Sonja and Ben’s nightly ritual is a bit squirrelly.

Dogs CAN see in the dark!  They love chasing glow in the dark toys making night games easier on both them and their pet parents!

Now in the darkness of winter, you can find Sonja and her 10-year-old dog, Ben, outside enjoying their play-time ritual of his favorite game!

“Ben insists on it! He sees just as well in the pitch dark as he does during day light,” said Sonja. “If I lose sight of him I look for his disembodied Frisbee disk floating, very Halloween-esque like, above the ground, at Ben’s mouth height.

“Ben is a 50 pound Australian Cattle Dog, so an 8" Frisbee works best for him,” said Sonja, “Glow in dark Kong toys, balls and Frisbees come in many sizes for different sized dogs. His current Frisbee has held up for three years, even though he loves ‘catching and killing’ the disk.”
 
Sonja recently moved and it appears right into Ben’s heaven!  There are squirrels everywhere! She hung bird feeders in the trees and in no time, “Herds of squirrels appeared invading like a rodent army!  Ben was thrilled!” laughs Sonja. “Even after six months, he still thinks he has a chance at a Squirrel Fricassee.

Unfortunately for him, the squirrels outrun and outjump him. It is a hoot watching a strong-prey drive, eternal-optimistic canine thinking he can catch a squirrel!  I hate to tell him that it is sooo not gonna happen! Besides, he probably won’t know what to do with it if he catches one.  He would probably bring it to me to toss for him to chase again, and that is also not gonna happen!

One day, while playing Frisbee I tossed the disc and a brave squirrel, heading back from the bird feeder, ran between me and Ben! I had a flash of wondering, ‘Will he chose to chase the disc or the squirrel?’  Well, the rodent won and Ben took off after the squirrel ignoring the fallen Frisbee. He is fast for a senior dog! Once Mr. Squirrel was up a tree Ben did go back, retrieved the disc and brought it to me.”

During an ice storm Sonja’s neighbors heating system konked out. “We sheltered two neighbors for 10 days.  Ben loves them, but he was put out when one of them slept on ‘his’ couch. Once they returned home, he quickly returned to ‘his’ couch and every evening we get a text message from across the street reminding me to say “Nite-nite” to Ben from them. It makes us smile!”

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Do you love animals and refuse to wear animal fur? Don’t let the garment industry fool you!  REAL fur from the Chinese Raccoon dog is appearing on our clothes!

  
Sales clerks may describe a garment’s fur as “Faux Fur”. But, if it "looks like a German shepherd’s dog fur" it is likely fur stripped off a cute Paddington bear-faced Raccoon dog. This “cheap” fur is appearing everywhere, also dyed different colors.

Pinch the top inch of any fur trim and look for eyelash ending guard hairs that a once live animal wore; faux fur has blunt ends.

Instead of trimming our coats with dead animals it is best to let the animals enjoy their own fur. I have heard innocent people wearing Raccoon dog fur say, “It can’t be real fur because it was so cheap.” But not to the Raccoon dog, because it paid the highest price with its life.

As consumers, we want the choice of wearing real animal fur or not. Do your part, educate friends, store customers and managers to this deplorable situation of suffering animals.

Mary Ellen's Silver Persians swam their way into readers and viewer's hearts! They have appeared in International magazines and newspapers around the world. (France, England, Canada, China, Germany, USA, etc.)

Also, several National and International TV shows featured the swimming felines teaching pet-water-safety. And their furry faces appeared on a line of shirts.

• Pet Tips 'n' Tales, has appeared in Oregon's "The Cottage Grove Sentinel" newspaper for 14 years.

Mary Ellen looks forward to sharing her articles in your local newspapers. Just ask..