Are are you celebrating? You could do something fun with your pet, like some extra play time, or give him his favourite treat. You could help your kids draw pictures of the family pet or talk to them about the importance of being kind to animals and pet health care. You could use it as a reminder to make an appointment for your pet's next check-up, volunteer at a pet shelter, make a donation, sign an animal issue petition, or even just post a photo of or poem about your pet online!
The American Veterinary Medical Association has a site full of ideas, information and even games for you to check out. But of course, the best things you can give your pet are affection, attention and letting her know you love her. Take a little time out and give your animal friends love and appreciation. They'll thank you in return.
Are you going to the upcoming WKC dog show or any of the related events? If so, welcome to New York City, and maybe you'll run into me! Are you interested in having a communication session with your dog while you're in town? Maybe you'd like to help him or her better understand all of the things going on, or hear his or her opinions on the show afterward? Feel free to contact me at info@animaltalker.com or via telephone at 917-607-8630.
Best of luck to you and your canine friends, and have a wonderful time!
Hey, animal lovers! Come check out the BlogPaws Twitter BlogPawty today from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, ET. I will be mixing with animal loving bloggers from all over. There will be music and prizes.
My cat Maurice is all dressed up in his tuxedo and... oh, dear. Mo? Maurice? I wonder if he's had a little too much to drink...
After Halloween, Big Cat Rescue, a non profit educational sanctuary in Tampa, FL, gets pumpkins from local businesses and gives them to the sanctuary cats to play with. It's wonderful to see these majestic creatures, some of whom have been been abused, abandoned, bred to be pets, retired from performing acts, or saved from being slaughtered for fur coats, having a wonderful time exercising with and eating their pumpkins. You can see what great health and spirits the staff at BCR keeps the cats in, and you get a chance to see that the same play stalking behaviour your house cat engages in is alive and well in even the largest felines. Meanwhile, BCR attract a human audience they can educate about these animals and the issues facing them in captivity and in the wild.
How and why cats purr has long been a mystery. In fact, it’s only within the last few decades that scientists have thoroughly studied purring and come to some understanding about it. Of course, those scientists don’t generally ask the cats themselves! So, I thought it would be fun to take some of the current scientific theory on purring and ask some cats what they thought of it via animal communication.
1. Why do cats purr?
Although many people think cats purr mainly when they’re happy or soothing their kittens, any veterinary professional or long-time cat owner will tell you that sometimes cats purr when they are sick or injured. So, is purring just used to express affection, or to comfort the weak or stressed?
I can't resist putting up this amazing video by OK GO featuring dozens of dog training behaviors in one take.
According to Roland Sonnenburg, the person from Talented Animals that coordinated this, "We had 12 trainers, two furniture movers, 12 dogs, one goat, 38 buckets, and a bunch of furniture, all of which needed to move around and be in the right place at the right time without anyone stepping in front of camera."
One of the keys to the success of the filming was that the dogs actually started to have fun doing their behaviors. It's a wonderful example of people and animals communicating and working together with time, caring and patience. See the Gizmodo article for more photos and interviews about how the video was made.
