A get rid of the winter blahs getaway-vacation for people and dogs

by Jamie Rhein on

For anyone who loves to travel with a dog companion, here’s a weekend getaway with pooch and you in mind. Camp Dogwood is offering everything to get your dog in top form after the holidays during Winter Camp, January 16-18, 2009.

To get rid of stiffness and stress, there’s the dog massage. If you dog is having “issues,” perhaps trying to tell you something and you don’t know what, there’s a session in animal communication. What about a tune-up in the trick department? Or maybe your dog is game for learning a new trick, or to do a bit more of what you want instead of doing whatever on the walks in your neighborhood. A brush up on obedience training may make both of your lives more swell.

Recognizing that a happy person can help make for a happy dog, there are people geared activities a well, such as wine-tasting, photography and arts and crafts.

The camp, located in Illinois not far from Chicago, offers cabins, shared lodging and private rooms. The Comfort Inn also has rooms available. In case you can’t swing the winter session, there is a spring session May 22-25.

Car Seats for Your Pets

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are one who doesn’t like to leave your pet at home on a car trip, but worry about pet safety, here are two options I saw in an article about the latest pet travel gear. They may be slightly over the top, but this is an area of the travel accessory business that’s booming.

If your pet gets cold during car rides, why not consider a bed called a Sleepypod? It heats up when you plug its adapter into your car lighter. And, like a baby car seat carrier, you can take it with you when you leave the car. On the Web site there is a photo of a couple dining at an outdoor cafe with the carrier resting on a chair. There is another of someone waiting in a hotel lobby with the carrier on the floor. And still another of a couple with the carrier between them on a park bench. The photos rotate, so who knows what you’ll see.Another pet car seat for a dog is one that looks like a huge stuffed animal. The stuffed animal seat is called a Bed Pal. It fastens to the backseat of a car with a seat belt. Somehow you buckle your dog into it. There is even a pocket for a dog toy.

I’m sure that my son would love to put our dog Josie in the frog version of this seat. Whenever we travel and take Josie with us, she sits on an old towel on the backseat to keep the dog hair off. (The towel method does not work that well, sad to say.) If a person has a toddler and a dog, I can just see how the toddler might be a bit upset that his or her own car seat is just so darned dull–so utilitarian and not an enormous teddy bear.