{"id":46961,"date":"2026-09-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46961"},"modified":"2026-09-25T06:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T13:43:05","slug":"retro-recomendo-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/retro-recomendo-pets\/","title":{"rendered":"Retro Recomendo: Pets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our subscriber base has grown so much since we first started nine years ago that most of you have missed all our earliest recommendations. The best of these are still valid and useful, so we\u2019re trying out something new \u2014 Retro Recomendo<\/strong>. Once every 6 weeks, we\u2019ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one theme from the past 10 years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching a dog to speak<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t have a dog, but if I did I would be trying to get it to talk. At They Can Talk<\/a> there\u2019s a bunch of researchers training dogs to use cheap electronic devices to \u201csay\u201d words. Some dog-owners claim to be able to train their dogs to chain together a string of spoken words into something like a sentence. There\u2019s a whole community of folks trying it<\/a>, and recordable buttons<\/a> sold on Amazon, and a good book on it, How Stella Learned to Talk<\/a><\/em>. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pet-friendly duvet cover<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My dog is trained not to jump on the bed or couch unless his special blanket is laid out first. However, we recently discovered that our microfiber duvet cover<\/a> ($30) repels dog hair, so our house rules have changed. We no longer lay out the blanket and we just invite him up, which he, of course, quickly adjusted to. I\u2019m not sure where all his dog hair goes, but it definitely does not stick to our bedding. Another reason I\u2019m happy with our duvet cover is that it\u2019s made of seersucker, which means it never looks wrinkly. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cat donut cushion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our cats spend a lot of time nestled in their Love\u2019s Cabin Donut Cushions<\/a>. We have one for each of them, but they often snuggle together in one<\/a>. It makes me happy to see them sleeping in them. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find the perfect pet bird<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve owned birds in the past, and I\u2019m not in the market for one now, but my daughter showed me this fun quiz<\/a> that matches you up with the perfect type of pet bird and points you to rescue centers near you so you can adopt one. The quiz result said my kind of bird is the lineolated parakeet, and I agree. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Squirrel-proof bird feed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The only reliable way to deter squirrels from bird feeders is to use hot peppered bird seed. Squirrels (and other rodents) hate the taste of capsaicin, but birds are immune and happily chow it down. Train your neighborhood squirrels by starting out with 100% of hot peppered seed like Wild Delight Sizzle N Heat Bird Food<\/a> and then gradually dilute this expensive seed with regular stuff. I have not tried this, but you can make your own by mixing a cayenne oil like Flaming Squirrel Sauce<\/a> with your usual seed. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potty training app for puppies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was immediately overwhelmed when we brought our new puppy home two weeks ago. Puddle & Pile<\/a> was a mind saver. I log when my pup eats, drinks, pees and poops and the app will predict when he\u2019ll need to potty next and alert me. The more I log the more it learns about his habits and becomes more accurate. It\u2019s not perfect, but it\u2019s prevented a lot of accidents and I can\u2019t find a better app for the job. Suggestions welcome! \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recomendo – issue #533<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2323],"tags":[2324],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46962,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46961\/revisions\/46962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}