American Families and their pets! Tips for Happy Tails on July 4th!

We want everyone, including your pets to enjoy the holiday weekend!

From of all us here at North County Pet, we'd like to wish everyone a very Happy 4th of July! And we'd also like to give a sincere thanks to all of our service men and women who have given us our freedom and helped keep our country safe! As I remember my father whom served 20 years as a proud marine, and retired a few years before his passing, his words on this day would be, "Let's celebrate", and with a salute to the flag, he'd shout, "Semper Fidelis!"

In honor of this blessed day, NCP saluted the troops this morning as we crossed over onto U.S. Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton. We have several clients that are active in the military and we are proud to help care for their pets, as any! Thank you again, for all that you do!

Now down to the serious business of the weekend ahead! Many of the celebrations nationwide will inevitably showcase a beautiful display of fireworks to the awesome instrumental sounds of our nation's anthem and other songs related to this great country we call home! But let's not forget our beloved pets this weekend...they don't appreciate the awe inspiring sparks of fire crackling in the air high above, lighting our skies to almost daylight. They don't understand, and often this causes problems for owners and animal control everywhere. Take precaution and please consider some of the simple steps below to help prevent a serious situation:    

1. If you have pets that are not used to loud noises like pops, and bangs, then consider sheltering them from these booming sounds. Especially if you have plans on going out and leaving them home. If your dogs and cats are outdoors, bring them inside for the night. You may even have to go as far as crating, or keeping them in a more confined space since fireworks can still be heard inside a house. You may even turn on a radio with soothing music to distort the sounds of "gunfire". This will ultimately help reduce the stress caused by unfamiliar noises.

2. If your dogs and cats are indoors already, again you may have to confine them. If you stay home, and you can hear fireworks, you may notice odd behavior. Dogs will often try to squeeze into tight places they normally would ignore, and cats will hide as usual, or possibly not be bothered at all by the strange sounds. Dogs may start to shake (as if they're scared), pant heavily (nervously), whine (confused), and even shed tufts of hair quickly; these are signs of stress and should not be ignored. Comfort your pets as you would a crying baby. Reassure them that all is okay and that it will pass.

July 4th is the busiest time of year for Animal Control and Law Enforcement, mostly do to an over abundance of calls about missing pets, lost pets wandering and straying away from home, and injured animals. Some of the calls could be prevented if responsible pet owners followed the guidelines above! Please share and pass along to others to help spread the word.

In order to escape the stress, dogs will often dig out of yards, or jump fences they normally are confined by, but as an act of desperation adrenaline kicks in similar to how it does for people and next thing you know that 6 foot fence becomes an easy challenge. Dogs will often even chew their way through objects to get out! Thus, causing injury to themselves, or if after escaping there is the possibility of being hit by a car! You should understand your animals behavior and not reprimand them for doing something that comes natural. This will ultimately upset them more.  

We hope this helps you prepare for a wonderful weekend! Stay safe and God Bless!

Leadership Skills 101, even a Pet Sitter knows business!

I thought after having dealing with some recent events of my own, these tips could help future business owners deal with the struggles of everyday life. It's ineviteable that mistakes will happen, you will often be faced with making quick executive decisions, and later be faced with unexpected consequences. We are only human. Take it in stride, one day at a time, and never give up!
Effective leadership is what determines whether a business achieves, struggles or falls by the wayside. There are reams of articles, books, and audios available. For me, there are at least 8 qualities that successful leaders have.

1. Responsibility
The best leaders take responsibility for making things happen. We all know just how easy it is to blame external factors and we probably all have done this at some time. You know the scenario. If only accounts, purchasing, sales and marketing, customer services, etc would do this everything would be okay. We might even blame the economy, the weather or even the competition. If you want to excel as a leader take responsibility for making things happen.

2. Integrity
Your success depends on others following. People will only follow if they believe they can rely on you to demonstrate high standards, be open, honest and truthful with them. They also expect consistency. When you are consistent (no matter what your leadership style is) people know what to expect.

3. Decision takers
We all have fears and doubts when it comes to taking decisions. Will it be the right one, what happens if it goes wrong, how will I look or be perceived by others? These are just a few of the questions and dilemmas faced or going through their head. What sets successful leaders apart is their willingness to face fears and take decisions rather than procrastinate. They know that they will get their fair share of decisions wrong and will learn from them.

4. Deal with facts
Realism is essential if you are to be a successful leader. Realism is about facing up to whatever is going on, rather than expending energy wishing it was different. When faced with decisions, the best leaders will focus on the facts to determine what is realistic. Imagine you are faced with a poorly performing organisation. You might wish it could be fixed next month or next week, but the reality might be that it will take months and maybe years.

5. Vision and inspiration
The most successful leaders have the ability not just to create a vision but to communicate it in an inspiring way. They see the big picture and inspire others to work together to make it happen.

6. Optimism
There are some who are naturally pessimistic, while others are naturally optimistic. Successful leaders are part of the second group. They know that they cannot control every eventuality but they can control how they respond. They focus on solutions, not problems.

7. Resilient
No matter what you set out to as a leader, there will be set backs, disappointments and failures along the way. The most successful leaders are extremely resilient and when things do not work out as they hoped, they bounce back.

8. Excellence
Excellence in what they do is one of the defining qualities of successful leaders. They have a mindset of continuous improvement. They look for better, smarter ways of doing things. They are continual learners.

While leaders have numerous qualities, making a start on these 8 can get you off to a flying start.