Posted in Behavior & Training

A zootooer asked this morning about rough play among her two dogs. My dogs have played rough ever since Rags was a few months old. When we first brought him home as a 7 week old puppy, Webster would quietly lay on the floor with a pull toy in his mouth and let Rags pull on it. He was very gentle with the pup, but now it's no holds barred when th… read more

Posted in Behavior & Training

For some reason, we are being inundated with calls from people who want to get their pets certified to do pet therapy. We already have over 250 volunteers and have had to put in additional classes to handle all the new requests. It seems people really want to share the bond they have with their pets with others. read more

Posted in Behavior & Training

St. Hubert's pet therapy program, Paws for People, evaluated pets and their owners yesterday. It's amazing how many people hurt their chances of being certified simply by using the wrong equipment. Dogs who are too strong for their owners to handle pull the people all over the place, but the people don't realize that a pretty leather collar and l… read more

Posted in Behavior & Training

Rags was certified to do pet therapy with a volunteer whose dog had surgery and can't do anything for a while. Rags likes his new partner and he loves to visit, so it's a win-win situation. read more

Posted in Behavior & Training

Today we're evaluating people and their pets to do pet therapy. There are all kinds of dogs, all sizes, pure breeds and mixed breeds. It's great to see the bond between people and their pets. We have one cat coming. We're all hoping she passes, since we need more cats in the program. read more