The Podcast You've Been Waiting For

K9Cast with Tara and Walter! A podcast about dogs, dog training, rescue, shelters, adoption and more!

You've got to check this out. Great advice and stories about dogs and their owners. Tips for giving your dog a bath. How to give your dog a manicure using a Dremel.

You don't need an iPod. You do need a computer (you're using one now!), and internet connection (you're using one now!) and something that will play an audio file, like Windows Media Player or WinAmp or the dreaded iTunes.

Go there now!

AIDS Walk

Last Sunday the ninth AIDS Walk in Kelowna drew several hundred people and no dogs.

Well, actually there were several dogs, all well behaved. But dogs were not officially allowed to accompany their people on the walk. The organizers had signs up about not allowing dogs.

I was torn. I wanted to raise some money and walk, but I’m still angry at City Council for not resolving the issue of no dogs. The problem is that lots of these “charity walks,” as the Council refers to them, either begin, end, or pass through City Park or Waterfront Park, and no dogs are allowed there.

Before 2003, dogs raised money for the MS Walk, but that year the mean-spirited, small-minded people who run the city decided to enforce the by-laws. People complained to City Council, and supposedly, this was to be dealt with. But no one was made accountable for dealing with it, so here we are in the fall of 2005 with the same problem.

In the end, I decided to raise what money I could and walk. For every $100 in pledges to the AIDS Walk, I donated $10 of my own (not the pledged) money to the Okanagan Dog Owners Association.

It was a beautiful fall day, and a nice 3K walk. It would have been even better with a dog.

You Don't Need A Weatherman

This spring has been disappointing as far as the weather goes. It’s already well into June, and we’ve only had a little more than one week of hot weather. And that was in May. Since then, there's been one good day for a bike ride, and the rest of the time it’s been cold, raining, or cold and raining.

It’s a good thing I have a dog living with me, or I’d probably never get to go for a walk in the rain.

Today I got up at 6:45 and it was raining. I took the garbage out, took Sandy out to the end of the driveway for a pee, fixed myself the last of the Peet’s coffee, and sat down at the computer to start the day and wait for it to clear up. At 8:30, I was still at the computer and it had still not cleared up. Sandy sat down next to me and gave me the most reproachful look in the history of the world forever.

“Hey, Dog. It’s raining,” I pointed out.

“And?” she replied.

“And it’s cold, too.”

That was not a convincing argument. Sandy was the one wearing the fur coat.

Ten minutes later we’re outside for our walk, Sandy trying to go fast, and me stumbling along in shorts, shirt, flannel shirt over that, raincoat over that, sandals and Tilley hat. “It’s raining harder than ever, Sandy,” I complained.

She stopped. She turned. She sat. She looked at me. “You control the food. You control the door. You control the play dates. You control the walks. Are you telling me you DON’T control the weather?”

We pushed on.

“I kind of like walking in the rain, Dog.”

“Me too,” Sandy said, tail wagging.