PetPix Today!

You may not be smarter than a fifth-grader but in some cases, your dog may even be as smart as a four year old child!

When getting in a late walk last night, we cam across a beautiful two-month-old Sheltie named Lola. She was bright, sweet and so inquisitive. Her owner told her how smart she was already and as a result of this intelligence, was already being quite manipulative. We could see that despite this and her tender age, she was well trained and behaved. She was just a delight and we look forward to seeing her and her pet-people again soon.

Is your cat left or right pawed?

It may not be obvious from the scratch marks cats dish out, but domestic felines favour one paw over the other. More often than not, females tend to be righties, while toms are lefties, say Deborah Wells and Sarah Millsopp, psychologists at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Like the giggle of babies that charm us and restore our positive view of the world, a dog’s laughter has been proven to calm other animals. Yes, dogs do laugh. Many might mistake their laughter for heavy panting, but in fact Patricia Simonet, an applied animal behaviorist and research scientist, who counsels pets and their humans and researchs the behaviors of animals. She has studied dog laughter, dog rules during play and reducing stress in shelter dogs by broadcasting a recording of dog laughter.

With email messages circulating about fatal spider bites from the Brown Recluse spider and the appearance of many other types of spiders with the warm spring weather, questions about spiders are never far from ones mind… and certainly not questions about how to keep a spider a s a pet! There is no doubt that we are fascinated by spiders despite our real or imagined fears and that many people do get spiders as pets.

People in northern regions

Not so Zeeke!… a puppy-in-training that belongs to JJ Coat, a Pre-Vet major and honors student of Ohio Northern University. Zeeke has become part of the alumni. JJ has chosen to prepare Zeeke to become a service dog, as her Honors Project. Zeeke’s training period is 16 months and JJ has been given special permission by the university administration to bring Zeeke onto the campus where he has become an instant celebrity. This has also given the university much-needed celebrity as well. We’re thinking there may be more Zeekes in future classes…