by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Being prepared for an emergency with your pet:

• Have proper ID tags on your dog/cat with your Cell phone # on it.

• Make sure if your dog is microchiped  – that the microchip registered with your proper contact information (many people don’t realize this) read our post here “Is your pet’s Microchip registered?“

• Have a copy of your pets most recent veterinary records with you and an extra copy in your car, take a photo of them store them on your phone as well.

• If you have to evacuate – Do you know where you are going? Is it pet friendly shelter or hotel? Can you bring your pets with you?

• If you are staying with family or friends and they have pets you should bring your pets crate with you, (or go out and buy one now), to be able to give your pet a safe secure place to be incase the pets don’t get along.

• Have an extra crate in the trunk of your car – if you have to leave in a moments notice.

• Gas up you car before the storm is close and get some cash so you have it just in case.

• Have a recent, clear picture of your pet printed out – put in a ziplock baggie, (what if you can’t re-charge your phone?)

• Store pertinent contact information for Emergency Vets within a 50 mile radius of your home and Animal Shelters in your phone (and have printed out) – you may not have wifi – so being able to access your contact list is helpful.

• Have a bag prepared and ready to go with all your pets needs.

• Always have an extra collar and leash in you car and in this bag.  And in your car also.

• Have a 1^st aid kit prepared and in the bag – I keep one in my car too.
• Take a Pet CPR and 1st Aid class – being prepared ahead, knowing what to do can save a pets life.  Click here to see the next class coming up on Long Island.
• Have a week’s supply or more of pet food and water (if you feed raw realize that you may have to feed kibble in place of that raw food in case you’re power goes out or if you are staying somewhere with your pet that has no refrigeration for the raw food.)  Also a great option for Raw is the freeze dried raw food that doesn’t have to be refrigerated.

• Any medication your pet is taking – make sure you have refills of that ready to go – call your veterinarian now – better to be safe than sorry. (Many vets will call a pets prescription into a local pharmacy if you can get to the vet’s office or if you don’t live close to your vet.)

• Have towels and blankets in your car – incase your pet is wet and needs to be dried off.

• Have a crate, carrier or cage easily accessible if you need to leave in a hurry – and you can throw it in your car. (Many store our crates in not so easy to get to places – attics, basements, if you have to grab it in a moments notice).

During the storm – if you don’t have to evacuate and you’re riding it out at home as many of us will be – remember that:

• Many pets can be completely freaked out during storms. They feel the Barometric pressure, they hear the wind, rain and thunder.   So you and your family have to be diligent about keeping them safe, indoors and confined.

• Make sure your doors leading outside are secured – so your pet doesn’t sneak outside.

• If you have a gated yard, be sure to tie or bungy cord that gate shut, and if you absolutely have to take your pet out during the storm (this is Very much NOT suggested!).  If you do have to take them out for potty, have a properly secured collar or harness on, (that they can’t slip out of), and leash your pet to take them outside.   Wear gloves or tie your dog to you when going outside so the leash doesn’t slip out of your hands.

• I personally would wait to take my dog Cody outside or only let him go potty a few feet from the door and if you have wee-wee pads in the house – see if your pet would use them.

This is not about being paranoid – this is about being prepared!

For Long Islander’s you can click here for a list of Animal Shelters below:

Long Island Town Municipal Shelters – where lost pets could be:

Town of Babylon Animal Shelter
51 Lamar Street
West Babylon – 11702
631-643-9270

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Did you know that not all dogs can swim? Most people think that swimming comes naturally to dogs. We have all seen the funny videos of little dogs doing the doggie paddle in the air when held above the bath water by their owners, but that movement doesn’t mean they will be able to swim, stay afloat or tread water.

Being on an Island, dog owners should consider this when out at the beach, near a lake with their dogs, or hanging out by the pool. We are lucky in this day and age there are life jackets made for dogs, scamper ramps to help dogs out of a pool and dog trainers willing to teach dogs to swim. But that doesn’t mean your dog is going to like it or have a swimming technique come naturally to them.

Some things dog owners should never do when trying to get your dog to swim, is force your dog into the water by dragging or throwing a dog in. It’s not only cruel, but can scare a dog or make the dog fearful of water.

If you have a puppy, you want to start young introducing the pup to the water, always, always monitored by an adult and never left alone near a body of water. Keep the puppy leashed, and it you have a dog life jacket (properly fitted for the dog’s size), have the puppy wear it. You can get the puppy accustomed to wearing it, by having the dog wear the vest for a few minutes at a time while indoors or on a short walk. While the puppy is leashed you can go into a pool or in the calm water on a shore and just have the pup wade in the water along side of you. Let the dog go in on its own or if you have a dog or friend with a dog that likes the water – that will often help your puppy have less fear.

When teaching the puppy how to swim, make sure that you eventually take the life vest off during lessons for short periods of time, so the dog learns to become buoyant on their own. Owners can assist by helping hold up the dog’s body from the mid to back section of the dog:

Photo credit, American Boxer Club.

Some dog breeds do take much more naturally to the water as that is what they were bred for. Labs, Goldens, Portuguese Water Dogs, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, to name a few are natural water dogs, but they still may need help along the way learning. Some breeds are not designed for long swims or swimming at all. My Pit Bull Cody, is an just learning to swim, but his mouth is so wide that he can inadvertently swallow a lot of water while swimming. Which can make him sick, so his swim time is never more than 10 to 15-minutes, and that is in and out of the water.

If you are unsure how to teach your dog to swim, the best thing to do is to hire a skilled dog trainer who knows how to do this properly. (Interview the trainer to be sure they know how to teach this). In teaching a dog to swim it’s best to be in the water with the dog as some dogs can panic, and you or the dog trainer can help assist them out.

Another thing to consider is if you are at the ocean beach, be careful of throwing a ball or stick into rough surf – this could easily knock down a dog and injure the dog. Dogs can easily be tossed around by a wave. Some bay beaches have a quick drop off, and if your dog is not used to swimming, a deep drop off can be dangerous. While we all want our dogs to cool off, not every dog is suited to swim. So take steps to enjoy the water with your dog, but safety first!

Cody was on a long line and I did not let him into the waves.

The life jacket can also be a safety precaution while out kayaking, boating or paddle boarding with your dog. Also a long line, not a retractable leash, a long leash made of cotton that can be purchased at most pet stores in 10, 15, 25 and 50 in length, is a great tool while teaching a dog to swim. If the dog is over enthusiastic and not on a leash the dog can keep going and going. Believe me I have witnessed this in person. Funny at first, scary when the dog was pretty far out into the bay, luckily for the owner the dog turned and finally headed back. If the owner had a long line, he could have gently pulled the dog back towards the shore.

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Can you imagine hiking with your dog, your dog doing agility, chasing after a ‘rabbit’ (a plastic bag) during a lure coursing run, swimming with other dogs in a designated doggie pool, ‘Barks and Crafts,’ Yappy hours and much more in the scenic and beautiful Adirondack Mountains.  If you can picture this and you’re thinking about taking a vacation with your dog, there are places that are specificially designed for you and your dog to vacation together, one company run by Janice Costa, is Canine Camp Getaway.  Canine Camp Getaway of NY is held twice a year with the upcoming dates of June 23-27, 2015 and September 18-21, 2015 in Lake George, NY.  If spending a great vacation with your dog and like-minded dog lovers, you have to check out Canine Camp Getaway – and book before they are sold out. For more infomation call 877-592-2674 or click here.

Traveling with your pet in an RV?  Staying on a boat or staying in the city for the summer in a new apartment – and trying to figure out how to get your dog to ‘hold it’ during that 30 floor elevator ride to the ground level or until the boat docks?  Why not make it easy for you and your traveling pet and get a UGODOG Pet Potty where they can take care of business.  UGODOG Pet Potty is an innovative and environmentally-friendly indoor dog potty training system. UGODOG helps keeps dog’s paws dry, your beach rental house, RV or boat clean and your dog healthy, just the way you and your puppy prefer it.  With the easy to clean double grate design, UGODOG Indoor Dog Potty provides all of the benefits of a traditional litter box without any of the mess.  It can also easily slide under a bed or table of your RV or boat if you want it out of sight when guests are over (of course knowing your pet’s potty schedule is recommended if you do store it out of the way). A great option when traveling and your dog may not be able to be taken for a potty break for a while.  It is also the only indoor dog potty awarded 5 Stars and approved by the American Pet Association.

If you’re traveling with a dog that needs to take daily medications – there is a new way that you can give them their meds – Doggables Treats.  The spoon shaped dog scoops are made with 100% human grade, all-natural ingredients that are designed to enhance your dog’s health while on medicine with the best quality ingredients.  You can feed your dog a pill by using the dog scoop as a spoon into peanut butter or their other favorite wet food, and hide the pill in there – while giving them the entire scoop that is a biscuit they can eat. There are no artificial flavors, ingredients, gums, glutons, sugar, etc., and they are made here in the USA.  The dog scoops come in two flavors, Peanut Butter and Pumpkin and large and small sizes. A fantastic idea if you ask me!

Speaking of biscuits, right here on Long Island, Bubbles & Biscuits in Holbrook has many needs you are looking for whether you’re traveling with your pet or need a place to board your pet.  Bubbles & Biscuits have the following services: grooming, training, doggie daycare, boarding, play groups, a self-service dog wash and now a NEW Doggie Fitness Center.  Whether you need your pup groomed before going on vacation, or if you need to board your dog while you’re away, or for a bath after that day-cation at the beach with your pup – Bubbles and Biscuits has a many services that you need this summer. They have a staff of professional animal lovers who’s mission and passion is to work with your four-legged family member to ensure a positive experience.

For additional travel tips and advice, you have to watch the 2 video’s below – both have excellent and different information that any savvy pet traveler should know!

Traveling on a plane with your pet?  Watch Dana’s video below:

Pet Friendly vacations require some homework and pre-planning.  Watch Kathleen’s video below:

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

In the late fall of 2014 I visited nearly every animal shelter on Long Island bringing pet supplies or treats for the dogs and cats there.  As an animal lover, of course there was a dog at each shelter that I liked or wanted.  I am sure many of you can relate!

Two days before Christmas I went to the Town of Islip animal shelter to bring a bunch of dog biscuits I baked for them, with the Paw it Forward cookie cutters.  It was a cold and rainy day and there, and there was really no one else looking at the dogs or visiting the shelter to adopt.  It was 2 days before Christmas after all.

As I walked down the row, a few of the dogs started barking and once they heard the crinkle of the bag, they all quieted down and many were wagging their tails, jumping up at their kennel gate, pawing at the fencing – all very much wanting attention. While it is sad, the Town of Islip shelter supervisor, staff and volunteers (Live Love Bark Rescue) do a wonderful job at the shelter, like many of our shelters here on LI – but it is still no place for a dog to live.  For me it was nice that there were not many people in the run aside from a kennel aide – so I could take my time and saying hello to each dog.

While talking to and trying to give equal attention to all the dogs there, this one dog stood out to me.  Maybe it was his goofy expression, or his one ear sticking up, or his eyes bugging out a little – but maybe it was his calm demenor but wildly wagging tail.  Or a combo of everything.  His name was ‘E.T.’ yes like the movie.  I said to him, “what’s up with you goofy?  You’re so sweet.”  Gave him a couple extra treats – told him not to tell the other dogs, and I moved on.

The Holidays came and went and in early January, I asked one of the volunteers about him, what about ET?  Is that goofy dog ET still there?  They said yes he is still there and I saw his picture on their facebook page – but didn’t know too much else.

In early February, I went to the shelter again to drop off some more supplies, and went inside to see if ET was still there, I thought he was – but wasn’t sure.  Sure enough he was in his kennel, leaning on the door, wagging his tail totally chill.   I went over was petting him and asking him what was up, ‘thump, thump, thump’ went his tail.  He was so relaxed in the shelter and didn’t seem to care about the noise, dogs barking, dogs walking by, people coming and going, etc.  I was now more curious about him.  Dogs can often be very stressed out in a shelter, nervous, scared, barking, jumping, but not ET he was super relaxed.

After returning from a business trip to Global Pet Expo in Orlando, I asked my friends that volunteer again, what is up with ET? Do you have any additional info on him? They told me, “he likes cats, has been tested with dogs and is good, but a bit of ‘Marley’ in him.”

I decided to go on St. Patrick’s day to meet him in the meet and greet room.  In the meet and greet room, ET was nuts! It was jail break crazies, hyper, knocking things over, climbing on stuff, stealing stuff of the shelves in there, and just super silly.  I was thinking, “Holy shit this dog is crazy!” But after about 5 minutes he started to calm down.  I did some basic commands, sit (which he knew), stay (which he did not know) and just overall evulating him.  Seemed like an awesome dog to train and mold, he calmed down so much he was sitting in my lap, and just a big pittie smile from ear to ear.

So with that my goal was to help get him adopted.  I posted him on my instagram account, Facebook pages and told people I knew about him.  A dog that is chill in the shelter, good with people, kids, cats, dogs – I thought he wouldn’t last there and would get snatched up soon.   People came to meet him and then didn’t adopt him.  Now sadly, this is not uncommon.  There are millions of other amazing dogs in shelters across the country that get overlooked and left behind.  Some sitting there for years and years.  But I really thought he would get adopted and soon.

Nothing.  He kept getting passed up.  The more I thought about it, the more I thought this would be the perfect dog for me, but wasn’t sure if I could adopt him.  One day in early late March, I went with the animal Shelter volunteers with them for a walk at a local park with ET and another dog.  He proudly wore his, ‘adopt me’ outfit. We told people who stopped to pet him how great he was that he was up for adoption.

I wanted to see how he was out of the shelter envirornment.  In the beginnning of the walk – he was pulling the shelter volunteer and just hyper – but he seemed to calm down and he was so awesome with everyone.  Bikes going by, people running and walking by, other dogs coming and going.  He was pretty much bomb proof.  I was impressed. He needed training and you could tell he was very moldable and looked like he would be fun to train.  And after seeing him out and about, uh oh, now I want this dog!  But again wasn’t sure. And still promoted him to get adopted.

A few weeks later, after going on a long hike with friends, I stopped at a local deli to get a sandwich and the TV was on, it is usually a news channel on – and I looked up to see what that noise was coming from the TV, and it was the movie…ET.  I kid you not.  Really?  I texted a friend who knew I wanted ET – she said, “it’s a sign Nancy” – I said, ‘yep I know it. lol’

Then as I would hear from the volunteers that someone was coming to look at ET to adopt him, I would reply ‘yay that’s great’ – and with that have an internal pang of nooooooo that dog is mine!  And every potential adopter always fell through – the people wouldn’t show or decide not to adopt him.

So that was it my mind was made up and I wanted this dog – and knowing an adoption day was coming up at the shelter and thinking someone would see how awesome he was, I went on April 25 and adopted him, so now that’s ET who is now named Cody’s official ‘Gotcha Day!’  All the signs I was getting to adopt him, you could say ET phoned home… .  (A little corny but that’s ok!)  If you are ever hesitant about adopting a dog from an animal shelter, you need to, well, get over it!  There are so many amazing dogs just like Cody waiting for a home.  Cody waited for almost 6 months, many dogs have been waiting for a years at local shelters.  Can you imagine your own dog for years in a shelter?

Cody’s transition, I have to say has been pretty easy – I thought it was going to be a lot more work and wasn’t sure how he would be.  He has learned so much and so amazingly fast – and has settled into my routine it’s really incredible.  Cody is about a year or so old, so still puppyish but not with the bad puppy habits.  We have already walked over 50 miles together in just 2.5 weeks – so my added benefit an exercise buddy!  If you have been thinking of a dog you met recently and are trying to figure out if you can, you can. My first week with Cody was also a busy work week for me and I had a couple events in the evening – he did just fine, and has settled into my work schedule so well.

Cody #Day1outoftheShelter (First walk together!)

Check out the video I did of him of his first week’s outings!  More #AdventureswithCody to come.  Go adopt – you will wonder what took you so long.

Photo Credit: Liz Daly Town of Islip Animal Shelter

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

The 2nd Annual Westminster Masters Agility Championship was held in New York City on Saturday, February 14, 2015 at Pier 94. This was my 2nd year there, and it did not disappoint – very exciting to watch the finals!  Many dogs from Long Island were there representing, and dogs you don’t always see in agility like: Dobermans, Rotties, AmStaffs, mixed breeds, among the speed demons – aka the Border Collie.

Doberman from Lake Grove, NY - she was awesome!

I am telling you now, if you didn’t go, you have to plan to attend next year’s event.  Check out some of our video coverage from the event below and to see a lot more pictures, CLICK HERE.

In addition to the agility, the American Kennel Club hosted their annual ‘Meet the Breeds’ next door at Pier 92.  This event is normally held at the Javits Center, and usually has cats too – but this year it was just for dogs.  To say it was crowded would be a huge understatement.  Despite the frigid temperatures and snow falling outside, the line was incredibly long to get in!  The picture below is from inside, that crowd went all the way back to the end of the pier!

This breed of dog kind of looks like a sheepdog in wools clothing perhaps?  It is a Bergamasco!

Can you figure out what breed this is? Looks a little like a large Carin terrier right? It is a Berger Picard.

Another local Long Island Doberman from Huntington – what a beauty!

New to Westminster this year is the Coton de tulear.

The Wired Haired Vizla is also new to West minster this year.

A breed I have never seen before and used to hunt boar in Japan is the Kishu Ken –  this dog was as sweet as could be.

To see a lot more pictures from Meet the Breeds CLICK HERE!