Dogs on spring break

http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/specials/pets/dogs_on_vacation_spring_08/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7

Wicked Dog

Some dogs are more naturally outgoing than others, but if your dog is so shy that it interferes with his or her normal activities, then it’s a problem. Shy dogs lack self-esteem and can jeopardize the stability and wellness of the group. Insecurity, tension, and anxiety have no place in a pack and the pack leader needs to address the issue right away.

The best way to deal with a shy dog is to gradually and safely expose the dog to the source of his insecurity. This ultimately will build confidence in the dog and allow him to remain a calm, functioning member of the pack. MORE

Dogs nose out treasures

Betty Shellabarger and Choo Choo, a 14-year-old Maltipoo, a Maltese-poodle mix, celebrate Easter Sunday at the Quad-City Animal Welfare Center’s 10th annual Doggie Easter Egg Hunt at Rock Island’s Hasselroth Park. Shellabarger also was celebrating her 50th birthday. (Elisa Petersen/Quad-City Times)

Snowflakes fell Sunday as doggy noses sniffed out a treasure trove of yummy dog biscuits during the 10th annual Doggie Easter Egg Hunt at Rock Island’s Hasselroth Park.

A $5 donation allowed each dog to hunt for a share of 1,000 dog biscuits and enjoy romping around the fenced-in dog park. The money will benefit the Quad-City Animal Welfare Center in Milan, Ill.

Choo-Choo, a 14-year-old Maltipoo, a Maltese and poodle mix; Max, 2½, a Yorkipoo, mix of Yorkshire terrier and poodle; and their humans collected two baskets of dog biscuits. Both dogs wore straw hats liberally garnished with ribbon, grass and Easter decorations.

“We do this every year. It’s just so festive,” said owner Betty Shellabarger, who came attired in a green grass head covering strewn with plastic eggs. “I carry him (Choo-Choo) and daddy gets all the eggs.”MORE

Unholy Terror

When a dog is transported to a new home which lacks a strong pack leader, it can lead to fear and insecurity. Jerry the German Shepherd had been adopted by an order of monks who once he arrived, were expecting him to project guarding behavior and were confused when he did not. Jerry’s insecurity by the lack of direction in his new home resulted in him running away from the monastery. By running away, Jerry may have been trying to find a place where he could return to a normal state-of-mind.

After Jerry was found and returned to the monks, the dog sensed that they still didn’t know what to do with him, which made him even more insecure and his resulting behavior was misinterpreted as aggression. But Jerry’s instincts were telling him, “Okay, nobody’s going to protect me, I have to protect myself.”

Remember, if you become fearful in front of an insecure dog, you are displaying a weaker energy than him. That gives him leverage over you. What you need to do instead is get back to the basics. Focus on the walk and projecting calm-assertive energy. This is the most important part of establishing yourself as a pack leader with a new dog. MORE

Our Dr. Marty Becker on ‘Good Morning America’ this morning

By Gina Spadafori

March 19, 2008

I’ll link to the video when it’s up, but for now, here’s the story that goes with Dr. Becker’s “GMA” appearance. About now, he should be in the studios of “The Martha Stewart Show,” taping two segments for later. Dr. Becker’s doing more media today, too, but I just can’t keep up with it all!

The “GMA” piece was based on our top picks from Global Pet Expo. And predicatably, there are people complaining in the comments about other people spending money on pets “when there’s so much wrong in the world.” I always wonder about these people … do they have a nicer house than they need? A nicer car? Nicer clothes? Hmmmm … if they’re not going to sell all that and start donating it all to the poor, then they really ought to keep their noses out other people’s lives.

Sheesh. Wouldn’t it be nice if people could just mind what they’re doing with their own lives, instead of paying so much attention condemning others?

Ice Dogs lose, miss Thrasher Cup chance - Sports

Ice Dogs lose, miss Thrasher Cup chance - Sports

Talking pet food with Marion Nestle

By Kim Campbell Thornton

March 14, 2008

Like many pet journalists, I’ve been working on a piece about the anniversary of the pet food recall. A year ago March 16, Menu Foods began a nationwide recall of “cuts and gravy” style food in cans and pouches. Soon more recalls were issued by other companies and the scope extended to dry foods. By the time it was all over, it had become the largest pet food recall in U. S. history.

One of the people I talked to was nutritionist Marion Nestle, Ph.D.Nestle, best known for her 2006 book What To Eat. She is the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. After writing What To Eat, a guide to shopping the grocery aisles, she decided to turn her attention to pet food, which had received short shrift in the earlier book. To her surprise, she ended up writing two books: Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine (September 2008) and What Pets Eat (2009). Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

KT: Did your interest in the food supply chain as a whole lead you to write about the pet food recall, or do you have pets whose welfare sparked an interest?

Marion Nestle: I did a book a couple of years ago called What To Eat that uses supermarkets as an organizing device for talking about food issues. Supermarkets have this great big aisle More

Crazy dreams and pit bull nightmares

By Gina Spadafori

March 8, 2008

Last night I dreamed that Drew was herding cats while I directed him to drive them into a pen. The scene was lifted entirely from “Babe,*” with Drew playing Babe and two large brown tabbies and one calico in the role of sheep. The cats walked eagerly forward, tails happily aloft, talking to Drew and gossiping to each other as they went.

I woke up to find Drew licking my face and the other pets looking at me in bemusement and concern. This is why I suspect my “That’ll do, Drew” was spoken not only in the dream, but to the bedroom at large.

That’ll do, indeed. It’s always like this in the Red Zone of a book project. …

***

Been meaning to point to Luisa’s post over on Lassie Get Help (speaking of herding dogs!) about Toronto’s pit bull ban. Does it ever seem that common sense has never been more lacking in legislation than it is today? (Asked and answered … yes!) Personally, I would rather my government act against real risks to public safety, like imported food and food ingredients. But that would buck some big money, and it’s far easier to take people’s pets away and pretend you’ve done something good. More

Gratuitous dog-blogging: Hybrid road trip!

By Gina Spadafori

March 8, 2008

This week I’m driving a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. I took a hour or so to take it up into the foothills for lunch. (Our DogCars.com editor Keith knows the place: Ikeda’s.) The Highlander has been redesigned to be a much better dog car, with wider rear with less slant, much better for crates and gear.

As for the hybrid aspect, well, what a trip: A full-sized SUV with lots of power and room that gets a minimum of 25 mpg going upgrade at 70 mph. Would I buy one? You bet, and believe me, I don’t drive all that many vehicles that have me wanting to get one.

By the way: Ikeda’s patio is about the most dog-friendly place I’ve ever seen. At lunch were a half-dozen well-mannered dogs at the outdoor tables, not including my two furry angels.

Pictured: Heather and Drew beg for curly fries. Yes, the old dogs were the only ones who got to go. More

Dogs in Danger: A deathrow countdown

"I have only seven days left!"

Every nine seconds a homeless dog in America gets euthanized -- and since October the web siteDogsInDanger.com has been putting a heartstring-tugging face on that alarming statistic.

Criticized by some, praised by others, Dogs in Danger posts photos and information on dogs that are scheduled to be euthanized at participating shelters, complete with a countdown to their execution.

It's a little too real for some people, and critics say the web site is using guilt to get people to adopt animals, leading sometimes to hasty and unsuccessful adoptions. The web site's creator, New Yorker Alex Aliksanyan says that's better than the alternative, and points out that 3,628 animals have been "saved" since it began. Aliksanyan says he makes no money from the site.

The web site has a memorial tribute page for each dog that doesn't get saved, each with an opportunity to contribute to Dogs in Danger in that dog's name.

Only a small percentage of shelters across America -- about 335 in all -- are participating in the web site, which has been criticized for taking shelter estimates of how much time dogs in shelter have left and carving it, if not in stone, at least on the Internet.

The web site has no entries from Maryland, Delaware or Pennsylvania.

An estimated 3 to 4 million dogs are euthanized a year in the U.S., and most big city shelters are now at least working toward becoming no-kill, including Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) and the Maryland SPCA.

But smaller, rural shelters, like the one Petey (pictured above in a shelter photograph) is in at Saint Clairsville, Ohio, and the one mentioned in this TV station report from New Mexico, say because of their tiny budgets aggressive tactics such as those Dogs in Danger uses are necessary.

What's your opinion? More

Dog discrimination: Why ignore a great pet because of color?

By Gina Spadafori

March 6, 2008

I take this one rather personally, since most of the dogs in my family are flat-coated retrievers, a breed commonly (but incorrectly) described as a “black golden.” (Flat-coats also less commonly come in brown, called “liver,” and very rarely, in yellow, called, “wow, is that a golden?”) See, we flattie fans know the truth: the golden retriever started as a “freak mutation” in flat-coats, and in fact, the golden was called a “flat-coated retriever (golden)” at the start.

Where was I .. oh yeah, black dogs. Pip my German shedder-brainy collie rescue is also mostly black. The only dog in my home who isn’t mostly black is The Drewbinator, a Sheltie whose lush blondie-golden coat and white ruff and mane attract people from a quarter-mile away when we go out. Except … Drew would really rather strangers not paw at him. He’s friendly enough, but crowds just aren’t his thing. Whereas the retrievers would like nothing but people people people, except people often are a little afraid of Big Black Dogs … BBDs. More

Kennel clubs help out police dogs

Mutts

Mutts, a blog by John Woestendiek of The Baltimore Sun

Thanks to two kennel clubs in Pennsylvania, all 23 state police dog teams in the state will be supplied with canine first-aid kits.

The Kennel Clubs of Lancaster and Delaware County joined to donate $2,500 -- money raised from dog-show entrance fees -- for the kits, which include items such as dog-sized splints for broken legs and tools to pull glass out of paws.

Representatives of the state police will accept the kits at a presentation March 15 at the Celtic Classic Dog Show, a four-day event in the Toyota Arena of the York Expo Center, according to an article in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.

The Delaware County Kennel Club has also donated 14 K9 bulletproof vests to law enforcement agencies and K9 oxygen masks to fire companies in Delaware County.

Live Chat with Animal Precinct Cop

Friday, February 22, 2008

She’s got sass and she’s got spunk. You might recall our September chat with Special Investigator Diane DiGiacomo, where she dished the dirt about what life is like on the force. This time she’s back to spill behind-the-scenes-secrets from the filming of Animal Precinct, Animal Planet’s hit reality showfeaturing the ASPCA’s animal cops on the job.

To talk to DiGiacomo live, please join the discussion on theASPCA Online Community TODAY Feb. 22, from noon to 2:00 P.M. EST. More

The puppy has landed

By Kim Campbell Thornton

February 25, 2008

My husband is working in Pleasanton this week, so we loaded up the Outback with dogs, dog paraphernalia, and everything the two of us needed for work and headed north. Our plan was to pick up our new puppy on Sunday and then all of us would stay in a hotel for the week. That would be neutral territory where the dogs could get to know each other.

We drove to Los Altos still not knowing which puppy would leave with us. After a couple of hours of lying on the floor and letting Yellow and Green crawl on us, nibble our ears and chew on our hair, carrying them around, and just watching them, we were still undecided. It’s difficult to make a decision when your choice lies between two equally nice puppies. So we went out to dinner with Jim and Joanne and let our thoughts percolate for a while. More

Cooking for pets: Share your treat recipes

By Gina Spadafori

March 2, 2008

Bernie mentioned that his wife makes salmon treats for Scout (share the recipe!) Dorene added recipes for liver brownies and liver pudding.

That got me to thinking we needed a pet treat recipe thread. So if you got ‘em, share ‘em.

Now, I have never baked treats for any pet. But that’s really no surprise since only recently have I started cooking for me. Yes, it’s true: The majority of meals in my single adult life have been of the frozen/nuke it variety, the cereal-and-milk variety, or (most often, most recent) the Whole Foods to-go variety.

But since late last year, I’ve also been trying to have a “Year of Living Greenly,” about which which I blog (albeit not as reliably as I do about pets) over here. (Yikes! I gotta blog before I get fired!) One of the things I’ve tried to do, with a fair measure of success, is eat at home, meals made from local and organic ingredients. (Local is green because it takes less fuel to transport it; organic is green because it’s less polluting and because manufactured fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides are fossil-fuel based.)

Most of the stuff I’ve been making is of the stew/soup/crockpot variety. And it’s not bad! I’ve even learned to do something with a parsnip. (It’s great in chicken soup.)

Unintended but extremely welcome consequences of making meals at home: 1) I’ve lost 20 pounds in three months (actually picture of me, above … not!); 2) my blood pressure, once a little high, is spot-on normal now (hmmm, lotta salt in that to-go stuff, ya think?); and 3) I’ve saved a ton of money. And that’s even still buying ingredients at Whole Foods a/k/a Whole Paycheck (I admit it: Ilove that store), although those purchases will diminish once the organic farmers markets get rolling, the local urban farm produce co-op gets the goods growing and my own garden gets in. (Not to mention my pets chickens start laying … once I get them and once they grow up. Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly has me totally beat in the urban livestock pets category: She has goats! I’m checking the zoning now for my county now … )

So … why not make some treats for the animals? I mean, really, now that I know where the controls for the oven are!

Got recipe? Share ‘em. If you’ve got Web sites with pet-treat recipes you like, share them, too. More

The sad day and long night of good-byes

By Gina Spadafori

February 29, 2008

Around lunchtime today, I decided to run some errands, first to my friend Pamela’s shop. Her wonderful old white German shepherd knows me, and he tottered out from behind the counter to say hello, briefly. I petted him without thinking much about it, just a “Hi, Wally-o!” before I wandered into the next room to talk to Pam. She was distant and apologized for it, said she had a lot on her mind and couldn’t talk.

So I left with a few items, ran a couple more errands, ate lunch and then got back to work. Hadn’t been writing but a few minutes when Pam called.

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t talk to you,” she said, then started crying. “I had to put Wally down today.”

I burst into tears, too. I’d just seen him a couple hours ago. And then I realized I hadn’t been seeing him in the shop much these last few months, and when he was there, he was obviously having difficulties. This was the one last good day for the good old dog, when everything would be as it once had been always: He’d go to the shop, go to a field he’d always loved exploring. But then … to the veterinarian he’d known his whole life, the last stop.

When we finally stopped crying, she said she’d have to put up a sign in the shop, “Don’t ask the owner where her dog is,” because she just didn’t want to keep telling people that he was gone. More