San Diego Hidden Gem Birthday Party Idea!

My daughter turned 4 this month and she's a HUGE animal lover!  Being my youngest of 3, it's getting harder to come up with unique ideas!  I did some poking around and discovered that San Diego's Humane Society offers a great solution!  Close to all of the proceeds from the party goes back into vet care, housing, and the ability to offer behavior and training courses to the public.  What could be better?

They give you the choice of choosing 3 service animals to visit your party!  My daughter chose a dog, a fancy rat and a guinea pig!  The kids had such a great time learning how to properly pet Jimmy, the 12 year old sweet Beagle.  Tinessa the Fancy Rat was a huge hit!  And finally, two sweet guinea pigs arrived in a cozy wicker laundry basket and everyone received parsley to feed them. 

Annie Peterson, the Director of Education at the facility, is a wonderful host and did such a great job keeping 13 (4) year olds under control.  The biggest highlight of the party was the tour Annie took us on to see all the dogs, birds, rats, bunnies and cats who are waiting to be adopted.  The sumputuous rooms that the cats and dogs get to live in there are just out of this world.  Picture a hollowed out large picture frame on a wall with a cat curled up inside of it- some rooms have fireplaces, hammocks hanging from huge plants.... I've never seen a Humane Society quite like this one!

Parties range from $140-$190 and they provide balloons and tableclothes.  Free invitations are included on their website for you.  You bring snacks, drinks and cake yourself.   They do arts and crafts and play games on top of visiting with the animals and taking the fun tour.  My daughter had a blast!

I wanted to spread the word because it's a great way to help them raise money for their facility and it's a super fun place to celebrate a birthday of any age for animal lovers! 

San Diego Humane Society
5500 Gaines Street
San Diego, CA 92110
619-299-7012

http://www.sdhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=prg_Birthdays

Happy Thanksgiving!

Keeping Coronado Pets Healthy on Turkey Day!

This Thanksgiving season, I wanted to share a few ways to keep your pets healthy on one of the biggest eating days of the year!

Thanksgiving Safety Tips:

• Thanksgiving brings health hazards to dogs and other pets as well as humans.  Don't give turkey bones to pets. Turkey bones and other bird bones are hollow, which makes them likely to splinter.  This can cause tears in an animal's esophagus, stomach or intestines.

• Fatty holiday foods, like turkey skin and gravy, can contribute to Pancreatitis. More pets are brought to vets for Pancreatitis after their families have had a party or holiday dinner.

• Be careful about leaving chocolate candies out (or kids dropping candy on the floor). Chocolate can cause illness and death in dogs. In addition, dogs shouldn't be fed grapes, raisins, onions, alcohol or anything with caffeine.  It's also important to keep the string used to tie the turkey and other food wrappings out of reach of pets.

• Dogs tend to be excited when there are lots of people in the house. When they are excited, they often eat too quickly, and this can lead to bloating, a very dangerous condition. Feed your dog before the guests arrive and don't let them be too active before or after eating.  (Easier said than done, right?) :-)

Bon Appetit!

-Michelle
http://www.michellespetlove.com/



The Best Pain Reliever

I was going through some boxes in my garage looking for pictures today and I came across one of me from about a year ago when we first moved to Coronado.  A few months after we moved here I had a medical issue that sent me to the emergency room for most of the day.  It was bad timing because my husband was out of town on business and I still had one child at home so I had to rely on a friend I didn't know very well to take my toddler for the entire day.  Not one of the top ten days of my life.

Halfway through the day as I was nervous and still not sure what was going on with me, I hear a knock on my ER door.  As I told them to come in, who do I see but a big Bearded Collie dog, complete with a San Diego Chargers outfit and visor on.  His name was Traveler.  He came right over to my bedside and his trainer asked him to lean his chin on the bed so I could reach over to pat him.  I had spent a lot of hours in pretty decent pain but the minute that sweet dog rested his chin on my bed and I could pat him, my blood pressure slowed down, my heart wasn't racing quite so fast and I truly forgot how uncomfortable I was at that moment.  I couldn't believe how the simple act of interacting with an animal could do that for someone. 

I'm so grateful that Sharp Coronado Hospital has a program like this and I hope that someday every hospital will incorporate using animals into managing patients pain or at least making them forget their situation for a short while.  It truly does work! 

If you are interested in checking out Traveler, I found a short clip at this link:
http://www.sharp.com/video/transcripts/the-planetree-experience-at-sharp-coronado-transcript.cfm
Scroll ahead to minutes 5:25-5:52 so you don't have to watch the entire 7 minute video- he's worth checking out. :-)

In Good Health,

-Michelle

Former Prime Minister of the UK living in Coronado?

I had the pleasure of meeting two very "regal" pugs this morning- Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. :-)  When I'm out and about meeting new clients, I love seeing some of the memorable and funny names they come up with for their pets. 

Family Gym in Coronado is super dog friendly (which I love) and you can always find a dog sleeping under a bench or lying around lazily in the shade while their owners are working up a sweat.  My favorite Family Gym dog is one by the name of Mr. Tibbs (another fabulous dog name!)  He's very often the first face I see when I go to work out and if you're a dog lover like me, I love any establishment that lets them be out and about with us.  Thanks, Family Gym! :-)

TGIF!

-Michelle

Flapping in the Balmy Breezes

November 3rd and it's a scorcher today!  I was riding my bike home from dropping my daughter at preschool this morning and when I was half way home I saw a little white golf cart go whizzing by me.  All I could see was the head of an enormous Basset Hound and these fantastically long ears the length of another small dog flapping in the breeze.  What a great life this dog had- I had to remind myself that I was not living in the movie "Pleasantville."   :-)

I don't think the dogs of Coronado understand how good they really have it.  They will never experience what it's like to take your first walk of the day and sink half a leg into a snowbank.  No cars screeching by will ever splash them with icy cold muddy water.  They will wake up to sun an average of 320 days a year and they have their own private designated beach just for them.  Most store owners leave big bowls of water at the entrances and some even provide big jars of dog bone treats, too!  Does it really get better than that in a dog's world?

A good friend in Massachusetts told me they got hit with the first deep freeze of the year today and she was scrambling to figure out where they put the winter coats.  Although it hit 89 degrees here, we'll take it!

I hope you caught your own breeze today!

Michelle

Dogs & Soap Operas

I'm not sure whether the major television networks realize it or not but they have a very large population of canine viewers on their hands!  So many sweet dogs that I visit don't have another dog roommate to keep them company and their owners are kind enough to leave the TV on for them to comfort them while they're gone all day.   I'm noticing more and more of them hooked on "Days of our Lives" or "Young and the Restless." 

So the next time you walk by a house mid-day and hear a dog howling, he or she may just be a hopeless romantic cheering on their favorite storyline!  You just never know who's watching! :-)

-Michelle