The Green Pet Shop, a virtual place with a focus on green pet products, has an exclusive product that will cool your hot dog  (or cat) fast.  The Cool Pet Pad is a gel-based rectangular pad activated when pressure is applied, and recharges itself  - no electricity needed. Ha! A little green miracle:)  It’s non-toxic, has a vinyl cover that is easy to keep clean, and is biodegradable. Our review pad came in the mail the other day and we put it to work. 

It’s been miserable Summer weather for dogs so far across a broad swathe of the US, and here in Chicago we were even cheated out of Spring, consisting as it did of hot humid days followed by hot humid stormy nights. My dog Tashi could have used the Cool Pet Pad when we were desperately trying to spend some time outside last week.  About 40 minutes into what was not really a pleasant exercise in trying to relax, he looked at me, hopped off the footstool, and stood looking at the front door, then at me, then…enough said!

I first used the pad myself to check out just how cold it got to be sure Tashi could tolerate it. I was very pleasantly surprised that it was cool enough for a fast change in body temperature. I placed it on a sofa pillow and put my head down. Lovely!

It was cool longer than an hour under the pressure of my head, and was still a markedly lower temperature than the part of my back that was not in contact with the Cool Pet Pad. I then moved it under my legs where it worked for another hour, but while it was cooler, it was not as cold as when I started. I shook it out and let it sit for 15 minutes and it was like new again!

The price point is affordable, ranging from $19.99 to 79.99 with four different sizes available. The only drawback may be the characteristic smell of vinyl, although Tashi didn’t seem to notice. There are a host of added uses listed on the site. Company President, Larry Wright says  “There is nothing like this that exists for helping pets stay cool…or for providing chilled therapy for joint pain and aches when older, tired or injured.”

Photo Credit: Tashi was obviously enjoying the Cool Pet Pad, but he said he was tired of smiling for the camera and just wanted to sleep. Can’t blame him, 6am photo shoots are a bear! 

 Adopt, don’t buy is getting a new shout out from some big names in the news: Hallmark and Pedigree partnered to produce a movie about a rescue dog, tossed in a shelter by one show trainer, who gets adopted and makes good as a herding dog with show ring smarts.  The rescued Border Collie not only saves the farm and family relations, but also saves some local school children too! You’ll have to tune in this Saturday, June 26th at 9pm ET for the Premiere  broadcast of “You Lucky Dog” on the family friendly Hallmark Channel.(Sorry Harry Hamlin and Natasha Henstridge, it’s really all about the dog here:)

I got a chance to speak with internationally renowned  trainer, competitor and judge in the Herding Dog field, Joyce Geier, engaged by Hallmark as their dog expert.  Geier shared the inside story of Lucky the dog star of the movie, who is a great little actor and, being no Diva, performed all his own stunts. Geier noted that a couple of trainers from NW Canada worked with Lucky to produce the necessary result.  She said that with movies you have to speed through training – every day impacts the budget. ”It usually takes a year to 18 months to make a dog useful in the field.” For the movie role, Geier can get it done in 2 months.  Task performance is far different than the actual thinking dog you get in sheep trials and the show ring.  Lucky took 5 months to train for his role in “You Lucky Dog.” 

Geier wanted to halt any possible misconceptions about the breed before popularity looms large. She made it clear that Border Collies are not dogs for inactive families.  They demand what many of us would consider to be an inordinate amount of activity, both physical and mental.  She mentioned that a several mile run or hike would be a good start to day, but don’t think you’re going to have your tea and sit for awhile. The Border Collie is just getting started! [Tashi would think this dog was crazy, being the lap dog he is, and I would probably have a breakdown if I had to do any more than the morning hike!  Knowing your limits is a very good thing!]

In case some parents think they can handle it because their kids pine for the cute movie dog, Geier cautions that if you do not expend all the dog’s energies, “they will take up landscaping in your yard, and you won’t like it.” With 25 years of teaching herding skills and obedience, I would pay close attention to her advice.

I got an advance copy of the made-for-tv movie, and it’s a nice little summer flick for young children and their parents to watch together.  Nothing bad happens to anyone, the family is saved from hard times, the story line is easy for the very young to follow and kids learn a very positive lesson that rescue dogs from shelters are as capable as any other when they are in the right hands.  And of course the message that you should check out your local shelter and adopt is one I’m all for:)

Many thanks to Joyce Geier who took time out of her busy day to speak with Dancing Dog Blog, and to Hallmark for making her available!

“For the rescuers who rescue us too, by bringing dogs into our lives…”

Edie Jarolim has produced a real gem in her soon to be classic “Am I Boring My Dog? And 99 Other Things Every Dog Wishes You Knew“  What appears as an unassuming little book of 230 pages turns out to be the next ”gotta have it” reference for your personal library.

When I read it, I felt a little disoriented – it reminded me of Dr. Who’s Tardis, the time traveling spaceship that defies the laws of physics by being tiny on the outside and huge on the inside. Such a small book – how could it contain so much useful information? I would advise every shelter, rescue, and good breeder that this book should be cost-factored into each and every adoption. No kidding. It’s that good!

Save dogs from being returned to a shelter. The first weeks after adopting are crucial for keeping a dog in the home. “Fixes” can be easy if you know where a problem is coming from. It’s generally a lack of understanding or information that causes adopters to get fed up and want to return a dog.  This book would go a long way to relieving the frustration of adopters by providing answers to frequently encountered problems.

Beautifully and simply organized, it is easy to see exactly what the focus of book is: It’s about you and your dog. From the moment you’re thinking of getting a dog, the vetting, general care, feeding, training, grooming and various particulars of old age, to how to decide when “it’s time”, this book has the smart answers wrapped like a gift just for you.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just getting your first dog, or your last.  This book is a primer for the neophyte, as well as a handy reference to those with years of dog caretaking experience.

Important details like shelter and good breeder adoption contracts are found at every turn of the page. The problems with food safety, spay/neuter and what it means to your pup, puppy mills as sellers of puppies through pet shops, dental care, the tools you’ll need, like collars, leashes, harnesses and others appropriate and those not so appropriate are discussed, detailed, and defined. Even traveling with your dog, doggy shrinks, and safe cleaning products for use around dogs are topics of exploration. The book is surprising in it’s depth given the broad topic range.

The writing is clean, spare, but never dry, lifeless or, dare I say, boring.  Jarolim’s sense of humor, which I know well from reading her blog  Will My Dog Hate Me?, is there in the form of puns and deftly placed quips. Don’t forget to read the footnotes – lots of funny, interesing bits!  For transparency’s sake, Edie Jarolim is a twitter and blogging pal.  We have talked via email and on the phone a couple of times about our dogs, book signings, and blogging. I’ve seen several reviews of her book, one notably on video by an excellent dog trainer, all of which were most enthusiastic.  Now I see why!

You can get the book here at Amazon for less than $11 in paperback.  Makes a great gift, too!

San Diego can go meet Jarolim and her dog Frankie for Canine Cocktails, book signing and Padre home game viewing from 5 to 9pm at Hotel Indigo’s Phi Terrace Bar, a rooftop indoor/outdoor hotspot with a clear view of home plate at PETCO Park.

Gritty affair with an Italian gardener wilts, as woman’s life blossoms through a neglected dog.

Marcus of Umbria, Justine van der Leun’s memoir on seeking “place” in the world recounts the New Yorker’s journey to an ancient Italian village in rural Umbria, where the life of dogs is shaped by centuries old superstitions, wives tales, and traditions. 

It’s the story of van der Leun’s search for, among other things, the meaning of family, found in a neglected and starving dog she brought back to health.  A brilliant hunter, graceful, fast, and a true athlete, Marcus was also a fearful dog, unable to cope with people and crowds.  They were simpatico.

There are very particular moments in dogs’ lives that most of us don’t ever get to see, share, or understand.  In our orderly and urban world filled with doggy daycare, dog parks, play dates and pet sitters, the feral inner lives of dogs are crowded out – a sad death by schedule. The author changes that for us from the beginning.

The first chapter offers a bold new look at dogs via an in-your-face tale of Marcus and her (yes, Marcus is female) hunting prowess on the loose.  It blew me away, stripping away the thin veil of domesticity, revealing the true “otherness” of dogs – Marcus in all her wild glory. And then the backstory begins.

Cultural differences between a small rural village of 200 people in the hinterlands of Italy and New York seem centuries apart, yet the rural/urban worldview that dogs are treated very differently in the country than in the city are the same. From this point in the story on, familiar issues arise and the opinions of the locals could be the same as those in rural America.

You can hear this clash played out in the  book,  on spaying, and the arguments that not having puppies would make the dog crazy, subject to false pregnancies, and a host of other wives tales; it’s there again in the disagreements on the basics of humane treatment. Chaining dogs is a way of life and caging them outside at night is normal. 

How to explain to people who have scrabbled their way through poverty–whose position and future work is decided according to what their father does for a living–that dogs lives should be any different than their own, and different than the way it’s always been. Yet because she was there, because she spoke up, people got a different viewpoint.

Dogs live maybe three years on average but some change was seen here and there…some loved their dogs but were ashamed of that love, brainwashed with the cultural belief that dogs were dirty and belonged with the farm animals.

Lest you think the book is only about dogs, there is the romantic interest, his family, their rough daily lives, always intertwined with one another, the big Italian family who operate more as a unit than individuals, herding sheep, buying and training horses, the ever present gender inequities, and the idea of fitting in as the consummate outsider. Who doesn’t love a story well-told that captures the imagination and breezes along at a fast clip as an easy read?

 I’ll leave you with this quote, the heading of one of the chapters:  “All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers is contained in the dog”  Franz Kafka    Marcus as metaphor…

(Read more at van der Leun’s website , and you’ll find a nice gallery of photos of Marcus, too!)

Related articles: Dogs Rough It in Rural Umbria

The contest winner of Alite’s designer dog collar and leash – with the handy pod for waste bags that lies (practically) flat on the leash - has been determined by the cool and new to me (it’s only been around since the late 90’s!) Random.org tool that offers the same benefit of picking numbers from the hat, without the bits of paper:)

I can’t show the tool on this site, which is a real pity as I had hoped to maximize transparency.  Best laid plains….so, drumroll….I input 1 -10 to represent how many entrants, and it spit out #4.  Now let me go back and see who that is…Kelly Ann T., you were the fourth person to comment and you win this wonderful collar, leash and leash pod for your dog Kouga!

Now all you have to do is send me via email your full name and mailing address and contact phone number, along with the proper size collar for your dog as mentioned in the original post. I will forward the mailing address to the company who will ship out your prize set. Congratulations, Kelly!

And for everyone else, don’t worry – we have more cool contest stuff for your dogs coming up, and I think a couple of copies of a great summer read will be up for grabs soon, too!

Thanks to you all for your entries!

Got six minutes? You can make some of the easiest, cheapest, wholesome dog treats with a can of tuna, some flour and an egg!  Take a look at Karen Friesecke’s post at Doggie Stylish.  Then go and check out her wonderful handmade custom dog collars and leashes and you’ll see why I recently dubbed her Queen of the Etsy crowd. There’s a great DIY tutorial section that teaches you how to make your own leashes, has free patterns, and other fun things!

Just yesterday I was excited to read about how music really does soothe a dog’s savage breast and there’s science to prove it. Bridget K. Smith and her dog Wrigley guest posted at Edie Jarolim’s Will My Dog Hate Me?, sharing the fact that music and science teamed up to design music to calm and enhance the health of dogs in their Through A Dogs Ear books and CDs.   Fearful, shy, anxious dogs should experience great benefits, but you and your dog now have another avenue to share quality time de-stressing=:)

Blogger’s in the pet sector are busy working on various projects to help shelters help animals. One of these projects, headed up by Maggie Marton of Oh My Dog, is focusing on Denver, Colorado and their notorious decades-long Breed Specific Legislation that bans pit bulls from that city.

Marton is attempting to both advocate for the citizens who have been harmed by this law and educate those who believe the myths of pit bulls and what passes for conventional wisdom in Denver about the merits of BSL. If I sound a little testy, it’s because officials can’t(or far more likely refuse to) provide numbers indicating this law has had its intended effect of lowering bite incidents. Lack of accountability and transparency is simply unacceptable. Doing something positive to influence change is important.

This campaign to end BSL will send a mile’s worth of 4 x 6 postcards to the Mayor, that’s 10,560 postcards. She has created a postcard template that you can download, she has suggestions and information on how to design them, where to get pictures if you don’t have any, so you can make your own statement and then send it back to her.  She will handle the printing (which could use donations at the Paypal page).  Each card will cost $.0235 and any overage will go to a Colorado Bully Breed rescue, and Marton is taking suggestions.

Most of these dogs never had a record of wrongdoing.  To compound matters, Animal Control have grabbed dogs that were boxers, claiming they were pit bulls. (Remember to steer clear of the cities that have breed bans in your summer travels with your dog.) Estimates of pit bulls and pit bull-like dogs killed range from 2000 to 3000. If you’d like to join in this worthy effort read more here.

Kim Campbell Thornton over at Pet Connection had a great post, with an assist from dog trainer Liz Palika, on how to break up a dog fight safely.  Thornton had long ago grabbed a dog by his collar and twisted, recalling how lucky she had been that he just didn’t reach around and nail her.  Palika has a solution and some useful tips to head off trouble before it starts.

And I’ll leave you with a fun video of a dog with remarkable obedience training that most of us will never get to see up close - have a good one!

There was a great live blogging session going on this afternoon at Pet Connection’s blog, on the occasion of Marion Nestle and Mal Nesheim’s reading of their new book ”Feed Your Pet Right”, with Christie Keith reporting.  You can check the twitter hashtag #feedyourpet, too.  From Keith’s report, when Nestle and Nesheim signed the contract for the book in 2007, the historic pet food recall followed. “They had no idea one company in Canada was making 70+ brands of pet food.” They never would have thought of the different lines of research that recall would open to them, or the perilous lack of food safety that inquiry would reveal for both humans and pets. Good stuff!

And speaking of pet food, K9 Cuisine has a new pet food rating tool that painlessly educates as it takes you through analysis of your ingredients list. It provides a grade at the end with a summary that will make it clear why your pet food received the grade it did.  Useful:)

Leslie Fisher, blogging pal and CPDT-KA sent in the news that Center Pet Pharmacy out of Washington DC has stepped up to help Matter of Trust, the non-profit collecting pet hair to make booms to help stop the spread of the Gulf oil spill. They remind you that hair should be clean, and if you’re donating dreadlocks (who knew?) they should be put in a separate bag for treatment. All other hair should be devoid of sharp objects. Clean nylons, even those with runs, are also needed.  Thanks, Leslie!

Note: If you’ve been shipping direct to Matter of Trust, please read their site notice – shipments are being diverted to the Gulf area so check the new procedures.

Edie Jarolim has Tuesdays set aside to showcase the positive dog training helping Frankie (yes, the star of Jarolim’s book Am I Boring My Dog? and cutie pie poster dog for her blog “Will My Dog Hate Me?”) lessen his fear of the traffic and noise of life that persists on the other side of their front door.  There’s a great video report that captures Frankie in his misery, but also overcoming some of his trepidation. The trainer’s remarks at the end of the lesson will make you laugh!

Rod and Amy Burkert of Go Pet Friendly posed a good question: What makes a city dog-friendly? Everyone says they are dog-friendly, yet the criteria seems to be something towns, hamlets and burgs can make up on the fly.  This in the wake of the 2010 list on the top ten dog-friendly cities in the US  from Dog Friendly.com. Go Pet Friendly also have some great up close and personal reports from current travels that should make you smile.

And from the “what’s in a name” file, Rebecca Quimby of Paw Nation reports that African Wild Dogs are getting a PR makeover and a new name thanks to Gregory Rasmussen and his new Painted Dog Conservation organization in Zimbabwe dedicated to saving this endangered species. The dogs, as cute as they are, are fast, skilled hunters of wild game, but not the raiders of local’s farm animals people think they are.