#9: Cornell Mountain, 3860 feet

Cornell Mtn: Biski, Bob, Picchu, June 12, 2009

Cornell Mtn: Biski, Bob, Picchu, October 11, 2009

#1: Slide Mountain, 4180 feet

Slide Mtn: Biski, Bob, Picchu, June 13, 2009

Slide Mtn, June 13

#11: Peekamoose Mountain, 3,843 feet

Peekamoose Mtn: Biski, Sesame, Picchu, Bob, August 7, 2009

#10: Table Mountain, 3,847 feet

Table Mtn: Picchu, Biski, Bob, August 7, 2009

#14: Wittenberg Mountain, 3,780 feet

Wittenberg Mtn: Bob & Picchu, October 11, 2009 (Picchu's Birthday!)

#6: Westkill Mountain, 3,880 feet

Westkill Mtn: Picchu & Bob, October 30, 2009

Picchu and Bob on Westkill: Even in the fog, we located the true summit!

Bob & Picchu on Westkill - a rare summit marker

#2: Hunter Mountain, 4,040 feet

Hunter Mtn: Bob and Biski, November 1, 2009

Hunter Mtn: Bob, Biski, Sesame, Picchu (front)

Shira and Sesame on Hunter

#27: Balsam Mountain, 3,600 feet

Balsam Mtn: Sesame, Biski, Bob, Picchu, November 20, 2009

Sesame on Balsam: "Peak, valley, it really makes no difference to me."

#29: Eagle Mountain, 3,600 feet

Eagle Mtn: Biski, Picchu, Bob, Sesame, November 21, 2009

Picchu and Bob on top of Eagle Mtn

Picchu: Pocket pup, hunting dog, hiking accessory or hand warmer?

Shortlink: http://wp.me/ptNqu-hK                           Permalink for this article

Not a whippet - but too cute to resist! (Photo: Montana Dogware)

The Real House Whippets’ December Expenses:

• Food/Treats:   $154
• Vet:                      $85
• Interceptor:      $89
• Supplies:             $ 6

Total:          $334

Food: I try to keep the dog food around $2 per pound – the 3 whippets together eat about a pound a day – while keeping the ingredients as organic and healthy as possible. The best source I’ve found is National Pet Pharmacy. The NYC House Whippets love Castor & Pollux Organix – they’ll pretty much guzzle as much as we give them. They seem to do really well on that and on Natural Planet Organics, which has made their fur super silky. They also don’t smell at all. Could be the good nutrition, or could be a whippet thing. As the Narrow Dog author said, his whippet, Jim, smells like “buttered toast.”

Picchu (front), Biski and Sesame tackle Avalanche Mtn in Boyne City, MI.

Vet: For Sesame’s annual checkup. Fortunately he didn’t need any vaccinations and Dr. Brown said he seems super healthy. She mentioned he’d make a good model for anatomy class at vet school. Part-time job opportunity?

Interceptor: A six-month supply for Picchu, Biski and Sesame. We order from Drs. Foster and Smith, which has a good price and free shipping. I read once that it’s rude to your vet to get prescriptions elsewhere because that’s part of their livelihood. But with three well-cared-for dogs at Manhattan prices (several times we’ve paid an $85 office visit for a 5-minute consultation), I consider our vet duly compensated and don’t feel guilty saving money on prescriptions.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/ptNqu-hz   Permalink for this article

Shira and the three NYC House Whippets in their ultimate milieu of Central Park.

And we’ll need it, because we’re practically scraping the bottom of the food bag just trying to get to tomorrow to reorder the big bags of dog food (that’s cheating a little on the budget accounting, I realize), and next month we also need to get more Interceptor and take Sesame for his annual vet visit. But, as my hero Scarlet says, I’ll think about that later.

Picchu sunning in Central Park: Priceless

The Real House Whippets’ November Expenses:

• Food: $28
• Toy: $8

Total:         $36

Food: Mostly for some canned food to liven up the dogs’ dinner dishes. We combine 2 kinds of dry food (our new favorite is Natural Planet Organics, made from organic, free-range chicken and other organic grains and produce and costs around $2 per pound at National Pet Pharmacy) and then add a couple tablespoons per dish of canned food (our whippets like Wellness Core, which is grain-free, or Newman’s Own Organics), all mixed with hot water to make a gravy. In the morning, they challenge themselves getting dry food out of Kong toys. I don’t mush it and freeze it like Patricia McConnell does, but they might graduate to that some day.

Picchu, Sesame and C-Biscuit chose mud treatments at the Country Dog Spa

Toy: I gave in to a cute, whippet-thin (no stuffing) bunny toy, partly to support a pet boutique we came across in a small, not so well-to-do town in upstate New York. Otherwise, the dogs’ favorite toy remains a firmly-taped cardboard box – especially announced with a doorbell ding from the UPS man – or a paper towel roll with treats trapped inside, or a cracker box they get to “steal” from the wood pile, etc.

Overall, a gloriously low-cost month!

Shortlink for this article: http://wp.me/ptNqu-hl        Permalink for this article

C-Biscuit, the original Real House Whippet of NY

The Real House Whippets’ October Expenses:

• Food/Treats: $269
• Supplies:  $57
• Gear/Equipment: $139
• Book: $13 

Total: $478

Free Range: In an effort to save on dog food, the House Whippets try grazing.

Food/Treats: We think Picchu is overeating. We are considering sending her to Whipwatchers.

Supplies: A large Kong, and 800 biodegradable pick-up bags.

Gear/Equipment: Includes $63 for two dog whistles (I thought I lost mine, then found it in my backpack – now we have 3!), $12 for a safety vest for Picchu, and $64 for Sesame’s Ruff Wear back pack. 

Book: Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor. 

Shortlink for this article: http://wp.me/ptNqu-gE

Bare Naked Bitches, C-Biscuit and Picchu, followed by Gentledog Sesame

Collateral Damage: I expected a young dog to chew a thing or two, but I didn’t know this undefined category would cost hundreds of dollars. C-Biscuit alone has destroyed:

• Cordless phone (and the replacements also have their antennae chewed off)
• Two $300 cell phones (I could go cheaper if I didn’t need the full keyboard to text my sister every few minutes…)
• Two $20 pedometers 
• Two $80 laptop cords
• Two pairs of leather boots (one cheap pair, and one Via Spiga pair I paid full price for at Bloomingdales, reasoning I’d “have them forever” – UG!)
• Three pairs of flip-flops
• Much lingerie, previously something I splurged on before I got a dog and had to switch to the bargain bin at Filene’s Basement
• Books, magazines, newspapers
• Firewood, especially kindling – shredded, but still burnable
• Miscellaneous household items: wooden spoon, hairbrush, hair clips, blanket…

Bob with our friend Chad (left) and the House Whippets in Central Park

Vet visits: Sure, I expected an annual office visit and some vaccinations. What I wasn’t prepared for is a dog needing to see the veterinarian a lot more than a cat does (in my experience), and each and every visit, even for 5 minutes, rings up at $85, plus any medications or tests. As soon as we got C-Biscuit we paid $245 for a check-up and shots. Two weeks later she sprained a toe ($118) and then got an an eye infection ($101.50). 

Pick-up bags: Not such a big expense with one dog, but definitely adds up with three. We use biodegradable Dogipot bags, billed as an “economical, no-frills bag,” 200 for $12. We go through about 12 a day – the other day I used 7 on the morning walk alone – at 6 cents each, making about $260 per year…that’s half what my house insurance costs. 

Chew treats: A pet parent needs to use chew treats like a “real” parent needs to use videos. To keep your sanity, you need a no-fail “occupy yourself!” weapon. For us, this is the beloved bully stick.

Free Range Moo! Bully Sticks: A Pet Parent's Lifesaver!

Our breeder did say no rawhide, real bones, pigs ears… but he did not forbid bully sticks! For the uninitiated, that means dried bull penis. The girls love nothing better (and even Sesame warmed up to them, after initially showing some male solidarity). We buy Free Range Dog Treats’ Moo! variety, which don’t smell (believe me when I say this can be a problem!).

Here’s the scenario: I need to work, the dogs are incessantly rough-housing. Wave around the magic wands, and they obsessively chew them for a good 30-40 minutes. The cost? At least $2 per penis. With three dogs, that means $6 per “episode.” Expensive, but indispensable. 

C-Biscuit in a sweater gift from her chic whippet friend Algernon.

Dog Wardrobe: Both our Whippet book and the breeder said that a whippet needs “a sweater or a coat.” That turned out to be quite an understatement.

We started with a sweater ($80) and a raincoat ($90). Then realized C-Biscuit needed something much beefier for winter, so we got a puffy coat ($128). The puffy coat wasn’t enough, so we layered it with a bodysuit (fortunately, a hand-me-down from our whippet friends). In the spring, we added a fleece ($49), and a waterproof mid-weight coat ($90).

Now multiply all that by 3 to clothe Picchu and Sesame. I won’t add up what all that cost, but I’m sure it’s more than Bob and I have spent on clothing for ourselves.

C-Biscuit: Autumn in New York

I could go on, but that should give some idea of how expensive dogs get, beyond what you usually see broken down in budgets. And to my dachshund friend, hope this doesn’t scare you off; they’re worth it!

Shortlink for this article: http://wp.me/ptNqu-gH

Why should dogs have all the coats? Sesame and Shira keeping cozy in upstate New York.

Dog coats are one thing (and I do love a good dog coat!), but there’s also, yes, your comfort to consider. In our family, I have the morning dog walking shift. Dog owners know that means de-cocooning from a cozy bed.

If you have a yard and don’t actually walk the dog, not so bad. If you’re urban like us, no matter what the weather, you’re goin’ out there, so suit up.

Whatever you have to do to make those mandatory, all-weather outings easy and comfy, do it. 

Merrell Dog-Walking Clogs: Not pretty, but worth it!

Shoes: When I visited Erika, who has two beagles, I noted ugly clogs by her door. Just after I yelped, “Yipes!” she explained, “They’re great for going out with the dogs.” Now I have my own ugly clogs, and consider them a must-have. The sheepskin-lined Merrells (the company generously describes them as “folksy”) are part cozy slipper, part hardy boot, which means I can step into them and out onto the street in the cold without any socks, fumbling or lacing. That’s five-star 7 a.m. dog-walking footwear.

Bob and C-Biscuit: Just out of bed on a chilly morning in Boyne, MI.

Cozy fleece or sweatshirt: My dad gave Bob and me super heavy, zip-up, hooded sweatshirts from his home in Boyne City, Michigan, a ski town that understands the cold. Before that, I had a no-sweatshirts policy, considering them sloppy. Now that I have to drag out of bed to walk dogs, bring it on! Mmmm…cozy. (I do draw the line at sweat pants.) If you want to splurge on a high-quality fleece you’ll look forward to putting on, I say go for it (on sale). It’s a collateral cost of dog-ownership.

Wind-proof Raincoat: When you’re holding two or more dog leashes, you can’t manage an umbrella. Especially in the wind. The dogs had raincoats for a year before I realized I needed one for myself. I used to just get wet. Then this month I got my first rain coat with a hood, and I am in foul-weather heaven! Especially since, thanks to The Catskill Hiker, I discovered the deals on outerwear at Sierra Trading Post. 

Heaven in a Hood: High quality dog-walking wear is also suitable for mountaineering.

Winter Hat: Last year we visited my dad in Northern Michigan in October. Did we bring deep-winter wear? No, because we thought October meant cool, not gale-blowing, hail-storming frigid. Dad wore a baseball cap and thin coat and took us on a death march while declaring the weather “not so bad.”

LL Bean's Wicked Good Shearling Hat: "I'll never be cold again!"

 C-Biscuit shivered even in her Wisconsin-made puffy coat, and as I felt the wind cut to my skull, I made a Scarlett-in-the-potato-field promise that I would buy a shearling hat and never be cold again. 

When I got home and found out those hats cost $100, I said, “I can wait until January – they’ll be on sale.” They weren’t. I waited until the end of winter. Still no sale. So this year I find the funds and splurge – especially before our upcoming expedition to Northern Michigan. And may all the winter morning dog walks be warm and merry!

Shortlink for this article: http://wp.me/ptNqu-g7    Permalink for this article