Including a Pet in Your Will: Why A Trust Is Much Better

Have you given much thought about leaving something behind in your last will and testament for your best friend’s well-being in case of your unfortunate demise? Maybe you have already done so, instead of something from your estate in a will, a trust is a much better way to go.

For example, pets are considered “personal property” in Texas, and as such, putting them into your will means they’ll have to wait for your estate to go through a lengthy probate period, which in the Lone Star State, can take up to four years.

Dog in Front of Tombstone

During the legally trying and stressful time of probate, your dog or cat is likely already going through separation anxiety and your pet’s ownership, everyday needs, food, water and shelter are all in jeopardy. Unlike a will, a trust goes into effect immediately, usually upon your death or disability to ensure their welfare.

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Outdoor Safety Tips: Keeping Your Dog Safe While Walking In The Snow

Dog in Snow

No matter what the weather is, it’s a fact that dogs love to be outdoors. Whether it’s going for a walk in a sun-drenched park or playing a game of fetch in the snow, our furry friends are perfectly content as long as they get to stretch their legs and have some fun. However, walking or playing outdoors in the dead of winter can have a negative impact on your dog’s health. According to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, winter’s dry, cold air can cause your pet to have chapped paws and itchy skin, and in more serious cases, the cold can cause stomach problems and hypothermia in dogs. However, you don’t have to keep your four-legged friend cooped up indoors this winter to protect him from getting sick. Here are a few tips to keep your dog safe and healthy while walking in the snow.
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Fun Outdoor Activities for Kids and Their Dogs During Winter

Kids With Dog

The east coast has been hit the hardest this winter. With many areas enveloped under a thick mound of snow, schools have been cancelled and kids and parents are hunkered down.

Snow days are equally awesome and miserable. Yes, everyone gets to sleep in a little longer, and those lazy days are often spent playing out in the snow, sipping hot chocolate or coffee and watching movies. But as everyone who lives in hard hit areas of the country knows too well, the novelty of snow days often wears thin after a few days.

Of course, there also is another family member affected by those days spent snowed in-the pets! Dogs especially thrive on routine, but they also love their humans. For pets, snow days are also a welcome change…but can became stressful if the weather begins to change their happy daily routines.

Keep kids and pets entertained and stress-free during extended snow days by planning lots of kid friendly and pet friendly activities both outdoors and indoors!

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Training Your Dog With Positivity

Training anyone is challenging, whether it’s for a job, or as an educator – and that’s if you speak the same language as the person you’re training! Training your dog is even more challenging, because it is a meeting of minds between two entirely separate species! So how do you bridge the gap between human and animal to train your dog?

Psychology has all kinds of great studies about this. It is called operant conditioning, and it means we buttress behaviors with positive (adding something) or negative (taking something away) reinforcement or punishment. Further studies have shown that positive reinforcement works better than any other kind of training or learning. So how can you train your dog in a completely positive way?

Positive reinforcement includes all the fun things we love! Treats, hugs, and petting can all do far more to help your dog learn tricks and positive behaviors than yelling at it or punishing it when it does something bad. Furthermore, once you have taught the dog the behavior, verbal cues will suffice most of the time to ensure the dog continues the behavior whether you reward it or not!

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Why Feeding Your Dog With Homemade Dog Food Is Important

Dog Drinking From Large Food PotMore often than not, dogs are referred to as man’s best friend. This case is true for many dog owners since their dogs are essential members of their family. As a dog owner, you must ensure that your dog feeds on a complete and balanced diet. A proper nutritional meal is as vital for you as it is for your dog. Dogs require a particular combination of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, water and minerals in a bid to function normally. The only way to ensure that your dog gets the appropriate diet is to consider homemade dog food as an ideal alternative to commercial pet foods.

The increased number of cases regarding the recall of dog food by many pet food manufacturers has created a cause for alarm among pet owners. As a result, most dog owners have embarked on making food for their dogs as opposed to buying commercial foods. Here are some of the benefits of opting for homemade dog food.

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Should You Be Giving Your Dog an Omega 3 Supplement?

Dog Outdoors

As with us humans, changes in the fields of diet and medicine are allowing dogs to live longer than ever. As dogs grow old, they begin to experience age-related diseases that can impair their quality of life. Regular exercise and a healthy diet are the fundamental in maintaining good overall health, but can Omega 3 supplementation provide any additional benefits to your dog?

One of the most common and earliest issues dogs experience as they age is joint pain, also known as arthritis. Joint pain can impair a dog’s ability to move around as they once did, so owners see a decline in activity and play as the dog ages. Omega 3 fatty acid supplements can reduce joint pain, and people often see their pets pick up the pace again after just a few weeks of being on supplements.

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4 Creative Ways You & Your Dog Can Get Fit

Getting outside and having fun with your beloved pooch is a great idea. You’ll both enjoy some healthy exercise, an increased level of fitness, a decreased waist line and most importantly you two will be able to make the most of your time together. But, instead of performing the same old exercises or activities over and over again, why not spice things up? Keep reading as we hope to unravel and open your mind to the many different and exciting ways you can get fit with your favorite pet.

Attend a Dog/Owner Fitness Class

Some communities have exercise classes where dogs and their owners get together and exercise. One example is a dog boot camp, whereby dogs and owners are led through exercises which are fun for both to do. While every community may not have these classes, plenty of them do these days and they are a really fun way to socialize with other dog owners, as you work out alongside your pet.

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Wildlife and Pets: Protecting Your Animals From Outdoor Threats

Many of us are too young to remember the Hitchcock horror classic, The Birds, when flocks of psychotic flying predators began randomly attacking people in a small, northern California town. While this example is pure fiction, in real life birds can be particularly problematic, causing some homeowners and some businesses to hire professionals to remove them from their premises.

Flock of Birds

While our so-called feathered friends can cause structural damage, annoying noises and carry a number of different diseases, larger predatory species are capable of carrying off a kitten, cat or small dog. Depending on where you live, these smaller pets are better off left indoors during daylight hours.

What are some other ways our pets could be at risk from wildlife when they’re outdoors and how can we protect them from these threats? Here are some tips for keeping our companion animals safe from the dangers some types of wildlife can present:

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About The Zika Virus: Does This Infection Pose a Threat To Pets?

There has been a lot of press recently about the Zika virus, a disease passed through the bite of an infected mosquito. It can also be spread from a pregnant woman to her unborn fetus and can be sexually transmitted from one partner to another. It is believed that it can infect a person through a blood transfusion, but this has yet to be proven as a fact, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

What is also unknown, is whether or not animals, pets and livestock are susceptible to infection. The simple truth is that we simply don’t have enough information yet to determine if this is either a possibility or a problem. A researcher from the CDC, Robert Barrera, had this to say on the topic. “Certainly there’s the potential for a pet to become infected, (but) what we don’t know is what that means for the health of the animal.”

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How To Stop Kindness From Killing Our Canines

Overweight Chihuahua

When we think of what could be placing our pets at the highest health risk, we might imagine cancer or heart disease as the culprit, but it’s actually many instances of them becoming overweight and obese that’s putting their lives in jeopardy. According to APOP (Association for Preventing Pet Obesity), they estimate that 54% of dogs are either overweight or obese in America.

Feeding them table scraps, too many unhealthy treats and a lack of exercise seem to be the biggest causes for this growing problem. Even if they are eating only kibble and regular processed pet foods, some owners are leaving out an open buffet for them to eat from all day long and this is also contributing to their growing size. While an extra pound or two may not seem that much to us as humans, for animals it can be 10% or more of their entire body weight.

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