My Friendly Pets

On October 3, 2008, Disney delivers to us its most recent animal masterpiece. With the release of Beverly Hills Chihauhaus, we see the same traditional use of talking animals in a live action film as we did in Babe and Garfield.

This is the storyline. There is a very pampered little pooch named Chloe who lives the Beverly Hills life with her owner. That life includes being carried in a designer purse and frequenting all of the trendy shops on Rodeo Drive. However, when Chloe’s owner takes her on a luxurious vaction in Mexico, things begin to go a bit crazy. Chloe gets separated from her owner and lost in a foreign country. However, Chloe has a guy(chihuahua) who is head over heels in love with her named Papi. When he learns of Chole’s plight, he heads south of the border with a couple of human buddies to help find Chloe and save her from the means streets and a guy who wants to use her to smuggle drugs. She is also assisted by a streetwise German Shepard, a nervous iguana and a sly rat.

The voice of Chloe is played by Drew Barrymore, a girl we all know and love. Much of the rest of the case are Hispanic and add some credibility and realism to their roles as well as their accents. For example, Papi is played by George Lopez. The Mexican German Shepard is played by Andy Garcia. In case some of you still yearn for the days of Cheech and Chong (o.k., I’m dating myself), the sly rat is played by Cheech Marin. And lets not forget the nervous iguana who is played by comedian Paul Rodriguez.

I’m sure this Disney flick will soon become a family favorite. And while it is about 6 weeks shy of the Thanksgiving and Christmas movie season, I’m sure we can expect to see a lot of Chloe and Papi merchandising that will fit right in the the happy holidays that are right around the corner!!!

It was announced today that there is another recall of dog food. Mars Petcare U.S. announced a voluntary recall of dog food manufactured at its Everson, Pennsylvania facility. This is a voluntary recall due to a possibility of Salmonella contamination. Salmonella is a bacteria that causes common intestinal infections. It is passed from the feces of humans or animals through the food chain and infects other humans or animals. If a person or animal is infected with Salmonella, the normal symptoms include diarrhea, stomach cramps and a fever within 8 to 72 hours after being infected. Otherwise healthy people and animals will see symptoms disappear in 4 to 7 days. However if a person or animal’s health is compromised due to infancy, old age or a weakened immune systems, Salmonella infection can be life threatening.

Mars Petcare issued a news release today which said the following:
“Even though no direct link between product produced at Everson and human or pet illness has been made, Mars Petcare US is taking precautionary action to protect pets and their owners by announcing a voluntary recall of all products produced at the Everson facility beginning February 18, 2008 until July 29, 2008 when we stopped production.”

The most well known pet food involved in this recall is PEDIGREE dog food. However, Mars Petcare said that only 2.7% of all PEDIGREE dog food is manufactured in this Pennsylvania plant. All together, there are over 12 brands of dog food that are actually affected. It is recommended that you check to see if any of the brands you use for your dog are ones considered in the voluntary recall.

To check on the dog brands involved in the recall, click on the site below:
http://www.petcare.mars.com/

As mentioned in yesterday’s entry, there are some great tips out there to help us help our dogs be in the best health and make their lives and our lives a bit more pleasant!!!

Suppose your dog is constipated? Not a pleasant thought is it? Well, hopefully, if your dog eats regularly and drinks plenty of water, this won’t be a problem that occurs often. However, in case your dog does have difficulty with his/her bowels, some of the shelter owners and humane society officials agree with this tried and true remedy. They say your dog will be “pooping in no time”. A few spoonfuls of pumpkin is recommended to help the dog with this problem. Since plain pumpkin isn’t the most pleasant tasting veggie, you might want to add just a bit of sugar to help it go down a bit smoother and sweeter.

Here is a twist on the tomato juice remedy for a dog who has gotten skunked!!!! Mix two pints of hydrogen peroxide, one quarter cup of baking soda, and two or more teaspoons of dishwashing liquid (not the automatic dishwashing liquid). Wash the dog with dog shampoo. Make sure you wear gloves! Then lather the dog with the peroxide solution, avoiding the dog’s eye area. Let it stay on the dog for a couple of minutes and then rinse if necessary. This conconction won’t turn the dog red like tomato juice!!!!

If noisy jingling tags on your dog’s collar bother you, sew the tags onto the fabric collars. Use the holes at the end of the tags make it fairly easy to do. When new tags, whether rabies or license are received, just snip the old ones off and sew the new ones on… I hope these tips have helped make life for you (and your dog) a bit easier!!!

While reading the paper, I was pleased to see an entire 3 page section in our local paper dedicated to some pet tips by local experts as well as descriptions and pictures of local pets up for adoption. The descriptions gave information about how the animal looked physically as well as the animal’s disposition and individual characteristics.

Here are some informative tips in helping to get pills down into your dog’s tummy. From the Blooming Grove Humane Society, it is suggested to put the pill in a bit of liverwurst and squish it around the medication. The dog won’t be able or want to get it out!!! Another woman from the Humane Society of Pike County (Pennsylvania) suggests putting a little margerine on the pill and she says it will slide right down the dog’s throat. I always had to disguise my dog’s medication a little better than that, because he would lick the margerine off and spit out the pill!!!

If you don’t have any tags that give your dog’s information, regarding owner name, address and phone number, you can use nail polish to paint your number on his collar. It will last a long time!!!

A woman who is the founder of a local animal rescue organization says that one reason many animals are dropped off at shelters or worse is due to food agression. People get afraid when their dog snaps or nips if someone comes near the dog’s food. However, this behavior can be altered from the very beginning. According to Maria LaRocca, when the dog is a puppy, the children in the household should sit with the dog when he is eating and even take some food and feed the dog out of their hands. This takes the threat away from the dog who thinks that people are going to steal his/her food. This specific behavior training should be done with puppies and not with adult dogs.

More tips to follow!!!! Enjoy your Sunday!!!

In Brooklyn, on a sunny day last week, Linda Deustch wanted to take her small bichon frise for a walk outside. However, Lexi, the dog, was being extremely stubborn about getting on the elevator. Lexi absolutely refused to step on the elevator and Linda was surprised, thinking the dog was just “in a mood”. However, as Linda let Lexi guide her, Lexi led her down the hall to another apartment. From the apartment, one could hear cries for help. The elderly tenant inside sounded desperate. Deustch contacted the superintendent of the building and they opened the apartment to find 80 year old Charles Postler lying on the floor where he had collapsed. It appears that Postler had been on the floor, helpless for hours until Lexi came to the rescue. After the senior Postler was treated at a local hospital, his son made the following comment about the dogs in our lives, “”People say that dogs are man’s best friend and this proves it all over again.”

At this time, so few days away from another anniversary of the tragedies of September 11th, it is always important to remember the 4 legged heroes that helped locate so many of the missing at Ground Zero. Each year we honor the memories of those who were lost. We honor those who helped during this sad and shocking time. The ones who should get our “thanks” and honor as well are the many dogs that worked tirelessly to help in any way they could. In some cases it was to search and rescue and as time went on, the dogs helped with the sad job of the recovery efforts.

To hear the true story of these “heroes” and their handlers, click here for information about the book that tells us everything.

Well, the series is over and if you missed the final episode of the CBS reality show that proclaimed to have found “the Greatest American Dog”, you missed some great entertainment. If you have been reading this blog regularly, you have followed the progress of the show from 12 dogs and their owners down to the final three teams of J.D./Galaxy, Laurie/Andrew and Travis/Presley.

The final three teams were taken down to two after J.D. and Galaxy were eliminated after a series of questions by the judges. All that was left was the “Best in Show” challenge and the determination of the remaining two teams. The challenge was very cool. Each dog had to follow a maze and then a series of jumps. Then the dogs had to go and retrieve their favorite toy from underneath Susie, a 9000 lb. elephant. According to the judges, the winner of the title of Greatest American Dog was going to be based on several factors including how well the dog listened, the proximity of the dog to the owner when they were performing and overall improvement in the dog’s performance over the course of the 10 weeks of the show.

Needless to say, both dogs did a great job and Andrew was wonderful when retrieving his toy underneath Susie. He never even hesitated. Presley did have some hesitant moments, but Travis got under the elephant with Presley to show him it was o.k. and safe. Finally, each contestant was asked why their dog should be given the title and they be given the $250,000 prize money and I have to say the answers from both contestants were heartfelt and poignant.

As a treat, all of the teams, dogs and owners alike were brought back for the finale and the ultimate decision. J.D. looked quite annoyed and jealous that he and Galaxy were not the winners (he looked like a very sore loser). When the winner was to be announced, even the at-home audience could feel the tension!!! And the winner is…..Presley, the adorable brindle boxer that captured the hearts of dog owners everywhere and Travis his owner who won our hearts as well, with his down-home goodness and humility.

Check out the episode and any that you might have missed by clicking here.

We don’t often realize when our dogs are in pain. I know when our German Shepard mix, Ziggy was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his leg, it had already begun to metasisize. The doctor gave him about 7-9 months to live. He said that the dog had probably been in pain, but very often the dogs mask their pain so well. They hide their pain as a survival mechanism. Being weak would make a dog easy prey in the wild.

Well, as Ziggy got worse, it was hard to tell. He still played, but not as much, moved around, but not quite as fast and enjoyed the family, just not with as much zest as he had in the past. According to Dr. Jon from petplace.com, there are other physical signs that a dog is in pain, such as an elevated heart and respiratory rate, but most of us will not be able to detect those indicators.

One Saturday morning, I noticed Ziggy sitting on the livingroom rug. This was one of his favorite spots and so I didn’t pay a great deal of attention. As the day went on, we ran our errands, took care of house duties and settled back into the house around dinner time. Now, the odd thing was that Ziggy was in that same spot and hadn’t moved. I took notice then and called the vet. He told me to give him an aspirin and call him in an hour. Ziggy was no better so he told me to bring him down. With my daughter and husband, we took Ziggy for his final car ride. He took the dogs heart and respiratory rates and also looked at his gums and told us that Ziggy was suffering and in quite a bit of pain and explained to us the humane thing to do. We said our goodbyes and let Ziggy go in peace so his suffering would end.

Pay attention to your dog’s signals. They might not be able to tell you they are in pain, but there are ways to see it. Don’t ever let your dog suffer. They have been too good to you to let that happen!!!

No one likes to think of losing their dog to old age, disease or whatever might take them from you. However, the reality is that someday your dog will pass away and the grief will be as real and painful as the loss of any other family member. That loss is recognized and acknowledged by more and more people in the pet industry, both through profit and nonprofit organizations. And they are responding to the needs of people to find the proper way to honor the memories and help us grieve for the dogs we have loved.

The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement is “a nonprofit association of concerned volunteers who are experienced and knowledgeable in the tender subject of pet death”. They provide many services for those of us that have experienced the loss of a pet. From online chat with others who have lost pets to nationwide listings of pet cemeteries and crematories, the mission of this organization is to provide information, support and comfort to anyone who needs it due to a loss of their beloved dog.

Many people are choosing to honor their dogs with traditional memorial services and funerals that had previously only been for human family members. Bill Remkus is the owner of Hinsdale Pet Cemetary in Illinois and they frequently accomodate pet burial services for families. At Hinsdale, a typical funeral costs about $500, and that includes the cost of the gravesite as well.

The APLB mentioned above is a no fee member organization. They have grief counselors to help families cope, special information for children who have lost pets, newsletters and training programs if you want to be someone who can help others deal with this significant loss in their lives.

I was going to write this entry solely about dealing with the modern funerals for today’s dogs, but the issue of the death of the family pet is so much deeper and important than the ceremonial aspect that I wanted my readers to be aware of what is out there to help them, if they ever have the need!!!

Rachael Ray is known as the cute and quirky “30 minute meal” lady on the Food Network. She also has her award winning show where she shares recipes and some great commentary with her guests. Rachael Ray is a devoted animal lover and has put her love of cooking to great altruistic use. Rachael developed recipes for a line of pet foods known as Rachel Ray Nutrish pet foods. These foods were developed by Ray in conjunction with pet nutrition experts. The ingredients are simple and natural that include,” real beef or chicken, wholesome grains & veggies — real meat is the #1 ingredient.” There are no, “No chicken by-product meal or fillers. No artificial flavors or artificial preservatives”. Rachael says her dog, Isaboo loves the food and doesn’t even realize how good it is for her!!!

What is truly wonderful about Nutrish, goes beyond the food itself. All of the proceeds from the sale of this food are donated to an organization started by Ray to help at risk animals. Monies raised will help with the care and healthy needs of the animals that need it the most.

Ray’s charity group has chosen the first recipient of Rachael’s foundation and that is a dog named Spirit. Spirit is a terrier mix that was savagely beaten by a man on the U.S.-Mexico border. The beating was caught on video tape and made nationwide news. The dog suffered many broken bones and fractures as well as what I would imagine, was a very broken spirit. Rachael’s Rescue is paying for all of the necessary medical costs needed for Spirit’s recovery.

A star that gives back to those who need the help and her voice the most! Thank you Rachael Ray. For more info on Rachael and her efforts, click here!!!

For many of us on the eastern seaboard, we are in the midst of what might have been a storm of historic proprotions, but Hanna, as the storm is known, has not lived up to her expectations and everyone is breathing a sigh of relief from the Carolinas through eastern New England. However, there are many still in Louisiana who are still recovering from Gustav and still others preparing for what could be the hurricane of the season, and that is Ike. However, we have something now that we never had before. Seeing the many tragedies that occurred with Hurricane Katrina, there were probably few so horrible as seeing owners having to choose between evacuation to save their own lives and leaving their pets behind. Many fatalities resulted from either decision.

A year after Katrina, both the House and the Senate passed a federal bill that became known as the PETS Act. (Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act). The PETS Act requires local and state emergency preparedness authorities to include in their evacuation plans how they will accommodate household pets and service animals in the event of a major disaster. Localities or states will be prohibited from receiving FEMA disaster funding if they do not include plans for the evacuation, shelter and care of the pets of evacuated owners or service animals of evacuees. According to Lauren Silverman, the federal legislative specialist for the Humane Society of the United States, “The PETS Act will prevent people from being forced to make the horrifying and unnecessary choice of either abandoning their animals to save their own lives, or staying with their pets and remaining in a hazardous—and potentially life-threatening—circumstance during a disaster.”

I try to leave political commentary out of this blog, but in this case, I must give kudos to our representatives in D.C., as this was truly one of their smartest decisions!!!

Wow!!! This week’s show was centered around the theme of loyalty. Through both the Dog Bone Challenge and the Best in Show challenge, the dog’s loyalty to their owners was put to the test, with some surprising results.

In the Dog Bone Challenge, each dog had to stand on a raised platform and could not leave or lie down. If they did, they would be eliminated. The dog and that stayed in place the longest would be the winner of the Dog Bone Challenge. Well Laurie had Andrew “staying” with just her eyes and her arms crossed over her chest, but Andrew got a bit bored and laid down. They were eliminated. Galaxy couldn’t hold it together for J.D. either. Travis brought Presley down after about 16 minutes, so Theresa and Leroy were the winners.

The act of loyalty was tested again when the dogs had to remain in a small circle under the direction of their owners, but would be consistently distracted by the other dog owners. Laurie and Andrew came out the winners in this one, and the judges were truly angry with J.D. for the way they believed he bullied Galaxy into staying. They told him that Galaxy obeyed him out of fear, not loyalty. Theresa and Leroy didn’t shine much better and the judges weren’t kind to them either. Although Travis and Presley didn’t do that well either, the judges seemed to admire the bond and relationship of fun and kindness that exists between this pair.

In the end, the team that was sent for their final lap was Theresa and Leroy. There were some tears shed, but Theresa was pleased with the experience and how well Leroy did!!!

Next week is the grand finale and we will finally learn the identity of The Greatest American Dog!!!

Everyone wants their dog to be clean, fresh smelling without the trauma of a wet, messy and fur covered house. In order to achieve all of that, many people are now taking their dogs to the closest dog washing facilities. Yes, that’s right!!! The U.S. has over 70,000,000 dogs and Americans don’t mind spending money on those furry friends who are now so much a part of our families. One of the newest expenditures for many dog owning families is the cost of taking your dog to a public dog washing establishment. This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, dog wash facilities have been around for about 10 years, but they seem to be growing in popularity.

For instance, in Portland, Maine, the Portland Dog Wash has five tubs that are consistently busy, but disenfected after each use. Cleanliness is imperative in this type of establishment. If people are concerned about their dogs picking up any type of ailment, they would be disccouraged from the public facilities.

These type of facilities might seem like splurging to some people, but in actuality, the cost can be very reasonable in comparison to the cost of a professional groomer. In Maine, the Goodwin brothers, Mark and Greg, offer their customers waist high tubs with all of the accessories (shampoos, brushes and towels) very close by. Customers pay anywhere between $8.00 and $16.00 depending on the size of the dog. It seems very worth it to many people who can clean their dog and leave the mess behind. The Goodwin brothers don’t seem to mind. They welcome the mess, as it means business is good and your dog is clean!!!!

At the end of July at the Safari Zoological Park in southeast Kansas, a pregnant tiger gave birth to cubs. But there were problems and only a day after the cubs were born, the tiger stopped caring for them. Without the proper care or nourishment, the cubs would not thrive and grow. Tom Harvey, the Park owner saw the cubs looking for their birth mother and her refusal to care for them.

Harvey got the Golden Retriever, named Isabella shortly after his wife had seen a show on television about dogs caring for abandoned tigers cubs. While this is rare, Harvey states, there are reports of pigs nursing cubs in China. Puppies take about the same time to develop as cubs and in this case, the Mom golden retriever had just weaned her litter of puppies. The dog acts as an adopted mom and performs all of the functions of the cubs real mom. She licks, cleans and feeds the cubs.

The white tiger cubs are a product of inbreeding and they are not as stable as orange tigers according to zoo officials. The Safari Zoological Park has been open since 1989 and they call themselves “A Great Animal Adventure with a Personal Touch” . The Park is home to many varied and exotic animals and it appears from their website that so much of what they do is to educate people about the animals, rare and not so rare as well as provide the animals with a safe and healthy environment.

Well, it appears that they have done just that with those adorable tiger cubs and thank heavens for Isabella. She is just what the doctor ordered. To see more about the Safari Zoological Park, click here.

We are now deep into election season. Labor Day traditionally kicks off the hardcore campaigning that we will be seeing for the next eight weeks in the U.S. As the presidential race looms ahead, I thought it was important to look at the candidates and the dogs that they own. (or may someday) You can tell a lot about a person by the dogs that they include in their family, or not.

Currently, the Obamas don’t have a dog. However, our Democratic nominee and his wife, Michelle, have promised their daughters a dog, after the election, whether or not they will be moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A poll was taken by the AKC (American Kennel Club) and the poodle was selected as the dog for the Obama family. There were other breeds that were chosen as well for this family and they all were to be the types of dogs that posed the least allergy threat as it is said that one of the Obama girls has allergies.

On to John McCain!!! (I’m not endorsing either candidated by their choice of dogs, just giving you information, as I always do) The Republican presidential hopeful has 4 dogs already. According to the “right” sources, McCain owns the following:
“an English Springer Spaniel named Sam, two Yorkshire Terriers named Lucy and Desi, and a mixed-breed named Coco. ”
Source: http://www.akc.org/poll/special/presidential.cfm

Presidential dogs always get some great attention. The current president, George W. Bush owns two Scottish terriers and they are an important part of his administration. Barney and Mrs. Beazley have their own section on the White House webpage. Click here to check it out.

Our first dog was a German Shepard mix (mixed with what, we don’t know), but Ziggy loved to chase cars. It always mystified me that dogs would engage in that type of behavior when it is so easy to see that the dog could get hurt….don’t they see that? I guess not, or the dogs wouldn’t keep chasing the cars and many suffer injury and death as a result.

So why do the dogs chase the cars? According to Dr. Jon of www.petplace.com, dogs will chase cars for a couple of different reasons. Basically, the dog is either playing or hunting. Dogs like to chase things that move. It is part of their instinctual behavior and is known as their prey drive. When dogs are utilizing their prey drive in play, they will chase smaller animals, kids on bikes, frisbees, balls or other dogs just for the fun of it.

However, dogs might also be using their prey drive in a more serious fashion. Dogs that have a more developed prey drive which is part of their gene pool, chase because they are invovled in the hunt. Dogs that were bred for herding or hunting have a more developed and intense prey drive. These dogs, given the right opportunity can search, stalk, attack and kill the prey they are chasing. However, when a dog engages in this behavior, it is known as predatory aggression and the dog could dangerous to those around, including children and small animals.

If you are aware of your dog’s prey drive and you feel it is strong, your dog should remain on a leash when outside for both the public’s protections as well as for the safety of the dog.