pet connection

The big day is here! April 15 marks the official release date of “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual,” and our own Dr. Marty Becker is introducing it with a bang this morning on “Good Morning America,” where he’s been resident veterinarian for more than 13 years.

A few days after that, Dr. Becker is joining up with his writing partner, Gina Spadafori, and her dog McKenzie for a nationwide bus tour promoting the book and the message that “Healthy pets visit vets!”

And that’s not all! April 15 also marks the launch of Dr. Becker’s shelter giveaway contest; here are the details in his own words:

Giving back to the people and organizations that do so much for pets like my beloved Amazing Gracie, adopted from Second Chance Animal Rescue in my hometown of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, is very important to me. That’s why I’m making sure animal shelters and rescue groups from coast to coast are part of the Big Bus Tour.

I’m asking for your help in letting me know about the organizations in your hometown. Starting on April 15 — this Friday — you’ll be able to nominate your favorite 501(c)3 shelters and rescue groups to win more than $70,000 in prizes donated by dozens of veterinary and pet product manufacturers.

Then beginning on May 18, you can come back and start voting for the 50 finalists, to see who wins the GRAND PRIZE of products and supplies valued at $20,000, plus additional prizes ranging from $4,000 to $1000, for a total of more than $70,000 in manufacturers’ suggested retail value!

Get more information and find out how to nominate and vote on the BIG Bus Tour contest page!

And remember: Follow Dr. Marty Becker on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with his adventures with Gina and McKenzie on the BIG Bus Tour!

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It doesn’t matter how many books I’ve written before, or how many times I’ve appeared on “Good Morning America” during my 13+ years as the show’s resident veterinarian. There’s no denying that I’m pretty much bouncing with excitement about tomorrow’s segment marking the official release of “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual.”

I love this book. I just love it. My writing partnership with Gina Spadafori has always been incredible, but this book marks its high point.

We are so jazzed about the practical, money-saving, bond-building tips and suggestions that we packed into its pages that I had to get out my laptop and write this blog post even though I’m sitting in a cab in Manhattan gridlock right now, trying to get to my hotel so I can get something like a good night’s sleep before heading for the GMA set at dawn tomorrow.

And Teresa, sitting next to me, swore if I didn’t find some outlet for my nervous excitement she was pushing me out of the cab, so I figured this was my best option.

I hope you’ll all tune in tomorrow, Friday, April 15,  from 7-9 AM on your local ABC affiliate and cheer the book on — you’ve been with us from the first draft to the last, and now you’ll be with us from the book’s official release all through our 30-city nationwide book tour.

Thank you all for your support and friendship!

And please send chamomile tea.

Photo taken on 45th approaching 5th Avenue just a few minutes ago.

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The ‘official” launch of “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual” isn’t until April 15, when Dr. Becker appears on “Good Morning America.” But … it’s actually shipping from Amazon.com now.  The Kindle edition isn’t quite ready yet, but will be soon.

These days the publishers want a video for Amazon, so we made one. I think it turned out pretty nice. So much so, in fact, that we also used in on the website for the 30-city, seven-week book tour, when Dr. B and I (plus my dog McKenzie and a tour team) will be traveling the country in a specially wrapped bus. (Tour details here.)

Anyway … here’s the video. Enjoy!

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Last week the Pet Connection sent a team of reporters to Global Pet Expo, which is not only the largest pet industry trade show, but the eight-largest trade show of any kind in the entire world. We fan out across the massive Orlando convention center, each of us looking for a dozen or so products to make the first cut for Dr. Becker’s Best, a top 10 list we put together at this show every year.

Then we meet and trim the list, cross-check each others’  lists, meet again, argue, negotiate and finally come up with 10 items, and then suggest to Dr. Becker which of them the team likes best. He then picks the No. 1 product, and usually adds or deletes one from the list of 10, and then it’s another mad hustle to get the vendors to pull products out of their booth for the press conference.

And then …

The “Good Morning America” producers huddle with Dr. Becker to figure out which of the 10 they’ll have on the show, a selection that’s always guaranteed to disappoint someone. Some hopes get dashed right away, when companies don’t get asked to send product to New York at all — the GMA folks don’t have time for 10 products, so they tend to choose those that make the best TV. But I always feel worse for the occasional product that makes it to the set, but doesn’t get on TV because of a last-minute time constraint or other problem. Last year, that was the Warm Whiskers Pet Therapy Jacket; sadly, the company website is gone, the domain name for sale. Would getting on “GMA” last year have made the difference? Who knows, and really, it’s not our job to think about it, or the “GMA” producers’, either. So it goes …

This year, the “GMA” folks asked for couple of products in addition to the Becker’s Best 10, making the competition for time even more keen. We’ll see this morning who makes the cut for the segment, when Dr. Becker appears on the show this morning. I’m guessing the Best in Show winner — the Food Maze from Hagen – will make it, since the top winner seems to have a leg up. I’m guess the Eyenimal pets-eye-view videocam will, too, just because of the “wow!” factor. Anything else is anyone’s guess.

Check it out this morning on your ABC affiliate. Dr. Becker will be back on the show April 15, for the official launch of “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual,” after which he and I (and my dog McKenzie) start a two-month, 30-city book tour on a specially wrapped 45-foot “rock-star” bus.

More on that last thing soon, I promise!

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The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is the organization that decides what rating a movie should receive. They even have a website explaining how it works.

What they do not explain is how the latest formulaic teen thriller, called “The Roommate,” merits only a PG-13 rating when it contains a scene that should plainly merit a more adult label. For the details, I’ll take you to the Moviefone Blog.

[It] features a scene in which a plainly psycho woman sticks a plainly helpless kitten into a plainly deadly clothes dryer and kills it. (The films that ‘The Roommate’ steals the most from, ‘Fatal Attraction’ and ‘Single White Female,’ also have animals killed as part of their plot. Those films are both rated R.)

The MPAA ratings board is clearly more worried about the evils of “teen partying” than they are in the obviously more hateful act of “animal cruelty.” What does it say about a ratings board that cares more about mild profanity than it does in the (easily copiable) act of jamming a cat into a dryer?

Want a fascinating contrast? “The King’s Speech” (I saw it recently. GREAT movie) gets an R rating. There’s no nudity, and no violence toward cat, dog or man, but there’s lots of profanity. Cursing, bad for kids. Killing a kitten, okey dokey. (Thanks to alert reader Douglas S for the link)

More fallout from the Canadian tragedy: Judging from recent comment threads, you don’t need me to explain what happened in British Columbia. The fallout continues. USA Today reports that there’s now a call for a boycott of sled dog tours, being publicized by the Vancouver Humane Society.

Online tracking tool available: The diseases of the future that frighten health professionals the most are invariably born in the animal kingdom. That makes a new online resource not just fascinating but hugely useful. A tool called “Predict” is spotlighted in the New York Times. It will allow scientists from around the world (as well as you and me) to track the spread of animal-based diseases and pandemics that might make the dangerous jump to the human population. Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo could have used this tool in the movie “Outbreak.” Check out Predict here. (Thanks to my buddy Kim Thornton for the link)

Another warning on Xylitol: Last summer in a “Good Morning America” appearance, Dr. Becker discussed the dangers of Xylitol, a popular artificial sweetener for candy and gum. Xylitol is lethal to dogs. Pet Connection’s BFF Dr. Patty Khuly has been singing the same tune, perhaps even louder. In her latest “Fully Vetted” blog post, she warns that the word isn’t getting out widely enough, and now the danger is increasing.

What’s worse — and even more stressful for veterinarians — is that it’s not just common consumer products anymore that we have to watch for. The human versions of drugs, especially the children’s elixirs, are now being formulated with xylitol for greater pediatric palatability. Unfortunately, the lower doses in the kids’ meds are exactly what some of our smaller animal patients require.

Got a little dog who needs hycodan syrup for a cough, or the bronchodilator theophylline for breathing? Even if you’ve been getting a drug for months or years as an elixir from the same exact pharmacy, beware. Preparations of these drugs may soon change to reflect the widening market for xylitol as a sweetener.

Tip of the hat to Ingrid King.

Omaha’s dog law works great — or does it? KC Dog Blog takes a hard look at the city of Omaha’s progress with their “dangerous dog” law, passed more than two years ago.

This week’s most bizarre story….was forwarded to me by six different people. This recounting of the story from SF Gate. Clearly, when stories about human deaths resulting from illegal cockfights hit the news, loyal readers immediately think of me. That is just not right. What exactly am I doing wrong here, people?

Good news for parents of teenagers: Show of hands – how many have teenagers at home?  How many have teenagers who are glued to the couch and can’t be bothered to get up, except to plug in their phones when the battery runs low? Check out this story from the Los Angeles Times - teenagers with dogs are more physically active (in a good way).

Pot head dog is just fine: Really, he’s ok. A little dirty, perhaps, but otherwise just fine. They got the smudgepot off his head. His real name is Blue, though for obvious reasons he was temporarily renamed Smokey. Silly boy. Thanks to Maria Goodavage at Dogster for the link.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail

Photo credit: Movie theater, flickr creative commons (ToastyKen). Smokey, KESQ.

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