And your total comes to...

Way too much. That's how much money I've spent on pets in the last 30 days.

Between Star's classes, Peepers's pox, and Dozer's allergies and TPLO surgery (1/2 down, and 1/2 next week), I've probably spent $2K. This doesn't count the dogs' new collars (bought before I knew two pets would need major vet visits) and all the dog treats for class.

The remodeling job costs money, of course, even if Byrd is doing it himself. And since the walls aren't yet insulated and sheetrocked, a good chunk of the air pouring from our brand new (expensive) A/C is cooling the bugs and birds outside. So the electric bill is higher than normal, but at least we're animal friendly!

I'd give credit to the veggie garden for reducing our grocery bills, except that it's only producing squash right now. And Byrd hates squash. And our water bill has gone up. (Welcome to Texas summertime, where searing afternoon heat ensures vegetable garden demise without adequate water.) At least the ornamental plants in the front garden are drought-hardy and native.

Let's not bring up the 30th birthdays of myself and my best bud, less than a week away, for which we had hoped to go to Schlitterbahn (are you too old for Schlitterbahn at age 30? Byrd says yes, I say never) and/or have a nice dinner at a fancy food place. And Father's Day, also a nice dinner event.

To make matters worse, I am without a contract job this month, so Byrd is the only income source. This will change on July 15, when my next job starts.

And the money earned from that job will be eliminated by a two-week vacation to Oregon in August.

I suppose this steady money-suck could explain why Byrd looks a bit tense lately.

At least blogging is free.

Collars for the dogs

Star has been living in foster dog hand-me-downs since we got her.

Her classes require a flat buckle collar. The only flat buckle collar I own is so big that I had to use a razor blade to cut a slit in it three inches back from the smallest hole so that I could fasten it through the slit. The entire contraption clearly doesn't fit, and what's worse, it's blood red.

Anyway, I think every dog deserves his or her own collar once they are adopted into a family. So I went looking for a fancy collar for Star.

One thing I am very aware of is how a collar can totally change how people perceive a dog. When we were trying to rehome a big black-and-white pit bull foster named Elvis, people were more willing to pet him when he was wearing a tuxedo collar and bowtie. Felanie became a much cuter dog when I got her a pink leather collar with big silver heart studs. Dozer looks like a "good guy" in his black collar with silver sheriff stars.

And poor Star looks like a neglected stray dog in her oversized, mangled bright red collar.

A quality collar conveys all kinds of meanings, in particular, "This dog means enough to someone that they spent a good bit of a paycheck just to make the dog look nice." That doesn't mean that dogs wearing hand-me-downs aren't just as beloved (we love Star a lot), but I'm talking about first impressions. If I encountered a stray dog wearing a personalized leather collar with rhinestone-encrusted studs, I would assume someone was missing that dog pretty badly.

Some collars, like spiked collars, have varying effects based on what type of dog is wearing it. I discourage people from putting spiked collars on pit bulls and other stereotyped "scary" breeds because in this case the collar is only adding to the fearsomeness. Putting a spiked collar on a Chihuahua or some small dog is likely to garner amusement because of the perceived irony (again, based on stereotype; most people assume the Chihuahua isn't a very fearsome dog--thus, putting a fearsome collar on it is an ironic statement and therefore funny).

At any rate, I went online searching for a quality leather collar with a pretty design. I am drawn strongly to shiny things and badly wanted a rhinestone-coated collar for Star so she would look like a princess... but unfortunately, at the size I need (for a 17" neck) most such collars are thin fabric, designed for the fragile necks of sighthounds. That won't do. Something like that won't stand up to the rough business of dog play and training.

One alternative is a leather collar with embossed designs, or with metal conchos/studs. I chose the latter because metal is still shiny, and there are a wide variety of pretty conchos to choose from.

Having run a website for many years now, I have gotten quite a few suggestions from site visitors as to where to buy a pit bull-appropriate collar. My favorite by far is Paco Collars. There are several reasons for this.

1. The founder owned a pit bull and the company does some nonprofit work for pit bulls.
2. Everything is handmade.
3. The leather comes from a single source and is from beef cows, not leather cows, so unlike many leather products, cows aren't being killed just because my dog needs a collar. They're getting eaten too.
4. The designs are really pretty. Or handsome.
5. The lifetime warranty is a big plus. Dozer's cheap sheriff collar (bought at a mall store) is coming apart after only four years. And Dozer is not a rough-and-tumble dog.
6. When my dog dies, they will remake his/her Paco collar into a bracelet. (Quiet sob.)

Are the collars expensive? Yes. Are they worth it? TOTALLY.

I bought the Alabama because it has wings. Wings, I tell you!! Originally, I planned to give it to Star (because it has stars, too).

But once it came in and I tried it on her, I realized it wasn't going to work. It was too wide (1.5"). You know those "thug" dogs that wear super-wide collars and you wonder how they can even turn their head from side to side because the collar covers their entire neck? Well, this is how the Alabama was on Star. She looked way too thuggish. Not scary, because who's scared of stars with wings? But the width sort of said, "Look at my badass dog that requires a super-wide collar because its neck muscles could snap a regular collar in half." Not the message I wanted to send.

So I gave it to Dozer. He's 85 lbs and has a longer neck, so the collar fit much better proportionally. It doesn't look too wide at all. He looks quite classy, really.

Having figured out where I went wrong, I subsequently ordered the Milan Heart collar for Star. It is a smaller collar (1" wide) and should work better on her short neck and 50 lb body.

Yes, that extra 0.5" of width really does make a big difference!