I was in a grocery store the other day and there was another shopper there with a big shepherd mix dog with a SERVICE DOG vest on. The dog was completely out of control, lunging at other shoppers, dragging its handler up and down the aisles. At one point I saw it snatch some bread from a low shelf.
We want to remind dog owners of the New York statute regarding dog houses. The name of the statute is Agriculture & Markets Law Section 353B. It mandates that dogs left outside in inclement weather, (which includes not only cold but also heat, rain, ice, and wind), have a minimum standard of housing. The law takes into account the breed and condition of the dog.
I was all set to adopt a cat (and I love black cats the most because they are so beautiful and I know they need homes), but my neighbor told me that most animal welfare groups won’t allow adoptions of black cats around Halloween because witches try to adopt black cats on Halloween for evil purposes.
My two cats, George, age 7, and Elaine, age 2, mostly get along great. I adopted Elaine a year ago to keep George company. But every once in a while, for reasons that are not at all obvious to me, they will start hissing at each other, sometimes swatting, and then stalk away in a huff.
I love Halloween, but my dog Ernie hates it when strangers come to the door. Do you have any advice about how to make Halloween fun for him too?
My big happy black lab, Rufus, loves to play tug of war with me. He has a lot of energy and it’s his favorite game. But the other day my next door neighbor was watching us play out in the back yard and he asked me later whether I was worried that I might be encouraging Rufus to be too aggressive toward me and other people.
My dog, Alonzo, is about ten years old and all of a sudden he seems to be slowing down. He doesn’t seem to really like to go running with me any more and sometimes he sort of sighs and groans when he gets up out of his bed. I have a little arthritis myself and I just take Aleve for it and it seems to help. Can I safely give that to Alonzo? I hate to see him so uncomfortable.
I just adopted a kitten, Tanya. She is about six months old and beautiful, but she has started scratching on my couch. I really don’t want to declaw her, but . . . it’s a nice couch. Is there any way to keep her from scratching the furniture short of declawing?
As you know, this column usually dispenses advice about pet-related issues. We love getting real questions from real readers, but the truth is you are REALLY BAD at that. So, most of the time we make up pretend questions about topics we think are important. We are perfectly happy to continue to do that, but remember that we are ecstatically happy to answer real questions. That said, we also like to use this column as a sort of soap box to encourage you to take action to help all animals and this feels like a soap box morning.
We received an email the other day that we thought you might be interested in.
The ASPCA is conducting a campaign to persuade more members of the US House of Representatives to join the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus. This caucus is a bipartisan group of U.S. representatives who are interested in promoting and advancing commonsense, humane animal welfare laws.
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