chihuahua

"Million Dollar Listing's" Starla (the Chihuahua) is Sitting High

After all those years of discouraging my dogs from hovering near the table come meal time, a new product sold by Hammacher-Schlemmer pulls up a chair for them.

The Pet High Chair fastens to the edge of the table and allows dogs up to 10 pounds to sit comfortably suspended while you pass the kibble their way. Retailing for about $50, the chair is constructed of 600-denier nylon fabric and securely clips to tables up to two-inches thick. Its height can be adjusted without tools. The frame is powder-coated 5/8" steel tubing and the arms are rubber-coated so they won't mar table surfaces. Retailing at about $50 from the famed Hammacher Schlemmer -- "America's longest-running catalog offering the best, the only and unexpected for 162 years" -- the chair permits your dog or cat to accompany you at the dinner table at near eye level. I am resisting the urge to ask why this is a good thing and will accept on face value that for many, it apparently is.

From the catalog: "By providing an alternative to sitting on your lap, running disruptively underfoot, or outright banishment, the chair assuages a pet (and its owner's) frustration, and promotes more refined behavior."

The Pet High Chair folds easily for storage and travel and is machine washable. It has adjustable tethers for pet safety and to ensure there will be no leaving the table until excused, not to mention any breaches of table etiquette. It weighs about four pounds and is 12" long, 9.5" wide and 10" high.

Pet Gear Inc., which manufacturers the product, is a division of Vermont Juvenile Furniture -- a company that has been making baby care products since 1936. Pet Gear Inc. also makes pet playpens, bike baskets, ramps, strollers and car seats.

Since my 90-pound Golden Retriever couldn't diet his way down to fit in the chair, we invited Starla, the chihuahua who stars with Chad Rogers on Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing" show to try the product out for us. Starla, all four pounds of her, needed a seat pillow to perch up high enough to reach the table but once settled in, promptly fell asleep. Perhaps there is a dual marketing opportunity here: Suspended pet bed, anyone?

Video by Sophie Johnson

Tags: chad rogers, chihuahua, Chihuahua dogs, chihuahuas, dog high chair, pet, pet high chair, starla

Petite Pups Trendy, but Problematic in Japan

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Pets

The craze for miniature dogs isn't limited to American celebrities. The petite pets are popular in both Australia and Japan, although in Japan, the intensity of the interest in the trend is pushing breeders to try to meet Japanese desire for ever-smaller and ever-cuter puppies. And that is leading to some real problems for the animals. Inbreeding has led to crippled or deformed animals and puppy mills are producing more animals than the public can handle.

The most popular breeds at the moment are ones that are naturally small, such as chihuahuas. It is especially popular to get them in exotic colors, like the blue-grey puppy pictured. These unusual colors are recessive traits and repeatedly breeding for them, often using the same couple of dogs and their offspring because they are known to have the genes, is what causes the dogs to have unfortunate genetic defects. Many are killed at birth, but others lack limbs or are prone to deafness, eye problems and nervous disorders.

A prized puppy can go for as much as $10,000, making it worthwhile for some breeders to pursue these dogs in spite of the risks to the dogs themselves. Breeders are left to self-regulate, but as long as the demand is high, so will the temptation for unscrupulous breeders.

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Tags: chihuahua, dog, dogs, inbreeding, japan, pet, pets, puppies, Pups, trend