If you’re a resident of Florida’s Emerald Coast area and looking for a four-legged addition to your family, let us draw your attention to Chula, a 10-month-old German Shepherd/American Bulldog mix recently rescued from a kill shelter. Chula is a medium-sized pooch who will be about 60 or 70 pounds when she’s done growing. She’s a very sweet pup with an eager-to-please personality. Although Chula does require frequent walks and regular exercise, her temperament is calm and gentle. Chula gets along well with children and other dogs. She hasn’t had any experience with cats, but she is very submissive, so we think she could learn to befriend a feline or two.
Chula walks well on a leash and understands basic commands. She’s both house and crate training, spayed, and up-to-date on all shots. To learn more about Chula, visit Alaqua Animal Rescue and Adopt-a-Pet.com.
Summertime is full of sunshine and often families like to take a vacation. It can be stressful to know what to do with your animals when you go away, especially if you’d like to try to take them with you. When it comes to small pets such as gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, rats and mice, most do not enjoy travel and sometimes keeping them at home with a pet sitter can be the ideal situation. However if you would like to take your small pets with you on a trip, do not fear it can be done! Coordinating and planning the whole process ahead of time will likely make it an easier, smoother experience for everyone. For a few 
It may not be something we think about too often, but it is important to pay special attention to keeping pet safe around your home windows. As the temperature rises for summertime, many people begin leaving their windows open for ventilation not realizing their animals can actually fall out. What if Fido sees another dog walks by and presses up against your screen to get closer? Or a squirrel is torturing your cat from a branch just outside? According to the Home Safety Council, tens of thousands of preventable injuries occur in the home each year, and many involving windows. 
Gerbils are social animals used to living in packs. As a matter of fact, if you have a gerbil, consider rescuing another! They prefer to live in pairs or small groups and it will increase their lifespan as well as their happiness to have other gerbil friends around. They will commonly interact with each other by boxing, jumping, and chewing which are all ways in which they love to play. These little furballs tend to be very active and need mental physical exercise. It’s easy to make sure you’re keeping your gerbil(s) entertained with the many good toys out there, most often toys which incorporate climbing or exploring — 2 more activities gerbils love to do! Keep your adopted gerbil mentally stimulated and having some fun using exercise wheels, run-about balls, tunnels and hiding toys, dust baths, and gerbil-designed chew rings and toys. Avoid to toys made out of soft plastic or any other non-gerbil-safe materials that can be chewed and swallowed, causing intestinal irritation or blockage. If you’re currently looking for a 
Fireworks are part of many celebrations, and are tons of fun for humans… but not so much for our furry family! July 4th especially can be a day of terror for our dogs and cats. At night the bangs and screeching of fireworks elevate your pets’ fight-or-flight drive. This can cause them to panic, wet the floor, tear up things, try to escape, run, or exhibit other distressed behavior. Be aware! This is the busiest time of year at shelters across the U.S.A. for a reason. Even if your dog or cat has never tried to escape or run, this may be the time. They may seem fine and then suddenly bolt out an open door or gate. Fireworks can start days in advance, so use our tips as soon as needed. There’s lots you can do to help your dogs and cats stay cool and safe this day of independence. Here’s how:
friend Lasky died in 2009 at the age of 17. She was my second Sammy. My first, Kira, lived to be 14. They are such great dogs. I was looking casually, not rushing into another dog, but wanting the door to be open should the right dog come along. I saw Zack on the Adopt-a-Pet.com website, inquired about him, and each step of the process, from the adoption application to picking Zack up in New Hampshire, went smoothly. Zack has been in his new home for 5 days. In that time he has become a smiler and a tail wagger. He is small for a Sammy and looked like he had some other breed in his mix but, cleaned up, he turns out to be totally Samoyed, with all of the paw gestures, intelligence, manners and great temperament that is typical of Sammys. He is very sweet.
It’s one thing to know it, but another to prove it! A recent study focused on shelter dogs in Vienna, Austria. Their goal? To find out what would increase the chances for long-term shelter dogs to get adopted. It turns out they were able to conclude and actually prove that socialization and basic training were found to significantly improve the chance for adoption however time constraints often does not allow most shelter staff to engage in additional activities Person walking dog on leash with the animals. Yet the Vienna Shelter knew they could come up with a way to help their animals! They created a ”sponsors of care” program designed for each shelter dog to be matched with a sponsor who would be responsible for taking the dog on regular walks. The shelter even created a training program for sponsors to attend, and offered supervision when difficulties arose.
at least 200 Sharpei dogs and mixes in the last five years. When you think of Sharpei, you usually think of those adorably wrinkly faces that look perpetually concerned. What you might not know is that they have reason to worry: Sharpei often end up in shelters because people buy them as cute, wrinkly puppies, most of the time unaware of the genetic eye and skin conditions inherent to the breed. These conditions, easily treated and controlled early on, can develop into expensive problems if ignored, which leads many irresponsible Sharpei owners to relinquish now-ill dogs to shelters. Once there, these sensitive and loyal dogs can quickly develop stress-related physical and behavioral problems. As you can see, without the help of rescuers like We Luv Paws, Sharpei too often meet their end in the shelter.
Guinea pigs are gentle, sweet pets who have a docile nature – not to mention are totally adorable! They respond to being handled, fed, and pet, and are also relatively easy to take care of making them a popular and fun pet for families. Guinea pigs thrive in groups and are social animals who love to bond with others!