Archive for November, 2009
Some Fundamentals of Crate Training A Dog
Pet InfoThere are a lot of misconceptions concerning crate training. Many mistakenly believe that it is negligent and even cruel and that you are in essence locking your pet up in a cage. It is in reality a safe, humane, and effective way to train your dog. Far from being “locked up in a cage,” crates [...]
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Saving animals from the grassroots up
Despite being one of the most progressive cities in America politically, Austin’s animal control policies and programs were anything but. In 2004, almost 13,000 animals died at its Town Lake Animal Center, more than half the animals that came in its doors. And in the years that followed, Austin’s kill rate continued to increase, despite the fact that its intake stayed around the same and Austin is a prosperous and animal-loving town.
In 2007, Austin killed more than 14,000 homeless pets. In 2008, Austin Pets Alive started pulling pets off of death row and finding homes for them, reaching a total of 2,741 by late 2009. Along with FixAustin.org, a group dedicated to reforming the entire shelter and animal control system in the city, this networker of rescuers, animal lovers and advocates conducted a guerilla campaign aimed at local media and the city council, working to get the city on track.
And it worked. Last month, the Austin City Council laid down the law to its animal control agency, and told it to get with the no kill goal by implementing large-scale foster programs, off-site adoptions, TNR for feral cats, and all the other programs that have reduced or ended the killing of healthy and treatable dogs and cats in other communities.
Helping lead that successful effort was Ryan Clinton of FixAustin.org. I saw Ryan speak at the No Kill Conference in Washington DC last May, and was blown away by his honesty and willingness to share what worked, what failed (sometimes quite spectacularly), and how other communities could — and are — doing the exact same thing.
PetHobbyist.com is launching a series of special guest chats on the topic of “Ending Pet Homelessness,” and I couldn’t think of a better person to get that series started than Ryan. He’ll be online for an hour-long Q&A session on “Saving Your Community’s Animals from the Grassroots Up” this evening, Monday, November 30 at 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific Time in the Auditorium Chat Room (or, if you’re not a registered user of PetHobbyist.com, you can log in here as a guest — just select “Auditorum — Special Events” from the menu).
He’ll be discussing how to work with the media and politicians (and how not to), and how “the little guy” can effect big change for the animals, even against enormous obstacles.
Hope to see you there!
Parrots Get In On the Identity Theft Game
Whenever I travel I make sure to bring along multiple forms of identification.
In today’s Big Brother society I’m not allowed to go anywhere without my dog tag. Name, phone number and treat preference are easily read by those I let get close to me.
I also have a chip in my body somewhere, and I’m not talking about the potato chip I just took off of the old man’s plate. No, this one has an identification number on it and cross references me on some list somewhere. As far as I know I’ve managed to stay off of any terrier lists.
I also have my Together Tag in case the need for emergency care presents itself. Truth be told the Together Tag trumps the standard, run of the mill dog tag, but I like to showboat my jewelry…even if it is just tin.
And finally, I always carry my inoculation papers with me. I keep them in a zippered pocket on the inside of my fur suit. I don’t want to be stopped on the road by some German Shepherd who asks to see my papers and come up empty. If that happens, a guaranteed visit to the local dog pound is in order, and let’s face it, some of us don’t make it out of there.
My point is that you want to make sure you have plenty of identification with you. Not because you may forget who you are, although sometimes that’s a helpful fantasy, but so that others know who you are and can keep tabs on you.
I give this advice, albeit a bit late, to a Scottish visitor who had his passport ripped off by a local thug in New Zealand. Who else but The Telegraph would have the full details?
Police said the Scottish visitor reported the theft from a tour bus on its way to Milford Sound, a coastal beauty spot in South Island’s rugged Fiordland region.
A police spokesman in Te Anau, the nearest town, said the kea had swooped on a brightly coloured courier bag containing the man’s passport when the coach made a stop and the driver opened the luggage compartment.
The passport has not been recovered and, given the 4,600 square mile size of Fiordland’s alpine national park, the officer feared it was unlikely to be.
The Scotsman, who did not want to be identified, said he had been told by the British High Commission in Wellington that there could be a wait of up to six weeks before he receives a replacement passport.
He said he was planning to return home to Scotland in August.
“My passport is somewhere out there in Fiordland. The kea is probably using it for fraudulent claims or something.”
Keas, a highly intelligent green native parrot with a powerful curved beak, long sharp claws and a comical waddling walk, are both beloved and hated by New Zealanders and tourists.
Intensely curious and with a proclivity for mischief making, groups of the birds have been known to vandalise parked cars in a matter of minutes by stripping out the rubber surrounds of windscreens and doors, breaking off wing mirrors, and even shredding tyres.
Known as “the clown of the mountains”, they also have an irresistible interest in anything new or shiny.
That sounds an awful lot like my old man. He’s the clown of the house and when he sees something new or shiny he gets mesmerized like some Manchurian Candidate.
<a href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Parrots+Get+In+On+the+Identity+Theft+Game+” target=”_blank”>http://dg2ki.th8.us”>
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BoKnowsOnli…
Development Of Relationship With A Dog Is The Method Of Producing A bond Of Understanding
It is nice to keep pets in homes, specially the dogs as a praiseworthy and the most intelligent companion. Bringing home new puppies is quite arousing to fondle plump and playful creature. As long as puppies are too young, they may not be a cause of worry to the owners. Actual worries set in [...]
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Saving animals from the grassroots up
Despite being one of the most progressive cities in America politically, Austin’s animal control policies and programs were anything but. In 2004, almost 13,000 animals died at its Town Lake Animal Center, more than half the animals that came in its doors. And in the years that followed, Austin’s kill rate continued to increase, despite the fact that its intake stayed around the same and Austin is a prosperous and animal-loving town.
In 2007, Austin killed more than 14,000 homeless pets. In 2008, Austin Pets Alive started pulling pets off of death row and finding homes for them, reaching a total of 2,741 by late 2009. Along with FixAustin.org, a group dedicated to reforming the entire shelter and animal control system in the city, this networker of rescuers, animal lovers and advocates conducted a guerilla campaign aimed at local media and the city council, working to get the city on track.
And it worked. Last year, the Austin City Council laid down the law to its animal control agency, and told it to get with the no kill goal by implementing large-scale foster programs, off-site adoptions, TNR for feral cats, and all the other programs that have reduced or ended the killing of healthy and treatable dogs and cats in other communities.
Helping lead that successful effort was Ryan Clinton of FixAustin.org. I saw Ryan speak at the No Kill Conference in Washington DC last May, and was blown away by his honesty and willingness to share what worked, what failed (sometimes quite spectacularly), and how other communities could — and are — doing the exact same thing.
PetHobbyist.com is launching a series of special guest chats on the topic of “Ending Pet Homelessness,” and I couldn’t think of a better person to get that series started than Ryan. He’ll be online for an hour-long Q&A session on “Saving Your Community’s Animals from the Grassroots Up” this evening, Monday, November 30 at 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific Time in the Auditorium Chat Room (or, if you’re not a registered user of PetHobbyist.com, you can log in here as a guest — just select “Auditorum — Special Events” from the menu).
He’ll be discussing how to work with the media and politicians (and how not to), and how “the little guy” can effect big change for the animals, even against enormous obstacles.
Hope to see you there!
Georgetown Township dog earns right to be called Grand Hunting Retriever Champion – MLive.com
MLive.com Georgetown Township dog earns right to be called Grand Hunting Retriever ChampionMLive.com"You're asking a lot of that dog. You're asking a dog to shut off his instincts." Love of a friend's pooch sparked Doane's interest in hunting dog training, … More: continued here
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New Website Launch
Just a heads of to Nature’s Pet Market customers. We now have a new store website, www.NaturesPetMarket.com, and a new franchise information website, www.NaturesPetFranchise.com. Check out the new look and let us know what you think.
Quick clicks, good reading: The Sunday wrap-up
In no particular order …
O, Canada! What a horrid mess at the Toronto Humane Society, an organization that apparently went off the rails long ago. The place was raided, officials arrested, financial records being demanded, and the mummified remains of a cat in a trap caught and never removed from the ceiling were discovered:
“It sent chills down my spine,” said Kevin Strooband, lead investigator from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “I don’t know what is going on here, but it seems like a house of horrors.”
[...]
The facility has been described by former employees as a place of unimaginable suffering, where the weak were stacked in overcrowded disease-ridden conditions and left to die in terrible pain.
Collection of articles here. I don’t even know where to begin … but this has to be the extreme example of a shelter industry so far away from its mission, so used to killing instead of saving, so overwhelmed with compassion fatigue — and too busy pointing the finger elsewhere — that demands for shelter reform and no-kill communities just can’t be heard.
A new broom sweeps best. Time for serious house-cleaning in the shelter industry. And if that means no donations until “leadership” leaves and a new generation of shelter managers can be brought in to better care for sheltered animals and boost placement rates … so be it.
O, Canada, part II: Also coming from Toronto … a politician introduces legislation to reverse Ontario’s pit-bull ban.
Microchips, please: A police dog was killed in a shelter. The dog, an older black Lab, was just another unadoptable BBD, who figured him for a skinny abandoned farm dog And the police department? You have a valuable animal like this and you can’t be bothered to microchip? And what’s up with kenneling this old guy at the water treatment plant. No one in the department could make him family? Poor Felony. So much for a lifetime of service.
Pets in the pews: Loved this piece on NPR this morning about church congregations that welcome dogs. Some admit it’s about building attendance, but I don’t care: It’s a great move. I’d even consider giving up my Sunday morning if I could take one of the dogs with me. Of course, since Woody’s Swedish, I’m guessing he’s Lutheran.
From the article:
[T]he Rev. Tom Eggebeen, the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church [...]Â says churches have been slow to recognize the deep bond people have with their pets.
“The question was raised by other people, you know, why dogs?” he says. “Not only are they important family members, but there’s more to it than that. They belong to God, too, by gum.”
Eggebeen, himself a dog lover, says another question he is often asked is whether he believes dogs have souls.
“When God created life, he blessed every dimension of it,” he says. “So we share that with all the animals of the world.”
Services like those offered at Covenant Presbyterian are part of a growing interest among people whose pets are central to their lives.
Laura Hobgood-Oster, a professor of religion at Southwestern University, conducted a survey that found more than 500 churches nationwide conduct annual blessings of pets and animals.
Feathered, fowl and looking for trouble: Heather Houlahan has some funny stuff about her turkeys, all of whom made it through Thanksgiving with their necks intact. The video is especially interesting: She wrote me a note that the turkeys were a gang of delinquents. The video is proof. And I thought geese were mean! Nice work by Rosie the English Shepherd, farm dog extraordinaire. That bitch doesn’t put up with any gobbler nonsense, that’s for sure. Start here and read backwards.
Social media matters: I spend part of yesterday setting up a fan page for our Dr. Marty Becker on Facebook. Check it out and become a fan. Also, splitting up our various Twitter feeds. Mine, a combination of pets, sustainable agriculture, politics and any cockamamie thing that catches my eye, is here. The general PetConnection feed, which used to be my personal Twitter account, will focus solely on pet news and information. And finally, I set up a Twitter account for Dr. Becker, here. Christie and Kim have their own personal Twitter accounts, as well. Dr. Tony does, too!
Got a great link? Want to add your own Facebook/Twitter link? Toss it in the comments.
http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/…
Quick clicks, good reading: The Sunday wrap-up
In no particular order …
O, Canada! What a horrid mess at the Toronto Humane Society, an organization that apparently went off the rails long ago. The place was raided, officials arrested, financial records being demanded, and the mummified remains of a cat in a trap caught and never removed from the ceiling were discovered:
“It sent chills down my spine,” said Kevin Strooband, lead investigator from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “I don’t know what is going on here, but it seems like a house of horrors.”
[...]
The facility has been described by former employees as a place of unimaginable suffering, where the weak were stacked in overcrowded disease-ridden conditions and left to die in terrible pain.
Collection of articles here. I don’t even know where to begin … but this has to be the extreme example of a shelter industry so far away from its mission, so used to killing instead of saving, so overwhelmed with compassion fatigue — and too busy pointing the finger elsewhere — that demands for shelter reform and no-kill communities just can’t be heard.
A new broom sweeps best. Time for serious house-cleaning in the shelter industry. And if that means no donations until “leadership” leaves and a new generation of shelter managers can be brought in to better care for sheltered animals and boost placement rates … so be it.
O, Canada, part II: Also coming from Toronto … a politician introduces legislation to reverse Ontario’s pit-bull ban.
Pets in the pews: Loved this piece on NPR this morning about church congregations that welcome dogs. Some admit it’s about building attendance, but I don’t care: It’s a great move. I’d even consider giving up my Sunday morning if I could take one of the dogs with me. Of course, since Woody’s Swedish, I’m guessing he’s Lutheran.
From the article:
[T]he Rev. Tom Eggebeen, the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church [...]Â says churches have been slow to recognize the deep bond people have with their pets.
“The question was raised by other people, you know, why dogs?” he says. “Not only are they important family members, but there’s more to it than that. They belong to God, too, by gum.”
Eggebeen, himself a dog lover, says another question he is often asked is whether he believes dogs have souls.
“When God created life, he blessed every dimension of it,” he says. “So we share that with all the animals of the world.”
Services like those offered at Covenant Presbyterian are part of a growing interest among people whose pets are central to their lives.
Laura Hobgood-Oster, a professor of religion at Southwestern University, conducted a survey that found more than 500 churches nationwide conduct annual blessings of pets and animals.
Feathered, fowl and looking for trouble: Heather Houlahan has some funny stuff about her turkeys, all of whom made it through Thanksgiving with their necks intact. The video is especially interesting: She wrote me a note that the turkeys were a gang of delinquents. The video is proof. And I thought geese were mean! Nice work by Rosie the English Shepherd, farm dog extraordinaire. That bitch doesn’t put up with any gobbler nonsense, that’s for sure. Start here and read backwards.
Social media matters: I spend part of yesterday setting up a fan page for our Dr. Marty Becker on Facebook. Check it out and become a fan. Also, splitting up our various Twitter feeds. Mine, a combination of pets, sustainable agriculture, politics and any cockamamie thing that catches my eye, is here. The general PetConnection feed, which used to be my personal Twitter account, will focus solely on pet news and information. And finally, I set up a Twitter account for Dr. Becker, here. Christie and Kim have their own personal Twitter accounts, as well. Dr. Tony does, too!
Got a great link? Want to add your own Facebook/Twitter link? Toss it in the comments.
http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/…
A Hound for All Families
Pet InfoAre you pondering the idea of getting a dog that is friendly and loving for your family? Well, I recommend the Basset Hound. This is the famous low-rider dog with short legs and the trademark long ears and droopy face. I have one (Snoopy) that is 7 years old and he is the most loving [...]
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