Friends of Lana

High on Christmas spirit, we caught up with our favourite illustrator, the one and only Alicia Souza, for a chat about her art, her animals (adopted indie dog Charles-Brown and adopted guinea pig Henry-Oats) and her life! Take a peek at our conversation as Alicia tells us about how her beautiful animals inspire her work and life.

It’s the best time of year again! Now that we’re in the middle of December, we hope you’re officially in the howliday spirit. In case you aren’t yet, we’ve thought of the purrfect plan. All you need for this is a comfy couch, a warm blanket, a steaming hot cup of cocoa/chai and yup, you guessed it, the goodest boi or girl in your house – the apple of your eye – your doggo, of course!

We’ve curated a list of the BEST dog movies ever. Some are holiday movies, and some are classics, so there’s something for everyone. Go get everything ready, pick one of these movies (or binge on all of them), curl up with your fur baby and unwind from your ruff week. Let’s begin!

Dog training is both an art and a science. Ideally, every dog should be trained with the basics – from learning to walk on the leash to being comfortable with strangers and house guests.

In this article, Mr. Pritpal Singh, who has been a dog trainer for almost 48 years, joins us for a chat. Not only does he talk about some of his own experiences, he gives us some tips regarding training, his thoughts on the positive vs. negative reinforcement debate, busts some myths which have been around far too long and provides an insightful glimpse at how the times have changed.

It’s that time of year again; the mercury isn’t boiling anymore. Days are rather warm and humid. Monsoon and the transitional season that follows proves tricky for dogs with sensitive skin. From redness and itchiness to hot spots and bald spots and everything in between, the sight of our fur darlings scratching themselves silly unfortunately becomes quite commonplace.

For some of us, using just the right shampoo or medicine can take all our precious fur baby’s skin woes away. But often, especially with allergic conditions, it’s not common to have solutions which are quite so spot-on. Misdiagnoses are common, often with heavy medication being prescribed where it may not be needed at all!

A recent survey done by Lana Paws, Pet Dogs of India 2019, highlighted a significant observation. An overwhelming 95% of all the pet parents who took the survey felt the need for local authorities to run structured programmes to sensitise children towards being kind and compassionate towards animals. Cases of dog bites have been widely reported and, in some cases, even sensationalised by the media. Many of these cases have been directed at children. Public opinion regarding stray dogs is at an all-time low. As a result of this, some people (children in particular) panic upon the very sight of stray dogs.

Thanks to over 1500 pet parents like you who took the time out to complete this survey, we are excited to present some of the interesting lifestyle trends highlighting the shifting pet parent-dog dynamic.

Four-legged Therapist

Right off the bat, a whopping 49.5% of the respondents said they turn to their dog for emotional support, more than their friends and family. Second in line was 42.5% saying that they turned to their dogs for emotional support, along with their friends and family.