Q: I am a veterinary technician with eight years of experience. I work at a veterinary hospital, and I have also worked for boarding facilities as well as boarding dogs in my own home. I'm also a retired dog trainer, having owned my own company.

Many times I've had an animal dropped off for boarding with a prescription medication (or two or three) that must be administered while the owners are gone. The prescription bottle says: "Use as directed."

I have a boarder staying with me now, and I thought I had contact numbers, but nobody is answering. I have to find out about the drugs this dog is on, and I am trying to find out how much and how often the drugs are to be given.

"Use as directed" on a prescription bottle is, in my opinion, a way of saying, "I am too lazy to type the prescription on the bottle." There should be a law against such labeling on prescription bottles for pets!

Please let your readers know about this problem. And inform them not to accept any medications that aren't properly labeled with instructions that can be easily followed. — D.B., via e-mail

A: Yours is one of the best suggestions I've read in all the time I've been writing about pets. As I've often written, health care for our pets works best when we work as a team with our veterinarians. An educated, involved pet owner is every bit as important as a gifted veterinarian when it comes to maintaining the health of our pets.

I encourage every person to be sure to never walk out of a veterinarian's office without a clear understanding of the medication a pet has been prescribed, what it's for, how to give it, how it works, and what the possible problems with the medication can be.

Talking to your veterinarian about medications is essential, but it's also helpful to have some basic references on hand. Two I like to recommend are "The Pill Book Guide to Medication for Your Dog and Cat" (Bantam, $7) and "Pills for Pets: The A to Z Guide to Drugs and Medications for Your Animal Companion" (Citadel, $15). Online drug references, such as those at VeterinaryPartner.com and the human drug reference library at MedlinePlus (MedlinePlus.gov), are also useful.

Those darn burrs!

A: Here's a trick I picked up years ago from a top hunting-dog trainer: Use Pam non-stick cooking spray. Spritz a little into the burr area, and you should have an easier time working out the stickers.

Since you're walking your dog so frequently, you might also consider a thin vest to cover a good portion of her body fur. It won't help protect her leg feathering, but it will reduce the total area that's attracting the burrs. K9 Top Coat makes a lightweight stretch vest in bright safety orange Lycra with reflective strips. An added bonus: increased visibility when you're walking your dog on these days when sunset comes ever earlier.

The vest is $36.50 to $41.50, not including shipping, from K9 Top Coat (888-833-5959.)

(Do you have a pet question? Send it to petconnection@gmail.com.)