PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

Understanding what your pets are telling you can be a real challenge, even if they can talk. Luckily your bird’s body language speaks just as loudly to allow you to understand exactly how he is feeling.

Scared Bird

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According to Toronto Public Health

Puppies sold at a Toronto flea market may have been exposed to rabies. Toronto Public Health is asking anyone who touched or purchased puppies at Dr. Flea’s Flea Market, Booth # 1513, anytime since January 5 to call their local public health unit immediately. Health unit staff will assess your exposure, and determine if you need a rabies vaccine. Rabies, if contracted by humans, is usually fatal. Vaccination can prevent the illness from developing, but must be administered as soon after exposure to the virus as possible.

Press releases on rabies investigation:

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Over 130 different breeds compete in major dog shows, such as the Westminster in the US or Crufts in the UK. But there’s a good deal more to developing a show dog than simply acquiring a dog of one of those breeds and teaching it to sit or stay.

Within any breed there are dogs that are closer to the ‘ideal’ than others. This ‘conformation’ is an important first criteria. Conformation refers to the specific arrangement of parts - legs, tail, head, ears, etc - that determine the dog’s appearance. Since this is difficult to judge in young puppies, show dogs are often the offspring of other show dogs.

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Trimming your rabbit’s nails can be a trial. Rabbits are akin to small dogs in that they tend to be fairly high strung. As prey for so many larger species, they evolved to be on a constant look out for danger. Even though they’re safe and well protected in your home, those instincts are still there. Proper technique can help overcome those instincts when they kick in (sometimes literally) to make nail trimming difficult.

First, pick yourself a nice open area, such as the bathroom or living room floor. Lay down a couple of towels, one of which will be used to wrap the rabbit, in order to restrain him or her. The other towel makes it easy to pick up the nail clippings and discard them. Arrange your materials so everything you may need is close at hand. That way you can stay seated near your rabbit for the whole procedure.

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I was looking for some pet trick videos, and ferrets do pet tricks too.. you know! Really! Watch

Ferret Tricks

* Training ferret to rollover, jump…

Ferret does THREE different tricks

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Once upon a time, seeing-eye (guide) dogs were almost the only type of assistance dog around. Over the last few decades, the field has widened considerably.

Today, dogs help the hearing impaired, the blind, wheelchair bound and bedridden. Others simply provide a new kind of therapy for prisoners, burn victims, the clinically depressed or merely home bound.

Training starts before birth by careful selection. It’s no accident that certain breeds tend to be more useful for these roles than others. German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and a few others are favored both for intelligence and temperament.

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Krista Mifflin from Your Guide To Dogs has recapped the list of the top ten registered dog breeds in the United States during 2007, as tallied by the American Kennel Club ..

At the start of every year, the American Kennel Club tallies up the registrations for the previous year, and gives us a list of the top ten registered dog breeds in the United States. Seeing your favorite breed on the list is a bittersweet realization. It’s nice to see that many others agree that your favorite dog breed is wonderful, but it’s also a sad realization that popular dog breeds are often bred willy-nilly through puppy mills and backyard breedersL

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So, it’s time for your very first horseback ride and you just can’t wait to jump on that horse’s back so you can gallop off into the sunset. However, before you ride off on your horse, you will need to tack him up and then you will need to figure out how to actually get up there.

When you tack up a horse, you should start by fastening his halter to the crossties before you do anything else. Once he is properly secured to the crossties, it is time to move on to the next step, using your body brush and your hoof pick. Lift up each foot and clean it to be sure that there are no pebbles lodged in the hoof. Then, brush your horse’s back and sides to be sure that there is no dirt on his body. Once the horse is wearing a saddle blanket and saddle, even a little dirt can create sores on his back. These two simple grooming steps are extremely important, since they help you make sure that your horse is comfortable while you are riding him. After all, an unhappy or uncomfortable horse is not a safe horse.

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Within dog lover circles there is an ongoing controversy about whether it’s better to acquire a pure bred German Shepherd or one of mixed ancestry. The issue may never be settled to everyone’s satisfaction. But where you stand may depend heavily on the reason you acquired your dog.

For show dogs, police dogs and other specialized work a pure bred is generally the preferred choice.

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EntreCard … I dunno .. Do you? It’s in my sidebar.

I’ll try to figure it out eventually .. meanwhile .. I suppose the next step is to approve things - until I know better!