Off on A Trip

I am sitting in the airline club waiting to start a 10 day trip- Denmark, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and then home. Aside from my panic of making sure I haven’t forgotten anything, I tend to do that, I am very much missing my sweet Labrador, Ranger.

My Boy Ranger

This is really  the first time I will be leaving him for an extended time and I mean I knew I loved him, but I didn’t realize how attached I had become to him. I guess I was focused on mourning Bella, but with his big brown eyes and sweet demeanor the little guy has stolen my itty bitty heart.

Gladly Ranger is staying with my rescue partner Amy who I trust 100%. She by the way is available to dog sit in the LA area at your house or hers.

I’ve checked in about 4 times in 12 hours and Ranger is having a great time. I’m sure he doesn’t miss me at all! But I won’t hold that against him

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Debate: Do All Dogs Go To Heaven?

Follow the debate being played out in a southern town between Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic Church and Cumberland Presbyterian, a fundamentalist church.  From top to bottom see the response and counter-response…

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2228641/posts

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My Kick-Ass Book Trailer

I am so happy to present this amazing book trailer! Check it out and take a walk down memory lane with me…

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KTLA Channel 5 Morning News Segment

Although cut short the segment was awesome! Take a look!

This morning I was out the door at about 5:59 to get everything ready to be on the air at KTLA at 9:40 with 4 rescue dogs- Carmen the Chihuahua Yorkie mix, Herbie the Beagle/Jack Russell Mix, Sasquatch the Chow, and Pasqualina the Great Dane/Italian Mastiff mix. I was on to promote my book, The Complete Single’s Guide To Being a Dog Owner and brought the dogs on to share what kind of single person would be a good match for him or her.

While I had been a segment producer for years, and hosted on camera for Video Voter many times, today was my first time on live TV talking on my own stuff and I have to admit I was somewhat nervous. Would I get through it? Would I look fat on TV– that was a big one and would Mark Kriski be nice to me!

Not to mention the old addage that you should never work with animals or children! With the excpetion of two- Herbie and Carmen who live together… in Eagle Rock where I had to be in time to get them, get to Studio City to introduce them to Amy’s fostered Mastiff Pasqualina (to avoid drama) and then to Hollywood to the studio all before 8:30 and without coffee… these dogs didn’t know one another. There was the potential for all sorts of drama, thankfully none of which happened!

It was a great success and I thank everyone at KTLA, particularly because we have already gotten calls on the dogs!

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Book time!

My book is now officially on sale! Woo-woo! So run don’t walk to your neighborhood book store and ask for it by name, The Complete Single’s Guide To Being a Dog Owner.

Otherwise go to your favorite online retailer (Border’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Tower Books) and buy, buy, buy!

I will be appearing on the KTLA morning news (my favorite) on Friday morning in the 9 o’clock hour! I will be interviewed by Mark Kriski who is a single dog owner himself.  He will  be asking me questions about how to handle the inns and outs of how being single while still making time to be a great dog owner !

Stay tuned!

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LA Magazine Blog Post About My Party

LA Magazine’s impossibly chic blogger Shayna Rose Arnold came to my book party last week and posted this story on LAMag.com’s Spyglass Blog.

My eyes are closed but otherwise pretty good pic!

Last Thursday night, Ben Stein hosted a book signing for The Complete Single’s Guide to Being a Dog Owner by Betsy Rosenfeld at his Beverly Hills home.  A fan of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Win Ben Stein’s Money, and coincidentally single and a dog owner myself, I stopped by to see what the man behind the monotone had to say on dogs and dating in L.A.

Click here to read the entire post!

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Dog in a Hot Car!

Last week I was racing back to work after too long of a lunch and saw a gorgeous dog panting away inside a BMW in the hot sun. I was livid, but also late. Painfully ambivalent, I drove past; stopped, started, stopped, backed up, turned around and then parked. I waited for someone to come out hoping someone had just run into one of the houses. No one came out. I started a bitchy note, and headed to the car to check on the dog. Was I going to have to call the police? Animal Control… ugh and I was late!

Just as I was about the put the note on the windshield this ditzy girl emerged from one of the houses. I asked if it was her car and it was. I said oh well I was leaving you a note as it is too hot to leave her in the car. She replied that she was just coming to get her.  Believing that you attract more bees with honey than vinegar, and knowing that I was super late, I stopped myself from unleashing a tirade upon this idiot. Besides she knew she effed up and that she was caught.

But it got me thinking what is the right move in these situations? What should you do if you find a dog in a hot car? And how hot is too hot to leave a dog in the car?

The answer to the first question is if you are concerned about a dog’s immediate health, go searching for the owner in nearby houses, restaurants and or shops and ask around if anyone saw who left the dog. If you are unsuccessful call the police and or the local animal control. If you have to smash the window, it will probably be better for you to have phoned the police first.

MyDogisCool.com

Another option is to  leave one of these genius stickers made by United Animal Nations available on MyDogisCool.com.  And if you have a towel to spare, cover the front windshield which is where a lot of the heat comes from.

And the answer to the second question is that according to a Stanford University test even when it is 72 degrees outside, a car’s internal temperature can rocket to 116 degrees within an hour, even with windows cracked. When it is 85 degrees outside, the temperature inside a car can soar to 102 degrees in 10 minutes and 120 degrees in 30 minutes. A dog can only withstand a high body temperature for a short time before suffering nerve damage, heart problems, liver damage, brain damage or even death.

So if it’s over 65 degrees leave your pooch at home! If you must bring them along, mitigate your quick trips in and out of the car by putting up a sunblocker in the front windshield, and installing car window ventilators. I have not used the ventilators myself so use with caution and don’t expect them to make it icy for your dog, just bearable for a few more minutes.

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News Piece on My Book Party!

Last night I had the launch party for my new book, The Complete Single’s Guide To Being A Dog Owner. Here is a news piece that ran on KCAL-9 News!

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Book Trailer

Take a look at the trailer for my new book, The Complete Single’s Guide To Being A Dog Owner!

Pass it on!

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My Yellow Lab Ranger

My Boy Ranger

Ranger is everything I could ask for in a dog. After 9 years of having to cross the street to avoid dogs (My Bella was not always so cordial to other dogs) I get to cross the street to say hi to them as Ranger LURVES other dogs. He is also extremely mellow, sometime borderlining on being catatonic. On walks he sometimes even lags behind; there’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just taking his time. That is until he sees another dog, or gets a chance to go off leash, in which case he’ll either perk up or take off like the wind. We have to keep an eye on him at all times. It may be how he ended up in the pound in the first place.

Ranger can also be somewhat reserved. You can tell he loves people, and gets super excited to see new people but I don’t think he was coveted in his old home or showered with love like he is now. He just doesn’t know what to do with that kind of attention and there have been times in the last two months where I have said to myself, I don’t even think this dog likes me. I mean Bella was 80lbs of emotive love; I clearly got spoiled. Ranger’s aloofness has thrown me for loop.  How dog-co-dependent am I?

 But I think I’m bringing him over to the dark side. This weekend we spent a lot of time together. We took many long walks and cuddled quite a bit. When I ran home this morning because I forgot my glasses, he just looked at me with those big chocolate eyes as if to say “I love you Mommy, how can you leave me (with the housekeeper who gives me treats and takes me for walks.”)

Me & Woody circa 1979

While this little vignette is everything the dog whisperer would despise, and I don’t advise others to create such co-dependent dogs–as my mother says, do as i say, not as i do–I felt it to be a cherished moment; a milestone in a distinguished line of loved, spoiled Rosenfeld dogs that go back to the 1970′s.

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