Recently I moved the sofa in our living room about a foot.  So what, you could very reasonably ask.  Well, the dogs turned out to think it was a big deal. My office takes up about half the living room and this week I encroached even more on the living room so I can put a rebounder in my office space.

This meant that our dog bed blocked the access to my office unless you like walking over foam all the time. I don’t.  This bed is a formerly-human bed, consisting of 3 pads that can fold up. I took off the cover, cut one of the 3 parts off and after recovering, put it in my office. Neither dog much cares about it.

The old bed was plenty large for both dogs, and they were often there together. Now the smaller 2-pad bed is the prime real estate. In this sequence, shot in about 20 minutes, senior LarryDog claimed it first.

Then he got up for a drink and Rottweiler Lola immediately came out of the bed in her crate–also in the living room–and took it over.

But the cat rules supreme around here! Neither dog will challenge this. Read the rest of this entry

We have used Flexi retractable leashes for many years. You just get used to a favorite brand of something, and that’s how it goes. Once we bought a clone but it just didn’t feel right in my hand, and I was glad when it wore out. So when I was asked by a publicist who works with Flexi if I would review their new Flexi City 6 foot lead, I said sure and she sent me one. We don’t live in a city but I still see some good use for this leash in our family, and even more for city dwellers.

We keep our leashes handy by the front door. The little gray one on the right is the new city leash,and the other two are our longer ones. The black bag hanging above contains dry dog treats and a clicker for the walks where I do a little training. The other bags are for our grocery shopping and the like, as we try to use as little plastic as we can.

What is a retractable leash? Read the rest of this entry

Have you ever been out walking with your dog when you spot one or more other dogs, off-leash and with or without an owner, coming towards you? Here’s a tip for handling that situation. Of course, if your dog is perfectly socialized, there probably won’t  be any issue. Or if you know those dogs and everybody is friends. But what if your dog doesn’t like other dogs in his face, like our LarryDog, or is afraid of them? Read the rest of this entry