Car travel - Variocage crates!

From left to right - Alpha, Battlestar, Nari and Starbuck in the Double Large Variocage crate

This is a continuation on my thoughts on car travel with my dogs. For the first post in this series - go HERE for my review of the Sleepypod Clickit car harnesses. 

This part of my car travel posts focuses on the Variocage. A variety of places online sell them in the US - I purchased mine from 4x4northamerica.com because they were having a 10% off sale. If you want to purchase one, try searching around to see if you can find a site that's offering a deal. Note: I paid for this crate myself (although I wouldn't have minded getting this discounted or for free in exchange for this review :)). For reference, here are my dogs' measurements:

Starbuck (Klee Kai - miniature size)

    Weight: 12 lbs

    Height at withers: 14"

Nari (Klee Kai - miniature size)

    Weight: 12 lbs

    Height at withers: 13.875"

Alpha (Klee Kai - toy size)

    Weight: 9 lbs

    Height at withers: 12.5" 

Battlestar (large Sheltie)

    Weight: 22 lbs

    Height at withers: 16.5"

Car: 2011 Subaru Outback
Variocage size: Double Large

Car crate: Variocage Double Large 

Variocage: 

This thing is a beast and it is one glorious beast! This is probably one of my most favorite dog purchases of all times - it is beautiful. I went with the Double Large. The Double XL would have also fit in my Outback but I chose to go with the Double Large as it's 3 inches shorter (I have small dogs) than the Double XL. The crate has been crash tested (although Center for Pet Safety has not tested it yet). It also has it's own crumple zone. Here are the Pros and Cons:

      Pros:

        - Heavy duty (mine weighs around 80 lbs)

        - Each door can lock individually with a key

        - Can use a pad lock/combination lock to lock the doors

        - Doors are amazingly smooth and stay open when you want them to 

        - Adjusts to the length of your car to maximize crate space

        - Has 2 side-by-side compartments 

        - Looks pretty awesome - I've had the guards at work stop me just to check out the crate :) 

        - I can finally crate from my car and not worry about people stealing my dogs!!!
        - The back of the crate is slanted so it fits very nicely with the way the rear seats are angled
        - I was able to offset the crate just enough to be able to fit a folded up wire crate in the back 

      Cons: 

        - Once installed you're not going to want to be taking this thing out at all 

        - Blocks your rear view a little but really not bad at all 

        - Alpha's one complaint - the bottom half of the door is solid so has to stand up to look out :)

The 'Double' has two separate compartments - each side has its own door. Since my dogs are small I have 2 ride in each side of the crate. The dogs love the crate and just lay down and sleep pretty much the entire trip. I found memory foam bath mats that fit perfectly so it's nice and comfy in there.

Here are some detailed pictures:

Interior picture showing the 2 crate sections. The doors stay open like that  making it very easy to get dogs in and out.

I offset the crate so that I could fit in a folded wire crate in the back right next to the Variocage.

The crate surprisingly doesn't take up that much of my view out the rear view mirror. 

All four girls comfortable in their crate - Alpha is barking because she wants to get out and play :)

That's about it for my thoughts on the Variocage. They are simply amazing and definitely worth the money!! Again - I didn't receive any compensation for this - just my my view. Let me know if you have any questions. 

If you want to read about the harnesses I use for car trips - see THIS POST. 

Car travel safety - using a Sleepypod Clickit car harnesses!

Car harnesses: Sleepypod Clickit Utility and Sleepypod Clickit Sport

From left to right: Alpha (Utility), Starbuck (Sport) and Battlestar (Utility) on a 6 hour car ride

I put about 25k+ miles on my car a year and about 90% of the time I'm driving around with at least one dog in the car. Since I spend so much time with my dogs in the car I take car safety pretty seriously. Often times I see people asking for advice on how to travel with their dog so I thought I'd write this post on what I do.

Note - I paid for all of these products myself (although I would have loved getting any of these products discounted or for free in exchange for this review :)). When I first started looking around for travel options I checked out the Center For Pet Safety website (http://centerforpetsafety.org). I love that they are an independent testing facility and have developed a standardized way to crash test products. 

So - how do I travel with my dogs? Pretty much your only two options are to have your dog wear a car harness or ride in a crate. Please, please, please do not drive around with loose dogs in the car as it is dangerous!!! Not only can dogs be a pretty big distraction (even the little ones) but they can get thrown from the car if there is a wreck - posing a danger not only to themselves but to you. 

I use both a car harness and a crate and below you'll find my thoughts on the Sleepypod car harnesses that I use. The crate review will have it's own post. For reference, here are my dogs' measurements:

Starbuck (Klee Kai - miniature size)

    Weight: 12 lbs

    Height at withers: 14"

    Chest: 17"

    Sleepypod Clickit Utility harness size: XS

    Sleepypod Clickit Sport harness size: S 

Nari (Klee Kai - miniature size)

    Weight: 12 lbs

    Height at withers: 13.875"

    Chest: 17"

    Sleepypod Clickit Utility harness size: XS

Alpha (Klee Kai - toy size)

    Weight: 9 lbs

    Height at withers: 12.5"

    Chest: 16"

    Sleepypod Clickit Utility harness size: XS 

Battlestar (large Sheltie)

    Weight: 22 lbs

    Height at withers: 16.5"

    Chest: 

    Sleepypod Clickit Utility harness size: XS

Car: 2011 Subaru Outback 

Sleepypod Clickit Utility: 

Just a quick overview - this is a 3 point harness. This harness utilizes your car's LATCH system (used for baby car seats) as well as a shoulder seatbelt. I love this harness and much prefer it to the Sleepypod Clickit! Sport. 

      Pros: 

        - Excellent construction 

        - Attaches to the LATCH system - prevents the dog from twisting in case of accident

        - Hard to adjust - no way your dog is adjusting this themselves 

        - Only car harness on the market to pass crash tests 

        - My dogs find it comfortable 

        - Great quality materials - extremely strong and durable 

        - My dogs cannot wiggle their way out of it 

        - I can use them in any car - great if you are flying somewhere with a dog and need a rental car

      Cons:

        - Hard to adjust - my dogs each have their own because it's a pain to have to re-adjust this thing

        - It does come with a leash attachment but it's too bulky to use to walk small dogs 

        - Chest piece is a little wider than I would like for small dogs 

        - Takes longer to buckle your dogs in than to put them in a crate 

My dogs absolutely LOVE traveling in the car. They jump onto the seat, let me buckle them in and then either lay down right away or sit for the first couple minutes of the drive and then lay down. They've done 10+ hour car rides wearing these harnesses and take a nap. 

Alpha and Battlestar heading on a 12 hour car ride

Alpha and Battlestar a few minutes into their long car ride - Battlestar is already passed out! 

Here is a video of how to put on the harness and buckle them in the car (Nari is a mini AKK wearing the Sleepypod Clickit Utility in size XS):

If you want to see my large sheltie in the same harness - you can find the video HERE.

Above I mentioned how the Sleepypod Clickit Utility doesn't really work all that well as a walking harness. Here's a video of my toy AKK, mini AKK and large sheltie walking around in the harness.

You can see it's a bit clunky for the Klee Kai but the sheltie has no problem with it and was even racing around in it.

Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of what it looks like on (all the dogs are wearing XS size):

Alpha - toy AKK

Nari - mini AKK

Battlestar - large sheltie

Sleepypod Clickit Sport: 

This harness just requires a shoulder belt. It's less expensive than the Utility and doesn't require the LATCH system. Personally, the only reason I have this harness is so that I can travel with 3 dogs in the back seat. When traveling with 3 in harnesses, the ones in the driver and passenger sides in the back seat wear the Utility while the dog in the middle seat wears the Sport. If you need to travel with 3 dogs then the Sport works well. If you are going to travel with just 1 or 2 dogs then definitely go with the Utility. My dogs find the Utility more comfortable then the Sport.

Here is Starbuck demonstrating how to put on the Sleepypod Clickit Sport:


Here are a couple of pictures of Starbuck (mini AKK) in the Sport:

That's about it for my thoughts on the Sleepypod car harnesses. They are awesome and the only ones I feel confident in using. Again - I didn't receive any compensation for this - just my my view. Let me know if you have any questions! 

If you want to read about the crate I use for car trips - see THIS POST. 

        

Getting back into shape!

Since Nari and I were so 'off' in our teamwork we've been trying to cram in some training before our next big trial! Here she is getting back into the game: 

She's pushy and doing her own thing when I give a poor cue - and I absolutely love it!! She's got a lot of confidence which makes off-courses more likely when I slack on my handling so that's why we really need to cram in a lot of training. Hopefully we can pull it together enough to do well at our next trial. 

We have some big plans for this weekend - I purchased some agility flooring in the basement since Battlestar was slipping on the kids' play mat flooring. We're going to be putting some drywall up and installing a door so we can close off that room to protect the flooring and equipment. 

So very slowly our house is going to the dogs! Right now we have 3 bedrooms - the master bedroom with the only furniture being 2 night stands, a bed frame (we don't even have a headboard yet because I simply HATE shopping for furniture so my solution is to just not have furniture :)), a storage bench and many dog beds. The second bedroom is now where the Klee Kai have their giant crate and it has their workout gear (lots of FitPaws stuff and other random workout gear), a TV with DVD player and foam matting for flooring. The 3rd bedroom is Battlestar's bedroom - that one also has a human bed in it for when guests visit. And now the dogs will have a 20'x30' agility room in the basement…. :) 

And so it begins….

Well - after being out of agility (practice and competition) for over a year, Nari has had 2 trials and a couple of practices in the past month. It's been an eye opening experience. Now that she's starting to get back into running I'm realizing that she hadn't been running at her full potential since Perry Regionals back in June 2013 - that's nearly 2 years!!! 

Back then she was a very consistent team dog - she was typically the one who held the team together :) But…. this weekend we were a hot mess! Although it was very frustrating at the time, it's actually quite exciting to see how much better she's feeling - she's like a puppy again! She ended up getting an E in team jumpers - actually blew me off to run into the wrong end of the tunnel. She either won a class or bombed it! Most people would be mad at that but actually it was nice to see that she's feeling well enough to blow me off :) Just means that we actually need to practice to get back to being a team again :) 

I know I'm being greedy now by trying to get her qualified for Cynosports as I should just be content with her running again but I think she has a chance. Even with being rusty and not fully conditioned yet she's managed to pick up 2 Steeplechase Q's (in both tournaments she won both rounds 1 and 2) and a Grand Prix win with a Regional voucher. We totally bombed our team Q this weekend but I guess I really needed that to kick my butt and teach me a lesson that I can't just rely on how she was performing a year ago - we actually need to practice :) 

Okay - so I know I went on and on about Nari up there but Starbuck and Alpha were awesome this weekended!! Starbuck was a rockstar - taking a couple of 1st place finishes and I don't think she even E'd in team. Her team picked up a 3rd place and team Q. Alpha was so so super cute - I think she's becoming everyone's favorite AKK :) She finished her PII Snooker title and even picked up a PIII Snooker Q. I honestly can't remember how she placed/finished her other runs but she had a killer PII Gamblers. I didn't think she could do the 15 foot send to the teeter and jumps so I wasn't a bunch of time getting to the line once the buzzer went off. But she pulled off that gamble - just over time.

Well - now the race is on to get Nari qualified for Cynosports and she has 3 trials to do it in - of course they are all Regionals because I like to make things hard :) It'd be awesome if she can qualify but if not, I have Super Buck to run and she's becoming an amazing agility girl - have you seen her super fast rockstar weaves? :)

Trial report!

Hi all,

This past weekend we headed down to Alpharetta, GA for the Sirius Dog Agility trial. I love this club and the facility. It's a covered horse arena with a sand/dirt footing that's always very nice. No slipping for humans or dogs. They also have walking trails as well as horse shows very close to the agility rings. I like take the girls to watch the horses during their warm up/cool down walks - we of course stay far enough away so the horses/riders don't notice us.

BIG news this weekend! Something insane happened since my last post. Nari woke up one morning AND RAN 20 FEET IN OUR YARD!!!! It has been nearly a year and a half since she did that!!! Then she started wrestling non-stop with Battlestar!!!! I have had to keep a close eye on those two because Battlestar would often try to play with Nari and since Nari wasn't feeling well she would get snippy towards Battlestar. But now that Nari is feeling so much better she has been playing all the time with Battlestar - even knocking her down and play biting the crap out of Battlestar.

Anyway… I only entered Nari in the tournament classes just to see what she could do. I only had a couple of weeks to try to get her in any kind of shape for the trial - basically did some conditioning work, agility consisted of straight lines of low jumps to try to build up some kind of endurance. Since we didn't have much time I didn't expect anything - just wanted to make sure she had fun and didn't want to force her to do anything.

Well… Nari completely blew me away!!! She ended up WINNING 2 out of the 3 tournaments! She won both rounds of Steeplechase, bringing home $15, and won Grand Prix and a bye for Regionals. This means that she can actually enter Regionals and maybe just maybe we have enough time to rush and qualify for Cynosports.

I simply cannot believe it! It's like a dream come true. I was okay with her never doing agility again as long as she was still happy. But the fact that she is SUPER happy (haven't seen her this crazy and feisty in 2 years) and able to do agility is unbelievable!

Here's Nari doing what she loves - talking about how awesome she is at agility:

Now for a little Alpha report - the girl who was told she'd never do agility earned 2 titles this weekend - Advanced Jumpers and Starters Gamblers. Alpha is the very cutest on course. She pulls to get into the ring, as soon as I take off her harness she starts bouncing around and barking. Then as she heads towards the first jump she actually does a play growl at it - cutest thing ever! I wish I could get video/audio of it. She also likes to play growl at the A-frame, I'm guessing because it's her favorite obstacle.

And of course I can't forget the rockstar Starbuck. She earned her first SuperQ - I ended up changing my plan after the walk thru and it actually worked. She also had some brilliant runs. She only needs either 1 MC Standard Q or a MC Biathlon Q and then she's qualified for all 4 tournaments for Cynosports this year.

The weekend was quite crazy and exhausting. I ended up taking all 4 dogs with me. My fitbit tells me I walked over 90k steps - between warming up/cooling down and entertaining Battlestar I really didn't have any time to just sit and relax at the trial.

Seminar weekend!!

This past weekend I traveled with Battlestar, Alpha and Starbuck to SC/NC to attend 4 seminars with Loretta Mueller. She is so much fun to work with - hilarious, positive and gives amazing feedback and suggestions. I love that she always makes me feel confident and my dogs run so much better and happier after I work with her.

Here's a little video with some highlights of the weekend:



I can't believe how much I've improved while working with Loretta. My dogs are such hard workers and loved every minute of the seminar.

Hi everyone! :)

Well hello to anyone out there :)

I've been seriously slacking - a lot has been going on here.

Inara is currently retired from agility due to an illness. She doesn't have the best immune system and has been fighting mange on her paws. Her last competition was the Purina ProPlan Incredible Dog Challenge. It's quite awesome that her retirement trial was in front of over a thousand people in person and an audience of millions on TV. She loves applause and attention so it was perfect for her. Inara's paws were pretty bad for the competition so she wasn't her speedy self but she was super happy - the happiest we had seen her in a while so that's why we let her compete.

My friend Lisa made this absolutely amazing tribute to Inara! I was very upset when I announced Inara's retirement but Lisa's image cheered me up right away.

Right now Inara is spending her days going on lots of walks (so happy her paws are finally well enough to walk!), wrestling with her sisters and eating lots of treats.