy, pictured at left, is a dog from the whippet breed, normally known for its slender appearance and lean muscles. Obviously, Wendy is not a normal whippet. Due to a genetic condition, Wendy’s body has become extremely muscled instead of the expected sleek design. There’s no dog clothes for this amazing girl, though I’d bet she’d love a good massage.
This genetic anomaly has gained her fame, though. She recently appeared on The Today Show in Manhattan. She was cheered on by her fans and received petting by Al Roker and company. Her owner, Ingrid Hansen, thinks she liked the free steak the best, though. They were doing a bit about how to cook steak, so Wendy lucked out for her show date.
If you have a dog that is naturally broad chested, like a bulldog or pit bull, it can be difficult to get clothing that fits. Dog shirts and sweaters can work in larger sizes because the material often stretches. The problem is that larger sizes can be too long. If this is the case, buy a larger size and then hem the bottom, just as you would a pair of pants that’s too long.
Of course, one piece of dog apparel that will always work no matter what the size of your canine baby are dog boots. They become an essential item during winter months. They can also be useful if your dog has an allergy attack on the skin of their paws. Sometimes grass is treated with pesticides and chemicals that can irritate dogs’ feet, and booties help prevent that.
Wendy certainly got her share of walking around New York City, and plenty of people recognized her just from this picture posted all over the internet and stopped for a picture of their own. Hansen is a proud pet parent that says she thinks Wendy has truly enjoyed all the extra attention. Then again, what pampered pooch doesn’t love getting extra attention, especially on national television.
If you've been watching the news, you may have heard about the huge recall for many brands of pet food. Apparently, it has been linked to pet illness and even death by kidney failure. One of the big name brands that we used to feed our dogs was Nutro. For several years, that was what our Chihuahuas ate, and for several years our oldest one, Sox, has suffered from seizures. They've never been so bad that he needs medication, but nevertheless they were scary. Last year, we switched to the Royal Canine Chihuahua 28 brand, and it's been working wonders. Sox's seizures have virtually gone, so even though the news hasn't said anything about the bad food causing problems with the nervous system, I still wonder. Sox is our baby and a great model for small dog clothing, I can't imagine life without him our any of our dogs.This is something that affects all cat and dog owners of all breeds, so take heed and pass the word along. Go to www.menufoods.com/recall for all the brands.
No, I'm not talking about Lassie and all her famous canine friends. These dogs actually help find pirated DVDs and music CD's! There are two particular black Labradors having a test run in Malaysia called Lucky and Flo. They were trained to smell polycarbonates, a chemical used in the production of discs. If they detect it on a package claiming to be something else, bingo! They're on loan from the MPAA and are already proving to be quite successful as they caught a pirated set of DVD's from the show "Friends". I bet they would look great doing their thing in camouflage dog clothing. I guess Hollywood has finally gone to the dogs!
Right now the Iditarod dog sled race is going on in Alaska. It's a 1,049 mile race where 16 dogs driving a sled can go through as much as 2,000 dog boots ! I guess even four-legged atheletes need good shoes.
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