New Facebook and Twitter

Posted January 25th, 2010 by diannahl

New! Follow YourPetCarrier.com on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Follow us and know when new products are added. Give us feedback. Is there something for your pet you’re looking for and just can’t find …. Drop us a note and we’ll try to find it for you.

Watch for coupons and specials just for our followers and fans!

We have completely reworked our site, YourPetCarrier.com, and now we have fewer categories to make navigating and finding Your Pet Carrier much easier. We have also added more carriers, very trendy and fun, and we are introducing a new line of holistic animal care products.

Azmira’s award winning natural pet products are the result of an internationally renowned naturopathic doctor, Lisa S Newman, ND, Ph.D, who holds a Ph.D in nutrition. As the founder of Azmira, Dr. Newman began researching and working with pets in 1982. The Holistic Animal Care LifeStyle® is created from that experience. This unique systematic approach effectively addresses serious issues affecting pet’s inability to live emotionally and physically stable lives. As you follow each step, you will reverse deeper symptoms more quickly. With nutritional, herbal and homeopathic approaches to support the body’s ability to prevent disease or heal itself – rather than symptom suppression – wellness can be easily realized.

5% of all chronically ill pets will need life-long support of veterinarian medications; however, Dr. Newman’s Holistic Animal Care LifeStyle® and Azmira® products will help reduce waste to support maintaining a healthier pet, while lessening the need for drugs.

Azmira has years of experience and was the first to bring to your pets: human grade and high potency pet foods and supplements, standardized herbal extracts for pets – quick delivery and high potency, and homeopathic flower remedies for specific behavior modification.  Azmira follows strict human grade guidelines in all their products, voluntarily. While we have not yet loaded all of Dr. Newman’s and Azmira® products onto YourPetCarrier.com yet, we will continue to add more until we have all the products you need to keep your pet as healthy as possible.

Dance with me!

Posted May 31st, 2009 by diannahl

This may seem odd for this forum but we need to take time for our pets too! The author of this post is unknown, I received this as an email and wanted to share it with everyone, there is sooo much truth to these words….Enjoy!

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven’t thought about it, don’t have it on their schedule, didn’t know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.  I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I’ve tried to be a little more flexible.  How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn’t suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed?  Does the word ‘refrigeration’ mean nothing to you?  How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ‘Jeopardy’ on television?  I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, ‘How about going to lunch in a half hour?’ She would gas up and stammer, ‘I can’t. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.’ And my personal favorite: ‘It’s Monday.’ She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.  We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!  We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained.  We’ll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We’ll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.  Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of ‘I’m going to,’ ‘I plan on,’ and ‘Someday, when things are settled down a bit..’  When anyone calls my ’seize the moment’ friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips.  She keeps an open mind on new ideas..  Her enthusiasm for life is contagious..  You talk with her for five minutes, and you’re ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.  My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream.  It’s just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-Decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.  Now…go on and have a nice day.  Do something you WANT to……not something on your SHOULD DO list.

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?  Have y ou ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask ‘ How are you?’ Do you hear the reply?  When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head?  Ever told your child, ‘We’ll do it tomorrow.’ And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say ‘Hi?  When you worry and hurry through your  day, it is like an unopened gift….Thrown away….. Life is not a race Take it slower..  Hear the music before the song is over.  ‘Life may not be the party we hoped for… But while we are here we might as well dance!

How Good is a Dog’s Memory?

Posted May 10th, 2009 by diannahl

I had an interesting experience this weekend just gone. If you’ve been reading this ezine for a while you’ll remember me telling you about a friend’s dog that we sometimes look after -
Well we’ve just had him with us again for 3 days. It was his first visit for quite a while. I can’t remember exactly how long, but I reckon it must be about 5 or 6 months. As soon as he arrived it at first looked as if we were almost back to how it was the first time he came. Although he wasn’t fazed by my two, he was still yelling his head off non-stop while his owner was still here. The moment the owner had gone I told our guest to be quiet and he immediately settled down. From that point until the moment he was collected by his owner again yesterday he was good as gold. He’d remembered all the little routines and manners I’d taught him previously and apart from one very small faux pas he didn’t put a foot wrong the whole time he was here. I’ve had no contact with him since the last  time he was here and I know for a fact his owners don’t expect him to do some of the things I expect him to, so all of his behaviour this time around is retained learning from his previous trip.  I think that’s great. From my own point of view it shows me that if we ever have him to stay in the future there’s absolutely no reason at all for him not to just slot straight back into what is now a familiar routine for him.  Which means no extra work for me as I won’t have to go teaching him the way I like things done from scratch again.

But perhaps more interestingly for you it shows you that once a dog has learnt something that memory should be fixed in the medium term at the very least, and quite likely permanently. Once you’ve taught your dog something don’t keep slogging away making it do that thing over and over again. If you do the dog will get bored and start to play up. By all means give a short refresher lesson every now and then to make sure the memory and response remains sharp, but don’t go flogging a dead horse.  Instead look to stretch your dog further by teaching it more complicated variations or just different skills altogether.  The dog will enjoy it more and you will gain far more satisfaction at having achieved a more difficult goal.  And a real add-on benefit is that in the process the bond you already have with your dog will be much stronger and closer.
Written by Andrew Chastney – www.dogtrainingblueprint.com

Pet Carrier Training

Posted May 1st, 2009 by diannahl

Training is a very important part of owning a pet.  Crate training is one that I am completely in favor of, because once the animal is used to its crate or carrier it has its own bedroom.  The crate or carrier can become a safe haven for your animal, but you must never use it for punishment only.  For those who want to travel with their pets pet carriers can be a comfortable place of sanctuary for our beloved pets when the changes of traveling become too much.  My dogs retreat to their pet carriers when they are tired and it is bedtime, when they are being bullied by one of the others, or if we are camping or traveling they feel more at home with their bedroom with us.  Some people find that a pillow or blanket will do the job but that won’t suffice if you want them pet carrier trained for airline travel – they must be in a carrier.  Get your pet carrier ahead of time and give your pet plenty of time to adjust to it – it will make for a much more comfortable trip.  There are many styles and colors available for the small or toy animals, making your choices as unique as your pet.  Discover some of your options:  luggage or duffel bag style pet carriers or  a more tote or house like pet carrier.  Browse around.  The wheeled pet carriers found under the backpacks and more heading will also double nicely for a travel pet carrier, and not only is it on wheels it doubles as a backpack.  Once this carrier is laid on it’s back it will nicely slide under that airplane seat in front of you and has plenty of mesh windows for lots of ventilation for little Fido. After you purchase your pet carrier, gradually encourage your pet to spend time in the carrier.  Feeding them inside the carrier is one option.  If they spend time outside, maybe a transition period, a cooling down or drying off period to help them shift from outside to inside behavior.  Starting with only a minute or two at first, put your pet into the pet carrier, use a soothing voice and comfort him or her, and present him with a treat upon completion.  Gradually add a little more time each time and walk away from the pet carrier, until finally Fido can expect and be ok with spending time in the pet carrier.  If at all possible leave the pet carrier available to Fido at all times, and that will help it to become his ‘bedroom’ where he can voluntarily go for some sanctuary.  As with any training, be brief with lots of positive reinforcement  – like the old adage  “Short and Sweet”

Please share your stories and tips with us by leaving a comment.

Dog Training – 5 Tips to Get Rid of Dog Obedience Problems
By Chris Summers

Dog training is very important in building good communication skills between dog, and dog owner. “A well behaved dog is a well trained dog.” Sometimes people overlook the fact that dogs are domestic animals, so they assume they don’t have to be trained a whole lot, or even at all. Even though they are domestic animals, they still require guidance, and that guidance should come from you (The dog owner.) Being able to effectively communicate with your dog will determine the level of success you’ll achieve with how effective your dog training will be.

Here are some tips to consider when training your dog:

1. Start Your Training Early – The earlier the better. (about 7 weeks old should be a good time to start.) Training your dog at an early stage will prove to be very helpful, because once they’ve learned simple obedience at such a young age, they will grow with them, and it will be very hard to lose those habits.

2. Patience – Patience is very important. Your emotions can be pick up by your dog, and once you start getting impatient, they’ll start getting impatient. Things could spiral from there on, so it is very important you work on being patient with your dog, right from the very beginning.

3. Be Positive – Like I said before, dogs can pick up on your emotions, so it is best you remain positive throughout the process. Being positive also means that you using positive reinforcement to train your dog. Offer some words of praise or/and treats when your dog does something correctly. By doing this, you are encouraging them to behave well.

4. Make It Short – 15 – 25 minutes should be enough for both you and the dog. You don’t want the dog to lose interest, and you want to keep the energy level up for both you and your dog.

5. Be Fun and Creative – Everything you do with the dog should be fun. Don’t be afraid to try new fun tricks with your dog, because you want to try as much as possible as so not to be boring. doing the same tricks over-and-over again is pretty boring. So,  be creative.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Summers

Hello fellow Pet Lovers

Posted April 19th, 2009 by diannahl

Hello, and welcome to YourPetCarrierBlog.com.  I would like to take some time and introduce myself.  Hopefully, you will be encouraged to share some of your stories, after all, we animal lovers must stick together.  I hope to expand this blog to a living breathing entity that we can all learn from and share our knowledge about pets – pet travel, pet health,  pet care,  and just heart-felt pet stories.

I have always loved animals, sometimes while growing up animals were much better company than people.   Even today, I rely greatly on the love and adoration my dogs provide me, the cat, well she loves me when it’s good for her, and I’m ok with that.  For years I wanted to become a veterinarian, but when it came time for college that was the furthest thing from my mind -  8+ years more of school.  How was I to manage that, both mentally and financially?  No, college wasn’t to be in my future for a few years, not until after I found myself being single mother.   Eight years of schooling was still out of the question, so I found myself in the accounting field, but there again numbers never lie to you, just like animals never lie to you.   Now I find myself 20 years later and 20 years older.  I still love my animals and still want to be involved and in touch with fellow animal lovers.    So I have started  YourPetCarrier.com
to make traveling with our smaller pets easier, and more fun.  Who wants to only have the option of a boring hard plastic pet carrier?  Isn’t it more fun to have that pet carrier be an extension of our personalities, after all our pets are family, why wouldn’t we want to treat them as such and give them every luxury and comfort possible?

Let me know what kind of stories and articles you want find here.  I want this to be an informative, fun, and interactive experience.  As this blog grows, I do hope that you will share your animal insight and stories, and any pictures that you wish to share, also.  (It’s a shame that I have to make this statement but with the world as it is today I must ….)  We here at YourPetCarrierBlog.com reserve the right to censor any text or pictures that are not found to be acceptable for all ages.  But, for anyone who wishes to upload stories or pictures that are acceptable content, and chosen to be displayed on our YourPetCarrier.com site will receive a 10% discount on their next purchase.

Hopefully we will chat soon!  Until then have a fun furry day!