pet connection

On “Good Morning America” today, our Dr. Marty Becker will talk about tips and products that will help keep pets safe and comfortable through the final weeks of winter.

We’ll put up a link to the video when we have it, as well as to his latest “GMA Now” segments, including one on the healing power of pets.

Our Dr. Marty Becker is back on “Good Morning America” this morning. His segments are usually towards the end of the show, because the producers have found that people will stick around for him.

Today’s segment is “Dr. Becker’s Best”: his choices of the top veterinary and pet-care products for 2008. He asked more than 100 veterinary and pet-care experts to send him suggestions, and agonized over which products made the list, especially in the non-veterinary category. Some of the ones that didn’t make the cut this round will end up here in the blog, in our syndicated pet-care column, or both.

If you miss the show, they usually put video up later in the day. And Dr. B will be taping additional segments on pet-care for “GMA Now,” so keep checking for those.

You can find his Becker’s Best picks here.

Update: The video’s up on the GMA site now.

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Hey, since we’ve been talking about books … um, ya know we have three new ones out?

Aiii-yeeee! October is going to be a busy month!

Oct. 1 is the official release date of “The Ultimate Dog Lover” and “The Ultimate Cat Lover” (”The Ultimate Horse Lover” launches on Nov. 1). Our Dr. Becker will be on “Good Morning America” on Oct. 8 to officially unveil the first two books, talking about the exclusive “must-know” information we have in both. He’ll also be celebrating his 11th year as the show’s veterinary correspondent, many congrats!

Our syndicated pet-care feature with Universal Press will have a two-parter (running in our client newspapers the weeks of Oct. 6 and Oct. 13) excerpting some of that information as well. And we’ll have a sampler from each of the books — with some pictures, “must-know” information from top experts and a couple of the stories — up on this Web site by next weekend.

Dr. Becker will pretty much be a non-stop media machine in October, with lots of appearances following the GMA one to talk about the new books.

And then, for whatever crazy reason, I’m going to Phoenix to cover the World Cynosport Games, the international celebration of the very best teams competing in agility, flyball and dock-diving, with exhibitions in many other sports as well. I’m taking along Pet Connection Director of Photography Morgan Ong, so we will have some fantastic pictures as well.

The weekend before that, our book publisher has invited me, racing fan that I am, to be his guest at the Breeders Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, held this year at historic Santa Anita in Southern California. Go Between (owned by our publisher, Peter Vegso) won the big race of the Del Mar meet, the $1 million win-and-you’re-in Pacific Classic. That sets Go Between up for a try at the top race on the BC card, the Classic, where he’ll likely compete again Curlin and possibly Derby-Preakness winner Big Brown. Check out this picture of Go Between winning the Pacific Classic, with top jockey Garret Gomez aboard. I’m trying to get a print, so I can get it signed by everyone except the horse himself. This will be the first time I’ve ever had anything like primo seats for a major event of any kind (with the exception of those I was covering).

Tomorrow, McKenzie and I will be in competition for our first junior hunter leg. Because of my hit-and-miss training schedule — eight books in two years will do that! — the poor girl is not near ready. So wish us luck, because we’ll need it. I’ve got a $50 side bet with Otter’s forever mom as to whose dog will be a junior hunter first. Otter already has her first leg (you need four). Drat, I should have sabotaged that puppy while I was raising her …

Pictured at top: McKenzie, the tennis-ball maniac. Bonus picture below: Welcome to my life. Clara on the dog bed, and McKenzie sound asleep with a tennis ball in her mouth.

Just finally catching up with all of dad’s appearances. He’s hard to keep track of, that’s for sure!

Thought you’d like to know that his segment on foods to beware of is now up on the ABCNews Web site. The piece was shot when he was in New York recently for a “Good Morning America” appearance.

What are the foods to look out for? Avocados and macadamia nuts, to start with. Check out the segment for the rest, and for tips on keeping your pet safe from these hazards.

Update: The video isn’t live yet, but the story with tips is.

Regular readers know Gina has asked me to keep track of my dad’s public appearances, with updates on the ones everyone can catch.

One of those iswastoday (Aug. 12). My dad, Dr. Marty Becker, was on  “Good Morning America” this morning, talking about saving money on pet care, a topic that’s stressing us all in this economy. He offered easy tips for saving money on medications, veterinary care, food and long-term care. You can start saving money today, while still giving your pets the preventive care they need to stay healthy (and save you money) long-term. You can also catch up with him over XM radio for GMA, on channel 155.

He’ll also appear on “GMA NOW” talking about some foods and household products that can make our pets sick or even kill them. Details on pet-proofing homes as well. GMA NOW is available over cable or on abcnews.com, and the segments will be available for viewing one week after filming on Aug. 12.

Also: This morning we had a chuckle because in the TV listings in “USA Today,” dad was listed over Donald Trump! I guess that means pets trump Trump.