Dog Jaunt

Oct 18 2013

Spokane, WA dog-friendly hotel: The Hotel Davenport (plus some notes about the Riverfront Park)

Chloe and I spent the night in Spokane with our friend Chandler — it’s a beautiful drive from Seattle, improved even more by a stop at the Gingko Gem Shop in Vantage, WA, where Chandler drew the goofy dinosaur statues that decorate the parking lot. Here’s Chloe with one of them:

Squinting because her ear is blowing in her eye — such a problem for a fluffy dog

And here’s Chandler’s drawing, made from the passenger seat, of one of the many fields we passed (this one sadly mislabeled).

A fun day, but a long one, so we were all grateful to pull into Spokane’s Hotel Davenport. It’s a gorgeous thing, built in 1914 by architect Kirtland Cutter, who romped joyously from period to period designing the lobby and the ballrooms (set aside some time to pick up a hotel tour brochure from the front desk and poke your head into the Hall of the Doges, the Marie Antoinette room, and the Isabella room).

A panorama of the Hotel Davenport lobby

Our room was light and comfortable, with a splendid bathroom and a view of the Steam Plant, formerly the source of downtown’s heat and now an appealing retail and office space.

Chloe sacked out on my magnificent bed

Not a shot of the bathroom the hotel would put on its website, but you get the idea — very nice indeed

Pets are welcome for a $30/night fee. Be sure to choose the “historic” building when you make your reservation, not only because it’s beautiful but also because only it and the modern Tower are dog-friendly. I should mention that I paid for this hotel stay — I’ll always let you know when something I’m reviewing has been paid for by someone else.

You’ll find these giant alphabet blocks in Chloe’s beloved Riverfront Park, home of many squirrels

Spokane is a nifty place — more a creature of the Rockies than of the Pacific Northwest, I decided, with its elevated tracks carrying freight trains through downtown — and Chloe and I loved exploring. We returned repeatedly to the Riverfront Park — first checking out the area around the Spokane Falls (the SkyRide, sadly, is not dog-friendly, but we walked alongside the falls and crossed the bridge over them, and felt like we’d gotten good views that way), and then walking eastward. The park centers on a piece of land pointing upstream like a thumb, and if you walk along the river on the thumb side, you pass expanses of lawn and a tall clock tower and then more lawn. As you reach the end of the peninsula, cross the bridge to your right that leads you to the back of the performing arts centre.

Turn right again to return along the other side of the river, and keep your eye out for three fun things: the carrousel, the Garbage Goat, and the big red wagon. The carrousel is not pet-friendly, but look in the doors and admire the early 20th c. foaming steeds/tigers/giraffes.

Find yourself a piece of litter, walk across the terrace outside the carrousel, and feed the Garbage Goat:

Chloe surprised me by not caring a bit about the crazy whooshing noise the Garbage Goat makes

And then, if you haven’t already, check out the oversized Radio Flyer wagon. As you can see, the handle is a slide:

I first visited Spokane on an architecture tour run by Historic Seattle. Any city that contains, in same downtown core, an amazing Art Deco theater, a Kirtland Cutter masterpiece, and an exquisite mid-century parking garage — no, really — gets my respect, and those were just three of the stops on a two-day forced march. It’s not perfect (this is the time to mention that I wouldn’t walk in the park after dusk — even during the afternoon there were groups of disaffected youth lounging about near the SkyRide entrance), but what place is? I’ll return happily, and we’ll certainly stay at the Hotel Davenport.

Oct 16 2013

Collapsible carrier for traveling with a pet on public transit

I was gathering gear to pack for our trip to Paris — but this could apply equally well to New York or any other city where small pets in carriers are allowed on public transit — and once again I had to decide how to juggle my need for a purse (to carry all my gear, plus a substantial amount of Chloe’s gear) and the need to bring along a dog carrier for use on the metro or bus.

On a previous trip, I purchased a very attractive dog tote and used it as a purse — but when it came time to put Chloe inside, all of the gear I’d been carrying had to be transferred, clumsily, to various pockets in my coat or my husband’s coat. (To date, the only around-town tote I’ve seen that’s both large enough for Chloe and equipped with really substantial side pockets is the crazily-expensive Tumi tote.)

Alternatively, I’ve packed a sling carrier, which can be rolled up into a water bottle-sized cylinder and tucked into one of my purse’s water bottle pockets, but it’s tricky to get Chloe into, especially in a hurry — and since it has an open top it doesn’t actually meet the requirement (typical of most public transit systems) that your small pet be contained in her carrier.

The approach I’ve taken this time has worked like a charm: The SportPet carrier (available from Target) collapses and twists into a round coil about 6” across and about 3” deep. It weighs hardly anything at all. It lives in a corner of my purse, and, because it’s stored under pressure, pops rapidly open to receive Chloe.

When it’s fully open, it measures 19” long, 11” tall, and 11” wide. It has mesh panels on all four sides and the top. Chloe enters the carrier through the top panel, which has a double zipper. Two handles dangle on each long side, and can be gathered up to carry your pup by hand; there is also a surprisingly comfortable shoulder strap.

There is no padding on the bottom — the carrier is literally just six sheets of nylon (and mesh) edged with wire. That hasn’t bothered Chloe. When she’s on my lap, she’s effectively directly on my lap and all the cushioning that provides; and the carrier does a surprisingly good job of maintaining its integrity when it’s being carried by hand or over a shoulder. The base dips a little under Chloe’s weight, but the carrier stays essentially rectangular, and Chloe’s shown none of the anxiety she clearly feels in the sling carrier I mentioned earlier.

Chloe in the SportPet carrier, on a Paris bus, on my husband’s lap

Purse over one shoulder, Chloe over the other — as you can see, that purse is plenty large enough to hold her folded-up carrier, plus heaps of other essential gear. Remind me next time to roll the pet hair off my torso before having my picture taken….

I own three of the SportPet carriers, partly because they feel a bit flimsy, and I can’t believe they’ll be long-lived — but more because it’s so rare to find a collapsible carrier suitable for a large small dog (in fact, I think the SportPet may be unique) that I live in dread of the product being discontinued. After this trip, I think I’ll buy a few more, just to be safe — the carrier’s made that much difference to my happiness as a traveler. [10/23/13 After two weeks of intensive use, Chloe’s SportPet has sprung a leak — one of the corners of the bottom panel has started to lose its stitching. Next time I’ll pack multiple carriers, assuming that each will only survive for about two weeks.]

Please note that, as with those car windshield screens we’ve all wept over, there’s a technique you have to master to get the SportPet to return to its original coiled state. I’ll be honest: The first one I bought stumped both me and my husband (in our defense, the included instructions are completely useless) and I ended up giving it to Goodwill. This time, I paid close attention to how the carrier uncoiled, and now I can confidently assure you that I have the technique and can teach it to you.

Here’s a video, showing how it’s done:

That leaves only one tiny fly in the ointment: Once you have twisted your SportPet into a thick pancake, the only thing keeping it from flying back open is the round of black elastic it came with. Do not lose that elastic! In fact, go ahead and add another substantial, extra-long rubber band to the black elastic, which can use a little reinforcement. And pack a couple more, in case you lose one or both of those restraints. A couple of times now, my lone black elastic band has slipped, and the SportPet has thrashed around, uncoiling, in my purse.

Oct 14 2013

Pet policies of the Loire Valley châteaux; map of dog-friendly châteaux

This post was inspired by a chat with reader Jenna, who gave me breakfast just before she and Tara, her French Bulldog, left Paris for the Loire Valley. A tremendous researcher, she had created a Google map of all the dog-friendly Paris locations she’d learned about; and, separately, she’d made some notes from a post of mine about reader Christie’s experiences at several châteaux. Why not combine the two concepts, I thought, and create a map of Loire Valley châteaux where you can at least visit the gardens with your dog?

So here’s a map showing the châteaux that open their door, or at least their garden gate, to pet dogs. It’s followed by a list of all the châteaux with visiting hours (that is, excluding châteaux that are now ruins, museums, hotels, or private homes) in Wikipedia’s entry for Loire Valley châteaux, and includes pet policy details where they’re available. The name of each château is a link to its website.

Please note that this is the kind of info that tends to change without notice, so be sure to follow up yourselves before committing to nearby hotel reservations, etc. And please send me updates, edits and additions — that’ll help keep the map current and useful.

Châteaux on the Loire river:

Amboise — Dogs in carriers allowed in the château; leashed dogs allowed in the park; dogs not allowed in the underground passageways
Bastie d’Urfé — Probably not allowed, since the property makes a point of saying that service dogs are allowed on the domaine
Beauregard — Not stated
Blois — Dogs not allowed
Boumois — Dogs allowed (throughout? unclear; site says “Animaux acceptés (gratuit)”)
Bouthéon — Dogs not allowed
Brissac — Not stated
Chambord — Dogs not allowed
Cheverny — Site says that “Dogs are generally not allowed,” which bewilders me as much as it does you. I suggest giving them a call.
Château de Chaumont — Dogs not allowed
Château de la Ferté — Dogs are allowed in the park, but not in the buildings
Clos-Lucé — Dogs in carriers allowed in the château; leashed dogs allowed in the park
Gien — Closed through the end of 2014
Gizeux — Dogs not allowed
La Bussière — Not stated
La Verrerie (near Aubigny-sur-Nère) — Dogs not allowed
Langeais — Leashed dogs allowed (throughout? unclear; site says “Les animaux sont acceptés en laisse”)
Lavoûte-Polignac — Not stated
Meung-sur-Loire — Dogs in carriers allowed in the château; leashed dogs allowed in the park
Montgeoffroy — Dogs not allowed
Montreuil-Bellay — Dogs not allowed, per 11/21/13 message from reader CreationCMignon (the château has two pet dogs in residence)
Montsoreau — Not stated
Palais ducal de Nevers — Not stated
Plessis-Bourré — Not stated
Pontchevron — Not stated
Saint-Brisson — Dogs in carriers allowed in the château; leashed dogs allowed in the park
Saumur — Dogs not allowed, per 11/21/13 message from reader CreationCMignon
Sully-sur-Loire — Not stated
Talcy — Not stated
Troussay — Not stated
Villesavin — Not stated

On the Maine river:

Château d’Angers — Not stated [in a comment, below, reader Margaret reports that Angers is not dog-friendly]

On the Cher:

Chenonceau — Dogs in carriers allowed in the château; leashed dogs allowed in the park
Gué-Péan — Not stated
Selles-sur-Cher — Not stated
Valençay — Leashed dogs allowed in the park
Villandry — Dogs in carriers allowed in the château; leashed dogs allowed in the park

On the Indres:

Azay-le-Rideau — Not stated
Candé — Leashed dogs allowed in the park
Ussé — Not stated
Villegongis — Not stated (please note that only the park is open to visitors)

On the Vienne:

Château de Bazouges sur le Loir — Not stated
Château du Petit Thouars — The current owners left a comment on Dog Jaunt saying “Dogs are very welcome to accompany their owners to wine tastings at our château and vineyard”
Chinon — Not stated
Lude — Not stated
Rivau — Leashed dogs allowed (throughout? unclear; site says “Chiens tenus en laisse bienvenus”)

As you’ll see, I’ve identified 13 properties that are dog-friendly to some extent. At least six properties (including the mighty Amboise and Chenonceau) allow small dogs in carriers inside the château; at three more locations (Boumois, Langeais, and Rivau), dogs may be allowed inside, but are certainly allowed (leashed) in the park. Three properties (Château de la Ferté, Valençay, and Candé) only allow (leashed) dogs in their parks. In a category of its own, the Château du Petit Thouars is now a vineyard, and welcomes canine visitors.

Oct 11 2013

Photo Friday: Chloe at the Parc des Buttes Chaumont

I’d been looking forward to visiting the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, in Paris’ 19th arrondissement, because it’s one of the few parks in the city that welcomes dogs — and by that I mean that dogs are still required to be leashed, but at least they can walk with you throughout the park (the official rules say that they are allowed on “les allées périphériques seulement,” so don’t be offended in the unlikely event that you’re challenged).

The park is every bit as lovely as I’d anticipated. It was created in the 1860’s from a combination trash dump and quarry, and the designer did a bang-up job. The centerpiece is a lake at the foot of a cliff; a footbridge leads to a path spiraling up to the top, crowned with a gazebo where you can catch your breath and admire the views (including a good one of Sacré-Coeur).

The park’s Temple de la Sibylle from below

The (disturbingly bouncy) footbridge over the lake — Chloe was surprisingly unperturbed

Sacré-Coeur, from just below the Temple

Chloe in the Temple, keeping a sharp eye out for squirrels (you can just see Sacre Coeur over her shoulders)

Chloe in the Temple, keeping a sharp eye out for squirrels (you can just see Sacré-Coeur above her shoulders)

Add in expanses of lawn, more walks, and adorable little huts and other charming features (many aimed at children, like a Guignol theatre and a tiny carousel), and you have yourself a good time. Chloe, entirely focused on pigeons and the possibility of squirrels, was in heaven. None of us minded that on the day we visited, a good chunk of the park was cordoned off for repair and reconstruction.

The park is open everyday, from 7 am to 10 pm in the summer and from 7 am to 8 pm in the winter.

Oct 9 2013

Which seat works best with an in-cabin dog? [United 767-300]

I’d never flown on a 767 before, and I still can’t decide, two days later, what I thought of the experience. What I do know is that getting a seat in at least Economy Plus is crucial for an international flight with a pet: I walked past the Economy seats on my trip to the bathroom, and the pitch was something terrible. I don’t think I could have managed to reach down to Chloe in the space available.

Happily, I was in Seat 19A, in the first Economy Plus row that works for pets (Row 17 has a bulkhead in front of it, and the spaces under the Row 18 seats are entirely occupied by gigantic boxes). The configuration (here’s a SeatGuru map so you can follow along) in the back end of the plane was 2-3-2 (and please note that we were in a two-class 767-300 — there was no separate First Class). The pairs of seats have a shared under-seat space that’s 33” wide. As you can see in this picture, I oriented Chloe’s carrier left-to-right in the space for take-off and landing:

Remember to discount the flange on the front of the large SturdiBag, since it’s not structural. The carrier ended up poking about an inch into my neighbor’s space, but he kindly pooh-poohed my apologies — and as soon as we took off, I turned the carrier 90 degrees.

That’s because I had to: The under-seat space in Economy and Economy Plus is essentially wedge-shaped, and complicated, on both sides of the plane, by an electronics box. At the deepest point under the seat (just behind the heels of the person in front of you), the available space is 7.5” tall. At the front of the space (that is, in the plane continuous with your stowed tray table), the available space is 13” tall. That slope is consistent across the shared under-seat spaces of the pairs of seats, except that it’s interrupted in the middle by an electronics box (occupying, more precisely, the area 14”-17″ from the wall of the plane, and 0”-6” from the heels of the people in front of you).

The large SturdiBag worked well because its top, rounded like a Quonset hut, tucked nicely into the wedge-shaped space. Our large Kobi carrier would also have worked well, but a carrier with square shoulders (like our Sleepypod Air, or our Delta Deluxe Sherpa carrier) would have stuck our more into the foot area — though, looking at my picture, I think not so much that a flight attendant would have objected.

That same wedge-shaped under-seat space was consistent across the center three seats too, but those seats did not seem to have any electronics boxes under them. The plane was filling up, so I didn’t have the chance to get precise measurements, but as you’ll see in this photo, all three spaces are very wide. Chloe’s large SturdiBag would have fit comfortably (again, oriented left-to-right) in any of them.

These are the under-seat spaces for Seats 19D, E, and F.

I’m adding this to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of posts recording airplane under-seat measurements, and I’m tagging it so it appears in Dog Jaunt’s ever-growing collection of pictures of carriers deployed under plane seats.

Oct 8 2013

Small but well-stocked: I Love My Cleps pet store in Paris’s 9th arrondissement

My thanks to reader Joan for this recommendation — she saw my recent post about Moustaches and BHV La Niche, two major pet stores in Paris’s Marais neighborhood, and mentioned that she’d found a good pet store near her Montmartre apartment last year. Off we went to check it out, and I was delighted with what we found.

The shop is at the corner of the rue Rodier and the rue Condorcet

In its compact space, I Love My Cleps contains a well-chosen selection of dog (and cat) gear, toys, food, treats, and treatments. I found the carriers more appealing than those we saw yesterday at BHV La Niche and Moustaches, and I was thrilled to find a European equivalent of the Gulpy water bottle we love so much. It’s called Drink Max, and it’s made by Karlie — the listing on Amazon’s German site shows you that it works one-handed, like the Gulpy, and can be shared with your dog (like the Gulpy) because the water cannot slosh back into the bottle once it’s squeezed out into the flip-down bowl. It was nice, too, to see gear and collars/leashes from Wagwear on the shelves.

I Love My Cleps carries yet another wheeled/backpack carrier, by the way, of the same type and size as the medium Snoozer Roll Around and the Trixie Trolley I mentioned in my post about Moustaches — this one is branded Doogy, and I liked its appearance and heft. I haven’t been able to learn much about the Doogy brand, but the shop’s owner, Céline, can no doubt fill you in.

Céline kindly let me take a panorama of the shop’s interior, so you can get an idea of what it’s like:

Click on this thumbnail to see a bigger image of the store’s interior

I Love My Cleps is located in the 9th arrondissement, at 44 rue Condorcet; that’s just a couple of blocks south of Sacré-Coeur, so it’s easily accessible from the 18th. The store’s Facebook page is active, and would likely be a good way to communicate with Céline.

Oct 7 2013

Photo of Chloe’s large SturdiBag on a United 757-200

Too many times in the past, I posted airplane under-seat measurements without including a picture of Chloe’s carrier installed under my seat, but slowly I’m filling in the missing pieces. Today’s photos are of her carrier on a United 757-200. For the measurements of that under-seat space, see this earlier post.

The first photo is of her large SturdiBag under an Economy Plus window seat on the port side of the plane (Seat 9A):

I chose to orient her carrier front-to-back, so I could reach inside easily to pat her, but the large SturdiBag would also have fit under this seat oriented left-to-right. With her bag in this position, there was room alongside her bag for me to stretch out my left leg, at least — and the gap (and my leg!) insulated her from the cold draft.

The second is the same, except that I’ve shifted the focus to the right a bit, to show that the SturdiBag projected only about an inch past the base of the silver bracket supporting the seat (it looks like it’s more, but recall that the front flange of the SturdiBag is entirely decorative, and doesn’t add to its real length):

I’m adding this picture to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of posts recording airplane under-seat measurements, and to Dog Jaunt’s ever-growing collection of pictures of carriers deployed under plane seats.

Oct 6 2013

Another good pet store in central Paris: Moustaches

What else would a dog travel blogger do on her first full day in Paris but drag her husband (and her dog, but Chloe hardly needed dragging) to pet stores? Both are in the Marais neighborhood, and one (BHV La Niche) I’ve written about before. It’s still going strong in its location behind the main BHV store, at 42 rue de la Verrerie:

The big orange statues are outside now, perhaps to free up more space inside (the shop is packed with gear and shoppers)

The big orange statues are outside BHV LA Niche now, perhaps to free up more space inside (every square foot is needed!)

One difference I noticed was that all the pet carriers I looked at were from the same German company, Trixie — not a bad thing, but I missed the variety of brands (and the handful of high-end options, like the snazzy Milk & Pepper tote I bought) that were on the shelves last time. Speaking of Trixie, one of the available options was their Trolley, which is a dead ringer for Snoozer’s medium Roll Around — a carrier big enough to fit Chloe and equipped with wheels and backpack straps. Like the medium Roll Around, it’s a hair larger than I’d like for in-cabin use, but people with stronger nerves than mine do use it successfully. The Snoozer Roll Around doesn’t seem to be available on amazon.co.uk or amazon.fr or amazon.de, but the Trixie Trolley is.

Nowadays, BHV La Niche has a competitor right around the corner and up a block or so. Moustaches, located at 32 rue des Archives, has a similar vibe, but I think I prefer it to BHV La Niche — I saw more interesting and useful products there, and it was a bit less crowded.

Like La Niche, it has gear in the front and food in the back (and the food includes Orijen, a high-quality option I didn’t notice on La Niche’s shelves). Here are two panoramas I took, the first from the front part of the store, where most of the gear is located, and the other from the food/litter/toys/unguents section in back.

Click on this thumbnail panorama to see a larger version

Same for this thumbnail of the back of the store — click on it to see a larger version

We managed to leave without buying anything at either store, though I was sorely tempted at Moustaches by a pink latex oinking pig toy (also from Trixie, which is clearly a powerhouse of a pet supply company). Our visit has just begun, though — I’ll be back, for sure.

Oct 2 2013

Thai Airways no longer takes in-cabin pets

I learned about this policy change from reader Naomi, and sure enough, a Thai Airways customer service rep just confirmed that the airline stopped taking in-cabin pets “over a month ago.” This is such bad news, not just because Thai Air is a pleasant airline to fly on, but also because its maximums for in-cabin pet weight and carrier size were unusually generous. Other airlines going to Asia allow in-cabin pets (including, for example, Korean Air and Asiana), but their official maximums describe very small pets.

Pets can still travel on Thai Airways, but only checked as baggage (meaning traveling on the same plane as you) or cargo (meaning traveling on their own).

I have unhappily updated Dog Jaunt’s charts about international airlines’ in-cabin pet policies, how a pet carrier counts towards international airlines’ carry-on policies, and international airlines’ policies re pets checked as baggage/cargo.

Oct 1 2013

What it looks like: Paperwork for importing your dog into France/E.U. from the U.S.

In a previous post, I’ve talked about how to get hold of the current forms needed to import a pet into France (generally speaking, the same form is used throughout the E.U., but look out for local variations, like the tapeworm treatments required by the U.K., Ireland, Finland, and Malta). That info is still good, but reader Bridget asked to see an example of the actual paperwork, properly filled out and USDA-endorsed — such a good idea, and so timely, since today I have in hand Chloe’s paperwork for our trip this week to Paris. Please note that some personal info has been blurred out. [4/6/15 The form for a health certificate for pets traveling from the U.S. to the E.U. changed a few months ago — be sure to download and fill out the current form.]

First is the five-page bilingual form you’ll find when you follow the links I provide in that earlier post:

Notice my slightly-too-late realization that I was about to write the date the wrong way.

No such trouble for my vet or the USDA official

Attached to the end of it, my vet included a copy of Chloe’s current rabies vaccination certificate, and signed it; and she also included a statement that Chloe’s microchip (she included its number) was implanted on X date, and that Chloe’s rabies vaccine (she included its identifying info) was given subsequent to that implantation on Y date. The info on those two supplements is available in the main form, but the practice is, apparently, to repeat it in these separate documents as well — a belt and suspenders approach.

Other important items I should mention: The forms should be filled out and signed in blue ink. All dates should be in the European format (day/month/year) rather than the U.S. format (month/day/year). Double check your vet’s (and your own!) written dates and also the USDA office’s date stamp to make sure they’re all in the right format. All of the pages of the form should be stamped by the USDA (they will decline to stamp the two supplemental attachments).

Make one or two (or more, depending on where you’re going and how likely it is that someone along the way might want a copy of your pup’s paperwork) color copies of the whole packet. Why color copies? So the blue ink used to fill out and sign the forms, and the blue ink of the USDA’s stamp, is visible. The last time I went to France with Chloe, the USDA office kindly made the copies, and stamped them as well, so they looked (and felt) just about exactly like the original — this time they wouldn’t do that, so there’s no reason to ask them to make the copies anymore.