Native New Mexican Jacqueline Davis uses traditional beadingtechniques (sewn, not glued) to create flat and rolled dog collars,bridles, and halters of nylon or leather that can be customized with your animal’s name. This utterly cool bling for your dog orhorse should last forever and draw jealous looks from their peersin prêt-a-porter. Davis, of Edgewood, exhibits at the Decembercrafts show at Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales.
Doe Eyes Beadery, 281-3706 or doe-eyesbeadery.com
It’s hard to imagine anyone not falling for this charmingbook. In Unlikely Friendships (Workman Publishing,2011), Jennifer S. Holland, a writer for NationalGeographic, has collected photos and backgroundstories about 47 friendships between unlikely species. There’s a snake and a hamster, acat and a bird, a dog and a dolphin! Happily, Hollandrefrains from hypothesizing about evolutionary adaptations,and lets us simply enjoy knowing that theworld contains spontaneous events of kindness and
companionship, entirely against reason.
Available at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW,Albuquerque, 344-8139 or bkwrks.com
For your four-legged housemates who need to get a job,here are two award-winning toys, one that’s indestructible,the other irresistible. For Mr. Teeth, invincibles by Kyjen(www.kyjen.com), are squeaker toys that keep squeakingeven when punctured. Both the snake and gecko havemultiple squeaking chambers and come in two sizes. Thisone actually passed the 15-minute test with The BosqueBeast’s terrible terriers.
For Ms. Couch, there’s the Fling-ama-string (www.moodypet.com),an ingenious, battery-operated belt that you attach to a door handle.Turn it on, and it flicks a mousetail-like colored string as it revolves.When kitty catches the string, the belt stops. Check out the website video to see cats succumb to the feline version of World of Warcraft.
Both available at Boofy’s Best for Pets, Golf Course Road at Paseodel Norte (in Petroglyph Plaza), 890-0757 or boofysbest.com
Here’s some bling that even your horse will appreciate.Rhythm beads are recommended by trainers to improvecadence and calmness, like the sleigh bells of yore.The soothing sound puts both of you in a familiarrhythm, and helps focus your horse during training.One-of-a-kind and handmade from quality bead andbell findings plus collected treasures, they are availablein five lengths and can be custom-ordered.
Horsemen’s Feed & Supply, 8812 2nd St. NW, Albuquerque,792-8225 or horsemensfeedandsupply.com
Immortalize your best buddy in a ceramic tile hand-painted by Corralesresident Pumpkin Cary. Creator of the tiled murals at Animal Humane,she will paint a portrait of your companion from a photograph, or “customize”one of her standard breed designs on a 6-inch tile (the DuckToller, compared with custom Chihuahua mix) for about half the price.
