Old Dog Car Ride

I was sitting at a stop light the other day and something to my left caught my eye. As I glanced over my eyes connected with a pair of eyes looking back at me. It was a handsome old dog with perfect posture sitting in the back seat. Do you think he could actually see me or was I just an object that stopped moving next to him?

As our cars pulled away from the stop light I noticed the dog barely moved. He seemed to have great balance and sat with a sense of pride. I caught up with him at the next light and again we seemed to be in perfect sync as our eyes made contact, I could almost see a slight grin from him as if to say “Isn’t life grand”.

As the light turned green and his owner’s car moved ahead of mine that was the last I saw of him, but the image of that well behaved prideful old dog has been etched in my mind

Copyright 2010 OldDogPaws

A Family Laugh

Is your family like ours when it comes to getting a laugh by dressing your pet in a Halloween costume? It is estimated that families will spent 47.7 billion dollars on pets in 2010 and part of that expenditure will be finding ways to include our pets in holiday celebrations.

We weren’t successful keeping a full costume on our pets so we moved to purchasing hats and other head gear but we still like to look at the complete pet costume line each year and comment on how funny it would look on them.

Since we’re not doing this for a specific party or the little ghosts and goblins knocking on the door, we scope out what we think would be the funniest and get the silliest reaction and wait for the after Halloween sales. By waiting we have been able to purchase a couple of hats for our cat when we can’t agree on the best one.

Hope you and your pets enjoy Halloween 2010! Remember to take some pictures, they are good reminders of the day and will make you laugh every time you look at them

Copyright 2010 OldDogPaws

A Pets Charater Change

Pet Character Change.

When you have to say a tearful goodbye to one pet do you think your remaining pet takes on some of the departed’s personality?

We were blessed with three very loving pets, 2 cats named Star and Muffin, and one big old dog named Tikki. A few years back our kids returned home to find Star motionless in her favorite chair. A complete shock to us all and I believe to our remaining pets as well. Muffin and Star were always chasing each other around the house and seemed to work hard to make the other mad by getting to the best resting places first. After Star’s passing Muffin took on some of her daily habits like sleeping in the clothes basket even when Muffin was always jumpy around clothes on the floor. This was probably due to Star jumping out from them to scare him. Star was the cat that would jump up on your lap while you were watching television while Muffin was the cat that ignored you until he got hungry. Now Muffin has taken to jumping up next to us and even better allowing us to pet him.

After 17 years together our family recently had to say goodbye to Tikki. Tikki and Muffin always seemed to tolerate each other but not much more. Tikki would never do anything to harm Muffin and often tried to get him to play. Muffin would have nothing to do with the dog if he could avoid it. It was always funny to watch Muffin run to Tikki’s bed and stretch out knowing that Tikki would not try to get him to move. Many times we would come into the kitchen and find this cat all stretched out on the dog bed and this big old dog sleeping next to him on the floor.

Now that Tikki is gone Muffin seems to have taken on a dog’s mentality that is out of character for him. He follows people around, lays under the chair we’re sitting in, wants his water in the same spot where we kept Tikki’s water bowl, and will actually flop down in the middle of the floor to get his belly rubbed. All the same things Tikki used to do around our home. So we still have their memories in our hearts and their mannerisms in our cat, Muffin.

Copyright 2010 OldDogPaws

Pet Care Financial Assistance

Our pets are considered members of our family and we want the best for them just as we do for our children. We take them on family trips, car rides to the store and will usually find them in many of the family photos.

Can you image the pain someone must feel if they aren’t able to afford needed medical care and have to make the difficult choice of dropping their pet at a shelter or putting them to sleep?

There are some tremendous people that have created assistance programs for people that are struggling with these decisions. There is an extensive list of these great organizations at olddogpaws.

I hope you consider making a donation to these great programs if you are able. That way they can continue to help others and their pets.

Copyright 2008 www.olddogpaws.com

Gift Card Warnings

With the changing economy, bankruptcy is just one of the things you should consider when thinking about giving gift cards this holiday season. Many stores seem to be headed towards foreclosure or at the very best filing for bankruptcy protection. Although many of the bankruptcy attorneys are saying the risk of loss for you is minimum, but do you really want the hassle of fighting with a store or totally losing the cards value if the store closes?

Here are some other things to help keep your gift card experience a positive one:

Read the fine print before you buy. If you do not like the terms and conditions, buy elsewhere.

When buying a card, ask about expiration dates and fees. This information may appear on the card itself, on the accompanying sleeve or envelope, or on the issuer’s Web site. If you do not see it, ask for it. Make sure that whatever the salesperson tells you is in writing. Is there an activation fee or a fee on the balance over time?

Check on purchase exceptions. For example, can you use a store-specific gift card at both the physical store and the store’s Web site? Can an “all-purpose” card really be used to buy groceries or gasoline?

Treat gift cards like cash. If your card is lost or stolen, report it to the issuer immediately. You may be out the entire amount on the card. Some issuers will not replace the cards, but others will replace them. It is important to understand if there is a replacement fee associated with getting a new card.

If you are giving gift cards this year add a little advice along with it, use the cards as soon as you can.

Happy Holidays

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Gift Cards From:

Overstock.com

DogHouses.com Gift Certificate!




Copyright 2008 www.olddogpaws.com

Black Friday is Over...Cyber Monday is on the Horizon

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and those that ventured out on “Black Friday” found some great bargains. From what I’ve read it sounds like the so called experts are still predicting holiday sales to be down this year even with the large crowds out on Friday. The main reason given is that shoppers were just purchasing the items on sale and leaving the store and not buying other items that provide a higher profit margin for the store.

So what is bad news for the stores can be good news for us the consumers in the form of bigger discounts and better sales. The next great discounting day will on Monday Dec 1st which has become to be known as “Cyber Monday” considered one of the busiest shopping days online.

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Dog Toyland Sale at Drs. Foster and Smith Save up to 20%

Save up to 30% at DogHouses.com Super Sale.

Personal Creations is offering Up to 50% Off Holiday Gifts & an offer of 20% off an order of $60 or more during Last Minute Holiday Sale

PersonalizationMall has 40% Off Sale on Christmas ornaments.

Everyone likes to save on Black Friday

Are you getting caught up in the “Black Friday” excitement this year? When I see all the news online about the great specials on electronics at Amazon, pet supplies at Drs. Foster & Smith, music boxes at San Francisco Music Box Company or gifts for the home at Overstock.com it makes me think back to one of our Thanksgiving tradition.

Part of our Thanksgiving festivities included sending someone out to get the oversized paper with all the local ads and sit with the family to map out tomorrow’s shopping route. We would have the morning scheduled starting at Kohl’s to get a sweater for dad and then hurry over to Circuit City to get the latest gadget for the boys and wrap up the morning by getting to Barnes & Noble to get a gift certificate for grandpa. We would reconnect with the family to recharge the batteries over lunch and discuss our shopping stories, see who found the best bargains’ and remap the shopping route for the afternoon.

Now you can visit all our old places on line and probably check off everyone on your list in the same amount of time it took us to get in the door of our first stop. Although shopping online provides you the ability to quickly find what you want without the additional expense of driving all over I wonder how many of you will miss the adventures of old and the time spent with family as much as I do.

We will still get the paper this Thanksgiving and probably make the trips to the stores but probably not as early because we will first make a few stops on-line.

Where every your shopping travels take you we hope you have a happy holiday season.

DVDs - Save up to 67% at Barnes & Noble

Free Shipping PLUS 10% off your order of $75 or more at SFMusicbox.com. Enter SFMBAFDEC at checkout.

10-20% off Jewelry & Watches at Overstock.com! Offer valid 12.03 to 12.16

Electronics at Amazon.com

Picture courtesy of Drs. Foster and Smith

Copyright 2008 www.olddogpaws.com