CA

Lil squirrelly faces like this one are terrorizing the city of Santa Monica – in fact, there's such a population explosion in Palisades Park that the officials are taking a (thankfully) humane tactic to cut it down . . . birth control shots. It's only the second city in the state (Berkeley was the first) to administer GonaCon, an immuno-contraceptive developed by the US Department of Agriculture to help control the squirrel population. While it doesn't come cheap – costing $2 to $10 a shot – it has no side effects and is much better than the traditional population-control strategy . . . euthanasia. Find out a little bit more (with more pictures) when you read more

My time in LA would not be complete without a fab party, yummy cupcakes . . . and pressies for North! My fave store I visited was Beverly Hills' Doggie Styles – not only was everyone super friendly (including the in-store Frenchie and Boxer) but they had some super-cute pet gear to boot. Now it's much chillier up in the Bay than in SoCal so when I saw this black velour hoodie ($39), I couldn't resist bringing it home for North's nighttime walks. See a couple more shots of North (even with the hood up!) when you read more

I've made no secret of my love for cupcakes so during my weekend in LA, Sprinkles was a must stop. With 20 (people) flavors, I was like a kid in a candy cupcake shop. And how sweet is it that they actually make puppy cupcakes with yogurt or carob frosting?! I was hoping a dog would wander by so I could buy him this treat and take his piccy while he enjoyed it . . . but, despite all the dogs I saw around Beverly Hills, there didn't happen to be any wandering down the street that morning. Boo. I knew this cupcake wouldn't make it home in my suitcase for North, but a new location will be opening at Stanford Shopping Center this summer, so I'll be able to drive down to the peninsula and pick up a cupcake for my pooch then!

Remember when Mýa and the North Shore Animal League kicked off the Tour For Life just a couple weeks ago? Well, now that the cross-country adoption drives have their engines up and running, check out all the people who cruised in for yesterday's event featuring pets from the North Shore Animal League America and the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services at Venice Beach, CA. I love to see celebrities backing good causes, and this certainly counts as a great one. This month-long cooperative initiative with animal shelters across the country not only raises public awareness about the plights of all shelter pets, it also helps hundreds of orphaned dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens find their forever homes. And, because I love looking at cute pooches finding new families, I couldn't resist sharing a gallery of some of the adoptable furries when you read more

Late last week I got an urgent phone call from a close college friend. She was in LA on her move back from Colombia leaving that evening on her way to DC for work. Her continent-crossing pittie, Baby, is (obvs) too big for clothes for the pocket-sized pups but she was worried about the warm-weather doggie getting too chilly and wanted to pick up a sweatshirt for the trip. She didn't have the time to order one of these fun hoodies I found so I immediately thought of the best store to send her to — The D.O.G. Boutique (that's the dee-oh-gee, for those in the know).

A few hours later, I got a happy text from her when she was sitting in the airport – hooray! Not only was the saleswoman super sweet, they found an awesome pink hoodie at this West Hollywood outpost. D.O.G.'s online store doesn't even hit half of their cool products so, if you're in LA, definitely check out this store!