My Pet Pet-Peeves

Everyone makes lists of new years resolutions. In this spirit, I'd like to make a list of my pet peeves related to dog ownership:

1) Buying instead of adopting a dog. There are millions, yes millions of rescue dogs that are put down every month across the country for the simple fact of being unadopted/unwanted.

Remember that Hollywood movie about unwanted dogs and foster kids? I forget the title, but all, yes, all of the highly trained dog actors were rescue dogs. The dogs were all adopted from local shelters and trained. A rescue dog can be as smart and trainable as a pure-bred dog.

2) Adopting a high energy dog and not taking them for any walks -- just letting them poop and run in the back yard. Walking is fun and healthy not only for the dog but also the dog owner. Some dog trainers would even argue that walking is necessary for a dog's mental health.

3) Adopting a dog and not giving them any fun activities. We have a responsibility to offer mental stimulation to our dogs, especially dogs that are highly intelligent. There are lots of fun options like pull toys, or kongs that you can stuff with treats. For food motivated dogs, you could read about dog agility training or watch lots of youtube videos on the subject too. It's not only fun for you, but fun for the dog too.

Having a dog in your home and life is something to treasure and does take some work too. The work of playing and walking and offering fun activities for your dog can also be very fun for you too!

Lucy's first car safety belt - that works

After two or three purchases via Amazon and our local pet store, Phydeaux, we finally have found a dog safety belt that works well!

I bought it around the end of December and we tried it for the first time this weekend, on our drive to my parents house. The main part of the safety belt is a padded vest that fits over Lucy's chest by simply putting the vest loop over her head and then then fastening another set of straps lower on her chest. Stuart joked that it looks like an umpire's vest. Lucy seemed to have no problem with this at all. At the top of the vest (or Lucy's back), there is a big metal loop. Once Lucy was in the car, we clipped the harness onto the seat belt and fastened it.

We even did a little short stop in the neighborhood to test how the harness works. Lucy jolted forward, but just an inch or so and didn't even fall onto the floor of the backseat. I really see the value is using some kind of safety device in the car for dogs and am glad that we found one that works. The others that we tried were simply straps and so complicated to use.

In case you are interested - and I am in no way associated with the company nor paid to share this information - the brand we settled on was Solvit. For Lucy, who is about 25 pounds, we got the medium size harness.



Lucy modeling her new dog harness/car seat belt :-)

Cheers to ringing in 2012 safely!!!

Lucy's first boarding experience

This Christmas our whole family went to spend Christmas with my sister out of town, so we had to board Lucy.

I went online and did some research on local boarding places. I found three that looked very promising. They all had small rooms, not crates for the dogs as well as land for the dogs to run and to walk. The place we selected was Town & Country Boarding in Apex.

We visited about a week before Christmas to ensure that we had a good feeling about the place. It was just me and Stuart. Lucy was staying with my parents for a few days. At the front desk, while waiting for a employee to give us a tour, I started talking to a dog owner who had a lovely small gray greyhound (or similar breed dog). She asked if it were my first time there and then said that her dog loves going there so much that he whines in the car and drags her to the door. I heard a similar story from another dog owner. That made me feel better.

On the tour, they showed us the dog pens. They weren't cages, but long rectangular spaces with floor to ceiling mesh metal fence with the last two or three feet as concrete blocks to the floor. There were raised dog beds and water bowls. To my pleasant surprise, it didn't smell bad, just like a cleaning solution.

I really liked the outside fenced areas for playtime too. Overall, I had a good feeling about the place and the people that worked there.

I left several days earlier, so Stuart had to drop off Lucy. Here's the picture he emailed me with Lucy and her special blanket, bag of food and one special toy (her yellow cat):



Lucy ready to go to her doggie boarding place, Dec 2011

When Stuart brought her there, Lucy didn't seem scared, just very excited. In fact, we decided to bring Lucy there for one day of boarding during the week to make sure she was comfortable with it. The Wednesday before Christmas, Lucy brought her there and when they arrived, she was just very excited. And when he picked her up, she was likewise very excited. Here's a pic of her actively moving around with one of their staffers:


Lucy when getting picked up at the Town & Country Boarding, Apex, NC
(of course, her eyes aren't really green like that!!)

All said and done, we would gladly board Lucy again there and are grateful that Lucy had a good time. Happy New Year!!

Lucy to meet her cousin Dakota

Lucy is set to meet her doggie cousin Dakota over Thanksgiving weekend!

Dakota and our relatives will be staying with us for several days. When they arrive, we plan to take both dogs out for a walk for at least 15 - 20 minutes (if it's not too cold) to get them used to each other. We've heard that walking together makes dogs feel like part of the same pack.

We hope that the two get along well. Lucy is a high energy slightly dominant dog and Dakota is a larger black lab who is very shy.

Cross your fingers!

Lucy's trip to Phydeaux in Chapel Hill

(Above) Lucy's favorite store -- Phydeaux!! She gets excited in the parking lot



(Above) Lucy with Stuart browsing the amazing selection of everything dog related




(Above) Lucy's new heart shaped tag to reflect her new home address

5 frogs, 1 slug and 1 dog

Last night, Lucy and I took our usual evening walk. What was different this time is that it was already dark, at only 6.45pm. I put on her little reflective vest, and put a small reflective strip around my ankle and make sure to take my cool oval flashlight with us. I think I looked a little ridiculous with my red rain jacket, a neon yellow band around my waist too and my black baseball hat with little built in lights in it. At least I knew that we'd be spotted by any headlights and be safe.

On our little walk, we saw not one, or two or even three frogs but 5! Lucy was adorable as she sniffed at each one and jumped with two frogs to just watch them. It looked like she was playing a game. Only the last time did she try to bite/nip at the frog, which I stopped.

And just when our little adventure was almost over, we came across a large slug on our doorstep. The slug however, as its name implies, didn't make any cool moves, so Lucy wasn't very interested.

The whole outing reminded me of that childhood book series, "Frog & Toad & Friends" which I used to love. I love that last night my evening walk turned into a froggie sighting and a small adventure.

The Lucy Dog show!

We created a Lucy Dog Show for our friend's daughter's 3rd birthday party. We even rehearsed the night before to inject a little humor too when we presented the dog tricks. Stuart was on camera duty. Check it out: