They are never too old to be trained. If their brain is still working, they're so smart, and you can train them where to go to the bathroom. Unless they have some cognitive issue, they're never too old. You go ahead and train them if you want them to go potty in a different area or if you want them to stop jumping on somebody. There's always room for training and behavior modification.

I already went over that. No, they don't recognize negativity. They just don't react well to it. It breeds fear and aggression in their lives. Stick to the positive reinforcement if you can, especially if you rescued or adopted a pet. You never know what kind of history they have, and you want to take things slow. Always positive. They'll do anything for whatever treat you find out is their favorite. However, stay away from cheese because it tends to have a lot of fat in it. Some people like to use cube cheese. It's just too fattening for them. A little bit of cubed cheese is like giving them a whole cheeseburger, so stay away from that. You don't want to give them pancreatitis. That's the technician in me going down that road.

Prior to the vaccine series, have neighbors come over, kids with loud noises, any loud noise. Fireworks may be a little bit extensive, but if you've got a kid that has a drum set, have a puppy in a room with the drum set. Have somebody show up in a costume. When I did puppy classes, I literally dressed up as a giant chicken feeding all these adorable puppies hot dog treats. It was fantastic. Someone would be in the corner, banging pots and pans, and the puppies would just be wagging their tails. The same with adult dogs, but go a little bit slower. Especially if you rescued them, you don't know their history. You don't know where they came from. Loud noises may be a trigger for them, so start off slow. You don't have to dress up as a chicken or anything, but those are just some ideas. Maybe you can wear a baseball hat. Some dogs are fearful of baseball hats for some reason.

Sit, stay, heel, and off. Off is a good one. You want to make sure that they understand that no means no.

Right away. Even as puppies, they're so smart. Using positive reinforcement is definitely the way to go. Negativity, yelling, stepping on their feet, choking them with choke collars, things like that really aren't recommended. I only say choke collars because I would say 90% of the time, people don't use them correctly. But use positive reinforcement. Give them a treat. It doesn't have to be something big. It can even be a hot dog. I love using hot dogs. I like to cut them up in super tiny pieces. Remember, they have great noses, so they know that that little piece of hot dog is worth any work they have to put forth. I like to toss them in a microwave after cutting them up really small for about 30 seconds. They turn into little rubber pieces, which are perfect for keeping a baggie in my pocket and rewarding any positivity.

As far as something you would give out of the house, I would say no. Something that we give, yes. As I mentioned a couple of times earlier in this conversation, we use cortisone in the form of an injection. You don't have to give pills because, obviously, that can be problematic for some kitty owners. The injection typically lasts about four to six weeks. Again, these kitties would get significant relief over that period in most cases. Can you give medications? Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it.

You can. I don't know why you would, but it almost never works for cats. Typically, we have to give them the liquid, and good luck, because it tastes pretty bad for cats. You'll probably have to be prepared and have some bandaids and a first aid kit handy if you try to give Benadryl to your cat. But basically, no, it almost never works for dogs. I would never recommend that for a cat. You can do it, but why would you?

By changing the food. But here's the problem: a lot of people think they can change brands. They think it's a brand problem. It's not. This is an ingredient issue. So you've got to be intentional about what you change your pet's diet to. You can stay within the same brand of food. We just need to look for a different ingredient and a different primary ingredient you're feeding. When I say the primary ingredient, I'm talking about protein. The vast majority of the allergies we see in dogs and cats when it comes to food is the main protein of the diet. Cats primarily eat beef, fish, and dairy. For dogs, it's usually chicken and beef. If I have a cat eating a fish-based diet, I like to try something a little bit more exotic. I like to go with something like, believe it or not, a rabbit diet. That's pretty easy to find for the most part. Hopefully, COVID hasn't created too many issues in the supply chain for rabbit food, but I think that's always a good choice for most cats. But you have to change the food. The second thing is if you have other cats in the house and they're getting a different diet, you have to be very intentional about making sure the kitty that we suspect has a food allergy cannot access your other cats' food. Third, if you have a cat that goes outside, we're kind of rolling the dice because if your cat likes to roam the neighborhood and it might find another food source, that can be a little bit out of our control. If you've got some neighbors who are putting some food out to get in good graces with your kitty, have a conversation with them or give them some food. You can say, here, I'm going to give you the food. This is what they can eat, and let them put that food out. So there are ways of getting around that, but the key thing is that you have to be very intentional about what they consume.