Your Pet's Best Friend

FurEverBrite Glow-in-the-Dark Pet Collar

I had ordered a couple of these to tie on to my dog, but I found a better alternative.

You see, most of the time, my dog Cady sleeps in her favorite spots -- spots that are a long way from the traffic pattern.  There are other times when she randomly decides to sleep between my bed and the bathroom.

This is bad, as I frequently have to make an old-man bathroom trip in the middle of the night.  Being the  middle of the night, it's dark in the bedroom and hallway.  Since I don't want to wake the wife (and I hardly ever get lost on that trip), I don't turn on the lights.  So it's dark.

Not only is it dark, I'm about half asleep.  Thus, should the dog decide to sleep in the path, there's a pretty good chance that I won't notice until I trip over her.  Maybe nothing happens, or maybe I fall and we both break a rib.

This is a better alternative:  the FurEverBrite Glow-in-the-Dark Pet Collar.  They don't cost much.  They charge up with normal room light.  They really do glow in the dark, and the glow lasts all night.  They do have that cheap plastic ambience, but they do work.  With a longer-haired dog (like mine), the collar isn't always as visible as it would be on a short-haired dog. Even so, the collar has saved me from tripping numerous times already.  I'm sold on it.

Another good use would be that dog you let out to use the bathroom before you go to bed, and the dog decides to piddle around the yard for a while instead of coming back in.  Well, the yard is dark and you have a hard time finding him when he doesn't answer your call.  What if he glowed in the dark?

After I bought one for myself (for my dog and myself, I guess), I liked it well enough that I am selling them in my office.  You can also buy them direct online.

 

Grassbur (Sand bur) pick-up: easy and fun

Necessity is the mother of invention, but ingenuity is the daddy.  Sometimes little triumphs can give you a lot of pleasure.

The KVC exercise yard and front lawn have become infested with grass burs (also known as field sandburs).  Patients are picking them up for me, but they don't like it, and neither do I.   Spending twenty minutes picking the burs out of a fuzzy dog is no fun for the dog or anybody else involved.

You can find lots of advice on eradicating the plants, using fertilizers, lawn builders and pre-emergent herbicides.  Okay, fine.  What about the gazillion burs that are already all over my property?  The pre-emergent herbicide is supposed to keep them from germinating next year and multiplying the problem.  Even if I believe that, how am I going to keep my patients from getting covered with the ones that are all over right now?

Some years ago when I had the problem, I sewed an old worn-out blanket into a tube, put a piece of PVC pipe through the middle to weigh it down, and dragged it across the yard.  It worked pretty well then, but it was a bust this time.  I used two blankets, picked up a lot of burs, but you can't tell the difference.

For a moment I had the unworthy thought of borrowing a bunch of fluffy dogs and chasing them around the yard.  Then I thought of buying fluffy slippers for the staff, but they would fill up with burs so fast that you wouldn't get much done.

Then I had the idea of the week: disposable fluffy slippers.  We got some fuzzy fabric remnants and I cut them into shoe-sole size pieces.  Attached front and back with a little duct-tape, and I went for a test run while taking the boarding dogs for their evening walkies out back.  The dogs got a much longer walk than they might have otherwise, because it didn't take long to get excited about my new hobby.

Oh, my gosh, does it work!  You just walk around, or stomp those burs if it makes you feel better (and it does).  When the fuzzy gets full, you just tape on another set.  The burs stick to the cloth so well that you don't spread them to other areas.  It's like a Swiffer for grass burs.

The downside: it's kind of addictive.  I went through about six sets and had to make myself quit.  I finally have a weapon that works, and it is so satisfying.  There are lots of burs left, little islands to conquer, but their days are numbered.