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Chloe’s Clicks: This week’s best dog travel links

I am writing this week’s Chloe’s Clicks on an Amtrak train heading north from New York City — which means, alas, that I don’t have Chloe with me. When, oh, when, will Amtrak decide to re-allow pet dogs on board — at least small ones in carriers, at least on short trips??

And now to the reason you started reading this post, starting with the most serious pet travel link and getting goofier from there. USA Today posted a useful summary article about the current state of the nascent movement to pass vehicle pet restraint laws — so far, New Jersey and Hawaii have laws explicitly targeted at stopping people from traveling with unrestrained dogs (another is pending in Rhode Island), and Arizona, Connecticut and Maine have distracted-driver laws that can be used to curb the problem. (Tennessee is also considering a bill that would prevent drivers from driving with a dog on their lap, but it’s meeting resistance.)

Time for tempting places to share with your dog, and the top contenders this week are Provincetown, MA (a thorough post from the Take Paws team) and the botanical garden in Naples, FL (an understandably rapturous post from Montecristo Travels). It’s rare for pet dogs to be allowed in botanical gardens, and the Naples garden isn’t open to pets every day — but the hours it offers (Tues. and Thurs. before noon) are very workable. Both posts are packed with delightful pictures. Spinning the globe, you and your dog may benefit from this Off Track Planet post about Greek street food.

Unusual pet travel? Take a look at a link from Smithsonian sent by reader Chelsea, about a traveler who has been bicycling around the world for years, joined over time by the members of his family: his wife, their new child, and two dogs. They spend astonishingly little, forage for most of their food — what a story! Also fun: A brief article from the Toronto Independent about the surprising number of tennis stars who travel with their dogs.

I’ll leave you with a link from Modern Dog Magazine with a recipe for dog-friendly Pumpkin Ice Cream (the chicken livers will make it less irresistible for humans) — thanks to @doggeek for the link! — and a joyous post from blogger Gigi Griffis’ The Ramble about the fun she’s having in Scotland with Luna, her Yorkie.

Flying with an in-cabin pet: Under-seat space available on a Delta MD-88 (First Class section)

I can’t remember the last time I traveled First Class. Could it have been 30 years ago? Could it have been never? I chose to make First Class reservations on our Delta flight from New York to Tampa because I had the right number of miles, and because Delta’s Economy seat pitch is so evil that after our last flight my husband and I vowed never to fly on the dratted airline again. Why not blow all of our remaining miles on one Delta flight that would allow my 6’4″ husband to put his knees directly in front of him?

So once again I crawled around with my measuring tape, and here’s what I learned. On a Delta MD-88, the First Class cabin has two seats on each side of the aisle. Under each pair of seats, there are three spaces — a vast shared space, and two separate, tiny spaces on either side. The shared space is 31.5″ wide and 19″ deep (measured from the rail behind the heels of the person in front of you to the imaginary line extending down from your own seat-back pocket). The lowest height of the under-seat space — a thick bar running from left to right — varied from 8.25″ to 9″ tall. That bar is positioned about 9″ in from the front (closest to you) of the under-seat space. One exception: The 6 inches of the shared space closest to the aisle do not have the bar, and were easily 11″ tall. The entire under-seat space, in fact, is easily 11″ tall, except that that bar runs across it.

The narrow space closest to the aisle is 9.75″ wide, and, again, 19″ deep. About 9″ into the under-seat space, it’s 10″ tall, but behind that (deeper under the seat), the space is easily 12″ tall. The space closest to the window is so narrow that I didn’t even notice it until I looked at the picture I took — it’s wide enough to stick one leg into, or a small purse, but that’s it.

Our best choice was to put Chloe’s carrier left-to-right in the large shared space, and here’s a picture:

Chloe’s large SturdiBag, oriented left-to-right — and I was very glad indeed that it had not only a flexible top but also sloped “shoulders”

Be cautious with First Class seats, Team Dog Jaunt! On many planes, the under-seat spaces in First Class are nearly solid with electronics boxes, and there isn’t enough room left over for a Teacup Pomeranian, much less a pet Chloe’s size. Presumably, a ticketing agent who knows you’re traveling with an in-cabin pet wouldn’t give you a First Class seat in those circumstances, but it’s worth confirming, and then re-confirming, that your seat has open space underneath it.

This post is part of an ongoing series recording under-seat measurements of the various planes we fly on. Keep in mind that most domestic and international airlines have rules about the maximum size of in-cabin pet carriers they allow on board (see Dog Jaunt’s handy charts under the “Taking your pet on a plane” tab above).

New York City dog-friendly hotel: MAve Hotel (Flatiron District)

We have a favorite dog-friendly NYC hotel, the Hotel Wales on the Upper East Side, and we have dear friends, too, who would welcome Chloe and us to their apartment, but if we stuck with those options, where would this blog be? Taking one for the team, we experimented with a new hotel in the Flatiron District, called The MAve Hotel (and yes, the odd capitalization is deliberate — the hotel is on Madison Avenue).

It’s at 27th and Madison, in fact — a thin column on the northwest corner of the intersection. It’s sleekly modern, appealing, and conveniently located. The front desk staff was friendly and helpful — kind to Chloe, and responsive to our requests. The rooms are tiny — someone sitting at the desk has to move if another someone wants to enter or exit the bathroom — but they’re clean and attractive, and the wifi is free.

A panorama of our room, with our luggage shoved out of the way as much as possible (and featuring Chloe for scale)

Drawbacks? It was a little wearing to jigsaw-puzzle our way around the room, and it was strangely unpleasant that the hotel does not have any kind of communal gathering space, other than a bit of glorified hall on the first floor where morning coffee and pastries are served (ice water was available during the day while we were there). “Strangely,” I say, because I don’t think of myself as a lobby denizen — but I must be, because I missed having one.

That was more than offset by the positives that I’ve already mentioned, along with additional perks like the complimentary cranberry juice and pretzels that welcomed us, and the free morning paper, and — most important of all — the reasonable room rate ($195/night for our “Madison Queen” room, though the searches I just did indicate that the rates vary by date). The pet fee is substantial: $150 per stay.

We’d return to the MAve happily in the future, partly because we were content in the hotel, and partly because we liked the location. The hotel is a block north of Madison Square Park, home not only of a Shake Shack, a pretty workable (and delicious) dog-friendly eating option, but also of a good-sized (remember that this is Manhattan, folks, when you see it) off-leash dog park called Jemmy’s Run.

A panorama of Jemmy's Run, which has benches, shade trees, umbrellas, poop bags, trash can, a water source, and even a small-dog area in back (you'll need to make your way through the main area to get to it) -- the ground surface in both areas is pebble gravel

Chloe never made it into Jemmy’s Run — it’s prime squirrel season in the park, and even if we had been able to coax her away from the fences that surround the park’s grassy bits, she would simply have parked herself at the dog run’s fence.

One more thought about Madison Square Park: Each spring (and apparently also in the fall), the park hosts/sponsors a month-long daily food cart event called Madison Square Eats — we caught the last day of it, and wished we’d wised up two days earlier. Food carts, ho hum, you may be thinking — but these were food carts of the gods. If you’ll be in NYC with your dog in May or October, be sure to include several food cart lunches in your plans.

A handful of additional notes from our visit: Just around the corner from the hotel, you’ll find darned good coffee (and this is a Seattle woman speaking) at Birch Coffee — not, alas, dog-friendly, nor is the jazzy Gershwin Hotel above it; and only a few blocks away, you’ll find a very competent brunch at Barking Dog, which does welcome dogs to its patio (the Affinia Dumont Hotel, next door, is also dog-friendly, and very appealing, but significantly more expensive than the MAve). Just across 5th Ave. from Jemmy’s Run is Eataly, a paradise of all things related to Italian food — it’s not dog-friendly, but you can nip in and get the fixings for a dream of a picnic.

New TSA requirement for travelers with in-cabin pets: Hands swabbed

Getting ready for another flight tomorrow morning, I realized that I forgot to tell you about a new TSA requirement I encountered on this trip: After I passed through the metal detectors at Seattle and at LaGuardia (though not at Baltimore), I was asked to wait until a TSA agent could break free and take me (holding Chloe) over to a counter where both of my hands were wiped with a swab — the same kind of swab they use on your suitcase sometimes, looking for traces of explosives.

The first TSA agent I asked about the new requirement nimbly avoided answering me, but the second said it was in response to a concern that bad ‘uns may — there’s no better way to put this — place explosives in their “pet.” As my husband pointed out, when he saw me gagging, the kind of people that contemplate mass murder are not likely to be nice about the means they use, but still. Gagging.

The new step will add a couple of minutes to your trip through security. Keep an eye on your belongings, and make sure that they accompany you to the place where your hands are swabbed.

Hudson, NY: A dog-friendly holiday weekend

We could have hustled right down to New York City after my niece’s graduation ended last weekend, but instead I organized a couple of nights in Hudson, NY, about an hour south of Albany. The draw had been Olana, artist Frederick Edwin Church’s gorgeous 19th c. home and grounds, which I’ve long wanted to visit (the grounds are dog-friendly — pack a tick collar! pack whatever tick protection your vet recommends — ours, it turns out, recommends Frontline+, feeling that tick collars only have a limited range of protection), but because of a planning malfunction (oops, no reservations made for the house tour), and because the weekend was very hot and humid, we ended up spending all of our time in Hudson.

That, it turns out, was perfectly fine. Hudson is a joy, if you are in a mellow mood and like antiques, architecture, good food, or, reportedly, music. We fell asleep too early for the music, but had an excellent time dawdling around town (did I mention the heat?) and stopping repeatedly to eat. Chloe, too, had an excellent time — the only shadow that fell across her visit was the Memorial Day parade, tiny but poignant, which featured, alas, a powerful drum section.

Here are some of the things that made this two-day getaway work for us, traveling with Chloe:

We stayed at the Union Street Guest House, which welcomed Chloe (and us) to the Thunderbird Suite, a two-bedroom, 2-bath eyrie with a small but useful kitchen (fridge, kettle, sink, and a table). We paid our own way, and the price ($225/night) was very reasonable. Per the guest house’s website, pets “sometimes can be accommodated” — write a persuasive e-mail and cross your fingers.

This picture (of the adorable living room) does not do the Thunderbird justice, and it's blurry too.

You would never know it from my wretched picture, but the Thunderbird is charming, clean and quirkily furnished by someone with a very good eye indeed, in all likelihood from the town’s antique shops. All I can tell you is that my husband was pleased and comfortable, which is pretty high praise. We both liked the location, the quiet, the free wifi, and the easy friendliness of Chris, the owner, who handed us a key, mentioned some good local resources, and pointed us to the guest house’s upstairs honor bar (located in an inviting room that guests can curl up in and chat). There’s a fearsome cancellation policy (understandable, though, given what a small place it is), and the guest house’s two resident dogs can overwhelm a small dog (picking Chloe up when we walked through the yard eliminated that as an issue), but we were perfectly happy and will return with pleasure.

Living in Seattle, we are used to good coffee — and we found it at Swallow Coffee, which uses Stumptown beans and a Synesso machine, both of which are good signs. They were kind to Chloe, rushing outside to refill the sidewalk water bowl when they saw her, and inviting her to come inside and join us. It’s a plus that the coffeehouse shares space with Loaf bakery, though the holiday weekend offerings only included scones and banana bread (both very good).

If you are traveling with a companion, one of you can dash inside and pick up excellent ice cream from Lick (we opted for dulce de leche), or gourmet groceries for a picnic from Olde Hudson (nearby Hudson Wine Merchants pointed us to a rosé that handled the heat and our sardine appetizer perfectly). All of these shops, like Swallow, are on Warren St., the town’s main drag.

If you and your dog are on your own, the town has at least three food trucks you can walk up to. Two of them, Tortillaville and Truck Pizza, are located on Warren between 3rd and 4th. American BBQ, too, has a food truck (as well as its main location, also on Warren but across the street). All three trucks are seasonal — and all three were on break over the holiday weekend, so I can’t give you a first-hand report.

All weekend, though, they looked as though they just might open up. We circled like sharks, but no joy.

I will gather up a group of antique-loving, rosé-guzzling girlfriends and return, but these leads should get you started. We met a lot of dogs, and Chloe drank from a lot of retail water bowls (and the lady at the wine shop confirmed that Hudson is a dog-friendly town) — I suspect there are more dog-friendly features to be found.

Chloe’s Clicks: This week’s best dog travel links

This week’s Chloe’s Clicks comes to you from sunny Florida — to be precise, from inside, looking out at sunny Florida, which is not only sunny but also freaking hot. Note to self: Dream house must have floor-to-ceiling windows, purely for Chloe’s sake.

Doggy TV: At any moment, there could be a squirrel. In between those moments, there are lizards.

It’s a small, but choice, collection of links this week, and they’re mostly about food. Atlanta now has an ice cream truck for dogs, called Poochsicles (thanks to @ThePetBookLady for the link). Look for it at dog parks and events around town (a food truck rally and animal rescue event are currently on the June calendar).

Speaking of food trucks, check out this post about options in Dallas, and this one about options in New York. On our last day in NYC, we caught what turned out to be the last day of Madison Square Eats, a semi-annual (Spring and Fall) month-long event held alongside Madison Square Park. As you can see in the photo, two long arms of (crazy-good) food carts embraced a group of umbrella-shaded tables — or you could take your food loot into the park. Food trucks, I am convinced, are the greatest thing to happen to travelers with dogs since the invention of the soft-sided pet carrier.

From U.S. News & World Report, we have pictures of “the cutest hotel pets,” and speaking of hotels, we also have a fine post from Montecristo Travels about hotel etiquette for pet travelers (or “petiquette,” if you prefer). The Road Unleashed team stayed in an apartment instead — in Rome — and here’s their report. I do love how they provide lots of pictures.

In what usually ends up being my favorite grab-bag paragraph, we have a list of ten pet-friendly colleges, a useful post from Fidose of Reality about pet-friendly things to do in Hawaii (with a bonus cocktail recipe), and a very sensible article from The Seattle Times about hiking with your dog. The last link this week? A post from Go Pet Friendly about an RV campground with a pet policy so restrictive and ludicrous that you have to laugh (it’s the Strawberry Park Resort Campground in Preston, CT — give it a wide berth).

Photo Friday: Scoop law sign in Rhinebeck, NY

We drove through Rhinebeck a couple of days ago, and while we were debating whether to eat there or in nearby Poughkeepsie, I saw this sign:

What can its designer have been thinking? Is that a fireplace tool? A cattle prod? (My husband just read this, and tells me it’s meant to be a poop scoop, like this one, but if so, that dog owner has forgotten the “spade” half of the product. Perhaps the dog, which looks alert and intelligent, has been trained to poop directly into the scoop.)

We chose to keep driving, by the way, and although Poughkeepsie lacks Rhinebeck’s charm, we could not have been happier with the lunch we had at Brasserie 292 (sadly, not dog-friendly).

I hope that you and your pup had a marvelous week. If you were out and about together, please post your photos on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page so we can all see them!

Pet relief area at Hartford’s Bradley International Airport (BDL)

Hartford’s Bradley International Airport has such a modest website that I expected a modest airport too — but although older buildings suggest that it was once very modest indeed, BDL’s current main building is large and attractive. This is an airport with plans for the future, it seems — and I surely do hope that they include a better pet relief area, because this is one of the lamest I’ve encountered. [9/13/12 Today’s blog post updates this information with news of BDL’s two new pet relief areas — not perfect, but certainly better than what I found in May 2012.]

There’s no reference to it on the airport’s website. The information desk was closed by the time our flight arrived. It was only by chance that I saw the sign as our rental car shuttle was pulling away from the curb (we got our car, drove back to the airport, and took another look).

To find the pet relief area, follow the signs directing you to rental car shuttles. You’ll emerge from Terminal A (we flew in on Southwest, one of Terminal A’s airlines) and find a sign like this:

When you find this sign, you will be within 50 feet of the official pet relief area

As you exit the building, look to the right and you’ll see this staircase at the end of the terminal building:

The pet relief area is just visible to the right of the big column

Walk to the other side of the staircase, and you’ll see what looks like an abandoned lot, with gravel and weeds — and nothing else (no poop bags, no trash can, and certainly no fence, bench, or water supply). The sign says it’s a pet relief area, but I call it a disaster.

This is at an angle to get the whole space into one shot. Sorry about the blurry -- I pretty much snapped it on the run. Airport police don't love it when you leave your car on the curb and take random pix of airport features....

Across the airport roadway is a patch of lawn, a much better alternative. Bring poop bags with you, because you’ll need your own, wherever you and your dog end up.

You can just see a grassy patch across the airport roadway, in front of the parking garage

This post is part of an ongoing series of reviews of airport pet relief areas we’ve visited. To see others, visit Dog Jaunt’s handy guide to airport pet relief areas.

New Haven, CT dog-friendly hotel: The Study at Yale

I hadn’t been back to New Haven since I graduated twenty-five years ago, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that there was a new (ish — it opened in 2008) place in town to check out. What did surprise me was that it was one of only two attractive dog-friendly choices downtown, the other being the Omni Hotel (which is a bit too corporate-glam for me). Happily, The Study at Yale is a sweetheart of a hotel, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly. I should mention that I paid my own way at The Study — I’ll always let you know when something I’m reviewing has been paid for by someone else.

Chloe and the giant specs (glass front door in the background)

We stayed in a “King Room” (which features a full closet but a less desirable view, towards the Yale-New Haven Hospital rather than the residential colleges). It looked just like the picture, though without the wide-angle lens. These are not large rooms: The “Queen Room” my college roommate and her husband stayed in had only a vestigial closet. The rooms, like ours, that look out over Chapel Street also get street noise — and New Haven pretty much redefines “street noise.” If you’re planning a visit, I suspect you know that already.

The location could not be more convenient. The hotel is one block north of the British Art Center and the Yale Rep, and I felt comfortable walking Chloe down Chapel Street and onto campus even late at night.

The hotel itself is perfectly comfortable and inviting. The rooms have a leather chair, reading lamp and cozy wool blanket; the lobby offers not only comfy couches, current periodicals and snack options but also a selection of books from NYC’s Strand bookstore (and some, too, from Yale authors). There is a very competent bar and restaurant (called Heirloom). There are cookies at the front desk, which is staffed by pet lovers. The entire staff was sweet as a peach, in fact, from the valet who disappeared our car when we finally pulled up at 1:00 a.m. to the off-duty group who gasped in horror when Chloe bonked her head on the crystal-clear doors at the front entrance (she shook it off, and approached the doors with caution during the rest of our stay).

The hotel is spendy, it has to be said, and so is the pet policy ($50 per day). On the bright side, the wifi is free. Overall, I felt like I got what I paid for, and I’ll return happily — hopefully, before another 25 years have passed.

Photo Friday: A gift from photographer Peter Carey

How surprised I was to open my mail a couple of days ago and find a message from photographer Peter Carey, who had been burrowing around in his files and found a couple of photos he thought you guys would like. Here they are, both taken three years ago on Double Bluff Beach on Whidbey Island (about 30 miles north of Seattle).

Photo by Peter West Carey

Photo by Peter West Carey

Gorgeous, right? Peter, among other things, holds photography workshops around the U.S. and — get this! — accompanies clients on photography trips to places like Nepal and Bhutan and India and [insert your chosen destination here]. I wish he’d come on safari with us — my husband and I refer to our album from that trip as “The Rumps of Tanzania,” but our laughter is hollow. He’s also just the nicest person you’ll ever meet — thank so much, Peter, for a very special Photo Friday!