4 Hooves & Paws

06/22/2024

FRIDAY FACT - Hearing

Horses have a highly developed sense of hearing that’s well outside our range. They hear higher pitched sounds than we do and will often stand listening in a stance of heightened awareness.

Sound waves travel as vibrations in the air and are picked up by your horse’s large mobile ears which can be used independently rather like antennae. As well as directing sound, they also indicate emotion.

🐴 Often when being ridden, one ear is directed towards the rider – this indicates concentration
🐴 Ears pricked - your horse is alert
🐴 If they fall sideways they indicate relaxation
🐴 Pinned flat back indicate aggression

06/15/2024

Even when we don’t feel worthy, our pets overflow with love for us, and show us how to love those around us. 🐶🐱💗

This , show your love for your best fur-riend and share a pic of them below! 📷

06/15/2024

Giving your pet treats is more than a reward; it's a way to show love and care. 💛🐕🐈 Here are 4 tips to ensure you're selecting the best treats for your furry friend. ⬇️

Today’s free article is all about the dos 👍 and don’ts 👎 of pet treats. Tap the link in the comments to read it now. 👇

05/27/2024

Hope everyone in the Salem, Va area are ok.
I’m seeing reports that bad storms rolled through there today.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

05/24/2024

05/24/2024

Your dog oughta be in pictures! ⁣
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We are restarting our Working Dog of the Month contest for all our Facebook fans and followers. ⁣
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You are invited to post a picture of your working dog or you with your working dog (include name(s) please!) Don't forget to tag us and use the hashtags and for your chance to win.⁣
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Working Dog of the Month Contest Rules:⁣
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1. You Must Own the Rights to the Photo: All working dogs qualify!⁣
2. Our Expert Picks: The winner will be selected by the Working Dog Magazine team, ensuring a fair and thoughtful choice. One lucky winner will be chosen on the last Monday of each month.⁣
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What You Can Win:⁣
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• A spot in our Facebook WINNERS! photo album⁣
• An exclusive prize pack from us including a year subscription to Working Dog Magazine (print/digital for U.S. and digital only for international)⁣
• A feature on our website⁣
• A highlight in an issue of our world-renowned e-newsletter, the Working Dog Journal⁣
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Join the fun and celebrate your hardworking dog!

05/21/2024

WANT TO HELP YOUR DOG LIVE LONGER? ADD BROCCOLI TO THEIR DIET!🥦

Studies show that sulforaphane - found in high levels in broccoli - has potent anti-cancer effects.🦠 So if you’re proactively doing all you can to prevent cancer, adding sulforaphane is a smart move. In addition, sulforaphane can decrease inflammation, prevent type 2 diabetes, and detoxify heavy metals, mycotoxins, and Maillard reaction products (MRPs). These MRPs are often found in ultra-processed pet food, so you can substantially improve a bowl of kibble by adding broccoli.🥦

👉 COMMENT “NOWASTE” to get your copy of The Forever Dog LIFE, where we show you a ton more cost-saving hacks to make your pet’s food better! And when you get your copy today, claim access to over $250 in digital resources including our video showing you how best to prepare broccoli to reap all of the longevity benefits inside this cruciferous veggie!🙌 ONLY 2 WEEKS LEFT to get this offer!

04/22/2024

To everyone at Lone Hickory Arena this weekend:
Thank you for allowing me to massage your wonderful pups!
Safe travels home!

04/17/2024

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Lone Hickory Arena this weekend!

03/30/2024

Synthetic aromas are largely made up of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which float through the air, are inhaled, and then enter the bloodstream. These highly popular aromatic liquids are actually chemicals, including lactones, benzene and aldehydes, all of which have been linked to birth defects, central nervous system disorders, neurological disorders, and/or allergic reactions, including eye, skin and respiratory symptoms.

🐾 Our animals often spend their days stuck inside our homes, unable to get away from these airborne pollutants; if your goal is to remove damaging chemicals from your family’s living environment, the first place to start is by unplugging plug-ins.

You can find our pet-safe home freshener and odor deodorizer recipes🍋🐾 to download in the The Forever Dog LIFE Learning Lab!

03/30/2024

Keep your pets safe this Easter! 🐣🐰 Protect them from these 7 hazards for a celebration filled with joy and safety! 🐾💛

Learn more about these Easter hazards in today’s free article (linked below).

03/30/2024

We will be closed on Friday, March 29, 2024. We will reopen on Saturday, March 30, 2024 at 1:00pm - 4:30pm for adoptions.

03/30/2024

𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁 - 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀

The function of deep muscles are for posture and stability.
👉 They attach directly to bone
👉 Located close to the joints
👉 Often have a number of points of origin and insertion
👉 Are often responsible for supporting individual joints - for example, the deep gluteal muscle only affects the hip joint
👉 Have a high number of nerve endings, which makes them more sensitive to postural alignment

03/30/2024

DON’T FEED HOMEMADE PET FOOD!!!!☠️

Most vets say no👎🏻 to homemade pet food because studies shows more than 90% of internet recipes and pet cookbooks have recipes with terrible or inadequate nutrition, meaning meals taste and look good, but don’t meet your animals’ basic requirements for daily vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fats that are necessary for long-term health and well-being. That’s just a fact.

“But my pet likes my homemade food” and “I didn’t have to think about balancing with my other kids” is what we hear, as vets… but remember we are also the professionals having to deal with the ramifications of nutrient deficiencies in clinical practice that are very real: heart, kidney, liver, thyroid and eye degeneration, ligament tears, skin and coat problems, pancreatitis, immune system dysfunction, behavior problems and overwhelming gut issues, day after day.😿

Feeding recipes you find on the internet (and 99% of most pet cook books in print) is fine for a few meals a week… but how do you know you’re meeting your animals’ OPTIMAL nutrient intake when none of these recipes divulge exactly what vitamins, minerals, fats and amino acids are in their foods?! You can’t. Hence your vet’s rub.

And this is why vets around the world almost unanimously discourage parents from making their own pet food: you’re guessing at nutritional requirements, and guessing incorrectly. And who ultimately pays at that guessing game? Your pet - and their long term health. Don’t do it.

Thankfully, things are about to change.

This first-ever recipe book The Forever Dog LIFE, custom-formulates raw and gently cooked meals that meet species-specific recommended allowances for growing animals, adult animals and less active pets… and it’s never been done before, which is why we’ve done it now💥. It’s time for change.

We can’t wait for you to confidently show our complete nutritional analyses to your veterinarian, because chances are the food that you are feeding doesn’t have one (or the manufacturer refuses to disclose it🤬).

Every single one of our age & activity-level customized recipes (that tempt even the finickiest dog or cat) do not exceed extrapolated FEDIAF maximum nutrient requirements (no copper excesses!😅), and of course exceed current FEDIAF and AAFCO minimums.🙌

So what are you waiting for? Take charge of your pets’ nutrition, and show your veterinarian exactly what is in the pet food you are feeding or making at home… now is the time to advocate for your pet’s nutritional wellbeing, and challenge the status quo.

We proudly show you every nutrient in every recipe…can your pet food brand or recipe say the same? Let’s reclaim animal health now, through pure food. - Dr. Karen Becker

www.foreverdoglife.com

03/30/2024

Recently, I’ve had quite a few people mention and/or inquire if The Masterson Method is “massage”. Though traditional equine massage is an excellent modality to help horses feel better, Masterson Method is not massage. As Jim Masterson refers to it as “Beyond Horse Massage”. And it is!

With traditional massage we manually manipulate the soft tissues with our hands (better tool than anything on the market) to release tension in the superficial and some deep muscles of the horse’s body. The horse can be munching on hay, not paying attention to the therapist but we can still continue to massage. Many horses just love it and some may be quite sensitive but the benefits are the same. During massage, the horse may constantly switch from the sympathetic (fight, flight, freeze) to the parasympathetic (rest and digest “healing state”). Either way, this doesn’t really affect the work being done. The horse will still benefit.

With the Masterson Method, the horse “MUST” participate for it to work! The practitioner’s goal is to take each joint of the body through a small range of motion . . . “in a relaxed state”. It may be only seconds but can be minutes that the horse goes into the parasympathetic state and we create range of motion in that quick span of time and the “magic” is that when we do so, with timing and feel, it triggers the central nervous system to release deep seated tension and restriction in key junctions of the body that most affect performance. The joints of the key junctions are embedded deep beneath layers of soft tissue. It is impossible to “massage” these key places. But we can reach it through the central nervous system. And to bring further clarification, The Masterson Method, though it may appear that way, is not stretching either. When we “stretch” a horse, the muscles are active. With The Masterson Method we create range of motion when the muscles are “relaxed”.

And this takes us back to, “Is The Masterson Method massage?” The simple answer is, no it is not. However, it can have the same affects as massage and goes even deeper . . . It goes “beyond massage”. This is why our title isn’t “Massage Therapist”, rather “Masterson Method Certified Practitioner”. The two certifications are completely different, as is the application.

Yes, I am certified in equine massage and do still use a portion of that very effective modality but I’m also a Masterson Method Certified Practitioner and can offer the horse both! If you’d like to learn more, below is a link to The Masterson Method Website. I hope this helps to clarify those asking.

https://mastersonmethod.com

01/28/2024

Back home from a warm, wet and windy agility at Lone Hickory Arena in Yadkinville. Thank you all! Safe travels home and I’ll see you in April!
❤️

01/27/2024

8 Ways to Exercise With Your Dog When It’s Too Cold to Go Outside 🥶

❄️ Cold weather during the dog days of winter may leave you and your pup tempted to stay indoors, but regular exercise is important. 💪 Try these 8 indoor exercises to get your dog moving during winter. ⬇️

Discover even more ways to keep your dog active during the cold here: https://bit.ly/3u0S5KX

01/27/2024

We are now offering the opportunity for K9 tracking and trailing SAR teams to practice real world scenarios.

Teams will have the opportunity to choose 4 scenarios to run under the supervision of one of our master dog trainers. There will also be time to address any problem areas in training.

There are limited working spots for this event!

Training will be held at our Harmony, NC facility and will start Friday evening March 8th and run all day Saturday and Sunday.

Please reach out to [email protected] for more information or to sign up.

01/24/2024

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Lone Hickory in Yadkinville this weekend!

01/19/2024

Be better and be kind to every kind.

12/23/2023

Pet-Safe Household Cleaners 🧴👍

If you’re a clean freak, you might not realize most commercial cleaning products pollute indoor air with toxic fumes ☠️ that can be very hazardous and irritating. ⚠️ To protect your family’s and your pet’s health, switch to these nontoxic cleaners: https://bit.ly/47X5h2d

12/23/2023

Did you know that dogs can get frost bite too?

This Homemade Paw Wax is easy to make and will keep your dog's feet safe and comfortable in the snow and especially salt! ❄️ 🐾 Simply massage a layer of paw wax onto your dog's pads before heading out for an adventure 😃

Why Paw Wax is a Must-Have:

❤️‍🩹 Protect Against Salt & Chemicals
Streets and sidewalks can be full of harsh chemicals and salt in the winter, which can be painful and harmful to your dog's paws. Putting on paw wax forms a protective barrier to keep your dogs pads safe!

❄️ Prevents Ice Build-Up
Ice and snowballs can accumulate between the toes of furry-footed breeds, causing discomfort.

🐾 Moisturizes & Heals
Cold weather can dry out and crack paw pads.

👅 Natural & Safe
This recipe uses all-natural ingredients, ensuring it's safe for your dog even if they lick their paws.

12/03/2023

I’m hoping for a Christmas miracle here too.
Dr. Cowan has been my vet for many years. She and her staff are wonderful.
Please share this information with as many as you can.

WALNUT COVE — The only companion animal hospital in Stokes County outside of King will be closing its doors in December unless a holiday miracle occurs in the form of