pet connection

Yesterday was our day off, with an entire day where we had no events, no long drives and no change of location. We got to Atlanta Saturday night after a relatively easy drive from Jacksonville (easy for me to say “easy” since I slept in the tour bus bedroom most of the way), settled in to a decidedly dog-friendly Residence Inn on Peachtree (not the one on Peachtree, but the one on Peachtree) in a gorgeous dog-friendly part of midtown and then had little in the way of obligations until this morning.

Those 4 a.m alarms for morning TV shows just aren’t getting any easier, especially after a day off.

Yesterday, I worked most of the day anyway. The weather was lovely, warm but not too hot or humid, and I spent most of the day typing madly away on my laptop on the hotel’s streetfront patio. I took three breaks to indulge in long walks through the neighborhood with McKenzie, enjoying the historic homes and daydreaming about calling the number offer a classic Midtown carriage house for rent. I thought about going to services at the historic First Presbyterian, so close I could hit it with a tennis ball, but in the end the house of worship I chose for my diversion was one built for art: The High Art Museum, also just spitting distance away.

But now, 11 hours into my Monday and still two hours from Raleigh, I’m thinking I would have been better off sleeping yesterday, even though I enjoyed the day very much.

I know I was tired, because I could see how tired McKenzie was. When I left her to go to the museum, she was flopped on the floor of the hotel room, sound asleep.  She lifted her head just a little when I told her I was leaving, and hadn’t changed position (as far as I could tell) in the time I was gone. She got more down-time than I did yesterday, but she was still reluctant to wake up for this morning’s TV appearance, at least until I picked up the leash.

She was wonderful, though. While I joke that this is her trip, of course it’s really not. During some media appearances she’s there to be a demo dog, giving Dr. Becker an easy-going dog on which to demonstrate everything from tooth-brushing to body-weight checking  to the back-ruffle of fur that IDs the presence of fleas. Other times, McKenzie’s just there to be part of the set, relaxing patiently while the cameras, news folks, producers, directors and floor managers whirl around her. She has been very good in both rolls.

This morning, she was in the “part of the set” mode, holding a down-stay for five minutes while Dr. Becker was inteviewed at the table above and behind her. Off-camera, I would occasionally flash her a “stay” hand-signal just to remind her of what I wanted. It wasn’t really necessary, since she was relaxed and happy, even as the cameraman kneeled down and moved in tight to get a close-up of her. Good girl!

McKenzie travels relatively light. For food she’s mostly eating something her breeder in Texas suggested (Mary’s a distributor), ZiwiPeak, alternating with Honest Kitchen and supplemented by Iams Prostora probiotics. Aside from the occaional homemade JillCookies treat from regular reader/commenter Jill Gibbs, McKenzie eats nothing else, since I’m trying to spare her (and me) the difficulty of dealing with tummy upsets along the way. So far, so good.

For “wardrobe,” she has three Doodie Pack vests — purple, red and blue — with her name embossed on them, and a couple of different bandanas. She wears the vests for media appearances, at the PETCO book-signings and in the hotels. I’m sure some people think she’s a service dog, but that’s not my intent; rather, I’m trying to telegraph that she’s a friendly, well-trained and well-mannered dog no one need fear. So far, it’s working:  Everyone loves her (and vice versa).

McKenzie is comfortable in crates, and when the bus is moving she sleeps in one of two. One is a soft-sided Petmate crate wedged in the gap between the bed and the back cabinets in the bedroom at the back of the bus. In the front of the bus, she has made a “crate” out of the area under the banquette — the tile is cool under the table, and the facing seats approximate the safety and comfort of a crate. She’s a smart girl: Both sleeping spots are safe for her, and neither leaves her dangerously underfoot

The rest of her gear: Poop bags, tennis balls and a Chuck-it. She’s generally well-mannered on leash, so she has a couple of comfortable flat collars and (comfortable for me) a couple of well-worn leather leashes.

She’s a very easy dog to travel with, asking for little and giving her all.

Image:  McKenzie, people watching on the patio at the Residence Inn in Midtown Atlanta.

Note: The Dr. Marty Becke BIG Bus Tour schedule is here. Come by and see us! We’re on the road for about five more weeks.

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We’re about 90 minutes from Jacksonville, Fla., incredibly already the fifth stop at the end of the first week of our 45-day national BIG Bus Tour for “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual.” Houston, New Orleans, Tampa and Miami are already in the rear-view mirror, and I’m now completely comfortable living in a 45-foot rockstar bus.

And so, too, is McKenzie. She now recognizes the bus as home, and trots happily to the door when asked to “Go to the bus.” She also, in just a few days’ time and never having been in an elevator in her life, knows to sit  to wait for one, trot in, turn around and sit inside when the doors open, and go left or right on request after exiting. (Her first impression of a high-speed glass elevator was  pretty funny, but while I thought I was recording it on my phone, I wasn’t, so you’ll have to take my word for it.)

Inside the bus, she also responds to “go to your room,” since the rockstar bedroom at the back of the bus is our default for when we need a safe place for her to chill out for a bit while the generators are keeping the bus air-conditioned. At the very beginning of the tour, I thought she and I would be spending a lot more time back there since we were thrown out of the first hotel room we’d checked into, owing to miscommunication between our agent, Marriott corporate and the local management at the no-pets-allowed Courtyard by Marriotts we had been told were accepting the dog as a condition of booking our national tour.

After she and I slept in the bus one night, got booted to another hotel the second and were facing doG-knows-what the third, I took things into my own hands and had McKenzie launch a “why don’t you like me, Marriott?” campaign on Twitter and Facebook, which was quickly threatening to go viral. That got Marriott’s attention in their NYC HQ, and within an hour or two a nice PR guy was asking our tour manager to please ask McKenzie to tell her fans that Marriott was working on it. Not long after, the hotel issue was resolved, and now McKenzie is greeted by name as she walks into the lobbies of the no-pet Marriott chains we’re booked into. (Me? I’m just the one holding the leash!)

Obviously, with a special arrangement for her to stay in Marriott’s two no-pet chains (Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield Inn) I have a very serious responsibility to make sure McKenzie is well-behaved, quiet and doesn’t cause other guests any problems. Fortunately, she has been up to the job, and I’m very proud of her.

While every day has been a little different, the typical schedule is local TV at dawn, a VIP (Veterinary Important Person) event in late morning, more media and then the book-signings at PETCO. Then we all hit the road for the next city, which may be up to eight hours away. And we’re doing that six days a week — a grueling schedule, but I couldn’t be more happy I’m on board. We really do have the most incredible team, starting with Dr. Becker.

We’re rolling into Jacksonville now, so let me just share some tour-related links and call it a night:

The boys on the bus: Jimmy the tour manager and Phil the bus driver are the most incredibly skilled professionals imaginable. They have easily 40 years of experience between them in handling tours a lot larger than ours, and they have worked with Lady Gaga, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Whitney Houston and many more big-name acts. Mindy Valcarcel, the DVM360.com reporter who was with us for the first three stops, gave an overview of the team here. Be sure to follow the link to the clip of Phil from “Dog The Bounty Hunter.” Our “ground support” consists of Christie, David and Ericka from our PetConnection team, along with our publicist, Kathie Kerr, and our VIP event coordinator, Ellie Shaw.

Henry the cover dog: Handsome Henry, the cover dog on the book, has his own publicist, his Mom, Jill Gibbs. She scored him a feature in the Billings Gazette. Yesterday, I saw Henry’s pawtograph for the first time, as one of our mutual friends took the afternoon off to bring the book to be signed by me and Dr. Becker. There was barely any room left after Henry’s pawprint!

I’ll try to get more blogging done this week. Jimmy warned us that the first week of a tour is a period of adjustment, and he was sure right. But now most of the major problems seem to be ironed out, and we’ve all settled in for the long run as a great team.

Don’t forget the entire tour schedule is at DrMartyBecker.com. You can also follow Dr. Becker on Facebook and Twitter, and McKenzie on Facebook and Twitter.

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Dr. Marty Becker, Gina Spadafori, and official tour dog McKenzie rolled into New Orleans late last night on the second stop on their 29-city bus tour. They’re spreading the message that “Healthy Pets Visit Vets,” and signing copies of their new book, “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual.”

Well, that’s what Dr. Becker and Gina are doing; McKenzie’s just checking out the nooks and crannies at Petco to see if she can find any spare tennis balls.

First, though, Dr. Becker will be joining hosts Jocelyn Lockwood, Jon Huffman and Hank Allen on WGNO’s “Good Morning, New Orleans” at 6:15 AM. He’ll be doing a live 3-minute “doggy health evaluation”  on Jocelyn’s dog, Lucy, and Huxley, the dog of one of the show’s producers, Jill.

After that, Dr. Becker will be heading for a special “VIP” (Veterinary Important Persons) breakfast event, after which he, Gina, and McKenzie will be making an appearance at the Petco located at 3520 Veteran’s Memorial Blvd., Metairie, LA 70002, from 12:30-2 PM.

You can follow the good times on Dr. Becker’s Facebook page, and, of course… McKenzie’s. You never know when a tennis ball might turn up. As she says, “Laissez les bons temps rouler!”

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Yes, this time tomorrow I’ll be in Houston with McKenzie, ready to roll on the BIG Bus Tour for “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual.”

Today, though, we took time to take some family portraits here at Windfall Ranch.

This is a three-generation shot, with Faith, her mother McKenzie (both dogs are mine) and McKenzie’s mother, Karma, who lives here on the Windfall Ranch.
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He interviews world rulers and is a regular on the political pundit circuit, but  George Stephanopoulos still had a thing or two to learn from veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker.

On this morning’s “Good Morning America” segment, not only did  Dr. Becker announce the release of his new book, “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual,” but showed Stephanopoulos and fellow anchor Robin Roberts how to brush a dog’s teeth, too.

With the help of three adoptable dogs from the Humane Society of New York, Dr. Becker demonstrated how to get dogs used to the idea of better dental hygiene, and provided a motivation for their owners to stick with the job: It can add as much as 15 percent, or two years, to the life of a dog.

You can read an excerpt from “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual” and view the segment on the GMA website, or watch it right here:

See more great photos from the set of “Good Morning America” on Dr. Becker’s Facebook page!

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