According to APPA in 2008 45 million US. households owned 77 million dogs and those households spent the majority  of a combined 3.2 billion dollars on pet services including grooming, exercise workouts, spas and daycare/doggie hotels. Even with the recession pet services have risen in 2009 with companies like Wal-Mart setting themselves up to grab a piece of the pie and offer more and more pet services. Wal-Mart will surely offer a stiff challenge to PetSmart and other smaller companies offering pet services.

Wal-Mart and other big box stores like Target will most certainly increase their pet services presence in 2010 and muddy up the waters for traditional industry leaders. Increasing gossip on the grape vine is speaking to the observation that in 2009 both Petco and PetSmart slowed down their future plans for new stores. We may see smaller industry players roll out new and exciting programs to reward loyalty, this will be a huge benifit to both the shoppers battered by the recession and to the pets they shop for.

Small service operators would do well to join associations and get to know the business owners in their area offering pet services. The small business owner can use their size and nimbleness to craft alliances thereby mitigating the effects of  big box creep.

Over and over I see stories in the news about dogs saving people with heroic feats, but today I wanted to share with everyone a story of rescue that ended in tragedy. It seems a couple perished trying to save their dogs, our hearts go out to their family. ” A couple who leaped into a swollen river yesterday to rescue their dogs during a day out with their baby daughter have both died. Darren Greenan and Laura Frey jumped into the river Garnock at Kilwinning in Ayrshire after the fast-flowing current swept their two dogs away early yesterday afternoon.” Read More

Another story in The Guardian caught my eye and got me wondering. If we turn our pets into overweight animals that can hardly get around, should animal control step in and take the pet from us?  “A man was found guilty today of failing to ensure the welfare of an animal after his dog was found to be dangerously overweight. Taz, a five-year-old border collie, was taken into the care of Brighton and Hove city council after his owner, Ronald West, ignored repeated orders to improve the animal’s diet.” This is a question to ponder for all animal lovers, Read More Overweight Pets

Yes it’s Friday and of course that means it’s the official kickoff to the weekend, for those of you not familiar with what I’m chatting about I’ll fill you in. Weekends are the time we set aside for our beloved dogs and family pets. Weekends are for romping and playing with our best friends. So let the romping begin.

I was over at the Seattle Times and came across an article entitled 4 tips on picking a nutritional pet food and thought it was good reading and worth passing on to everyone. “Stand in any pet food store or the pet food aisle of a supermarket and it’s easy to become overwhelmed by all the choices. To help sort through the choices, here are some tips for finding a nutritional food at the best price from Iveta Becvarova, a veterinary nutritionist with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.” read more Pet Food Tips

A short jump down to Portland and I came upon a fun story about an event taking place this coming Saturday entitled Pooches on the Green  “The city of Beaverton will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and dogs with its first “Pooches on the Green” event, set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Beaverton City Park, on Southwest Watson Street between Fourth and Fifth streets.” read more Dogs Celebrate

Moving even further down the coast I stop at the San Francisco Chronicle and learned about a contest they are holding entitled Pet Look-alike photo contest. Nope it’s not about two pets looking a like but about pet owners who share more then a passing resemblance to their best friends. “Do we pick pets that mirror ourselves or do we slowly, and unwittingly morph into look-alikes over time? It is my hope that your photos will help shed some light on this much-debated chicken-or-egg dilemma.“ read more Pets Looking Like Their Owners

Ok everyone have a wonderful weekend romping and hanging with your dogs and remember the Dancing Dog Blog weekend rule: on weekends 100% of it is for your dogs and 90% for your other pets.. So lets jump start this weekend…

With all the forgotten dogs it is good to know people are using all resources to save and retrain abandoned dogs. In Austin Texas the Paws in Prison program is going full steam.. Congratulations to these forward thinking correction officials and the the inmates who are giving and getting love in this program.

Learn more about how the Paws in Prison progaram and maybe connect your own state correction department with a program like this.

Ever think you might have to give up your dog because of behavior you don’t understand, or that isn’t getting any better no matter what you do?  There’s a great little website dedicated to helping people just like you get the information you need in order to make an informed decision.

It is pretty thorough, given the abbreviated style of one short page per topic.  Working your way from the abc’s of training a dog new to your family life, to understanding and dealing with abused dogs, anxiety-based behaviors, and  allergies, it becomes clear that there’s some real depth here as you move across the layers of the site.  Lack of time problems are discussed, as are introducing children to dogs, how to add a second dog to the family “pack”, and what to do about your four-legged best friend if you are going into military service.

You might find something here that will give you hope, help you solve a problem, or help you keep your dog rather than letting frustration get the better of you.  If not, there is also information on safely rehoming your pet, with or without the help of a shelter.

I have to thank Horst Hoefinger of Dogster’s For The Love of Dog Blog, who has the helpful website listed as a resource–thanks!  Happy 5th Birthday to Dogster, by the way!

I was checking out a story on Montcalm Michigan’s Animal Care and Control(ACC) regarding the cruel and, I’m hoping, unusual practice of selling homeless pets to research facilities as a way to defray costs, when breaking news came across the feed.  WOOD NBC 8, the station responsible for bringing this problem to light, reported that a new director, Patty Lentz,  has been appointed to Montcalm’s ACC. Lentz announced that not only will methods of “euthanasia”  change to the more humane practice of lethal injection(less stressful to the animal), but a new Board being seated in January stated they are willing to “look at” severing the relationship with research facilities.  The Board has been signing 5-year contracts, reportedly to avoid pressures of public opinion.  The contract is up this year.

Since Lentz acknowledged the widespread sentiment against selling pets for research purposes, and this change is not yet a sure thing, here is information to take further action should you wish to add your voice to help protect the voiceless.  If you scroll a little past half-way down the page, you will find contact names, numbers, and emails. Local animal welfare groups ask people to please email today, January 12.

Hmmm, I wonder how widespread this practice is or may become given the budget slashing required by city’s increasingly empty coffers.