Get your pet used to the car: Short trips around town will help your pet get acclimated to the car and let you know if a long journey is something your pet, and the rest of your family, will enjoy.

Crate 'em or belt 'em: Carriers and restraining harnesses will keep your pet safely in his or her seat in case of sudden stops and starts or, worst case scenario, a crash. In that worst case, you also don't want your pet to become a projectile inside the vehicle.

Comforts of home: Pack bedding and toys that are familiar for your dog or cat. You may also want to pack a first aid kit, especially if you are camping.

A light snack: Keep food to a minimum on travel day, especially if you know your pet gets an upset tummy in the car.

Ice, ice, baby: Packing ice chips will keep your pooch or kitty hydrated and keep spills to a minimum.

Keep heads inside the car: As much as we all know dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows, the risk of injury to their eyes and face are just too great. There will be plenty of fresh air when you get to your destination

Never, ever, leave a pet in the car: Even if the windows are cracked and parked in the shade, the internal temperature of a car can rise to deadly levels in a very short time. It's just not worth the risk.

Star City Cat Fancier's will host its Summertime Picnic show this weekend at the Holiday Inn at 3315 Ordway Drive, near Valley View mall.

The show is open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

If you love kitties this is a great way to see some exotic breeds. I learned a lot about show cats when I attended the Cats in Coat show in February.

And this time around, there is a competition for household felines as well as the purebred beauties.

Admission is $5, but there is a dollar off coupon in today's Inside Out section of The Roanoke Times.

Here's a story by reporter Jessica Marcy from today's Roanoke Times about therapy dog training conducted through Star City Canine Training in Salem.

I know when I am having a rough day my dogs can make me smile without even trying. Dexter will cuddle up to me on the couch or Coral will lay her head in my hands for me to pet her, and I just can't be in a bad mood anymore.

My cat Thai also has a sense for when I am not feeling well. If I am home sick in bed, he will not leave my side. He will even share bed space with the dogs, something he never does normally.

Maybe the mayor of Helena-West Helena could use some pet therapy to heal his Grinch-like heart. (See entry below.)

I usually pass on stories of blatant cruelty because to me they aren't helpful to the people I assume are reading this blog: good folks who love their pets. These stories are usually pretty sickening to me, and I'd rather spare you the same reaction.

However, I found this story today, and I will indulge in complete editorial comment as I share it here. I want company in my outrage.

On June 11, James Valley, the mayor of Helena-West Helena, a city of 15,000 in eastern Arkansas, decided the best way to deal with the animal control problem was to take the dozen dogs being held in city's the sad, makeshift pound and turn them loose in, ironically enough, St. Francis National Forest.

He just dumped them in the woods. Good luck, pooches. See ya.

He did not "allegedly" do this; he admits it and stands by the decision.

Apparently her pet Maltese, Trouble, was not the only canine late hotel heiress Leona Helmsley cared about: she left instructions that her multi-billion dollar estate be donated to benefit dogs.

The New York Times reported this morning that Helmsley left a “mission statement,” in 2003 directing that the entire trust, valued at $5 billion to $8 billion and amounting to virtually all her estate, be used for the care and welfare of dogs.

The newspaper is citing two people who have seen the document and who described it on condition of anonymity as their sources. These sources told the New York Times Helmsley originally had two goals in mind for her estate after her death: to help indigent people and to provide for the care and welfare of dogs.

She later decided to remove poor people from the distribution list.

According to the article, even if the resulting total of her estate is at the low end of the estimate — $5 billion or so — the trust will be worth almost 10 times the combined assets of all 7,381 animal-related nonprofit groups reporting to the Internal Revenue Service in 2005.

Apparently the trustees, who have been busy liquidating Helmsley's real estate holdings since her death last year, have "fretted about the public outcry that disclosure of its terms might incite."

The estate could end up benefiting national groups like the Humane Society of The United States or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, smaller rescue groups, or could be donated to fund veterinary research.

(Photo by Jennifer Graylock/Associated Press)

When the little guy came trotting in from his mid-morning potty break on Saturday, he was covered in terra cotta-colored Virginia mud. It was all over his face, his legs, his tummy, and now our carpet. It was all I could do to get the clay-coated pooch back out the door before he started wiping himself off on the furniture.

The source of his filth was a small area under the stairs of our deck. Three summers ago we landscaped along the back of our house, and we added an in-ground water fountain under the deck steps that we could see from our basement patio.

Two summers ago we had the patio screened, and while we are thrilled with the patio, it obscured the view of the fountain.

During the construction of the screens, our contractor's border collie burrowed into the soft cool ground below the steps and behind the fountain for naps. This was not really an issue until Coral, the greyhound we adopted in the fall, started digging in the hole this spring.

This is Gracie. She likes to spend quiet afternoons in a sunny room reading The Roanoke Times' comics printed on an umbrella. Gracie enjoys the edgy humor of "Get Fuzzy," but feels Bucky Katt is misunderstood. She is undeniably attracted to "Garfield," and wishes her Aunt Lindsey would make her some lasagna.

Gracie, making her second appearance as a photo-of-the-week kitty, shares her home with loyal blog reader Kim. Gracie's aunt is blogger Lindsey Nair of "Fridge Magnet" fame.

This is Snowflake, a very sweet, people-loving kitty who has found herself looking for a new home at Angels of Assisi. She was turned in because her pet mom had allergies, and judging from this gray tabby's name, an odd sense of humor.

According to the folks at Angels, Snowflake is having a hard time living in a crate at the shelter. She apparently prefers laps and soft furniture. Then again, who doesn't?

If you would like to help Snowflake get out of the shelter, visit her at Angels of Assisi at 415 Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke.

And who can stop at just one kitty? Remember, cats are adopt-one-get-one-free for the rest of the month.

The ordinance was enacted to help animal control officers, who can barely keep up with calls about free-roaming animals, ease the strain shelters, where tens of thousands of animals are euthanized each year, and improve the quality of life for people and pets in the city.

According to a report on a Dallas television station's Web site, the city's animal shelter commission chairman, Skip Trimble, insisted that the city must move now to reduce the stray and feral animal population.

"It can only be done through sterilization," he said. "If we can't control the flow of water, we'll never stop mopping the floor."

The ordinance was passed by a vote of 10-3.

Critics of the new law feel it limits the rights of responsible breeders. However, mandatory spay/neuter laws do have significant impact on shelter euthanasia rates; the rate dropped 30 percent after the first year with such a law in New Hampshire in 1994.

What do you think? Should government enforce mandatory sterilization and limit the number of pets a family can have?

The representative I spoke to could not say what time the dogs will hit the post, but she said it would be after the jumping events.

The show starts at 6 p.m. and tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids.

Yeah, you read that right, a ram. A male sheep, mascot of many sports teams, emblem on Dodge trucks.

Real love knows no bounds.

"My toy poodle had 6 pups that are now 5 weeks old. One tiny pup was half as small as the others at birth and according to the vet, didn't have much of a chance to live. She now weighs a just under a pound.

The tiny pup not only fooled the vet, she saved her sister's life."

I'd hold on to that pup if you can, Dorie. She's obviously a good one to have around in a crisis.

"I was looking through your blog to see if you knew of any cat groomers in the area. It seems every place I call only works with dogs. My cat, Kali-Ma, has very long hair and is impossible to brush. She's been hair-ball-crazy lately and I'd like to get her groomed. Do you know of any places?"

My kitties have short hair so I can groom them myself with a brush (Thai actually will rub himself against the bristles if we hold it for him, effectively brushing himself) so I was no help here.

What do you say, readers? Anyone know of a cat groomer in the Roanoke area?

A prior commitment keeps me from going this year, but we had a great time when we attended last summer. It was brutally hot that day, but the event coordinators made sure to have plenty of water and wet towels on hand for the dogs, and a picnic shelter provided some relief from the sun.

If you want to go:

Where: Johnson’s Orchard, 2122 Sheep Creek Road, Bedford
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cost: $10 in advance for adults, kids and dogs; $15 per person at gate; children under 2 free
Contact: 586-3707 or go to peaksofotterwinery.com

Gus is a Chinese crested, a breed that seems to have an edge in these anti-beauty pageants. Gus, however, brings the breed standard of unconventional appearance to a whole new level.

Still, the little guy is a scrapper in the face of adversity: he lost an eye in an altercation with a cat and he lost a leg to skin cancer, a battle he continues to fight. His devoted pet mom, Jeanenne Teed, told reporters she plans to use the prize money for his radiation treatments.

Gus will likely be making the rounds of TV shows soon, and the contest itself will televised on Animal Planet this fall.

Read the Associated Press story here.

(Photo by Associated Press)