pet connection

We have two new bloggers joining us this week. I’ll write about the second one tomorrow, and give a welcome to David S. Greene today.

Yes, we have a lot of bloggers here. But they’re all either writers specializing in pet-care topics, dog-trainers or veterinarians (or dog-training veterinarian writers!). Which means that blogging is what they do when they have two spare moments adjacent — they’re very busy people, one and all.

I’ve long wanted someone who isn’t quite as opinionatedexpert on the subject of pets, someone who can pick up the “hey, check out THIS story/blog post” sort of thing that with more books looming I just don’t have time to do. Someone who can also help out with the editing work across our media platforms.

David. S. Greene is a person I have known for a decade, but as these funny things happen, I only met him in person last month, when he visited California to do some consulting work in nearby Davis. A victim of the sucky economy, he’s now a consultant since his company downsized sharply. Before he went into the software training that’s now his main gig, he had a long and noteworthy career both in journalism and government. (He’s also notably over-educated, Syracuse, Harvard, George Washington, etc., which doesn’t impress me, but he’s a Red Sox fan, which surely does.)

So yeah, he has the chops to write about those places where pets intersect with other subject areas, such as happened during the pet-food recall. (He also writes a general interest blog with a pet-related name, Blah Blah Ginger.)

He’ll be specializing in news/blog wrap-ups and general pet-related news, leaving the opinionatedexpert stuff mostly to the rest of us. Despite his skills as a writer, reporter and editor, he’s the first to tell you he’s no pet expert. And I think that might be a good thing, since the rest of us are pretty immersed in the topic, too immersed some times.

That’s not to say he’s not a pet-lover, of course, David and his wife, musician Perry Desmond-Davies, have two spoiledbeloved dogs, longhaired dachshunds Cami and Harry.  And during his recent trip out here, he quickly established himself as puppy FayBee’s biggest fan.

Got a tip for good stuff elsewhere we ought to be seeing? Drop a note to David, here.

The latest software upgrade allows the site moderators to stick a post on the top of the blog and leave it there permanently. I’m thinking of writing and posting a very short statement about comments, but I could us some help.

We don’t have posted comments guidelines now. The software is set to moderate the first post anyone makes, and it will also grab for moderation any post with more than two links. This is mostly to catch automated spam, and people who are paid to post links and run.

After someone has had a first comment approved, he or she is generally unmoderated.  Usually commenters stay that way unless they’re banned, which we’ve had to do maybe 20-30 times in the last four years.

The things what will almost certainly earn someone a trip to Automatic Comment Vaporization Land is the persistent inability to discuss the issues. Repeating talking points over and over is pretty much a three-strike-and-you’re-out affair: We give you a couple of chances to catch on and engage your OWN brain, and if you can’t, you get the boot.

It’s not about agreeing with the bloggers here. That’s not necessary at all to get along here. But we do want the discussions to be discussions, not dogma yelps, and we want discussions to advance so everyone can get something out of them.

A couple of people have been thrown out of the game after a single pitch, but as was documented in “Bull Durham,” if you launch profanity-laced inventive at the umpire, you’re gone:

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We need something clear and short. Toss your suggestions into the comments.

I won’t be around here much today. I have picked up a virus or something, and I’m heading back to bed … so toss in your suggestions and I’ll work out something when I feel better.

By the way, I almost certainly will be watching “Bull Durham” today. I always do when I’m sick. :)

By the way, we have almost 57,000 comments on this blog, on some 3,500 posts.

One more point: Sometimes the software has a mind of its own, and snags even our own comments. Usually when comments don’t show up, its because the spam filter grabbed them for whatever tomfool reason its little computer brain has cooked up. Lose a comment? Drop us an e-mail and we’ll fish it out of the spam folder.

One of our regular commentors knows the answer, but is double-pinky-sworn to say nothing.

Tomorrow, we’ll be announcing another new member of the Pet Connection team.

Stay tuned …

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In non-pet-related news: Morgan Ong, our Pet Connection Director of Photography, got married on Monday (but just broke the news last night). I’ve known Morgan for 30 years, consider him one of my brothers. I couldn’t be happier for them both.

Anyone who has seen me covering a convention or trade show has met Morgan, as hasl anyone who has been the focus of a PetConnection newspaper page feature.  We’ve always been lucky to have him around to shoot the occasional assignment. Morgan has a long and storied career as a photojournalist and editor  with stints at a handful of notable newspapers, the Associated Press and at the former Knight-Ridder-Tribune bureau in Washington, D.C.

Look, I know it’s nasty out there.  My part-time “day job” is as a writer-editor with a wonderful customer-owned utility. If you want to know how the economy is doing, don’t ask the dean of the local university’s business school — ask the folks who know who’s paying their electric bill and who’s not. (Hint: Foreclosed houses and bankrupt small businesses don’t use a lot of power.)

The recessiondepression has our finance folks turning grayer, every day. And they’re certainly not alone. Sacramento has a lot of, uh, “challenges” now, more than many other places, perhaps.  The sub-prime “correction” has been rough for the former booming housing market here (my house “appreciated” $130K in 15 months, and then “depreciated” $150K in 10 months), and we sure haven’t nailed the landing yet. (Hello, Captain Sully? Help to ditch this bird? We have a river. And a spare river.) And then there’s the state government, melting down before our eyes and ready to issue IOUs, never a good thing in a “company town” like Sacramento.  But I digress, as my very funny boss is fond of saying (and doing).

Because of all this, I’m highly sympathetic to the folks out there who are being “paid to blog” by writing comments that are somewhat on-topic yet include an “unprompted” endorsement and link to a retail site.

But … we not letting these through, so go find some other blogs to clutter.  Ain’t happening here.

First-time posters are always moderated, as are any posts with more than one link (that’s why some of the regulars’ comments get delayed from time to time). In the last two weeks, I have deleted great many of these “pay to blog” promotion posts, a huge increase, in fact. A few I’ve let go through after deleting the pitch and link because the person who posted had something helpful to say before putting in the “unprompted endorsement.”

We welcome comments. In fact, I have to say that even though I’m one of the “experts” here, I know I have learned as much as I’ve shared, if not more.

Join the discussion if you’re new here, but we can tell the difference between “pay to blog” comments and real ones. Save yourself the time if you’re coming here for the former. They’re not going through.

(Image shamelessly ripped off from Terrierman.)

Following problems in Australia with (surprise!) Chinese imported treats, the FDA says:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to caution consumers of a potential association between the development of illness in dogs and the consumption of chicken jerky products also described as chicken tenders, strips or treats.  FDA continues to receive complaints of dogs experiencing illness that their owners or veterinarians associate with consumption of chicken jerky products. The chicken jerky products are imported to the U.S. from China.  FDA issued a cautionary warning to consumers in September 2007.

Australian news organizations report the University of Sydney is also investigating an association between illness in dogs and the consumption of chicken jerky in Australia. At least one firm in Australia has recalled their chicken jerky product and the recall notification stated the chicken jerky product was manufactured in China.

Here’s the rest.