Traveling with your Dog | North County Ford

Taking your dog along can make the family vacation more fun for everyone, if you plan carefully. 

Here are some trip tips to make traveling with your dog enjoyable.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

• Health Checks. Bring your dog to the vet's for a check up before going on an extended trip. Make sure all his vaccinations are up to date; shot records with you. Health certifications are required for airline travel.
• To keep your dog healthy as you travel, bring along a supply of his regular food and some local, or bottled, water. Be sure to bring any medications he needs.

CRATES

• A crate is an excellent way to keep your dog safe in the car, and is required for airline travel. It can also keep your pet from getting into trouble in a hotel or at your host's home. Crates are available from most pet supply stores. Look for these features when purchasing:
• Large enough to allow the dog to stand, turn and lie down.
• Strong, with handles and grips, and free of interior protrusions.
• Leak-proof bottom covered with absorbent material.
• Ventilation on opposing sides, with exterior rims or knobs to prevent blocked airflow.
• "Live Animal" label, arrows upright, with owner's name, address and phone number.
• Stock the crate with a comfortable mat, your dog's favorite toy, and a water bottle, and your dog is ready to go.

IDENTIFICATION

• In the event that your dog gets away from you on your trip, you can increase the chances of recovery by making sure he can be properly identified:
• Make sure your dog has a sturdy leash and collar. The collar should have identification tags with the dog's name, your name, and your home phone number, as well as proof of rabies shots.
• Consider a permanent form of identification, such as a microchip (see AKC Reunite).
• Bring a recent picture of your dog along with you.

TRAVELING BY CAR

• Get your dog used to the car by letting him sit in it with you without leaving the driveway, and then going for short rides.
• Avoid car sickness by letting your dog travel on an empty stomach. However, make sure he has plenty of water at all times.
• Keep the car well-ventilated. If the dog is in a crate, make sure that fresh air can flow into the crate.
• Do not let your dog ride with his head sticking out of an open window. This can lead to eye injuries.
• Never let your dog ride in the back of an open truck. This is extremely dangerous and can lead to severe injuries or death.
• Stop frequently for exercise and potty breaks. Be sure to clean up after your dog.
• Car rides are boring for everyone, so instruct your children not to tease or annoy the dog in the car.
• Never, ever leave your dog unattended in a closed vehicle, particularly in the summer. See Summer Safety Tips for more information. If you must leave the car, designate a member of the family to stay with the dog.

LODGING

• Find out in advance which hotels or motels at your destination or on your route allow dogs. Many do not, or have size or breed restrictions.
• If your dog is allowed to stay at a hotel, respect other guests, staff and the property.
• Keep your dog as quiet as possible.
• Do not leave the dog unattended. Many dogs will bark or destroy property if left alone in a strange place.
• Ask the management where you should walk your dog, and pick up after him. Do not leave any mess behind.
• Remember that one bad experience with a dog guest may prompt the hotel management to refuse to allow any dogs. Be considerate of others and leave your room and the grounds in good condition.

Resource: http://www.akc.org/dog-owners/responsible-dog-ownership/travel-tips/

Once again the Ford Mustang is out in Front | North County Ford

Ford Mustang is officially American sports car to beat

After years of champing at the bit, Ford Motor’s Mustang is opening a huge lead in the race for the pony car market.

In the first five months of the year, drivers keen on an American sports car bought 56,571 Mustangs, a 55 percent increase from a year earlier. At the same time, Mustang’s closest competitor, Chevrolet’s Camaro, went into a skid; only 33,982 of the vehicles drove off the lot through May, a 13 percent decline.

It’s an astonishing gap in what has been a tightly contested market for 50 years. The past five years, Camaro has been on top. “I always think of it in political terms,” said Chevrolet spokesman Monte Doran. “There’s 40 percent of the market that would never think of leaving Camaro and 40 percent that will always buy a Mustang. But that 20 percent in the middle is the swing vote.”

The pony-car platform has long been simple and straightforward: lots of horsepower, loud paint, and cool design for relatively few dollars. A bare-bones Mustang posts 300 in horsepower and can be had for less than $24,000. It’s one equation that Detroit still engineers as well as or better than anyone else, along with pickup truck profits. But if the market were, indeed, an election, Ford is now winning in a landslide.

Part of its success comes down to timing. The Mustang sitting in dealerships now is a drastic redesign ordered up by the executive team to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary. The slightly younger Camaro doesn’t hit 50 until next year (or 2017, depending on when one marks its start date).

“Some of this can be explained just by people waiting for next year’s Camaro,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kevin Tynan. “But a lot of it is also the new Mustang just being really good.”

Drive a “triple yellow” version of the 2015 Mustang through the streets of Manhattan and you get two looks: approving nods and get-over-yourself eye-rolls. What’s important: Everyone looks. Even in single yellow, the machine would demand attention. Most notably, the Mustang seems longer and leaner than prior iterations less hot rod, more Jaguar, less Lebron James 2012, more Lebron 2015, all sinewy and carb-free.

“When you do such a dramatic redesign, either it’s going to resonate really well or it’s not,” said Ford Marketing Manager Melanie Baker. “Honestly, we’re ecstatic with the sales numbers.”

The Mustang can still be had with a manual transmission and a big-block V-8 full of barbaric yawp. But Ford is also offering the car with a turbo four-cylinder. To Mustang purists this is like selling four beers in a six-pack, but the purists will keep buying. Plus, it’s a new, green world out there, full of high- performance hybrids and sake cocktails.

“We actually call it Ecoboost, because people have a negative association with four-cylinder,’” Baker explained.

Roughly one-third of Mustang buyers are opting for the small engine. Meanwhile, California has become the Mustang’s No. 1 market.

In the cockpit, Ford finally fixed a number of little irritants. The cup holders, for example, no longer crowd the gear selector. And it added something called line lock, which clamps the brakes to let a driver smoke the back tires at a stoplight. It’s a feature straight from the “you know what would be cool?” file, and it comes standard. Despite little cheap engineering tricks like that, or perhaps because of them, the Mustang is pulling a greater share of buyers away from more refined and expensive luxury brands, according to Baker. (Note to BMW: make a burnout button.)

Chevrolet, meanwhile, is biding its time. Last month, it unveiled an all-new Camaro that will be about 200 pounds lighter than its predecessors and also can be had with the model’s first turbo-charged engine, a four-cylinder unit.

GM’s Doran said the vehicle’s designers managed to make the car look both contemporary and classic, which is never as easy as it sounds. “You could strip all the badges off that car and put it on the moon, and it would still look like a Camaro,” he said.

The most muscle-bound Camaro model will also make 455 horsepower, 20 more than Ford’s meatiest pony.

The more anticipation builds, however, the more the current Camaro will lose its sheen. At current trajectories, the Dodge Challenger, last year a distant No. 3 in the pony car race, will overtake Chevy’s entry-level sports car in the next few months. Through May, Challenger sales in the U.S. increased by 38 percent to 30,166.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra said the new Camaro is designed to keep the pony-car crown, not compete for second place. “I think we will, and that is our goal,” she told Bloomberg.The car will start showing up in dealerships around the end of the year; for General Motors, it can’t come soon enough. In the meantime, Camaro fans will be able to find screaming deals on the 2015 models.

Resource: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2015/06/09/ford-mustang-officially-american-sports-car-beat/28750027/