We’ve been working on this for a while, and finally are ready to open the curtains:
We have added several top veterinarians and pet-care experts to team here.
While not all of the additions we’ll be writing for the blog, many will, and starting today you’ll see some new bylines in this space. We have three or more additional veterinarians to add in the weeks to come, but the ones we’ve just added made me feel like Garth, saying, “We’re not worthy!” as I put their bios up on the About page.
Fortunately, they think we’re worthy, indeed, so go check out the new line-up. The first post from one of our newest bloggers will go live within the hour.
I made some changes on the left-hand rail. We’re adding quite a few advisory team members, some of whom will be blogging and some not, so many that the list would be just too long. So the names are coming off the left rail, replaced with a link to the about page where you can see them all.
Also, I pared the blog roll, removing those that haven’t been active lately.
We never used to close the blog, not ever. But then, we started shutting down for holiday weekends. And now, look where that trend of sloth and irresponsibility has led us:
We’re shutting down completely until David’s first newswrap of 2011, which he’ll post about 5 a.m. PT on Monday, Jan. 3.
But otherwise … Christie and I need a breather, and we also have some other deadlines to attend to. So we’re giving ourselves and everyone else here a holiday break.
For recalls, keep an eye on the PetSitUSA and the VIN Recall Center, both with links to your left.
As for the PetConnection blog team … we’ll see you next year!
Dr. Becker and I are an odd couple, and everyone who meets us eventually will feel compelled to remark on it.
He’s a country boy, a dairy-farmer’s son, married for 30-plus years to the love of his life, Teresa. They are parents of two, grandparents of one, love to travel, are neat and organized people who keep a beautiful home. They’re common-sense Christians living in extreme north rural Idaho, a state so “red” it bleeds off the map. He’s sensible and business-minded, thoughtfully sends hand-written thank-you notes for everything and cards to his wife and children every day he’s on the road. He genuinely loves every new person and animal he meets. He’s draws energy from a crowd. He’s a veterinarian, a healer, who loves his patients and their owners.
I’m a city kid, daughter of man who swore he never saw a horse without a jockey or member of the San Francisco PD aboard until he was in his 30s. I’m a never-married very liberal native of very “blue” California. I never wanted children, am a recovering never-again-will-I-be Catholic and a progressive Christian, have traveled pretty much only when I had to (which is lots) for work and would generally rather stay home with my animals, my garden and a good book. I’m neither neat nor organized, in any way. If I send a thank-you at all, it’s likely to be in a text message. I’m not very business-minded, and I’m often broke because I generally can’t be bothered to watch where my money goes (but at this, I’m getting better and will soon be completely debt-free). I never accept anything or anyone on face value. My house is in a state of constant deferred maintenance. I’m a journalist, asking questions and getting answers from people who often don’t want to talk to me. Crowds drain me of my energy.
He loves puns and silly jokes; I don’t. He loves Christmas; I ignore it. I love afternoon naps; he can’t imagine sleeping in daylight — there’s work to do! He’s an optimist; I’m a cynic.
He sees the best in everyone. I … well you get the idea.
And yes, as odd a business partnership as we are, it works. We get along famously; we rarely disagree. We love each other, and we consider each other family. His daughter, Mikkel, is like a niece to me. His wife, Teresa, is a source of courage, faith, inspiration and Snickerdoodles. I actually go a little ga-ga over their granddaughter, despite my general belief that infants are about an interesting as cabbage until they’re a year old or so.
That’s all the personal stuff. On the business front, in four years we’ve written so many books I have to pause to count them — 10? 12? — covered conferences and trade shows, written hundreds of articles and blog posts. And really, we’re just hitting our stride.
Sometimes I wonder how this all happened. After all, I’d known Marty for more than a decade before he called out of the blue to propose us doing a book together. “Why Do Dogs Drink Out of the Toilet?” was a New York Times best-seller, but even more important, it made us realize we loved working together, and so we joined forces, folding his syndicated column into mine and going forward with more … everything. He stood by Christie and me when we broke open the 2007 pet-food recall story, even though we were reporting on industries run by people he often knew on a first-name basis, people he considered — and still considers — his friends.
But Dr. Becker always does the right thing. Always.
So why am I writing all this now? Because yesterday he did one of those “right things,” adopting a 2-year-old pit-Lab mix named Gracie who’d spent almost her entire life in the shelter. And because watching the video clip of him telling the shelter director of his decision just made me bawl as much as she did.
Go ahead: See if you can watch it an not do the same.
This is why I love having this man as my business partner. He’s the real deal.
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Our new product section is humming along nicely, and I know review coordinator Ericka Basile has quite a few more reviews in the pipeline, including another popular review where the PetConnection team each takes one of a class of products — like time it was vacs — and tries it out for a compare-contrast with others. Phyllis DeGioia is taking over coordinating book reviews, so we’ll have a lot more of them. And even though we had to say good-bye to our DogCars.com website in 2010, we’re hitting the accelerator pedal again on vehicle reviews, which will now be in our general reviews section.
MuttMops are sturdy fleece toys that captivate and entertain. They come in six different flavors, er, colors, including Wintergreen, which I kind of expected would smell like Lifesavers, but it didn’t. Bright color, though, which is helpful to spot in the snow.
Isabeau, one of my two Flat-Coated Retrievers, wanted it right out of the envelope, and she got it. Took off running, she did, which is a positive review from her.
These toys are 11 inches in diameter and are made with a 100 percent polyester fringe around a solid rubber ring that creates a very floppy toy. Floppy toys make for the best “toss into the air and catch” fun.
Henry, my Golden Retriever, seemed to have the most fun with it. Running, tossing, catching, running, tossing and catching.
I asked Dennis Guyitt, with Golden Retriever Rescue of Southwest Florida, to bring a few dogs to my house so we could test out the ramp on larger and senior dogs. My 9-pound Chihuahua, Roxi, was miffed, but she is recovering from the hit to her small-dog ego.
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You’ll see in the video how well-designed the ramp is. It comes in a carrying case, weighs about 15 pounds, and rolls out to make a ramp almost anywhere. We tested the large version.
Amber, 8, and Wiley, 2, were our canine testers. In the video you will see I chose to leave in the first attempts the dogs made at using the ramp (even the FAIL), because I want to show real-world trial and error of using a ramp for the first time. It only took two tries and six liver treats to teach these beauties how to use the Ramp4Paws.
Ericka gives cat-owners some love with her other two reviews: One for the Magneticat toy and and then with reviews of some lovely beds.
Click over to our product reviews section and check them all out. You can also find out how to get a product to us for review, and what happens to products after we review them.
Big thanks to Ericka for her work on the product reviews. You’ll be seeing a lot more of them in 2011, now that we have our own section for them.
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