PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

Koi are some of the most beautiful and graceful pond fish. These fish are quite intelligent and can become very tame over the years. With good care, they often live from 25 to 35 years and can live for as many as 200 years. However, the flashy Koi has some special requirements that make it a bit more challenging to care for than ordinary carp.

Koi need a lot of oxygen in their pond and they must have a high quality filtration system, especially if you’d like them to live for several decades or more. The best filtration system to use in a Koi pond to maintain excellent water quality is a biological system. Biological filters work by processing all of the debris and waste in the pond naturally so the water can be kept clean and clear.

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Are you tired of cat hair on the counters, footprints on the windowsills, and rumpled pillows? If so, you may want to consider giving your cat his own resting spot. In fact, to truly make your cat happy, you may need to provide him with several cat beds in different areas.

There are so many different types and styles of cat beds that finding one that blends with your décor should not be too hard. You can look for colorful cat beds in fun pet prints that add a touch of whimsy to the room or you can shop for cat beds with plenty of designer elegance, instead. Of course, your cat will be more concerned with how the bed feels than what it looks like.

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Whether you are just starting out training your puppy or you have a long-standing relationship with your favorite canine of 15 years, there are plenty of things and issues to think about that all deal with the health and care of your dog. Many people think that taking care of their puppy or full-grown dog won’t be a lot of work. On the contrary, though, there is plenty of work to do, including regular trips to the vet, preventative health care that includes heartworm treatments, feeding your pet the right kind of food, as well as activities that should be done with your dog to encourage the bonding times with your beloved pet.

One of the most important things that needs to be considered, though, is the diet that your dog will be eating. From the time that he or she is a puppy a regular, steady diet of proper dog food is required. Some people choose to feed their dog the regular store and brand-name cooked pellets that are so common throughout the dog food industry. On the other hand, there are plenty of dog owners that insist on feeding their dogs a raw dog food diet. This often means that more care and guidelines need to be paid attention to. However, the benefits of a raw diet definitely outweigh the benefits of a processed pellet diet that dogs receive when brand-name packaged food is bought for them. A couple examples of these benefits include a shinier skin and fur, a lessening of the dog’s shedding, cleaner teeth, better breath, as well as an increase in the dog’s general health. If many more people knew the benefits of a raw diet, there would definitely be more people switching over. Still, the dog’s diet is an issue to be considered by the dog and the dog owner.

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The creativity of trainers and those who supply them with additional tools is never-ending. To the new or casual trainer there appears a dizzying array of devices. Though many are useful, they shouldn’t be viewed as substitutes for training knowledge.

Before using any of the tools discussed below, be sure your dog is in good health. Even the gentlest of collars or training regimes can do harm if the dog has a skin sore or twisted dew claw.

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If you want to have your horse pull a cart, a wagon or even a sleigh, you will need one important piece of tack, the harness. A harness connects your horse to the cart or other conveyance and gives you a way to control the horse. There are several harness models, from standard driving harnesses to harnesses for horses that compete in sulky races. Of course, just like with other types of tack, you can find leather or nylon harnesses.

Before you buy any type of driving harness, you should know how many hands high your horse stands. Usually, driving harnesses come in miniature horse, 12 hands to 13 hands, 14 hands to 15 hands, over 15 hands and draft horse sizes. You should also know which size of bit your horse uses with a traditional bridle, since bit sizing for harnesses is the same.

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Laddie, 121141

Laddie is a wonderful ~2.5 year-old Border Collie/Saluki cross whose owner determined three dogs were too much for them. Laddie is great choice if you have other pets at home- he even likes cats! Laddie’s been terrific with kids and deserves a super home- best with a securely fenced yard.

Winnie, 150391

Winnie was brought to a local vet clinic as a stray cat. This handsome ~2.5 year-old male needs a permanent address- the “Inn” is full! Winnie’s adoption fee includes his neuter, vet exam, microchip, pet insurance and even an FIV/FeLV test!

If you would like to adopt one of these pets, please contact:

Chantal Young
Adoption Coordinator
204.982.3558

The Winnipeg Humane Society
45 Hurst Way
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3T 0R3
Tel: 204.982.3558
Fax: 204.982.3550
Email: chantaly@humanesociety.mb.ca
www.winnipeghumanesociety.ca

Saving just one dog won’t change the world… but it surely will change the world for that one dog

Pet Pics with Santa! www.winnipeghumanesociety.ca for details!

The term ‘purebred’ is relative. No breed has been so isolated that it’s never mated with another.

But taken over the last hundred years or so, there are populations of Golden Retriever, German Shepherds and many others that have bred only with their own kind. As with any inbreeding program, the results tend to produce extremes, both good and bad.

The bad aspect is that, for technical reasons, genes that lead to undesirable conditions will occur more frequently the narrower the population. Instances of hip dysplasia in Golden Retrievers are more likely to be passed on if programs are careless. Fortunately, they rarely are.

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Well .. I’ve been tagged again for another meme .. by WildCatsThree in The Dog Log blog.

Here are the rules of the game:

* Link to your tagger and post these rules.
* List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
* Tag eight (8) people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

Well .. WildCatsThree tagged this blog, and NOT me personally (HART) so .. I feel I can take this to mean 8 random facts about my dogs!

In case you were also wondering .. both of our dogs are purebreds. Maxxie is the larger dog, and actually oversized from the normal size of Papillon dogs. Sophie is the female dog, which are normally smaller than the normal male papillon dogs, so she looks small. But - don’t put these sizes out of mind. Sophie can take care of herself and actually considers herself to be the Alpha dog, even though she is the baby (or ‘Baby-Gurl’) of the pack!

So .. Let’s get this *party* started! For this Meme game .. and PS: it’s a pictorial!
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As with raising children, dealing with pets can be stressful. But often the situation is exactly the reverse: having pets frequently provides one of the best stress relief mechanisms around.

Several studies suggest that having a pet helps recovering surgery patients heal faster. If the link between infection and stress that some of them show is correct, this shouldn’t be surprising. The positive effect on the immune system could account for that.

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‘They breed like rabbits’ is a familiar phrase. And it’s true. Rabbits are prolific. As prey for a wide variety of predators in the wild, the species survived, in part, by producing many offspring. But that ease and number can represent a problem for pet owners.

Breeding is best left to professionals or those who have experience. The breeding itself is simple, since (obviously) the rabbits are the major actors in the process. But the effort that surrounds the project is not small.

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