For all of you dog-lovers out there who humanize your dog, this is the book for you.

I know most of us have “voices” for our dogs, and we’ve all given them little personality traits and thoughts from time to time. (For example, at our house we frequently discuss with our Golden Retriever, Benson whatever happens to be worrying him that day; he is a little worry-wart dog as made evident by the look in his eyes and his little cone-head look. Oftentimes we have conversations with him about what is worrying him - with one of us obviously being the dog’s voice. I know, we’re totally nuts).

Anyways, back to the book. Dog Park Diary: the Social Round of Goody Beagle is all about Goody’s life at the dog park. It’s a diary he kept of one of his more rousing weeks at his favorite place: the dog park.

I must say, this book is HILARIOUS. I was laughing out loud on the second page. It so poignantly brings to life what we all think and say and do for our dogs every day. We humanize them.

Goody teaches us all about proper dog park etiquette, namely about “sniff-butt,” every dog’s favorite activity. He tells us stories about the other dogs, some his friends, some not his friends. He teaches us all about Beagles, too.

There are so many things we humans don’t know our dogs are thinking: Goody will tell you all of them.

So if you’re looking for a FUN read and a belly laugh, pick up a copy of Dog Park Diary: the Social Round of Goody Beagle. It has some GREAT photography to accompany the story as well.

Tomorrow, Friday, June 20 is National Take Your Dog to Work Day! Hooray! Can’t wait to participate in this one.

I’m bringing along Henry (aka Peanut) the sassy Bassett Hound I have referred to in previous posts. Hopefully he will refrain from his vocal antics for the day. He loves to moan, whine, bay and howl at things - especially other dogs. We’ll see how it goes…

For those of you taking part in the festivities (or not I guess), send this cute pet eCard to other revelers:

The ASPCA recently put up some helpful information on their site. Click to read Top 10 Office Etiquette Tips for Dogs.

Here is a picture of Henry - I entered him in a pet photo contest for my work so I hope he wins! All day tomorrow Henry will see what its like to be a professional Interactive Copywriter for the day!

It is so sad.

The shelter I volunteer at locally has seen a HUGE increase (over 30%) in surrenders this year (over last year at this time). Be it foreclosure, vet bills, or whatever… people just don’t have the money to pay for their pets’ care anymore because the economy is so bad.

I can see right through people’s usual excuses when they drop off their lifelong pet for adoption. Most are just too lazy to care for them or think they aren’t as cute anymore once their adults (and not “cute” puppies and kittens).

But people lately have legitimate, bona fide reasons for surrendering their cats and dogs.

Let’s see… fix Fido’s hips or fill up the gas tank so I can get to work. Essentially: fix Fido or get fired.

Hmmmn.

It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

I just found this story on MSNBC.com talking about other areas hard hit by foreclosures and the economy and the effect that it’s having on pet owners. Have a look…

FRANKLIN, Mass. - Diana Bardsley wiped tears from her eyes as she recalled taking food off her plate to feed her beloved spaniel Hunter and two Siamese cats.

Her greatest fear: that she could be forced to surrender the animals as she struggled to stretch her food stamps and Social Security income to meet the escalating cost of living.

Some hope was restored after she visited a local food pantry, which has started offering free pet food to help owners keep their animals out of shelters.

“I know a lot of people will probably say, ‘Well, if you don’t have enough money to be able to feed your animals, that you shouldn’t have pets,”’ said Bardsley, 53, of Franklin, as Hunter played in the living room with three of her grandchildren.

But, “Just because financially you may go downhill a little or a lot, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up the part of your family that you love,” she said.

For some pet owners, though, there is little choice.”

Check out the rest of the article here.  ** WARNING: You will probably need Kleenex.**

Lori Lebda and Tami Bergeson have hit the nail on the head (in my case anyways) with What Dog Are You? Discovering Your Inner Pooch. This book, fresh from the printing press, lets the reader explore his/her traits, abilities and personality and associate them with a breed of dog.

Based on three quizzes, the “Pooch-onality,” Dapper Dogs,” and “Biscuits or Bones,” a number value is assigned to you. Each quiz results in a specific breed type and those three are your “puppy genetic makeup.”

Your overall score is your overall breed. I must say I was shocked when I read what breeds I was in the three quizzes because I had never heard of them: Basenji, American Foxhound, and Tibetan Spaniel. Overall I am a Dalmation and it’s remarkable how much the description of that type of breed fits my personality.

The book lumps us into categories of breed types after giving us our overall breed: Gems, Trend Setters, Private Eyes, and lots more. There are also many more surprises in here that I don’t want to write about because I don’t want to spoil it for you!

This book is wildly entertaining and was so dead-on about my personality that I couldn’t believe it! It’s really quite funny! It makes a perfect pet-lover’s gift, too!

Pick up a copy if you can. Otherwise, come back and visit this blog in a few weeks as I will be giving away copies in an upcoming contest!

Wags,

Jaime (the Dalmation)

I think I might have shown this before but it’s just too cute to not feature by itself. This is my favorite picture of my one Golden Retriever, Benson.

For the sake of keeping us all together and making new friends in the pet blogosphere I have started talking about my favorite pet blogs once a week. This week’s Pet Blog of the Week is Lab Tails.

Lab Tails is about the lives of FIVE Labrador Retrievers: Ridge, Pinot, Elsie, Baxter and Kenya. They are all great friends and seem to have so much fun playing together, sharing sticks and toys, cuddling on the dog hammock, etc.

Lab Tails is written by the labs’ human Mom. She says her blog is about “observations about and lessons learned from three (no, make that four) (now it’s FIVE) Labrador Retrievers.”

These five playful labs have a HUGE plot of fenced in yard to play in. They seem to be spoiled (just like we are - this is now Benson and Gibson typing this up - we stole the laptop while she wasn’t looking). Their human Mom bought them dog hammocks (raised beds) that we are just dying to try out! They are so cool and keep dogs off the ground!

These labs always have so much fun retrieving (check out this post of a triple-threat retrieve). Some (or one of?) them are bred so they can keep up the family name (how important for a strapping retriever!).

This is one of our favorite pictures of the Lab Tails’ dogs:

If you are looking for some entertainment and fun, we encourage you to check out Lab Tails. It’s one of our new favorites!

Wags,

Benson and Gibson

Okay, so these are my dishwasher duty dogs. Every night after dinner they help out with the pre-wash cycle. (Don’t worry — all the bad stuff is off the plates… :))

Can anyone come up with a quote for these pictures?

So you want to go on vacation but don’t want to leave poor Fido in doggie-daycare and poor Fluffy at the kitty-inn… And who could blame you? Pets are part of the family so why shouldn’t they get to come on vacation, too?Whether you’re looking to take your pet on “vacay” or you’re moving and need to travel with pets, there are plenty of options out there for pet-friendly travel, transportation and pet-friendly hotels.

** First and foremost, before you leave make sure your pet is healthy enough to travel. Sometimes your vet may recommend he/she is not fit for travel based on age, temperament, health conditions, etc. Also be sure your pet has been properly vaccinated and is up-to-date on all other shots.**

For air travel
Check out the airlines’ pet travel policies before you book tickets. Most major airlines allow small animals to travel in the cabin with you but 8 weeks advance notice (for permission) is required. There is a cap on how many animals can be in the cabin so its first come, first serve. Also, you must check in at the ticket counter and are not permitted to take your pet out of its carrier if it’s in the cabin with you.

For car travel
Dogs:
Most people will tell you that unless you have a leash run and dog seatbelt in the backseat of your car or truck, your dog should be kept in a carrier when traveling in the car. We, however, drove from California to Ohio with two 85-lb Golden Retrievers comfortably napping in the extended cab of a Cadillac Escalade. They were very well-behaved. They had plenty of water and blankets and were able to stick their heads out the window if they wanted. If your dog is somewhat hyper I do not recommend this. After reading PetTravelCenter I do not think I would do this again.

Cats:
We also had three cats roaming free in a separate car. They were sedated however so they slept the whole time. We provided water and a litter box for them (they chose to use the litter box only when we were stopped). Although we read that its better to contain your cats, our cats become extremely tense and anxious when they are put in carriers and the vet said that based on that, we could let them roam free while mildly sedated.

So aside from my experience, PetTravelCenter offers all kinds of travel tips, such as the following:
“You should safely secure your pet while traveling. An unrestrained pet can become a deadly projectile in the event of a sudden stop or crash, causing serious injury (even death) to passengers. For example, an unsecured, 25-pound dog in a 40 mph crash becomes a 1,000-pound mass (half a ton) flying uncontrollably inside the vehicle.”

Click here for more helpful tips from them.

Pet Friendly Hotels
The best place to find pet-friendly hotels is through the American Automobile Association (AAA). If you are not an AAA member, you can find pet friendly hotels online. www.PetsWelcome.com has the most extensive list online of pet-friendly hotels and they are organized by state for easy navigating. You can also check out www.doginmysuitcase.com. All you do is pop in your travel information by city and they present you with an extensive list of hotels and motels of all sizes.

Happy Travels!

For the sake of keeping us all together and making new friends in the pet blogosphere I have started talking about my favorite pet blogs once a week. This week’s wonderful pet blog is a dog blog. It’s called A Dog’s Life, the Real Story.

Our Golden Retriever friend Mogley is the author/blogger over there. Mogley sure is a lucky dog. He gets to have foster brothers and sisters to play with all the time because his humans are such wonderful people. They are so wonderful that they take in foster Golden Retrievers from Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (funny that the acronym is “GRRR!” BOL!)

Mogley always has so much fun with the other dogs and he loves to play. He loves to play more than any other dog we have ever come to know. Mogley’s humans often take Mogley & Co. to the parks and trails out there in beautious Colorado where they find all kinds of streams, lakes, ponds and swamps to gallup around in. Lucky duck! The pictures of such pre-meditated swamp swimmings (often done without human’s permission) are hilarious! We always get a great BOL when we see them and so does our human! She says it is so typical of us Golden Retrievers to take unsupervised swims before our humans know what we are getting into. Mogley also likes to run through the sprinkler!

From Mogley’s blog:

My Humans leave the key board of the computer on the fireplace hearth so I can write my own blog and tell you about the daily life of a Golden Retriever. I am a foster dog, living with a family that provided me a home when I was homeless. A poodle once said that golden retrievers can’t spell, but poodles can’t run spell check! Read the first blog, it was written by a human, but it gives you my history.”

Although Mogley says that he is a foster dog, we suspect that he is in his forever home.

We encourage everyone to go and check out A Dog’s Life, the Real Story, because it’s real true! We Goldens live like Kings (as do most of the dogs we have met in the pet blogosphere!). We visit Mogley on a daily basis to see what he is up to. His life is SO exciting!

Take care everyone and have a grrr-eat weekend

Love Benson and Gibson

Our father always takes us to get shaved for the summertime since our fur is so long and we prefer to spend summer days lounging around outside chewing sticks. We Golden Retrievers are known for our rich long fur so its always nice to be “naked” for the summer. Our Mother calls us “naked dogs” when we are shaved and we’re totally fine with that.

Here is me laying in my favorite position, the “froggy dog” position (as my sister so eloquently calls it):

And here is my brother lying on the carpeting waiting for everyone to go to bed for the night. Its harder to see his naked body since he is a white Golden Retriever:

In the meantime, my kitty kin is teaching my sister a lesson in how to actively ignore a human:

He prefers not to be bothered when he is outside spying on birds, chipmunks and mice.