Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I have not yet attempted to fly with Frankie. He’s not wild about vehicles with motors and he’s diabetic. Just thinking about dealing with his travel stress while having to go through airport security with his needles and Vetsulin, which requires an ice pack, makes me break out in a cold sweat.
That said, I’ve long had a fixation with luggage. Even before I became a travel writer, I was obsessed with trying to find the lightest, sturdiest, most efficient vehicle for my belongings. That fixation hasn’t abated just because I travel less and because I have a travel averse dog. You never know.
That’s why I’m such an avid reader of Mary-Alice Pomputius’ blog, Dog Jaunt: Traveling with a Small Dog. The oh-so-thorough product reviews on her site satisfy my urges to explore every nuance of a travel item, from every possible angle, including from the perspective of Chloe, the titular small dog.
So when I had a chance to co-sponsor a contest to give away an item of luggage deemed by Dog Jaunt to be close to perfect, I couldn’t resist. Call it a vicarious thrill. Or a channeling of my Jewish mother for a self-pity fest. (No, that’s okay, you go ahead and have a good time on your trip while I stay home and give my dog injections.)
Hey, why do you think I had to establish this site as a guilt-free zone?
But I digress. Here’s the review that Mary-Alice wrote about the Sleepypod Air pet carrier last week.
Photo by Sleepypod
And there was another thing besides the type and quality of the product that appealed to me about the contest: The rules that Mary-Alice devised for entering. They involve sending in a picture of the pet toy you would carry with you in the Sleepypod Air. This is what I would bring for Frankie, were I allowed to enter the contest:
Frankie's squeaky carrot
And now I’m turning over this post over to Mary-Alice, who will explain everything you wanted to know about entering the contest in her usual precise detail.
How to Enter
This giveaway is being co-hosted by Dog Jaunt and Will My Dog Hate Me. Feel free to enter from either site! We will give away a Sleepypod Air pet carrier to one lucky reader. The winner will choose their favorite color.
To enter, send us a photo of your dog’s favorite toy or blankie — the one that you’d tuck into your dog’s carrier as you set off on a trip, because you know he loves it best. It can be filthy! It can be tattered! Chloe’s squeaky sheep would turn your stomach, but it’s her lovey and it keeps her company on every trip. If your picture includes both your dog’s favorite comfort toy and your dog, we’ll love it even more!
Using the form below, please send us a link to your photo. If your link is over 100 characters long, please shorten it with bit.ly or tinyURL before pasting it in. In the link title, please include your dog’s name (and if your dog’s toy is too mangled to recognize, a description of what the toy is!). Be sure to fill in your e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. Your e-mail address isn’t shared with anyone, and we will not send you e-mail unless you win. Speaking of email, you’re welcome to submit your entry with a photo attachment to me: writestf@mac.com.
Deadline
Please post your photo before 11:59PM Pacific Time on Monday, April 12th. Mary-Alice and I will confer and announce the winner on both of our sites on Wednesday, April 14th.
The fine print
Please note that the Air carrier is meant for small pets — cats or dogs under 15 lbs. Chloe is a 13-lb. dog, about 12″ tall at the shoulders, and although she was comfortable, she only just fit in the carrier.
Please, only one photo per person, which can be submitted on either or both sites. Duplicate entries and anonymous entries will be discarded (and, in my case, eaten by Frankie). Please make sure that the e-mail address you send us is valid. The winner must claim the prize within three business days after the date of notification of such prize. A winner’s failure to respond to the prize notification within the specified three business days will be considered such winner’s forfeiture of the prize and an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. If an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. To enter, you must be a U.S. resident, age 18 or older. Employees, partners and vendors of Dog Jaunt or Will My Dog Hate Me? and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology. All prizes will be awarded. No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that Dog Jaunt and Will My Dog Hate Me? reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for the prize. The winner shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of the prize.
And the winner of the SleepyPod Air is…
This was tough. It was really, really tough. The abundance of wonderfulness of the entries was such that my co-sponsor, Mary-Alice Pomputius of DogJaunt.com, and I were extremely conflicted.
But in the end, there was one contender that stood out not only for cuteness, and not only for technical skill — both of which it had, in spades — but also for the effort spent to create a website with an inspirational narrative. Here’s a picture of the winner:
Truffle has big dreams (and a fairly large toy bunny)
And here’s the link to the Truffle Wants a SleepyPod site.
The good news: The SleepyPod folks felt our pain and wanted to give the other contributors — as well as all those who have the good taste to read our blogs — the chance to get this great product (see the review here) at a 10% discount. Go to the “purchase” section of the SleepyPod Air site and insert the following in the “Coupon Code” slot: FTC10. This discount is good until June 30.
And, not to intrude on YourDailyCute’s territory, but if you want an adorableness fix, check out the rest of the contest entries here. (If you’re really busy, make a beeline for the runner up, #15. But don’t tell anyone I revealed that secret information).
A big thanks to all who participated, even if you did cause us agita. Oh yes… and will the winner please send the information about the preferred color (sorry, no pink) as well as a mailing address to me or to Mary-Alice. We’ll be sure to forward it to the SleepyPod folks. (To be safe, I’d send the info to Mary-Alice. She already has a SleepyPod Air and Frankie has big dreams, too.)