Traveling Tails Pet Care, LLC

06/02/2025

Winter Safety
Dogs' paws can take a beating in winter with cold weather, snow, ice, and salt. Some options you have to protect their paws include:
🐾Booties - You can train them to get used to the booties so they walk comfortably
🐾Paw balm - Paw balm can minimize dry skin and damage salt may cause
🐾Keep a towel on hand - When your dog comes inside, wipe off their paws to wipe off any residue from the snow, ice, or salt
🐾Keep walks short - If it is cold outside, keep walks short; consider a coat or snood (scarf/hood; Dixie loves hers!)

Here is a picture of Dixie and Ruby all bundled up(minus their booties)!

05/02/2025

Signs of Dental Disease
There can be multiple signs of dental disease in your pet. One of the most common owners notices first is stinky breath.
Regularly checking your pet's teeth and checking for dental disease will improve their dental and overall health.

04/02/2025

Do you have a nervous and anxious pet at the vet clinic? Do you need help with pet care at home? Do you need help with training or a behavioral issue? Call or message me! I am a licensed veterinary technician who will come to your house and help with pet care! This is a list of some services I provide. If you have questions about something else, send me a message or call, and we can discuss if that is something I would be able to do

I can not prescribe medications, perform surgery, diagnose, or give a prognosis. I cannot administer vaccines; rabies needs to be administered by a veterinarian. I am also not a groomer. If they have mats, I do have a clipper and will clip them out, but I don't guarantee they will look pretty!

03/02/2025

Today is International Golden Retriever Day! Some fun facts about Goldens:

🐾they are the 3rd most popular dog breed
🐾they were first bred in Scotland
🐾Gerald Ford and Ronald Regan had Goldens
🐾 police departments like them for their intelligence and keen sense of smell
🐾their coats have 2 layers: the top wavy coat is water-resistant, and the undercoat is soft and warm!

Do you have a Golden? Drop a picture below!

02/02/2025

It is Sled Dog Day! On this day in 1925, Balto and his team arrived in Nome, Alaska, to deliver the anti-toxin for diphtheria. That year, there was a deadly diphtheria epidemic, and the town did not have enough anti-toxin available. During a brutal winter, a team of sled dogs had to transport the anti-toxin to the remote town. The USPS helped position 20 dog sled teams along the 674-mile route. Usually, it would take the USPS 25 days to complete that route, but the anti-toxin would only last 6 days in the harsh weather that year. The teams made it to Nome with half a day to spare, saving 10,000 lives. The movies Balto and Togo are both based on this event.

02/02/2025

Today is National Hedgehog Day!
Some fun facts about hedgehogs!
🐾They have poor eyesight but make up for it with their taste and smell
🐾Their spines are not barbed or poisonous
🐾They are named after the garden hedges they live in and the pig-like grunt sounds they make
🐾Owning a pet hedgehog is not legal in every state

01/02/2025

Welcome Kela to Traveling Tails Pet Care!!

She was fantastic for her first nail trim. She got to lick some peanut butter and was content!

If your pet needs their nails trimmed, call or message me today!

01/02/2025

It is Pet Dental Health Month!

Veterinary dentists perform many procedures similar to those of our own dentists. During a cleaning, they scale the teeth to remove plaque and tartar. They usually use an ultrasonic scaler but will also use hand tools. Pets' teeth also get polished, just like ours!

By age 3, 70% of cats and 80% of dogs show signs of dental disease, but there are ways to help prevent dental disease, such as brushing teeth, using oral rinses, playing with specially designed toys, and eating dental treats.
Stay tuned this month to check out tips, information, and facts about pet dental disease.

31/01/2025

Funny Friday!!

30/01/2025

Training Management

Crates and baby gates are great training supplies.
Dogs that rehearse a behavior, such as jumping up on guests, is self-reinforcing. The dog wants to see this new person. The more the dog jumps up on a guest, the more it reinforces a behavior compared to the behavior you want (four paws on the floor). To help your dog learn the behavior you want, you need to prevent the unwanted behavior and reinforce the wanted behavior. Many times, you need to use management tools to get there. Such as a crate so the dog can't get to the new person, baby gates, or a leash in the house. Once you can prevent jumping, you can reinforce the wanted behavior and build reinforcement history.

29/01/2025

Today is National Puzzle Day!!
What are your pet's favorite puzzles?
Mine love stuffed ones!

28/01/2025

Does your dog eat p**p?

Eating p**p is actually a normal behavior in dogs. A condition called coprophagia.
A survey from the Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Science surveyed 1,400 dog owners and found that 23% of dogs had eaten p**p at least once, and 16% were frequent p**p eaters.

If your dog eats p**p, there are a few commercial products available but have not been proven effective. The best way to stop it is to prevent it. Don't give your dog any time to eat it. Pick it up as soon as they go to the bathroom.

https://www.livescience.com/animals/dogs/why-do-dogs-eat-p**p?fbclid=IwAR0Ggy7TcG1C3sJYlFWNkvdtNmc_y84SZHCzvcEKU-uGggqZY0LBxIhFrxM

P**p eating is a natural behavior in dogs; although it may disgust humans, it usually poses no threat to your canine's health.

27/01/2025

Training Tip!
5 Step Positive Proaction Plan.

1-Catch your pet doing something right. Be ready with treats to reward positive reinforcement right away. Carry treats around or keep treats in strategic locations around the house.

2-Don't let bad habits develop. When pets don't have the chance to misbehave, it is easier to get good behaviors.

3-Meet your pets' behavioral & developmental needs. Must meet their play and elimination needs.

4-Use the "take-away" method to discourage inappropriate behavior. Use negative punishment and remove attention from the pet when the pet is jumping/barking.

5-Minimize "discipline" & use it correctly when necessary. The behavior must be punished EVERY time it happens and within seconds of the behavior.

Call or email today to schedule a training session or learn more!

26/01/2025

Cat Enrichment
Cats sometimes get forgotten but shouldn't! Many cats are only indoors, so they get less enrichment than dogs. You can train some cats to walk on a leash and get enrichment that way!

There are many food puzzles for cats. My favorite is Doc & Phoebe's hunting cat feeder kit (top middle). These are great; wild cats spend 80% of their waking hours hunting. With this feeding system, your cat can satisfy their hunting instincts indoors!

If you have multiple cats indoors, sometimes it can lead to fighting; giving the cats enrichment through toys, feeding, play, and training can decrease fighting.

Scratching is a natural behavior in cats, so be sure to include scratching posts in your house.

If you have questions about making your house more cat-friendly and making sure your cat is happy, I would love to schedule a time to talk to you!

26/01/2025

Dog Enrichment
Enriching your dog's life can help decrease unwanted behavior. I love using food puzzles and training to help with cognitive enrichment. Agility is an excellent physical enrichment!
Enrichment is excellent for all ages. It may need to change depending on the age of the dog. Enrichment toys and activities help with puppy socialization; with senior dogs, you may need to change things depending on their health. If your dog has difficulty moving around with arthritis, having fewer physical enrichment requirements is better.
Here are some ideas to get you started! My dogs love puzzle toys like the tree trunk with squirrels in the bottom left picture!
Call or email me if you need more ideas or help developing a plan.

25/01/2025

Training Tip!

There are 4 categories of Operant conditioning (learning).
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Positive punishment
Negative punishment

Positive and negative refers to adding something or subtracting something.
Reinforcement will strengthen a behavior, while punishment will reduce a behavior.

Positive punishment is not recommended. It can damage the human-animal bond, inhibit learning & induce learned helplessness, cause anxiety and fear of the handler, induce aggression toward humans and other animals, and it does not change the motivation for behavior.

To schedule a training session or learn more, call or email today!

24/01/2025

It is National Peanut Butter Day!
Peanut Butter can be a great treat for your dog or cat if it doesn't have xylitol. Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that is extremely toxic to dogs and cats.