Hi Everyone! It’s me, Jane again!
Things have changed so much since the last I wrote to you all! First, since you are all probably wondering, my neck is completely healed up!! I am so excited now I don’t need to wear that face thingy anymore that they are calling a gentle leader. I am now wearing a harness which is pretty comfortable. Dr. Blake says that my neck healed great. I also have some other good news. While I was healing a couple came into the hospital with their other dog to see Dr. Blake and he told them about me. They also have a bunch of dogs that are just like me! They visited with me and I got to meet one of their dogs. I fell in love with them!! They were so nice to me and I enjoyed their visit. We had so much fun that they adopted me once I was healed!!! Can you believe that!! I have a new home!!! I get to run and chase all the squirrels all I want! It has been heaven here.
On that note, this will be my last letter even though I just started with my BVH family. I will be passing the torch to other puppies and kitties over the next few months to help tell their stories and maybe you can get a glimpse into one of Dr. Blake’s techs lives or even Jaeger’s home life (that would be Dr. Blake’s dog if you have not met him yet. He’s pretty cool and loves his daddy a lot!) Since this is my last letter the girls wanted me to let you guys know something for the month of July!
They want me to discuss some things to keep your dog safe during our country’s Independence (I am not sure why you all celebrate it but I do like the fact of being independent!). I don’t remember much of this when I was wandering the streets but apparently this day is celebrated with some really loud noises that you all call fireworks. I have talked to a few dogs on the streets and Jaeger has mentioned it too, a lot of us dogs do not like the loud bangs and pops that go on with the light shows. Dr. Blake and the girls wanted to give you a few tips to help your pup at home that is afraid of these noises.
First is they recommend that you make sure when there is going to be a firework celebration that your dog is in a safe place like a crate or kennel. If you don’t have one you can use the laundry room or bathroom. This makes sure that your dog does not get so afraid of the large booms that he doesn’t get loose out of the yard and get lost! Most lost pets happen when these types of celebrations are going on and they don’t always find their way home. Also, while they’re kept in these confined safe areas, put the radio or TV up loud on a relaxing station ( we don’t really care for the type of music you call heavy metal, it kinda hurts our ears) so they mainly hear music or people talking and not those pesky fireworks.
Another thing you want to make sure in case you can’t get your pet into a safe area is to keep proper identifications on them like a name tag, rabies tag, county licenses, and microchip them! If your pet gets loose and cannot be identified, it’s harder to get them home again. Trust me it’s no fun being homeless!
If you know your dog is super-duper afraid of these noises as well as thunder storms since we are at the peak of our hurricane season (I guess that’s a really big storm that can do a lot of damage) you can help them relax with a thing called pheromones. These are chemicals that only dogs can smell and are specie specific so make sure that they are made for dogs and not cats, we may want to chase something if we smell yucky cat pheromones! The girls tell me that the types that you get at the pet stores have the pheromones that mother dogs give off to help relax her puppies while they are nursing her. Man do I miss those days, nothing to worry about, sleep all the time, I don’t have to worry about those squirrels in my yard! Anyway! These scents will have a calming effect on us when we get to smell them. It’s a great tool to also use when you know that there are thunderstorms going to happen that day and plug it in while you are at work to help relax us while you are gone.
Now, if you know that these things don’t work for your pup, talk to your vet! They can offer other tips for your pet to keep them calm during these events that can scare them!
So I am going to leave you all now. I gotta finish my new job at my new home, getting rid of those pesky squirrels! I thank you all for listening to my stories and I hope you look forward to reading the next month’s new pet feature!
Love Jane