Moving With Care For Parents and Pet Owners

Moving to a new home is a tumultuous event for anyone but with preparation and the right mindset it is possible to reduce the stress and uncertainty of changing homes. A fundamentally important element when considering your change in location is the presence and attitude of children or pets that might be dependent on you for their safety. Closely monitor your mannerisms and thoughts to be the responsible caretaker you should be.

If you have a pet with you, you need to prepare for the physical process of moving as an event that is going to entail more than just picking up emotionless objects and traveling a distance to a new location. Because your animal friend is as attached to your home as you are, he or she is going to be disturbed when it notices that the furniture that it had grown accustomed to is being removed from its traditional place. Some animals, like dogs and cats, are intelligent and sensitive enough to pick up on the stress of their owners, so if you feel stressed out, consider the emotional state of your pet who is likely to be confused by the disappearance of the familiar home-landscape, distressed by their perception of your anxiety, and completely in the dark as to why these things are happening. Of course there is no way to comfort a dog or a cat with an explanation of why you are worried or why you have to move, but there are definitely methods to keep your animal's security and happiness a priority during the move.

Firstly, whether you a renting a van, driving your normal car, or take a bus, you can increase the comfort of your animal by maximizing the space that you give them during transportation. While it is not absolutely necessary to keep your pet in a crate during transportation, some pet-owners feel it is best for the pet's safety if they are in an enclosed area. But whether you choose to keep your animal companion in a crate or are planning to transport them without one, you should make the most of what little space you have by carrying as many objects as you can in a moveable storage container. This will free up the air for your pet, allow for more room for them to get comfortable, and will also reduce the danger of objects falling on them during the move.

The challenges posed to moving with a small child are similar. The biggest key to alleviating the burden of a move for a child is to make the preparation and physical transportation to the new home as fun and as enjoyable as possible. Certainly, during the initial preparation stages you should make sure to have many serious and informative talks about what it means to move to a new home and with children who are old enough to talk these conversations should include dialogue about how both the child and parent feel about the move, and predictions about what will happen in the new location. But alongside these serious talks you should be sure to make light of and have fun with the circumstances. Find out some interesting history about the new location you will be traveling to and share it with your child. Try having "goodbye" celebrations for your current home and neighborhood in the weeks leading up to your move, such as barbeques and visits to your favorite outing locations. Most importantly, encourage your child to spend time with their friends in the area, perhaps even making time in the days before the move to spend time with the child's friend's family as well.

The stress of a move is great and can be compounded by the presence of dependent people and animals. Because young children and pets can relate to the stress but remain reliant on you as their caretaker, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the fact that you are responsible not only for your own success, but for the success of your dependents as well. But by being open with your children and compassionate with your pets, you can ensure that your move to your new home is a smooth one.

Mr. Oliver is a marketing agent of SMARTBOX USA. The mobile storage company provides portable and self storage resources throughout the nation. For more information on their Mobile Storage please visit their website.

A Parent's Short Guide to Virtual Pets Online

Virtual pets have grown in popularity in recent years. Many people of all ages maintain one breed or species of e-pet or another. If your children are interested in adopting one of their own, or if you are looking for a way to teach your little ones about responsibility and caring for a living thing without buying a pet, then read on.

FooPets

FooPets offers a graphically advanced virtual dog or cat. This creates some limitations, such as a single coloration for each breed. Signing up for FooPets is free and will require the usual information (name and email address).

Cost

FooPets can be played without paying a cent. However, if your child wants to breed his or her pet, they will need to purchase FooDollars. These are currently offered at a rate of roughly 10 cents to the FooDollars. Occasionally, sales are offered. There are other ways to earn FooDollars through completing offers but there is no guarantee the FooDollars will be awarded and many of these request information a young child should not be giving out online.


Content

FooPets offers a relatively friendly community with a forum and a way to chat live with your top friends through a web based program called Meebo. They adhere to a strict no foul language policy. The atmosphere is very child friendly.


Realism

Your child will have to care for their FooPets every day. Each pet's health is measured through status bars. Within 24 hours, each bar will be down to nothing. Ideally, food, water and a little playtime should be given to each pet at least once or twice every day. Children can learn to care for their pets and earn FooGems and Karma by doing so.

Chicken Smoothie

Chicken Smoothie lacks the animation and fine pet detail of FooPets, but the creatures here are unique and adorable. They are drawn in a style that is akin to Anime. Unlike other virtual pets, they require no maintenance.

Cost

Chicken Smoothie also has its own currency called Chicken Dollars. These are bought with real money and are used to accessorize pets. The current rate is a little over 6 cents to the Chicken Dollar. This site also offers a "shut off" feature if members are concerned about overspending.


Content

The overall feel of Chicken Smoothie is very child friendly. The rules are very similar to FooPets, and a community exists with a forum for social interaction.


Realism

If you want to educate your children on caring for a living thing, Chicken Smoothie is not a good option. These pets require zero care and there is no consequence for not caring for your pet. On the other hand, if you want a virtual pet that you can visit at your leisure, Chicken Smoothie may be ideal for you.

Show Cattle

Show Cattle is a little different than the previous two because it does not offer a pet that you observe but rather provides tools for overseeing a cattle ranch. Livestock can be bred, sold or shown.

Cost

Show Cattle can be played for free and there is no currency to purchase. However a monthly subscription option is available. The fees are minimal, just under $5 for one month, with options that go up to one year for about $40.


Content

This virtual ranch website may be better suited for older children. Parents may be a little wary of the buying of cattle semen and embryos (although nothing explicit is shown). Also, the site setup would probably quickly grow dull for a young child. There are far less furry, cute creatures and more text and cattle maintenance charts.


Realism

Unfortunately, I have never owned a cattle ranch, so I cannot speak on how true to life Show Cattle is. I can say that from a non-cattle owner's position, it looks true to life in terms of maintaining a herd. However, if you want something that focuses on an individual pet for your child, look elsewhere.

The Elusive Female Gamer

I am an avid female gamer with an affection for MMORPGs. I have played a few, starting as far back as Dark Age of Camelot, moving on to World of Warcraft then Warhammer Online. I currently enjoy Runes of Magic and have learned a thing or two about MMORPGs in general. The information provided won't get you "l33t" gear or rare items, but it will help you coexist in groups and form beneficial bonds with your fellow gamers. You can be the charming tank, healer or DPSer everyone wants in their group!

If Our Pets Were Really Our 'Minor Children' Most of Us 'Parents' Would Be in Jail for Child Neglect

As a pet owner, do you need to have a pet trust or will in your estate plan? Well, maybe so, given the fact that in the American society of today one fundamental sociological reality has now become absolutely indisputable and well-established, namely, that America's house pets (generally defined nowadays to include dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, and other small animals) are increasingly considered a member of the family or a child, and not just "animals" any more.

The evidence? The results of many credible surveys and studies, for example, which show, as in the case of an October 1999 report by the USA Today newspaper, for example, that more than 66% of American pet owners consider their pets as "a member of the family," or as in the case of a more recent survey by the American Animal Hospital Association, which show that a whopping 84% of them thought of their animal companions as being their kids. As well as the evidence from the physical attitude, treatment and relationship of pet owners towards their companion animals. Unfortunately, however, that's not the case! Not at all. In deed, quite the opposite is the case with most pet owners. Yes, it's true that among pet lovers a strong impulse and wish often exists to make such a provision for the care of their pets in the event of the incapacity or death of the pet owner. But, typically, the vast majority of the American pet owners generally fail to follow through, however, to actually translate that professed desire into reality for the pets' future. In point of fact, the most modern and effective way to "plan" for the pet's future protection and care in case of a serious contingency, is through setting up an estate planning instrument called a "pet trust" for the pets. With a valid pet trust (and a few other simple estate planning vehicles related to it), you can make specific provisions for the care of your pets in the event of your disability or death, and provide for a reliable caretaker and funding arrangement for the pet which will be legally enforceable by the courts.

Nevertheless, most pet owners fail to set up such a device for their pets. Most pet owners, in deed even the estate plan professionals and lawyers in the field, are not too well informed about it. Pet owners pathetically fail, in overwhelming numbers, either to make any estate planning at all in their own affairs, or to include their pets in such plans, and frequently wind up leaving their pets with no protections and subject to undue sufferings, agony, even euthanasia after their owners are incapacitated or dead.

David Congalton, co-author of "When Your Pet Outlives You," puts it this way: "How many of us have already gone the extra step to make sure our animal companions are safe if something unexpected happens to us? The Answer is NOT many."

One 2000 study, for example, by pet law expert and pioneer, Prof. Gerry W. Beyer, reports that only between 12 percent and 27 percent of pet owners have provisions in their wills relating to their companion animals. JUST 27 percent - AT THE MOST!

NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR REAL MINOR CHILDREN. Pets, Our "Children"? Our "family members"?

Many studies have been conducted which show that many dogs, cats and other pets found in shelters end up there only because their owners became unexpectedly ill or incapacitated, or were for some reason unable to care for them, or died without leaving any plans for their pets' next home or care.

A survey conducted between 1994 and 1997 by the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, for example, found "that 64 percent of all pets that entered the participating shelters for any reasons, were euthanized." And David Congalton & Charlottte Alexander, co-authors of When Your Pet Outlives You, confirm that "More than 15 million dogs and cats are euthanized in animal shelters across the nation annually...[shelters] currently handle less than 1 percent of the nationwide abandoned parrot population."

Can you possibly imagine our treating our HUMAN minor children with such gross neglect or carelessness, even indifference and callousness? We would all almost surely be hauled to jail en mass for the crime of abandonment and neglect of our helpless, innocent, loving minor children, wouldn't we? Can you possibly imagine us leaving our minor or infant HUMAN children completely to fend for themselves when we're not there, and without the normal protections and safeguards as would assure that they'll have some substitute home and a caretaker, if we were not able or around, as are largely accorded them today? Or, possibly imagine us leaving our real minor human children behind with virtually one certain realistic fate for them - euthanasia and death?

Clearly, the main reason why these animals wind up wandering the streets or get euthanized, after their owners are incapacitated or dead, is because they simply can't find homes. Their owners had made no thorough plan or arrangement - an estate plan - that would have put together such an arrangement for a next home, a suitable caretaker, and the funding plan, to assure that objective for the pets. Not a particularly comforting scenario especially for those of us who think of our pets as being like our kids! We have all heard the "horror stories" about pets being left behind in homes and apartments after the September 11th tragedy and the Katrina disaster. Such stories were, of course, more "visible." And are seemingly more horrifying because of that visibility factor. The central problem of the kind of frightening fate that pets face when they're left behind with no good estate plan arrangement, however, is not by any means uncommon or limited. It is general and widespread. And, it is real for most pets - long, long before September 11th and Katrina, and thereafter to this date.

THE MESSAGE? Take advantage of the recent advancements in the pet laws of the nation and simply create a good estate plan, including a valid "pet trust," making specific provisionsfor the care of your pets in the event of your disability or death, and provide for a reliable caretaker and funding arrangement for the pet that will be legally enforceable by the courts. A good estate plan for the pet, to be complete, should also include a host of other special instruments, ranging from a suitable durable power of attorney, animal cards and animal identification and information documents, to Inter Vivos or Testamentary trust, etc. With such a plan in place, you'll pretty much assure that in the event of any serious emergency in your life, your pets will not likely wind up in the pound or shelter somewhere awaiting euthanasia, but will be taken into a safe home and will be properly cared for by a responsible, caring caretaker

WHAT A WAY TO DEMONSTRATE OUR OWN UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR OUR PETS! We talk all the time about the unconditional love of our pets for us - unfailingly. Now, what about our own UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for them? Clearly, the ultimate, most genuine expression of 'LOVE' that we can bestow as a pet owner upon a beloved animal companion, is to assure a legally valid estate plan by which that pet animal would be protected and properly cared for in the event of our incapacitation or death.

Dog, cat, pet estate planning your pet's future pet trust and will dog, cat, pet estate planning with will and pet trust [http://www.EstatePlanAndTrustforPets.com/index.html].

http://www.EstatePlanAndTrustForPets.Com [http://www.EstatePlanAndTrustForPets.Com/id60.html]

Seven Mistakes Pet Parents Make

Impulse Buying

Making the commitment to invite any animal to join your family should take a lot of careful consideration. Unfortunately, for many people when they see a cute animal they can't resist the temptation of bringing them home immediately. However, it is much wiser to first go home and do some research to find out everything you can about this particular type of pet and what caring for and living with them will entail. Also, be sure to include all family members in the decisionmaking process. Carefully consider the commitment of time and money, and if this particular animal is a good match for your family.

Buying From a Pet Store

This can be a hard mistake for people to avoid as seeing a cute young animal in a store can be very tempting especially since some people might consider they are saving that particular animal. But, keep in mind that while you may give that animal a good home with each sale the pet store makes they are that much more likely to simply bring more animals in from animal mills where the breeding stock is subjected to a life of constant breeding and probable mistreatment.

Killing with Kindness

Because people love their pets so much they often give too much too soon to the detriment of their pets. Many people feel they are being mean if they don't give their pet everything they want when they want it. A perfect example of this is the person who brings home a new dog or cat and let's them run freely in the home. But, it is much kinder in the long run to set clear rules and boundaries, much like with kids, to help your pet stay safe and ensure that he or she is with you for their whole life. Unfortunately, the result of not setting boundaries and helping your pet learn how to behave is that they make mistakes which they are then punished for and many otherwise lovely animals are surrendered to shelters for simple to prevent and resolve behavior problems.

Assuming Your Pet is a Person in Fur Clothing

It's wonderful that most people adopt pets into their home as full-fledged members of the family. However, while most pets adapt incredibly well to living with people, many people forget they are still animals. Keep in mind that pets tend to think in different and often much simpler terms than we do. They aren't walking around all day plotting how to get back at you for leaving them at home while you go to work or to punish you for what you have or haven't done for them lately. I often hear people say they think their pet is spiteful or stubborn. This way of thinking does a great disservice to pets and tends to create a relationship where we set our pets up to fail by assuming they should know how to behave.

Punishing Your Pet

Considering how much we love our animal companions it is odd that one of the big mistakes people make is focusing on punishing our pets for things they do we don't like rather than rewarding them for what we consider good behavior. A perfect example of this is letting a pup eliminate on the rug (by not supervising them properly) and then yelling at them for doing so. Dogs think it pretty simple terms, so it is unlikely they are thinking they are in trouble for going in the house. They are probably simply thinking they need to hide behind the couch next time they need to go since you obviously don't like to see them do it. Also, punishments are likely to damage your relationship with your pet whereas managing your pets to set them up for success and rewarding for good behavior will create a well-mannered pet and improve your bond.

Not Spaying or Neutering

This is a common mistake pet parents make with some of the most serious consequences. Unfortunately some people still think that if they spay or neuter their pets they will get lazy and fat that it is kind to let their pet have just one litter. Aside from the fact that there is a serious pet overpopulation problem which spaying and neutering can help decrease, doing so also means your companion is less likely to look for a mate which means they are less likely to get lost, hurt or contract diseases.

For males, neutering eliminates the chance of developing testicular cancer and may reduce problems with territorial and sexual aggression as well as decreasing inappropriate urination issues. For females, spaying decreases the chance of developing breast cancer. In fact, the rate goes down to almost zero if the spaying is done before the first heat cycle. It also eliminates the chance of developing a serious and potentially fatal infection of the uterus called pyometra. It also decreases or eliminates the mood swings associated with heat cycles and eliminates messy spotting.

Overall spaying and neutering will greatly increase the length and quality of your pet's life.

Leaving Pets & Children Alone

While many animals are very tolerant of and even enjoy interaction with children, all animals should be supervised at all times when together. No matter what breed or type of animal you have there is always a risk leaving children and pets unattended together. What many people don't understand is that an animal can be tolerant for years, but if pushed too far (i.e. rough play, over excited behavior) they may react. Unfortunately, the most likely person to be bitten or scratched by a dog or cat is family members.

Andrea is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer through the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers and a Certified Pet Partners Team evaluator for the Delta Society and the AKC's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test. She is the Director of Andrea Arden Dog Training in New York, and was named the best dog trainer in New York by New York, W, Time Out, Quest and the Daily News. Her website is located at http://www.andreaarden.com and she can be reached at 212-414-9597. You can follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/andreaardendogtraining.

If Our Pets Were Really Our 'Minor Children' Most of Us 'Parents' Would Be in Jail for Child Neglect

As a pet owner, do you need to have a pet trust or will in your estate plan? Well, maybe so, given the fact that in the American society of today one fundamental sociological reality has now become absolutely indisputable and well-established, namely, that America's house pets (generally defined nowadays to include dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, and other small animals) are increasingly considered a member of the family or a child, and not just "animals" any more.

The evidence? The results of many credible surveys and studies, for example, which show, as in the case of an October 1999 report by the USA Today newspaper, for example, that more than 66% of American pet owners consider their pets as "a member of the family," or as in the case of a more recent survey by the American Animal Hospital Association, which show that a whopping 84% of them thought of their animal companions as being their kids. As well as the evidence from the physical attitude, treatment and relationship of pet owners towards their companion animals. Unfortunately, however, that's not the case! Not at all. In deed, quite the opposite is the case with most pet owners. Yes, it's true that among pet lovers a strong impulse and wish often exists to make such a provision for the care of their pets in the event of the incapacity or death of the pet owner. But, typically, the vast majority of the American pet owners generally fail to follow through, however, to actually translate that professed desire into reality for the pets' future. In point of fact, the most modern and effective way to "plan" for the pet's future protection and care in case of a serious contingency, is through setting up an estate planning instrument called a "pet trust" for the pets. With a valid pet trust (and a few other simple estate planning vehicles related to it), you can make specific provisions for the care of your pets in the event of your disability or death, and provide for a reliable caretaker and funding arrangement for the pet which will be legally enforceable by the courts.

Nevertheless, most pet owners fail to set up such a device for their pets. Most pet owners, in deed even the estate plan professionals and lawyers in the field, are not too well informed about it. Pet owners pathetically fail, in overwhelming numbers, either to make any estate planning at all in their own affairs, or to include their pets in such plans, and frequently wind up leaving their pets with no protections and subject to undue sufferings, agony, even euthanasia after their owners are incapacitated or dead.

David Congalton, co-author of "When Your Pet Outlives You," puts it this way: "How many of us have already gone the extra step to make sure our animal companions are safe if something unexpected happens to us? The Answer is NOT many."

One 2000 study, for example, by pet law expert and pioneer, Prof. Gerry W. Beyer, reports that only between 12 percent and 27 percent of pet owners have provisions in their wills relating to their companion animals. JUST 27 percent - AT THE MOST!

NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR REAL MINOR CHILDREN. Pets, Our "Children"? Our "family members"?

Many studies have been conducted which show that many dogs, cats and other pets found in shelters end up there only because their owners became unexpectedly ill or incapacitated, or were for some reason unable to care for them, or died without leaving any plans for their pets' next home or care.

A survey conducted between 1994 and 1997 by the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, for example, found "that 64 percent of all pets that entered the participating shelters for any reasons, were euthanized." And David Congalton & Charlottte Alexander, co-authors of When Your Pet Outlives You, confirm that "More than 15 million dogs and cats are euthanized in animal shelters across the nation annually...[shelters] currently handle less than 1 percent of the nationwide abandoned parrot population."

Can you possibly imagine our treating our HUMAN minor children with such gross neglect or carelessness, even indifference and callousness? We would all almost surely be hauled to jail en mass for the crime of abandonment and neglect of our helpless, innocent, loving minor children, wouldn't we? Can you possibly imagine us leaving our minor or infant HUMAN children completely to fend for themselves when we're not there, and without the normal protections and safeguards as would assure that they'll have some substitute home and a caretaker, if we were not able or around, as are largely accorded them today? Or, possibly imagine us leaving our real minor human children behind with virtually one certain realistic fate for them - euthanasia and death?

Clearly, the main reason why these animals wind up wandering the streets or get euthanized, after their owners are incapacitated or dead, is because they simply can't find homes. Their owners had made no thorough plan or arrangement - an estate plan - that would have put together such an arrangement for a next home, a suitable caretaker, and the funding plan, to assure that objective for the pets. Not a particularly comforting scenario especially for those of us who think of our pets as being like our kids! We have all heard the "horror stories" about pets being left behind in homes and apartments after the September 11th tragedy and the Katrina disaster. Such stories were, of course, more "visible." And are seemingly more horrifying because of that visibility factor. The central problem of the kind of frightening fate that pets face when they're left behind with no good estate plan arrangement, however, is not by any means uncommon or limited. It is general and widespread. And, it is real for most pets - long, long before September 11th and Katrina, and thereafter to this date.

THE MESSAGE? Take advantage of the recent advancements in the pet laws of the nation and simply create a good estate plan, including a valid "pet trust," making specific provisionsfor the care of your pets in the event of your disability or death, and provide for a reliable caretaker and funding arrangement for the pet that will be legally enforceable by the courts. A good estate plan for the pet, to be complete, should also include a host of other special instruments, ranging from a suitable durable power of attorney, animal cards and animal identification and information documents, to Inter Vivos or Testamentary trust, etc. With such a plan in place, you'll pretty much assure that in the event of any serious emergency in your life, your pets will not likely wind up in the pound or shelter somewhere awaiting euthanasia, but will be taken into a safe home and will be properly cared for by a responsible, caring caretaker

WHAT A WAY TO DEMONSTRATE OUR OWN UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR OUR PETS! We talk all the time about the unconditional love of our pets for us - unfailingly. Now, what about our own UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for them? Clearly, the ultimate, most genuine expression of 'LOVE' that we can bestow as a pet owner upon a beloved animal companion, is to assure a legally valid estate plan by which that pet animal would be protected and properly cared for in the event of our incapacitation or death.

Dog, cat, pet estate planning your pet's future pet trust and will dog, cat, pet estate planning with will and pet trust [http://www.EstatePlanAndTrustforPets.com/index.html].

http://www.EstatePlanAndTrustForPets.Com [http://www.EstatePlanAndTrustForPets.Com/id60.html]