A Different Kind of Pee Pad
Bill Klein, Pop-Up Pee Pads

Bill Klein (TLC's The Little Couple) invented a pee pad with a pop-up fire hydrant. He said it cured his dog's inappropriate urination and it can help your dog too.

Bill Klein is a reality personality best known for starring alongside his wife Dr. Jen Arnold on the TLC reality series The Little Couple. He is a medical supplies and telemarketing businessman. So it comes as no surprise, he is also an inventor!

It's pretty straightforward that male dogs, specifically small male dogs, have a proclivity for going to the bathroom on furniture, corners of couches and other fun stuff like that. The Pop-Up Pee Pad has a target right in the middle of the pad. So when your dog aims, there's no more cleaning up afterwards.

The target is in the middle of the pad and is a little fire hydrant that's pre-attached to a training pad. There is also an attractant on the pad as well as super absorbent material inside the pad. It behaves like a regular pad, but as you unfold it, a fire hydrant pops up in the middle. When your dog's done doing their business, it folds down and you can toss it.

Necessity is the mother of all creations. Bill came up with the idea because of an issue with one of his dogs.

Rocky is a Chihuahua and was the first dog owned by Bill and his wife. When they moved to Texas, they moved into an apartment. At that time, Bill was using a landline to conduct business calls. Oftentimes Rocky didn't want to wait for him to get off of the conference calls. So when Bill was making a call he couldn't get off of, Rocky would make eye contact with him and then pee on the corner of the furniture. Bill couldn't express any sort of dismay, because of course that would upset whomever he was on the phone with. So he had to tolerate it, which almost condones the behavior. From there, it kind of became a vicious cycle of a repetitive behavior.

At the end of the day, Bill just gave up and put a pad underneath the chair leg, that Rocky deemed to be worthy of him. That was kind of the dawn of the Pop-Up Pee Pad.

After that, it was just a matter of figuring out how to come up with something that didn't need to be cleaned in addition to the pee pad.

When Bill started inventing the Pop-Up Pee Pad, he was thinking of cards and books that you received when you were a kid with the little tab that kind of made it pop up and go down. He shared the idea with his brother one day when he stuck in traffic on his way from Orlando Airport. His brother told him to give him a night to mess with it. Bill's brother and his brother's wife then broke out some scissors and they helped Bill come up with the idea of just attaching two parts of the pad to make it pop up instead of using some sort of action to make it pop up. This wound up working out great.

Bill then filed the patent back in 2017 and was issued a utility patent. He tells us the pee pad works really well and the hydrant is kind of a novelty, but everybody gets it. He said when he brought it to his first patent attorney to take a peek at it, he was kind of like, "Oh, what do you got for me today?" And when Bill unfolded the pad, the attorney started laughing and immediately got it.

While this was Bill's first invention, his brother had been to the same patent attorney before with a number of different of the wall kind of oddball ideas. Bill said he's sure patent attorneys deal with crazy goofball ideas all the time that make no sense or things that been done a billion times This pee pad was unique and was also simple and the attorney got it right away.

The Pop-Up Pee Pads are available on Amazon as well as Bill's store in Houston. They are also available on Bill's website and at a number of different independence stores.

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More Than Just a Pet Costume
Allison Albert, Pet Krewe

A mere 16-percent of us dress our pets for Halloween. This year there are more choices than ever for unique costumes. Costume maker Allison Albert shares some great designs.

Allison Albert is the founder of Pet Krewe. Pet Krewe offers high quality and very unique pet costumes. However, Pet Krewe creates costumes all year round, as they believe every day is a reason to celebrate and dress up your pet, not just for Halloween, but everyday so you can unleash your own parade.

It is estimated that sixteen-percent of American families actually dress up their animals for Halloween. On top of that, according to Allison, about four-percent of those pre-plan their pet's costume to match their own costume at least six months prior to Halloween.

One of the favorite pets costumes at Pet Krewe is the mermaid costume. The tail has color changing sequins that allow you to change it from sea foam blue to emerald green. Allison explains that they are gender neutral at Pet Krewe, so if you want to remove the seashells on the costume, you can create a "Merman" or leave it as a "Mermaid," whatever your dog is feeling for that day.

Some of Allison's favorite costumes are their unicorn hats for cats and dogs. They come with a little rainbow mane and a sparkly unicorn horn. She tells us that they are so much fun! They hand dye the fabric on the mane, so each one's a little different and a little unique.

There are several dogs in the office that are Guinea pigs for these costumes, which they call interns. Allison says the interns enjoy dressing up, because they always know that a treat is right behind the costume.

For the day-to-day Instagram snaps, they use their interns. However, the pictures that they use on the website and advertising are actually shelter dogs. Just down the street from them is the Jackson County SPCA and they use adoptable dogs to photograph their costumes. These also serve as their "Gotcha" adoption pictures as well as an amazing stock photo. They work and play with these dogs to get the used too human touch. They never force it if they don't want to wear a costume.

Pet Krewe has added another dimension to their pet costumes that makes them different, called Pet Krewe GO. Allison knows that their customers want more than just a pet costume; they want an experience. So they came up with the idea of using augmented reality that creates crazy worlds that compliment your pet costume purchase from Pet Krewe.

For example, let's say you purchased the mermaid outfit. You put the costume on your dog. Next you go to Apple, iTunes or Google Play and download Pet Krewe GO and open it up. If you have the mermaid costume and you want to go Under The Sea World, you select it. Then as your dog is sitting there in the costume looking fabulous as a mermaid, you can start to place mermaids around your dog. You can also add fish. This makes it look like real fish are swimming around your dog that is dressed as a mermaid. You can also plant coral reefs right beside your dog. Then you can take a picture of your pup. Then, with the amazing digital video, you can video your dog walking through a coral reef with mermaids sitting on the banks flapping their tails and fish swimming around your dog. You are able to create this fun video and it's all free!

So not only can you get a great costume for your pet, you can create a fun experience for your pet!On top of that, 10-percent of your purchase goes right back to animal shelters!

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Black Widow Spiders Poisonous to Pets - Dr. Debbie

Pet Threats Come in All Sizes
Our doggie family ambled along on our typical morning walk along the community trail. With a family of two Labradors and a Yorkie mix, my crew is always up for fun and they investigate anything and everything.

Sometimes it's a crunchy cockroach snack or the fortunate edible remnant in a discarded candy wrapper. My dogs enjoy the "date game" where they snatch up shriveled fruit fallen from date palms, crunching away before the mom and dad notice. And sometimes it's a half-hearted game of chase with an unsuspecting rabbit. A more gut wrenching episode once involved my Labrador ingesting a rat with tail slipping down his gullet like a piece of spaghetti. My furry kids are professional trouble finders so I try to keep a watchful eye for things that make them go "Oooh," and make me go "Ugh!"

Female Black Widow Spider
While walking along the pedestrian pathway we came upon today's discovery - spiders and lots of them living in the recesses of a block wall. The hairs on my arm stood up as my Yorkie mix approached their lair. I recognize what these spiders are and what could happen to a 16-pound pup.

The long legged spiders were over 1 1/2" in length, black in color with a distinctive orange hourglass mark on its underbelly. Meet the black widow spider, a common arachnid found in every state in the U.S. except Alaska.

The Black Widow Bite
Black widow spiders contain a potent neurotoxin that causes pain, swelling and can lead paralysis. Female black widows are the dangerous ones, while the males rarely ever bite. While some black widow bites go unnoticed, others cause immediate pain at the site or result in pain at the nearest lymph node. Pain intensity reaches its maximum within 1 to 3 hours after the bite, but can last up to 48 hours.

Symptoms of a black widow bite appear within 8 hours after bite an include muscle twitching, restlessness, rigid abdomen and difficulty breathing. Symptoms may result in high blood pressure, a racing heart rate, seizures and collapse. Dogs are more resistant to a black widow bite, but still can suffer serious illness. Cats are very sensitive to the toxins and can suffer fatalities.

Symptoms of black widow bite include:

- Pain and numbness around bite site
- Anxiety
- Racing heart rate
- Muscle pain and stiffness, especially abdominal muscles
- Difficulty breathing
- Paralysis
- Seizures

Treatment for Black Widow Spider Bite
Call your veterinarian if you suspect your pet was bitten by a black widow. Initial home emergency care of a black widow bite may include ice packing bite area and oral antihistamines like Benadryl. Your veterinarian will need to see your pet to evaluate and treat the more serious symptoms. Treatment may include medications to control muscle spasms and seizures. Blood pressure and blood sugar are monitored and intravenous fluids may be administered. An antivenin is available for more serious confirmed cases of black widow bite.

Prevention
Avoidance of spider habitats is the best prevention. These eight-legged critters favor dark recesses both indoors and outdoors. Look for cobwebs with a distinctive funnel-shaped opening at the top. And keep a close eye on your dog when out exploring. Inquire about spider control methods with your pest control company.

With pet noses so close to web level, the risk of black widow bites is just natural to being a dog. Our morning spider encounter ended without any drama, thankfully. After one firm "No!" my doggies retreated to unearth some other lucky find. Here's to hoping it doesn't involve any rats or bugs next time.

Featured veterinarian known as "Dr. Debbie" on national pet radio program, Animal Radio. Ebook author of "Yorkshire Terriers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Pugs: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Mini Schnauzers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; and "Shih Tzu: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend." Dr. Debbie's books.

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The Dogfather's Grooming Tip with Joey Villani

Accessorizing Your Pet
If you want to make your pet look different and stand out, Joey explains that there are a lot of little things that you can do to your pet than just switching up their haircuts.

If you look online, they make all kinds of bows, barrettes, bandanas and color even hair extensions for dogs. These are things that are really easy to apply.

Hair extensions are nothing new, according to Joey, and breeders have already been doing this for a while. They call them whips. Breeders would actually put them in a Poodle's topknot. If you're not familiar with that, a topknot is the hairpiece on top of the Poodle's head, which gives it a much fuller appearance. These have been used for a while, but are now just being brought to the general public where they can have a little bit of fun with it.

Have you ever seen women with hair extensions? Joey explains there are ones that you can buy at places like Claire's, to add a little bit of hair. Dog extensions are basically just like that. They clip right in and they look great. Some even have feathers as well as different colors.

So what do the dogs think of these? While some dogs might wonder what is going on, there are surprisingly a lot of dogs that like the attention that they get when wearing them. Some people say that it's unfair for the pet because they don't have a choice, but Joey tells us that he has seen many pets actually love all of the attention. This is because it is an attention grabber when you see a dog that has pink and purple splashes of color in hair extensions or just something that looks different like feathers, barrettes, bows and bandanas.

Joey says he has seen so many different types of accessories and that he can go on and on and on. So if you want to jazz your pet up, it's real easy to do. Just look at what's available.

Animal Radio News - Lori Brooks

Flea Meds May Cause Seizures
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning that flea medications in the isoxazoline class such as Bravecto, Credelio, Nexgard and Simparica may do more than just combat flea or tick infestations. It turned out they all have the potential of causing seizures, muscle tremors or other neurological problems in pets. The FDA states the drugs are safe to use for most animals, but it recommends pet owners talk to their veterinarian and review their pet's medical history. Although most dogs and cats haven't had any neurologic adverse reactions, seizures may occur in animals without a prior history. This means if they’ve used an isoxazoline flea and tick treatment before and haven’t had a reaction, they could still have a reaction in the future.

Leasing Pets Is A Deceptive Practice
The ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) filed a lawsuit on behalf of two sisters who unknowingly entered into a pet leasing agreement so they could purchase an eight-week-old Golden Retriever puppy from a pet store. Both the lender and the pet store were targeted in the lawsuit. Leasing of pets can be very deceptive practice. Pet stores and online puppy sellers offer pet leasing schemes to make high priced puppies appear more affordable. Consumers may think they are opting for a standard payment plan, but many of these arrangements are actually leases where the consumers are required to make inflated monthly payments while the leasing company retains ownership of the dog. At the end of the lease, the consumer is required to make an additional payment if they want to keep the dog. For the sisters in this case, they would have paid a total of $5,300 at the end of the 24-month period to fully own their dog, whose original purchase price was $3,500. The ASPCA believes pet leasing agreements raise significant animal welfare issues because they support the commercial breeding and retail pet store industries by making it easier to sell high-priced puppy mill dogs.

Los Angeles Bans Sale of Fur
Los Angeles became the largest city in the U.S. to ban the sale of fur. The city council voted unanimously and moved forward with the ban, which prohibits the sale of coats, handbags, shoes, hats, jewelry, accessories and other products made in whole or in part of fur.

Making a Pet's End of Life Easier for Everyone
Veterinarians have gotten the message and have begun to make changes to make end-of-life experiences more comfortable for both clients and pets. Many vet offices now provide a comfort room with couches, soft carpeting, candles, music and serenity gardens with water fountains among the special touches. Those vet offices making these changes often make arrangements for cremation and take payment over the phone in advance so that grieving owners don’t have to deal with paperwork or questions at the clinic. Many vets also offer memorial art featuring a paw print for a dog or cat, an ear print for a rabbit or a tail print for a rat giving owners something to take home right away. One animal hospital in Oregon even holds a monthly workshop for people who want to place a pet’s ashes in art or jewelry.

Listen to the entire Podcast of this show (#1194)