Calm Pets Happy Pets

Fresh from Hurricane Gustav, I thought everyone might be giving some thought to disaster preparedness. One thing you can do to help your pets is to get one of these nifty pet rescue stickers offered by the ASPCA: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pets_rescuesticker. They tell emergency personnel what pets to look for, and how many. Enjoy the end of summer!

As everyone knows I try to be as flexible as possible regarding scheduling. However, last minute changes affect my ability to service everyone, and so I’ve been forced to adjust my cancellation policy from 24 hours to 72 hours (3 days), effective immediately. Any visits within 72 hours from the time of cancellation will be charged, including early returns. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns!

I’ve booked myself to go to Florida to visit my dad 12/3-8, so I will personally be unavailable for pet sits during those dates. I won’t be a on a cruise, so my current plan is to bring my phone with me and handle calls myself. All of my sitters will be working as usual during those dates. Just an FYI for everyone!

I’m a big fan of martingale collars. For anyone who isn’t familiar with them, they are most often used on greyhounds and work sort of like a choke collar but made of material instead of metal. If your dog’s neck and head are virtually the same diameter, like a greyhound, instead of them slipping out of their collar the martingale will tighten up and keep them safely on their leash. Anyway, even if you prefer a more traditional buckle-style collar, 2 Hounds Design makes beautiful custom collars in the size, style, width and material you choose. Neat, huh? My own dog, Dottie, loves them and looks quite pretty in them. Their website is http://www.2houndsdesign.com/ if you want to take a peek - happy shopping!

By now I’m sure everyone has received the scam email saying I’m in Nigeria and need cash. Obviously it’s not true, and I’ve taken steps to avoid this happening to me again in the future. Many thanks to everyone for their support and understanding! While I’m always very careful about what I download, I was not using a variety of hard-to-guess passwords. I tended to use the same password for everything, which means that once the hackers broke into my email account, they were also able to break into my ebay and Amazon accounts. Since I don’t have anyone else’s passcodes or logins for anything, and no virus was attached to the email, this should have no effect on anyone else (assuming you did not send me money in Nigeria other than a reminder to everybody to do that long-overdue password updating. A couple of good tips for creating passwords is:
1. Use as many characters as possible (12-16)

2. Mix capitals and punctuation marks (when permitted).

3. Do not base your password on any numbers or names related to your personal information.

4. Change them every few months.

5. Make sure the firewall of your home computer is activated, and avoid accessing your secure sites with passwords at public computers.

6. Use different passwords for different things, such as one for email, and something else for banking.

I hope this is helpful to everyone, and that you’ve had a great holiday!

Have I mentioned how cool the Furminator is lately? Their brushes do an AMAZING job taking off excess fur so it doesn’t land on your couch. I know it sounds like a late night TV infomercial, but it really works: http://www.furminator.com/

June 20th is “Take Your Dog To Work” day! For more info, you can visit the official website: http://www.takeyourdog.com/

I tripped across this online course that teaches the basics of pet first aid. It seems to be focused on the things to look for to tell if something is wrong, and won’t include actual CPR training, but it may be worth the time for a lot of people. Here is the link: http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?sku=524352&Nav=1

One of my clients had this scooper, and it was so nice that I looked for it online. It’s the durascoop - http://www.durascoop.com/ - and it’s what all litter scoopers should be.

Hi everyone! I’ve decided to slightly re-purpose my blog, so from now on it will include general information on things I found interesting or helpful, as well as important updates. For the time being there will be no email notifications when a new post has been made. To start off with something everyone might benefit from, Pet Sitters International’s latest pet sitter bulletin contains gas saving tips, which I’m passing on to you. Enjoy!

Avoid tire under-inflation by checking your tire’s air pressure weekly - It is important to keep tires inflated to the pressure recommended by your car’s manufacturer. The EPA estimates that for every 1 psi of under-inflation, fuel economy drops by 0.4 percent. That may not sound like much, but if the tires are under-inflated by 8 pounds, that’s a 3.2 percent drop in fuel economy. About 1.2 billion gallons of fuel are wasted annually due to under-inflated tires. Invest in an inexpensive air pump and accurate tire gauge. Proper pressure will improve handling and fuel mileage.

Keep your speed consistent - Avoid lead-foot braking and high acceleration. Use cruise control whenever possible.

Maintain a safe following distance - In other words: DON’T TAILGATE! Following a car too closely can lead to risky acceleration and braking practices – and consume more gas.

Slow down! - Air resistance increases gas consumption. Technically speaking, the most efficient speed is your car’s minimum speed in its highest gear. (This provides the best revolutions per minute (RPM).

Don’t fill up until you are a quarter of a tank empty - This extends the lifetime of the gas you already have because you are hauling a lighter load as the gas tank nears empty. This also enables you to purchase gas on low-cost days.

Top the tank -If you need to fill up, make sure you fill it up all the way. You won’t save any money by adding $10 here and $20 there – you will just be making another trip to the pump. Do it all at once and save both time and money.

Remove unneeded racks from your car - If you are not using your bicycle or ski rack, by all means take them down! It causes drag and lowers mileage. • Clean out any unnecessary items in your car. Remove all unneeded heavy objects. The lighter your car, the less fuel it will consume.

Invest in a Global Positioning System - GPS navigates drivers to the fastest and most efficient route. GPS can save you time and gas by helping you reach your destination with quickly.

Avoid idling - A car gets exactly zero miles per gallon while idling. Starting a car uses a lot of gas – the same amount as idling for 30 seconds. Keep this in mind when you are sitting at the drive-thru.