pet connection

When it comes to covering a pet-care trade show this big, I have to say I can’t imagine doing it without a team. Let’s start with the person I couldn’t be working without this weekend — my mom, Teresa, who has been looking after my baby daughter, Reagan, so I can cover the show. Yes, it’s Reagan’s first flight, and she handled it pretty well. Fact is that I was more anxious that she was, but it all went just fine.

So, with Mom looking after Reagan –and really, how many babies take their first trip to a pet trade shows?– Dad and I spent our time taping 11 spots for ‘ABC News Now,’ “The Pet Doctor With Dr. Marty Becker.” That’s  a new series that will be debuting online soon. Our producer, Christina LaRosa, helped me out a lot, since I’m still pretty new being in front of the camera. Got easier as I did each one, but maybe that’s because we all started getting so tired.

Reagan was taking lots of naps when people weren’t fussing over her. Sometimes it’s great to be a baby!

This afternoon we will be taping more spots, but this morning I went and picked three items I didn’t want overlooked. Later today, there’ll be a press conference to announce “Dr. Becker’s Best,” but in the meantime, each of us — the team here includes Gina, David and our newest blogger, Ericka Basile — will be writing about our own favorites, me first.

As you may know, I’m a dog-trainer, a graduate of the SF SPCA’s Academy for Dog-Trainers. While I grew up riding horses and I love cats, too, my interest professionally is all about dogs, helping people get their pets to be better behaved so everyone  can be happy together.

Everyone knows that food is a big motivator when it comes to training dogs, but toys are great, too. And I love dog toys, not just for training and keeping pets from being bored, but, well, let’s just admit it: Toys are fun.

That’s why the first of my three products is the BigSqueak, which really does make a Big Noise. It’s priced from $7.99 to $14,99, and it’s from Petmate. I just loved the noise and the durability. This is one toy I’ll be bringing home to my pugs, Willy and Bruce. That’s dad posing with them. This toy is not for a timid dog, but for the squeak-crazy pup, it’s just the ticket! That’s Dad with the Bigsqueeks, above. It’s new, so it might not be at your pet retailer yet, but it soon will be.

The second of my picks is more practical. It’s the Doggie Doo Drain ($44.95), and it’s designed to make yard clean-up easier. It mounts on your sewer clean-out, and once it’s there, it just stays there. When you’re cleaning up the yard, you dump the droppings into the drain and out it goes with the rest of the sewage. Then, you put the lid on. I like that it’s diverting waste from landfill and putting it into a system that’s already made to deal with the doo. This product is a simple alternative to what we’re doing now — no bags, no waste.

My final pick. Really hard to limit to three, and I know I’ll be writing about a lot of these products in the weeks and months to come. As a trainer, I know that a lot of dogs have a hard time with noises, from fireworks to the more frequent thunderstorms. Studies have shown that firm pressure over a dog’s body makes them feel more calm, and the Thundershirt ($36) is designed to help with that.

OK, gotta get back out there. Christina is here with the camera crew, and we have more taping to do!

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