pet connection

Is bathing your pet something you dread, or relegate to highly trained professionals?

On this Friday’s “Good Morning America,” our Dr. Marty Becker will show you how to make it easy, fun and effective. He’ll share his tips for protecting your plumbing and your floors, along with how to make sure you get your pet clean and take care of any bugs that may have taken up residence on his skin.

He may even have some thoughts on how to bathe your pet without throwing out your back.

So be sure and tune in on Friday, Oct. 8, from 7-9 AM on your local ABC affiliate.

Don’t miss it!

Update: Dr. Becker just posted this to his Facebook page:

Just landed at JFK, and got some great information about tomorrow’s segment on Good Morning America — the topic is bathing your pets, and looks like anchors George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Juju Chang and Sam Champion will be helping me make a splash!

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Many months ago, Dr. Becker invited my wife and me to meet him in New York for one of his “Good Morning America” segments. We resolved to make it for his August appearance.

Yesterday, P and I made the four hour drive to Manhattan,  had dinner with Dr. Becker, then woke up waaaaay too early this morning (military folks call it 0-dark-30) to meet Dr. Becker for the short walk across the street to the studio. How early? Times Square was dark and nearly deserted. I’d had about four hours sleep… and no coffee yet.

I’ve been a loyal GMA viewer since Joan Lunden and David Hartman hosted the show, long before the studio with the commanding view of Times Square was built. For me, it was a thrill on multiple levels. I’d be seeing this iconic show up close, from the inside, which is an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day.

Also, way back (mumble mumble) years ago I was a broadcast journalism major in college, and this is the most tricked out, state of the art studio I’ve seen. The media geek in me was eating it up, admiring the most complex master control room this side of CNN, the studio studded with cameras and lights, and the gazillion dollar monitors.

Finally, seeing Dr. Becker in front of the camera is always a treat. The camera loves him. He lights up a room, even a crowded studio with live audience. I’ve seen enough “stars” who don’t have that indefinable it to appreciate those who do. Dr. Becker does, and like watching an unusually talented athlete take over a game, you can’t help but sit up and take notice.

Sometime after the 6 am rehearsal, a woman named Anne Marie Karash arrived from the Humane Society of New York, carrying Pringle and Romeo. Pringle is a playful orange kitten, and Romeo is a tiny chihuahua-poodle (Choodle) fluffball. Both little faces are less than 12 weeks old, and at the time they arrived at GMA, both were available for adoption.

It’s just not possible for most mortals to resist adorable kittens or puppies in their midst, and people would jockey for position to see and hold both of them. For the last hour or so before Dr. Becker’s segment started, Romeo was snuggled in my wife’s arms, and P didn’t seem like she’d be letting him go. I was briefly worried that we might have just adopted a third dog.

Pringle (nobody can resist him) was a wriggler. He was comfortable with the surroundings and very playful. He loved extending a paw toward the face of whomever was holding him, and once he even leaped to the floor. A little cat has a lot of room to roam in a big studio! Fortunately, he’s cute but not too fast.

The segment itself is here. It was a perfect blend of  important tidbits that force the viewer to re-evaluate what they thought they knew (while chocolate should never be a regular part of a dog’s diet, its danger is over-hyped) and important wisdom that many people certainly don’t know (chemical reactions from the use of nonstick cookware can be lethal to birds, and chewing gum can kill dogs or cats).

Back to Romeo the tiny fluffball.  Immediately after the segment ended, a woman asked to adopt Romeo. He didn’t make it off the set before he had a prospective new mommy and a loving home… how heartwarming is that?

A final observation about GMA: I’ve heard on-air staff repeatedly refer to the show as a family. That always sounded hokey and fake to me. This morning I saw they’re not kidding. Everyone Dr. Becker saw on his way into the building, from the security guard at the entrance to the producer to the cameramen, greeted him like an old friend. It’s a very “huggy” place, and I loved seeing that.

Despite the show being done live, it runs like a perfectly calibrated Swiss watch, and yet, everyone I encountered genuinely enjoyed what they were doing. Now I see why Dr. Becker is happy to fly across the country (sometimes in rotten weather) to come to Times Square, the most crowded acre of real estate in North America. Working with the best never gets old.

Photo credits: All pictures from my Pentax. Top, Dr. Becker with vicious, not yet adopted puppy Romeo. Middle, David Muir holding Romeo, Dr. Becker holding Pringle. Bottom, l-r, DSG, Robin Roberts, P, Juju Chang.

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Our Dr. Becker’s appearance on “Good Morning America” today hasn’t aired on the West Coast yet, so if you’re in my time zone, turn to your ABC affiliate NOW. is available by clicking on the picture at right or at the bottom. I can tell by the e-mail and phone calls we’re getting that this segment has really hit hard with a lot of pet-owners.

And that’s a good thing. Because when Dr. Becker set the PetConnection team to help him in researching “what people worry about too much” and “what people don’t worry about enough” we came up with some real doozies.

What I really like about the segment? Common sense, and Dr. Becker brings it right along with the truth. I especially like his advice regarding pet food: He puts the Salmonella recalls and concerns in perspective, and offers solid advice on safe food handling. He doesn’t demonize either commercial food or raw feeding. Just tells you what you need to know to prevent food-borne illness.

Yes, we need a safer food system. Yes, the FDA needs mandatory recall authority. But in the meantime, we need to keep the risks in perspective and look out for ourselves.

Now, check out the great article the ABC team put together to go with this morning’s segment, including several concerns that didn’t have time to make it into the show.

Our David S. Greene and his wife, Patricia, were Dr. B’s guests on the set today. I’m trusting that when he gets back, David will write about what that’s like.

Oh, and by the way: That cute little dog got adopted!

Here’s the segment:

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What’s pet-safe? What’s not? Most pet owners probably think they know — but the answers might surprise them.

Today on “Good Morning America.” our own Dr. Marty Becker will take a look at a number or common household and pet products and help pet owners figure out which ones people worry too much about — like chocolate, Febreze, and poinsettias — and which ones people don’t worry about enough — like xylitol, non-stick cookware and lillies.

Expect to see some “Internet myths” dispelled, along with regular (and wrong!) holiday alerts that aren’t based on science, at the same time Dr. Becker turns up the heat on real dangers many pet owners don’t even know exist.

Don’t miss it!

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Scratch, scratch, slurp, slurp, shake, shake. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat… well, you get the idea.

Life with an allergic dog and cat can be rough for both owner and and pet. Fortunately, there are more ways to diagnose and treat pet allergies than at any time in history, from shampoos to special diets, from complementary and alternative approaches to prescription medication.

Our Dr. Marty Becker devoted today’s segment on “Good Morning America” to this tough and increasingly common pet health problem. If you missed it, the video’s live on the ABC News site now, or you can watch it right here:

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