Now that we have Miles with us full time we are in the market for a good boarding facility. We're planning a two to three week trip to Chile later this spring and we obviously can't take Miles with us. So what should we look for?

Traveling state to state, anytime soon? If you live in the U.S., you might encounter a Security Dog, at the airport. It's nothing new, actually. I remember the last time I flew out of Rochester, NY...we saw some German Shepards being led down one of the corridors. They weren't being used to sniff out issues with passengers, but I suspect they were being used to check out luggage.

I don't have a clue what issues they might have been brought in for...but the fact remains, dogs are great tools for security of many kinds.

In fact, this goes back farther than the most recent incident, which we won't rehash here. Having dogs at airports goes back at least to early 2008 - as shown in this story from ABCNews: "Airplane Secrity Gone to the Dogs." In the story, the dog mentioned is called King - fitting, don't you think? King, the story says, "...loves going to work. He's confident, energetic, driven and flexible." A perfect 'employee' - wouldn't you agree? That he's a dog makes it all the more news-worthy - making it a story worthy of our blog.

There have been some new developments in the Swine Flu epidemic of note for pet owners. First of all the World Health Organization now refers to Swine Flu as 2009 H1N1. Since the virus infects many different species and contains genetic material from human and bird flu viruses, swine flu has always been something of a misnomer.

This video of Twiggy, my canine granddaughter, and her friend, Snotnose (yes, that's his name) , the ferret, is a lot of fun. We'll have more videos of these two. They're great friends!

The interesting thing about Twiggy, who is a pure-bred Greyhound, is that at our house...she's quite leary of the Wabby Wibby, resident kitty. Wabby, on the other hand, knows just how to handle Twiggy, and it doesn't involve play. She merely sits perfectly still and fixes Twiggy with a serious stare - as if she's saying, "Don't mess with me, dog." Twiggy will actually go around the cat...to get where she needs to go. And, she avoids eye contact! It's pretty funny. Maybe we'll try to get some pics of that!

Enjoy! (Tom added the music...)

Hope everyone is having a joyful holiday season!

As we pause to reflect and enjoy time with our families and friends, including the furry ones, our blogger-behind-the-scenes, Tom Collins, shared his feelings over on the Scratchings & Sniffings blog about family holiday traditions (influenced by our love of pets, of course).

For the FUN part, he also posted two puzzles built from this cute holiday photo. One puzzle is rated "easy" and the other one "hard" — see if you can beat Tom's score of zero on the hard one! (He did complete it, but too slow to score any points.)

Enjoy!

As some of you know we have temporary custody of our daughter's dog, Miles, for the next few months. We're having lots of fun with him so far. This morning we woke up to about six inches of fresh snow and we immediately headed up on Boston Hill for a long walk. The walk to the trail head is right through town and that calls for a leash.

Claire never really taught Miles to walk like a gentleman so that task is falling to us.

The parallels between the news stories on humans and those on pets we care for reflects a trend that isn't likely to go away anytime soon. Pets play such an important role in our lives - and here are some ways they were a big part of the "news" in 2009, from a PurinaCare® press release just issued:

1. We refused to scrimp on our pets. "Tough decisions in a tough economy" affected us all, and showed a ripple effect on pets. Sadly, the term "economic euthanasia" became a part of our vocabulary as some pet owners made that hard decision because they could not afford the veterinary care their pet needed. Still others had to abandon their pets at local shelters.

And yet, many of us refused to give in. The overall pet care world actually showed promise over the down economy. As we can see from the number of pets and their people on twitter (my account shows thousands and I know I'm just the tip of the iceberg), people treasure their pets and are stepping up where they can, to help shelters, help the elderly, and help strays.

Read the book "Saved" and you'll see how regular people are making a difference.

The number one reason that dogs and cats are given up for adoption at animal shelters is due to some behavior issue. Fear, anxiety, aggression or other behavior issues can make bonding with a pet difficult for even the most committed pet lover.

A regular reader, Brenda, sent this touching story to us recently and we thought it was well worth sharing. It's the truth about why there are dogs, and why dogs don't quite live as long as people do - from the words of a six year old boy (and, who would know better than a child?)

Here's the story: A veterinarian was called in to a client's home to examine their Irish Wolfhound, Belker. The owners and their son, Shane, were concerned about Belker and hoping for "a miracle." But, Belker had cancer and could not be saved, so the vet offered to take care of Belker at the family's home - so they could be with him in the place he loved best, I'm thinking.

Can't resist sharing this heartwarming story about a soldier and his two cats. I found it on the St. Louis website under news, which is fitting because the soldier won a contest sponsored by Purina's Tidy Cats® Campaign to End Cattiness, and Purina® pet food, as you know, is headquartered in St. Louis.

The scoop (yes, pun intended, kitty litter friends), is this: Purina Tidy Cats contest to End Cattiness asked people to "debunk negative stereotypes of 'crazy cat ladies' " - you know the type - an elderly woman with a house full of cats. We've all known one, but the stereotype leads to misinformation and misperceptions of homes with more than one cat. Hey, my daughter has 3 cats and nobody better call her crazy!

Back to Army Specialist Nathan Davis, winner of the contest. His cats, Frank Sinatra and Sgt. Snog, live with him and his wife in Petersburg, VA. His story is really amazing. I'll only quote some of it here - and encourage you to visit the Tidy Cats site for the full story: