Behavioral Mutations Revisited

Lily the Queen died nearly 8 weeks ago. The historically sound triumvirate - 3 kids, 3 cats, 3 dogs -- has been fang shwayed into imbalance with 3 kids, 3 cats, and just 2 dogs.

[Trip (L) and Bean feel the void left by Lily]. 

     From the very beginning when she came into my life as a gangly rescue pup -- serendipitiously and unplanned in January of 2000, Lily kept benevolent control over the human and animal gang. My aide-de-camp. An organic nanny cam. Chase games with Bean. Tolerance of Trip's terrier antics. A jarring habit of one LOUD bark at the cats if they walked too close to her while she was resting. Never phased the cats. Freaked me out when I wasn't prepared. I miss it.

When she hit adulthood, she did become protective and reactive on occasion [she nipped at my sister's visiting dog once but I take responsibility --- they had been good friends on previous visits, I have the video!] which I worked with in the last four years of her life once I understood all the triggers and ensured safety.  In all her orchestrations of the Better Pet posse that lived in my house, permanent and visiting members, she never resorted to so much as a lip lift. Elegant. Graceful. Feminine. Strong. Athletic. Gently persuasive. Calming. Gosh I miss that.

The Boys, Trip and Bean, do all those things boy dogs do. Marking and one upmarkingsmanship --- this time of the year all the more obvious by the yellow discolored snow streaks in the piles that abound. Being goofy and find it difficult to multi task. They rarely ask for directions but always end up following my lead. They both like to push their heads into my hand for rubbing; Lily would just calmly insist without force that her head be rubbed.

Two weeks ago, my 10 yo daughter Sophie and her sleepover friend Schuyler were happy to be spending much of the following day together. The tweenager energy spilling out of them after waffles (too much syrup?) needed venting. I sent the girls off into the great outdoors, each with a dog on a leash and a bag of treats.
     Some 45 minutes later a frantic Sophie called from her cell phone. Her hysterical rant produced only a few legible words -- dog fight, blood, lots of blood -- and her location -- her elementary school playground and fields. 
     Arriving minutes later with my oldest daughter Zena in tow, all four -- the two girls and two dogs -- were sitting calmly on a large hill of deep snow. As we neared the group we could see the snow flecked with quite a bit of blood. NOTE: I remained incredibly calm -- both because I knew it wasn't serious and because I didn't want the kids to be any more freaked out than they already were. I inspected both dogs. I found a few scrapes and shallow puncture wounds. I kicked snow over the bloodstains.  Later I would find a gash on the inside of Trip's rear left thigh and a cut near Bean's right eye. None of the injuries were serious but there was an edge in the air.
     Moving slowly to maintain calm, I assured the girls that it was boys being boys and much like human brothers fighting. I took responsibility because I had been developing an awareness of an unsettlement with the dogs. I shouldn't have had the girls take both without me.  I explained that the dogs were rudderless without Lily. Behavioral mutations were afoot and it was an ongoing process. That even though I often took just Trip and Bean on walks without Lily, her presence in the home was was kept balance on the pack. Her death was a loss for all of us to deal with, however we needed to, including the animals. But the good news is that, in terms of this fight, like human boys, usually, once it was over it was over. And it was over despite the trail of blood and the cuts and punctures.
     We took the dogs home, I bathed them up, slathered their shallow punctures with neosporin and really observed. I've been observing ever since.
     Trip and Bean have not had any issues since The Fight. The next day Sophie and I returned to the scene of the crime with just Bean. We played on the playground with Bean -- having him do what I call Playground Agility -- and he was drawn to the area in the snow where I had covered the blood. His usually very reliable recall was seriously compromised -- he couldn't stop sniffing deeply into the snow. What was his plodder brain processing? It's at times like this I wish I had one of those translators ala one of my favorite movies, UP!
     Both dogs are fully recovered. They seem to my mind and observation to be more settled in their new role without Lily since then.
     And in Lily's memory, because she loved those car rides so, I have started taking Trip for more experiences (have I ever mentioned he's a horrorshow in a car?) and I dare say he's improved by at least 75%.
     Isn't making observations grand?

Some Days...

Some days, most actually, when I finally stop the constant motion both in body and mind in living my life, I feel a sense of collapse and wonderment that 12 - 16 hours has elapsed and there has been no break.

Owning and running my own company, single parenting 3 very different daughters, nudging as best I can the workings of my beloved 100 year old house, managing and enjoying business and personal relationships, dealing with any and all contingencies, adapting to the new dynamic since the death of Lily last month, not to mention recent chronic snow shoveling, keeps me on the treadmill of life.

But sometimes, when it's all quiet about me, I look over onto my magnetized inspiration board [stay tuned for a future post on that], and see the triangulated ceramic tchotchke [you can't see the silly feet that are attached to the bottom of what by all accounts seems to me to be a Christmas Tree] that reads in an all lower case cursive:

And then I do. And whether it's a moment, an hour or a whole day, I can get back on the treadmill and do it all over again.

Who Do You Love?

Valentine's Day is soon upon us. Formal and informal polls reveal that a lot of us out there put a significant amount of our emotional energy into our companion animal relationships. I really enjoyed reading about a recent global poll which reveals that 1 in 5 [1/5th] adults surveyed would prefer their pet than their partner.

I'm not very sentimental, but I do not take it for granted that I can spread my emotional and physical energy easily among both my human and animal loved ones and enjoy all. I live for perfect moments and most all of them come from some interaction of affection or connection or even awareness between myself and my inner core of people and the many dogs in my life.

In the realm of positive dog training, effort towards a non-violent and loving form of training as opposed to a more punitive one increases the probability that a loving and more fluid partnership is likely. Learning how to take on, from the earliest of ages, a positive, clear and benevolent leadership role and working with your animal at a realistic rate of expectation versus the You Do It Or Else Approach in which you dare not start training until the dog is 4 months lest you harm him is my Valentine's Wish For Dogs.

Doing a wee bit of journalistic research into the history of Valentine's Day, I learned that once upon a time, the context involved a lot of whipping and force. And double gasp, included the use of dog skin whips.

Valentine's Day for me is a sign that we're still going to be dealing with winter weather for at least another 6 weeks. Snow storms in waves make driving hazardous and includes lots of shoveling.

However you celebrate the mid of the month, heck any day, any month, savor your loved ones, whatever their species.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

The ceaseless snow here in my neck of the woods since 2010 rang in 5 days ago is absurd. Thirteen years ago today it was very cold and snowy. Thirteen years ago yesterday, it was balmy and unseasonably warm for January in Cleveland. This is unlike yesterday's weather, in that it was snowy and cold and, did I mention snowy?

How do I know these facts? No, I'm not an idiot savant or weather freak. I just remember that it was 13 years ago today I came home from the hospital having given birth to my second daughter, Callie. The day after she was born we got to know each other a little bit but I couldn't take her outside yet even though there was a freak warm day to savor.

[back when Callie liked hanging with me]

Nostalgia snap!!!

It's official. Now I'm living with TWO teenage daughters. TWO! Very smart ones to boot. I'm outnumbered. And Lily, my stalwart friend, their loyal queen and my right hand bitch for the entire first decade of this 21st century, is now three weeks and one day post diagnosis. She is fading slowly but surely. Hospice care continues. She is mostly resting now, inbetween going out for potty breaks, which fortunately she can still do. She continues to take the medication Theophylline which helps her breath easier and seems to calm her when she gets a gak reaction or loses balance or, as what happened a few days ago, lost control of her hind quarters for about a minute. But mostly the hospice care is just being around. Being a consistent benevolent leader and finding ways to maximize my time at home and briefly, outside with her.

Things I have let go of in the past 2 weeks:

1. Lily will not be able to go on any more walks out and about in the planet. But we had a lot of them. Mostly they were great and I just loved watching her run -- she always reminded me of a young filly when she really let it go. Now I'm just grateful she can still walk up and down the stairs to go both outside and upstairs in my house.

2. No more car rides. Something she really loved, especially the past few months, before I even knew she was ill. And I promised myself if it should come to having to euthanize her, I would figure out how to have it down in my home, not at a vet hospital. So, no more car rides. A bittersweet loss.

But there are many things she still can do and do well. She even hauls up out of her warm crate to greet the kids when they get home from school. I bet she's wishing (like they are) that we get a snow day from all this precipitation.

So my non teenager is off taking a driveway shoveling shift and Trip joins her. A reminder that death is not so much a reason to be sad, but a way to celebrate a life that was and to remember to cherish the life that remains.

Dog Hospice - My Lovely Lily

Nearly ten years ago -- Jan. 2, 2000 -- in a serendipitous fit of insanity, I brought into my chaotic life a long limbed gangly rescue puppy of questionable heritage. A diamond shaped white spot on her neck made me think of Diamond Lil, and hence, Lily entered the menagerie. (photo 1 from January 2000: from left: Finney the Sheltie, Zena at age 6 1/2, author holding 10 mo. old Sophie and 2 month old Lily, Callie just turned 3 and Maeya, the then queen of the pack at 8)

Whatever her genetic makeup, Lily and my youngest daughter Sophie grew up as puppies together. They shared toys, floor time and vied for my attention.

Lily started as a cocktail party dog, segued in her middling years as an intimate dinner party dog, and because I put effort into it, settled into her role as a dinner party girl.

She taught subsequent dogs -- some permanent members, others for shorter stays -- the way of her world. And she was just, fair, clear and direct. Once you earned her trust, she was yours for life. You can't ask for more than that.

It's hard to put into words all that she has been in her 10 years. What I do know is she has advanced canine hemangiosarcoma, discovered 10 days ago. Her time is measured by days or at most weeks, and there's little to do but make her comfortable.

While her energy level is fading and she is steadily losing weight despite efforts to feed her more food and lots of treats, she still savors lots of petting, ear strokes and car rides. She greets all visitors and still nudges old friends for more of that petting. I am grateful I can modify my schedule to spend lots of time with her, and I can only hope that she stays comfortable until the end.

Cesar Millan strikes the Sunday NY Times again

First it was the business section. Now my hallowed Sunday New York Times has gone and sullied the front page of the STYLES section with more of that press that Mr. Milan, he of the Dog Whisperer fame, seems to garner -- this time crediting him with Child Whispering!

To his credit Mr. Milan never does not formally or publicly opine about teaching child rearing -- focusing on his dog training methods of discipline and his trinity of Exercise, Discipline and Affection equals happiness and the gist of the Business Section article a few weeks ago -- keeps him plenty busy.

But he does admit that as a native of Mexico he adheres to a more traditional, hierarchical child-rearing philosophy. He's quoted in the NY Times as saying, "for thousands of years, the elder has always been the pack leader, it's never the child. In America, kids have too many options when they only need one: 'Just do it because.'"

I wholeheartedly agree that there are many parallels to parenting children and dogs but there are also differences -- on so many levels -- starting with a more contemporary awareness of human development than just adhering to thousands of years of the traditional Mexican child rearing approach -- and a more scientifically proven awareness of dog development. This is where to begin to parse out that both young, tween and teenage dogs and people really don't want to be pushed on the neck, sshhhttted at or grounded without electronic privileges.

Children and pups do crave benevolent leadership in their caretakers -- and clear clues on what to do and how to earn rewards. And when it can be learned and applied that either or both journeys can be a sparkly one.

I navigate between the flotsam and jetsam of 3 active daughters, 3 dogs and 3 cats. Every day I get to fulfill my bliss helping others learn how to navigate their own course in pet training. There is a chaotic but lilting harmony enhanced by the need to frequently wrangle dust bunnies that illustrates just how satisfying my own journey has been and continues to be. And while I could sure use some better discipline about getting more exercise, here at Camp A Better Pet we all get and give lots of affection.

Picking Perfect Puppies

While it's usually summertime when I'm inundated with new puppy training, somehow the word is getting out that doing The 7 P's (proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance) is a great way to help individuals, couples or families acquire the right make and model of puppy to be the dog of their dreams, whatever their dreams may be. And so I'm being inundated with a flurry of pet and service dog candidates that are selected based on a fantasy wish list compiled by all family members to define the wants/needs based on lifestyle, environment, goals, experience, etc.

When an individual/couple or family already has a dog that might not be the right make and model, for whatever reason, and a decision is made that there needs to be a break-up, I help counsel them through that process. I believe taking the responsibility to find the right home for the dog is paramount to considering the right make and model for immediate or long term future considerations.

As rain falls today in a practically vertical fashion to more overtly remind us that summer is over and fall is truly here, taking new puppies out for potty breaks cheerfully is a daunting but necessary task! Just remember your umbrella, your cheerful mood, and contemplate an outdoor place that might offer a bit of shelter!

Back to School Redux

My kids went back to school this week. The second year I've had to juggle one in each of the three schools -- oldest a junior in h.s., middle a middle school 8th grader, and the youngest is now top dog in elementary as a proud 5th grader.

It's my 12th and last fall at the elementary school and I feel almost wistful as I see the little kindergartners heading towards the lovely brick building with shiny new shoes, fresh haircuts, fancy backpacks and proud parents with digital cameras posing the kids in front of the developing upgraded playground.

I had the pleasure yesterday of taking a lovely country drive to meet up with Bree Arnett and a gaggle of doodles at her country home. The pups of various doodle heritage and ages I met had a rip roaring great time and seem to love visitors, a testament to their temperament and social nature. They all also seemed particularly fond of their human "mom", Bree. Each pup has obviously developed a connection from her careful nurture despite the multiple other tasks including running a hectic household and parenting her own three kids (I know from that score!) as well keeping up with the daunting task of carefully screening the developing progeny to ensure ongoing health and temperament of the different doodles she's producing. As the pups mature and they are adopted out to loving homes, a little piece of Bree's heart tugs as the pups she's connected to head out for new adventures, much like the kids entering the brick building to embark on the beginning of a more formal public education.

Like these kids, the pups need to be socialized, exposed to the environmental sights, sounds, surfaces and scents of their future homes and communities, so they can stroll off with others in their future who might have to care for them -- vets, groomers, house sitters, dog walkers, boarding facilities, doggy day care, friends homes and yards. In the case of service and therapy dogs, especially those who will be performing function in public, that early socialization is so critical to their future success.

So if you're starting the fall with the pitter patter of paws skittering across your floors, be sure to get out and about and if you can, sign up for puppy classes that use positive methods and make sure there is time each class for puppy play!

Har-Vest goes a walkin'

Marketing a product you believe in but essentially gave birth to is, for me, an arduous task.

Whenever I start to feel defeated in my quest to increase sales, someone or something comes along to blow wind in my sagging sails and I continue to cross the ocean hoping to land in a port sometime soon. Sid of Tennessee sent me a beautiful video he posted on You Tube regarding a Juvenile Diabetes fundraiser close to home as his beautiful daughter deals with the trials and tribulations of that devastating illness in search of a cure. Sid's daughter, Caroline, has Hardy, her yellow lab service dog, sporting a Har-Vest in public access world, to help her on her journey.

Thanks Sid, for blowing a little wind into my sails!

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?

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!

Time Management and Birthday Celebrations

Dogs live in the here and now. Right here. Right now. Sometimes, nay, often, it's hard for people to grasp that. But to me the evidence is clear. It's not just that dogs don't exhibit litigiousness or hire henchdogs to do their dirty work.

When It's over, whatever "It" is, it's over. Sometimes "It" is scary or annoying and seems to take a very long time but in reality those "It" behaviors often just take moments or seconds and usually aren't that serious. I assure clients with unruly or immature dogs that their dogs are not lying in their beds at night thinking up new ways to piss them off the next day (now cats on the otherhand...)!

On yet another otherhand, though, I'm finding it hard for my brain to grok, truly grok, how nearly 10 years has elapsed so quickly. My little ones from 2000 have grown -- one into the queen and my eldest canine -- the other my littlest princess (and youngest daughter still...phew!).

Today my daughter wore the birthday crown and entered into double digits. When I find myself moaning about how much time I spend sweeping up the dust bunnies from shedding dependents or picking up after the kids or figuring out if it's gogurt or string cheese that they stopped wanting in their school lunches I'm going to try to stop and instead savor that I'm in a phase where I'm not dealing with house training and teething or dirty diapers and car seats.

Probably the next time I'll be thinking of this will be when I get my next puppy or -- gasp -- become a grandmother.

Eek. I think I shall practice doggieness and just live in the here and now. Happy Birthday Sophie!

Recess IS Good. Duh!

It often is the case that "bad" behavior is punished. Example:
A dog gets angrily put in a crate for getting into the trash (I say shame on you for leaving the trash accessible and NEVER use a crate to punish, only manage).

The 4th grade kid who acts out in class gets punished by losing recess privileges. Instead he gets to sit somewhere to think about why he lost recess, often near the Principle's Office.

In both the examples above, these things actually INCREASE the "bad" behavior. A recent study published last week in the Journal PEDIATRICS indicates that children who received even 15 minutes of recess scored better on behavioral ratings scales than the children who did not. Duh.

Recess is the time to work out one's ya ya's - puppy, dog, kid or adult. Time to get a break in-between bouts of focus and activity and have fun playing. Focused learning requires a lot of internalization of self control and in children AND dogs it takes a very long time to acquire that skill. Why don't people understand that?

The acting out of the child or puppy isn't what's making them bad, it's a symptom of a much deeper problem. What's making it hard for the trouble maker is the behavior that's "bad" isn't acceptable in the environment (s)he's in (trust me, I empathize with teachers who are challenged to wrangle a large group of students and one individual can really sabotage an otherwise potentially successful class. This is why I now screen group class before giving permission to register because I've had to deal with that very issue. School teachers don't get that privilege much!).

To my mind it speaks towards something broken or missing on one or more of The Six Pillars. The purpose of education and training is to put it all together. Take into account The Three D's and SMT.

Last night was the 1/2 way point in my current dog group class (Night 3 of 6). During play time, or recess, handlers are encouraged when and how to recall their dogs. The reward is permission to return to play. It works on several levels including the introduction of a "go" cue and always helps create an awareness in owners of how connected their dogs are to them when not literally connected by a leash. Actions speak louder than words. I couldn't imagine working dogs in a high stress environment like class (and I'm not saying that stress is bad, it's just stress -- after all these are demanding circumstances in group class!) without a play period.

I like to point out that often when owners are coming in with their dogs, a cacophony of sounds emerge, not to mention lunging and posturing. Despite my repeated efforts to quell dog owners' desire to FORCE their dog (i.e., yank the leash instead of taking a proactive approach like happily calling the dog to you and making that BETTER than lunging and barking), people are people. They get defensive. They act out of instinct. They don't want people to think they have a "bad" dog. But when the dogs are off leash and playing, it's quiet, the dogs have fun, and any squabbles are handled by the dogs and usually last less than 5 seconds. I share observations about what normal dog play actually looks like. Each encounter the growing dogs have is one step further in learning appropriate doggie play and doggie socialization skills. If a dog is too exuberant, it might get a time out, but it's less than one minute and the dog is given permission to go play again. If it needs another time out, the pattern is repeated, but that is more the exception than the norm in my group class experience.

So go out and give yourself a little recess. And if you're looking for a really good dog training class for your developing young dog, make sure it includes off leash play time. There is no substitution.

3rd Quadrant: The Swear Jar

Long ago and far away I recognized my greatest strength in learning something new is through visual and kinesthetic experience. Hence I model for clients, handling their dog in their home, how best to achieve learning for the dog during a training and then work with the owner to transfer that knowledge to them before I leave. Practicing the newly taught skills enough, along with truly understanding a lot of useful information about how dogs actually operate (which is often antithetical to the average person), helps ensure a transition to a better behaved dog if the individual is motivated (which I assume they are by having hired me to come into their home for 3 long hours or more!). I also give a lot of written material to clients, including a manual I am always updating for those who are more reading/writing learners. But I'm always on the creative and visual lookout for new ways to inspire myself.

Certainly in overseas adventures of my youth in countries utilizing languages other than English, it was always the "bad" words, the curse words, I was taught by my peers. I freely admit I have a potty mouth which works as a catharsis for me because I don't engage in physical violence. But lo and behold, my 3 daughters were annoyed and dare I say embarrassed when I might curse in front of a friend, so I agreed to work on Quadrant 3 of Operant Conditioning, positive punishment:

Every time they caught me swearing, I would put twenty five cents in a "swear jar" in the hopes that I would either

1. Stop swearing
2. Earn us enough in fines to subsidize a vacation.

Sometimes in a fit of that cathartic need, I just whipped out a dollar and made an advance, or checked how many quarters I had fished out of the dryer and slipped into my pockets to give me permission to be less inhibited when provoked to open my mouth and say an inappropriate word or phrase per our agreement.

And I dare say I'm greatly improved, but certainly not cured. After all, we're talking about a very long history of this entrenched "bad" behavior, and I can do it when the environment is appropriate (i.e., I'm alone or with people who don't care), and I'd probably wish it had taken longer so I could have earned more than a few gallons of gas for the improbable future vacation, but I dare say it worked, even without them praising me for having a cleaner vocabulary!

So if you're trying to clean up your own act, or live in a reality based universe about how best to communicate what really matters to you about your dog's behavior, fish out some change and start clinking it in jar of your own. Maybe by the new year, but a mere month away, as resolutions become forefront in your mind, you too will have saved up for something special!

Measure of Change

In reviewing past posts I recognize I acknowledge milestones in my dogs accomplishments including (and celebrating, but not too over the top!) the passage of another year. Each dog received a birthday post this year. So you probably know, if you are a reader, that my current canine trio are now 5, 7 and 9. (the picture above was taken when Lily, now 9, was a wee pup and shows that even then, at the very beginning of evaluating my goal to become a dog trainer, I was surrounded by my pack of kids and animals -- some things never change!) So the dogs now are old enough to be reliable, trustworthy, trained; young enough for me to not be too stressed about age related decline.

Last night my daughters and I watched old videos. The favorite was one of my oldest daughter, now nearing 16, as a very small infant in a series of vignettes which included some video of my beloved Teisha -- the dog I credit with teaching me the majority of what triggered me onto the path of dog training. I hadn't seen this video in a very very long time, and it was very heartwarming to see from the distance of time how very close that dog and I were without effort. In one shot, I'm sitting in a den with my parents, video taping ex husband (master of the long take), infant daughter and 3 dogs -- Teisha, Maeya and Teisha's son, Nicholas, who lived with my parents for his 14 years) and my foot is just touching Teisha's back as she is curled up on the floor sleeping near me. She was by this time totally deaf (nearly 12 years at the time of the video)but so well connected visually that no one would know unless told and then tested it by banging noises when she wasn't looking!

So I get to thinking as I watch this how critically important I see this measure of change in the bigger picture. While I may focus on the micro change, i.e., the dog increasing duration in a "stay" cue by seconds or minutes -- I also pay heed to the more macro, i.e, the passage of another year, to assess "where was I last year, where am I now" approach to all things -- training of dogs, development of kids, business level, relationships, size of the tree I planted on my front lawn (it happens to be a catulpa tree which grows fast so it's "funner" to measure its growth!), etc.

If you're frustrated with a particular "sticky wicket" in your approach to modifying a behavior -- whether of your partner, dog, kid, colleague, etc. -- slow down, measure in increments that are meaningful, be strong, and keep at it! It really does help!

Twas the Day Before The Night Before

Here on the day before the day before Christmas 2007, the weather isn't sure what to do. It poured buckets earlier, and now there are wispy flakes of snow flailing about with little confidence of retaining their form when they hit the ground. So it's a 50/50 proposition of whether here in Cleveland there will be a white Christmas.

My new site is finally launched and I'm going to tweak a few bugs before I make a more formal announcment, but for anyone interested in checking it out and letting me know your opinions of our new look, that would be a mighty nice gift for the end of the year.

If the holiday festivities (or more to the point, the kids home from vacation hogging my computer time) prevent additional posts until we cross the timeline to 2008, have a happy happy.

Warmest wishes from A Better Pet