Apopka's Club Lake Plantation full of dog-friendly fall fun

Looking for some fall fun with your pet. This feature I wrote for Barkpost has some great fall/Halloween activities you can do with your dog. 25 of them, in fact.

• 25 Fantastic Fall Events Around the Country for You and Your Dog

And for us Central Floridians, this great month-long festival is going on right now!

How to make an easy skirt for your dog this Halloween

I'm not big on costumes, but there is something amusing about a dog in a puffy skirt (like a tutu).

So when I had to come up with a Tinker Bell, I knew I needed a skirt. But I couldn't find one in the stores, and I didn't want to buy one online.

Turns out making a skirt is pretty easy!

What Hurricane Irma taught me about dogs, disasters

It's 2 a.m. and 89 degrees in the house. I'm stripped down to my underwear, "The Crown" is on my tablet to try and distract me from my discomfort at the heat and humidity, the darkness and the otherwise silence of my powerless home.

What I can't distract myself from is the sound of Lulu's breathing.

It's faster than usual, and her chest is heaving up and down quickly. She's not panting, just breathing heavily.

I rub her chest and "arm pits" with a damp rag in the hope of keeping her comfortable.

Jasmine tries to stay cool. She handled the lack of AC better than Lulu.

But I'm resolved. Tomorrow, they all go to my parents' house, even if I hate to do an overnight trip and rush back to work.

Their discomfort is more upsetting to me than anything else about this situation. It's early Thursday morning, Sept. 14. I've been without power since Sunday, Sept. 10, when Hurricane Irma hit Orlando and the rest of Florida.

And I won't have power again until Sept. 19.

Lulu poolside two days after Hurricane Irma. Debris could be cleaned out, but without power I had no filter for over a week. The pool turned quite green.

I'm lucky, I really am. There are people in Florida and Texas and Louisiana and the Caribbean who have it a lot worse. One beagle breeder friend in South Florida had to leave a flooded home. Other friends waited for days before they heard from loved ones in Puerto Rico.

But I learned a lot about myself, and about dogs, in a disaster, in the days after Hurricane Irma.

DISCLOSURE: I received Fresh Wave and One Fur All products from those companies. I received no monetary compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Trip Advisor's Holiday Lettings named us a Top Pet Blogger

We're honored to be named a Top 9 Pet Blogger by Holiday Lettings by Trip Advisor!

Solar eclipse and pets: Scientists want your help

Everyone is so excited about the solar eclipse today.

And online there are some saying keep your dog in the house, some are saying you don't need to because they won't look at the sun anyway.

Scientists are very interested, however, in how your pets will react in general.

It's called the Life Responds project, and scientists at the California Academy of Science want your help.

3 ways you can help Clear the Shelters when you can't foster, adopt

Saturday, Aug. 19 is Clear the Shelters Day!

Thousands of shelters in the United States are currently full of pets looking for homes -- it's a big summer problem. And it will take all of us to help reduce the pet population in our shelters.

When you adopt a pet, you actually rescue two -- the one you adopt, and the one that can take its place so it is not killed.

Buster is a 4-year-old beagle at Orange County Animal Services in Orlando, FL. He is heartworm positive, but his treatments are sponsored.

Ideally, we'd all love to run out and adopt every pet who needs a home. But that's not feasible. Still, there are ways you can help #ClearTheShelters today and everyday. Here are three:

Help your dog handle a new school year: Jones Natural Chews review + giveaway

UPDATE: Just to make it clear, to be qualified to enter, you MUST leave a comment in the comment section at the end of the blog AND enter the Rafflecopter widget by confirming that you left a comment. I see some people have entered the Rafflecopter widget by saying they left a comment... but didn't leave a comment. Please do so.

It's tough to imagine the summer is almost over and children are going back to school.

That means a rush of shopping, getting kids back to a bed routine, maybe a doctor visit or two, maybe even one last trip somewhere fun. 

But dogs are creatures of habit. And after a relaxing summer with their best friends, the new school year up-ends their peaceful existence. So lets help them adjust!

And one way is to use long-lasting chews that they can keep busy and relieve stress with. That's why we're partnering with Jones Natural Chews to help.

We're giving 2 people a set of great Jones Natural Chews center bones to get you started.

DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by Jones Natural Chews. But all of the opinions and information are our own.