Saturday, June 27, 2009

What if dogs had cell phones?

I finally broke down last month and maxed out my cell phone plan with the number of phone lines by getting my youngest daughter, 10 year old Sophie, her own phone. Within a week or two of that I was convinced by my gaggle of girls to modify the plan so we could do unlimited texting to ease communication as their summer plans include increased independence. Sophie texted me at 7 pm on Thursday June 25 asking me "Did you know Michael Jackson died?" The reported news of The King of Pop's tragic death was less than an hour old and she was out at her job walking a dog!

I have taught service dog pups to carry cell phones, I have heard tell of dogs who have swallowed cell phones whole, but what if dogs could increase their communication skills from the Twilight Barking a la 101 DALMATIONS and make calls, send texts..heck, why not teach them how to Tweet on Twitter? What would they say?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

My Guestbook

Curiosity about how much regionalism affects the attitude towards pets has compelled me to post a guestbook. Feel free to communicate, whatever your connection to A Better Pet.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

OMG...a Pocket Har-Vest for Pocket Dogs and Gasp...CATS!!!!

Build it and they shall come. And in this case, not move.

Some weeks ago a word of mouth client who learned about Har-Vest ordered an XS Har-Vest. Sadly, she returned it (for a full refund) because it was, even as an XS, just too darn big for her little pocket dog.

But my nurtured optimism genes floated to the surface at the reason for the return -- a too large XS -- nagged at me, and so I went back to the drawing board. I'm thinking, see, well, pocket dogs seem to be increasingly popular as people scale down the size of dogs to literally fit in pockets, little packs or otherwise become an accessory. From the streets of Hollywood to the high rises of Manhattan, and everywhere in between, the pocket dog movement is growing. And while the whims of the fans create potentially dangerous complications for the mini moms pumping out the mini mini pups, I do know many are becoming indispensable aids for their people in positive ways.

Thus earlier this week, all the way from the sewing rooms of my manufacturer, no, not from a slow boat from China, but right here from the sewing stations on my manufacturer's floor here in Cleveland, Ohio, to my porch in Cleveland Heights, a prototype was delivered. Since I had no pocket dog handy, and I was eager to see it on a live one as opposed to the chicken, I figured it would fit on any of my 3 cats whose general weight and size wise were comparable to the pocket dogs and

LO AND BEHOLD

Upon fitting the Har-Vest on both Grace, my white and black cat (TOP) AND Byrne, my black with white cat,

both immediately acted as if they had been shot with tranquilizer guns and didn't MOVE. They didn't complain, they didn't act concerned, they just lay down and gazed tranquilly at me.

When the Har-Vest came off, both got up and walked about calmly. When I put it back on, flop flop and BAM, somnolence.

So now I need some Crash Test Dummies. If you can slap on a Har-Vest, anaesthetize the cat without chemicals, hasten any medical intervention and avoid over stressing the cat, and then, when it comes off, poof, cat is no longer sedated, I can imagine that would be a really cool thing.

Very cool. So if you want to talk about it, let me know.

Monday, June 08, 2009

I Love Dug

I laughed. I cried. I had fun with all 3 of my kids!!! And at last, a film for all ages that shows an honest portrayal of what dogs think. I don't want to give it away, because if ever a movie should be seen by dog lovers, this is the one to see. And it's in 3-D which is sort of cool. But it's really the story that resonated.

In this Pixar movie called UP we learn about the cone of shame, the real distraction squirrels can be, and a dog collar translator that tells us in English what dogs are thinking that nuanced observers can learn without spoken language.

Take your kids, your friends, your parents and if your dog is a service dog, take your dog too!

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Know when to ask for help. I'm asking now!


Abraham Lincoln once said in the 19th Century that you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

And we have the African proverb "it takes a village to raise a child," made famous by Hillary Clinton some 13 years ago back in the 20th Century.

I'd like to add a new phrase to the world for the 21st:
You can learn a lot about a lot of stuff and you can become an expert in some things, but no matter how much you learn about a lot of stuff, there are others who are experts in those things you can't grok!


To that end, I'm putting out an SOS for marketing help in taking my Har-Vest to a greater level of sales. If you can suggest a company, organization, club, affiliation, boutique owner, discriminating dog owner with marketing savvy, or other entity or individual that might help me in my quest, please have them contact me or send them to learn more about Har-Vest and how they can get in on my Sizzling Summer Special for all wholesale (for orders bewteen 10-100) orders placed before June 26th.

Thanks!
 
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