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What NOT to do: Feed your dog beer (or put a samurai hat on him)

I’ve been remiss in posting about pet-related items and events, so I wanted to make sure I posted about this educational event (that will also have vendors!). If you want to learn about your pet’s health and what to do to help your pet in case of an emergency, then you should check out PAWStronomical, an annual pet health fair organized by the Volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter. You’ll learn pet CPR, how to help a chocking animal and how to perform a head-to-tail checkup. And there will be raffle prizes, including gift certificates for animal massages and Disneyland tickets.

Here are the details:

April 17, 2010
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Woodbury University Auditorium
7500 Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, CA 91510
Tickets: $15 advance/$20 at door (children under 12: $5 advance/$10 at door)
Raffle tickets: $1 for one ticket; $5 for six; $10 for 12.

Weekends just don’t come around quickly enough. To celebrate the coming of this weekend, here are some events to consider:

Friday: Harveys, purveyors of fancy seat belt hand bags, is continuing its search for the most arty of designs to feature in its Melrose Avenue store and to feature on one of its bags. From 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., stop by the store to help narrow the entries down from 10 to three. Hot dogs, party punch and raffles will sustain you through what promises to be an arduous voting process.

Saturday: D.O.G. pet boutique on La Cienega in West Hollywood is hosting a custom jewelry event for your furry friends. Bring you four-legged friend to the Bling Your Bitch event (not the best name, I know) between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to check out the myriad charms, crystals and pearls available to create your own doggie jewelry, which can be coordinated to some you make for yourself, too. Prices start at $12 for the Gems4Paws-designed bling. Oh, and there’s champagne!

Sunday: The 23rd Annual Great Chefs of Los Angeles is themed “Go Green, Go Organic” and will feature more than 30 L.A.-area chefs and their food, including the Dragos, Benjamin Ford, Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger, Neal Fraser and Akasha Richmond. Enjoy all the food and alcohol you can handle from 12:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. There will also be auctions to benefit the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. Tickets are $150, but you can get them for $75 through Goldstar.

And if you haven’t had enough, stop by Stinkers Truck Stop‘s one-year anniversary party. The oh-so-ironic Silver Lake bar will be having drink specials, a DJ and swag giveaways from 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Because you need to close out the weekend right.

Dogswell, the pet food company that started out six years ago with dried meat (jerky) products, now has a full product line of dry and wet food, biscuits, and wraps and veggies. Dubbed Veggie Life, the treats are made from fruits or vegetables wrapped in chicken jerky. I had picked up a couple of samples at the America’s Family Pet Expo back in April, but I had forgotten about them. Since the expiration date read 1/21/2011 (scary, right?), I figured it was safe to feed them to my dogs in a taste test.

As I’ve said before, I have two pugs. Now, pugs are not the most discerning when it comes to food. They will pretty much eat anything that you give them (except mine won’t eat lettuce). So this post is more about how I perceived the food than how my dogs did because they just gobbled it up.

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I’ve been using Bamboo’s dog body brush lately when bathing my dogs, and I have to say that the pugs love it. With its large rubber-like bristles, the brush must be like a massage for them because they get his peaceful look on their faces when I rub it over their backs. The brush also has a pocket stuffed with a small plastic bottle that you’re supposed to fill with shampoo, and the top opens with one click for relatively easy one-handed application.

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This is the first post by filmmaker (and my boyfriend!) Rory Delaney. This video was shot and edited by him.

If you’re like me, you’re always on the lookout for cheap excursions in LA. And since I’m a beach guy and a dog guy, a combo of the two packs the perfect punch. Unfortunately, LA city officials couldn’t agree less and forbade dogs from Santa Monica Beach all the way down to Redondo. (If you have a rebellious streak and press your luck, know that if you and your pooch get busted it’s punishable by a $600 fine). And while there are official dog beaches in Long Beach and Huntington Beach — Maya and I used to frequent Huntington’s Bark Beach when we lived in Anaheim once upon a time — the last thing I want to spend my free time doing is battling Orange County traffic with two revved-up pugs on my lap kicking my bladder repeatedly.

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