Here’s this week’s Late Edition of Tuesday, or better Thursday Tip.  Halloween has been over for five days, but if you’ve looked down at the sidewalks this week, I’m sure you’ve seen some signs of the holiday not ready to be forgotten.  While out walking dogs this week, I’ve seen candy on the sidewalks of almost every neighborhood including lots of half eaten chocolate bars that perhaps were not a favorite of area trick or treaters.  So while you’re out walking your dogs, be sure to watch out for any candy on the ground before your pet finds it.  Don’t forget to be extra careful during evening walks now that it’s dark out earlier!

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA. www.amandaspetcare.com

We’re happy to report that with the help of some wonderful students from West Springfield High School, Zoe was found yesterday and is now safely at home!  Visit her blog, Missing Zoe – Now HOME! to hear the story from Zoe’s mom.

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA. www.amandaspetcare.com

Today’s Tuesday Tip is for any pet owners that take their dogs to the dog park. When you’re at the dog park, you should always keep your dog’s leash close by and not on a table or hung from the entrance gate. You never know when a situation may occur when you’ll need to leash your dog quickly so it’s better to have it with you. Of course, playing fetch isn’t very easy with a leash in one hand so our Tuesday Tip this week is to keep a carabiner clip on the loop end of your dog’s leash for dog park trips. When you’re at the dog park, just hook the carabiner to the leash clip, and then you can wear the leash over your shoulder like a messenger bag for hands free play!

I hope you found this Tuesday Tip helpful. Zuma and I are off to the dog park!

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA. www.amandaspetcare.com

Zoe is a 9 year old, female, tri color, Australian Shepherd that went missing from her home in Burke, VA on Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 4AM.

Zoe escaped from her back yard. Someone left the gate unlocked and the wind blew it open.  She has on a leather collar with her rabies and Fairfax County tax tags. She will have no problem with children approaching her since she loves kids. She may shy away from adults.

For more information visit Zoe’s website, Missing Zoe.  If you see Zoe, please call 703-569-9678.

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA. www.amandaspetcare.com

We all know that most dogs aren’t big fans of bath time but the good news is you can make it a little easier for one of you at least. We take our dog Zuma to Old Town Doggie Wash in Alexandria when it’s time to give him a bath. I’m a huge fan of doggie self washes because it is so much easier than trying to bathe your dog in your tub at home. Most will supply you with shampoo, towels, and of course a tub to use – you just have to bring your own dog!

Here is a step by step guide on how to give your dog a bath. While these were written for bringing your dog to a doggie self wash, you can easily adapt them to bathing your dog at home.

1. You should never leave your dog unattended in the tub so make sure you have everything you need close by before you get started such as towels, shampoo, conditioner, brush or comb if you’re using one, and lots of treats to reward good bath time behavior.

2. You want to lift your dog into the tub by placing one hand in front of the legs near the chest area, the other hand behind the rear legs, and lift with your knees, never with your back. Many self washes will have tubs with a ramp for larger dogs so you don’t have to lift them.

3. Start to wet down your dog using warm water (be sure to test the temperature first!). The best place to start is the back of the neck, then work your way down the back, along the sides, down the back legs, the tail, and between the legs. Then start working back the other way, wetting down the belly, chest, and down the front legs. I always do the head last because that seems to be the part most dogs really don’t like. When you wet the head, be VERY careful not to get any water in the ears. You always want to keep the ears down and also try to avoid the eyes. You’ll just want to wet down the muzzle, cheeks, and beard. Alternatively, you could skip the head and face and just gently wash it with a wash cloth later.

4. Now that the dog is completely wet, it’s time to start shampooing. To conserve water, be sure to turn it off while you are shampooing. I usually start by just squeezing a line of shampoo starting at the back of the neck, down the back, to the base of the tail. You then want to start lathering up the shampoo in the same way that you wet down the dog, starting at the back of the neck, working down the back, sides, back legs, tail, rear end, between the legs, and then the belly, chest, and down the front legs. Add more shampoo as needed. You’ll then want to go over the whole body and really massage the shampoo in to break up any dirt. You want to pay special attention to the legs, feet, and belly.  Most people only shampoo the top of the back and miss these areas but it’s important to clean them because those are the closest to the ground and tend to be the dirtiest. Lastly, you’ll want to wash the face. Again, be sure to avoid the eyes and not get any water in the ears. If you want to use a wash cloth, just put a little shampoo lather on it, and gently wipe the muzzle, cheeks, and beard.

5. After shampooing, it’s time to rinse. Follow the same directions as when you wet your dog down making sure to completely rinse off all the shampoo. Remember to always work from the top down so the shampoo doesn’t run into where you already rinsed. Make sure to feel with your hand that all the shampoo is being rinsed off as you never want to leave shampoo on your dog. Don’t forget to pay special attention not to get any water in the ears.

6. Lastly, you’ll want to dry your dog. Start with a clean dry towel and dry off the head, beard, cheeks, and muzzle by massaging the area with the towel. Next dry the ears and underneath the ears. Then work your way down the back, sides, legs, tail, chest, and belly. You may need 2-3 towels to make sure your dog is well dried. Now I usually just towel dry my dog and leave it at that but some self washes will have a forced air dryer you can use if you want that will really dry your dog and blow out any dead coat. If you do use the forced air dryer, be very careful to never get the air stream near the eyes, nose, or mouth. You want to start at the back of the neck and work your way down, avoiding the head.

All you have to is follow these six easy steps and you’ll have a clean dog in no time… well at least until your next trip to the dog park.

Some of the doggie self washes in the area are: Old Town Doggie Wash, The Muddy Mutt, and aka spot.  If you know of others, please post them in the comments!

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA. www.amandaspetcare.com

Ekko is a German Shorthair Pointer mix,who went missing from his home near the 2200 block of N. Quantico Street in Arlington, VA around 7:30pm on 8/4/09.

Ekko was adopted from HART and 17 days after settling in with his new family, on 8/4/09 at about 7:30pm, there was a loud noise just as they were returning to the house from a walk, and Ekko bolted and ran to the end of his leash. That freaked him out too and he bolted, again, and got away. He did have his collar with all his tags on; we believe his leash has been cut and is no longer dragging behind him.

Here are some details about Ekko:

Breed: German Shorthair Pointer Mix
Color: Black with black and white speckled chest and paws. White tip on tail.
Age: 1 Year
Size: Large (55 lbs.), tall with long legs
Description: Ekko is a shy gentle (former shelter) dog who can be easily spooked by loud noises and can run very fast. He may not come to people.
Lost from: the 2200 block of N Quantico St; near Quantico St & 22nd Street in Arlington, VA, between Westover and the East Falls Church Metro
Tags: ID, Rabies, HART 8975

If you have seen Ekko, please call his owners, Terry and Maureen at 703-403-5069 or 703-533-9104, or Linda (HART) at 703-470-7981. 

For updates on Ekko, please visit the Find Ekko blog at findekko.blogspot.com      

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA.

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA. www.amandaspetcare.com

One of the first changes I’ve made is the start of this blog, where you can read topics on pets and about my life as a dog walker, pet sitter, pet expert, and most importantly a pet owner to Zuma, an energetic Labrahound who makes everyday an adventure. In the coming months, I’ll also be working on some changes to the Amanda’s Pet Care website and we’ll be adding some new services so stay tuned!

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA. www.amandaspetcare.com

Rates for Pet Sitting Services 

If you have done any comparison shopping for pet sitting services you will likely have noticed a wide range of prices for services. Why is that?

Well, price is actually arbitrary for this type of service, so comparison of each individual service is needed. While the adage, “You get what you pay for.” may be true for many types of services, pet care services are the exception.

When rates are very low, will that service provider be around tomorrow? Low rates usually mean many bookings a day to keep the business afloat, and that leads to burnout. Are corners being cut to keep rates extra low? As with any type of service, when someone is the cheapest, ask why.

On the other hand, when another service is more expensive, ask why are they so expensive. Do they, for sure, have liability insurance? Surprisingly, not all do. You may be asked to sign a waiver that the service provider will not be held accountable in the event of problems because they don’t have insurance. Or insurance may not even be mentioned, because there isn’t any.

Before comparing services, realize that operating a pet service can be expensive. The largest expense is in a vehicle, and that vehicle must be reliable. A car held together with hope, just won’t cut it when time is of the essence. Next, a liability insurance policy costs about $600 a year. That’s a lot of pet sits to cover the cost of that policy.

So what to do? Compare the service providers. Are they pleasant to deal with? After the initial contact, if you have more questions, how quickly do they respond? Do they have a contract? Do they have a contingency plan in the event of emergencies? Are they insured? Is the business registered or are they operating under the table? Are they organized? That point is very important. Missed visits, forgotten requests or carelessness, can all be avoided through effective scheduling, record keeping and time management.

Don’t base your decision on price alone. Make an informed decision.

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This guest blogger post was written by:
Karin Howland 
Pets Stay Home
Winnepeg, MB, Canada.

Help Find Leo: http://findleo.blogspot.com/

Leo is a foster dog with border collie rescue that has been missing since Sunday, June 7th. He escaped from his foster home in the Park Fairfax area of Alexandria, which is bordered by N Quaker Ln on one side and West Glebe Rd on another. Both roads border the city of Alexandria and the county of Arlington.

Leo is a red & white border collie or mix, is fearful of humans but is not aggressive. He has white feet, a white stripe down his nose, and white on the tip of his tail. He is approximately 45 lbs and has green eyes.

He was wearing a collar with a tag from border collie rescue in Richmond.

If you see him, please call 804-337-9715! DO NOT CHASE him! He’ll run from you, and you won’t be able to catch him.

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The Arlington Pet Guru is written by Amanda Carlson, a professional dog walker, pet sitter, and pack leader of Amanda’s Pet Care in Arlington, VA.