Skip to main contentBest Doc Who Still Makes (Dog) House Calls
Dr. Ray Holmgren, DVM, runs Parkrose Veterinary Clinic (4608 NE 102nd Ave., 252-9069) on his own. The reason? "Corporate practices measure success by efficiency and there's no personal involvement," says he. Well, there's certainly plenty with him, because he'll treat you as well as your pet. When it was time to put a pooch down, he came to one owner's house...on a Sunday...at 7 am...while he was on vacation. Now, what doctor does that? He believes such care lessens the trauma for both the pet and the owner. The good doc also has a "herd program," in which an owner can bring in three or more pets at once and he'll charge for only one office visit. He even runs a mobile clinic that performs house calls every day, for less than what most clinics charge for an office call. Three woofs for this throwback to a more civilized age.
Best Mongrel Coffee House
After an embarrassing night at one of the Lucky Lab outposts, Rover gave up the booze. But he still needed to find a place to meet bitches—a coffee shop where a dog could be a dog. Portland failed to deliver. He wandered until he reached Beaverton's Iron Mutt Coffee Co. (530 SW 205th Ave., Beaverton, 645-9746), where dog lovers sip espresso and grub on sandwiches and ice cream while pooches run free in a fenced-in yard. The shop also slings fancy biscuits and chew toys. It's a long haul (the owners are currently scouting a Southwest location), but now Rover can be social without the pressure to drink. Bow. Wow.
Best Way to Sleep with the Fishies
So you roll into town and you want a no-cost alternative to an escort service that will get you through the lonely hotel-room night ahead. The Hotel Vintage Plaza (422 SW Broadway, 228-1212) and Fifth Avenue Suites (506 SW Washington St., 222-0001) have the answer: goldfish. Among the available amenities at both establishments is a goldfish delivered to your room in its own gallon-and-a-half bowl to be your easy-on-the-eye companion. Assistant Vintage Plaza manager Marianne Moisant says each fish waits for the call in a large tank in her hotel's gym, then gets a name based on a theme like wine (think Burgundy) or jazz (Ella Fitzgerald). "Unfortunately, you get a few who don't make it through the night,'' Moisant admits. "We call it 'sleeping.'"
Best Piece of Furniture that Could Save Your Marriage
Lines are drawn in the litter: Whose turn is it to scoop? Where should we hide it? Quit the marital tiff and buy Compressed Pattern's Kattbank (kattbank.com). It's a cool, modern plywood bench—which skillfully hides a litter box. This ingenious piece of furniture isn't for your spoiled cat, it's for you: Sit on it, place books, drinks, whatever on it and guests will never know or smell its real purpose. Compressed Pattern's principals (and spouses) Arielle Glade and Travis Weedman also design locales for bipeds, including savvy spots like Northeast Portland's Pour wine bar and Mississippi's Por Qué No taquería. All Kattbanks are locally handmade, customizable—and super-expensive ($1,700-$2,200). For the discriminating yuppie feline with money to waste on waste.
Best Bull- and B.S.-Tamers
"But pit bulls bite babies!" say naysayers. Yeah, it's happened, but only because some rednecks trained them to. Thank goodness we've got the good folks, including founders Darren Linder and Amanda Gribben, at local nonprofit rescue agency Pawsitively Pit Bull (255-2313, pawsitivelypitbull.org), who outweigh their wretched pun skills with gushing buckets of love for this often-maligned and abused breed of dog. Not only does the agency work hard to set up dogs with good, loving owners (pit bulls are way overrepresented at animal shelters, according to PPB) and to change the public perceptions of the breed, but they also advocate strongly against "breed-specific" legislation, which attempts to outlaw the dogs completely.
Best Place to Howl Like a Dog
When the moon is full, animalistic yearnings take over. You're more hyper, hornier and restless, and sometimes the only logical thing to do is howl. While there are many key howling points in P-town, Council Crest (Southwest Council Crest Drive) seems best suited. The highest point in the West Hills boasts stellar views of Mounts Hood and St. Helens and the coastal foothills, which, when bathed in full moonlight, seem to glow. The skyline sprawls out below, with a spectacular view of the Willamette Valley. If your echoing howl is mighty, you might even freak out some suburbanites far below. ARRROOOH!
Best Study Paw-tners
No need to leave your best friend at home when you go back to school this fall—at Reed College, dorm cats are the norm in Foster residence hall, where each of the three floors adopts a cat to share for the year. While Lewis & Clark College and University of Portland maintain cat-dry campuses, Reed has welcomed feline residents for at least 20 years, says Sharon Lasher, assistant dean of residence life at Reed. And if cats rub you the wrong way, don't worry: You can bring snakes and ferrets to Reed, too.
Best Place for Unwanted Pussies
Michael and Cheryl Tuller were told everything they wanted to hear when they adopted a bobcat kitten over 10 years ago. But they soon discovered little Bobo was far too wild to live in a house (scratches and spraying). Duh, people: Wild animals belong in the, uh, wild. Shortly thereafter, these once-unenlightened wild pet owners founded Wildcat Haven outside of Sherwood (wildcathaven.org, 625-0812) as a true sanctuary (they don't buy, sell, breed or do shows) for unwanted wildcats like theirs. Currently hosting 42 cats of eight species (including cougar and lynx), Wildcat Haven is a nonprofit always seeking volunteers and donations. Oh, and they can help you find a safe home for that puma in your basement, too.
Best Bitches for Bad Boys
Woodburn's MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility holds thieves, rapists and murderers—some as young as 16, none older than 23. Many of these young men have been abused, abandoned or worse. They haven't had stable, loving lives—and neither have their dogs. In 1993, Joan Dalton, then the vice principal of MacLaren's internal high school, founded Project POOCH (pooch.org) to give inmates and homeless dogs something missing from their lives: trusting, loving relationships. Through the program, homeless dogs are boarded, groomed and trained by MacLaren inmates. Ultimately, the dogs are adopted by carefully screened owners. Inmate trainers teach the dogs trust, gentleness and respect for authority. In the process, trainers learn to value these lessons and apply them to their own lives. They also learn job skills and earn school credit and money. Project POOCH aims to give inmates the tools to be productive members of the community when they are released, and it seems to be working: To date, no Project POOCH participant has gone back to MacLaren.
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WWeek 2015