Vacations Blog

It’s an evironmentalist-eat-dog world where the treehuggers’ latest target is not the hummer or Texas oil men, but poor defenseless pets. That’s right – now they’re saying that you should eat your pets rather than take them on vacation.

Dog's day out

A book by Robert & Brenda Vale, called ‘Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living,’ suggests that dogs and cats have very big eco-paw prints. The book says that the amount of food a dog eats in one year takes up around 1.1 hectares of land.

Measure that against a 6,213 mile (10,000 km) road trip in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser, which only takes up .41 hectares of land. Basically, what they’re saying is that you can take 3 roadtrips of 6,213 miles each every year, if you stick a fork in your pet.

 The Vales suggest in the book that pets should be recycled for pet food. Imagine the horror, if your precious Persian finds that you have turned it into a cannibal. It’s like something out of a Stephen King book.

And that’s not all. The authors would also have you give up your own vacations, shopping trips and other leisure activities, in addition to cooking up your pets. Apparently the authors are exempt from all this, and they describe their own lifestyle – which includes a trip to Japan and ownership of a cat.

The Vales are eccentric enough to suggest that you shouldn’t go through with a divorce until you find someone else, so that you don’t need separate homes. But the authors apparently have no problems buying a new house.

Hopefully, there won’t be people screwy enough to listen to this pair of nutjobs and actually give up their pets, vacations, or vacations with your pets. These are not luxuries - once you get a pet, you’ll realize that they’re just as necessary as taking care of your grandma.

Photo by br1 ~ br1dotcom

The W is for woof.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to stay at the W Hotel in beautiful San Diego.  My mixed feelings on that will come out in a later post.  Hey, that’s like suspense!

On the corner outside of the hotel’s main entrance you will find this water station for your canine companion, which is a nice touch.  Downtown San Diego is great for walking, which means yours dogs bark and your dogs get thirsty.

Seeing as right inside the lobby the price of water jumps up about $6 per bottle, you may want to sneak a sip or two for yourself.  It’s a recession, people.

Photo by Whit Honea

For more family-friendly (what? dogs are family!) travel photos visit DeliciousBaby’s Photo Fridays.

Just when you think its time to play and create havoc while your master or mistress is off enjoying the Hawaiian beaches, along comes a party pooper – the Petcare Robot.

Petcare Robot

The Mint Robot #2: The Petcare Robot is the latest in bleeding edge technology for remote pet surveillance and interaction. Unfortunately, it looks like a wacky reject dumped by the special-effects team of a Steven Speilberg film.

But I suppose that’s what makes it so interesting to goofy cats and dogs who can smell conspiracy and alien intruders even in a chewy toy.

Not only can you monitor your pets remotely, you can also scare the living daylights out of them by bringing the Petcare Robot to life. Well, see, that’s why it’s called a robot.

The robot can be set to track your pet, and it will roll around behind your pet, following it everywhere and driving your pet batty. You can enjoy the show remotely as your pet goes nuts trying to shake off the persistent stalker.

It even has infra-red LEDs, so you can keep tabs even in the dark. And even worse, those weird-looking googly eyed camera lenses – they can detect if a pet tries to lick or scratch, and they’ll clam shut automatically.

That ball you see at the bottom can be moved around remotely, and you can send it rolling and talk to your pet through the Robot’s remote control  – play recorded sounds, music or your own voice commands.

If the Petcare Robot catches on, you’ll soon be sitting on the white sandy beaches of Hawaii playing with your pet back home, instead of enjoying the oceanview. Please don’t buy this thing and spoil your pet’s one and only chance to enjoy some downtime away from you.

Photo credit - Mintpass

As you may have heard in my critically acclaimed (moms are like critics) podcast regarding travel with children (and pets), it’s always nice to make a pit stop count.

This is how we do it.  Get outside and stretch their legs and their imagination.  Also, run an unofficial tally on the local number of ladybugs.

For more family-friendly travel photos visit DeliciousBaby’s Photo Fridays.

Photo by W. Honea

love my dog, Ping. She and I are practically inseparable, she follows me wherever I go and often refuses to leave me. I like to take her on vacation with me, but often that is not realistic. Many hotels don’t accept dogs and even if they did, she likes the great outdoors too much to be stuck inside a hotel room for any length of time. These are my tips for finding great care for your pet while you are away:

1. Ask a neighbor. We often ask one of the neighborhood kids to feed, walk and play with her everyday while we are gone. We leave new chew toys and special treats for her to find around the yard, too. This works for those short weekend getaways, but not for longer periods of time. She gets lonely and starts digging. I should mention that my neighborhood is really great, everyone watches out for each other and each other’s dogs. This may not work too well for city dwellers who relish anonymity.

2. Hire a pet sitter. Lists of pet sitters are everywhere, our vet has a list, as does our humane society, the phone book (who uses that?) and there is even a national association of pet sitters. We use a pet sitter when we are going to be gone for more than three days. They charge a higher rate than the neighborhood kids, but if you have multiple pets, the cost per pet can be pretty low. Rates vary, call and get references. I wouldn’t leave Ping with anybody who thought hitting was a good training method. Please confirm how much time they plan to be in your home, discuss and agree on the amount of time your dog will be walked and played with to guarantee good behavior. My dog needs companionship, walks and playtime. Our pet sitter almost takes better care of her than I do.

3. Find a good kennel. There are good kennels and bad kennels. This site shows the difference. Check it out. If I had seen this years ago, I could have prevented my dog from having a really bad experience. They promised me he would walked, petted and cared for everyday. When I went to pick him up, he slunk out of the kennel and had no light in his eyes. Misery emanated from him. Based on his woebegone behavior, I was certain he had never been let out of his cage, ever. I have since visited kennels that are clean and happy places and feel quite comfortable leaving my dog there. Please look at three or four kennels before you select one. You may be using it for years to come. Shop early, the good kennels book up well in advance of the holiday season. Best advice, trust your feelings and check on a few things like water, food and exercise time . It is fine to pay a bit more for better care. You and your pet can each enjoy your separate vacations, guilt free.

Do you have any tips about taking care of your pet while you are away? Please let me know your travel tips, stories and ideas. I really like pet pictures too.