Do You Fish With Worms?

The question posed in this article is for those anglers who fish with live worms, or as Hank Hill once called them, "Good old American Worms". I don't want to offend Bass fishermen, who consider worm fishing to be using a piece of colored rubber impaled on a hook that's large enough to land a small shark to be worm fishing, but I'm speaking of those anglers who use natures version of "the worm" to catch fish. Worms are a phenomenal bait, and fishing them has come a long way since the days of us ...


Is Dog Obedience School for You?

Are you thinking about dog obedience school? Do you know what to expect out of it? Do you know what it costs or where to find a good school? If not, let me help take out some of the mystery of finding one to make sure you and your dog get the best experience you can. If you have searched the web in this topic, you probably found some sites that are basically search engines within search engines, no real information about dog obedience schools. Or you might have found some obedience schools that ...


Toys are GOOD for your dog

Did you know that dog toys are actually good for your dog, and not just an indulgence on the part of the owner? There are all kinds of uses for different types of toys. First, starting as puppies, toys give your dog a distraction from other would-be toys like your couch or your favorite pair of shoes. My dogs all love ropes. Every single one of them that has ever had one played with them until they were tiny pieces of thread. Ropes serve a couple of great purposes, in addition to keeping your ...


Pet Retailing- It's now more than dog food, it's fashion

In previous articles I've often written about the trend towards lifestyle retailing. This is reflected in trends in the garden and home improvement industries. But, one of the most dramatic shifts comes from the pet industry, which is going through dramatic changes. Why Pets? Pets aren't pets anymore, for many people, they are 'child' substitutes. In countries such as China and Japan pets are actually replacing the child due to government directives to encourage smaller families. In the west ...


Maintaining Your First Tropical Fish Aquarium

So you want to keep tropical fish and have a stunning aquarium sitting in your living room or anywhere else in your house for that matter. If you want your fish to thrive like the Asian carps instead of quickly vanish like the Roman anemones, it is important that you take the time to learn the basics about maintaining fish and proper aquarium maintenance before you set up your first fish aquarium. The first decision you must make when you decide to start an aquarium is whether you plan to keep ...


Signing With Your Baby

Once you've been signing with your baby for several weeks or months and your baby has mastered the basic signs that cover his or her needs (such as milk, more, eat, drink, etc.), you will probably want to expand his or her signing vocabulary (as well as your own). The world around you and your child award you with countless opportunities to do just this. You can teach your baby a sign that has significance to almost any situation you may find yourselves in. Family members are a great way to ...


Feline Obesity

Does your cat polish your floor with his stomach as he walks? Is his food bowl bigger than your head? Do you grunt when you try to pick him up? Does he bounce when he lands on the floor? Do you spend more on his food bill than your own? People see fat cats as subjects of humor. They make cartoons with cute captions, manipulate photos into amusing cards, and crack jokes about their rotund companions. As harmless as it seems, obesity in our feline companions is not a joke. The health risks are ...


Guide to Betta Fish Food

Bettas are carnivorous. In the wild, they live off of insects and their larvae. Their mouth is designed to snatch prey on the surface of the water, and their digestive tract is too short to metabolize most plants. This means they are best suited for live food, but they can adapt to flakes and frozen or freeze dried foods. If flake food is used, it should be supplemented by frozen, freeze dried or live food. Brine shrimp, Daphnia, plankton, tubifex, glassworms, and beef heart are all good ...


Pet Retailing - The Unique Retail Experience

The pet retailer is becoming the retail destination. It used to be that garden centres considered putting a pet shop adjacent to a garden centre as an extra means of attraction. I recently worked with a company in South Africa where the draw card is the pets; the added attraction is the garden centre. So what makes the pet retail sector so unique? Well, in generational marketing terms, it's one of the few retail sectors that appeals to each generation. Spoodles (0 ' 4 yrs old), Juveniles (the ...


Pet Parents Grow the Market

I recently had the opportunity to look at the pet retail industry in the USA. The industry is growing by 6% a year and, like many other retail sectors, is going through some major changes. In many retail leisure sectors, the industry is splitting into commodity retailing and lifestyle retailing. 65% of pet products in the USA are still purchased as commodity products via supermarkets and mass merchandisers, but the growth sector are specific pet 'box' store retailers who are introducing ...