Can I Put My Pet In My Will?

Boca Raton, FLA --- Have you ever wondered what to do with your pet if you suddenly passed away? Who is going to take care of it? What if it gets sick and needs medical attention? Who is going to pay the medical bills? Who is going to pay for routine shots? These are many questions you may ask yourself in thinking about this confusing topic.

Stated in an article on www.animallaw.info, the Uniform Trust Act of 2000 does not allow you to will property to an animal per se, but it allows you to set up a trust for the continuing care of your pet. The Act itself is an example of the increased recognition of animal interests.

As of right now, there are roughly thirty-one states that now recognize pet trusts. These trusts allow for the owner to name a pet as a beneficiary and to name a trustee to take care of the pet.

Make plans for your pet.

According to an article written by Eileen Ambrose of The Baltimore Sun, it is important that people make plans for what will happen to their pet. And whether they end up creating a pet trust, setting money aside in a will for care or use some other means, the issues owners face will be similar. For instance, pet owners need to find a caretaker and someone to manage the money left behind for the pet's benefit. Usually the same person handles both roles. Look for someone who is responsible, capable of handling money and likes animals.

Other suggestions in the article encourage you to:

• Name one or two backups in case the trustee cannot fulfill the job.

•Make sure there is enough money to cover pet expenses.

• Write a care plan, basically a memo detailing the veterinarian's name.

• Include in the care plan the pet's routine, medications, likes and dislikes.

Drafting a Trust

You will want to include specific information in the trust.

• The name and address of a trustee and an alternate trustee.

• The name and address of the caregiver and an alternate caregiver. (It may be beneficial to name the same person as the trustee and the caregiver)

• Detailed information on the identity of your pet. (microchip or papers)

• The standard living and care you wish for your pet.

• A detailed description of the property that will fund the trust.

• Information on how the remainder of the trust should be distributed once your pet dies.

• Instructions on the final disposition of your pet's body.

According to an article by Richard Willing of USA Today, the average amount left to pets is about $25,000. It was also stated in the article that according to a 2000 survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association that Americans own roughly 68 million dogs and 73 million cats. The impulse to protect them after one's demise has always been strong and, for some, overwhelming.

Copyright 2006 Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp.

About The Author
Pete Glocker is employed in the Education and Charitable Services Department at Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp. ("DMCC"), a 501c(3) non-profit charitable organization located in Boca Raton, Florida. Pete graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a BA in Multimedia Journalism and was a web producer Intern for Tribune Interactive products Sun-Sentinel.com and SouthFlorida.com. DMCC provides free financial education, personal budget counseling, and debt management plans to consumers across the United States. Debt management plans offered by DMCC help consumers relieve the stress of excessive debt by reducing credit card interest rates, consolidating and lowering monthly payments, and stopping collection calls and late fees. DMCC financial counselors can be reached for free education materials, budget counseling and debt management plan quotes by calling 800-863-9011 or by visiting http://www.dmcccorp.org. Pete Glocker can be reached by email at pete@dmcccorp.org.

Horse Training: Train A Horse For Tomorrow

Ever hear something and you thought to yourself, "Now that's profound!"

The statement was "Always train for tomorrow!"

I've heard it said many a time but for some reason it really hit me.

Sometimes that happens. You can hear something over and over but there's that one day when it makes a big impact.

I wonder why that is?

Where did I hear it? From Sam Burrell.

I'm finishing up with Sam Burrell who is our featured trainer for the January Super Stars Of Horse Training.

Sam is one of our favorites we feature in our horse training videos at: http://www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com

And that one gold nugget of wisdom and many others are part of his golden chest of knowledge he willingly shared.

Anyway, what he meant by it was this.

Don't ask too much from your horse. Get even a tiny try or understanding from your horse.

Let him sleep on it for "tomorrow."

When you come back the next day and work with him you'd swear he was up all night studyin'and practicing it.

How true.

About The Author
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. He is also well known for finding, interviewing, and filming expert horse trainers and making their expertise available to horse owners who want to learn different horse training tips and secrets and how to solve behaviorial issues with horses. For information visit his website at www.SuperStarsofHorseTraining.com.

Finding The Right Veterinarian For Your Labrador Retrievers

One of the most difficult things the owner of a Labrador Retriever must do is chose the right veterinarian. With a little work upfront, you will be able to find a veterinarian that you will be comfortable with, and one that will be able to serve all of your Labradors long term needs.

One of the best ways to find a good veterinarian is to start by asking your family members and friends whom themselves own pets. Neighbors, groomers, and your fellow co-workers are other good sources. You can also search your local yellow pages under dog hospitals, veterinarians, and animal clinics. An excellent online source is located at www.pets911.com (punch in your zip code and it will locate veterinarians in your area).

Now that you have a potential list of vets, your selection process can begin.

Give each veterinarian a call and explain that you are looking for a new veterinarian for your Labrador Retriever, and you would like to meet with them to ask a few questions and to see their facility.

Typical questions and what to look for:

Fee and Services – some veterinarians are higher priced then others. Don't be hesitant to ask about prices.

? What methods of payment do they take?
? Do they accept a pet insurance plan?
? Is full payment expected on the day of visit?
? Are there discounts for multi-pet households?
? What is the range of services that the veterinarian provides (x-rays, blood test, heartworm test, etc)?

Office Hours

? What are regular office hours?
? Who will take over if the veterinarian is on vacation or out sick?

Emergency Care for your Labrador

? What should I do if the veterinarian is closed and my Labrador Retriever gets hurt or is sick?
? In case of an accident that requires an overnight stay, will someone be with my Labrador Retriever non-stop?

Observe the Staff

Observe the interaction with the veterinarian and with the other staff. Are they courteous and caring?

Facility

? Is the facility clean and well kept?
? How many veterinarians are in the practice?
? Are appointments required?
? Are the animals in separate cages?

The last thing you might want to do is to check with the Veterinarian Medical Board to check if any complaints have been filed against the practice.

Once you have finished making your visits with the veterinarians on your list, you should have a clear picture on what veterinarian you would like to use. If for some reason your first choice doesn't work out, you can always switch veterinarians to your next choice on your list.

By utilizing the above guidelines, you will be able to match the right veterinarian to what you are looking for, and to serving all of your Labrador Retrievers needs.

About The Author
Fay Fernandez is an experienced pet owner and creator of All About Labradors
All About Labradors provides quality Labrador articles, stories, Labrador product reviews and lots more. If you find this article useful, please visit allaboutlabradors.blogspot.com.

Saltwater Fish Tanks-- Ease Of Keeping Saltwater Fish At Home

Having a collection of striking fish in your living room that are normally only found in the ocean provides serenity and is a great attraction for family and friends visiting your home. Although it may seem difficult to maintain or expensive to setup, having saltwater fish differs little from a normal tank.

One of the first steps in having a saltwater fish tank in your home is a review of your finances to determine that you have enough money to start and maintain your tank.Approximate start-up costs for a saltwater fish tank are around $500 (USD), which doesn't include the cost of fish or the upkeep.

The next step is to determine where your tank is going to be located and what type and size of tank you are going to purchase.Some tanks are small enough to sit on a table, while others come with their own stands.Particularly large tanks may require structural support so that the floor can bear the additional weight. When choosing the location for your tank, keep in mind its accessibility in regards to cleaning and maintenance.You must also select whether to have a glass or acrylic tank.Glass is easier to clean, but you can drill holes in acrylic tanks that allow filtration to occur out of sight underneath the tank.

After purchasing your tank you must buy other needed equipment such as a filter, air pump, and heater.You also need to choose a bed for the tank and a saltwater mixture which will create the best conditions for your fish.

Once you have purchased all your items except your fish, assemble your tank and test it out to make sure it runs properly.Once you're certain it works okay, continue to let cycle, making adjustments to get the tank to its optimal level for the fish you are going to purchase.Once this is done, it's time to take a trip to select your fish. The ocean, where saltwater fish live, is the largest of all the water bodies. It's home to millions of species – playful, colourful, savage and awe inspiring, and many of these varieties are appropriate and available for saltwater tanks. When you bring your fish home, keep the fish in the bag and place it in the tank.This will allow the fish to adjust to the temperature in your tank.After a few hours, add one-fourth cup of tank water to the bag to let the fish adjust slowly to the water, and within an hour, repeat this step four times.After that you can put the fish directly into the tank or hold it in a quarantine tank for a few days or weeks until you certain it is healthy and able to thrive in your tank water.This is highly recommended if you are adding this fish to a tank already housing other fish, as one sick fish can kill all the others in your tank.

Having a saltwater fish tank not only adds beauty but is also quite easy to do.Once you have purchased all your equipment, tested it out, bought your fish and attuned it to your tank, it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ease of keeping saltwater fish in your home and what they add to it.If you are looking for more information then please feel free to visit our site at http://www.saltwater-fishtank.com

About The Author
Ashley Barnard
Saltwater Fish Tanks Ease of keeping saltwater fish at home could not be simpler i have been keeping salt water fish now for 2 years and they really do make great pets. for more information please visit our site at http://www.saltwater-fishtank.com

Gymnastic to Increase Your Horse's Flexibility

This exercise from eventing coach Jim Wofford's book Gymnastics: Systematic Training for Jumping Horses will help you increase your horse's gymnastic ability, balance and flexibility using cavalletti poles.

Editor's Note: This technique is one of 23 gymnastics designed to improve your horse's jumping skills that Wofford describes in his illustrated book, Gymnastics: Systematic Training for Jumping Horses.

After you have warmed your horse up at the walk, trot and canter, then trot into the exercise marked A in the sketch at right. Cavalletti set at this distance (4 ft., 6 in. apart) will produce a working trot for most horses.

These exercises are all designed for horses with some jumping experience. If your horse is extremely green he probably should not be attempting this exercise yet. However, if he is slightly inexperienced or is an experienced jumper but has not done much work over cavalletti you can pull the first and the third poles in towards the center line of the arena. This will produce a 9 ft. (2.7 m) distance between two poles. Horses find this exercise easier and will soon become stable and regular at the trot, which is always your goal. You can then put the four poles together and work in both directions over four of them on the ground. After you have established your horse's balance and rhythm here you can proceed to the curved poles in B.

At the posting trot, proceed on a circle in either direction through B. Keep your horse's direction adjusted so that the length of his step on the curve feels the same as it did over A.

Once you and your horse have become adept at this you can then start to enter, for example, closer to the 3 ft (90 cm) end of the poles where the distance is shorter and then let the horse angle away from the center of the circle. This will cause your horse to go from a working trot to a medium trot or possibly, if your angle becomes too great, even take a couple of steps of extended trot. If your horse takes two steps between the poles or breaks into a canter, you have probably asked too much flexibility from him. Aim closer to the 3 ft (90 cm) end of the curve, and enter B again at the posting trot.

Alternatively, you can enter from the outside of B, where the rails are farther apart. This will cause your horse to take quite a large step at first. Angle in towards the 3 ft (90 cm) distance between the last two poles. This will bring your horse back to a working trot or even a slightly collected trot. Having worked in both directions over B, including being able to angle both ways, you can then proceed to C.

The poles positioned at C, set at 5 ft. (1.5 m) apart, will produce the sensation of extended trot, and you may find that your horse cannot reach enough in his fourth step to get out over the last pole without "chipping in" an additional step. Simply remove the last pole and continue. You will find that, after a couple of days' work over cavalletti, your horse gets the message and you can replace the fourth pole. You should work in both directions over the 5 ft (1.5 m) poles at C until your horse can maintain his regularity and length of step. After a short break proceed to D.

These four rails on the ground, set at 4 ft. (1.2 m) apart, will produce a collected trot. Although these exercises can be ridden either posting or sitting, you should definitely use rising trot until your horse becomes adjusted to them. Again, work both ways through D until your horse is relaxed and steady in his balance and rhythm. He should be able to deal with the rails without any interruption in the flow of his movement, changing only the length of his step to adapt to the various distances that you have put in his path.

After another break you can now link these four elements together in order to produce various transitions that will be of great benefit in teaching your horse to be flexible. For example, enter A on the right hand in a working trot, where the rails are 4 ft., 6 in. (1.35 m) apart. As you leave A, turn right in such a fashion that you produce an arc through B which causes your horse to change the length of his step from working to collected trot. In other words, you would enter exercise B from the outside in. This will put your horse in a slightly collected frame. Proceed directly then to C, which will produce an extended trot. After the extended trot at C, turn right and enter the shorter cavalletti at D.

If your horse has difficulty with this you can do A, B and C as I have described and then in posting trot circle (or repeat a circle until your horse has settled down to working trot), turn and enter D, thus producing a collected trot. If you have successfully done this, walk, reward your horse and let him relax and consider his effort while you plan your next series of repetitions through these exercises. When you resume the posting trot, work in both directions and vary the relationship between the exercises to improve and confirm your horse's flexibility.

Take a moment to remind yourself of your horse's bad habits. If your horse tends to rush at the trot, he will not need too many applications of C. He should come from outside in rather than from inside out at B, as this will cause him to continually re-balance and collect his step rather than rushing forward. If, on the other hand, your horse is choppy-strided or lazy, a bit more emphasis on C and a few more repetitions at B, going from inside out, will teach him to lengthen his step.

The total amount of exercise over these rails in any one period should not exceed 45 minutes, including the periods of rest between exercises. These exercises will fit comfortably in a 75 ft. x 150 ft. (22.8 m x 45.7 m) arena.

Be sure to check out Jim Wofford's new column "Cross Country with Jim Wofford" in the May 2006 issue of Practical Horseman as he tackles the question: "What makes a great event horse?"

Wofford has represented the U.S. in eventing at three Olympics and two World Championships

About The Author
Shannon Margolis
Owner / Marketing Coordinator
www.horsegalore.com
View their website at: http://www.horsegalore.com