See more of the truth about what dogs want from life by artist, cartoonist, illustrator, Lisa Hanawalt.
News, Advice and Resources for Thoughtful Pet People
Tag Archive for ‘Dogs’
The Columbus Dog Connection rescue group has a spiffy tutorial on how to make your own elevated dog bed out of PVC pipe like the beds listed in this post on how to keep your pets cool. (Be sure to check out the Columbus Dog Connection too!) This would make an incredible project for students, scouts, etc.!
There are plans for small or large beds. It has great tips on sourcing your materials so you save money—like looking for outdoor fabric in the second or remainders section of your fabric store, or checking with local companies that make awnings for businesses or boats to see if they have scraps. There are also invaluable tips to make sure you make a strong, durable bed. Sweet!
The tutorial includes clear instructions on how to sew the cover for the bed. And a spreadsheet for mass production if you plan to make beds to help your local shelter—they often want elevated beds to keep dogs off the cold, hard concrete floors in their facilities.
As an aside, Columbus Dog Connection looks like a remarkable group. Besides generously sharing such a great tutorial, it looks like the group is very busy. Check out the page on beds they’ve made for underfunded shelters—lots of volunteers and so many beds. Someone behind the scenes is doing great work. It takes an outstanding leader to organize so many volunteers and sponsors. Every rescue group should be so lucky!
And now they have a video tutorial! Columbus Dog Connection is awesome!!
Rez Dogs is a great documentary about a very complex issue. Our dog, Saffron, was a stray on the Yakama Reservation in central Washington and because of her, I’ve tried to become more educated about Rez Dogs. This documentary wasn’t easy to watch, but I think it’s important to know what’s going on and to try to understand the issues. (via our good friend Holly & her 3 awesome Rez Dogs)
I think poverty is at the root of the problem and until that changes, Rez Dogs will have a hard life. An understandable distrust of outsiders doesn’t help either. Animal control services on reservation are often underfunded or non-existant. Can you imagine running a shelter with $300 dollars worth of supplies per year? This problem isn’t unique to Reservations either. Many places with over-taxed, crumbling, or non-existant municipal infrastructures have problems with stray dogs—Russia, Iraq, Mexico, India, Bulgaria, etc. Please click below to watch Rez Dogs.
I love our Roadie harness! Every time our dog Saffron rides in the car with us, she’s in her Roadie and buckled in in the back seat. If you’re taking your dog in your car, you’ll both be much safer if your dog is secured by a strong car harness and seat belt. Find out why you should always buckle up your dog. If you have a dog who is nervous about riding in the car, a harness can make them feel more secure because they’re not constantly trying to keep their balance. RuffRider used to have different models of harnesses, but have trimmed down to one, which I think is just fine because that one model is awesome and WAY better than all the other car harnesses I’ve seen.
The Roadie isn’t just a regular harness. It was designed specifically to keep a dog comfortable riding in a car and safe in the event of an accident. It was independently tested and can withstand over 6,000 lbs. of force. (The Society of American Engineers standard for human seat belts is 5,000 lbs. of force.) Unlike a lot of car harnesses, the Roadie doesn’t have any buckles or clips that could fail in an accident. That does mean there is a certain way to put the harness on, but once you understand how, you’ll have no problems. You can check out their instructions. It’s easy to secure your dog in the car by threading the seat belt through the loop on the back of the harness. Or you can use a carabiner to clip the harness in.
It’s important that if you use a carabiner, get one used for rock climbing with a strength rating of at least 23 kN. We use a Black Diamond Dynotron which is rated 25kN. Don’t use some crappy carabiner you get at Wal-Mart—it isn’t strong enough.
(Note: I have no connections to RuffRider, I just really like thier product!)
Update April 19, 2011: I’ve recently gotten a few questions about this post, so I thought I’d repost it for those of you who may have missed it. This is such a great idea for an Earth Day project! Let me know if you make one yourself.
Last week I wrote about an environmentally friendly way to dispose of your dog’s poop using a waste digester—the Doggie Dooley or the Staywell Eco Clean. They work like a miniature septic tank. They can also cost a pretty penny and depending on how many dogs you have, may not be able to handle all your poop problems.
Happily you can make your own pet waste digester for dirt cheap. You’ll need:
- a large plastic garbage can with a lid hat fits tightly
- a drill to make holes in the side of the can
- something to cut the bottom out of the can
- a shovel
- a hole dug with that shovel
- gravel or small rocks
- septic tank enzyme available at hardware stores (Septonic, Septo-Bac, Roebic Septic Treatment, Drain Out, Rid-X)
Don’t locate your waste digester anywhere near edible plants. And don’t put one of these too close to water, like a river bank, or anywhere where the water table is high. Waste digesters won’t work properly in very clayey soil and digestive activity stops below 40°F, but picks up again when the weather warms up. If you live in a cool area, try to locate your digester in a sunnier part of your yard. Also, too much chlorine in the water you add to the digester may slow digestive activity.
Check out the detailed slide show for a DIY waste digester and make your own.
The video tells you how it works and how to maintain you DIY Doggie Dooley.
