MissChivers Pets

21/12/2024

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05/10/2024

There's something I need to talk about, and I'm going to try to address it as sensitively as I can.
Our sanctuary was established as a safe haven for senior dogs who have found themselves in unavoidable situations, facing health crisis or homelessness in their twilight years. We have taken in dogs from shelters, strays, owners who are unable to care for them due to their own health, or sadly at the time of their own death.
Owners who would absolutely do anything to change the circumstances so they could keep their dog, but are in unavoidable turmoil and situations outside of their control and the choice has been taken from them.
We have provided sanctuary to dogs who need us, because they have nowhere else to go.

Recently, there has been an uptick in owner requests from people who are missing the point of what we do. We have had requests to surrender nine dogs in the last forty-eight hours. If you have a dog, that you have loved and cared for their entire life, and now just can't bring yourself to handle the inconveniences that come with your dog being a senior...we are not the answer. I don't know how people can forget the faithfulness their dog has provided its entire life, and as their body starts to fail and they need their people the most, they would choose to simply surrender their dog instead of supporting them to the end.

As dogs age, as with any living being, their body starts to deteriorate. Organ function, potty function, vision, hearing, mobility...every life has an expiration date, and as they draw nearer to the end, things just don't work like they used to. At absolutely no fault of their own, you have to consider how the dog is feeling after years of "doing the right thing", that first time they don't make it to the door to potty. Will your dog's "accident" be met with kindness and understanding at that time? Or will you be so tremendously inconvenienced that you decide your dog can't live with you anymore?

I don't think people realize what a dog goes through when they are rehomed after years and years with their family. I can tell you that I have cried, many times, for a dog who sits at the window watching for their family and wondering what they've done wrong to make them lose their home. They do not understand. In their deepest time of need, they just want the same support that they've given their humans all these years.

Another misconception that people have, is that we can do anything differently than they are already doing in their power, to provide anything other than a dignified end when it's time. We get messages, "I have a 15 year old dog who is blind and deaf, he has trouble walking and isn't eating well, and can't control his bowels." There comes a time where people think there's something we can do, and time isn't anything I can battle and win. The kindest and most merciful thing anyone can do for their dog is consider their quality of life and be right by their side when you offer that final gift of mercy. It's very difficult to manage these situations where I feel confident a dog might need to meet Jesus instead of me.

More people need to stay committed to their senior pets, I really don't know how else to say it. Offloading the inconvenience of an old dog is not the answer. People just need to do better. Love your old dogs until the end. They need you.

05/10/2024

DON’T FORCE ME TO BE SOCIAL!
It may be really disappointing and frustrating when our dogs are not the social beings we expected them to be.

Many believe dogs should just naturally get along with other dogs, after all they’re the same species.

Some believe the “unsociable” dog has a behaviour problem that needs to be “fixed”.

Early, appropriately timed and correct socialisation is vitally important, but sometimes despite all of this, some dogs are just not that sociable.

Sometimes this can be improved, especially if the cause is from a negative experience, but genetics, breed tendencies, individual personalities, health and age all contribute to tolerance and sociability, which also change throughout life.

If we, as a human species, don’t get along with everyone we meet, how can we expect our dogs to?

Do we label every person that has an argument, doesn’t make friends with everyone they meet, doesn’t like every other person, prefers not to socialise - as having a problem that needs to be fixed?

Why is it so easy to accept that every individual person is different than to accept that every individual dog is different?

When we have done what we can to improve our dogs’ social skills, we need to accept and acknowledge our dogs for the individuals they are, allow and respect their choice of whether to be sociable or not and never force interactions that a dog is not comfortable with.

04/10/2024

Puppy Training Walks with the gorgeous 4 month old Border Terrier Ted ☀️🐕🌟

On our walks we:

🐾 Gradually introduce him to different environments.

🐾 Practise 'loose lead training'.

🐾 Play the (previously trained indoors) 'Name Game' to capture his attention around distractions.

🐾 Positively reinforcing eye contact.

🐾 Practise basic training cues learnt in our MissChivers Pet's ×4 session Puppy Training Course.

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For more information on our 'prevention rather than cure' puppy training packages, regular personalised training walks, cat or house sitting, please contact me directly or visit our website below:

www.misschiverspetservices.com

23/09/2024

HAGRID did an amazing job today being relaxed within his local trigger happy area, and then sniffing and playing at the park! 🐕🐕🐕

He saw a dog on lead at a distance, looked at me for a treat, then just continued to play 😁😁😁

With no reactions on this walk, we celebrated when we got home!! 🤩💯🎊🥇

For more information on our 'prevention rather than cure' puppy training packages, regular personalised training walks, cat/pet sitting or dog training, then please check out our website below or contact me directly.

www.misschiverspetservices.com

17/09/2024

Today we practised the stay/wait cue with Lily the lovely Jack Russel on Coldhams Common🐾🐾🐾

She's improving weekly! 😁😁

For more information our 'prevention rather than cure' puppy training packages, regular personalised training walks, cat/pet sitting or dog training, then please checkout our website below, or contact me directly.

www.misschiverspetservices.com

22/08/2024

This is the adorable Dora 😍 a 14 week old female Border Terrier (one of my favourite breeds)

Now, within her third week of our 4 week puppy training package course, she is bursting with motivation, and her keeness to impress is endearing 🐕🐕

She's a very intelligent little pup, and so even more the reason to encourage nap times throughout the day.

Here, she is on her mat practising the 'place' behaviour. Well needed after a full and fun day with her lovely owners.

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For more information on prevention rather than cure in puppy training, regular specialised 121 dog training walks, or dog training and pet visits, please check out our website:

www.misschiverspetservices.com

21/08/2024

RUBY 🐶 RUBY 🐶 RUBY 🐶 RUBY!! It's times like these when I'm reminded how much I love my job!

Ruby's dedicated and lovely owner came to us last April with an issue of Ruby reacting on walks with excitement/over stimulation and fear of other dogs (since a past attack/plus other contributing factors).

4 months later, taking her on very simply training walks, taking it right back to basics, and making sure every walk is a positive one, we have just had a breakthrough!!!

We managed to walk around the whole block happy and jolly as can be for the first time, yay! Such a milestone 😃😃😃

This is amazing for little RUBY, and I'm so very proud of her! Great work from both her family, friends and the MissChiver Pets Team👏 🙌 🤗👏

For more information on prevention rather than cure in puppy training, regular specialised 121 dog training walks, or dog training and pet visits, please check out our website:

www.misschiverspetservices.com

11/08/2024

It’s soooooo hot out there and still there are people walking their dogs past our house! 🌞🕶️🦮🐾

03/08/2024

This is great information for every dog carer 🐶 🐕 🐕‍🦺 🐶

WHAT THE F?

Recognising stress responses in dogs.

Fight or flight are well known reactions to fear or stress, but these other “F” words are also important to understand and be aware of as they may not always be so obvious.

Freeze, Fawn, Fidget or Fool around are also responses to stress or fear and are also commonly seen in people.

Some dogs may have a genetic predisposition to one type of response while some react based on previous experience - what has worked for them before or what hasn’t. Some dogs have different reactions depending on the specific context.

Recognising and taking note of situations or circumstances where these responses are seen is important in understanding how our dogs are feeling.

When we recognise a fear or a stress response, we are able to intervene and advocate for our dogs.

30/07/2024

👍👍👍

LETTING GO OF THE LABEL
People love to label things - from containers to personality types, physical or mental differences and everything in between.

Why do we like labels so much? Labels are comforting, they help us to feel more secure.

Labels allow us to close that particular “box”, because it now has a label and we no longer have to think about it or be concerned about it.

It’s been judged, identified, labelled and we can now move on, confident in the belief that there’s nothing more to be done.

We may also be very good at labelling dogs. My dog is stubborn, aggressive, lazy, shy, timid, greedy, jealous, untrainable…. It’s comforting for us to assign a label because it takes the pressure off trying to find out why they behave that way because we might believe that it’s just the way they are.

If we remove the label and take note of the behaviour in context and the circumstances or environment it’s happening in, we may realise that our dogs need our help to cope, not our labels.

Look into what can be done to improve or change that behaviour if it's something you’d like to change.

Sometimes a label does fits, it’s just the way it is and we need to accept that, but sometimes labels hide the need to look beneath the surface and discover what the real cause of that behaviour is.

26/07/2024

When will this craziness stop?!

Poor innocent dogs being used, tested on and kept in disgusting conditions..

And now good people are being procescuted for caring and trying to do something about it.

Why does the government allow it I wonder?

Animal Rising activists have appeared Cambridge Magistrates' Court accused of stealing 20 dogs from MBR Acres, in Wyton, in December 2022.

24/07/2024

https://chng.it/9Tnzzk588F

29,131 signatures are needed, let’s get there by the end of the day?