Dog Days of Summer: Pets on Vacation

Pet owners face a unique situation when making our summer travel plans: we have to worry about our pets. Do we only go places where we can take our pets, or do we try to find care for them while we’re away? Website Pet Relocation released its third annual Summer Pet Travel Survey. They found that 70% of the people questioned plan to travel with their pets. If you want to take your animals along with you on vacation this summer, there are a few things you have to consider. Make sure you can bring your animal with you where … Continue reading →

Combating Canine Motion Sickness

“Do you want to go for a ride in the car? Want to go for a ride?” Dog owners know that these words, or some variations of them, can be like magic for our canine friends. They perk up instantly when hearing them. That’s the case with my dog, although it shouldn’t be. She cocks her head when I say these words, though that’s due to my tone of voice, the one I usually use when asking her about eating or going out. If she knew what I meant she’d be much less excited. You see, Chihiro hates riding in … Continue reading →

Tips for Flying with Pets

Every time I fly somewhere I always swear I’m never going to do it again. It’s not so much being in the plane itself, but all the stress that comes with it: baggage check, connecting flights, delayed flights, etc. Attempting to cruise the skies with pets adds another major burden to the process. I have a friend here in Maryland who is a cat lover. She adores getting to cat-sit for friends. But she’s a British citizen who will be going home in a few years, and she won’t get a cat for herself until she does so. It’s all … Continue reading →

Luxury Pet Resort Opening at Disney World

I spent awhile deciding whether or not to run this story on my pets blog or Disney. Because I focused more on the pets angle for this article, I decided to post it here. Disney may already be a bit pet-friendly with kennels at their parks, but given the company’s love for a no-holds-barred vacation experience, I’m only surprised they didn’t debut a full-blown pets resort sooner. That’s right: the official Disney Parks blog has details on the soon-to-launch resort aimed at making Disney World the Most Magical on Earth for the entire family, four-legged members included. Disney’s always had … Continue reading →

Vacation Gadgets for Your Pet

With the summer travel season now upon us, many of us face questions about what to do with our pets when we go on vacation. Those of us who decide to bring our pets along on our trips, though glad to have our furry friends with us, then face further complications of keeping our pets situated and happy with the limited resources we have away from home. At the recent Global Pet Expo in Orlando, pet-minded inventors introduced a number of new gadgets designed to make vacationing easier for all members of the family, both two-and-four-legged. MSNBC reports the highlights. … Continue reading →

Flying in Style with Pet Airways

A new airline is soaring through the clouds… and people aren’t allowed to ride. Pet Airways is a new service flying cats and dogs across the United States. How it all began: you can blame a little dog named Zoe. Zoe belongs to the owners of Pet Airways. Like many pet owners, they found it challenging to arrange travel with Zoe in the family. If they wanted to fly somewhere, Zoe was a little too big to ride under the seat (some airlines allow pets of a certain size to ride in the cabin). But they didn’t want their furry … Continue reading →

Hot Pavement and Pets

It may well be the hottest day of the year — so far, which isn’t saying much considering it’s not even officially summer yet. The Weather Channel reports that it is currently 88 degrees Fahrenheit, and I just got back from a quick walk with the doggies. They don’t much like the heat — both are doublecoated dogs, which is a lot of fur to carry around on sunny days! But this afternoon the problem wasn’t the fur but the floor. As we walked on the blacktop parking lot, both dogs started limping. Curious, I slipped off one shoe and … Continue reading →

What Makes a Great Dog Park?

The dog park here in town recently got remodeled… and it’s great. Not that it wasn’t nice before — a large, securely fenced area with a spigot for the dogs to have fresh water while they played. But it’s even better now. Improvement #1: an “airlock” style gate. Before the remodel, the park just had a gate for people and dogs to go in and out. Dogs who were already inside could crowd around the gate, and possibly escape when the gate was open. Now the gate opens into a small fenced area so you can secure the outside gate … Continue reading →

Homecoming: Casey

I was home in New Jersey for a few days, and had the opportunity to visit some friends. One stop I couldn’t miss was the home of my friends M. and L. and their dog Casey. Casey has appeared in the Pets Blog before. I used to be the first choice pet sitter when M. and L. went away for a weekend — she would happily romp in the yard with my dogs Moose and Lally. I’ve known her since she was just a puppy, and was with L. when she picked Casey out at a pet adoption event. When … Continue reading →

Homecoming: Becca, Lily, and Kuma

It’s been quiet on the Pets Blog for the last few days because I took my first trip back to the East Coast in more than a year. I moved west with my two dogs in May 2007 — I managed to get home to visit twice in that first year, but hadn’t been home again since January 2008. I was a little worried that it had been too long, and the furry family members back in New Jersey wouldn’t remember me. It’s not like I can chat with them on the phone too often (some pets will sit and … Continue reading →