I 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…
Friday Focus: Making Rescue Less Necessary (or How to Avoid Internet Puppy Mills)
The question this week was How do you define rescue? Plenty of people provided excellent definitions in the comments section. And others admitted to having fallen short of the ideal. So the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how defining the term isn’t useful. This site is about education, not recrimination.…
San Diego Snaps: Hotel Indigo
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…
Six Dog Training Myths, Part 1
When I first got Frankie, I knew virtually nothing about dogs. Who was I to question the common wisdom that was offered up about how to deal with one? Slowly, after much reading and research, I began to sort out the truth. But, some five years later, I’ve realized how firmly entrenched a great deal…
Contest: Sleepypod Air Giveaway!
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…
How Do You Know When “It’s Time”?
I was planning to report on the excellent Nestle-Purina Webinar on pet aging that I participated in on Thursday, but don’t yet have the details fact-checked. In the meantime, there’s a related topic — related not only to pet aging but to the recent rancorous discussions about human health care, especially the bogus “Death Panels”…
Where there’s a will… Assigning pet care, 2
You might consider your pets “fur children,” but if you’re incapacitated or you die, the law will beg to differ. With actual children, the urgency of ensuring a smooth handover to a designated guardian is always recognized. Pets, in contrast, are considered property. But your dog can’t wait in a safety deposit box for a…
How to find a good dog groomer
Now that I’ve scared you with all the horrible things that can go wrong with professional grooming, it’s only fair that I offer some advice about how to avoid these, er, hairy situations. To wit: Get a reference Yes, this is a no brainer, but sometimes it’s easy to be fooled by an appealing ad…
DIY dog grooming: Some tips on brushing tools
The dog grooming dilemma: Do you want to go to a pro or do it yourself? What you decide depends on a number of things, including the type of dog you have, the way you’d like her to look, your income, and the steadiness of your hands with clippers, hair and nail. Most people let…