Rather than close up the window, because the sun is so important to our pets, I have a recommendation. Here's what I want you to do to turn this negative scenario into a positive. Have the cats in the window with you, and have someone approach that the cats don't know that well. You should be giving them massages, a special treat, or other positive reinforcement by that window when someone is walking up. Let them now associate a positive thing when someone approaches instead of a negative thing. That should really make a big difference for you.

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren

I'm sure at this point you've spoken to your vet, I would suggest that you speak with a integrative vet, that may be able to suggest other options. My background is more behavior. Hope your poodle does well, give her a big hug for me. Please keep me posted on her progress

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren

First of all, bless you for adopting a 12 year old dog to begin with let alone one that is deaf. Having trained hundreds of deaf dogs and cats over the years, you can learn to communicate with them, it's really not that difficult. It's no different that training a dog to respond to a hearing challenged person. What you need to do is find another family member or friend of yours and have them stand by the back door. You stand in another part of the house and play monkey in the middle with the dog, getting the dog really excited to the point when she gets back to that back door you take her out. If she goes you praise her to the hilt. What's going to happen with a deaf dog is, you're not going to get a dog who barks to let you know she has to go outside, but you train the dog to go between you and what she needs to do. Whether that means food, water, or having to go outside. That would be my recommendation.

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren

Any time you have a dog, or a pet, that is specifically going after one type of item, it could mean one of two things. From a psychological reason it could mean he's just attracted and likes the taste or something. From a physiological reason, sometimes there's a deficiency in the dogs diet. If that's the case sometimes they're attracted to certain items. I remember years ago when I was training in Europe, we found out that dogs that were constantly chewing on paper and matches, lacked sulfur in their diet. There actually was a product years ago in the country called Trixie Sulfur Dog, which you added to the dogs water, and was able to resolve a lot of paper chewing problems just by increasing the sulfur in the dog's diet. So, #1 we need to make sure he's getting all the vitamins and minerals he needs. Hugs and Kisses vitamins will take care of that problem. Also understand that dogs learn through the associative memory, so for the next week or two take some of the papers he would normally go after and spray them with Bitter Yuck. What we need to do is counter-condition and make the dog realize that these items don't have this fabulous taste. However, if he's lacking nutritionally nothing we're going to do will stop him. So if you put both those pieces together you should be right on track.

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren

This is something that doesn't only happen with diabetic cats, it happens with arthritic cats and it happens with cats just getting older on there own. Over the years I've had to come up with ways to make it a lot easier for cats to get in and out of the litter box. First of all I recommend a larger litter box if possible, even if it's a large Tupperware container that looks like a litter box. Then, I'd like you to cut down a doorway that is only an inch or two off the ground, and put some black electrical tape on it so there's no sharp edges. This will give her easier access in and out. Now there have been cases with older cats where I've actually made two entrances, or two entrances and one exit on different sides of a litter box. I don't think we have to go there from what you're telling me. Cutting it down will make things a whole lot easier and the larger size will make the cat more comfortable as well. Just remember, when you switch to the new litter box, put some of her soiled litter in it, so she feels that comfort when she goes to the new one. As to your other question, corn syrup and diabetes don't sound like it's a match made in heaven. If you're concerned about her hips and joints right now there's a product on the market called Arthrisoothe Gold. It has glucosamine, chondroiton, hyaluronic acid, msm and it's made in Temecula Ca. It's a fabulous product that I give to my dogs every day as a preventative. Luckily it's also good for cats. I think that's going to be your safest bet. As far as I remember I don't think there's anything that would interfere with the diabetes in the Arthrisoothe Gold. It's given as a treat, it's a liver flavored tablet that I think will help. Everyone that's used the Arthrisoothe Gold has written to me and said what a difference it's made in their dog or cats ability to get up and down. I think it's definitely worth a shot.

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren

You know why she does that? It goes back to instinctive behavior. What they try to do is blend in with the scent of the territory. The reason for that is, instinctively when a dog goes to an area where there's a lot of smell from other animals (whether predator or prey) what they want to do is blend in so they become invisible in the environment. That's why it's not uncommon when you take the dog for example to a dairy farm, the dog will roll around in the poop of the dairy cows. One way of looking at it is, if they smell like what they're hunting, it's going to be a lot easier to catch what they're hunting. And the other side of it is, if they don't smell like what they are, whoever is hunting them is not going to bother them. So that's one of the reasons they roll around, not only in the poop of other dogs, but of other animals as well. Short of carrying around a little washcloth there's not a whole lot we can do behaviorally to stop that, or I would try to do to stop that. There are a lot of trainers that will yell and scream at the dog. You know what? If my biggest problem with my dog is every once in a while he's going to roll in a little poop, I'd carry around a little wash cloth and clean him off and bring him home.

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren

Number one, put a non skid mat in the bottom of the tub. For the next week or so I want you to put her in the tub every day with some treats, no water whatsoever. After you've done that for a week or so, put a ½ inch of water in the tub. Continue doing the same thing for another week. A week after that, start rubbing her without the soap and water, increasing the water a little bit at a time until you've worked up to giving her a bath. This method will make all the difference in the world for you.

I hope that helps,

Warren

What a great breed of dog the Springer Spaniel is. But they do call them Springers for a reason, but I'm sure you know that. So we have a 5 yr old Springer who was probably purchased as a puppy, they had him for a while and then for whatever reason they dumped him off at a shelter. From his perspective anything he has should never be taken away from him. He's insecure about his home and everything around him. When you have a dog like this there's a couple of things I'd want to do. First, feed the dog out of two food dishes all the time for the next couple of months so there's no need for any possessiveness over food. Number 2, there's no such thing as one toy. When the dog has one toy, hand him another toy before taking the other one away so he knows something is going to be replaced, not just taken away as things have happened to him in the past. Also don't be afraid, when he starts to show a little aggression, to take out the leash and collar and do a little basic training.

I hope that helps,

Warren

First off you have a very smart cat! But yes that absolutely sounds like a reasonable diet. In terms of the hugs and kisses, the cat should get one nugget for every 2.5 lbs. If she's demanding more you can cut them in half. Then she thinks she's getting extra. It's not nice to fool our dogs and cats but sometimes you've got to do it. So take the Hugs & Kisses and cut them in half and give to her only as treats, this way she thinks she's getting a lot more. As for the behavior issue here's what I want you to do. Tape record the sounds of the doorbell or any other noises that she's reacting to. Play them at a low volume just before giving her something very positive. It could be the Hugs & Kisses or a massage, or a little play time. Right now she associates the doorbell with people coming in and she runs. But if you tap the doorbell lightly and give her a favorite treat, and do that for weeks at a time, eventually it will desensitize her, or counter condition her. She'll now associate that noise with something positive happening versus something negative happening. Additionally, I want you to leave a radio on a talk station while you're out of the house so she gets used to the sound of peoples voices. Then invite some mellow friends over and give her a special toy or treats while they're there. It won't resolve it overnight, but it will resolve the problem.

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren

The veterinarian doesn't sound, to me, like he's focused on the best interest of the dog. If he realizes, and I'm sure he does, that the dog is a little overweight and can't exercise but is doing nothing about it, perhaps a second opinion is in order. Perhaps finding a vet that's willing to remove it. If in fact it's not malignant that's great news, and it's just a matter of removing the tumor. She needs to get to a vet that's going to work with you, not a vet that's just going to say "Well she's got a tumor." There's specialty animal hospitals right there in the valley. There's also one in Burbank. Contact one of them and go see a specialist. Sometime's working with a group of veterinarians provides a better resolution.

Hugs & Kisses,

Warren