Dog-Friendly Stores in Cambridge

I just figured that I'd start making a list of dog-friendly stores in Cambridge.

If a store sells food, then I believe by law pets aren't allowed. Otherwise, I won't enter a store with Ruki unless they welcome her in, or I see dog biscuits or water bowls inside. Also, if they sell dog items, they're *probably* dog-friendly.

I've excluded from this list the obvious pet stores.

Confirmed

• Tags, Porter Square. Doggie biscuits at the customer service counter.


• Porter Square Books, Porter Square. Caveat: Pets shouldn't go into the coffee bar area.


• Greenward, Mass Ave.


• Mint Julep, Harvard Square.


• American Apparel, Harvard Square.


• Black Ink, Harvard Square.


• Evergreen Cleaners, Mass Ave.


• Harvard Wine Shop, Mass Ave. But it may depend upon who's in the shop.


• Joie de Vivre, Mass Ave.

Seems Not

• Nomad, Mass Ave.

Infant Day Care in Cambridge

Haven't had much change on the Ruki-front. She's just great as always. But there's new news on the family front: We're having a baby. So, yeah, I'm researching infant day care in Cambridge. And since it took me so damn long to find these places, I figure I'll post my results on the Internets.

Here's a Google map with all the day care agencies that provide infant care in Cambridge:


View Larger Map

I also compiled a list with more information of all these day care center:

Associated Early Care & Education - Central School

43 ESSEX ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139-2647

Capacity:67

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Associated Early Care and Education /Children's of Cambridge

243 HARVARD ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139-2640

Capacity:68

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Bigelow Cooperative Day Care Center

ZERO GARDEN ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138

Capacity:32

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Botanic Gardens Children's Center

26 ROBINSON ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138-1404

Capacity:59

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Bright Horizons @ One Rogers Street

1 ROGERS ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02142-1209

Capacity:62

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Bright Horizons Children's Center University Park

129 FRANKLIN ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139-4160

Capacity:61

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Bright Horizons Childrens Center- OKS

ONE KENDALL SQ BUILDING 1500,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139

Capacity:97

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Children's Village

55 WHEELER ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138-1192

Capacity:75

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Harvard Yard Child Care Center

25 FRANCIS AVE,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138-2009

Capacity:58

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Moppets

7 CAMBRIDGEPARK DR,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02140-2309

Capacity:170

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Mulberry Child Care Center

725 CONCORD AVE,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138-1040

Capacity:86

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Our Place

402 MASSACHUSETTS AVE,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139-4132

Capacity:38

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Oxford Street Day Care Cooperative

25 FRANCIS AVE,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138-2009

Capacity:39

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Peabody Terrace Children's Center

900 MEMORIAL DR,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138-6237

Capacity:83

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Radcliffe Child Care Center

10 DEWOLF ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138-6098

Capacity:60

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Technology Children's Center - Eastgate

60 WADSWORTH ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02142-1317

Capacity:43

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Technology Children's Center at Stata

32 VASSAR ST,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139-4309

Capacity:82

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

The Henry Buckner School

85 BISHOP ALLEN DR,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139-3407

Capacity:79

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

TSC Tot Child Care Center

55 BROADWAY DTS 94,CAMBRIDGE,MA 02142

Capacity:56

Infant:Yes
Toddler:Yes
Pre-School:Yes

Ten Important Things Your Dog Wants You To Know

I got this from the Bulldog Domain, and even though it's cheesy it rings so true:

"If your dog could talk, these are some of most important things she would like to tell you...

1 - My life will probably only last 7 to 14 years. It will hurt me more than you know if I have to be away from you for longer than a day or two.

2 - If you have patience with me and give me time to learn what you would like from me, I can promise you, you will never be disappointed.

3 - Trust me with your life and have faith in our future together. If I don't feel that you honestly believe in me, I will suffer great emotional stress. My sense of self-worth is totally dependent upon your confidence in me.

4 - Don't stay mad at me for long or confine me to a cage to punish me. You have your friends, your job, and your recreation. I HAVE ONLY YOU!

5 - Talk to me about anything you want as frequently as possible. Even if I can't comprehend your precise words, I can understand the meaning of what you're telling me by the tone of your voice.

6 - Remember no matter how you treat me, I will NEVER forget it.

7 - When you consider raising your hand to hit me, remember I have teeth that could break the bones in your hand, but I choose not to bite you.

8 - Before you scream at me for failing to respond to your commands as I usually do, take time to think about what might be wrong with me that would cause me to treat you differently. Maybe I haven't been eating right or drinking enough water. Or maybe my age is catching up with me and I just can't do what I used to do.

9 - Take good care of me when I get old. Someday you will be as old as me and you will see how it feels.

10 - Be there for me through good times and bad. Never say you can't handle taking me to the vets for stitches or surgery. Nothing could make me feel worse. Everything in my life is easier for me to deal with when I have you standing by my side. Remember my love for you is unconditional and it will last for your entire life.

Judith Howard Toronto Ontario CA"

Switching to Adult Food

So Ruki's 9-months... And we just started switching her to adult food! Apparently, you're supposed to start switching bulldog puppies to adult food between 6 and 8 months. I think she's fine.

We used to use Innova Puppy Dry, and so naturally we are trying a switch to Innova Adult Dry. But I'm worried about two things: the adult formula has less fiber than the puppy formula, and I'm wondering whether to put her on a large breed diet to get glucosamine and chondroitin for her joints (Innova Adult Dry has none).

I want her to have some fiber because I'm worried about the anal glands. We toss her a shredded wheat cereal biscuit every once in awhile, but I'd rather have the fiber in her food, so it's consistently there.

Some people recommend feeding bulldogs large breed formulas because they're "large breeds packed into a medium breed body." Also, they tend to have joint and hip problems, and the large breed formulas are made to reduce mass and be gentler on the joints--hence the glucosamine and chondroitin.

Furthermore, I'm starting to reconsider Innova. The one store in my area that stocks it doesn't consistently have the food we need in stock. I went there, juggling between Adult Dry, Large Breed Adult Dry, and one of the EVO brands, but they only had Adult Dry and EVO Senior. Screw them, then. Maybe I'll switch to a different store that will stock more Wellness, Royal Canidae Bulldog, etc. Maybe Wyosong (to add to their rivalry)?

The other thing, then, is to supplement Ruki with glucosamine and chondroitin and fiber treats. I'll keep the blog updated on our decisions.

Charlee Bear Liver Treats

We've been using Charlee Bear liver treats with Ruki for quite some time. We mix them up with Old Mother Hubbard biscuits (the small ones in assorted flavors) and Merrick Breath Biscuits. But the Charlee Bears were her least favorite until I discovered this trick.

If I offered her a Charlee Bear, she'd just swallow them. Not much fun, not much pleasure. But then I realized, maybe she'd get more taste if I snapped them into pieces before giving them to her--a flavor explosion is how I term it.

And it worked. She loves them now. So if I need her to do something, I'll take a Charlee Bear between my thumb and my index and middle finger, and "snap" it into pieces and then offer it to her.

Just a little hint for using these low-calorie, super-simple, little treats for training.

Over-Tired Puppy

So over time we've kind of figured out how and why Ruki has her crazy times. She's now at the age where she'll have one crazy time a day, a few times a week. (She's almost 9 months.) Crazy time means that she's running around in circles, grabbing at things, play-stancing all over the place, picking things up and tossing them about. Usually lasts for a minute or two. It's cute, but she's crazy.

When it's in the afternoon or early evening, I figure, well, that's just her crazy time. But when it happens in the morning or later at night, we've realized that it's because she's over-tired.

The biggest sign is when I look at her eyes, and they whites aren't clear white--they're more reddish. And there are some bright red veins that run across the whites. It's kind of like when people get tired and their eyes get red and bloodshot. So when this is the case, even though she wants to be crazy, we crate her and let her sleep it off. Then her eyes clear up and she's back to being a teddy dog for the rest of the night.

Update on Tail Pocket and Scooting, Warts

As I mentioned before, Ruki's been scooting in the mornings. It's gotten a lot better since we've been cleaning out her tail pocket about once a week or so with pet wipes.

I also never updated, but about week after the last update about the warts shriveling up, they were totally gone. So really it only took her about a month to grow out of the warts. Whew!