New Year's Update

Happy New Year!
This has been a busy winter so far, and the holidays just flew past. Here's a bit of an update on some of what we've been up to.

Things have settled down quite a bit with our foster dog, Vela, and she's learning some new vocabulary to help her be a good canine member of the Tasting Team.

MINE, LEAVE IT, and DOWN are all new commands for her, but she's offering to lay down for treats without being asked now. Unfortunately, we're still working on COME, which she just doesn't have any reason to listen to yet.

Pumpkin Feasts

How to clean your fridge and delight your dog while warming the kitchen!

This is the time of year when the autumn sights and smells always give me bigger ideas about wonderful ways to cook up the fall bounty than I'm able to carry out, let alone eat. Those delicious pumpkin pies, curries, soups and stews finally fill all the bellies, and I wind up with more pumpkins than I need. What a perfect excuse to make a feast for my favorite bottomless doggie belly! There is simply no way to go wrong with baking a pumpkin for your dog. 

Green Cleaning

Here at DogTown Lounge, we're always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment, while maintaining the highest levels of safety and hygiene.

Hypoallergenic solutions are always a bonus, so it was intriguing to find some highly effective recipes for cleaning supplies using simple, pure, common household ingredients. We've replaced nearly all our cleaning materials with varying strengths and combinations of white vinegar, lemon peels, baking soda and soap. Here are a few of the ones we use daily:

Dog Watching

Most dogs are quite predictable, if you just pay attention to them. 

Here in downtown Richmond, VA, we're lucky to be near a river that remains relatively unspoiled. (Interactive Map of the James) Herons, eagles, all sorts of birds live nearby and fly over. Raccoons, possums, squirrels, voles, bunnies and chipmunks are common sights. Occasionally a fox or coyote, and every few years some deer, take a wrong turn through the neighborhood, and Fletcher never has any trouble figuring out which of those are predators, and what degree of response is appropriate. There's one exception for a specific squirrel, but that guy is asking for it.

Your Dog is Hot

High temperatures are harder on your dog than they are on you.

It's easy to forget this, because they are stronger than us in so many other ways. Generally speaking, the shorter your dog's nose, the more caution should be taken in hot weather. A dog's primary method of cooling is panting; exchanging the hot air in their lungs for cooler, dryer outside air. When the air temperature approaches the 90's, the difference between that and the average dog's 100F° breath is just not enough to help keep them cool. Add a high humidity and a steady trot alongside your brisk walk, and it's easy for them to overheat when it's hot outside.  When the heat index goes over 100 - well, taking a black dog out in direct sunlight on hot pavement when the index is over 99 is risking heat stroke within 15 minutes.