Dog friendly cars hit the market - Examiner.com

As seen on the Examiner.com...

With more and more American homes including a furry family member, families are looking for cars that are comfortable and safe for our four-footed friends. Some car makers are now (or will in the future) offering vehicles specially designed to be a safe, secure ride for you and your dog. If you're shopping for a new car, check out these pet friendly autos.

A new offering from Honda Motor Co. may get dogs more interested in checking out the inside of their ride rather than hanging their heads out the window. The Japanese automaker showed off a "Dog Friendly" version of the Honda Element SUV at the New York International Auto Show. The new Dog Friendly™ Element concept is coming in the fall of 2009.

Now you can get your dog a cushy ride.

The vehicle features a cushioned pet bed with safety restraints in the cargo area, a spill-resistant water bowl, and even a ventilation fan to keep canines comfortable.

A folding ramp gives animals an easy way to get in and out. In the back seat, there's an integrated pet carrier and machine-washable seat covers to make it convenient and safe to carry smaller pets. The rubber floor mats feature a toy-bone pattern, and paw-print emblems on the side and back of the vehicle draw attention to its pet-friendly status.

The 2009 Toyota Venza.

The 2009 Toyota Venza offers canine-friendly options in its new five-passenger crossover, which was designed and engineered in the U.S. exclusively for the North American market.

The Venza is available with roughly a dozen pet features, including a rear hatch pet ramp for easier loading and unloading, a leash tether for securing pets in the vehicle, a pet booster seat with harness, a cargo area pet barrier, pet seat-belt buckles, and waterproof, removable hammock-style seat covers. All of these options are available through dealers.

Of course, you can buy many of these pet travel items like ramps and car booster seats from pet supply stores if you decide to get a "plain old car," but it's nice to know that car makers are finally recognizing the importance of pets in our lives and our need to provide safe transport for our pooches.

For more info: If you're looking for a comfortable car for you and your dog, check out the new website dogcars.com. They review dog-friendly vehicles and pet products designed for traveling. Nearly every week they get a wagon, crossover, truck, minivan, SUV, or other dog-friendly vehicle to drive and write about from a dog-lover's point of view.

Source: http://www.examiner.com

How to outfit your home for your pet - Fosters.com

As Seen on Fosters.com

Your house is also your pet's home, and a pet unhappy with its surroundings can lead to all kinds of problems.

A cat disgruntled with its litter box may decide your prized Oriental rug is a more attractive place to relieve herself. Or your dog might run off every time a car whizzes by if he's not penned in the yard.

Or even worse, an inappropriately caged pet could pose danger to its owners like a recent incident in Oxford, Fla., where a Burmese python broke out of its too-small cage and strangled a two-year-old girl.

While options to house and care for your pet seem nearly limitless, remember that one size doesn't fit all. Your pet's temperament will determine what works best.

Sixty-two percent, or 71.4 million U.S. households own a pet, according to the American Pet Products Association, or APPA, and pet owners love to shower their animal companions with supplies. The trade group estimates pet owners will increase their pet spending 5 percent this year to $45.4 billion.

More households own a dog than any other pet, and keeping a canine friend in the yard is a safety precaution for all.

Many owners choose visible fences made of wood, chain link or heavy wire, to keep your dog in the yard. These are practical and durable. However, they can get costly. The least expensive are do-it-yourself wire fences (Benner's Gardens carries kits between $250 and $1,000 depending on size). Another bonus: they aren't as noticeable as other above ground fences and can be taken with you when you move.

Other options include a chain link fence or a wood fence. With installation, a 300-foot chain link fence costs between $2,500 and $3,500, whereas a wood fence of the same length runs between $5,000-$10,000.

A more affordable option is an underground electric fence, or an invisible fence. The price tag for these: $1,500-$2,000. But if you're a handyman, a do-it-yourself fence runs as much as $400.

The fence is actually a radio antenna that transmits a signal to the dog's collar, which then creates a shock like static electricity. That's usually enough to dissuade a dog from going any further. The learning curve takes about two weeks. Until the dog learns its boundaries, flags are set up along the fence as visual indicators.

Some breeds take more, or less, time to learn the boundaries.

"Golden retrievers are wimps," says Bob Vetere, president of APPA. "It took one time to train mine."

Now, that you've got your dog safely contained in the yard, where's it going to sleep? If it's strictly an outside dog, make sure to provide a dog house with appropriate insulation. Typically, insulation is built into the material of the dog house, so to keep the dog from chewing on it. And it the dog keep him cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Houses range from easy-to-clean plastic ones to the tried-and-true cedar models. If you want something more elaborate, there are multileveled houses and ones with porches or sundecks. One company unveiled a three-room dog house at an APPA trade show. One room was for eating, one for sleeping and one for play. The catch: This monster dog house was intended for indoor use.

Want to travel with your canine? Consider buying a collapsible tent-like dog house for the road. Read more...

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