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!

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.

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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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!

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.

The post-Christmas snowstorm known variously as “Snowpocalypse” and “Snowmageddon” caused Dr. Marty Becker to miss a “Good Morning America” appearance for the first time ever — not through any fault of his own, mind you, since he got as far as Minneapolis before it was clear nothing but a sled dog team could get him there.

The segment was rescheduled for this morning, Thursday, January 6, from 7-9 AM, on your local ABC affiliate. It will feature all the top veterinary and pet products of the previous year, courtesy of Dr. Becker and a cast of (literally) dozens of the top pet experts in the country.

Appearing on the same episode will be singer Tim McGraw and the cast of “The Jersey Shore.”

Don’t miss it! (Although if you do, check here later in the day — we’ll have video!)

This year’s appearance was to be … tomorrow.

You can guess what happened. He got as far as Minneapolic-St. Paul, and then watched as the few flights into the New York area that were so far only “delayed” were canceled, one by one. There is just no way to get to Manhattan today, so Delta has put him on a flight back to Spokane, and he’ll be home tonight.

We don’t yet know when the “GMA” segment will be rescheduled — as you can imagine, everything in NYC is a big of a scramble right now — but as soon as we know, we’ll let you know.

When you’re done with that, check out Amy Worden’s post in Philly Dawg about Stanley. Again, a reason to hope for people’s capacity to make a difference.

When we first met Stanley last year he was a mangy guy with serious eye problems locked in a high kill Los Angeles shelter. Thanks to two small rescue groups and a gripping video, things are looking far brighter for Stanley this Christmas.

For all the homeless animals with no family to call their own this holiday season and for anyone who does not believe one person can’t make a difference, let Stanley’s story be a symbol of hope.

Doing wrong in order to do right? KC Dog Blog thoughtfully spotlights the dilemma of embedding a spy inside a dogfighting ring in order to bring the ring down. In this instance, it’s the case of Terry Mills.

A couple of months ago, a story was launched in several alternative newspapers around the country about Mills. In 2008, Mills worked for the FBI on their domestic-terrorism task force. As a part of the job, Mills spent 18 months under-cover in order to break up what became the largest dog-fighting bust in the history of the United States — getting a couple of dozen people arrested, and saving more than 500 dogs from their dog fighting operations.

As a part of the undercover operation, Mills and his team became a part of the dog fighting culture…and as a part of that, began training, and fighting, their own dogs.

At the time, and even now, I wrestle with the ethics of their decision. While breaking up the dog fighting operation is certainly commendable, it’s extremely hard for me to stomach the idea of the “good guys” training dogs to fight and forcing them to endure such torture. It just seems as if there had to be a better way without purposefully putting more dogs in the ring.

This is the same kind of difficult position that Donnie Brasco faced while embedded with the Mafia. The answers aren’t always so easy. Bravo to KC Dog Blog for talking about the issue.

Best blog post this week: Stop me if you’ve heard this before….the best piece of writing in the pet blogosphere comes from Shirley at YesBiscuit. There’s a lot of meat to it, and it deserves a LOT of discussion. It’s a case that appears to have been preventable, and at the same time the real facts at hand are not entirely clear. Shirley’s lede sets the table.

44 dogs “rescued” by HSUS from a home in AL early this month.

So you can see how it gets thorny. I’d love to get your thoughts on it.

RIP Splash: The late Senator Ted Kennedy was a devoted owner of Portuguese Water Dogs Cappy, Splash and Sunny. They went everywhere with him, from the deck of his yacht Mya on Nantucket Sound to his Capitol Hill office.  Bo Obama, himself a Portie, was a gift from the Senator to the President. Last week, Senator Kennedy’s widow Vicki announced the passing of Splash at the age of thirteen. We extend our condolences to the Kennedy family.

Pet travel tips: Are you traveling with your pets during the holidays this winter? Our friend Arden Moore, a.k.a. The Pet Safety Lady, offers timely tips.

Happy Petmas: Pawcurious give us the 12 Days of Petmas.

Year in review: From the genius factory of icanhascheezburger: 2010, The year in Lolcats.

Note: This is the last news roundup of 2010. Have a safe, happy and healthy New Year. My next newswrap is  Monday, Jan. 3.

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: Oogy cover, Grand Central Publishing.

A dog’s shake starts at the nose, and moves front to back, ending at the tail. Therefore, holding their noses prevents the process from getting going.

To prove how the process works, there’s slow motion, high speed video. Best of all, you won’t get wet. A team led by physicist Andrew Dickerson of Georgia Tech published “The Wet Dog Shake” in the journal Fluid Dynamics, as highlighted in Wired. I can never get enough of the spine-tingling narrative for which scientists are justly famous. I’m sure you can’t, either. Without further ado, here is Mr. Dickerson’s eloquent, almost Dickensian summary abstract.

The drying of wet fur is a critical to mammalian heat regulation. In this fluid dynamics video, we show a sequence of films demonstrating how hirsute animals to rapidly oscillate their bodies to shed water droplets, nature’s analogy to the spin cycle of a washing machine. High-speed videography and fur-particle tracking is employed to determine the angular position of the animal’s shoulder skin as a function of time. X-ray cinematography is used to track the motion of the skeleton. We determine conditions for drop ejection by considering the balance of surface tension and centripetal forces on drops adhering to the animal. Particular attention is paid to rationalizing the relationship between animal size and oscillation frequency required to self-dry.

Or you could just watch the video (don’t worry about the volume.There isn’t any.).

Thanks to Marge W. for the tip.

New hospital from the folks who brought you Gatorade: This Friday, the University of Florida is unveiling its sparkling new, $58 million, one hundred thousand-square foot small animal hospital. It boasts 22 exam rooms and 12 surgical suites — and local veterinarians aren’t too happy about it, according to the Gainesville Sun.

“We think it will be the finest small animal hospital in the world,” said Glen Hoffsis, dean of the college.

The long-planned hospital moves pets and students from cramped spaces in the old building as the college expands enrollment. It features an entrance for specialty referrals from outside veterinarians as well as a separate entrance for walk-in cases for primary care and emergency services. The latter competes with a nighttime emergency hospital run by local veterinarians.

“It is my feeling that they’re trying to bite the hand that feeds them,” said Dr. Ray Henley, senior managing veterinarian for Gainesville Animal Hospital East and West.

Update from Missouri: Proposition B, which is designed to make the state unfriendly toward puppy millers, is polling very well with a week to go before the November 2 election. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll has 69 percent of respondents in favor of Prop B’s passage.

Around the pet-friendly blogosphere: Great writing recently from our blogroll. While you’ve been reading Gina’s updates on her vacation (you have, right?), Glenye and the HoundBloggers, which sounds like a great name for a garage band, gives her a shout out. I especially like the picture of Gina consulting with Salsa….Over at The Conscious Cat, our own Ingrid King has a fun book review of “Who Moved My Mouse? A Self-Help Book For Cats“…Heather Houlahan, the doyenne of Raised by Wolves, has my favorite piece of writing on the language of Rotties…..Meanwhile, Shirley’s got a post at YesBiscuit! that’s going to cause you to either grind your teeth or roll your eyes. Caution: do NOT roll your teeth or grind your eyes. That would be bad.

Speaking of making you angry: there’s this from the Dayton Daily News. A hat tip to our own Mary Cvetan for the pointer.

I hear you, Vincent: So you’re a cat owner, and you would give your left ear for a great new toy for your favorite feline. I have just the thing for you: the Van Gogh’s Ear cat toy. Please note, I do NOT want complaints directed to me. Speak to Susan Fox. She told me about it, so blame her. She’s all ears.

The dog of the week: You liked the dog-shaking video? That isn’t the news wrap’s best video. This is. I give you Jesse the Jack Russell Terrier.
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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 credits: Wet dog shake screenshot, WiredVideoUK.

It was today’s “Good Morning America” segment on “The Dos and Don’ts of Bathing Your Pet,” and the GMA anchor team got down and dirty with Dr. Becker and two very patient and cooperative dogs from the Humane Society of New York.

The canine stars are Mr. Flopps, a 10-year-old Lab mix, and Redmond a 2-year-old Setter/Golden mix. Both these great dogs are looking for homes, by the way, so if they won your heart like they did the GMA studio audience’s, visit the shelter’s website and check them out!

Some of the best tips included jamming some steel wool in the drain to prevent hair clogs, putting a towel over the dog while shampooing the head to minimize “shake spray,” and holding the dog’s muzzle to stop shaking “like flipping a switch.”

Highlights included GMA weather anchor Sam Champion looking pitifully at Dr. Becker and asking, “Once a week? Really?” (Most dogs, Dr. Becker explained, only  need to be bathed every month or so, but some need more frequent baths.)

If you missed it this morning, you can watch the segment on the GMA website, or right here:

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