I am so upset about this that I had to share.

Many of you know I worked for a professional pet sitting company for a couple of years. It was a fantastic experience and I loved every minute of it.

This week there is a huge news story here. One of the sitters let two cats starve to death!!!! I am in such total shock about this. Apparently she was watching them (supposedly) for two months. When the owner came home the cats weren't there and she came over and helped him search for them, claiming they must have got out the night before. Well after a police investigation she confessed to not visiting the cats for WEEKS and then finding them dead and dumping their bodies.

I am literally sickened about this. I am willing to bet she neglected a lot more animals than just these two cats, but she got caught this time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
This is hitting me so hard because I was once in her shoes and know how much people trust and depend on these sitters. She is being charged with animal cruelty, but she deserves much worse.

I was bored today, so I decided to start a blog about life with pets. Its probably not any good, but check it out anyway, tell me what u think (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) . If you dont like it, comment anyway tell me how to make it better (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) . It only has 2 posts so far, but i will probably write some more this week or next.

http://lifeispetastic.blogspot.com/

I take Flash to a dog obedience school in town that IMO is the best out there. They use positive reinforcement and are very much into holistic care. I personally know two of the instructors and trust them.

The owner also runs a "doggy daycare" out of the school. Everyday she has 10-12 dogs there, where they can play inside and outdoors in a fenced area. I was nervous about leaving Flash there at first but I have put him in there for the past 3 weeks and he seemed to love it.

However, there's a problem. The owner of the school breeds German shepherds and 4 of her puppies (now in new homes) were in Flash's puppy obedience class. They are very nice dogs, but tend to be very dominant and aggressive with Flash when we let them play after class. Sometimes they gang up on him and bully him, never hurting him, but just being a bit too mean for my liking. But when this has happened the instructors have always stepped in.

One of these puppies also goes to "doggy daycare" at the school with Flash. I have been putting him in there for half a day, once a week, just to get exercise and socialize. He seems to love it, BUT this one puppy really gives him a hard time. When I pick him up his neck is covered in drool and sometimes he's filthy from having been dragged around in the mud. But I've been trusting the staff there to ensure things don't get out of hand.

We started a new set of obedience classes this past week and after class I brought Flash over to say hi to this puppy. The pup sniffed him and then grabbed him violently! Poor Flash was screaming. We broke it up and tried to calm them both, but it happened again. Luckily no harm was done physically. The problem is now I'm very torn about putting him back into the daycare. It is great for him to get that interaction with other dogs, but I don't think it's worth the risk of having him picked on, potentially very badly. What do you all think? Am I overreacting?

Ok so I think I have the stairs figured out. I make Moonpie go really slow down them, shes a 49lb bassett hound-border collie- springer spaniel mix, she needs to lose about 5lbs so I'm thinking of taking her to a dog park once a week.

Right now, I'm letting her tell me how often she wants to go outside, so far we've been on two walks today and its looking like her schedule is a preferred every 3 to 4 hours, even though I know she'll hold it longer (which she'll do when I'm at school/work) while I can that's the schedule she's getting.

She seems to be settling in pretty well. I'm training her not to leave my bedroom unless I'm in the common area and tell her shes allowed out there, this is mainly because by the end of the month I'll have at least 2 more roomates (it seems now like one backed out) and one of the roomates is bringing an unaltered female labrador. My experience with dogs leads me to believe this can go bad quickly with two females, even though Moonpie is spayed.


I need help with keeping her occupied. She had begun to slip into a depression after her playmate (my foster dog) was sent to a new foster home two weeks ago. I got her to play with me all last week, but now she doesnt even want her peanut butter in her Kong! Which she usually finishes in minutes.. I dont want her to get depressed again, but I dont want to stress her out and make her sick either.

Also she likes to chew on bottle caps (like water bottles) but she wont chew them OFF of the bottles for treats.

What do you do for your dog living in an apartment?

I was noticing a lot of cat hair on my kitchen floors lately and i noticed my baby girl poco has a bald spot on her right side??She Seems otherwise in good health,had her check up and shots the beginning of June and all was well (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) any ideas??