22 of 59

Write now Article Tools

All conscientious pet owners want to learn more about their pets: proper care, health needs, training, and proper diets. Of course, owners should do some research before buying or adopting a new pet, but learning more about the animal should be an ongoing process.

Some of the most informative, family-oriented websites are offered by animal rescues and humane societies.

Information sites

The Humane Society of the United States ( www.hsus.org ) offers an encyclopedic amount of information for pet owners and animal activists. Major topics include pets (including dogs, cats, ferrets, birds, hamsters and horses), wildlife, farm animals, animals in research, and horses. The HSUS offers advice on how military personnel can make temporary arrangements for their pets left behind, how to care for a pet when you're ill, and how to choose a boarding kennel.

HSUS.org gives valuable tips for animal lovers: What people with pet allergies can do to help themselves, how to avoid dog bites, and what to feed winter birds. The site gives pet care and adoption information, and you can sign up for their newsletter.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (www.spca.com includes sections on pet wellness and pet behavior. Wellness includes touch therapy, pet theft, animal cruelty, anxiety, proper diets and seasonal care. Behavior topics include understanding and managing behavior like nuisance barking and bringing home a new puppy. The site gives expert advice on animal topics and offers a quick search feature. It recommends Bark Busters, an international dog training company with a written lifetime guarantee.

The SPCA has an online store, offers information on pet insurance and shelters, tells you how to save money on vet care and provides a link to the Animal Poison Control Center. It links to other sites for pet supplies, treats, and resources to help pets in times of disaster.

Pet owner chat sites

A pet owner chat site where you can also share pet photos is http://chat.pethobbyist.com. You can chat in real time one hour weekly for almost any kind of pet. Pet Hobbyist is the home of the original Chat Week Annual Chat Symposium, started nine years ago. Chats have included celebrities, pet authors, researchers, trainers and vets.

Pethobbyist.com categories include the expected dogs and cats, but also include chats about reptiles, insects, horses, birds, exotics, and fish.

PetHobbysist.com also offers a chat area for pet loss support groups.

Pet loss: grief groups

Another site for people who have lost a pet is www.rainbowsbridge.com/Grief_S upport_center, which offers a chat room that allows personal contact between supporters. This site suggests ways to help children and adults grieve the loss of a pet, offers one-on-one counseling, provides scriptures supporting belief in the afterlife of animals, makes suggestions concerning euthanasia, has a pet loss forum, and lets you send free e-sympathy cards.

Adoption

A national, family-run adoption site for pet lovers is www.Petfinder.org. Animal rescuers have listed over 307,000 adoptable animals, of all types, most with pictures, from all over the country. There are chat rooms, forums, and a classified ad area to list lost and found pets. Its library contains 189 articles about animal care, including hip dysplasia, canine arthritis, and cat declawing.

Training

Non-traditio nal dog training by the famous "Dog Whisperer," Cesar Millan, is at http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/ dogwhisperer. Cesar offers videos and online advice on how to be a pack leader by using calm, assertive energy to establish rules, boundaries and limitations. He believes he "rehabilitates dogs and trains people." Cesar details training techniques in his books and emphasizes exercise, discipline and affection, in that order. You can also watch Cesar on the National Geographic Channel.

For serious dog breeders, show dogs, and competitions

For serious dog owners who want to register their purebreds or breed their dogs for show, check out http://www.akc.org/index.cfm for the American Kennel Club (AKC). Conformation and temperament requirements are detailed for 158 breeds, along with contact information for parent clubs that offer referrals to AKC breeders. The site includes information on competitions and training classes for obedience trials, agility, conformation and tracking.

Which dog breed is for you?

Take a quiz to find out which dog breed is best for you at http://dogtime.com. It offers 28 questions and suggests five dogs for you out of 136 breeds. It will help you find a rescue dog near you that fulfills your needs. You can post your pet pictures and join in live pet chats on 101 topics. Dogtime.com also tells you how to help your pet travel to a new city, across country, or internationally.

Another quiz site with detailed information on over 100 dog breeds is www.dogbreedinfo.com. It asks 12 questions and suggests about 20 choices based on your answers. The site offers standard dog training techniques and expands into the care of about 40 other possible pet species.

Other suggested pets on www.dogbreedinfo.com include bearded dragons, birds, burros, chinchillas, ferrets, geckos, Guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, llamas, peafowl, potbellied pigs, rats, skinks, snakes, and tarantulas. This site provides pictures with detailed information about unusual pets, including temperament, mature size, life span, housing and feeding requirements.

Www.Pets911.com is a public service site, a collaborative network of animal rescues and services across the country. For information on local vets, low cost spay/neuter programs, reporting animal cruelty, information on licensing, posting lost or found pets, and active pet scam warnings, this site is invaluable. It lists pet-friendly rental places all over the U.S., providing pictures or 360-degree views of available places.

Pets911.com lists adoptable pets for common pets like cats and dogs, but also includes ferrets, skunks, turtles, hamsters, snakes, llamas, turkeys, etc.

Pet stores - supplies

Shopping for your pet becomes important for long-term care. Some of the national pet stores provide one-stop shopping for any kind of pet.

Www.Petsmart.com includes Benfield, the Pet Hospital, in 650 of their stores. They offer Wellness Plans, detailed action plans for pet care to prevent illness and lengthen pets' lives. They promise to cut about 50% off vet bills for routine medical needs. You can pay in advance for a plan or make monthly payments. Petsmart.com lists 178 dry dog food choices. It offers an alphabetical list of traits for purebred dogs; a cat breed list is coming soon.

Another national pet store chain is www.Petco.com, which welcomes pets; thus, its ad: "Petco, where the pets go." It sells food, cages, kennels, accessories and supplies for just about every kind of pet.

With 31 stores in 10 states, Superpetz, www.Superpetz.com, offers an inventory of 10,000 pet products. You can take your pet to the store to help choose his new toy or sweater. They sell small animals like rabbits, hamsters and birds, but no cats or dogs. Superpetz offers professional grooming services and weekly, evening, dog-obedience classes. They also let local rescues and shelters hold adoption days inside their stores.

Do a good deed daily

A daily click on the Animal Rescue site at www.theanimalrescuesite.com provides .6 bowls of food to rescue animals, donated by sponsors. They also sell animal products and a portion of those proceeds goes to animal rescue. This site offers free e-cards.

There are about 68 million dogs in America. According to AnimalRescuesite.com, twenty-seven million unwanted animals are turned over to shelters in the U.S. every year. About one fourth of the dogs turned in are purebreds. Over 10 million animals are euthanized because of being abandoned or unwanted.

Please be a responsible pet owner and spay/neuter your pets not intended for breeding.

Learn more about this author, Karon Brandt.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Websites every pet owner should know about?
We want to hear your view. Write now!