Walk Fido

Brrr...

 
It's cold out there!  Luckily, J. Crew has their lovely dog sweaters on sale.

Football Season & Fido

Football season is here and that means new gear - for the players, the fantasy football players, dog owners and of course, the dogs themselves. While we've not seen too many tricked-out doggie clients or decked out darlings downtown, we have certainly seen a sharp increase in doggie merch that is all about your team - pro football or college, there are plenty of shops that cater to outfitting your dog with your teams logos in just about every conceivable way.

As Angelenos without a football team (le sigh) to call our own (again), we prefer this more generic nod to the season...available at Muttropolis for $19.00   

It's Hot Out There!

With the weather getting hotter by the second, dogs are having a tough time keeping cool. Downtown's sidewalks and streets can be hot on paws and can radiate heat up to their dog bellies and faces.

Because we want all the doggies to stay hydrated, we're always on the look-out for ways to keep Fido cool while out on a walk, or hike or all day trip.

We've gathered up a few of our favorites here - from a vest you can dunk in water and the best on the go water bottle, to the ultimate in dog gear: their very own Camelbak lookalike!

Adventure Dog Bowl $12.00 at REI
Gulpy Water Dispenser, $7.00 at REI
Swamp Cooler Vest, $50.00 at REI
Doggie Camelbak, $26.00 at Things4YourDog

Tough Toys for Tough Teeth

We meet many dogs who like to chew and who have tough teeth. All good things - teaching your dog chewing (on the right thing!) from an early age is a wonderful way to keep other behaviors in check. Anytime they're doing something you don't like, you can always redirect their behavior to a chew toy, which is an acceptable way to get out their energy.

The trick for tougher teeth and heavy chewers is that some bones are way too soft and disintegrate into pieces in a matter of minutes. Other bones are too hard and can break teeth (this happened recently to our bulldog). Finding tough toys that fall somewhere in the middle and that will actually stay in one piece for a few months after many long chew sessions has been a challenge.

So we are loving these new firehose squeaks. They come in durable nylon, they are seamed with even tougher fabric and they are...kind of cute to boot. 

Spring Things: Collars for the Gents

On Monday, we brought you a few pink collars for the ladies -- to book-end the week, we've rounded up a few bright and sunny collars for the gents.

Just as strangers often assume girl dogs are boys, we find that many think our boy dogs are girls! 

One sure way to banish any questions: boy collars!  Instead of just sticking to an all-blue pallette, we selected a range of colors and styles to suit all the different gents out there who will be strutting their stuff this spring.

All collars are Walk Fido tough - no wamby pamby collars here!

• Superhero POW! collar, $36, from Calling All Dogs
• Monkey Business collar, $28, from Muttropolis
• Toad Stool collar, $37, from Muttropolis
• Blue Camo collar, $30, from Fetching Dog Collars
• Lucky Boy collars, $39, from Wrapables
• Pee Wee collars, $26, from Olive Green Dog

Spring Things: Lovely Collars for the Ladies

Spring is here (no more rain gear required in these parts!) and we find ourselves and our furry friends in need of some zippy new collars.

While we don't typically subscribe to the notion that girls should wear pink, we have recently encountered several friends and clients who are tired - so tired - of strangers who assume their girl dogs are boy dogs.  One surefire way to help them figure out what's what (and who's who) is to get your ladies a fun spring collar.

All of these are sturdy enough to pass the Walk Fido test (no "foofie" gear here!) and just might do the trick!

We'll be covering all things spring this week (including gear for the gents!) so stay tuned!

• Modern Bloom Collar, $37, from Muttropolis
• Pink & Lime Bubbles Collar, $20, from Muttropolis
• Valencia Flower Collar, $29, from Muttropolis
• Hippie Dog Collar, $14, from The Pampered Pup
• Green Lollipop Collar, $20, from The Modern Pet
• Pink Elephants Collar, $28, from Fetching Dog Collars

It's Cold & Wet Out There!

We never thought we'd see the day, but with colder LA temperatures and now wet weather to boot, we've taken the plunge: we bought our pit bull Stella a little dog hoodie.  She is so cold every morning that she shivers through the entire hour walk and at night, she can't go potty without shaking like a mad-woman. Those little pits don't have any fat on them to keep them warm!  Several clients have purchased similar hoodies and jackets for their bullies and we know why!

We've rounded up some great options for pooches that are too small or too lean to brave the cold without a little protection:

• Green Toggle Parka, $73 - Might be a little bit much for LA weather, but if this week's weather keeps up, it certainly wouldn't hurt. Would also be great for all that snow in Mammoth and Big Bear.
• Arctic Jacket, $10.99 - Again, might be a tad over the top, but at that price, why the heck not?
• Base Dog Raincoat, $44.95 - It is pouring rain as we type so while this may seem silly, it seems perfectly reasonable right about...now.
• Trench Coat w/Hood, $64.95 - The hat is a show-stopper because it's so difficult to keep a hood on a dog's head while on a vigorous walk without covering their eyes completely!
• Northwind Fleece, $40.00 - Very similar to the one we found for Stella, nice and warm, but very functional. Not a lot of bells and whistles but gets the job done.

Sort of for the Dog, Mostly for the Lover...

As we mentioned earlier this week, we don't quite understand all the flurry of activity around buying tons of holiday gifts for your dogs.  They can really only play with one toy at a time and we don't go in for all that holiday clothing everyone is so fond of making their dogs wear during the season.

We do, however, know a lot of dog lovers who need holiday gifts. Here's our first round-up of a few items that are to be used by their dogs, but are mostly for the dog-lovers themselves. These items will either save time, expense, messes, or will provide just what the busy dog-lover needs but won't buy for themselves!

• Fetch spill mat, $11 - $21 - We can't tell you how many times we've had to clean up the floor after feeding time! Water, food, all mixed together on our old hardwood floors. Yuck. This lovely mat prevents all that cleaning. A great idea for the pet lover in your life!
• Wagging Dog Bowl Set, $72 - Definitely for the dog - but oh so cute for the owner. Come on - you have to admit these bowls make you laugh. Extra special bowls for extra special dog lovers.
• Grip Tex Boots, $65 - Another one for the dogs, but oh so convenient for their owners. If you've ever taken your dog to the snow, you know what we mean. These boots will save dog-lovers tons of time - no more cleaning urea/salt off their frozen paws or rubbing vaseline on their little pads because the salt on the snow has burned through the skin!
• Rescue Remedy, $20 - Good for you, good for the dog, good for your dog-lover friends. It's been called yoga in a bottle for a reason!  Naturally relaxes pets when they travel during the busy holiday season. A relaxed dog means a relaxed owner and a relaxed owner equals a relaxed dog!
• Talking Gingerbread Man, $6 - 25, While this one's a little more for the dog, this talking gingerbread man will provide hours of amusement for any dog-lover. We had to toss in a little holiday cheer!
• Eco-friendly Fleece Mats, $44 - These mats are perfect for car rides, family visits or snuggling on the couch. They are soft and cuddly, but very good at trapping all that dog hair so when the trip is over, there's no hair left behind!

Gift Guides Extraordinaire

There have been many "gift-guides" created in the blogosphere (and dogosphere) the past few weeks. Which makes sense, it is the holidays after all. But most of the dog gift guides we've seen focus on gifts you would give to...your dog. Which, beyond a new toy or two, doesn't make a whole lot of sense to us.

What does make sense: gifts you can give to the dog-lovers in your life for the holidays, for birthdays, and beyond. For the next few days, we'll be posting a variety of gifts for the dog-lovers you know. Some gifts you might even want to keep for yourself!

Stay tuned for the gift guides - you won't wanna miss 'em.

Women's Bulldog T-Shirt, $20, from Alfie & Rex

Nicole Richie Dog Urinals - Really

Nicole Richie is promoting a dog urinal product created by Lennart Järlerbro. She would like the lampposts in and around our fair city of L.A. to last longer and she is sure that preventing dogs from peeing on them is the answer. Talk about an odd product for her to push. We find it - and her - bizarre. We even find the way this topic has caught like wildfire a little odd. But, any new dog product introduced in Los Angeles is worthy of our fair attention, celebrity attachment or not. So - we thought we'd do a little investigating.

What we can say, for sure, is that Nicole Richie has a fabulous PR team, as we notice that while this invention is quite the hot topic in the blog & dogosphere, every blog quotes the exact same press release and there are no pictures of the urinals that were supposedly unveiled last month. None. Isn't that odd? They've all just taken the press release and run with it. Word for word. Sentence for sentence.

The only patent we can find for a dog urinal of any kind was filed by J.D. Thomas in 1964. The illustrations above are attached to that patent.  We've found no patents by Swedish designer Lennart Jarlerbro for a dog urinal, but we did find his patent for a "training sulky for a trotting horse."  We won't even touch that one.

Walk Fido is investigating and will bring you more information as soon as we've got it.