pet connection

First, a little story about our editor at Universal Press, Mr. Greg Melvin. We love him. He’s talented, hard-working, funny and has a sexy voice on the phone. (Dr. Becker probably doesn’t care so much about that last thing, but I sure appreciate it.) Greg sees the big picture and sweats the details, and offers both praise and suggestions with grace and kindness.

Anyway, he’s awesome, and I tell him so every week.

Every columnist has something to fall back on when he or she is tired, lazy, busy or just plain out of ideas. Or needs a week off, whatever. For me, says Greg, I seem to dwell on the danger of collars.

“Oh no,” he groans. “Not The Collar Article” again. And then we laugh.

Well, maybe you have to be there.

But I do get kind of worked up about collars. Particularly about choke collars, which are a fine tool in the hands of someone who knows how to put them on properly and use them with proper timing.

Which is to say, almost nobody. (Aside from dog trainers, that is.)

Leaving a choke collar on a dog as his regular collar is asking for disaster. And misusing a choke-chain collar (putting it on wrong or keeping it tight in while walking your dog) is ineffective and cruel. Personally, if you’re having problems walking your dog I say make things easier on both of you and get a front clip harness. They’re easy to put on and will solve your leash-pulling problems. Plus, dogs like them better than head collars, and they’re nowhere near as ugly.

So read The Collar Article, and I’ll spare Greg the pain of doing so again. Instead I’ll torment him with The New Collar Article, about what to get after you’ve thrown that choke collar away for good.

Get a breakaway collar for your dog and your cat.

One of saddest things about being a syndicated pet-care columnist is that you’re extremely aware of all the horrible, heart-breaking accidental ways people have lost their pets — because they write to tell you about them.

Cats who have been killed in the dryer, or run over in their own driveways by owners who didn’t see them behind the tire. Dogs who have drowned at the river or lake because they got too tired, or died from heat stroke left in a car on a day when it wasn’t really that hot outside — but inside the car was another story. Birds who were killed by the fumes of non-stick cookware. And on and on and on.

I’ve known dogs who died when their collars caught on things — grates and even the teeth of other dogs in play. That’s one reason why some people don’t leave collars on their pets at all, which I think is a just bad idea. What happens if your pet gets out without ID or if you’re separated from your pet in a disaster? Shelter workers point out that a lot of pets (especially cats) who are obviously owned and loved die because nobody knows who they belong to, which is why I insist my pets have collars and ID, even Clara, my 6-month old kitten who’s an indoor cat.

Clara just got her first collar (and a very pretty collar it is, too!), and I got the three retrievers new ones, too. (My Sheltie’s collar is still in good shape.) They’re breakaway collars, one and all, so if they get hung up, they come apart with gentle pressure and my pet can escape safely.

And the tags? I hate the rattle of ID tags, so I went with these slide-ons from Boomerang. They were in my mailbox less than two days after I ordered them, and they look solid and attractive. Never ordered from this company before, but I’m recommending them now.