Emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, fear and love play a crucial role in human being's life. These feelings are also an integral part of an animal's world. Aromatherapy also provides immediate, profound and long lasting results on animal’s overall health and well being.

Leaving animals along for a long period of time, lack of attention, unhealthy food, abandonment, etc are some of the common causes of stress in animals. These could lead to health problems like fatigue, excessive itching, shedding, panting and even aggression. Aromatherapy can be used to treat hot spots, itchy skin, ear infections, rashes, bites, cuts, scrapes, incisions from surgeries, stinky breath, flatulence and the list goes on…

Dogs are man's faithful friends for life. Bringing affection, joy and loyalty into our lives, they are more emotionally dependent on their owners. They are in tune with our moods and show more difficulty in coping with emotional stress and loneliness. Hence they require more attention then any other animals.

If your dog is suffering from yeast or ear infection use either of these oils to treat it. Put these oils in a spray bottle with a base oil and swab the inside of the ear after cleansing.

• Lavender - soothes the skin and relieves itching -
• Tea Tree - powerful antibacterial and antifungal -
• Bergamot - antifungal properties -
• Roman Chamomile - soothing and gentle, aids in healing tissue.

To repel fleas, use peppermint, citronella, lemon and clary sage essential oils. Ticks are repelled by essential oils such as Geranium, Bay, Lavender and Myrrh. 15-20 drops of these oils diluted with base oil and sprayed on your dog daily will keep the ticks and fleas away.

Mix 6 drops of lavender, 1 drop of Neroli and 4 drops of Marjoram essential oils with carrier oil such as jojoba or sweet almond oil. Apply on the spine and head lightly. Repeat when necessary. This blend will relieve emotional stress.

To relieve Anxiety & Loneliness - Blend 1 drop of Rose otto, 5 drops of cypress and marjoram essential oils with carrier oil. Apply on the spine and head light, repeating whenever necessary. 6 drops of lavender, 2 drops of roman chamomile and 4 drops of petitgrain essential oils mixed with carrier oil and applied to spine and head lightly reduce nervousness & hyperactivity.

Keep in mind dog's sensitive sense of smell into account when using essential oils. A dog that is besieged by the smells of blends may pace, whine, or rub her / her head on the ground.

Introduce your dog to essential oils slowly and in small amounts.

Hope this helps

Brooke M. Barry . CMT

​Choosing a healthy dog diet can be confusing and difficult if you let it.  The pretty packaging and marketing can blur our perception of a product.  Your dog's diet is the most basic way to keep your pet healthy and happy for the years to come.  It is essential that you find a diet that will provide essential nutrients to allow your pet to thrive rather than merely survive.  

Here are some simple guidelines to follow when you are selecting a food for your dog's diet.  Know that every dog is different.  A dog diet that is terrific for your neighbor's dog may not be exactly what your pet needs.

The first step when considering your dog's diet, is to talk to your veterinarian.  This trusted individual has your pet's interest at heart, just like you.  The vet's recommendations can steer you in the right direction. 

Find a reputable brand of dog food to be the main component of your dog's diet.  It is not impossible to stumble across a high-quality dog food that you have never heard of, but a well-known and prominent manufacturer provides an amount of safety and security about the decision to feed your dog a healthy diet.  Recognized and reputable dog food manufacturers take the time to research the topic of animal nutrition.  Allow your pet to benefit from the company's wealth of information rather than going it alone.  

Select a dog food that is age appropriate.  If your dog is older and shows signs of aging, consider a dog diet that is specially formulated for senior dogs.  Puppies have different nutritional needs than do adult dogs.  Find a variety of food that meets your dog's needs.  Even the breed and size of your pet can make a difference in the type of diet you should feed your pet.  Diets formulated specifically for small dogs and large breeds exist.  You may want to keep this in mind when selecting your dog's diet.

Activity level and weight are other factors to consider when making the decision of what to feed your dog.  If your dog is extremely active or overweight, you may need to pick a type of dog diet that accommodates such situations.  

When you decide on a specific diet for your dog,  pay attention to the portion size.  Obesity is a serious problem in pets.  It can lead to hip troubles and take years off your pet's life.  

Table scraps are definitely out for a healthy diet.  Your dog's diet should consist of a high-quality food specially designed to meet your pet's dietary needs.  Begging is encouraged with table scraps and obesity is likely to result.

Only supplement a high-quality diet when recommended by a veterinarian.  Giving your pet too many supplements in the dog's diet can lead to a lower quality of health.

Always consult your vet for advice on what to feed your dog.  Your dog's diet will fuel his health, so choose your dog's diet wisely.  Select a brand of food that is reputable and suited to your dog.  Finding the right diet for your pet will promote good health and allow your dog to thrive.

Tonight the unexpected happened with our pups and it has resulted in our little guy with a broken arm and mandatory crate rest for 4-6 weeks and an optimistic 4 month recovery.

We crate and rotate our dogs here at the house, we have a pair of agility dogs and three littermates that we are developing for conformation shows. They are rotated throughout the kennel, yard and house.

Last week while the threesome were playing in the kennel, our two 4-month old pups got tangled up, a paw in a collar (cutting off circulation the more they struggled), as they sometimes do and during the course of unhooking them panic set-in and eventually sent our older female to react by biting our little male. Once I separated her she had punctured him and broken his humerus bone between the elbow and shoulder joint .

I couldn't understand why or what had set her off, rewinding the course of events in my head. My only conclusion was it was my high level of excitement and the squealing from the pups that set her off.

Within 15minutes we were at a local vet (not our normal vet), who saw us straight away, but once she learned it was a pit-bull bite, she reluctantly took him in the back for x-rays and then came out to tell us that his humerus was fractured and there was nothing she could do for him and we needed to go directly to University of Penn and it would cost us $5-6K. I was floored and asked her what other options we had because we could not afford a surgical repair. Her response..."fix the arm or put him down!"

The vettech took my information for "carecredit" and I had to ask her to dress his wounds, she took him in the back and put three half-ass staples in a gash on his forearm and gave me a copy of the x-rays and a list of 24hr emergency hospitals in the area and said good-luck. No anti-biotics, no pain meds nothing.

I called the list of vet hospitals and no one had a payment-plan option and an orthopedic specialist wouldn't be able to see him until the end of the following week...

Now, many long nights and two emergency visits in two different states, Ike is fighting to save his arm. $6K Emergency surgery was out of our means, so the great Veterinarians at Delaware Specialty care, manually set his arm as best they could and immobilized it with a Spica splint.

We need to confine him to "quite crate rest" for 4-6 weeks to allow the bones to heal. He may have a crooked bone and will never see the inside of the show ring but at least the little fella will have a chance to make a full recovery and live a happy bully life.