30 Jan

Say Goodbye to the Dominatrix

Yes it’s true and for many of you this may be very sad – but it may be very good for your dog! For many years dominance has been a key term in dog training: you need to be the dominant one if your dog is going to respect you. Well without a safe word […]


22 Jan

Training With E-Collars: New Study Says Costs Outweigh the Benefits

At Pet Camp we’ve made the decision that in our Camper Cadet dog training program we will use only positive re-enforcement. We’ve worked with dogs from both private homes and animal shelters, all with amazing results. Before we implemented Camper Cadets we met with many dog trainers and got exposed to many different training techniques including […]


14 Jan

Pet Camp – Going Strong After All these Years

Several months ago I attended an industry conference in Denver. There were lots of presentations about all sorts of issues associated with pet care – how to clean and disinfect, dog body language, and of course the critical one for any small business, exit strategies. Now let me start by saying that Virginia and Mark […]


7 Jan

Time to Ban the Tattooing and Piercing of Pets?

Living in San Francisco makes you feel like you’re in the center of the body art universe.  There are piercings and tats on everyone (and you can assume everywhere based on what you can see). While personally I’m proud to remain tat and piercing free I understand that this is a personal decision and to each […]


19 Dec

Pets as Gifts? Think before you give!

Ahh, the holidays are upon us.  Time for celebrating, visiting family and friends, and gift giving.  At Pet Camp we know that a pet may not be the best gift (a left handed, senior hockey stick with a PM9 curve and a 77 flex might just be the best gift); a pet is for life and […]


10 Dec

Soap Pods Irritate Pets

Over the last few months there have been a host of news stories about the hazards of  prepackaged laundry detergent pods – you know those brightly colored and highly concentrated containers of laundry soap – which surprise, surprise, small kids think are candy and try to eat.  Well, according to the folks at DVM 360 […]


4 Dec

What’s the Deal With Training Cats?

This is a guest blog by Leeann, the Safari Ranger at Pet Camp Cat Safari Cats are notorious for being insubordinate, untrainable and, at worst, stupid. Of course, those of us here at Pet Camp Cat Safari and those of you with cats at home know how smart cats really are. Working with cats everyday […]


27 Oct

Halloween and Your Pet

Generally I’m a Grinch about holidays but I love Halloween.  It’s like a national holiday in San Francisco without the political or religious overtones. There are parties from the Castro District to the Cow Palace and everywhere in between. And since the city is Giants crazy, we already have an orange and black theme. Trick or […]


8 Oct

Remembering Familiar Faces at Pet Camp

Masai was the world’s greatest cat for 17 years.  He ruled Pet Camp, living mostly in the lobby but occasionally passing through the dog campsites (partly for his own amusement and partly just to show the dogs that he could). He greeted every client, both human and pet.  He climbed into purses, snuggled into dog […]


24 Sep

California Insurance Commissioner Goes to the Dogs, and the Cats, and the …

For many years California’s Insurance Commissioner has been tasked with reviewing both the cost and implementation of insurance policies sold to California residents.  Traditionally this has focused on those mundane insurance things like auto, home & health – well if A.B. 2056 is signed into law by the Governor, the Insurance Commission will also have the […]