I couldn’t help but laugh after reading this article from NPR Winter Wear Goes to the Dogs:

Incidentally, if you’re at all embarrassed by the notion of canine outerwear, it’s typically the toughest of dogs who wear boots and coats. Iditarod runners, police and military K-9’s and search-and rescue dogs all need foot protection. And I have it on good authority from a thermal dog coat manufacturer in Wales that his No. 1 customers are gamekeepers, who suit their shepherds and setters up after a hard day on the run.

Real dogs do wear coats.

A webmaster forum that I post on sometimes recently had a thread for people to post pictures of their pets in their winter gear.  Lots of people have sweaters & coats for their dogs, but lots of people also like to dress up their dogs in clothes that are anything but functional.  One poor pet had been donned with a tiara, which might’ve been cute, but appeared to be dangerously close to poking the poor thing in the eye!  The whole thread turned rather nasty when other folks started posting comments like “any pet owner who dresses up their animal should have their pets taken away from them for animal cruelty” & so on.

Pets don’t choose to be fashion slaves & I do think that some owners go way overboard in trying to make their animals look cute rather than comfy.  But anyone who lives in a cold winter climate knows that dogs, especially little ones, get cold paws if they’re outside for too long.  For my pug & Chihuahua/Jack Russell cross, they need to wear sweaters too, but the paw problem is the most difficult to tackle.  During particularly nasty cold snaps, my dogs won’t stay outside for longer than 2 or 3 minutes - not long enough to do both businesses.  That means coming inside to warm up & then back outside again to finish off the call of nature.  Not ideal.

Piggy got a new pair of winter boots this year, but no pictures unfortunately because they’ve already been returned.  He always kicks the suckers off & it’s become a game to him, just like tugging on a sock.  I’ve used little felt ones with a velcro strap for a few years now & am getting very tired of having to dig through the snow to uncover the missing booties when he comes back inside only wearing 3. 

I saw some cute faux suede booties a few weeks ago with wooly insides, a velcro strap plus laces *and* a zipper.  Perfect!  He’ll never be able to get rid of these guys!

No suck luck.  The pug still managed to get one of them off before we even went outside & the second time I tried putting them on him, the zipper broke.  Back to the store & the search for booties continues…

Source: Click to read the full article from NPR > 

New Year’s Eve celebrations might have been a bit more joyful for pooches if they weren’t having the daylights scared out of them by folks setting off fireworks.  A lot of dogs are afraid of thunder, so it seems like a no brainer that fireworks would also spook them, but to be honest, I wouldn’t have thought of it either if I’d been out in the backyard with friends & family ringing in the new year.

This article talks to the animal shelter staff in Tracy, CA who took in 10 stray dogs over the weekend.

Click here to read the full article >

When I set up this site for my dogs (chiefly the pug as he’s the most camera friendly), I didn’t anticipate how much work it would be just to combat the spammers.  I set up an email address that would forward to my main one & didn’t realize until today that the reason I get no mail from any pet lovers is because my mailbox is full of spam comments being held in moderation.  I realize there is probably a bot or other program that randomly submits stupid “comments” with links to Viagra sites on any site with open comments, but I really had no clue it was *that* prolific.  924 spam comments from 1 month?  Is anyone really buying this crap on-line?  Go see your doctors, people!

On the hunt for better comment filtering & then a walk in the snowy dog park to align forces with our dog compatriots!

Dog toys come in all shapes & sizes these days & many of them seem more designed to please the owner than the dog himself. Some great ones have come out over the last few years, like the tennis ball chucker, but what makes that great is its simplicity. Dogs don’t need complicated toys. No matter how much money I spend on COOL NEW toys, my dog has his two stand-bys that will always take first place in the toy contest: dirty socks & tennis balls.

He can chew through the tennis balls fairly quickly, so I don’t mind spending a little extra to buy balls specifically for dogs if they’re made of tougher material & use dyes that aren’t going to be harmful after many many hours of salivating all over them. But I’ve bought several packs of these “tough” balls & found they only extended the life of the ball by a few hours at best. I’d rather buy more regular tennis balls, in that case & I’ll probably save money too.

The other long time favorite? Dirty socks. It doesn’t matter that I’ve set aside special socks just for my dog. It doesn’t matter that I’ve tied knots in old grey woolies or even stuck a tennis ball in the bottom of a few of them. The Ugly Pug needs to conquer ALL socks in our household. The tennis ball sock combo was popular for a while, but if he catches a whiff of my gym socks, he must have them. There’s no fighting it (well, I suppose a hamper would fight it quite nicely).

I used to try & save special socks from being chewed & shaken within an inch of their lives, but at this point the trade-off of happy pug or non-gummy wet socks is worth it. He gets so excited & pounces on the socks, smiling away. How can you say “no” to that face?

I’m a big believer in adopting dogs that are in need of homes from a shelter or the pound, so when it came time to find Piggy, my pug, a playmate, I started visiting the SPCA once every couple of weeks.  I didn’t really care what kind of dog I rescued as long as the new member of our family got along well with Piggy, so he would accompany me on the visits.

The staff were excellent & when I saw a dog that was small or medium-sized, they would bring the dog to a little room where we could visit & see how the two dogs interacted.  It took us a few tries before we decided on Kiero, my Mexican Jack Russell terrier (also known as a Chihuahua crossed with a Jack Russell).

We met with a fluffy white minature American Eskimo who adored me but tried to tear into poor Piggy.  Nope, that wouldn’t work.  A couple of other terrier mixes were equally as aggressive.  Then one week we saw Kiero.

I’ll be honest - if I didn’t live in a condo at the time I would’ve gotten a big dog, like one of the easy-going, loveable Lab crosses that are always populate shelters.  (They’re such cute puppies but they get big!  If you can’t commit for caring a dog for life, please don’t get a puppy.  Dogs shouldn’t end up being put down in a shelter just because their owners decide to move.)  Kiero was this tiny, bulgy-eyed rat shaking in the corner of her cage.  I’ve never been a fan of Chihuahuas or tiny little dogs at all, for that matter, but this was one dog in serious need of rescue.  She was so skinny that all of her ribs were sticking out & she never stopped shaking.  All of the other dogs made her nervous & at shelters, they bark constantly.  I walked by her cage a couple of times before reluctantly letting my heart take over & brought her in to meet Piggy.

The good news was that she didn’t immediately try to attack him.  The bad news was that she wanted nothing to do with him, me or the shelter staff.  Even in the quiet visitors room, she was still terrified & hid under my chair, shaking like someone had hit her vibrate button.  The point of adopting a new dog was to find a playmate for Piggy, but there was no way my conscious would let me send this skinny little rat back to the shelter cage & so I filled out the paperwork & soon we were on our way home with Piggy’s new sister.

Kiero has come a long way since that day & she now rules the household.  She is undoubtedly the alpha dog in our home & even at the dog park, she likes to boss around all the other dogs, no matter how big they are.  She still won’t play with Piggy much unless I get her involved in a game of tug of war.  In fact, she often tries to steal his treats.  But when we’re out for a walk they like to run around together & I know Piggy likes having her around.  And so do I.  Piggy is a wonderful dog, but he is full of energy & isn’t the sort to just curl up on your lap to watch TV.  He likes to be near me, but he’ll jump up when he sees something on TV or do a lap around the kitchen every so often.  His weight + claws = scratches.

Kiero, on the other hand, has become my little lap dog.  She’ll curl up on my lap while I’m working on my computer or on my belly if I’m laying on the couch.  She’s quiet, doesn’t get excited & happy, I think.  And best of all, she’s got the greatest little brother a dog could ever want.