'Dog Days' at wineries Aug 9–10

What "dog days of summer" means to most people is that it's doggone hot weather.

But Dog Days originally meant the days when the Dog Star, Sirius, rose just before or at the same time as the sun. The Romans named this period caniculares dies — days of the dogs — after the Dog Star. In the northern hemisphere, the period falls between July and early September.

The Dog Star is the brightest star in the sky. This doesn't surprise us dogs.

The ancients thought that the dog days of summer was a bad, bad time. Somebuddy ancient said the dog days are "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies." Obviously that human didn't know dogs.

If you dogs and your humans want to have a good time at two dog-friendly wineries, go to two Dog Days fundraisers (and "fun-raisers") that benefit Healdsburg Animal Shelter.

For two days, August 9 and 10, Mutt Lynch Winery in Dry Creek Valley will host their annual Dog Days of Summer Open House and Charity Event from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. Donations appreciated. You dogs are more than welcome — your attendance is a time-honored tradition at this "dog and wine" event.

I'm drooling at the thought of munching on the hot dogs that Big John's donates to the event. Woof! Pass the Greyhound Poupon.

Humans get to do Mutt Lynch winetasting and see dog art. There'll be works by Mylette Welch and other artists. I've visited with Mylette, and I like her Welsh Corgi print that my dog-ma hung on our wall.

Mutt Lynch Winery (707-942-6180) is located at 1960 Dry Creek Road, northwest of Healdsburg.

On August 10, another famous annual Dog Days event is being held at Trentadue Winery from 12 noon to 4:00 P.M. You dogs have to take your humans so that you can both enjoy an afternoon of doggie games, obstacle courses, and cooling-off water stations to beat the heat.

Trentadue will have an event center with pet related vendors, training tips from dog trainers, and more "cool dog stuff." Food and drinks will be available for purchase. The event fee is $5.00 per adult and $ 5.00 per dog. Children are free. A portion of the proceeds benefits Healdsburg Animal Shelter.

Did you know that Trentadue had grapevines way back in the 1890s? Well, they are in Alexander Valley — Old West Sonoma wine country. Trentadue still makes a pre-Prohibition field blend-style wine: You humans can check out the Old Patch wine, based on Zin, Petite Sirah, and Carignane. I'll check out the old patch.

Trentadue Winery (888-332-3032) is at 19170 Geyserville Avenue in Geyserville, California.

'Unsafe at Any Speed'

By winecountrydog

The little hedgehog that Sam and Zoe named "Ralph" doesn't travel very fast.


But I'm a dog who does travel fast, in a vehicle, with dog-ma as driver. That's why I waited outside Copperfield's Books in Healdsburg with other dogs while dog-ma went inside to hear Ralph Nader.

Mr. Nader is the consumer advocate who took the US auto industry to task for safety defects in his 1965 book, titled Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-in Dangers of the American Automobile. Mr. Nader documented how resistant car manufacturers were to spending money on safety features like seat belts.

Humans — both the kind that praise Nader and the kind that don't — tell me that 'Nader' became a household name 'cuz of his consumer advocacy work. Mr. Nader, with former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate, is campaigning in the 2008 presidential race.

If you read about Mr. Nader's research and lobbying on auto safety, you see he helped push Congress to pass the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.

Among his many other efforts, he lobbied for passage of the 1967 Wholesome Meat Act, which called for federal inspections of beef and poultry, and imposed standards on slaughterhouses.

Dog-ma and I aren't partisan — I'm a Humane voter without a party. We are consumer advocates for safe car travel, especially for pets. I wear a canine seat belt harness when I travel.

You've heard me bark about my Ruff Rider seatbelt? You'll hear me bark about it again. Dog-ma chose this canine vehicle restraint system for me some years back after researching canine and human seatbelt mechanics.

A lot of human guardian/owners don't like the idea of seatbelts 'cuz they seem to represent a constraint on purrsonal freedom. Well, sometimes we have to think about freedom on other levels. For example, there's the civic freedom that Mr. Nader talks about.

And there's the freedom to choose to protect ourselves from being smushed in a speeding car that has to hit the brakes!

I sound pawlitical on the subject of seatbelts. Oh howl, then I am. What else can a concerned dog do? As Mr. Nader says, "if you don't turn on to politics, politics is going to turn on you." He's right about that.

You've got to get involved and vote for what you care about, even if you're a dog who doesn't get an official ballot.

Dog Pickles

Got cukes? My friend Genevieve does. That's why I started thinking about dog pickles. Tilin the winecountrydog picked a peck of cukes and pickled 'em. How many pickled cukes did Tilin corgi eat?

I think my corgi dog buddy pawlitico and I will chew the cukes for now and skip the pickling.

We dream about chasing cukes with a bit of Spinning Dog Pickles ale. 'Tis a bitter ale, said to be a lovely gold color and hoppy in flavor.

But its beyond our paw reach, as is Mutley's Revenge. The Spinning Dog Brewery and its Victory Pub are in Hereford, in the UK.

"Pickles" is still a popular dog name. A very famous Pickles was the London dog who found the World Cup trophy after it was stolen. The theft happened prior to the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England.

Pickles found the precious football trophy in a suburban garden hedge while out walking with his guardian/owner (who later collected a £6,000 reward). Pickles was invited to the celebration banquet when England won the trophy. He actually got to lick the plates clean.

In 1973, poor Pickles died in a tragic way. He choked on his own lead while chasing a cat.

I've added the story of Pickles to my list of reasons why humans should not leash us dogs by the neck. I wear a harness for walkies. My neck is where I wear my ID collar.

My neck is not where humans are supposed to attach a leash and jerk me around. I can't consult a canine chiropractor on a daily basis.

Go forth and pickle.

Get out the Sopwith Camel!

By winecountrydog

Again I was awakened by monsters in the sky. As a wine country dog with sensitive ears, I strongly DISLIKE hot air balloons.

They breathe fire like dragons and hiss like giant monsters. They're worse than crackling amps. I beg dog-ma to make them stop. All I can do is bark uncontrollably.

Go hiss your burners somewhere else, you stoopid balloons that almost land on my head at eight o'clock in the morning!

Dog-ma sez I'm a dog who's "inordinately concerned with moving objects in the sky — versus on the ground, where Welsh Corgis traditionally do their herding." She thinks I'm sound-obsessed 'cuz one of my ears was damaged when I was a tiny puppy, before she rescued me.

Whatever. Hot air balloons upset me more than anything else. If I could bite their wicker baskets and pull them to the ground, I'd tear holes in their envelopes. Doggoneit.


Snoopy the Flying Ace dislikes hot air balloons, too. He has to put up with being hissed at in his museum and airport doghouses in Sonoma County wine country. His friend Woodstock actually likes the balloons. What a silly bird.


Snoopy, please get the Sopwith Camel out of the hangar so we can scare away the hot air balloons. We need to be ready to take off from Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport any time a balloon tries to come near our dog-n-people-houses.

The stoopid balloons had better fly higher when they're over wine country houses!

World's smallest assistance dog

by winecountrydog

Today's the birthday of Carolina, a special dog-mom who, like her dog, lives on in our memories. We're remembering Carolina and Wishie, her "assistance" dog, by re-pawing dog-ma's story about them.

In dog-ma's words, here's the little story.

The first time I walked through Carolina's front door, Wishie spotted me. He was my friend Carolina's arthritic Boston terrier.

I'd hardly taken a step inside the house when Wishie — outfitted in a dark-red sweater to keep him warm — came rushing right at me in a determined but unsteady run.

I fell to my knees on the living room rug. My heart raced. I reached out my hand to my adorable new friend. I forgot why I was at the house. And I didn't care, because I wasn't ever going to move from that spot. Wishie was radiating too much charm and love.

Wishie liked hitching a ride on the foot platform of the mobility scooter Carolina drove. Carolina's legs didn't really work because of a spinal cord injury. Wishie's legs didn't work well because of his arthritis. And Toby, Wishie's little terrier housemate, liked to hitch a ride, too, because he was half-blind and timid.

One night, we all went out to dinner in San Francisco. On the way into the restaurant, Carolina had Wishie and Toby tucked away on the foot platform of her scooter.

Somehow Carolina got the dogs into the restaurant. I then noticed a woman at the next table who looked very unpleasant. The woman looked down and saw the dogs, then looked up at Carolina. Uh oh, I thought. But the woman's serious expression dissolved into a huge grin, and she started talking away with Carolina.

I later asked Carolina whether people ever reacted negatively when she took Wishie into places with no-dog policies. She responded by sliding Wishie's special dog collar off her scooter handlebars. She leaned over to me and held out the collar for me to see the big tag hanging from it.

The tag read Official Assistance Dog.

I giggled and said, "Oh, c'mon. What kind of assistance dog could Wishie be?"

"He's a Seeing Heart Dog," Carolina replied.

Many different breeds of dogs — usually bigger than Bostons — make great assistance dogs. Big Golden and Labrador retrievers are trained as service dogs and skilled companion dogs at Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, California.

If you're a hearing-impaired human and need a signal dog, paw-leeze keep in mind that we Welsh Corgis are very good at signaling.

Pawdon me, though, if I assert that nobuddy could be a better Seeing Heart Assistance Dog than Wishie.