Late last March, my wife and I adopted an elderly toy "choodle" (poodle-chihuahua mix) from the local ASPCA. Peanut is now one of the joys of our lives.

We're taking her with us when we drive to Cincinnati to see my wife's parents for Christmas. Peanut is an old girl, no less than 10 years, probably more like 15, so we took a Pet First Aid course. We even have the wallet cards (now laminated) to prove it. Lessons learned:

(1) People don't really seem to care about learning first aid for their pets. We were two of THREE people in the class. They'd rather rush to the vet's and pay BIG money.

(2) People don't want to spend money to learn first aid for their pets. We paid $30 a pop. Acquaintances thought I was a sucker. Why would I take this course when I "could just call the vet."

(3) The Red Cross is losing money by hosting these courses. They may not continue. The contract instructor was paid more than we paid in fees. That is sad.

(4) I live in Mongomery County, PA. I had to go to the Berks County Chapter for this course. The reason? I couldn't get through to anyone at the Montgomery Chapter. Not by phone. Not by email.

The Montco chapter's web site is sad. Broken links and all. I resorted to calling fire stations and leaving messages for the training coordinators to call me back. Not one did.

I called Berks County and someone picked up the phone immediately. The Berks web site is well organized and I found what I was looking for in seconds.

The funny thing is, Montgomery County is the biggest county in PA. I thought its web presence would be well-funded and well-organized. I guess I thought wrong.

Has anyone else here taken Red Cross Pet First Aid?

-- Craig