OUCH, That Hurts

Lily, Bean and their neighbor friend Sparky Arky, all dressed smashingly in their HarVest, on a recent snowy jaunt.


If you've ever had the pleasure of floating on the densely salinated waters of the Dead Sea (or really any body of heavily salted water) with any kind of open cut you understand how excruciating painful that can be (trust me, even though it's been, gasp, 32 years since I last floated in the Dead Sea). Add extremely cold temperatures, bare paws, snowy conditions and being out and about AND being sensitive and you can begin to understand how, for some dogs (statistically for me, 2/3 of them), walking on salted roads can be a bit aggravating. Not to mention possibly toxic if the dog ingests the ice melting chemicals while licking paws clean and dry when back home.

For personal use I subscribe to spending a bit more for health and safety reasons. Safe Paw has a good set of facts that synthesizes options but really, you can use any search engine and gather up a set of data that best works for you.

My own recipe....avoid or if you have to deal with it, get through it quickly. You can brush off the salt but I usually just wince along with them as they walk 3 legged for a few minutes and then test the frozen waters, so to speak, and move on.

Stay warm, stay dry, avoid the ice, and have fun. But keep walking!

It's Official - I'm an Inventor

Time, money, frustration, legalese, deadlines, more legalese, definitions, changes....finally the US Patent Office has approved a patent for Har-Vest. Now they need more fees to close the deal....I have 90 days to get it in and then change from "patent pending" to Patent #_________.

Maybe I should have an option to add $1 to your order to help Rachel get her patent finalized! Or a bake sale? However it happens...a hearty thank you to all who helped me reach this exciting milestone.

New Year, New Year

Lily and Bean join me in saying Happy New Year! Sometimes joining in to celebrate, however big or small, or even with the help of a joiner,can help smooth the way. It is the hope here at A Better Pet LLC that we can help you join in celebration of a smooth connection with all the animals that share your life.

Happy Holidays From A Better Pet LLC

Remember to share your goodies!!!!

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

Descruffication

It's coming up to that time of year for resolutions. I am going with modest changes. I resolve to try to keep things less scruffy. I started with Bean. While I am technically qualified to descruff him, I would MUCH rather leave my clippers in their drawer and have my beloved neighbor and amazing dog groomer friend Deb do it for me. Despite some serious health issues she is -- thankfully -- back on her feet and so Bean is once again the clean and descruffed buddy! I think he feels more mature!

Getting in Tune

Metaphors are a great way to better understand the vicissitudes of life. Today's life lesson, somewhat, er, grating, is writing this while Kevin the Piano Tuner plunks away at our newest addition (Trip watching with fascination!). His tireless tuning is painful to hear but the end result will be a harmonious instrument that will enchant the home.

Why, it's almost just like the seemingly endless repetition of reinforcing the positive to get a dog who understands just what it is you do want, instead of what you don't. I think it helps to just assume the dog needs to practice a behavior 3,500 times to really learn it. I just hope the piano tuning is shorter than that!