Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Facebook find of the day lovers…..
I was sniffing around over at facebook and saw this!
Just a lazy day, hangin’ with the feline. Again, I have no idea who this “friend” is, I could not read the language but we really don’t need words, do we?
More loving lazy friends later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and making your home fit for hounds lovers……
I ran across this article on the interweb today and thought I would share:)
Designer Dog Houses, Humans Allowed
(LIFE WITH PETS) JAPAN/CANADA — What do the space under your stairs and a messy DVD cabinet have in common? Both places can make great pet cubbies. Designers from Japan’s Fauna + Design are equipped to design space-saving and high-tech, animal-centered homes. No one wants to talk about the kennel in the room, so it becomes a cozy bungalow behind a built-in wall with all the perks. Low set windows for bird watching? Sure. Doggy toilet for in-house business? Absolutely. From simple to fancy, designers are starting to make animal needs a priority, and we’re loving it. — Global Animal
What was a cluttered cabinet is now a Basset Hound bed.
Photo Credit: Ko Sasaki.
The “Basset hound house,” by Fauna Plus Design, features right-sized accommodations for a short-legged dog
Ever thought of designing a living room for your pampered puppy? How about a second-level perch or shin-level views for the plus-one member of the family?
“What I don’t understand is why all homes are not built with the ‘whole’ family in mind,” said David Beart, who runs the online magazine Professor’s House and is planning to build a $1 million pet-friendly house from the ground up in Calgary, Canada.
Still in the preplanning stages, Beart’s pet-friendly home in Canada will feature pet-accessible entrances and doorways and low-volatile-organic-compound-containing paints, among other interior and exterior features, he said.
Kobe, Japan-based Fauna Plus Design makes dogs an explicit part of their home design. The firm’s dog-friendly design approach is about aesthetics as much as it is practicalities, said an assistant to Keiji Hirose, lead architect at Fauna Plus Design. “One day (Keiji Hirose) realized that it’s a challenge for many pet owners to keep their homes beautiful, so he started to design houses based on animal behavior,” said the assistant.
Part of the dog-friendly home design perspective at Fauna Plus Design, said the assistant, deals with trying to maximize limited space.
For example, the firm designed a remodel of a small Osaka home to fit a large Labrador retriever by placing a children’s playroom on top of an indoor kennel. The design also placed windows that provided sightlines from the kennel into the living room and kitchen of the home.
For another project in Yokohama, Fauna Plus Design placed a waterproof indoor kennel for two dachshund dogs below a mezzanine study room.
In a remodeled Kobe, Japan, apartment, the firm installed a special ventilation system to facilitate hair removal and odor-absorbing materials in a cabinet-turned-kennel for a basset hound.
Another Japanese designer, FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects, drafted a dog-centered design that features an under-house dog space, accessed from the backyard by a sliding glass door, with windows that peek into the interior of the home.
There’s no doubt that dogs are on Americans’ minds — just under half of American households have a dog, according to the American Pet Products Association (APPA) — however, home designers in America are behind the dog-friendly design curve.
Low entryways or windows for dogs let everyone enjoy the view.
Photo Credit: FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects
Michael Kimsal, a North Carolina-based Web developer, has been searching for pet-friendly house plans since 2006, but has yet to find any, which he said was shocking. “A big issue for my wife and I,” said Kimsal, “is that we want to have a private area for our dogs to be in the house, and we haven’t found any plans that specifically address this.”
Regardless of an apparent high demand, dog-friendly home designs that go beyond post-design add-ons like doggy doors, resilient flooring and fabrics remain a fringe idea in the U.S. for architects and builders, if not homeowners.
It’s not that Americans are afraid to blow the lid of the dog accessory bin: The APPA estimates that Americans spent more than $50 billion on their pets in 2011. “In my 30 years in the architectural business, I’ve never heard of a pet-friendly home design,” said Joel Davis, owner of Architectural Designs, an American company that offers a reference of more than 21,000 home plans to prospective homebuilders.
An elegant alternative to a dog sleeping on the couch. Photo Credit: Fauna + Design.
Real estate agents in the U.S. cater to the pet-loving crowd through the Pet Realty Network. Jane Miller, a Realtor in Charleston, SC, who is a member of the network, recalls a multilevel home she sold that had an unused elevator shaft, which the new owners spent a lot of money to restore to allow their old basset hound, past stair-climbing age, to move easily upstairs and down.
Other Realtors who belong to the Pet Realty Network, like Valerie Crowell, in Walnut Creek, CA, mentioned homes with modified entryways to accommodate dirty dogs. “One house had a mudroom off the kitchen with a drain in the middle and a tiled-in dog wash,” she said. “It was very cool.”
Though these are exceptions.
Dog owners will ultimately decide if it’s finally time to move beyond diamond-encrusted collars and take their love for dogs to its full-blown conclusion: a home design that fully incorporates that furry, four-legged member of the family.
End of Article….
Hope you enjoyed it. I liked the part about the elevator for the old basset hound! Now those are my kind of folks!
When I bought our home it was totally renovated with hounds in mind. All decisions were made with the advantage to the hound. My Dad and Mom both agreed. Life is so much more pleasant when routines run smoothly. I also think that the hound gets a big satisfaction out of doing things for themselves. On a side note, howl about that hound toilet? That was crazy but I totally get it. I think Marilyn at House Of Puddles needs a few of those! LOL
More loving living with hounds later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hounds and Hounds in the News Lovers….Yesterday, I saw this story on a basset hound board I am on. It is about a basset in a new movie.
This guy is named CH Wagtails Johnny Cash, CD. CDX, aka Cash, and he is in a movie called Sam Steele and the Crystal Chalice.
Tickets to Cash’s movie to be shown Friday, Feb. 17 (8:00pm) at the Derby City Film Festival at the Clifton Center can be purchased for $7.00 on-line or beginning at 4:00PM on Fri., 2/17 at the box office at the Clifton Center in Louisville.
The movie looks really cute and here is the trailer for it. I found it on YouTube.
Good work Cash. You are looking good. Himz a sitter upper to boot!
More loving star hounds later….Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Champions, especially Chaps Wayne Rudert, Lovers….
Not only is Chaps the Mayor of his own town but he is also a Champion amongst hounds. Yes, Chaps won his AKC Champion show title back in 2001 when he was just a young pretty boy of only 2.
He must has spent most of life on the road to win this many ribbons.
I made sure when I adopted him I also got his ribbons which he worked very hard for.
The only thing he misses about that life is the roar of the crowd;)
I have this little frame on my mantle.
FRIEND FOREVER FAITHFUL….CHAMPION OF MY HEART
So….for years I have been thinking of a way to display his hard work and efforts.
I designed this art piece and I will have it made into a poster this week.
I am going to hang all of his ribbons around the edges.
I am going to hang it in my office on this wall…..
Perfect!
More looking forward to showing all the residents later…..Love, Cat, Champion Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Pink and Orange Sunday Lovers….
Wow, this morning was so pretty. I woke up and the living room was bathed in pink.
Now for a closer look…..
Even the Mayor was bathed in Pink. Just stunning…..
More hoping your morning was pink and orange later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and weekend lovers. Even though this was a short week it some howl seemed long to me. Maybe it was because there was no rushing to and fro for the holidays. Ahhhhhhhhh…..time to rest and rest we will!
More loving the weekend and pink blankees later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and cute little story lovers…..I was sniffing around the internet this morning and ran across this one out of New Mexico.
Posted at: 01/04/2012 10:55 PM
By: Eddie Garcia, KOB Eyewitness News 4
 Coraline |
Dogs always get blamed for eating homework, but how about a $4,500 wedding ring?
It happened to an Albuquerque family and when nature would not pass the ring back, they had to find another way.
Rachelle Atkinson has a habit of leaving her wedding ring on her night stand and in the morning, she puts it back on – that was until a few weeks ago.
“I went to go put it on and it was nowhere to be found,” she said.
Rachelle and her husband Scott searched everywhere but eventually started to suspect a thief, their 10-month old basset hound, Coraline.
“She was the only one in our room so we immediately looked at her and she looked guilty,” Atkinson said.
For the next 10 days, Scott had to go through a lot of Coraline’s droppings searching for the treasure.
“I had to go through all the ‘poos’ everyday and squish them up and make sure there were no hard lumps in there so yeah, that wasn’t much fun,” said Scott Atkinson.
It turns out he did it all for nothing. X-rays showed the ring wasn’t coming out on its own.
“So we took her to the vet and there it was lying in the bottom of her stomach and it was just too heavy to pass so we had to take her in for surgery,” Atkinson said.
The vet had to go fishing.
She first had to knock Coraline out then feed an instrument down her throat into her stomach and after a few hours they got the ring back.
Now Coraline is back to her old self – of course getting into trouble once again.
Rachelle now hides her $4,500 ring out of sight while Coraline is off munching away at anything she can find.
“She’s a good dog and she’s just a wonderful addition to our family but we’ll never forget this – the ring and her have gotten more expensive,” Atkinson said.
The vet said Basset Hounds have tendency of eating rocks, which means Coraline has really expensive taste.
End of story
A few comments here – I am not sure where they got the idea that Basset Hounds have a tendency of eating rocks. Not a big deal, but I guess it adds to the story. I have never had a rock eater in over 20 years. I did however see a hound at a waddle with a cloth muzzle wearing a t-shirt that said,
“I don’t bite, I eat rocks”. So, what do I know…..
Make sure you watch the video. It is really cute. I was wondering if they named her Coraline after the cartoon character. Betcha they did!
More news off the wires later…..Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Blogging Lovers….Wow is right. I can’t believe that this is the start of my 7th year of blogging. Blogs come and blogs go but I am happy to say that this one is still going strong. I really don’t think I have missed more than a day here or a day there of keeping the residents informed of what is happening in basset hound town or on the web.
So, here is to looking forward……
to more blogging about the best hounds around……
More loving blogging later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow basset hound and gorilla lovers. OMDog, this video has gone viral, of course. My sister sent it to my Mom and I had to share with the residents. Just absolutely amazing.
TOUCHED BY A WILD MOUNTAIN GORILLA
Wow, I had to watch it twice. When that Dad moves the baby along it is just sooooo cute.
Bwindi National Park in Uganda
GORILLA SAFARIS / GORILLA TRACKING
This is a major tourist attraction in Bwindi. The gorillas in Bwindi National Park have been habituated since April 1993 and there are now four different groups that can be visited:
1. Mubare group (16 gorillas; 1 silverback )
2. Habinyanja group (23 gorillas; 2 silverbacks)
3. Rushegura group (9 gorillas; 1 silverback)
4. Nkuring group (20 gorillas; 2 silverbacks)
Get updates from Uganda Wildlife Authority ( UWA ) Headquarters or Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Eight permits per day are sold for each of these groups at UWA Headquarters in Kampala. Book at least 4 months ( but not more than one year ) in advance to ensure that requested dates are available.
Gorilla tracking in Bwindi can be strenuous, therefore ensure physical fitness. Bring jungle boots and rain jackets because the park is often wet. Your gorilla tracking experience starts at 8:30 am local time and occasionally lasts the whole day! For conservation reasons, visits to the gorillas are tightly controlled.
Just stunning…..
More loving gorillas later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma
PS – I think the Mayor looks a little like a silver back…hehehe
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Back to Work Lovers…..OK, maybe not lovers but….anyway…..
We are back to work and ready to dive into the new year. My assistants showed up on time and went right to their perspective offices….
As you can see they are getting the job done and in fine fashion!
My first order of business was to change my screen saver on my laptop. Wanna see it?
The Mayor will greet me everyday and that way I can start off with a smile.
I hope all of the residents had a wonderful holiday break and welcome back to our town.
More smiling in the new year later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma
Posting tweet...
Comments(5)