pet connection

I just heard from Gina that her father passed away just now:

Anthony J. “Nino” Spatafore, May 6, 1933 — Feb. 25, 2009

I know how much the concern so many of you have expressed as she and her family have gone through this time has meant to her. She says she won’t be around much for the next few days, but don’t think for a minute that means she isn’t feeling your thoughts and kindness — she is.

And to Gina from all of us here at Pet Connection, you’re in our thoughts and hearts. I know you hate the mushy stuff so I’ll just stop there.

Photo: Anthony J. “Nino” Spatafore. Publicity still, San Jose Red Sox, 1954 (Minor league team for Boston).

Because our emphasis here is strictly canine, I don’t pay a lot of attention to vehicles that aren’t dog-friendly … sports cars, for example. Case in point: While waiting in the doctor’s office yesterday, I eagerly grabbed the latest copy of Motor Trend magazine, flipping quickly past the spread on “muscle cars” and looking for the “first look” feature on the redesigned Honda Pilot (they liked it, and from I could read, I’m guessing we will, too).

That’s my excuse for missing this little bit of automotive news until a friend mentioned it to me:

BMW has unveiled a “concept car” named … Gina. From AutoBlog:

The BMW GINA Light Visionary Model that was seen via video being installed in the BMW Museum in Munich last week has finally been revealed, and the futuristic design study shows how BMW designers are thinking outside of the box when it comes to the materials that make up a car and also how the car relates to the driver. GINA stands for “Geometry and Functions in ‘N’ Adaptations”, which basically means that designers from both BMW and BMW Group DesignworksUSA were allowed to throw out the rulebook. This is most evident in the GINA Light Visionary Model’s outer skin, which is made entirely out of textile fabric that’s pulled taut around a frame of metal and carbon fiber wires. The skeleton of the car is controlled by electro-hydraulic devices and can actually move and change shape beneath the fabric skin.

Sad to say, the Gina is completely worthless as a DogCar, and for all its advances and tweaks of the technology, looks like just another phallic-symbol-you-can-drive to me.  Room for a dog? Maybe a small one. Room for a crate? Don’t make me laugh.

Hey BMW, I want my name back. I’m giving it to a company who’ll make a car we can actually use.

This week in New England, Chrysler is rolling out its two new, full-size hybrid sport utility vehicles for 2009: the Chrysler Aspen and the Dodge Durango (pictured) two-mode hybrids. Both are worthy contenders as DogCar vehicles, with lots of interior space as well as rugged off-road capability.

The two-mode system — developed in a global partnership with General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and BMW — means that the vehicle can run in electric-only mode at low speeds and assists the V-8 Hemi when driving at highway speeds. Chrysler estimates the hybrids will produce 25 to 40 percent better fuel economy than their gas-only powered models. At at estimated fuel economy of 19 mpg in the city and 20 on the highway, that could lead to an average savings of about 200 gallons per year.

Designed to compete against the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, which was named the Green Car of the Year by the Green Car Journal, the Chrysler hybrids offer a significant price break of about $7,000 less than the four-wheel-drive Tahoe and its sibling, the GMC Yukon Hybrid.

How these humongous hybrids handle DogCar duty remains to be seen, but their launch makes one thing quite clear: The battle is on to keep the profitable SUV market from going the way of the dinosaur.

Yesterday, a little Hyundai Accent SE gets dropped off for the week’s test drive. I sign the paperwork, thank the driver and then go back in to work. It’s a sweet little car, well-equipped for $16K with super gas mileage (27/32) and, from first impression, a pretty good amount of room inside.

But I soon discovered a little problem: I can’t figure out how to get it into reverse. I pull out the manual, and still can’t see what it was I wasn’t understanding. “R” was over and up, I can see that. But pushing down, pulling up … nothing was cutting it. I finally push the little car out of the space, shift into first gear and drive home.

To be fair, I had one icky headache, so maybe the neurons weren’t exactly connecting at their best.

Finally, I drive to my friend Pam’s shop, Launderdog.

Pam’s a can-do person, and I thought maybe she could figure it out. First go, nothing. She and I are digging through the manual again. Fortunately, there was a County Sheriff at the store, a K-9 officer with his dog, picking up some food and schmoozing.

“I’ll try it,” he says. And sure enough, in three seconds flat, he has it in reverse. There’s a ring on the stick you have to pull up and hold up while shifting into reverse.

Well, duh, and I sure felt like an idiot. The sheriff shrugged and effected an “aw, shucks, ma’am, we’re here to serve” manner. I thanked him profusely, anyway, and Pam asked for and got permission to give the gorgeous little German shepherd officer a treat.

Now that I see how the shifting is done (although I still don’t think the manual explained it well), I know it’s so simple the police dog herself could have done it.

Such are the trials of a DogCars.com vehicle reviewer. And of course it was a K9 officer who helped me figure it out!

It’s June, which in my mind means it’s time to hit the road for some four-legged fun. Summer travel season is upon us and that means getting out and enjoying this great world of ours.

Whether you are flying or driving to your destination, traveling with dogs can be quite an ordeal-filled odyssey if you don’t take steps to prepare you and your pups for the journey.

A recently posted product review by Kim Campbell-Thornton provides some pointers as to what you might want in a travel worthy dog kennel, especially when traveling by air, where your loved one is out of your sight for long-stretches of time.

And an article by BudgetTravel.com that is posted on MSNBC.com offers some tips from dog owners about how to make this summer a sizzling success.

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The above photo of a Honda Odyssey is borrowed from a wonderful Japanese site Honda has created that is geared specifically toward dog lovers. While I don’t speak or read Japanese, I can certainly enjoy the pictures — each of which has one or multiple pups sharing the frame with the vehicle. Now that’s a dog-friendly automaker!