This weekend, it was Winnie’s turn for a bath. Or, as I’m sure she likes to think of it, her turn for torture.

No matter how much this dog loves water (and she LOVES it), there’s something about water + soap + limited room to move that she despises. However, after a four-day camping trip along a stretch of muddy river in southwestern Washington, Winnie lost the bath battle.

Unwilling to subject our home shower to the same smelly, dirty mess that had infiltrated our tent and car all weekend, we decided a trip to Lucky Dog Seattle for a DIY bath was in order. We chose Lucky Dog because it’s where Winnie recently started day care, as I alluded to in an earlier post**. Rates there compare to other self-service dog washes in the area at $20/dog, or $15/dog if you bring your own shampoo. For the fee, you and your pet get:
• Your own private washing station, equipped with a short leash to keep your pup confined to the tub area
• Water-resistant aprons
• Towels for you and your pup
• Ear-cleaning supplies
• A hose for drying
• Doggie hair brushes
• Shampoo and conditioner (for an additional $5)

Though Winnie was not a huge fan of the service, we absolutely were. The short leash confining her to the tub + the hose for drying made the experience worth every penny. At-home Winnie-baths are wet disasters full of unhappy people and an unhappy pup. The self-service wash at Lucky Dog was much more efficient, effective and – most importantly to us – much less messy than an at-home bath. Only thing I’d do differently next time? Bring my own shampoo. While Lucky Dog’s shampoo and conditioner smelled lovely, it’s not quite worth the $5 splurge when you can bring a perfectly fine variety from home.

Any other self-service dog washes in the Pacific Northwest people recommend?

**On a side note, I neglected to mention in the previous doggie day care post why we chose Lucky Dog over other doggie day care options in Seattle. We’d been researching a few local options online for several weeks and had narrowed it down to a facility that was super-close to our house. By chance, the day before we’d planned to take Winnie to that facility for a test run, I met the owner of Lucky Dog while volunteering at the Seattle Animal Shelter. He was at the shelter because he had a 9-year old pit bull mix and was looking to add a younger pup to his family. He asked to meet a 9-month old pit bull named Sophie, who was an adorable ball of energy. I was the volunteer who assisted him as he first played with Sophie and eventually introduced her to his older dog.

During the course of conversation, I discovered that he owned a doggie day care and spa business in Ballard, and I told him that my boyfriend and I were in the process of scouting doggie day care options for our dog. Even though he was at the shelter on his day off searching for a new pet, he was super-helpful in talking me through the experience and benefits of doggie day care and didn’t try to hard-sell me on Lucky Dog by any means. He simply provided an introduction to “Doggie Day Care 101.”

By the end of our conversation, he decided to adopt Sophie (yay!), and I decided that I wanted to give my business to someone who adopts less-adoptable dogs from local shelters.

Between the trips to Lake Washington, play dates with their fellow fluff balls, and dive bombing in the mud during last week’s rain spell, our two pups had hit their max on filth. Even their own mother (me) couldn’t stand the smell of them for one more night. Their white fur was taking on a tannish brown color. Enough was enough.

In an effort to avoid the mess of washing in our bath tub at home and the somewhat hefty costs that can come with a full-service groomer, we opted to take our pups into a little shop we found in Kirkland known as Pup Scrub. It’s a self-serve puppy wash (although they have full-service if you really want it), and they’ve thought of everything. You pick your scent of shampoo and conditioner (we prefer the oatmeal scent), the friendly staff shows you and your pooch to your oversized tub, throw on an apron, roll up your sleeves and get to work. After spending as much time as you need de-funking your pup, you pat them down with a towel and then turn on the turbo dryers that leave their fur fluffy and full. You give a final cotton swab to the ears, run a brush through their coat and ta da , your pup is good as new.

Believe it or not, this gives you some great quality time with your dog and is actually a lot of fun. We’re even considering upgrading and getting the Booster Bath for at home, but it’s kinda nice getting to leave the fur balls behind at Pub Scrub.

Winnie has it pretty good. Between my boyfriend’s work schedule and mine, she’s home alone less than half the week. She is an 18-month old ball of crazy who cannot be left unsupervised** and is crate-trained to spend anywhere from 8-10 hours in her crate, three days a week.

Even though her crate time is minimal compared to most dogs with working owners, we still feel guilty. Winnie has an excess of energy and, like most collies, she needs near-constant stimulation to remain sane. You can only imagine how much fun this trait is when you want nothing more on a lazy weeknight than to take a relaxing walk, cook dinner and crash in front of the TV. Pretty hard to do with the Energizer bunny jumping in your face.

Guilt + our own sanity led us to Lucky Dog Seattle, which describes itself as a “day spa for your canine companion.” I like to call it heaven.

After spending the day playing with more than a dozen other dogs and a great staff of dog-lovers, Winnie returned home exhausted. She actually – wait for it – SLEPT while we ate dinner. She didn’t jump on the table, didn’t drop toys in our laps or bark at us, she SLEPT. In fact as I’m typing this, she’s snoozing on the couch next to me instead of chasing shadows around our living room. 

Doggie day care costs vary, but in Seattle it’ll typically run you anywhere from $22 – $30 per session. Lucky Dog is reasonably priced at $25 per session, for up to 12 hours at a time. It’s not cheap, but if one day a week we pay $25 to guarantee a happy dog and happy owners, it’s worth every penny.

Lucky Dog, we’ll be back. We’ll be the ones buying the 15-day package in advance.

**True story: she once broke out of a poorly-secured crate and chewed up a razor. Since then, we’ve added a padlock to the crate.

Title: Seattle Humane Society\’s \”Walk for the Animals\”
Location: University Village Shopping Center
Link out: Click here
Description: Join the Seattle Humane Society on September 27, 2009 for Walk for the Animals – a scenic walk in and around the University Village Shopping Center. Registration & Check-in for the Walk is at 8:00 a.m. and the walk begins at 9:30 a.m. The cost to register is only $30.00, but all walkers receive a t-shirt and bandana for their furry friends. Make sure you arrive early to enjoy breakfast, fun activities, yoga with your dog, and other animal demonstrations. For more event information and to register to walk with your pooch, make sure to visit the Walk for the Animals website.

Start Time: 8:00 a.m.
Date: 2009-09-27

Sometimes, my dog can be the devil. People don’t expect it from Winnie. “But she’s so cute! She’s so sweet!” Yes, she is both of those things about 80 percent of the time. But, the remaining 20 percent? Welcome, Mr. Hyde.

Winnie is good-natured, but she’s sassy. Where this behavior tends to rear its ugly head most frequently is on runs when she insists on fighting over control of the leash. (Looks like: her growling and grabbing the leash in her mouth, either pulling it in a game of tug of war or jumping up on me to try and get me to tug back.) It’s embarrassing, it’s irritating and it can be unsafe. She almost caused a biker to crash on the Fremont Bridge a couple of weeks ago…yikes!

I’ve tried several tactics for discouraging this behavior including:

• Spraying Bitter Apple on her leash
• Rubbing hot sauce on her leash
• Wrapping aluminum foil around her leash
• Turning my back and ignoring her for 60 seconds
• Moving her harness hook from her chest to her back, removing the leash from her sight
• Rewarding her every 30-60 seconds with a treat on runs when she’s behaving well
• Telling her to ‘drop it’
• Offering her a rawhide in exchange for the leash to bite

Nothing. Works. I’m at the point of trying a gentle lead (this is after she’s destroyed two harnesses and is working on destroying her third), and if that fails, I’m seriously considering a muzzle. It’s simply unbearable to run this dog on a leash, and I’m at my wit’s end for how to correct this behavior.

Any suggestions??

Has anyone asked you lately why your couch is wearing a fur coat? If you’re like me and your couch is like mine – i.e., not actually wearing a custom fur, but a generous and pervasive coating of dog hair – then carding may be a good option for you and your pooch. After adopting Ferdie (50% Husky, 50% Australian Shepherd, 100% shedder) and witnessing the clumps of fur he dropped around the house like an endless trail of fuzzy breadcrumbs, I turned to The Pet Stops Here in Bellevue for some advice and was offered this mysterious service.

What is carding, you ask? Actually, I don’t entirely know myself. Even after two visits. According to their website, “Carding is the process of eliminating excess hair from many of the shedding breeds. Carding can remove between 60-80% of the coat that you would ordinarily find around your home.” The groomer I spoke with described it as removing the downy undercoat of dead hair that would normally find its way onto your couch. Or car seat. Or pillow. Hair blobs floating languidly about the house and coming to rest in my Lean Cuisines were my personal last straw. Whatever the precise details of the process (similar to hand stripping), it works. After just one session, Ferdie’s shedding was drastically reduced, and after the (free) follow up session 5 days later, he was as close to a shed-less dog as a Pound Puppy.

At around $80 for a two session process, it’s admittedly a little painful to drop more on carding your dog than on a Gene Juarez haircut. Barely two months later, Ferdie is already in need of another session. But what a beautiful two months.

Back to the couch coat – the easiest hair pickup tactic I’ve discovered is a wide roll of masking tape. I tried using lint rollers, but peeling sheet after sheet got to be a hassle. Just pull out a section of tape and wrap it back around the roll, exposing the sticky side and attaching it back on itself. I also carry a roll in my car for when the “Ferd-mobile” has to transport non-dog passengers.

A case for Shelters…

I grew up with mutts. As a child, my best friend was a little Humane Society Wire-hair Terrier mix that I adored more than anything else in the world. After he died, my family adopted a Border Collie/Aussie Shepherd mix from a Kansas City shelter that instantly won my heart for her sweet nature and kind soul. Next came a Black Lab mix rescued from a small rural Iowa shelter that – through loyal affection and an intense passion for life – became the third dog love of my life. The most recent dog to steal my heart, Winnie, is another Humane Society find and a mix of unidentified breeds + raw cuteness.

I’ve never owned a pure-bred dog. I’ve met plenty that are wonderful and that embody the best traits of their breed. In my heart of hearts, however, I know that I will always be a mutt-advocate and therefore a shelter advocate. I volunteer a couple weekends a month as a matchmaker at the Seattle Animal Shelter, and few things beat the joy of watching an orphan dog find its forever home.

I think that for plenty of people – particularly for those who need a special breed for home health (e.g. allergies) or happiness (e.g., no shedding, strong breed preference, etc.) reasons – working with a breeder is a fine thing. (And working with a breed rescue is an even finer thing.) But for me, there is no greater motivation in making a dog a part of my life than in saving its life. There are just too many unwanted dogs at shelters and rescues to make working with a breeder an option in my world.

Listen, I’m speaking to you as the mother of two loving, gentle, free-spirited Siberian Huskies. I love them to pieces, adore their personalities and can’t imagine my life before crate training, puppy teeth, dog parks and long hikes. However, heed my warning…

huskies are not, I repeat, are NOT for everyone.

So, what makes me so qualified to have not one, but two huskies? Well, quite frankly, had you met me 2 years and 4 months ago, prior to Ruckus, I wouldn’t have said I was. I had to become a husky owner the hard way. Ruckus taught me. Had I known how much work Ruckus would have been, how much time Jeff and I would have to spend exercising him seven days a week, how many books Jeff and I would have to read to learn the characteristics, how many times Jeff would have to patch the fence, or that I’d have to come home at lunch to keep him company because huskies, more than most breeds, suffer from loneliness, I don’t think I would’ve thought I was capable.

So what did we do then, we got Kaiya. Crazy I know, but there was a method to our madness. In addition to being adorable, loving and needing a home, we thought she’d be perfect for Ruckus to 1) keep Ruckus company, 2) give him a playmate, 3) hopefully calm him down, and 4) give him something to chew on other than me or our furniture. And it worked, but now we need a third husky to do the same for Kaiya.

It took a lot of time, energy and sacrificing and after several long months and through a lot of trial we learned what it takes. Then again, I don’t have children, of the human sort anyways, I live close to work and I love the outdoors and enjoy exercising and don’t believe in hitting animals (if I did, Ruckus would be dead). All of this, combined with the fact that I had Jeff there doing just as much, in fact more actually, made it possible for us to be good husky owners. If you can master the skills, they are the greatest, smartest and coolest animals you’ll ever meet, but then again I’m their mom.

As much as I adore my Winnie, one thing I really miss about my pup-less existence is the freedom to do whatever I want after work. When it’s time to sign off from my workday, I want to do one of two things: socialize or be lazy. The latter doesn’t lend itself well to a 17-month old puppy, but the former, now that I can work with.

Enter Norm’s Eatery and Ale House in Fremont, my favorite dog-friendly Seattle establishment.

In the few short weeks I’ve had Winnie, I’ve been to Norm’s at least five times. The atmosphere is chill, the servers and bartenders are friendly, the food is good and they serve beer. What more can you ask for from a happy hour destination? That it invites you to bring your dog along. Now that’s icing on an already delicious cake. (Or, in Norm’s case, it’s extra gorgonzola and mushrooms on an already delicious burger. Highly recommend that menu option.)

Aside from Norm’s, most Seattle bars and restaurants with patios welcome well-behaved dogs. A few tips for the comfort of you, the rest of your party, as well as the diners around you:

• Bring treats to reward a good dog or to distract one on the verge of misbehaving.
• Before sitting down, ask tables near you if they’re comfortable with your dog being on the patio. Most Seattle-ites are a pretty easy-going, but be respectful of people who may have allergies or who are fearful of dogs.
• Nobody likes a barker. If you have one, leave him or her at home for happy hour.
• Only bring socialized dogs.
• Don’t let your dog lick your plate or silverware when you’re done. Ew.

What are some other dog-friendly happy hour destinations folks like to frequent?

I thought when I left So Cal last September I’d be saying goodbye to the scorching heat for good. Just my luck, the year I move to Seattle, the weather goes from temperate most of the year to record-breaking snowfall followed by record-breaking heat waves. While the huskies relished in the snow, dragging my boyfriend on his snowboard up and down the streets of Finn Hill, they’re now dragging their tongues as the sun beats down on the northwest.

Looking ahead at this week’s five-day forecast, we’re in for some unfavorable husky weather (think 90 degrees and above). My problem – two pups with tons of energy wearing fur coats and no air conditioning. My solution – other than moving further north, find ways to keep our pups cool while keeping them moving. Here’s what’s in store for the week ahead:

• Hunt down a kiddy pool and let the pups splash away. Buyers beware – don’t buy the inflatable pools for your dogs; they’re chew toys waiting to happen.
• Take a trip to the Magnuson Dog Beach and let them run wild in the water with their four legged friends.
• Throw some ice cubes on the deck and watch them play chase. Ruckus, especially, likes to chew and stomp on the cubes.
• Take them to get a bath at Pup Scrub in Kirkland. They’ll be in an air conditioned room for an hour and come out looking beautiful.
• Stroll along St. Edwards trail, hidden beneath the shade of the canopy of trees. The temperature is roughly 15 degrees coolor and we can jump in Lake Washington mid-hike.