Pet Auto Safety

Duncan’s dad shared a wonderful photo of Duncan wearing his new Bergan dog car harness. Don’t you just love that sweet face! And what a beautiful color Duncan’s coat is.

Duncan is ready to ride in his new Bergan dog car harness.

Duncan’s owner had this to say, “We drove 910 miles on Friday and he was great.  He did manage to slip out of the front of the harness twice but I don’t think I had it tight enough.”

Yes, that can happen. Unfortunately, the tighter you make the harness, the more likely a dog will try to get out of it. And if you make it too tight, the dog could hurt himself trying to get out of it. Duncan’s owner believes Duncan will not try to get out of it once he gets used to it. That’s right. It just takes a little practice.

Thank you, Duncan’s dad for sharing!!!

For more Wordless Wednesday pet photos, check out the blog hop below:

This is our first Follow Up Friday blog hop. It has been an interesting week for us so I thought we would share what’s going on.

It’s a good thing Pierson hasn’t lost his winter coat yet, because it’s snowing in May!

Snow in May
It has been a strange week for weather. It was in the 80s Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was in the 70s. Then Thursday it snowed! Poor Maya & Pierson don’t know whether to shed or grow more fur.

“Please let me wake up from this strange dream of snow in May.”

Canine Epilepsy
Pierson had a second seizure on Wednesday, May 1st. His first seizure was on January 10th of this year. Thankfully, his seizures were very short and don’t seem to happen often. The vet took some tests and was unable to determine the cause. This is a good thing, the vet says. It’s not head trauma, it’s not poison, and his blood tests came out normal. So he is just one of those dogs that have seizures. Seeing my pretty boy Pierson having a seizure is a scary thing, but seizures won’t shorten his life or lessen his quality of life. It is believed that dogs feel no pain during a seizure. And he gets back to his bouncy self within moments after the seizure.

Tomorrow for Pet Safety Saturday, I’m going to provide a link to an article I wrote in January about Pierson’s canine epilepsy. Be sure to stop by tomorrow.

Contest Winner
On a lighter note, Amy B. won the Bergan pet travel barrier. Congratulations Amy!

We will be holding another contest this month so stay tuned. What would you like to see in May’s giveaway contest?

Sharing Pet Safety Photos
You saw the Golden Doodle Spud’s photo earlier this week in his new Bergan dog car harness. Now we’ve seen a photo of another Doodle named Goldie wearing the Kurgo Tru-Fit pet car harness. We haven’t gotten permission to share the photo on our blog, but you can see it on DoodleKisses.

If you have photos of your dog riding in the car, share them with us. We’d love to post them here.

Teaching Pierson to Speak
I taught Pierson to speak last week. It was so easy that he learned it in one day. Two factors made it easy for him to learn: 1) Aussies are natural barkers, and 2) Aussies are super smart. I will hopefully have a video on American Dog Blog soon.

Check out more dog blog posts on the Follow Up Friday blog hop below:

I want to share a short tale about a cute GoldenDoodle named Spud. Spud’s mom had purchased a dog car harness from another company and had a scary experience with it. The tether broke when she stopped suddenly. Poor Spud could have been hurt. Obviously, Spud needed a better pet seat belt so we sent Spud’s mom the safety tested Bergan brand. Here is the photo she took of Spud wearing it. Isn’t he adorable!

Spud is a regular at www.DoodleKisses.com. Here is a direct link to the article that Spud’s mom wrote on Doodle Kisses about her pet seat belt experience – DoodleKisses.

Here is Spud running around with a ball. I just love how cute his ears are when they’re airborne like that.

Spud’s floppy ears are so cute!

Not all dog car harness brands are created equally. A few have not even had testing. For tested brands, consider the Bergan brand like the one Spud is wearing. Also consider PetBuckle, Kurgo Tru-Fit with enhanced strength, and the Roadie Ruff Rider. We have these available on the Dog Seat Belts page of our retail site. Spud’s new Bergan harness and tether has been safety tested to withstand 2,500 pounds of force.

For more Wordless Wednesday pet photos, check out the blog hop below:

No pet auto safety theme today. I just want to share some cute photos of my pups. Maya & Pierson don’t just help me in promoting safety in the car, the also provide me with boundless entertainment.

Maya and Pierson love to play together… although it does look like Pierson is having more fun in this photo than Maya.

Here is one of them playing outside. (Our grass is terribly brown this winter.)

When they are not playing, they are sleeping in the strangest positions.

Pierson too.

Maya loves to swim. (This was taken at the end of summer.)

She also loves baths (wierd).

Pierson likes to dress up. (not really, but he’ll do anything for a cookie.)

This is what Pierson does while I fill up his food bowl. First thing in the morning is potty break, then breakfast.

Synchronized spinning – see more on my American Dog Blog which can be found in the blog hop below.

Those are my pups. See how cute and entertaining they are? No wonder I make them buckle up when they are in the car.

For more adorable pet photos, visit the Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

Sorry, my Wordless Wednesday blog posts are almost never wordless. They’re less wordy, but not wordless.

We had a visitor recently who will be returning again in the middle of the month. Her name is Mau and Mau is a patched tabby cat. BTW, Mau is the Chinese word for cat. Mau is staying with us because her mom is going out of town. She could take Mau with her but Mau, like many cats, is not good at traveling. She hates being confined so a long road trip or airline flight would have been extremely stressful for her.

So mom brought Mau to our house. Mau rode safely in the short car ride because she rode in her pet travel carrier. Once Mau got here, she was very happy to get out of the carrier and into our basement. Our basement is fairly large and is completely finished with carpeting, furniture, and everything. She had plenty of places to investigate and space for all her belongings. It was just like being at home.

Mau in the basement hiding under a chair.

Mau is investigating the basement where she will be staying for a two-week visit.

By the end of her visit, Mau walked around like she owned the place.

Mau is sitting under the table. She is probably looking outside the sliding glass door window which is directly across from her.

Mau had to stay in the basement because of Pierson’s high prey drive. Pierson knows the cat is down there and kept guard at the door.

Here is a picture I drew of Mau about a year-and-a-half ago when she was still a kitten. She loves boxes.

Here is a video of Mau bullying Maya. This was on another visit from Mau before I got Pierson so Mau was allowed upstairs.

Bentley is enjoying the Slumber Pet Couch / Cargo cover he won in our November contest.

Thank you Larrielle for sending us a photo of your dog Bentley on the Slumber Pet couch / cargo cover!

The Slumber Pet couch and cargo cover was the prize of our first contest giveaway. It was held a couple of months ago in November. We don’t have any more of these products available but we are now giving away a dog car harness from your choice of either the Bergan brand or Kurgo Tru-Fit brand. Visit http://www.petautosafetyblog.com/pet-auto-travel-safety/1708-win-dog-car-harness-new-year/ for details on the January 2013 giveaway.

For more great pet photos on the Wordless Wednesday blog hop, check out the other great dog bloggers below.

Be sure to check out my last post about visiting my mom and stepdad in Missouri. I ended up going by myself because my husband’s boss wouldn’t let him have Monday or Wednesday off. Since it is a 5 hour drive, it didn’t make much sense to drive there and only visit for one day. Besides, I had that Dixie Stampede to take my mom and stepdad to on Sunday. That is a lot of driving back and forth. So my husband stayed behind and took care of Maya & Pierson. Here are the photos I took on my visit to my mom’s:

Me petting Sandy the goat. She loves for her chin and cheeks to be scratched.

My mom’s 10 chickens. There is Pixie, Cochise, and I don’t remember the names of the others.

This is one of my mom’s rabbits, Buck.

My mom’s dog Solo. She is such a sweetie!

Rocky is getting old. He is 10 years old and resting here on the bed.

This is a photo of one of the horses at the Dixie Stampede. They did not allow us to take photos of the show itself.

As I said, my husband had to stay behind because of work. It was very sad. But it looks like he had a good time with Maya & Pierson. And our friends Sha Sha and Jinbo were there too.

Here is my husband with Pierson. It looks like they had a great time without me.

Our friend Jinbo has Maya & Pierson doing tricks. They got lots of holiday treats too!

For other great pet photos for Wordless Wednesday, check out the blog hop below!

Beloved Jinger.

Bernal purchased the Snoozer pet car seat from us for his new dog Teddy. He was very happy with the car seat and our customer service, and shared his lovely story of Jinger and Teddy with us.

After his dog Jinger passed away in April 2012, Bernal wasn’t sure if he wanted another dog. But after meeting his granddaughter’s new dog Sasha, he decided to look around for a new best friend. He started at PetFinder.com and ended up at the Almost Home Humane Society of North Central Iowa. There he saw a Bichon Frise mix named Koby and knew he was the one. Koby was matted and malnourished from his previous experience before rescue. Bernal took over his care, renamed him Teddy, and gave him a brand new start on life.

Teddy (Koby) before.

Teddy after. Cute, right?

Teddy is a cherished member of the family.

Teddy has made himself right at home.

If you want to know more details on this story, visit Bernal’s article on Skydrive.live.com. We love rescue stories!!!

Thank you Bernal for sharing the beautiful pet photos of Jinger and Teddy. Thank you for sharing Teddy’s story, and thank you for the wonderful compliments!

For more great Wordless Wednesday pet photos, check out the blog hop below.

Every year for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, we travel from Kansas to Texas to visit family. This year was extra special because we invited our friends Sha Sha and Jinbo to go with us. Because four people and two big dogs would not fit in any of our cars, we rented an SUV. Maya and Pierson rode comfortably and safely in the back cargo area. They got to wear their dog seat belts. But because the Ford did not have cargo rings, I had to use two connecting tethers and reach around to the seat belts in the back seats so that they could be hooked in. Connecting the seat belt tethers to the seat belts did not interfere with our ability to use the seat belts. Here are some pictures from our trip. And check out our other blog, http://americandogblog.wordpress.com/, for the rest of the pictures.

Filling up for gas in Kansas. Notice the top left corner. It is supposed to say, “Local Checks Only” but someone scraped off the C and the arms of the E. What can I say, we live in a college town.

Maya & Pierson in the cargo area of the SUV resting for the long long trip. Because of traffic, the trip ended up taking us 14 hours instead of 11.

Maya in the cargo area with our friend Sha Sha in the back seat.

Maya & Pierson ride in the back of the Ford Escape that we rented for our trip.

We stopped at a rest stop in Oklahoma.

This is at a rest stop in Texas.

I sure do miss the Texas sunsets. We are in north Texas, still a long ways away from my family’s house in Kyle, Texas (about 40 minutes south of Austin).

Finally home! Clockwise from left to right – Pierson, Odie (the bird in the background), me, Sha Sha, and my niece Elizabeth. Pierson is quite curious about little baby Elizabeth.

My nephew Bennett is kissing his little sister Elizabeth while Maya & Pierson look on curiously.

There are more Wordless Wednesday photos from our trip to Texas for Thanksgiving. Be sure to stop by our other blog!

When we started this pet travel photo contest, our intent was to select one photo winner. But there were so many great photos of pets on vacation that we couldn’t pick just one. So we picked three! All three of our winners received $25.

The first winner is Trina and her dog Maggie. While this photo was taken across the ocean in Tuscany. Maggie is currently in New York with a trip planned across the seas again in the spring. Here is what Maggie had to say about her photo:

“This was my favorite vacation. We drove from Geneva Switzerland to our vacation villa in Tuscany. It was absolutely dog bliss! I already know what you’re thinking, and yes I did have my harness seatbelt on for the road trip. The owner had two dogs, and was really happy to see me. She let me roam the grounds, swim in the pool, sniff out her house and even sneaked me a treat or two.
Here I am in from of the villa after a day walking through the lavender fields.
We are lucky dogs, that we get to travel.
Maggie
Wag The Dog UK
Wagging Reviews
http://www.wagthedoguk.com/blog/“

The second winner is Dirk and his three dogs. Mickey and Marley are in the winning photo on a boat. Dirk’s other dog is a Staffordshire Terrier named Mandy. We are sharing her picture too. We love the Petz On Board sign that Dirk has in his vehicle and bought one for ourselves.

Dirk has a holiday house along the river where his dogs love to swim and be on the boat with their ears flapping in the wind. Dirk says, “This was taken about a year ago. My two female dogs (the snowfox (marley), and the staffy (mandy) was adopted from our local animal welfare and at first they were very scared of the water and the boat, but slowly but surely they built confidence and today they own the boat and the water. The daschund has been babied by my girlfriend since he was a pup and thinks he is a german shepard and the pack leader! The staffy (mandy) likes to sit on the back seat putting out the vibe watching the birds flying over her head.”

The third winner is Cynthia and her dog Jack. Jack is a yellow Labrador and white Shepherd cross. He’s as light colored as our Maya. Here is what Cynthia has to say about her photo of Jack:

“This photo is of my dog, Jack, in my significant other’s parents’ backyard in GORGEOUS Miami, FL. We went on vacation there in January of this year. It was a long drive but Jack was a good boy both on the way there and on the way back. He loves to go bye-bye and this was his biggest bye-bye ever! In Miami, he especially enjoyed chasing little lizards and baby iguanas. Up here in Northern Indiana, the only thing he can chase is squirrels, so this was a treat! He also went swimming in the Ocean for the first time. My SO’s parents treated him like he was their own, and he sucked up all of the attention. They even let him lay on their “guest” couch, which even the resident dog isn’t allowed on! Jack also got to taste authentic Cuban food with me, but only a little bit. All in all, it was the. best. vacation. ever!”

Thanks, Cynthia! Get back in touch with us for your prize. I’m sure Jack would love for you to buy him some biscuits and toys.

Thank you to all who entered! On Wednesday, November 7th, we will begin another contest. The prize for the next contest is for the seat/couch cover below. This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer so this is the only one left. The winner for the very last one ever will be chosen at random on November 30th. Come visit us again on Wednesday for the contest details.