Friday Focus: Of Pet Allergies and Airplanes

By Edie Jarolim | Published: August 20, 2010

Nothing to sneeze at! American hairless terriers

After posing the question on Sunday, How do pet allergies work? — geared towards determining how they affect travel — and  checking into  airplane policies, I thought I was going to have some definitive data to present.

Instead, I was left with more questions and:

– Awe at the commitment that several people with allergies have made to dogs and cats nevertheless. Two Twitter pals,  @MelzPetPals and @Keeping_Awake, both of whom who work with animals, are particularly impressive. Deciding to undergo a variety of shots and medications in order to devote yourself to the furred is inspirational.

– A better knowledge of how pet allergies work, from various sufferers who wrote in and also  from Sweet Lucy’s, a site devoted to hairless dogs (the pictures here are from that site’s fascinating photo gallery):

There is no dog breed that is truly non-allergenic (not allergy causing) because all dogs produce dander (shed skin cells), saliva, and urine. You can be allergic to the dog dander, dog saliva, or even dog urine. Urine is less of a problem since dogs usually potty outside. Pet hair itself is not an allergen, [italics mine -- who knew?] but it can collect dander, dust, and pollen. The word hypo-allergenic (less allergy causing) is typically used with skin care products that tend to be less irritating to sensitive skin. Read More »

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Friday Focus: Pet travel – the new frontier

By Edie Jarolim | Published: August 6, 2010

Getty imagesI asked on Sunday for people’s pet pet-travel peeves, my own being excessive fees for dogs staying in hotel rooms.

The comments I got in response divided into two categories: Those, like mine, that focused on the travel vendors’ (hotel, airlines) practices, and those that focused on being a responsible pet owning traveler. The latter commenters seemed to believe there was a causal relationship with the former, i.e., if people were more responsible about their dogs, hotels and other travel providers would be more accepting of them.

As it happens, GoPetFriendly’s blog today references a new TripAdvisor survey of the top 10 pet friendly hotels in the US that states “Travelers biggest beefs with people traveling with pets included not picking up after their four-legged friends (56%) …” (it’s at the very end of the article). Rod Burkert adds the following commentary:

To the entire pet community I say that this grievance is our biggest hurdle preventing non-pet owners from more openly accepting our animals and is keeping more businesses from going pet friendly.

I respectfully disagree. I think non-pet people will always find a reason for people not to travel with their pets, rational or not. As Mary-Alice Pomputius, my other favorite pet travel expert at DogJaunt.com, said in her wonderfully grouchy (and I mean that in the best possible way) comment about dogs traveling on airlines: Read More »

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Friday Focus: Pet Travel Peeves

By Edie Jarolim | Published: August 1, 2010

Most of the people who read this blog have either traveled with their dogs or considered it. And those who travel often have definite opinions on what they do and don’t like about restaurant, hotel, and airline policies — to name just a few basic categories.

So this week’s question is less academic and theoretical, more experiential (standard dog-in-glasses photo notwithstanding).  I want to know: What’s your top pet-travel peeve?

Me? I’m irritated that many hotels — especially nicer ones –  slap on automatic “cleaning fees” for dogs, most of them pretty hefty.

Humans can trash a hotel room a lot more quickly than any canine, and I’m not talking just Keith Richards types. Consider your average slob who uses white hotel towels instead of tissues to wipe off their mascara or shine their shoes, vacationers (both kids and grown-ups) who overindulge and throw up on the rug — or stick their gum under the furniture.

Room rates take such standard wear and tear — and vacuuming of hair, if you want to bring up shedding — into account.

Sure, if your dog trashes the room, you should be expected to pay — just like Keith Richards would be. But don’t slap on a big automatic fee before the fact.

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Road Trip: San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter

By Edie Jarolim | Published: July 28, 2010

Frankie and I are headed over today to DogJaunt.com, where we explore San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, which we recently visited.

There are many reasons I wanted to write about this dog-friendly neighborhood of one of my favorite cities for one of my favorite blogs — as opposed to, say, for this one.

  • As regular readers know, Frankie doesn’t really enjoy travel. This virtual excursion won’t stress him out.
  • One of the places I’m going to highlight is Cafe Chloe, and Chloe is the name of Dog Jaunt’s titular small dog. This was meant to be.
Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Show Some (Car) Restraint!

By Edie Jarolim | Published: July 1, 2010

After I recently posted about the importance of restraining your dog properly in the car, I asked two of my favorite pet travel bloggers to explain the best way to achieve that goal. Speaking for the large — and multiple — dog contingent today is Rod Burkert, co-creator with wife Amy Burkert of GoPetFriendly.com. These guys are not only constantly on the road with their dogs, finding the best places for people and their pups to stay and play, but they’re also perfectionists, so you know their advice is based on a combination of paws-on personal experience and impeccable background research.

****

By Rod Burkert

The original GoPetFriendly-mobile

Most of us wear seat belts while driving as a matter of course – an exercise of good judgment and common sense. When it comes to securing children in the car, the laws are very specific and compliance is extremely high. However, when we put our pets in the car, it seems that safety precautions go out the proverbial window.

Startling Statistics

Consider this: Bark Buckle UP, an advocate for pet travel safety, analyzed the Travel Safety Evaluation Booklet used by police agencies nationwide and concluded that 98% of pets do not travel properly restrained. 98%!

The danger is clear when you understand that at 35 mph, a 60-pound unrestrained dog can cause an impact of 2,700 pounds, slamming into a car seat, windshield, or passenger. Ouch.

One often overlooked benefit of securing your dogs in the car is preventing their escape in the event of an accident, when they could run out into traffic and be hit by a car, or even cause another accident. As Edie pointed out in a previous post, if your unsecured dog causes an accident, your auto insurance may be rendered invalid. And if the accident is the other driver’s fault, your pet insurance may not cover the vet bills if your dog wasn’t properly restrained.

Evolution Of Our Restraint System

We are on the road about 70% of the time for GoPetFriendly. That’s a lot of driving with our two dogs – Ty, a 35-pound Chinese Shar-Pei, and Buster, a 75-pound German Shepherd. And though we’re pretty easy going about many things, we’re not slackers when it comes to buckling our dogs in for the trip … no lap rides, no heads out the windows, no free roaming in the car or RV.

Ty and Buster in the Rav-4, securely sightseeing

Though that dictum sounds pretty simple, the recovering accountants here at GoPetFriendly tend to overanalyze. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised that we only ever considered two options for securing our dogs in our vehicles:

•            Crate them (and secure the crate)

•            A harness and seat belt system

When we first started GoPetFriendly, our vehicle was a Toyota Rav-4. Given the size of our dogs and the interior space of that mini-SUV, I just couldn’t see us crating. The wire crates for medium and large dogs are heavy and take up a lot of space. However, if crating would work for you, just make sure the crate itself is secured in place so it doesn’t become a projectile with your pet in it.

That left us with the harness and seat belt system. We’ve tried several brands and styles of harness-type restraints and have learned a few things along the way:

•            When you choose a harness be sure it will fit your pet properly. Some are sized according to the measurement around a dog’s chest, just behind the front legs. Others are sized according to a dog’s weight.

•            Whatever harness you choose, make sure it comes with a D-ring. When you take a break from driving to exercise your dog, you can simply clip her leash to the ring and you’ve got a sturdy walking harness.

•            Our dogs are frequent “circlers.” If your dog is one too, avoid the harnesses with a loop that the seat belt slides through or they’ll get tangled in the seat belt. The system we use now is made by Guardian Gear and has a tether that connects to the D-ring and clicks right into the seat belt receptacle. Read More »

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , | 29 Comments

Damn you, Amtrak!

By Edie Jarolim | Published: June 18, 2010

Well, I made it to Santa Barbara from San Diego. And it’s terrific to be here with Clare and Archie.

But boy am I annoyed about having had to drive.

When it came to choosing a way to get to San Diego from Tucson, it was pretty much a no brainer, Frankie’s car phobia notwithstanding. It’s not a terribly long trip — a total of about 7 hours — and long stretches of I-8 are pristine desert.  Until we got close to San Diego, there was very little traffic. And although flying would have been faster, it also would have been far more expensive. Trying to deal with the insulin and needles that Frankie requires — not to mention having to inform him that he is carry-on baggage — would not have been much fun either. Once I got to San Diego, I would have had to rent a car, which would have added to the expense.

Besides I was really, really excited about stopping at Dateland and having a World Famous Date Shake.

But the much-dreaded trip from San Diego via the L.A. freeways sucked as badly as I anticipated. Despite all the calming aids I gave him, Frankie reverted to his stand-and-pant stress mode when we got stuck in LAX traffic and when I missed a freeway turnoff and had to do a lot of complicated things to get back on track.

And here’s the thing, speaking of getting back on track. I’ve taken Amtrak on this route several times. It’s relaxing, scenic — we’re talking a train called the Pacific Surfliner — and not terribly expensive ($40 each way). I love train travel. But because Frankie was with me, the Surfliner was not an option.

That’s right. With the exception of service dogs, pets are not permitted on Amtrak. Not even little ones, placed under the seat. What’s with that? They were allowed in the past. And the airlines can figure out how to make traveling with small pets not only feasible, but profitable. Why can’t Amtrak?

I’ve ranted about this before, but it was abstract. Now I’m pissed. Not only for me but for Frankie, who deserves better than the L.A. freeways.

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

San Diego Snaps: Hotel Indigo

By Edie Jarolim | Published: June 17, 2010

It’s been quite the whirlwind here in San Diego, which I’m about to depart in a few hours for Santa Barbara. Frankie and I will be sorry to leave.

We loved the dog-friendly Hotel Indigo, for so many reasons.

Location, location, location

The hotel is just a couple of blocks from PetCo Park, which is not only the stadium for the Padres, but also has — surprise, surprise — a pet-friendly park. I suppose I might as well just say dog-friendly because I didn’t see any roaming cats, ferrets, or birds.

As close as Frankie comes to playing ball

Generosity

The hotel was generous enough to host a booksigning for Am I Boring My Dog at the first monthly Canine Cocktail Party of the season. Well, let me backtrack. The hotel hosts a monthly Canine Cocktail Party, with free dog snacks and discounted cocktails. Now that’s pretty darned impressive to begin with.

There was a great turnout of dogs and their people. Two that I was particularly pleased to see were Arden Moore and her miniature poodle-basset hound mix, Chloe (Frankie was not so excited about Chloe — or about all the other dogs and people for that matter –but that’s another story).

Arden is incredibly prolific and active in the pet community; she’s the author of many books on dogs — and, yeah, cats — and an editor-at-large at FidoFriendly (I’m not going to mention any feline publications). You can read all about her at her site, FourLeggedLife.

I would be annoyed by her industriousness, because she makes me seem downright sluggish, if she wasn’t such a terrific person who took the time out from her busy schedule to come support a fellow author.

Arden Moore and I exchange books

Excellent bathroom facilities

Frankie can be a bit picky about where he does his business but he loved the Phi Bar Lounge facilities of the Hotel Indigo:

Frankie enjoying the 9th floor Hotel Indigo facilities

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Caffeine & Dog Calmers & Fabulousness

By Edie Jarolim | Published: June 15, 2010

Frankie and I, testing the lobby furniture at the Hotel Indigo last year

We’re here! Here being the fabulous Hotel Indigo in fabulous San Diego.

I’m not usually so superlative but I’m feeling very upbeat.

The three-pronged approach to dog calming — playing the Through a Dog’s Ear CD, using the Calming Collar (though I put it on the car seat, not on Frankie) and giving Frankie an herbal chill pill (sorry, I forgot to write down the name) seems to have worked. The ride to San Diego was far better than those I’ve had in the past. In fact, the first half hour I almost killed us both on the freeway because I kept trying to find Frankie. I usually spot him by looking in the vanity mirror, because he’s in my line of vision, standing up vigilantly, but this time I couldn’t see him, no matter how I adjusted the mirror. I was convinced he’d somehow twisted out of his harness and was being strangled by the seat belt.

And no, all you who believe in the magical power of thinking bad thoughts, I didn’t cause any of that to happen.

It turned out he was lying down. Out of my line of vision.

He did eventually stand up. But without shaking and panting.

Now here’s where the caffeine part of this post’s title comes in. I usually have my fair share of coffee in the morning while I’m working but I left early and didn’t want to have to have to make any rest stops before Dateland which has shaded dog kennels that you can lock. That’s a story for another post. Suffice it to say, I was wired enough by the drive with Frankie not to feel the need for any coffee. By the time we got to San Diego, it was late afternoon, and definitely time for calm down happy hour beverages, not coffee.

I turned in early, figuring that my sense of exhaustion was from a seven hour drive.

Then I woke up this morning with a raging headache.

I couldn’t think of a cause but suddenly remembered: A friend who decided to stop drinking Tab cold turkey — it was a while ago; no one drinks Tab anymore, do they? — suffered from terrible caffeine withdrawal. That must be what was happening to me, I realized, since I’d had no coffee at all yesterday.

So I took the cure: Two Tylenol and a cup of coffee. And now I’m feeling fabulous!

I’m psyched for lunch with Penny C. Sansevieri, author marketing guru and my co-presenter at this past BlogPaws. She is bring her dog Cosmo. I’ll take pictures.

Two more bits of fabulousness:

Frankie and I are featured in today’s R.O.A.R squad at Fido & Wino’s blog.

And DancingDogBlog.com posted a terrific review of Am I Boring My Dog.

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Travels with Frankie

By Edie Jarolim | Published: June 13, 2010

I’m not John Steinbeck. And Frankie isn’t Charley. Probably the only thing we have in common is that I’m a writer, Frankie is a dog, and we’re heading out in a car together.

Nor am I Jack Kerouac. And Frankie definitely isn’t Dean Moriarty.

I’m a stressed-out middle-aged woman with a small frightened dog and a Hyundai that’s making an odd whistling sound.

Feh on the romance of the road

Don’t get me wrong. I love being in different places. I just hate getting there, and preparing to get there.

As I head out tomorrow for San Diego here are the top ten things I’m currently worried about, in no particular order:

1. That I will run out of interesting listening material

Before I take a long trip, I always go to the library to get books on CD to make the drive pass quickly. This time I couldn’t find anything riveting and it’s Sunday and the library is closed. My choices are an Amish romance novel (long story about why I chose it); a parable about blindness by a Nobel Prize winner; a World War II story (I liked the Navajo code talker angle but it’s still a World War II story); a novel that involves a child molester; and a legal mystery. This last, by Lisa Scottoline, would have been perfect except that I realized that I already listened to it.

2. That I won’t have the right clothes for my book signing in San Diego

I put together something that I thought would look good and then remembered I’m going to be in San Diego, which has different, cooler weather. You’d think that the fact that I opted to do a book signing in a much more temperate city than Tucson would have been on my mind when I was going through my closet.

3. That if I find the right clothes they won’t fit because I’ve been stress eating.

4. That I will be in an accident and no one will know what to do with Frankie when I get sent to the hospital.

This was inspired by a comment that came in this morning on my last post, Five Car Safety Tips. Jodi T. wrote:

I had an accident 2 yrs previous in which my neck was broken. As a result, I had to be taken to hospital, my car left behind. My dog sat in the car, all by herself, in a parking lot beside one of the busiest streets in my city for a few hours! I was able to contact family, but it’s something to think about when you travel with your dog. In an emergency, what about the dog?

Local emergency contacts don’t do much good if you are several hundred miles from home. I have no ideas and it’s making me somewhat hysterical. Thoughts?

5. That people will stop reading my blog because I’m not doing my regular Friday Focus and Training Tuesday features

Though I do have a couple of posts in the hopper, whatever a hopper is. And I promise to take pictures.

6. That the strange whistling noise my Hyundai is making is dangerous.

My friend Gabe says it’s not and he’s a guy, but he doesn’t have a car anymore.

7. That I will have to drive on the L.A. Freeway en route to and from San Barbara

This is an immutable fact, but I’m still worried about it.

8. That Frankie will throw up during the book signing

9. That I will throw up out during the book signing

10. That taking a week off from work will put me horribly behind on my deadlines and I’ll be late with everything and never get more assignments.

Ever.

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

Friday Focus: Five Car Safety Tips

By Edie Jarolim | Published: June 11, 2010

Happily harnessed

I’ve been focusing lately on what to do about dogs who are anxious in automobiles, and of course it’s an important topic. Car stress makes a ride unpleasant for the driver as well as for the canine passenger.

Not securing your dog properly? That can make a ride far more unpleasant.

As in deadly.

The safety benefits of car restraints for humans are no longer in dispute: 49 of 50 U.S. states have seat belt laws, and the same number of states require additional restraints for children — for example, rear-facing infant seats or child booster seats. Yet people who wouldn’t dream of driving their kids around without buckling them in have a blind spot when it comes to their dogs.

“I don’t want to restrict my dog’s freedom,” these owners protest.  The freedom to go through the windshield or run out into traffic? Really?

So it’s not a question of if a dog should be secured. It’s how. And I’ll get to that in another post.

But in the meantime, here are a few car safety basics.

#1: Dogs should always travel inside the vehicle

This might seem like a no-brainer but it bears repeating: it’s very dangerous to let a dog ride in the open bed of a pickup truck. Approximately 100,000 dogs die every year from falling or jumping out of pickups and countless more are injured.

#2. Having a hard cover on the back of your truck doesn’t ensure your dog’s safety if your dog is unsecured inside

Now this isn’t so obvious — as Lizzy Mead, who is a very responsible greyhound owner, learned the hard way. Lizzy was rear ended by the driver of a stolen car who plowed into her at 60 mph. Her truck’s camper shell popped open, and the terrified hounds rushed out into traffic and were badly injured.

I’m happy to report that this story has a happy ending and, in fact, inspired a terrific animal welfare group, the Greyhound Injury Fund.  Read all about it here.

But not everyone is going to be that lucky — and it’s not a good idea for dogs to be slammed around inside an enclosure in case of an accident, even if they don’t escape. Read More »

Posted in Dog Travel | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments