This month's Puppy Crawl will benefit the Venice Cat Coalition

Join Pampered Pet for a Mardis Gras Pampered Pet Puppy Crawl Social & Networking Event — a community event for pet lovers!!

• Free refreshments
• Free treats for your dogs & cats
• Free wines tasting with D’Vines
• Free gift bags for the first 50 people
• Free Agility fun with your dog
• Great pet friendly vendors
• Free pet toy craft
• Best pet Mardis Gras party costume contest with prizes
• raffle prizes & 50/50 contests to benfit Venice Cat Coalition
• Fire Sale items from Pampered Pet Health Center- 20-60% off of pet products

Non-Profit Benefactor is the Venice Cat Coalition

The Venice Cat Coalition is a non profit organization that provides ferral cat spay and neuter catch and release programs. They also rescue and adopt cats to loving homes. Their group of volunteers provides these services for Southwest Florida. They strive to increase awareness of domestic felines and the importance of spaying and neutering your cat. Cats should never be red headed step child or the forgotten pet of any home.

Pet Mardis Gras Party Costume Contest!!

If your dog knows how to party for Mardis Gras… get em ready!

Prizes for:

• Best Costume
• Funniest Costume
• Most Original costume

Click here for more information »

The Puppy Crawl will be held at:

Cultural Center of Charlotte County
2280 Aaron Street
Port Charlotte, FL 33952

Keep your best friend active, safe and pain free

You probably take aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen every day and don’t even think twice about it. NSAIDs, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, help us get rid of our weekend-warrior pains, osteoarthritis aches, and daily soreness. Did you know there are NSAIDs  specifically for your dog or cat? These veterinary NSAIDs also help get rid of your furry friends’ aches and pains.

The NSAIDs we take can have side effects such as nausea, vomiting, fluid retention, kidney failure, and liver failure. Unfortunately, the veterinary NSAIDs we give our furry friends can also result in similar side effects.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will host a webinar “Advice to Dog Owners Whose Pets Take NSAIDs” on Wednesday, February 22 at 2:00 p.m. ET. They will present a broad overview of the science behind NSAIDs for pets, and discuss the potential side effects that are possible, as well as what you should do as a pet owner if you think your pet is having a reaction to veterinary NSAIDs.

• Find out more about the webinar at the FDA website »
• Treating Pain in Your Dog FDA informational brochure »

All dogs that come into contact or work closely with other dogs are at risk for distemper, parvovirus, leptospirosis, bordetella, and canine influenza. Talk to your veterinarian to evaluate your dog's risks.

Vets are seeing an increase in upper respiratory infections in Charlotte County. Nine out of 10 are Bordetella and that 10th one is Canine Influenza H3N8. Please make sure your dog is vaccinated for both.

Note that the nasal administration of the Bordetella vaccine takes about 3 days to start providing protection and the injectable takes 10-14 days.

The influenza vaccine must be done in a series to provide protection, with the final vaccine being 3-4 weeks after the first. It must also have 14-21 days to start providing protection from the virus.

Please discuss this with your veterinarian and evaluate your dog’s risks. All dogs that come into contact or work closely with other dogs are at risk for distemper, parvovirus, leptospirosis, bordetella, and canine influenza.

Because PRDF has started offering obedience classes on Mondays at the Harold Avenue location in Port Charlotte, regular board meetings will no longer be held on the fourth Monday of each month. Monday the 20th works in February since the rec center is closed for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Once the board decides upon a regular meeting schedule, that schedule will be posted here and announced to the membership at a regular membership meeting.

Read more about the parvo cases in Lee County here ».

Parvo is treatable is it’s caught early enough, and a vaccine is available. Be a responsible pet owner and make sure your furkids are vaccinated against parvo, as well as rabies, distemper and bordetella.

Lynn is the mom of Jake, a German Shepherd. Jake and Lynn have completed Beginning Obedience/Manners and are currently taking Intermediate Obedience.

Pampered Pet Puppy Crawl

Valentine theme Puppy Crawl on Jan. 25, 2012

The next Pampered Pet Puppy Crawl, on Thursday, Jan. 26, will feature a Valentine’s Day theme, with pet contests for “Best Kisser,” “Most likely to kiss a stranger,” and “Most kisses in 30 seconds.”

There will also be gift bags for the first 50 people, free refreshments, free agility fun, a free wine tasting, and drawings and raffles with prizes worth over $1,000, to benefit the Delta Society.

The Puppy Crawl will be at the Cultural Center in Port Charlotte from 5:30 to 7 pm on Jan. 26. Download a flier for more information.

If you are in Lucia’s Performance FUNdamentals class at 6:30 or Equipment Fun class at 7:30, your class hours will be changed as shown below for Wednesday, Jan. 25th, only. Lucia will also let you know about it in class on Wed., Jan. 18.

• The DOCLC run-thrus will be from 6:15 to 7:15 pm in Ring 3.
• The 6:30 Performance FUNdamentals class will be from 7:15 to 7:45.
• The 7:30 Equipment Fun class will be from 7:45 to 8:25.

If you’ve never seen a run-thru, it is well worth coming at 6:15 to watch them before your classes start; they’re very good. AND, you may participate in the run-thru’s, too, if you’re going to be showing that weekend.

Please introduce yourselves to them and welcome them and enjoy a new learning experience!

Kids and Dogs Daycamp

Kids and dogs are invited to a two hour training workshop

Monday, January 16th
Charlotte County Extension Office
Harborview Road, Port Charlotte

8am-10am-Kids with puppies (under 1 yr)
10am-noon-Kids with dogs (over 1 yr)

Handlers will receive an AKC Partners bandanna, a training treat pouch, and other helpful items and handouts.

Handlers should bring an appropriately fitted collar, a 4-6′ leash (no retractables), treats cut into SMALL pieces, water, a toy your dog likes, and a kennel if you have one (not required).

You MUST pre-register by sending an email to LBPink1@yahoo.com

Please include in your email parent’s name, handler’s name and age, dog’s name and breed, and any information or problems we should know about. (We CANNOT address aggression issues in such a short class, so NO aggressive dogs allowed.) Space is limited, so register as soon as possible.

Download the flyer “Kids and Dogs Daycamp January 2012″ in pdf format.

President/Director:
May Inman

Vice President/Director:
Carol Wanek

Recording Secretary/Director:
Christy Johnson

Corresponding Secretary/Director:
Diane Basilotto

Treasurer/Director:
Sonja Ray

Directors at Large:
Lynn Gott
Steve Johnson
Bess Walmsley

A big thank-you to last year’s Directors for their service to PRDF: May Inman, Carol Wanek, Sonja Ray, Diane Basilotto, Jeanne Spica, Donna Alexander, Lynn Gott, and Christy Johnson.

Any PRDF member interested in serving on a committee, please contact any of the board members, or call us at 941-613-DOGS (3647), or email us at contactus@peaceriverdogfanciers.org