The Holiday Pet Festival Pet Walk and Adoptathon will be held December 8 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Azalea Recreation Park, located at 1600 72nd Street in North St. Petersburg.

Activities will include a pet walk, photos with Santa, pet costume contests, an agility demonstration, nail trimming, pet vendors, food, music, arts & crafts & more.

The event will be presented by the terrific group, Stop Pet Overpopulation Together Tampa Bay (SPOT).

Yes, you'd better catch some extra zzzs, Miss Sugar Plum, Santa Claus is coming to town soon and we hear you've been a very good girl.

Emma, the English Bulldog, is companion to Sherry Morse, a fellow writer friend who also shares her life with Ricky, the pit bull, and several cats in Easton, PA.

There have been a few additions to the list of Florida cities which are now allowing dogs to dine with their humans in outdoor settings.

1. Thanks in large part to the urgings of area veterinarian, K.C. Nayfield, Crystal River recently passed its own doggie dining ordinance. It's interesting to note what Dr. Nayfield, a pet expert, says about the "germ" argument sometimes used against doggie dining.

"A restaurant patron is 1,000 times more likely to contract an illness from a food preparer, server or other diner, than from a dog because most bacteria are unique to a species."

2. City of Ocala officials told us last week dogs are now permitted to be with their people at outdoor eating areas of local restaurants. No muss, no fuss - good job, Ocala!

3. Kudos to the Bradenton City Commission for finally approving an ordinance to allow restaurants to choose if they'd like to offer doggie dining. One of our readers, Judy Gillete of Deland lobbied hard to make this privilege a reality.

4. Just this month, Malabar became Brevard County's first community to approve doggie dining.

5. Harmony's approved it, becoming the first doggie dining city in Osceola County. We'll have info next month about the first restaurant in this area to offer Fido a seat.

6. We had hoped to have the results of final meetings on doggie dining in Brandon, Cocoa Beach and Melbourne. Still other cities and counties have discussions of the matter on upcoming agendas and more will follow. We'll keep you updated.

This month's choice for a pet friendly getaway is Sunrise Suites Resort in Key West. I wrote about the Keys in the very first issue of the NewsPetter back in 2003, but still haven't visited. You see, I'm afraid if I ever go, I won't come back. Oh well, worse things could happen.

A neat feature of Sunrise Suites is you stay in condos, not cramped motel rooms. They've got a beautiful lagoon-shaped swimming pool and a lush, tropical atmosphere...ahh, I'm smelling the gardenias now.

The best thing about Sunrise Suites Resort is their pet friendly policy. From treats at the front desk to the outdoor "Doggie Business Center," this property welcomes animals. There's a $35 per night pet fee and a two, small to medium pet limit.

I put FloridaPets.net online in October of 2001 and have been publishing the NewsPetter since June of 2003. I've loved every minute of it all. My goal has been to provide readers with all that is pet friendly in our great state, using both FloridaPets.net and the monthly NewsPetter eZine.

As 2007 comes to an end, I am feeling reflective and thinking about what direction to take FloridaPets.net. I wonder if what I do is enough? Is it too much? What would you like to see more of. Less of? What do you like about what I do & what do you wish I would stop doing?

In a couple of weeks, I'll be sending out a survey and asking you to take a few minutes to complete it so I can start making some plans for FloridaPets.net in 2008 - and beyond. I'll make it worth your while. Everyone who completes the survey will receive a gift and then everyone's name will go into a drawing for a grand prize of a doggie or kitty goodies basket. Watch for the survey in your email soon. And again, thanks for "tailing" along with FloridaPets.net.