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).

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.

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.

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!

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!

An article on Sunday’s Boston.com by Mike Hanley of cars.com does a good job laying out the basics of safe pet travel, including the little-known idea that for dogs who are prone to car sickness, it’s best to have them as close to the front as possible.

Yes, pets get carsick, too. One way to deal with the problem: Take increasingly longer trips with your pet to make them more comfortable, Peterson said.

Where your pet sits in the car can also play a role.

“The closer your dog is to the front of the vehicle, the less motion there is, [making it] less likely to get carsick,” she said. Your pet’s veterinarian may also be able to provide medication to make traveling easier, Connolly said.

I can hear it now: “Grandma, you need to sit in back so Buster can be up front – he has a sensitive stomach.”

Say goodbye to that Christmas present.

And while there was no dog to be seen anywhere on the convention floor, representatives that I spoke to seemed to be very interested in the canine-friendly segment of the buying public.

Suzuki, the up-and-coming Japanese automaker that offers several stylish models at reasonable prices, hinted that they have been considering a pet-focused advertising campaign for the Suzuki XL7 SUV that would be geared toward dog-owning families.

Honda may have been ahead of the trend when it showed a dog-friendly concept car  at the 2005 Tokyo Auto Show. It’s called WOW, which, according to reports, vaguely stands for “Wonderful Open-hearted Wagon.” Whether or not this vehicle ever makes it into production, and then into the North American market, remains to be seen.

If nothing else, this shows that automakers are listening to the howls of the dog-happy public and searching for ways to satisfy its craving for capable canine carriers.

And while there was no dog to be seen anywhere on the convention floor, representatives that I spoke to seemed to be very interested in the canine-friendly segment of the buying public.

Suzuki, the up-and-coming Japanese automaker that offers several stylish models at reasonable prices, hinted that they have been considering a pet-focused advertising campaign for the Suzuki XL7 SUV that would be geared toward dog-owning families.

Honda may have been ahead of the trend when it showed a dog-friendly concept car  at the 2005 Tokyo Auto Show. It’s called WOW, which, according to reports, vaguely stands for “Wonderful Open-hearted Wagon.” Whether or not this vehicle ever makes it into production, and then into the North American market, remains to be seen.

If nothing else, this shows that automakers are listening to the howls of the dog-happy public and searching for ways to satisfy its craving for capable canine carriers.

Well, I’m back home this beautiful morning after a 44-hour trip to Memphis, TN. It was a good trip with lots of great experiences. We drove the totally redesigned Chevrolet Malibu all over southern Tennessee and into Mississippi.

Then my friend LouAnn Hammond (carlist.com MSNBC and ABC Radio) and drove her childhood neighborhood where she was informed by one resident that “No caucasians live on this street.”

We then drove the Malibu to Graceland (Elvis’ old home) and shot some video from over the 7ft.-tall stone fence that is covered from top to bottom with graffiti-style comments from Elvis lovers from around the world who made the pilgrimage to the birthplace of the King of Rock ‘n Roll.

In our search to find the mansion (which is incredibly tiny and understated by today’s MTV cribs standards) we ventured into an apartment complex and stopped two young teenage girls to ask for directions to Graceland. After telling us how to get to Graceland High School, we explained that we were looking for Elvis’ house, and they pointed in the direction across the street to Graceland. Then they complemented us on our car — the new Chevy Malibu that was being introduced to the media on this trip. Lou Ann whipped out her ever-present video camera to record their praises of the new Malibu.

Back at the hotel, the Chevy folks were thrilled to hear this story, along with similar stories relayed by other writers.

Oh yeah, when I arrived at the Memphis Westin on Thursday, the place was full of activity because they were shooting a movie in the hotel’s restaurant. It’s called “Nothing But the Truth” and it’s the Valerie Plame CIA outing story. Stars include Alan Alda, David Schwimmer (Friends) and Becky Beckinsale, Matt Dillion and several other big names. I saw the first two, but not the others.

That evening Chevy treated us to a tour of the Gibson guitar factory and museum, where we saw all the craftsmanship that goes into the historic guitars. Then we walked over to BB King’s Blues Club for awesome ribs and a night of live jazz and blues at several of the clubs along Beale Street.

While it’s not a dog car per se, the new Chevrolet Malibu is definitely an eye-catcher. It appears that GM has finally broken out of the box of dull-looking vehicles and designed an inexpensive (starting at $19,995), full-efficient (up to 30 mpg) sedan that one can be proud to be seen driving. And the multi-layered interior dash is one of the most interesting I have ever seen on any car. And, it’s fun to drive. They’ve even included a hybrid version that is mild by fuel-consumption standards, but still shows a willingness from GM to get in step with this ever-changing automotive world and alternative fuel consumption.

For dog-carrying safety, harnesses can be easily hooked to the childseat anchors easily accessible in the backseats.

Well, I’m back home this beautiful morning after a 44-hour trip to Memphis, TN. It was a good trip with lots of great experiences. We drove the totally redesigned Chevrolet Malibu all over southern Tennessee and into Mississippi.

Then my friend LouAnn Hammond (carlist.com MSNBC and ABC Radio) and drove her childhood neighborhood where she was informed by one resident that “No caucasians live on this street.”

We then drove the Malibu to Graceland (Elvis’ old home) and shot some video from over the 7ft.-tall stone fence that is covered from top to bottom with graffiti-style comments from Elvis lovers from around the world who made the pilgrimage to the birthplace of the King of Rock ‘n Roll.

In our search to find the mansion (which is incredibly tiny and understated by today’s MTV cribs standards) we ventured into an apartment complex and stopped two young teenage girls to ask for directions to Graceland. After telling us how to get to Graceland High School, we explained that we were looking for Elvis’ house, and they pointed in the direction across the street to Graceland. Then they complemented us on our car — the new Chevy Malibu that was being introduced to the media on this trip. Lou Ann whipped out her ever-present video camera to record their praises of the new Malibu.

Back at the hotel, the Chevy folks were thrilled to hear this story, along with similar stories relayed by other writers.

Oh yeah, when I arrived at the Memphis Westin on Thursday, the place was full of activity because they were shooting a movie in the hotel’s restaurant. It’s called “Nothing But the Truth” and it’s the Valerie Plame CIA outing story. Stars include Alan Alda, David Schwimmer (Friends) and Becky Beckinsale, Matt Dillion and several other big names. I saw the first two, but not the others.

That evening Chevy treated us to a tour of the Gibson guitar factory and museum, where we saw all the craftsmanship that goes into the historic guitars. Then we walked over to BB King’s Blues Club for awesome ribs and a night of live jazz and blues at several of the clubs along Beale Street.

While it’s not a dog car per se, the new Chevrolet Malibu is definitely an eye-catcher. It appears that GM has finally broken out of the box of dull-looking vehicles and designed an inexpensive (starting at $19,995), full-efficient (up to 30 mpg) sedan that one can be proud to be seen driving. And the multi-layered interior dash is one of the most interesting I have ever seen on any car. And, it’s fun to drive. They’ve even included a hybrid version that is mild by fuel-consumption standards, but still shows a willingness from GM to get in step with this ever-changing automotive world and alternative fuel consumption.

For dog-carrying safety, harnesses can be easily hooked to the childseat anchors easily accessible in the backseats.