Even though our dogs are indoor only now, they go outside to do their business and like to lounge in the sun for a while. In the summer we keep a dish of water out for them, but it gets hot quickly and tends to collect bugs.

One solution for this is the WaterDog automatic faucet unit from WaterDog Pet Fountain.

The WaterDog attaches right to an outdoor spigot and provides fresh water as your dog needs it, due to a motion sensor on the unit. It’s even adjustable so you can move it up and down depending on the size of your dog, and you can set up a remote unit away from a faucet.

Would your dogs use something like this?

[image: waterdog]

Post from: Blisstree

Keep Your Dog Hydrated with WaterDog

When we first brought her home she was constantly trying to get outside. At the time, we lived in an apartment on the second floor so this meant every time we opened the sliding door she’d try to bolt out onto the deck, which gave just about gave each of us a heart attack every time it happened.

Thankfully, she’s mellowed out and doesn’t seem to have any interest in going outside, the same as our other two. Turbo has wandered out into the backyard when we’ve left the door open (on purpose), and though he’ll poke around and sniff like crazy, if anything alarms him he darts back inside. We often joke that if he ever gets loose outside he wouldn’t last long — he’s way too friendly and trusting and probably wouldn’t know the first thing about getting his own food, instincts be damned.

Anyway, I was wandering around Amazon this morning and came across the Kittywalk Pet Gazebo, pictured above. Though there’s no way we’d spend that much on a mesh tent, I do see the benefit of one, especially for people who have cats that do like to be outside but don’t want said cats wandering off or endangering the local bird population.

Would your cats get use out of something like this?

[image: amazon]

Post from: Blisstree

Kittywalk Pet Gazebo

Image: sxc.hu

States,

 Encourage youngsters to go outdoors if there are safe areas around your home.  If not, see about taking them to a park , a nearby hiking area or national forest.

 Take walks around the neighborhood.  See how everything around you is changing with the seasons.  This also is an activity to engage in other seasons; compare and contrast what you find in each.

 Take weather observations from your home and keep a chart.  Research different types of weather, how clouds form, what causes the weather you’re experiencing, and even find some weather experiments to do.

 See if there is a nature center within easy distance from your home.  Plan a visit there and make it a half or full day’s outing, complete with picnic lunch.

 Do you have hiking trails near you?  Perhaps you live in the country and have places to hike right on your own property or the neighborhood.  We live on the edge of town, and the area around our home is wooded with trails over abandoned, overgrown  roads. These provide perfect places to hike and explore.

 Build a fort or shelter in your yard or on your property.  We live on 3 wooded acres.  The grandchildren have, for years, built forts or hiding places there, by themselves and with their friends.

 Children often enjoy camping out in the yard, or even on a porch, when the weather is welcoming.  My grandson pitched a tent on the deck last year.  He often used it as his get-away during the day, as well as sleeping there at night.

 What spring and summer activities do you engage in with the youngsters in your life?

Post from: Blisstree

Spring and Summer Parenting

Image: sxc.hu

When I see my grandson and his cousin spending the afternoon in the woods around our home, building forts, playing games without electronic accompaniments, and using their imaginations, I’m taken back to my childhood when the radio was the only gadget we had around.  Televisions did exist but we couldn’t get reception out in the country where we lived.

My sister and I made dolls, played school, created doll houses, read books in trees, and splashed in the swimming hole made by two brooks in the pasture.  Our brothers created toys from scraps of wood, built forts,  pretended they were cowboys and played ball in the field.  Friends joined us and seemed to prefer coming to our farm rather than staying at their homes in the village where there were more conveniences.

The charm of imaginary games and using their creativity for crafts and making toys sometimes gets lost for youngsters in today’s world.  It’s up to us as parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles to encourage these activities in the children in our lives.

Some suggested books for encouraging creativity:

Nature Crafts for Kids by Gwen Diehn and Terry Krautwurst

Nature Crafts (Creative Kids) by Joy Williams

Kid Style Nature Crafts by Sterling Publishing Co.

The Kids’ Nature Book by Susan Milord

Nature’s Playground by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield

Post from: Blisstree

The Charm of Imaginary Games for Kids

We tried Turbo on a leash when he was an adolescent kitten and he didn’t care for it much. He sniffed around the grass for a bit, tried to hide in a bush, and since then (about twelve years now) has shown no interest in going outside again. All three of our cats are strictly indoor cats, so we thought we’d given him a treat by going outside but he just didn’t care for it. We haven’t tried it with the other two, though we think Kricket lived outside before we adopted her from the Humane Society, since she tried to get out non-stop during the first month we had her.

As you can imagine, using a leash on a cat is quite a different experience than using one on a dog. With a cat you’re the one along for the ride (though I know that’s also the case with some dogs!), with lots of stops and starts or just general sitting around. When we had one on Turbo we just sat in the grass with him for a while, with no intention of taking a walk.

So have you tried a leash on your cat? How did it work out?

[image: flickr]

Post from: Blisstree

Feedback Friday: Do You Leash Your Cat?