HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Some recycling efforts at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility have really gone to the dogs.

For more than a year, inmates at the local prison have been dismantling mattresses that would have otherwise ended up in area landfills.

The steel from the springs and the cotton batting in the mattresses are recycled, generating money for prison operations. Wood from the mattresses has been fashioned into flower boxes and benches. Through recycling, the metal and cotton from old mattresses has made more than $49,000 for the prison’s general fee fund, said Steve Schneider, spokesman at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

And now, inmates are using the foam and material from the mattresses to make dog beds.

The beds are being donated to animal shelters and sold in a Topeka veterinary clinic to sustain the Hutchinson Correctional Facility’s dog training programs, according to Beth Mechler, a program consultant for the Kansas Department of Corrections.

“It helps subsidize the programs and helps the community,” Mechler said of the dog beds. “Every part of the mattresses is being recycled, which is awesome.”

The dog beds made from recycled mattress materials are already being used by the Lucky Dog program, where inmates train dogs and prepare them for adoption, and by the prison’s Canine Assistance Rehabilitation, Education and Services program, where dogs are trained to be service dogs, said Chandy Wylie, activities specialist who coordinates the two dog programs at Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

So far, only a few inmates at the Hutchinson prison have been working to make the beds, which they started doing about three months ago.

Using a donated sewing machine, inmate Steven Chritzer was busy Wednesday making water-resistant covers for the foam beds. He also makes a thinner dog bed made of the old mattress material and said two inmates help him measure and cut the material.

According to Wylie, Chritzer is the only one who has been charged with the sewing. In the past three months, nearly 150 beds have been made, she said. It takes at least six hours to make the larger dog bed and about 30 minutes for a smaller, thinner one, Wylie said.

About 30 beds were shipped to a Department of Corrections dog program in Topeka that involves female inmates, she said.

“All of the funds from these beds will go to take care of the dogs,” Wylie said, noting the program might buy treats and leashes for the dog training.

Topeka Veterinarian Mike Esau, an Inman native, watched inmates working Wednesday in the C.A.R.E.S. program at the Hutchinson prison. Esau, a veterinarian for Mechler’s dog, said Mechler contacted him and he agreed to display and sell the dog beds at his clinic to aid the prison’s dog programs.

On Wednesday, the C.A.R.E.S. building at HCF was filled with inmates guiding and training dogs – from terriers to Labradors and Great Danes.

Chritzer said he prefers his new job making dog beds over the job he once had in the prison’s print shop. He said he previously sewed leather clothing at the prison in El Dorado and worked in a garment factory in a Florida state prison.

Warden Sam Cline, who watched as the inmates worked with the dogs, said he was pleased to see mattresses that would have otherwise been thrown away being used for recycling efforts and “something positive” for inmates and the community.

“We hope to use any resources we have efficiently, especially since it offsets costs required of taxpayers,” he said.

Cline said the prison’s dog training programs helps the inmates “feel a sense of responsibility, similar to a family setting, since they’re the caretaker of the dog.”

“It brings out a humanness in some that they were unable to experience before,” he said.

The 17-year-old Bichon poodle mix rides in a carriage, eats macaroni and cheese from a bowl that has her name etched in gold and has a pink mink made by Saks Fifth Avenue.

So what do you get for Christmas for the dog who has everything?

Associated Press - Sandy Seigler, owner of the Beverly Hills Mutt Club, tries a three-row crystal necklace on her 5-year-old Chihuahua-Chin mix, Tatiana, and a Candy Apple Couture dog gown Nov. 18 at the shop in Beverly Hills, Calif. Tatiana is standing on an Italian Made Volo dog bed.

“Definitely bling. We love bling,” said Margaret Souders, 68, who owns Sanderella and Samantha, a 19-month-old Bichon Frise. “I’m addicted to my dogs. I love them to pieces. My whole life revolves around them.”

Sounders is a regular customer at the Beverly Hills Mutt Club, one of many high-end pet boutiques where the sky is the limit, from Rodeo Drive stalwarts like Neiman Marcus, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Coach and Saks to online marketplaces where pet gifts can run in the thousands of dollars.

The Mutt Club is small but bursting with things made of Swarovski crystal, pearls, cashmere, wool and Italian leather. Jewels and canine couture are best sellers, said Celina Bojorquez, who owns the shop with her mom, Sandy Siegler. Other customers include Sandra Bullock, Jamie Lee Curtis, Susan Sarandon, Billy Joel and Vince Neil, Siegler said.

Sanderella’s first Chanel leash and collar cost $650. Her bow collection alone probably cost $9,000, Souders said.

Some of the most unique gifts for pets this year include a video camera, treadmill and dog house air conditioner for $549, said Geoff Mott, president of PetGadgets.com.

The Eyenimal pet video camera with built-in microphone sells for $135, fits on your pet’s collar and can shoot up to 2 1/2 hours of continuous video. The treadmill comes in three sizes, and three prices — $599 to $1,499.

Many pet retailers donate some proceeds to animal causes.

Dsquared2 put a pair of $190 limited edition leash and collar sets on the newly launched yoox.com Pets Boutique, with all the proceeds going to Much Love Animal Rescue in Los Angeles. A luxurious $486 Manfred of Sweden lambskin coat can also be found on the yoox site.

Associated Press - Customers browse a display of Swarovski crystal dog collars Nov. 18 at the Beverly Hills Mutt Club in Beverly Hills, Calif. The shop is small but bursting with things made of Swarovski crystal, pearls, cashmere, wool, Italian leather and other soft and shiny things.

Dogs aren’t the only pampered pets. The “My First Hamster Home Kit” from Petco can be upgraded with a couch, television set, lamp and other furnishings, said Petco spokeswoman Sandy Robbins.

For the cat who has everything, including an owner with time and patience, Robbins suggested a $69.99 Litter Kwitter, which will help you teach your cat to use a toilet instead of a litter box. Or try the Litter-Robot self-cleaning litter box that sells for $329.99 on litter-robot.com.

A floor-to-ceiling cat tree for $299.99 is one of the most popular items at Drs. Foster & Smith, the largest catalog and online seller of pet supplies in North America.

You can also buy your fish a new home — a Marineland Monterey Super System 220-gallon aquarium, stand, canopy, filtration system and 72-inch light — for $5,199.99. Salt water coral grown next to the company’s Rhinelander, Wis., offices can go for hundreds more.

But at Christmas time, a dog’s life is not so bad. An Associated Press-Petside.com poll found that 56 percent of dog owners say they’ll buy their pets a gift this Christmas, but only 48 percent of cat owners plan a gift.

At the Ruff Ruff Couture boutique, a block from Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, one of the hottest items is the Snuggle Sack, an ultra-suede, double-quilted, faux fur-lined pet carrier with a Swarovski crystal brooch for about $125, said owner Jaimie Pergament.

A Swarovski crystal lead will run $275 to $600 at the nearby Mutt Club, where an Italian-made diva bed is priced at $1,500 and a handmade wool coat with fleece lining costs between $120 and $180.

Still, even the most pampered dog can’t mask a certain — natural musk. Eau de perfume for dogs comes in Puppy Love, Vanilla Woof, Peaches and Cream and Big Dog.

Associated Press - This undated photo released by Discovery Cove/Jason Collier shows a baby Tamandua (or Lesser Anteater) at Discovery Cove in Orlando, Fla.

“Cute always comes first,” said Chris Eastland, an artist and photographer from Brooklyn, N.Y., who joined forces with Andrew Bleiman of Chicago to create ZooBorns.com two years ago.

Their website delivers birth announcements from zoos and aquariums around the world, and gets about a million hits a month.

The men are publishing a pair of hardcover books through Simon & Schuster — “ZooBorns!” a 32-page children’s book released last month, and a longer book for all ages also called “ZooBorns,” out next week. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums gets 10 percent from sales.

“It’s win, win, win for us,” said Jill Nicoll, AZA’s senior vice president of marketing. The AZA benefits not just because of the royalties, but because promoting zoo babies is good for the conservation cause. “And, it’s cute,” she added.

Bleiman hasn’t counted since summer, but as of then, they had featured around 600 births from 165 different species.

Associated Press - This undated photo released by San Francisco Zoo/George Nikitin shows Hasani a Western Lowland Gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo in San Francisco, Calif.

The great thing about animals, he said, is there are so many species. “There are tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of inspect species alone,” he said. “There are plenty of species left to share.”

So are some animal births too ugly to make the cute cut?

“We don’t do a lot of insect larvae or spiders. Some organisms are too unpleasant to put on the site. There is nothing cute at all. A tiny fraction of the population would pine after a baby spider,” Bleiman said.

They did post the July birth of a Caecilian, a legless amphibian, at the Tennessee Aquarium. “Some people found it creepy-crawly and others were fascinated,” Bleiman said. “We show ugly birds all the time. Some think they are cute and others recoil.”

Associated Press - This undated photo released by the Los Angeles Zoo/Tad Motoyama shows koalas at the Los Angeles Zoo in Los Angeles. This photo appears on the ZooBorns website.

They also hold off on some announcements, waiting for cuteness to settle in. Baby pandas are a good example, Eastland said. They are born pink, furless and no bigger than a stick of butter. By around 4 months, they are melting hearts.

“The all-time most popular post was the fennec fox,” Eastland said. Radar Ears, from Seoul, is on the cover of one book and inside the other. A Bengal tiger made the cover of the children’s book and its twin is inside.

Lions and tigers are always a big hit and Eastland likes polar bear and panda cubs because of the obvious message. But at ZooBorns, the success of any photo depends on how many w’s people put at the end of the word aw, Eastman said.

“It’s hard to engage people in the conservation side of this,” Eastland said, “but it is our biggest message and we try to deliver it through adorableness.”

Links of Interest:

http://www.zooborns.com

http://www.aza.org

Simoni invented PupLight six years ago. She came up with the idea of a light that attaches to a collar while fumbling with a leash, flashlight, poop bags and animal repellant during a walk with her 90-pound, very social golden retriever.

It took 15 prototypes, but the lights are now sold at Petco, her biggest customer, Cabela’s outfitters and on Amazon.com. “I thought I would sell a million a year,” she said.

Associated Press - This product image released by Jackie Simoni shows a dog wearing the PupLight. Six years ago Jackie Simoni invented the PupLight, which fits on a dog collar, to help make dogs safer after dark.

So far, the number is closer to 150,000 at $19.95 each. But Simoni’s luck could be changing.

The Secret Service has been using the lights for a couple of years. A few weeks ago, she got a five-year, $125,000 contract with the General Services Administration so she can sell to more than 1,000 other government departments, said Rita Haake, program manager of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the College of DuPage in Illinois.

“The process that Jackie had to go through is thorough and substantial. The federal government evaluates the product offering and then negotiates for best pricing from the company,” said Haake, who helped Simoni with her GSA application.

All Simoni has to do now is contact the departments that use dogs and sell them on PupLight, then they can order the lights through the GSA.

Hot prospects include: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with its canine search and rescue corps; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for airport detection and narcotics canines; and Customs and Border Patrol for dogs that search for narcotics or find themselves in dark border tunnels, Haake said.

PupLight was recently one of six products — out of 1,300 entries — chosen by the Edison Nation product search competition. Edison Nation is running television infomercials through October to determine if it will sponsor the light in a national direct sales ad campaign.

That could mean sales in the millions and licensing royalties, said Simoni, who lives in suburban Chicago.

Four years ago, Robert Eschenberg, 43, an auto repair technician from Ventura, Calif., and his wife, Kim, adopted Maggie, a 10-month-old Lab mix who had been abused. Every once in a while, she would freeze in fear.

On a walk one night, a neighbor complained that she couldn’t see Maggie, even though Eschenberg was carrying a flashlight. At a dog show, the neighbor found a PupLight and bought it for the dog.

“Maggie was a little leery of it at first, but when it got dark and I reached down to turn it on, something changed in her. Her chest popped out and she started to strut. She was proud. Maggie now had a job and that gave her confidence,” Eschenberg said.

They would meet people on their walks and the people would smile and ask about the light. “It helped in socializing her,” he said.

The Eschenbergs have since adopted a friend for Maggie, a 7-month-old Dalmatian mix. And the first thing they did was order a PupLight. “Our girls are referred to as the dogs with headlights,” Eschenberg said.

PupLight was the highest rated dog light product tested by Whole Dog Journal in January 2008. “Every dog owner who helped us test this product asked if they could keep it after our trial was completed. There really isn’t any better testament to a product’s ease of use and usefulness,” the magazine wrote.
PupLight got a four-paw rating, meaning it was “as good as it gets; product is fully approved by WDJ.”

The light did more than make dogs safer. It made Simoni smarter, she said. Having learned all her lessons, and noting how many times she borrowed the lights from her dog, Tangent, and her 3-year-old golden retriever Sargent, she has come up with a light for humans. It’s called NekLight.

Simoni, 60, knew nothing about engineering, packaging, marketing, patenting, shipping, showing and all the rest of the tedious, time-consuming details that inventing requires. She could find nothing like her light on the market, so started looking for ways to make her own. Instead of big bulky headlamps, she found she could use LED lights.

In the first prototypes, Tangent’s nose blocked the light, his fur blocked the light and the batteries didn’t last long enough.

She went through an encyclopedia of 250 dogs and measured the tilt of their heads. “Poodles hold their heads almost straight up and beagles hold their heads almost straight down,” she said. She figured out a way to adjust the tilt.

Tangent is tall but her neighbor had a miniature dachshund and the light hit the ground. She devised a way to adjust it.

She kept dropping the light off her kitchen counter until she came up with a polycarbonate case and a collar of reinforced nylon. Then she found an engineer.

Like Eschenberg, Deb Seyfer of St. Paul, Minn., liked her PupLight so much, she sent Simoni a note. Butch, her 8-year-old Lhasa apso, is small so it was hard to see him in the dark and it is dark a lot in Minnesota, she said. The PupLight took care of that, she said.

She got hers four years ago at a pet expo in Minneapolis and she has only had to change batteries once.

“And he’s not encumbered by it at all,” said Seyfer, fellowship coordinator at the University of Minnesota. “It’s lightweight, comfortable and seems quite indestructible. He is very low to the ground and it’s been dropped a few times by me and it’s held its own.”

Links of Interest

http://www.puplight.com

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com

http://www.edisonnation.com

Raphael the toy poodle runs around in his playpen like any other dog — except his snow white coat has been dyed neon green and is partially shaved with a protruding shell on top to resemble a turtle. He seems oblivious to his unique look but enjoys the attention of onlookers.

Associated Press - Mao, a 4-year-old Bichon Frise dyed to look like a giant panda, sits June 14 on a sofa at the Ruowen Pet Spa in Beijing where half a dozen dyed dogs on display.

Raphael, named after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character, is one of half a dozen dyed dogs on display at the spa in downtown Beijing, which caters to wealthy Chinese who are fueling a booming pet craze in China.

“If you can dream it, we can make it come true,” said Sun Ruowen, who owns the spa and has worked in the pet industry for 10 years.

Sun charges anywhere from $7 to dye one ear to $300 for permanent dyeing and trimming of larger dogs — with most dye jobs lasting six months before the hair grows out.

Once banned by the Communist Party as bourgeois, pet ownership is booming in China, spawning a slew of cat and dog pampering businesses — where pets are treated to pedicures, rose petal bubble baths and massages.

This year, the Year of the Tiger in China, has brought an interest in the dyeing trend — with tigers being the most-sought-after look. From golden retrievers to Pekingese, pets are not just being dyed basic colors but are being transformed to look like other animals, says Sun.

“Dyeing pets is popular in many developed countries like Japan and Korea, but China is quickly catching on,” said Sun, who recently participated in the first national pet dyeing competition in Beijing. She attributes the phenomenon to a “head-turning effect.”

“People already love to show off their pets and draw attention, so a panda-dog walking down the street is bound to turn heads.”

Dog owners say the attention their canines receive has improved their mental well-being. Kung Fu, a 10-month-old Old English sheepdog, can barely make it down the street without swarms gathering to admire his thick coat dyed to look like a panda, says owner Queenie Yang.

Associated Press - Kung Fu, a 10-month-old Old English Sheepdog, waits June 14 for its dye treatment to look like the lead Panda character in the animation "Kung Fu Panda," by workers at the Ruowen Pet Spa in Beijing where half a dozen dyed dogs on display.

“Kung Fu loves the attention, and his self confidence has shot up since lots of pretty girls come up to pet him,” said Yang, a 31-year-old housewife from Beijing.

Yang’s husband decided to dye Kung Fu’s hair after seeing an advertisement from the spa and since Kung Fu’s features were already similar to that of a panda.

From the back, the 80-pound dog, with his black button tail and tan fur, could be mistaken for a panda — with fur around his eyes that have been dyed black to a create a droopy and almost comical expression.

He sits impatiently on a metal table in Ruowen’s spa, waiting for another bleach job of his gray hair, which is now a tan color. His front and hind leg sections have been dyed black, hair trimmed short and patches of hair on his head dyed black and fastened with elastics to look like panda ears.

Associated Press - "Spiderwoman," a 4-year-old female Bichon dyed to look like the Spiderman, looks up from a plastic cage near other dogs dyed to look like a tiger and a zebra June 14 at the Ruowen Pet Spa in Beijing where half a dozen dyed dogs on display.

One veterinarian warned that owners should be careful of damaging a dog’s mental and physical well-being before considering dyeing their pets.

“Owners should seek pet spas that use natural coloring which won’t damage the dog’s hair or irritate the skin,” said Tian Haiyan, who works at the Beijing Guanshang Animal hospital. “Mentally, some dogs that aren’t used to being in the spotlight so may react negatively to the sudden attention.”

While some critics say the new trend is inhumane as the dogs are sometimes forced to undergo hours of unnecessary dyeing, Sun says her products are all natural and it’s nothing more than an innocent dress-up session.

“It’s a confidence booster for dogs and owners,” said Sun. “We’re here to offer them new ways to pamper and dress up their pets.”

The EPA said it will develop stricter testing and evaluation requirements for flea and tick treatments that are applied to a pet’s skin. The agency also will begin reviewing labels to determine which ones need to say more clearly how to use the products.

The EPA’s effort follows increasing complaints from pet owners that the “spot-on” products have triggered reactions in dogs and cats, ranging from skin irritation to neurological problems to deaths. Cats and small dogs appear particularly vulnerable, the EPA said, especially when given products intended for larger animals.

Steve Owens, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, said new restrictions will be placed on flea and tick products, with additional changes for specific products likely — including possible changes in some product formulas.

“These are poisons,” Owens said. “These are products designed to kill fleas and ticks — and they do their jobs.”

The EPA is committed to better protecting the health and safety of pets and families, Owens said, but added that pet owners “need to carefully read and follow all labeling before exposing your pet to a pesticide.”

The agency announced last April it was increasing scrutiny of topical flea and tick products because of the growing number of bad reactions reported.

The EPA said it received 44,263 reports of harmful reactions associated with topical flea and tick products in 2008, up from 28,895 in 2007. Reactions ranged from skin irritations to vomiting to seizures to, in about 600 cases, death of an animal.

An EPA spokesman said he did not have a breakdown of how many deaths were dogs and how many cats.

Dog and cat owners say their pets have suffered burns and welts on their skin; started to drool excessively; begun to shake uncontrollably; lost control of their legs or experienced other neurological problems after using the flea and tick treatments.

A 2009 study by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reported that the majority of illnesses linked to proper use of topical flea and tick products were mild. Cats were more susceptible than dogs to illnesses and deaths from misuse of the products, the report said.

“The important take-home message is that although adverse reactions can occur with all flea and tick products, most effects are relatively mild and include skin irritation and stomach upset,” said Dr. Steven Hansen, ASPCA veterinary toxicologist and senior vice president for animal health services.

Pet owners should keep using the products as directed when faced with a flea infestation, Hansen said.

Georgia-based Merial Ltd., which makes the popular Frontline tick and flea treatment, defended its product and disputed the EPA data.

“The number of adverse events reported for Frontline has remained consistently low since the product’s introduction in 1996,” the company said in a statement e-mailed to reporters. The vast majority of reactions are minor, the statement said.

In a 29-page report, the EPA said the majority of problems for dogs occurred in smaller dogs, weighing 10 to 20 pounds. Some incidents occurred when products intended for larger dogs were given to smaller animals, the report said. Chihuahuas, Shih Tzus, miniature poodles, Pomeranians and dachshunds were among breeds where problems occurred the most, the EPA said.

Similarly, many problems for cats occurred when they were given treatments intended for dogs. The EPA is likely to require companies to revamp labels to clarify that products intended for dogs should never be used on cats, Owens said.

Links of Interest

EPA report on protecting pets: www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/pets.htm

Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats’ time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping.

“What surprised me was how active the cats were. I believed my three cats were sleeping during the day,” said Jill Villarreal, an animal behavior scientist who collected the data for Nestle Purina PetCare’s Friskies brand of cat food.

The 777 photos studied by Villarreal showed the cats looking at a television, computer, DVDs or other media 6 percent of the time and hiding under tables 6 percent of the time.

Coming in at 5 percent was playing with toys; eating or looking at food finished at 4 percent.

Will the cats get movie cameras next? “We are in the think tank now,” Villarreal said.

Links of Interest

http://www.friskies.com/scratchingtonpost

An Associated Press-Petside.com poll shows 52 percent of pet owners plan to buy their animals a holiday gift — up from 43 percent last year.

Gus and Molly, a pair of German shepherds, Rosie the bulldog and Zoe the cat will get treats and playtoys, “the good sturdy stuff,” said owner Norm Authier, 50, of Long Beach.

“We have always done this. We don’t have any kids so we spoil our dogs,” Authier said.

The bounce in pet gifts is expected despite the fact that fully 93 percent of Americans say they’ll spend less overall or about the same as last year, according to a separate Associated Press-GfK poll.

The AP-Petside.com poll found that six in 10 of those who own only dogs planned on shopping for their pet for the holidays. Forty percent of those with only cats planned to pet shop.

Associated Press - This 2005 photo shows Santa holding Pug Fuch at the Robinson Town Center PetSmart in Robinson Township, Pa. An AP poll finds many dogs and cats will find something under the tree for them on Christmas day.

Sawyer, a 9-year-old Labrador-border collie mix, will get something special because he was born on Christmas Day, said owner Pat Brown, 74, of Beloit, Wis. He can also look forward to his two favorite homemade snacks — popcorn and ice cubes.

Plush holiday-themed toys are very popular with pet owners, as are candy cane-shaped rawhide chews, said Jessica Douglas, a spokeswoman for the PetSmart pet supply store chain based in Phoenix, Ariz.

Popular clothes at this time of year include a Santa suit, a Mrs. Claus dress and reindeer costumes. A lot of boots are sold to dog owners in cold weather states. Bling-wise, collars and leads are popular.

“Some ID tags are decorated with sparkly embellishments and they can be personalized so it’s not just for looks,” she said.

According to the poll, 62 percent of female owners said they would probably buy their pet a gift, while just 40 percent of the men said they would.

Janet Rowlands, 53, in Tulsa, Okla., is planning a Christmas celebration for 29 people and pets, including her four dogs. Jack Russell and rat terrier Boodroe, 7, is the only one who steals gifts from under the tree.

“He sees it as part of the fun,” Rowlands said.

According to the poll, 59 percent of owners say pets are only a minor consideration when picking out holiday decorations, even though 14 percent reported that their pets have gotten into the decorations before.

There are no cranberries, popcorn or gingerbread men on the tree at Erica Peterson’s home in Vass, N.C., because of Logan and the starfish, an ornament she and her husband got on their honeymoon.

On his first Christmas with the family, Logan, a male Labrador-chow, knocked the tree over and everything went flying so he could get to the starfish — apparently because it smelled fishy to him. All edible or scented ornaments were banned.

This year Logan will get a big butcher’s bone, while Peterson’s female Maltese named Bubbles, 13, will get rawhide sticks made like candy canes. Both will be wrapped and put under the tree.

Last year, Debra Jensen’s Labrador named Nightmare and a German shepherd-Siberian Husky named Ticia got stockings with dog treats in them. This year, because her husband recently lost his job, there may not be a stocking, but there will still be treats — they can count on leftover ham.

“The dogs are our only children. I love my babies,” said Jensen, 55, of Tulsa, Okla.

Pat McCauley figures his 4-year-old Shih Tzu named Crystal can survive the holidays without a present.

“I’m not going to buy the pet anything,” said McCauley, 54, of Princeton, Ill., “I have a daughter who is 17 and she will buy the pets something but I surely wouldn’t in any way, shape or form buy my pet a Christmas toy.”

McCauley may sound like a Grinch, but he concedes buying pet gifts is not the most ridiculous idea he’s heard.

“If I just had a pet by myself and my daughter wasn’t around, I’d buy it one or two things a year, like a ball or a tug,” he said.

The AP-Petside.com poll was conducted Oct. 1-5, 2009, by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. It involved telephone interviews on landline and cell phones with 1,166 pet owners nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points for all pet owners.

Links of Interest

Petside.com: www.petside.com/pet-gift-poll

PetSmart: www.petsmart.com

For The Associated Press

Your dog and cat may not know it’s the holidays, but admit it, most of those pet presents are really gifts for ourselves. Brighten the dark winter days by watching your furry family have fun, and solve some common pet problems with the following suggestions:

Associated Press - This photo released by Sasquatch shows the Sasquatch pet bed.

— You can get plenty of tasteful, upscale pet beds nowadays, styled to fit into your home’s decor. Or you can say the heck with it and cheer up a room with a bright pink Sasquatch pet bed, “the original big foot for your little beast.” If you’re a fan of a certain famous colorful clog you’ll go for this one, and your pet will enjoy the cozy cave made by the shoe shape. ($99.95 at http://www.sasquatchpetbeds.com/ )

— Prefer the recycled approach? The Molly Mutt pet duvet can be used to cover an old bed, or stuff it with old blankets, clothes, pillow, towels, even old stuffed toys to make a bed and keep more stuff out of landfills. (Different sizes, shapes and fabric patterns $20-45, http://www.mollymutt.com/ )

— If your dog is a tough chewer, check out Goughnuts. In stick and round doughnut shapes, these aren’t cheap, but it’s worth it, because they come with a lifetime guarantee. If your dog manages to chew down to the red inner safety indicator, you can return the toy to the manufacturer for a replacement. (Around $20-30 at http://goughnuts.com/ )

— Get tired of throwing that fetch toy over and over? Use one that will make you laugh: the Humunga Stache from Moody Pet, that makes your dog look like he’s got a huge handlebar moustache. ($12 at http://www.moodypet.com/humungastache.html )

— Clicker training is the modern way to communicate with your dog, based on a positive relationship and the science of animal learning. The only problem is that sometimes it seems to require three hands. “Between the leash, the clicker and the treats, it’s a bit of a juggling act,” says Victoria Schade, trainer and owner of Life on the Leash in Doylestown, Pa. Solve that problem with the Clickerleash. “Just like it sounds, the clicker is cleverly incorporated into the leash handle,” says Schade. ($34.95, http://clickerleash.com/ )

Associated Press - This product image released by Molly Mutt shows the Mr. Roboto track dog duvet.

— Winter can be tough for a small dog — and for the owner who has to make a coat and a harness work together. How did it take so long for someone to think of the 1z, a coat with a harness incorporated? Put the coat on, snap on the leash, and you’re ready to go. (Find a retailer at http://pawzdogboots.com/1z-coat/ )

— Max and Ruffy’s organic dog treats come in three cool varieties: the Molasses Explosion 1919 (named after a sticky event in the history of Boston), a delicious-smelling pumpkin flavor, and “Wolf Peach and Herb,” which tastes like pizza. They’re designed for dogs, but Jessica Simon of pet boutique Living Ruff in Silver Spring, Md., says that one of her human staff was eating so many of the samples that she had to buy her own box. ($8.50-9.50 at http://maxandruffys.com/ )

— Love the cat, hate the hairballs? You can use those products in a tube, but they’re messy and some cats don’t like them. Try the Hairball soft treats by Pet Naturals of Vermont. Your cat will never know that the tasty chicken liver flavored morsels are designed to prevent a nasty problem. (Around $7, available at major retailers; locate stores and online sellers at http://petnaturals.com/ )

— Got a cat that’s obsessed with those little laser lights? Try the Bada Beam automatic rotating laser toy. Living Ruff customer Eric Robbins is such a fan, he’s made three of his friends buy it. “The Bada Beam is not for pets. It’s for owners to be entertained by pets,” says Robbins. Some cats chase it, but his Otis sits and stares “and sticks his paw out every once in a while in a vain attempt at catching the little red dot,” he says. “Then when you turn it off, he meows incessantly, and not your typical meow. More like a cat in heat during a full moon.” (Around $14.95 at major retailers including http://www.jbpet.com/Bada-Beam,1230.html )

— Finally, if you’ve got cat-loving friends who can laugh at themselves, get them the Crazy Cat Lady board game from Archie McPhee ($19.95; http://www.mcphee.com .) Win by collecting the most cats — you get more by landing on spaces like “Rescue Grumpy Old Cat From Pound” and lose them on spaces like “Kitten Distracted by Bit of Fluff.” (There’s also the Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure for $10.95.)

Links of Interest

http://www.lifeontheleash.com/

http://livingruff.com/