Posts in Category: Training & Behavior

Teaching children how to interact with pets is vital for households with kids and animals. Creating a harmonious relationship between your furry family members and the little ones in your life is crucial for everyone’s safety and happiness. Let’s dive in and explore some common questions on this subject.

Owners new to dog ownership are often surprised when their pup has no respect for the leash. The chewing, resisting, barking, yanking, stopping, and jumping can turn the simple joy of walking together upside down. There could be various reasons they have trouble walking on leash, and none are their fault. We’ll help you get to the bottom of their questionable walking skills with our tried and true tips for successful leash training. 

May 2-8 is Dog Anxiety Awareness Week, and the team at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital wants to help you recognize signs of anxiety in canines so you can help to ease it when it occurs. Keep reading to find out if your dog is suffering from anxiety and how you can help them feel calmer and happier on a daily basis.

While in general we at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital regard doggy kisses as the utmost compliment, there are those that do not appreciate them as much. In the words of the great Lucy, “Ugh! I’ve been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs! Get hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some iodine!”

That seems a pretty extreme reaction, but some dog kisses are a little sloppier than others, and excessive drool in general can be a bit of a turn off. So what’s with the dog slobber and why are some pups wetter than others?

Living with a bossy dog means that you are not in the driver’s seat when it comes to your daily routines. When your dog thinks he is the boss, he might bark a lot to get his way, mark his territory by urinating inside your house, or even bite when he feels like he is not being heard. 

While this can cause some tension at home, there are ways to exert your own dominance over your dog and show him who is the true boss of your household:

Dog bites account for more than 4.5 million injuries each year. While it may be easy to assign blame to canine behaviour or assume the dogs who do this are just “bad dogs,” any dog can bite. If your dog bit someone, it can be scary and confusing as to what to do about it. 

The team at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital will explain the steps you should take should the unexpected bite happen. 

Dogs are smart. Their ability to recognize patterns and to anticipate cause and effect relationships is almost humbling to us humans at times. It is easy to harness these traits for good, but sometimes these qualities in our canid friends can backfire, too.

Most pet dogs have picked up some bad habits along the way. Your friends at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital want you to know that if you have inadvertently taught your pup some poorly received tricks, all hope is not lost. While it can take a lot of work, untraining bad habits in dogs is possible under most circumstances.

Many dog owners have a preference for certain types of leashes that work best for their pets. Some claim to love the traditional nylon leash, while others feel that a harness type leash is safer for their squirrely dog. Then you add to the mix the wide variety of styles, colors, materials, and so on, and it can be exceptionally hard to determine the right one for your furry friend. 

The good news is that there is no one correct answer, but there are some suggestions to keeping your pet safe. The team at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital is here to explain why the harness, leash, or both question is a great one. Let’s take a closer look.

If you have watched an episode of Animal Planet’s My Cat from Hell by cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy, you probably have heard the term bush dweller or tree dweller. These distinct terms describe those cats that prefer being high in the air or those who want to be close to the ground and hidden. In the wild, your typical tree dwelling cat, such as leopards and cheetahs, want to hang out in trees and bush dwellers, like bobcats, need to be in dens, bushes, and other low lying places.

So, if you are curious about your favorite furry friend, you are in luck! The team at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital is here to answer your questions about whether your cat is a bush or tree dweller. 

Most dogs live to eat. A healthy interest in food is not a bad thing, however,  and a dog who likes to eat makes it easier to select a good food since they are less likely to have strong preferences. 

The diets of many dogs include both treats and kibble. While being treat-motivated can often make training a breeze, too much of a good thing can certainly exist. So what is a pet owner to do when a pet is just too treat motivated? Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital has your answers.