For some pets, Independance Day will not be a cause for celebration. We might love the fireworks, but remember they can send pets, especially dogs, into a state of real panic.
If you have already gone through this with your pet, then you will recognise the signs immediately: trembling, cowering, disorientation, and some dogs are so frightened they may do something drastic like jump out of a window, or over a fence that is too high.
Every year animal shelters deal with lost dogs and cats, so many have bolted from the usual safety of their homes.
There are common sense ways to try and reduce the anxiety for you and the stress for your pet: try to keep him or her inside as much as possible on the day, and even before and after for a few days if your pet is extremely worried by fireworks.
For useful tips on how you can avoid distress and keep your pet safe check this link from the Oregon Humane Society :
Taking photographs of your pet is a pretty effective way to capture those treasured moments and unique expressions...but if you are like me you are snap-happy and have endless pictures that stay on the disc or the computer, then at some point you might consider commissioning "The Portrait" - an oil painting, a drawing, whatever the medium, the artist has to capture the unique characteristics of your pet! His or her prime spot on the wall is guaranteed as sentimental value comes first, but depending on the artist you pick, the portrait might be a contemporary work of art with a value of its own! Your treasured pet immortalised and a family heirloom, what more could you want?!
If you are after something a little 'off- mainstream' then check out J.Penry Pet Portraits who is known for his melodramatic illustrations for album covers and the pages of Vice, since he has also turned his humorous pen to personalised pet portraits to capture the character behind the face!
For the more traditional approach to pet portraiture, I suggest featuring some talented artists over the coming months, and, if you know a genius aritist from first paw experience, then please let us all know in your blog on P.C
For news on J.Penry, follow the New York Daily Candy link below!
You may be doing your pet a huge favour by joining Paws Connect without even realising it! Look upon social networking on this site as a kind of complimentary insurance policy: the extensive reach of social networking sites such as this and Facebook which is now a household name, could someday help reunite you or someone you know with a lost pet.
The amazing story of a Himalayan cat missing since Friday, August 13,2005 in Sydney, reunited with his owner almost three years later! The cat's microchip, the help of an animal shelter and a persistant RSPCA inspector all played a part in solving the mystery, but ultimately, it was thanks to Facebook that the owner was tracked down.
See a picture of Jacob and read this happy story by following the link below
Most of the time Toffee our golden (delicious) Labrador finds it hard to resist getting her teeth into the children's toys, especially if they are of the of the soft toy or ball variety, and even the odd puzzle (who else to blame for the missing pieces?!). Unsurprisingly she is not remotely interested in plastic space craft , or the Nintendo DS, and thinks that the Wii is an invitation to join in on the home workout!
But when the robot dinosaur and the giant hairy tarantula appeared at Christmas, Toffee put her paw down and protested: the hackles went up, she snarled and barked clearly trying to establish that she was top dog and these alien intruders were not welcome! My first Labrador Jazz, would have a face off with the vacume cleaner whenever it came out of the closet, so that I even tried lying down next to the vacume culprit and patting it, trying to convince Jazz it was not a threat to her...never won that one, but I was amused to read the article from the WallStreet Journal by Andrew LaVallee which recounts similar dog-robot encounters some of which needless to say have ended up on YouTube!
The article is entitled "When Dogs and Robots Collide, Somebody Needs a Talking To"
