Is there ever a time when love is NOT in the air here in our beautiful spot on the planet? It’s pretty hard not to love the landscape and the people and the happenings and the weather in the San Francisco Bay Area. Still, Valentine’s Day takes things to a different level, encouraging us to expand our hearts and express our love – to our mates, families, friends, and of course dogs.
Let’s start things off by establishing the mood. Local pet photographer par excellence Jesse Freidin submitted a number of great shots of marvelous dogs. View them here and your heart will swell with love for your own furry friend.
Move on to Kelly Gorman Dunbar’s Monthly Woof column, which explains what Valentine’s Day gift would go over best with your canine companions. Not all dogs enjoy cuddling, as you may already know, but they all like… Never mind, I don’t want to spoil it. Here are Kelly’s words of wisdom.
Next, consider the gift of touch. One of the ways both humans and canines show love is through touch. We stroke and scratch our dog friends to convey our affection – while they lick and paw us in return, and sometimes even climb into our laps for a strong dose of closeness.
Two articles in this issue discuss the healing possibilities of touch. Veterinarian Ilana Strubel suggests ways you can help heal your sick or injured pets with massage, stretching, and/or passive range-of-motion exercises. And Joy Greer-Walker introduces us to the Rosen method for dogs – a gentle form of therapeutic touch intended to activate one’s inner healing resources.
Wrapping up this month’s Valentine content are some heartfelt love letters to dogs from their devoted people and a few recipes for homemade treats sure to please your significant others of the canine kind.
Our entire January issue was devoted to training and we trust your new program is well underway. This month we add another great article to all that advice and inspiration. Nancy Weller’s Good Dog! column busts some popular myths concerning dog training and gets real about what works and what doesn’t.
Every month we include a bit of canine trivia in our pages, under the heading of Mr. Smarty Pants. In a similar vein, this month we bring you an article on the History and Mystery of Dogs – full of fascinating factoids. Its a rich history indeed.
With any luck, some day we’ll have the luxury of NOT urging our readers to get involved in keeping off-leash recreation legal in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Sadly we’re not there yet. After a grueling multi-year process examining the issue, during which loads of input was submitted by pro-off-leash residents of San Francisco and environs, the revised dog management plan still limits or completely prohibits off-leash recreation on most GGNRA lands, including such beloved locales as Crissy Field, Ft. Funston and Ocean Beach. See how you can help, and do it NOW. The deadline for submitting comments is 11 p.m. on February 18.
Coming up next month: a tribute to some local winners. Online voting in our 2014 Beast of the Bay Awards ends at midnight on January 31 and we’ll announce the top vote-getters in the March issue. We’ll celebrate all the participants at the Beast of the Bay Awards Party, April 12 at El Rio in San Francisco – look for the details in the March issue.
Meanwhile, LOVE from all of us at Bay Woof!
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