NONFICTION

If you're going green around the house, don't forget the dog. The authors offer advice on toys, grooming, food and housing and other ways of improving a dog's health and environment.

There are plenty of ideas here, from substituting lemon juice for toxic flea products at bath time to learning how to prepare healthy dog diets to making a comfortable bed out of recycled denim.

Other suggestions:

Mix up an herbal flea powder, using eucalyptus, rosemary, lavender, fennel, yellow dock and pennyroyal or any combination of those that you can find. Sprinkle the mix on the dog and then put him outside so that the fleas don't remain in the house.

Make beef jerky; there's a recipe in the book.

Keep the floors and areas around the dog's crate healthy by using natural products, such as baking soda or vinegar and keep unhealthy cleaning products away from them. Dogs are lower to the ground; chemicals or cleaners used on the floor can reach them easily.