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Snellville Pet Sitter Talks About Why Dog Kisses Might Not Be the Best Idea for Your Health

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We’ve all been there; we are happily saying hello to our fluffy friend Fido when all of the sudden he gets us on the mouth with his tongue.  A thorough wiping of the mouth, gargling with water, washing our hands, and trying to remember what we last saw him licking ensues. This isn’t an experience many seek out, but getting ‘doggy kisses’ can also be something a few owners love.  While difficult to hear and common-sense for others, letting our dogs lick our mouths is bad for a number of reasons.  Here are some hard facts about what happens when people let their dogs kiss them and why we should avoid it. Why Do They Do It? Dogs love licking our mouths for a variety of reasons, but primarily because it is a classic act of submission.  In a pack, wolves would have a complicated social dance to go through based on one wolf’s relationship to the pack hierarchy.  Your dog’s interactions with you are exactly that – their expression of their place in the family hierarchy. By greetin

Duluth Dog Trainer on How to Train Your Dog to Love the Crate

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Puppy Crate Training Crating is the mantra for many of today’s dog parents.  It can save your furniture, your shoes, and your sanity when training a destructive puppy, and can be the refuge for an older dog in a chaotic house.  Despite crates being the savior for many new puppy owners. They are sometimes impossible to introduce to their dog. Fortunately, training your pet to enjoy their crate is a matter of lots of treats and gentle introduction, no matter the age of the dog.  Follow these simple steps on Crating your dog, and you find a more secure and well-adjusted dog. Why You Should Crate: In the wild, your dog would naturally seek out a secure area to make themselves feel secure and comfortable.  Despite getting comfortable on the carpet and eating Kibble, dogs still retain this instinct to seek out a dark, cave-like enclosure.  Providing them a designated space to satisfy this need will create an area for them to relax and call their own. In addition to m

Snellville Pet Sitter Talks About The Benefits of Pet Dental Health

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They’re furry, have a tail and love to eat food off the floor – but their teeth are just like ours.  In fact, our pets’ teeth are much more important.  From stealing socks to playing tug of war with the neighbor’s dog, cats and dogs rely on their teeth for every moment of their daily routine.  Dental care is an important aspect of health that pet owners must take into account. In honor of February as National Pet Dental Health month, 2 Paws Up Inc. is taking a look at the importance of pet dental care in yearly checkups and how to include it in your daily life. Why is Pet Dental Care Important: Veterinarians will always include a quick peek at the teeth whenever you bring your pet in, and for a good reason.  Teeth can be the foundation of either complete health of chronic illness.  The reason for this is that periodontal disease often goes unnoticed, but can develop into kidney disease, liver disease, and heart muscle changes if left untreated.  Infections in the tooth or gum

Do Dogs Benefit from Watching Television? Ask a Snellville Dog Walker

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Often, the last step on our way out the door is to click on the TV, so pets don’t feel like they are alone.  Owners can spot Fido staring intently at the show they are watching, and sometimes they even bark back when Rin Tin Tin reruns come on. Some owners might ask; do pets even benefit from having the television going?  If dogs do, how can owners choose programs that stimulate pets while they are gone?  2 Paws Up Inc. did the research and is here with the results. Which Dogs Respond to Television? The facts are in; some dogs are fully capable of watching television when the subject matter interests them.  All dogs have a much stronger sense of smell than they do vision, seeing the colors of yellow and blue most clearly handicaps them a little.  Dogs who are most likely to watch TV also have better vision, such as Greyhounds, Whippets, and Rhodesian Ridgebacks.  These breeds, among others, were bred to hunt by sight and speed, so would be able to track motion on television m

Snellville Pet Sitter Talks About How Does Catnip Actually Work?

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https://www.2pawsupinc.com/2018/01/28/snellville-pet-sitter-talks-catnip-actually-work/ Catnip, that magic plant that can send your cat into ecstatic leaps and comatose naps all within thirty minutes!  The real question is; how does catnip work and who should you buy it for?  This green and grassy plant can be purchased in holistic therapy shops, pet stores, and in garden nurseries.  It also comes in several forms; dried, fresh, spray form, and essential oil.  Potential buyers should be aware, though, the secret is in the oil, so the liquid spray version and stale dried catnip will be less powerful. How Does It Work? Specifically, catnip contains nepetalactone oil, which is the active ingredient in catnip.  Nepetalactone is breathed in through the cats’ nose, with the cat kneading and bruising the plant with their face and paws to facilitate the release of oil.  The nasal membranes absorb the nepetalactone and cause a neural response in the amygdala and hypothalamus, eventually

The Cat’s Meow: What’s my cat really trying to say?

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If you own a cat, you already know that your feline friend has a very large vocabulary. Chirps and trills, meows and yowls, purring or hissing, or just an intent, silent stare are all part of your cat’s vocal communication. And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the visual cues your cat is giving you. Amongst themselves, cats communicate by sound, body language, and smell. For us humans, however, we’re more attuned to the vocal cues and the more obvious visual cues while the scent cues are completely lost on us. For this reason, it seems that cats use meows most often when communicating with humans. Another reason why cats meow at us could relate back to each cat’s experience as a newborn kitten. Kittens are blind and deaf when they’re first born, yet they still meow to alert their mothers of their presence and needs. When we become the cat’s primary caretaker, the all-around distributor of food and love, the cat’s tendency to meow probably becomes directed at us. Cats

Be Cautious of “Pseudo Pet Sitters”

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If you’re a pet owner looking for a pet sitter, it’s like deciding what toilet paper to buy. Okay, seriously, there are so many options on the internet of those who call themselves pet sitters. Retirees, to college students home on break, to your neighborhood teenager. Who Will Care For My Pets? I see pet owners asking on Facebook, on Nextdoor, even at a Yoga class if they know of a pet sitter who can watch their pets. There are so many options out there for people who call themselves pet sitters. How do you choose? You want to feel safe and secure about who will be coming into your home to take care of your pets. At 2 Paws Up Inc Pet Sitting and Dog Walking we offer this advice to pet owners: be cautious of the “pseudo pet sitters.” Pet Sitter Is A Loose Term Pet owners and news outlets use the term “pet sitter” carelessly, referring to anyone from a family member, to a friend, to a college student, to a retiree, to the neighborhood teenager. Can anyone walk a dog? The ans