Pretty Pet-Friendly , livre ebook

Pretty Pet-Friendly
EASY WAYS TO KEEP SPOT S DIGS STYLISH SPOTLESS
JULIA SZABO
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
Howell Book House
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Photography by Heather Green ( www.heathergreenphotography.com )
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Szabo, Julia, 1965-
Pretty pet-friendly : easy ways to keep Spot s digs stylish spotless / Julia Szabo.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-37728-4
1. Pets-Housing. 2. Dogs-Housing. 3. Cats-Housing. 4. House cleaning. 5. Interior decoration. I. Title.
SF414.2.S93 2009
636.08 31-dc22
2008046483
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Book design by Melissa Auciello-Brogan
Book production by Wiley Publishing, Inc. Composition Services
This book is dedicated to my beautiful brindle bully Britannia, Tige, 1994-2008; my beloved blue Burmese, Ludmilla, 1998-2008; and my artist mother, Martha Szabo, whose paintings of my departed animals conjure them alive .
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Floor Plan
Threshold of Style
Points of Entry
Flooring Faux Pas
Flooring That Works
Feng Shui for Fido
The Floor as a Box Spring
Litter Logic
Chapter 2: Off the Wall
Color Ways
Panther Perches.
The Art World Goes to the Dogs
Chapter 3: Style by the Yard
Window of Opportunity
Furniture Choices: An Arm and a Leg
Fabric Selection
Beds and Bedding
Chapter 4: In the Kitchen with Your Galloping Gourrrmets
Choosing Wholesome, Healthy Food for Your Pets
Treat Em Right
Battling the Bulge
Storage Solutions
Bowled Over
Hydration Hounds
Fido-Proofing Your Own Food
Safety First-and Last and Always!
Kitchen Rx: Supplements
Chapter 5: Splish, Splash in the Bath
Groom with a View
Water Works
Rub-a-Dub-Tub
In a Lather: Checking the Ingredients of Pet Shampoos
Spot-Cleaning Spot
Skunk Attack
Sticky Situations
The Bathroom as a Safe Haven
Chapter 6: Groom Your Room
Paw-Print Prevention
Hairy Situation
Eat My Dust
Clothes Call
The Leash You Can Do.
Pick of the Litter
Sweet Smell of Ferrets?
Chapter 7: Green Clean
Greening the Clean for Pet Health
Easy (on the Nose) Being Green
Surface-Specific Cleaning Products
In the Kitchen: Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
The Lift of Lavender
Handling an Epic Accident
Chapter 8: Clearing the Air
Clean = Unscented
Foolproof Fenestration
For the Birds
Eau de Toilet
Think Inside the (Litter) Box
They Thank You for Not Smoking
Chapter 9: Home Safe Home
The Hazards of Home Furnishings
Toys: The Prettiest Playthings
Other Hidden Dangers
The Great Outdoors
Resource Guide
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Index
About the Author
Julia Szabo produces and writes the weekly Pets column for the Sunday New York Post, and the monthly You Your Pet column for Country Living magazine. Her writings on pets have also been published in the New York Times T magazine, the New Yorker, Town Country, Centurion, Departures, Travel Leisure, Interview, The American Dog Magazine, The Bark, and Traditional Home. She also blogs for PajamasMedia.com and Ceslie.com . She is the author of several books, including Animal House Style: Designing a Home to Share with Your Pets, and a frequent guest of Sirius Satellite Radio s Morning Living on the Martha Stewart Channel, where she answers callers questions live. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College, Julia is a member of the advisory boards of North Shore Animal League America ( www.animalleague.org ), the world s largest no-kill animal shelter, and The Toby Project, which provides free spay and neuter services to New York City s pets in need ( www.tobyproject.org ). To reach Julia, e-mail julia@animalhousestyle.com .
Acknowledgments
First, I d like to express my gratitude to Pam Mourouzis and the rest of the Wiley team for recognizing the need for a book that not only celebrates pets and design with lavish photographs but also explains the down-and-dirty ins, outs, and how-to s of making a home pet-friendly and keeping it that way. Huge thanks to my editor, the talented Tere Stouffer, whose own home is a model of pretty pet-friendliness, and to Kim Fernandez and Betsy Karetnick, scintillating hosts of Morning Living on Sirius Radio s Martha Stewart channel-they and their listeners are a wellspring of inspiration and invaluable feedback. A very special thank-you to everyone who so generously contributed images, especially Michael Diver, John Bessler, Dara Foster, Jessica Hegland, Eileen McCarthy, and A. E. Nash, and the patient souls who let me barge into their inner sanctums with my digital camera (hello, Lynda Clark, Charlotte Barnard, and my parents, Martha and George Szabo). How can I ever properly thank the brilliant photographer Heather Green, who trained her unerring lens on her own pretty pet-friendly place, shot the images for the front and back covers, and drafted her entire family into modeling service, as well as Jamie Downey, dynamo publisher of The American Dog Magazine and a great friend? For helping keep the pretty in pretty pet-friendly, thank you Arsen Gurgov of Louis Licari and Andrea Fairweather of Fairweather Faces. Last, but hardly least, my most heartfelt thanks to the animal shelters and rescue groups across this country that do dog s work every day, tirelessly cleaning and sprucing up to make the atmosphere more inviting for potential adopters-and to the animals of every species and stripe who beautify any space just by their precious presence.
Introduction
I got a lot of flack when the book came out, from people who thought the subject was silly.
Be careful what you say in an interview, because it could wind up as a quotation on a Web site and come back to haunt you. I made the above statement in a conversation with a fellow journalist about my first book, Animal House Style. The quote made it all the way to ThinkExist.com , but it leaves out the rest of what I said: The subject of pets and design-also the subject of this book-is not silly at all.
In fact, for the many pets who languish in animal shelters because house-proud folks hesitate to adopt, fearing that animals mess up a home, design can be a lifesaver. My goal is to encourage more people to visit their local animal shelters and adopt pets-and if that means writing books describing exactly how to keep their homes clean and looking stylish, I m happy to do it.

At the Colorado home he shares with his wife, Heather, Kevin Green relaxes with a copy of The American Dog Magazine with Jaidyn the Doberman and Bella the Great Dane. They also own two cats, Princess and Tygra (not pictured).
I hate to clean and historically have done almost anything to avoid it-unless, of course, I m on a book deadline, in which case I ll clean like a demon just to avoid writing (please don t tell my editor!). But I love animals and really can t ever see myself living without them. To me, a house isn t a home without at least one pet in residence.
However, li