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Reader’s suggestion: Adjustable rope leash, for a good cause

Kristina, a Dog Jaunt reader who wrote to me while she was planning a trip to Paris with Kara, her elegant Chinese Crested, pointed me in the direction of Found My Animal, a company that supports pet adoption with part of the proceeds from its product sales. In particular, she liked the 7 ft. long “adjustable rope leash,” which she bought in the smallest size: “It’s great — in NYC I’m able to be hands-free while the dog is safe and get my coffee, pick up poo, and etc.”

That sounded good to me, so I bought one too, though I bought the next size up (for a 15-30 lb. dog). It’s a very attractive, natural-rope product — according to the company, their rope products are made in New England and “are hand-spliced to withstand thousands of pounds of pull and the ends are then ‘whipped’ (an old nautical term) for additional durability.” There is a sturdy-looking brass clip on each end, and two small brass loops positioned between them. Clip one end to your dog’s collar or harness. Depending on which small brass loop you choose (and where you position those loops — they can be moved), you can either make a small handhold (like a normal leash) or clip the end around a table leg or a pole; wear the leash around your waist; or wear it like a bandolier across your chest — a hands-free solution that keeps your dog near your side.

Here’s a picture of Kristina and Kara modeling the bandolier option:

I’m not a runner, so I don’t really need the waist option — I’ve positioned the brass loops to let me use the leash like a normal leash, with a handhold, and as Kristina’s using it, diagonally around my torso.

If you like the idea, the leash I’m talking about is the first one on the list that appears when you click on “Shop.” The two below it work the same way, but are made of recycled materials and come in black or white.

Photo Friday: Carry plenty of water

It’s been a while since I looked at dog pictures on Flickr, but it’s like looking at “pet accessories” on Etsy — you know you’re going to come across something that makes you snort with laughter. Here’s what made me snort today:

Photo by Sister72

I’d love to see how you and your dog spent time together this week — please post your pictures on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page, so we can all enjoy them!

Reader’s report: Pet relief area at Richmond International Airport (RIC)

Deb, my beloved college roommate and a loyal Dog Jaunt reader, arrived at the Richmond International Airport recently and sent the following information about the pet relief area there: “It’s located right outside the terminal, in front of the parking garage. All grass, with benches and a poop bag dispenser, trash receptacle. Bordered by walls and fencing. Very sunny, no shade, but looked really clean and well-tended.”

I asked her to describe how a traveler with a dog would find it, arriving at a concourse, and here’s what she said: “It couldn’t be easier. The airport is tiny, so you just exit the main doors on the ground floor near the rental car counters.”

“I think there was a sign inside the terminal, up high near the main doors to the outside, but the sign in the photo was mounted on the brick wall of a staircase right outside the main doors. You couldn’t miss either of them. You have to cross the street to get to the pet relief area, but you can actually see it as you exit the doors, so you don’t need to go hunting for it.”

Thanks, darling Deb! I’ve added this post to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of reviews of airport pet relief areas. To see others, visit Dog Jaunt’s handy guide to airport pet relief areas.

Reader’s report: Pet relief areas at Miami International Airport (MIA) and at Marsh Harbour Airport (MHH)

A few days ago, I posted a report sent to me by reader Amanda about her trip from L.A. to the Bahamas with her husband and their Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix, and promised to post separately her description of the two pet relief areas she visited at the airport in Miami. She also provided helpful information about the airport in Marsh Harbour, in the Bahamas’ Abaco Islands.

Miami International Airport (MIA)

According to the MIA web site, “MIA has animal relief areas located at the arrival level at North Terminal D, Central Terminal E and South Terminal J. The relief areas at Concourses E and J are whimsically themed ‘doggy parks.’ All of MIA’s relief areas are equipped with dual surfaces and waste disposal stations.” The airport even provides a map showing the location of the pet relief areas, which I wish more airports would do.

Here’s what Amanda found:

There are four pet relief areas at Miami International Airport. We visited two of them. The relief area outside the Terminal D baggage claim area is small and unenclosed, with red lava rocks on the ground and a few trees and shrubs. However, just a 5-minute walk away (if you’re facing away from Terminal D, walk to the right, just past the end of the Dolphin parking structure), is a larger, enclosed relief area [the Terminal E pet relief area], with grassy sections, lava rocks, shrubs and benches for the humans.

The fenced pet relief area outside MIA

Marsh Harbour Airport (MHH)

Amanda says: “The Marsh Harbour airport is tiny, and you don’t clear security until you’re heading out to board the plane, so giving Wrigley a potty break before our flight was easy. I just walked him out to the grassy area in front of the airport a few minutes before boarding began.”

Thank you so much, Amanda — I’m so grateful for Dog Jaunt’s readers, and their willingness to share what they’ve learned with other travelers with dogs. I’ve added this post to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of reviews of airport pet relief areas. To see others, visit Dog Jaunt’s handy guide to airport pet relief areas.

Photo Friday: Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park

A couple of weeks ago, my dear friend Rosy visited Seattle and once again, I took her on a jaunt (last time she was here, I forced her to review a couple of Seattle food trucks for another post). This time, we went to the new-ish sculpture park on Seattle’s waterfront. I’d heard that it was lovely and dog-friendly, and now I can tell you from personal experience that it’s lovely! And dog-friendly! (We met, over the course of an hour, easily a dozen dogs.)

This sculpture, Richard Serra's "Wake," is gorgeous -- as you walk around it, and through it, the shapes line up in different ways. It's like those magical western canyons you see in pictures.

The sculptures themselves are located on a series of beautifully-landscaped switchbacks (PDF) that lead gently down to a small beach on the Puget Sound — the three of us basked on a log in the sun and listened to the waves pulling at the pebbles — and then connects to the Elliott Bay Trail (a bike trail, but it’s very walkable). We strolled through the Myrtle Edwards Park and a little bit north of it, but I’ll have to return to see where else it leads.

I’d love to see how you and your dog spent time together this week — please post your pictures on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page, so we can all enjoy them!

Reader’s report: Tips from a trip to the Bahamas

Amanda, a loyal Dog Jaunt reader, spends part of every year in the Bahamas. This year, for the first time, she and her husband took Wrigley, their 18 month-old Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix with them. Amanda very kindly sent me an e-mail about their trip, packed with good information, and (thanks, Amanda!!) said that I was welcome to share it with other Dog Jaunt readers.

It will help to know that Wrigley weighs 15 lbs., and that Amanda and her family started in Los Angeles, flew to Miami, changed planes, and continued to Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas. They flew on American Airlines, and their total travel time was 17 hours door-to-door eastbound, and 13 hours door-to-door westbound. They chose to take an overnight flight from LAX to MIA for Wrigley’s first flight, since “he’s used to being crated overnight anyway.” How sensible!

Choice of in-cabin carrier

Amanda told me that she chose a large SturdiBag for Wrigley, and took the time to get him used to being in it: “We had been taking him on long drives in his SturdiBag for months before the trip, and I think his familiarity with the carrier helped a lot.” He turned out to be an excellent traveler, enduring two very long journeys “without a fuss or a whimper or a bark.”

“Though I worried that the SturdiBag was several inches taller than American’s maximum under-seat dimensions, not one ticket/gate agent or flight attendant on any of our flights batted an eye at it. Having said that, though the SturdiBag Large is a full inch shorter AND narrower than American’s maximum dimensions, it was a squeeze to get it crossway under the seats on both outgoing flights. (I think we were on a 757 for the LAX-MIA leg and an ATR 72 commuter jet from MIA-Marsh Harbour.) I’m curious to know whether others who use the SturdiBag Large stow it crossways (with the side of the container facing you) under the seat or lengthwise (with the end facing you.)”

 [I’ll provide my answer, but Amanda and I would both welcome hearing from other travelers. I used to position Chloe’s carrier left-to-right (with the side facing me) under the seat in front of me, since that way it hardly projected at all into the area around my feet and didn’t attract the flight attendants’ attention. More recently — say over the past few months — I’ve been positioning it front-to-back (with the end facing me), so I can reach into the top hatch of Chloe’s large SturdiBag and pat her during take-off and landing. It makes for a uncomfortable, curled-up take-off and landing for me, but it seems to comfort Chloe. In that position, her carrier does project a few inches into the area that flight attendants like to keep clear, but so far no one has objected. I like to have the option of turning her carrier left-to-right, if a flight attendant does call me on it, so I choose seats where that would be feasible.]

At the airport

Amanda sent a description of two of the pet relief areas at the Miami airport, but I’ll save those for a separate post. I wanted to share with you a lesson she learned during their first pit stop:

“Upon arrival in MIA, I rushed him outside for a potty break, leaving my husband, Tom, in the secure area with our carry-on bags. When I tried to go back through security, they asked for the receipt showing we’d paid for Wrigley to travel as a carry-on pet. Unfortunately, Tom had the receipt, and I wasn’t allowed back through security without it. So, he had to drag all the carry-on bags out in order to bring me the receipt, and we both had to clear security again. In future, we’ll tuck the receipt into the pocket of Wrigley’s carrier, so it’s always with him.”

[I’ve had a similar problem — I left my boarding pass with my husband when Chloe and I dashed out to the Las Vegas airport pet relief area — and I’m confident that neither Amanda nor I will ever do anything like it again. What a pain!]

“Before [our next] trip, we want to train Wrigley to use pee pads. We’ll always schedule enough time between flights to allow a potty break in the airport’s relief area. But if a flight were delayed, or we were stuck in the secure area or on a plane (as happened when we arrived back in L.A.!), it would be reassuring to know Wrigley would still get a chance to do his business.”

And here’s another lesson learned — this one, I’ve never encountered:

“When leaving L.A., we were charged $175 to bring Wrigley on the plane. I told the ticket agent this was higher than I was quoted when I booked the flights, but she just shrugged and said rates had increased. On our return trip, however, we were only charged $125. When I compared receipts from the two transactions, I realized the L.A. ticket agent had charged us the ‘checked pet’ rate — which is $50 more than the ‘carry-on pet’ rate. We’ve begun the process of applying for a refund, but in future we’ll definitely print a copy of the airline’s pet policy/charges from their website and bring it with us.”

Here’s a tip I love. I’ll be updating Chloe’s travel check list and packing list as soon as I publish this post:

“On the return flights out of Marsh Harbour and Miami, it was sweltering on the planes while we were on the ground. And though Wrigley survived it all, it was far from ideal. Next trip, I’ll carry one of those tiny, hand-held fans to help keep him cool. (If you or your readers have any other suggestions, let me know!)”

In the Bahamas

Was it worth it? Amanda’s report was joyous, despite a mishap just before they returned home:

“Once we arrived at our final destination, Green Turtle Cay, Wrigley quickly settled in, and he had a wonderful three weeks! As with most of the Bahamian out islands, Green Turtle Cay is very laid back, and many restaurants have outdoor dining areas, so we could take Wrigley virtually everywhere. He loved being able to run off-leash on the beach, though several times he got distracted by birds, etc., and ran off. He always came back, but we’ll definitely be working more on the ‘come’ command before our next trip. He adored playing and digging on the beach, riding around in a golf cart, and meeting other dogs.

Sadly, Wrigley’s fun ended two days before the end of our trip, when he took a nasty spill off our golf cart. He was yelping and obviously in distress, so we scooped him up in a towel and rushed him to the nearest vet, who was a 20-minute ferry ride and a 30-minute drive away. Thankfully, we’d researched the closest vet before our trip, so we knew exactly where to go, and we were able to get Wrigley to the vet within an hour and fifteen minutes of the accident.”

There is a happy ending: “Wrigley suffered no major injuries or broken bones – just a sprained elbow. The vet prescribed some pain medication and two weeks of crate rest. Now, two weeks later, he’s still limping a little, but is clearly feeling much better.” Amanda and Tom and Wrigley are already planning their next trip, up the West Coast to Vancouver.

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

This week’s collection of dog travel links is a very mixed bag — sure, there are a couple of straightforward pieces, like a useful list from petswelcome.com of dog parks in the Richmond, VA area, and a post from the Take Paws team about their excellent day with their dogs in Avila Beach, CA. But then things get  more off the wall, starting, innocently enough, with the Take Paws gang, who wrote about walking across the Golden Gate bridge together (they’re heading up the California coast, so I’m hoping soon for a Mendocino post).

Farther up the coast, Kyla Merwin Cheney went kayaking near Oregon City (just south of Portland) with her dog Pippin, and wrote about their day for Travel Oregon Blog. Finding companies that are willing to let your dog accompany you kayaking is tricky sometimes, but apparently eNRG Kayaking is open to the idea. Check the post out, too, for other outdoor spots to enjoy with your dog in the Oregon City area.

There’s kayaking with your dog, and then there’s motorcycling. A tweet I read this week (and I can’t remember whose!) pointed me to a blog I hadn’t seen before, called The Oasis of My Soul. It’s written by Ara, who has spent four years on the road with his dog Spirit in a helmet and goggles in his sidecar. The story behind the trip is a moving one, and the pictures are wonderful.

There’s motorcycling with your dog, and then there’s hitching your dog to a cart. Dog carting and sulky driving have been around for a long time, and are by no means cruel — in fact, for large, energetic dogs, carting is a great source of exercise. Life With Dogs posted a video of a Florida woman who goes carting with Broly, her Treeing Walker Coonhound — you really must see, if nothing else, the shot of Broly’s ears flapping in the wind.

And then, at last, there’s food. An article from The Village Voice mentions San Rocco, an Italian restaurant in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood that now offers a menu to its canine guests, including “real grilled chicken.” On the other side of the globe, allkpop reports that Baek Ji Young, a popular South Korean singer, has opened a dog-friendly cafe in the Shinsa-dong neighborhood of Seoul. It’s a joint venture with photographer Gong Sung Won, and it’s called Gururu (“the name is taken from the sound dogs make when they’re happy”).

Photo Friday: A triple-header near Bellingham, WA

Remember Sophie, the adorable Cavalier puppy featured in a recent post about the Bellevue Sheraton? Jen and Troy, her owners, sent me a clutch of photos to share with you from a day spent romping around the Bellingham area. Bellingham is a pretty town about 90 miles north of Seattle — it’s a fun place to spend an afternoon or a weekend, and its shops and restaurants are reputed to be very dog-friendly. [7/29/11 Don’t miss Jen’s comment, below, full of suggestions for fun things to do with, and without, your dog in Bellingham!]

Larrabee State Park

It turns out that this was Washington’s first state park, created in 1915. Who knew? It’s on the coast, about 6 miles south of Bellingham, and it’s beautiful.

Sophie on the rocks at Larrabee State Park.

Taylor Shellfish Farm

From Larrabee, they drove a few miles down the coast to Taylor Shellfish Farms and bought oysters for dinner (I’m sparing you their mouth-watering picture of the dinner, because you might be reading this between meals). As proof that Taylor welcomes visiting dogs, Jen sent a picture of the farm’s clean-up station.

The view from Taylor Shellfish Farms, of Lummi and Eliza Islands

An addition to the collection

And when they looked closely at the clean-up station, they realized they had a fine new addition to Dog Jaunt’s collection of scoop law signs.

That’s what I call a perfect day — a great place for you and your pup to enjoy together, delicious local food, and a fab new scoop law sign. I’d love to see how you and your dog spent time together this week — please post your pictures on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page, so we can all see them!

Portland, OR: The best food cart pods for diners with dogs

This is a guest post from Portland-based travel writer Jessica Spiegel. Jessica is the Italy travel expert at BootsnAll, the RTW travel resource, but she’ll gush just as much about Portland as she will about Italy — especially when it comes to the food.

Portland is the kind of city that doesn’t really attract vacationers. The people who come here from out of town are, more often than not, scouting it out as a place to live. And who could blame them? Even pre-Portlandia, this city was well-known for its easygoing attitude and quirky sensibilities – but Portland has been on the proverbial map even longer as a food city, which is something locals and visitors alike can get behind.

Of particular note in recent years is the Portland food cart scene. We love food carts here, and the variety of cuisines available from carts is staggering. It’s impossible to keep up with the number of carts in Portland, but it’s safe to say there are well over 500 (it’s probably closer to 700 by now) scattered throughout the city. Food cart dining is a must when in Portland, and it’s especially appealing if you’re traveling with a pooch – being able to have a fantastic restaurant-quality meal outdoors so Fido can come, too? Priceless.

In Portland parlance, these mobile food portals are “carts,” not “trucks” (even though some of them are technically trucks, most are not), and groupings of carts are called “pods.” Unlike in some cities where food trucks really are mobile and you never know where they’ll be on a given day, the vast majority of Portland’s food carts are stationary. Think of the food cart pods the same way you’d think of a food court in a mall (only with better food) – within a few steps you’ve got several different dining options.

The D-Street Noshery

Not all food cart pods are the same, however. Some are more geared toward a workday lunchtime crowd – these pods are rarely open in the evenings or on weekends, and almost never have more than one or two chairs (at most) out front. The expectation is people will get their lunch and take it back to their desk to eat, like all good Americans do. Other pods, the ones we’ll focus on for the rest of this post, are the kinds that seem to invite diners to stop and stay awhile. These pods are often open into the evenings and on weekends, and – this is the important bit – they have communal seating.

Here are but a few of the Portland pods that encourage lingering for you and your furry pals.

Note – A good resource to find out more about the always-changing food cart scene in Portland is the Food Carts Portland site.

Cartopia (located at SE 12th & Hawthorne)

Cartopia is one of the best-known pods in Portland, and one of the oldest. Carts here include Pyro Pizza, Potato Champion, Perierra Creperie, and Whiffie’s Fried Pies. There’s a central seating area with several picnic tables under a tent roof. No matter how tempting the big empty parking lot across 12th from Cartopia looks, don’t park there – they tow cars within nanoseconds.

Mississippi Marketplace (NE Mississippi & Skidmore)

On the corner of NE Mississippi & Skidmore there’s a German pub called Prost that feels like part of the food cart pod behind it – because it sort of is. The Mississippi Marketplace pod occupies the parking lot behind the pub, and Prost’s big back deck is more or less considered part of the pod’s seating area – to sit up there, you need to be a Prost customer, but you can bring in food from the carts. Food cart grub plus German beer – not bad. If that’s not appealing, however, the pods have their own tent-roofed seating area, so you can sit outside without having to go into Prost at all. Carts here include Burgatroyd, Garden State, The Big Egg, Big Top Waffles, Sushi Tree, and Dogfeather’s (!!).

North Station (N Killingsworth & Greeley)

Like the Mississippi Marketplace, the North Station pod enjoys the benefits of a brick-and-mortar restaurant that has a collection of food carts in its parking lot instead of cars. What’s more, the restaurant – Pizza Depokos – has rolling garage-style doors on one side of its very informal seating area, and more often than not those doors are open and pod customers are welcome to sit inside. In the middle of the pods there are also a few picnic tables, some of which have tent-roof coverings. Carts here include Brother Bob’s Roving Bakery, PDX671, The Mobile Chef BBQ, El Rancho Taqueria, Istanbul Delight, and Scoop Organic Ice Cream.

D-Street Noshery (SE 32nd & Division)

If you don’t count the proximity of Prost to Mississippi Marketplace, the D-Street Noshery is the only food cart pod in Portland where liquor is allowed (at least so far) – and of course it’s in the form of a “beer bus.” This pod is directly across the street from one of Portland’s best-known restaurants, Pok Pok, which is known for its long waits (sometimes 45 minutes to an hour, even on weekdays). Carts here include The Pie Spot, KOi Fusion, Slice Brick Oven Pizza, Herb’s Mac & Cheese, Awesome Cone, and the Captured by Porches beer bus. (On a recent visit to D-Street, there was a resident beagle wandering around. He was so comfortable there, he must belong to one of the food cart owners. Just note that there may already be a pooch on the premises, and not on a leash.)

The D-Street Beagle, giving you the big eyes

A La Carts (SE 50th just south of Division Street)

Further up SE Division is one of the newer (at least for now) food cart pods in Portland, A La Carts, which has lots of covered seating in the middle of the lot. There’s live music every other Saturday at this pod, and plans to start up movie nights, too. Carts include VanSchnitzels, Jazzy’s Old-Fashioned Barbeque, Chicken Run, Shut Up and Eat, fon-due-it, OmNomNom Sandwiches, and We Be Weiners. As an added bonus for your four-legged friend, the nearby Mt. Tabor Park is a dog-friendly Portland park, with a fenced off-leash area (near Harrison & Lincoln streets, at around 64th Ave). (Also note that there’s another smaller pod on SE Division at about 48th, called D-48.)

Good Food Here (43rd & Belmont)

As the food cart craze develops, more pods are actually planned from the start rather than happening organically. Good Food Here is one of those planned pods, and it’s huge – 17 carts in all, at least as of this minute, so there’s no excuse for leaving hungry. Seating is scattered, with picnic tables here and there throughout the lot, some with small-ish umbrellas and some under the awnings of adjacent carts. Carts here include Lardo, Da-Pressed Coffee, Namu, The Sugar Cube, EuroTrash, Kitchen Dances, Urban Garlic, Yum Zap, Rockabillies, 50 Licks, Nusha’s, Sweet Pea’s Brulee, and Las Loncheritas.

>> Come visit. You know you want to. Look for cheap flights to Portland.

New pet import rules for the U.K. announced

Bringing a pet into the U.K. is easier than most people think, but now it’s about to get even easier. The British Foreign Office has announced that as of January 2012, pets returning to the U.K. from the rest of the EU, and pets entering the U.K. from listed countries like the United States and Australia, will no longer need a blood test and will only have to wait 21 days from the date of their rabies vaccination before traveling. This will have the effect of bringing the U.K.’s rules in line with the rest of the E.U.

This is wonderful news for travelers with pets. Under the current rules, you need to plan well in advance to bring your pet with you to the U.K. because, among other things, your pet needs to have a blood test (to make sure her rabies vaccination was effective) and then you have to wait for 6 months after the blood test before you travel. Under the new rules, there will be no blood test, and the 6-month waiting period will be shortened to just 21 days. Please check out the U.K.’s DEFRA site for the announcement of the new rules, and for a blessedly clear description of the current system and the upcoming changes.