It takes imagination to assign a typeface to a dog breed, and that’s what John Farrier has done over on Neatorama. A Dalmatian as Courier Regular? A sculpted Poodle as Kunstler script medium? Me, I would have made the white Bull Terrier Bodoni bold instead of Bodoni book. What typeface is your breed? Cavaliers are Garamond. I hear Flat Coats are Comic Sans. I think probably a lot of breeds fall under that one.  (h/t to Guy Kawasaki on Twitter)

In the New York Times’ Science section, Nicholas Wade reports that some researchers now believe that dogs were domesticated in the Middle East rather than East Asia, as was previously theorized. After analyzing a large collection of wolf and dog genomes from around the world, a team led by Bridgett M. vonHoldt and Robert K. Wayne found that the Middle East was where wolf and dog genomes were most similar, he writes. The findings include interesting insights into dog types, in particular, herding breeds, sighthounds and scenthounds, as well as canine affability and ability to read human body language. As with any scientific finding, there’s debate about the researchers’ conclusions. Read the rest here.

Lehigh Farallon of Caber Feidh, call name “Rawley,” is due to arrive at 6:30 PM on Thursday, March 25. My four-year-old nephew, Ronan, will be accompanying me to the airport to pick him up — oh, and his parents will be tagging along, too. But mainly it’s me and Ronan.

It’s kind of a sentimental journey for Ronan’s father, my brother, McKenzie (and why yes, Gina did name her dog after my brother). He rode with me and my mother when we picked up our first show deerhounds, Lillie and Duffy, a couple of decades ago.

Now my mom is gone, and we’ll be taking her beloved grandson to bring home my first deerhound since losing my mom, the person who got me into deerhounds in the first place.

Whenever Ronan talks about Rawley, he says, “The new puppy is coming. His real name is Farallon, but his nickname is Rawley. But I call him Farallon.” Ronan still says, every time he comes to my house, where I lived with my mom and with my dog Rebel, who died just before my mom did, “I still miss Rebel and Grandma.”

So do I, little guy, but hopefully between you and Rawley, it won’t hurt quite so much anymore.

Here’s to the next generation, four-footed and two.

Austin approves no kill policy: The Austin, Texas, city council last week approved a no kill plan for the city’s major shelter.  From the Austin American-Statesman:

The plan includes three dozen provisions aimed at reducing euthanizations and increasing adoptions. The plan’s goal is, within two years, to have 90 percent of the animals leave the shelter alive. The city euthanized 7,003 animals last year, or 32 percent of the animals it took in.[...]

There are still funding questions to be worked out, and as always the devil is in the details, but the Austin city council deserves a hearty handshake for standing up for what’s right. And no, there’s no truth to the rumor that they did it just to impress Christie, who was there for the  South By Southwest Interactive conference.

Georgia House sends  Grace’s Law to Senate: Gas chambers for animals are one step closer to becoming a thing of the past in Georgia after the House approved HB 788 by a vote of 115-46.   We haven’t crossed the goal line yet, though.  Now it’s on to the Georgia state senate for consideration, and after that, Gov. Sonny Purdue’s desk. Purdue, interestingly enough, is one of very few veterinarians holding public office.

Pets returning to Santa Cruz? If you live in Santa Cruz, Calif., you haven’t been able to walk your dog (or any pet, for that matter) on downtown’s main drag since 1976.  That may change soon.  The downtown merchant’s association voted overwhelmingly to recommend the city council repeal the ban, in order to add shoppers who might like to bring their pooches with them (like the dog peering out of the passing vehicle).   From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

The Downtown Association’s specific recommendation includes the following restrictions:

• Leashes can be no shorter than 3 feet and no longer than 5 feet.
• No dogs after dark.
• No panhandling with dogs.
• A maximum of three dogs gathered together in close proximity.

Widening pet access often comes about as a result of grassroots efforts, and in this case a driving force is a woman named Whitney Wilde:

The founder of Woofers and Walkers, a dog-walking group that advocates for responsible ownership and expanded access, has collected at least 335 signatures for a council petition to repeal the ban.

“Everybody is so happy,” she said.

I wasn’t able to get confirmation as to whether or not banana slugs (the mascot of the University of California, Santa Cruz) would be allowed downtown, but I doubt it.

Pyrethrin suit in New Jersey: A series of lawsuits over the use of pyrethrin in flea and tick control products have been filed, alleging pets have been sickened by the medication, and violations of New Jersey consumer fraud laws.  The Morning Call of Allentown and Lehigh Valley and North Jersey.com say the suits have been filed  in New Jersey, as four of the five defendant companies are based in the state:

Secaucus-based Hartz Mountain Corp., Summit VetPharm LLC of Rutherford, Morristown-based Bayer Healthcare LLC, Merck & Co. Inc. of Whitehouse Station and Sanofi-Aventis Inc. of Bridgewater are named as defendants in suits filed over the last four months.[...]

Five pet owners filed suit against Hartz Mountain and Summit VetPharm last week in U.S. District Court in Newark, alleging that their flea or tick treatments contained Pyrethrin, or a synthetic version of the chemical Pyrethroids, which are ”known to poison animals.”

The suit accuses the companies of negligence, violating New Jersey’s consumer fraud law and liability for creating an ”unreasonably dangerous product.” The products named include Hartz Ultra Guard flea and tick drops and Summit VetPharm’s Vectra 3d.

Sergeant’s Pet Care Products, based in Nebraska, and Merial Ltd of Georgia are also named as defendants.  From NorthJersey.com:

Rich Parsons of California said he worried he might be carrying fleas when he returned from helping reconstruct parts of the Mississippi Gulf after Hurricane Katrina, and might infect his Scottish Terrier, Duffy. So Parsons treated his dog with Hartz flea and tick drops, the suit says.

“Duffy tragically died at the veterinarian’s facility three days later,” the suit says. It adds that the veterinarian said the death was due to a “reaction to the insecticide.”

In related news, the EPA announced it would be stepping up efforts to make topical flea and tick products safer for pets:

Steve Owens, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, said new restrictions will be placed on flea and tick products, with additional changes for specific products likely — including possible changes in some product formulas.

[....]

The EPA said it received 44,263 reports of harmful reactions associated with topical flea and tick products in 2008, up from 28,895 in 2007. Reactions ranged from skin irritations to vomiting to seizures to, in about 600 cases, death of an animal.

[....]

In a 29-page report, the EPA said the majority of problems for dogs occurred in smaller dogs, weighing 10 to 20 pounds. Some incidents occurred when products intended for larger dogs were given to smaller animals, the report said. Chihuahuas, Shih Tzus, miniature poodles, Pomeranians and dachshunds were among breeds where problems occurred the most, the EPA said.

Similarly, many problems for cats occurred when they were given treatments intended for dogs. The EPA is likely to require companies to revamp labels to clarify that products intended for dogs should never be used on cats, Owens said.

No dog insurance necessary in Great Britain:  It was a silly idea, anyway.  However, there’s one line in the story that I must share with you:

The opposition Conservatives accused ministers of turning the issue into a “political dog’s dinner.”

Irish kitteh: And finally, since I didn’t have a chance to check in yesterday, a late St. Patrick’s Day smile, courtesy of lolcats, a tiny little division of Icanhascheezburger.com :

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credit:  Hopeful dog in Santa Cruz, Dan Coyro/Sentinel.

Ilario was very tolerant. Deh Red Kitteh is one big ol’ lump o’purr, and that’s the truth.

.

Real Ham Bone for Dogs could be a real problem:

According to the BBB, a veterinarian who surgically removed bone fragments from one of the dogs said, “Things like this shouldn’t happen. If you can’t say it’s safe, it probably isn’t something you should have in stores.”

ConsumerAffairs.com has received similar complaints.   The bones are sold in stores such as Dollar General, as well as supermarkets nationwide.  Where is the FDA, you ask?  They are looking into it. Meanwhile, the company in question is quoted in a post from omidog saying, well, you can read it here:

The company said Thursday it was saddened to learn of the illnesses and deaths of customers’ pets, and that quality and safety remain priorities. The packaging contains a warning about the product not being for all dogs, and the possibility that it could splinter.

“That is why every package contains a label that provides detailed instructions to owners on how they can help their pets best enjoy our products,” the company said in a statement. “We strongly encourage owners to supervise their pets with any treats or snacks.”

If you have any of these treats in your home, you might want to consider not feeding them to your dogs and taking them back to the store.

Grace’s Law passes Rules Committee: The Georgia House of Representatives will vote tomorrow on final passage of Grace’s Law.   The bill is largely the product of a grassroots effort led by the Georgia Voters for Animal Welfare (GVAW).  Grace’s Law would outlaw the gassing or heartsticking (injecting lethal drugs directly into the heart of a conscious animal) of shelter pets in the state, and it was reported out of the Rules Committee on Thursday.    The full text of the bill, denoted HB 788, is here.   Here’s the reality:  Passage of the bill isn’t anything close to guaranteed.  The vote could go either way.  If you live in Georgia, please call your representative.  If you have friends or relatives in Georgia (as I do), kindly pass this along to them.    From Valerie Hayes’ Examiner.com article on the bill:

It is particularly important that residents of counties which still use the gas chamber to kill shelter pets call or write in support of Grace’s Law.  They are:

1. Ashburn, City of (In Turner County; no county facility; chamber housed in city.)
2. Butts County Animal Control
3. Cobb County Animal Control
4. Cordele, City of (Crisp County)
5. Cuthbert, City of (In Randolph County; no county facility; chamber housed in city.)
6. Haralson County Animal Shelter
7. Hawkinsville, City of (In Pulaski County; no county facility; chamber housed in city.)
8. Henry County Animal Control
9. Lakeland, City of (In Lanier County; no county facility; chamber housed in city.)
10. Mitchell County Animal Control
11. Vienna, City of Animal Shelter (In Dooly County; no county facility; chamber housed in city.)

Bedbugs?  Put a dog on the case. Let me state at the outset that this topic makes my skin crawl, but as your intrepid news editor, it’s my responsibility to pass it along.   Bedbugs are making a resurgence, and you might be surprised to know that one of the best possible methods of detection is a properly trained bedbug-sniffing dog.  The New York Times explains.

Bedbug-sniffing dogs, adorable yet stunningly accurate — entomology researchers at the University of Florida report that well-trained dogs can detect a single live bug or egg with 96 percent accuracy — are the new and furry front line in an escalating and confounding domestic war.[...]

Consider that six years ago, there were 537 bedbug complaints and 82 violations (in other words, verified infestations); last year, complaints topped out at nearly 11,000, with 4,084 violations cited (nearly double that of the previous year).

Didn’t bedbugs used to be less of a problem?  Yes.  In the 1950’s and ’60’s, they were mostly eradicated with pesticides like DDT, which have since been banned.  However, many countries overseas still have bedbug infestations, and increased international travel has brought the critters back to our shores.

Fuji’s new pet camera: Are you in the market for a new digital camera?  Got a pet?  I’m assuming the answer to the second question is yes, otherwise why are you here?  Our buddy Maria Goodavage over at Dogster spotlighted an intriguing new product from Fujifilm: the FinePix Z700EXR compact camera.  Digital cameras have featured face recognition capability for some years now.  The FinePix Z700EXR goes one step better: It recognizes and optimizes photographic capture of pet faces — both dog and cat, though Maria, understandably, just talked about the dog part (she writes for Dogster, not Catster).  The camera looks pretty snazzy, and there are pets it’s particularly good at capturing, but it has some potentially annoying limitations, including:

• it doesn’t do quite so well with black, or predominately black pets (Gina just frowned)
• it’s not good with pets who are constantly in motion (sorry, FayBee, and Christie’s soon-to-be-arriving puppy)
• pets with large, predominately dark, patches around the eyes and/or nose, won’t be recognized as well
• wrinkly, short, muzzled faces (sorry, Mikkel’s pug Willy)

However, if you have a beagle,  golden retriever, Maltese, Abyssinian, Maine coon, or any of the breeds shown here, feel free to send me a camera review.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credits:  Ham Bone, baltimoresun.com. Grace, Phil Draughon.

My daughter, Mikkel Becker Shannon, and I are in Los Angeles talking to producers about a possible new television show. We brought along our number one spokespug, Mikkel’s dog Willy. We figured we can’t resist him, so most likely the producers wouldn’t be able to, either.

We flew down with him from Spokane, and because he’s both small and well-trained, he was able to fly in the cabin with us. Even before we boarded he was charming his fellow passengers. From Mikkel:

We flew from Spokane to Salt Lake City, and then to Los Angeles. I thought that flying with a dog in the cabin would be stressful and that I’d have to keep him in his carrier while we were in the airport, but I was able to have him out with no hassles other than a few barks exchanged with another dog.

Most travelers and staff at airports are hurried and distracted, but dozens of people, including many airline employees, stopped to get some mutt lovin’, and they each had stories of their own dogs. It was best training experience for Willy, as he was totally immersed in new experiences — all types of people, sounds and different footing, from slick tile to escalator steps.

The best thing of all about the travel portion of our trip was what we found at Los Angeles International Airport: a completely fenced dog yard with a water fountain and bowl, pooper scooper bags and, of course, the essential fire hydrant.

We checked into the Ritz Carlton at Marina del Rey, where Willy’s rock star treatment continued. They even gave him his own specially bottled doggy water and gift box.

This was Willy’s first time on a plane, first time dipping a paw in the ocean (and tasting it, not a particularly successful experiment), and first time wheeling and dealing with the Hollywood power machine.

He visited Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, the Polo Lounge (outside only, due to public health laws he’s working on having overturned), Grauman’s Chinese Theater and Universal Studios.

Traveling with pets isn’t always as easy as it is with Willy. He has the right temperament and he’s had the best training and socialization. He’s even a Delta Society registered Pet Partner:

Delta Society’s Pet Partners program trains volunteers and screens volunteers and their pets for visiting animal programs in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, schools and other facilities.

The Pet Partners program was established in 1990 to ensure that “both ends of the leash,” people as well as animals, were well-prepared to participate in animal-assisted activity and animal-assisted therapy programs. Pet Partners is the only national registry that requires volunteer training and screening of animal-handler teams.

Delta Society’s national network links volunteers with facilities in their own communities that request visiting pets and helps Pet Partners contact facilities to begin visits in new locations.

And he’s pretty good with the Hollywood moguls, too.

Photos by Dr. Marty Becker. You can view more photos from Willy’s Hollywood adventure on Dr. Becker’s Facebook fan page.

• $12 million will be appropriated to build a brand new shelter, and more importantly
• Austin will commit itself to a citywide no-kill policy, joining Charlottesville, Va., and Reno, among others.

Congratulations, Austin.

Microchip and insurance requirement in the UK? There’s a movement afoot in the United Kingdom to mandate microchips for all dogs.  A separate proposal would require  dog owners to buy insurance against injury to a third party.   I don’t like this as compulsory policy, but I was interested in reading Dr. Shawn Messonnier’s opinion on this.

Speaking of reporting back, an update on a previously discussed story:

No bark-softening in the Bay State: Following up on previous stories discussing the controversy over bark softening (also called debarking and devocalization), the Massachusetts House voted 150-1 last week to prohibit the procedure for any reason other than the health of the animal.   Petside’s opinion on the matter is clear:

This cruel and unnecessary procedure, along with tail docking and feline declawing, has already been humanely banned throughout the United Kingdom. But, sadly to say I was unable to find any other state in this country that has either passed or that has pending legislation to ban this senseless and dangerous surgery. In fact, California, New Jersey and Ohio have already attempted to broadly ban the procedure without any success.

…or Arizona, for that matter: Meanwhile, Chandler, Ariz. would rather assault the dogs in and near its parks with high frequency sound (thanks for that one, Anne T).

[T]he proximity to homes where backyard dogs might be exposed could upset neighborhood dogs that aren’t barking but sense they are being punished, Smith said.

Kimberly Searles, spokeswoman for the Arizona Humane Society, said the Dog Silencer “does have the potential to negatively affect dogs who are not barking, in that it can make them not want to go to the dog park if doing so is going to hurt their ears.”

You have the right to remain silent….you have the right to an attorney.  However, your pet doesn’t.  At least not in Switzerland.  (thanks, Deb)

Like, totally vetted, man: OK class, pop quiz time.  Hey, pipe down in back.  If you’ve studied this won’t be a problem.  Everyone check out that red bar on the left side of the page where all the interesting pet blogs are listed.  See anything different?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Two links are missing.  Which ones?  Nobody?  OK, I’ll give you the answer.  Pet Connection’s BFF Dr. Patty Khuly has started a brand new blog, called “Fully Vetted.”  It’s an amalgamation of her two older blogs, Dolittler and Daily Vet.  You’ll notice they’re both gone.  This will be easier for her, and of course (more importantly), easier for me to get all the good stuff in once place.

Not so much for the tootsies: And Dr. Khuly has already started us off with a short but totally sensible mini-rant on why she’d prefer not to trim toenails (I presume she’s referring to those of the pets she sees).

Let’s be honest: a dog that gets a nail trim once a year is receiving an all-but-useless service that only serves to make him more afraid of the veterinarian’s office. After all, they’ll have grown out within a month or two — less in some cases. And some dogs really don’t need trimming at all as long as they walk on surfaces that sufficiently file their toenails.

That’s why I’ve begun a campaign to reduce nail trims at my workplace. Unless the animal is easily amenable or under anesthesia, annual or semi-annual nail trims are counterproductive when conducted by a veterinarian or her staff. You want his nails trimmed? Go to the groomer. Go to PetSmart. Go anywhere else except the place where stress should be minimized for medical reasons.

She’s right.  I don’t remember the last time we had to trim Cami and Harry’s nails.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credits:  Austin skyline, utexas.edu. Pink nails, petmd.com.

Dr. Waters’ team spent a decade collecting and analyzing medical histories, longevity, and causes of death for 119 Rottweilers in the United States and Canada that survived to 13 years of age. These dogs were compared with a group of 186 Rottweilers with more typical longevity.

Researchers found that female Rottweilers have a distinct survival advantage over males—a trend also documented in humans. That advantage appears to be determined by whether the female dog is sexually intact, however. “Taking away ovaries during the first four years of life completely erased the female survival advantage,” Dr. Waters said.

This isn’t just an interesting factoid that will impact the spay-neuter debate with respect to dogs.  It could have a lot to say about research into human longevity as well.

Dr. Parker’s group studied more than 29,000 women who underwent a hysterectomy for benign uterine disease. The findings showed that the benefits of ovary removal—protection against ovarian, uterine, and breast cancer—were outweighed by an increased mortality rate from other causes. As a result, longevity was cut short in women who lost their ovaries before the age of 50, compared with those who kept their ovaries for at least 50 years.

How ovaries affect longevity in Rottweilers is not understood, but Dr. Waters’ research points to a new set of research questions, recalibrating the conversation about removing ovaries.

Breed-specific legislation redux: Florida legislators are throwing the baby out with the bathwater by moving toward enacting sloppy, breed-specific laws again, substantively reversing their prohibition of such a thing more than 10 years ago.  The bill under consideration is Florida HB 543 (Senate version: SB 1276).

In effect, they will be turning back the clock to a time when blaming the dog, independent of contextual evidence, was acceptable.   State Rep. Thurston (D-Plantation) isn’t suggesting any move towards owner responsibility.   And the fact that identifying breeds accurately is, at best, a crapshoot, has eluded Thurston, as well as his co-sponsors.    Solving those problems can’t be done through the legislative process.  The losers here will be good, innocent dogs and responsible owners. If you live in Florida, it ’s time to make your voice heard (thanks to Cathy A for the cite).

Cat killed despite microchip:  Sorry, but we’re not done with the Sunshine State yet.    A couple in Broward county lost their Bengal cat, O’Malley.  Fortunately, O’Malley was microchipped.  That’s good, right?  If he is found by authorities, he can be quickly identified and returned to his anxious parents.   Good news:  O’Malley was found by the authorities.  Bad news, according to the Sun-Sentinel: he was put to death anyway.

The cat’s death has the family and county commissioners wondering if the scandal-plagued agency – which was restructured in 2008 after facing criticism for animal abuse and misconduct – has reformed its ways. The county is apologizing, but officials aren’t sure what exactly happened and are waiting for an internal investigation to be completed.[...]

An audit of the agency two years ago found food for dogs and cats in short supply, animal carcasses rotted in maggot-infested bags and workers taking valuable dogs for their own profits. Officials were forced to change procedures to reduce the problems.

“I’m furious,” said Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl, who led the drive to reform the agency. “I’m tired of it – how many years will this keep going on?”

Excellent question, Mr. Mayor.

For some good news, we fly up to New York…

The angel of Union Square: Emelinda Narvaez has rescued 10,000 dogs out of her mobile van in lower Manhattan.  You read that right.  Ten thousand dogs.    This profile of Ms. Narvaez, a cancer survivor herself, shows her to be a truly remarkable woman.

[She] believes dogs are the “Angels of This Earth.” But to the more than 10,000 dogs she’s rescued in New York, Emelinda is the angel. She does her miracle work through her nonprofit, Earth Angels, a no-kill canine rescue and adoption organization established to rescue homeless and abandoned dogs.

For the past 41 years, every single day, rain, shine or sleet, Emelinda has been saving dogs on the streets and taking canines from overcrowded shelters (that otherwise would’ve been euthanized). She then nurses the dogs back to health and finds happy, healthy homes for her four-legged friends.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication, Emelinda.  I have to agree with the author of the Huffington Post article, on behalf of the 10,000 lucky dogs.  You are the angel.

Bow to wow: Now let’s hop on the subway and head a little north, to midtown.  We’re stopping at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.  As part of the adoption drive for Animal Care & Control of NYC, a gorgeous golden retriever named Bailey was on the set of The Today Show last week.   Also present was gold medal winning U.S. Olympian Steven Holcomb, pilot of the victorious and historic “Night Train” four-man bobsled team (the U.S. had never won a gold in bobsled before the Vancouver Games).  Steve met Bailey, and promptly adopted her…a golden for a gold medal winner  (a golden tip of the cap to Jennifer Fearing of the HSUS for the story).

Paws for poetry: Switching gears entirely … April is National Poetry Month. (I learn so many interesting tidbits on this beat.)  In celebration, I’m volunteering you, so listen up.  Paws for Poetry is running a contest, and you are invited. See rules and regulations here for prizes and details.  The deadline is April 15, so you have a little more than  a month.  Good luck!

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credits:  Chow and pit bull terrier: Laura Dapkus, examiner.com.  Steve and Bailey: msnbc.com.

I had a $30,000 book advance in my back pocket, a regular gig at Pets.com and a six-month lease for a beach house on Alligator Point, Fla., at the point where a line dropped southwest from Tallahassee and northeast from Apalachicola would intersect. We weren’t talking a beach condo, either, but an old-style Florida family weekend house, a simple wood-frame structure heavy on bayfront windows and decking. The little blue house was perched precariously on wooden stilts with so much give in them that the entire place shook during the spin cycle of the washing machine, which had been named for a relatively mild hurricane that had had a similar effect.

My house may have been on Alligator Point, but to the U.S. Postal Service, I lived in Panacea. Looking back, that seems about right.

But no matter: I had my dogs, my van, a handful of books, some music CDs, a couple week’s worth of clothes and a Sony laptop. I was never going to have a day job again.

Well … ha!

Pets.com collapsed not long after my arrival, its sock puppet one of its only assets, along with the work I did for them, which was sold to a Microsoft content site and still pops up now and then. (The sock puppet was last seen working for a used-car dealer.)

I finished the one book, wrote second editions of two others, continued with my  syndicated newspaper column and waited for news on the new book proposals. After a few months I realized I would have to go back to the empty house in Sacramento that I was still paying the mortgage on.

Shortly after 9/11, I knew the economy and the publishing industry weren’t going to be anything like normal for months to come, so I did what every unemployed writer/editor/journalist does in a town like Sacramento: I took a government job.

It was a good fit, for the most part. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is a customer-owned electric utility with a history of public service,  a product of the state’s progressive era, when civic-minded advocates broke the monopoly of the Robber Barons who ran the railroads and were gearing up to run the new electric and gas utilities. In more recent times, SMUD had become world-famous for renewable energy — solar, wind, biofuel, electric transportation and more — and, to a lesser extent, for mothballing a nuclear plant after a public vote. Who knew infrastructure could be so much fun?

My boss had a relaxed attitude and an infectious, honking laugh, and my co-workers were funny, smart and committed to public service. The gorgeous 1950s headquarters building had been ruined inside by the addition of beige “Dilbert”-style cubicles that blocked the light and made the place gloomy, at best, but the grounds were beautiful and every day I got to touch a 1959 Wayne Thiebaud mural as I walked in — and I almost always did, right at his tile “signature.”  For a public-service-oriented policy wonk like me, it was a great place to be.

And it it still is, but as of last Friday, I’m not there.

The Tuesday previous, I woke up and quit. Well, technically, I retired so I could be able to buy group health insurance, but the end result was the same. I’m outta there.

Of course, the seeds of change had been sown a while back, starting when Dr. Becker and I formally became writing partners, 11 (soon to be 13) books ago. Those seeds were watered by the 2007 pet-food recall, and warmed by the greater opportunities Christie and I gained from our  post-recall blogging cred, and with better, more prestigious and, well, better-paying writing gigs. That, and I have a burning desire to be a part of the sustainable, more humane agriculture movement, the heart of which beats in the Capay Valley, one county to the west of me.

The pet-food recall changed my life. I knew it would from the beginning, when Christie and I immediately realized it wasn’t a “pet story” at all, but one about an industrial  food-delivery system for pets and people gone off the rails.  I wanted to report on it, and I wanted to be part of fixing it. And I also, of course, wanted to keep writing about pets.

By any sensible measure, the decision to leave SMUD is a bad one, but truth is any of my co-workers would tell you with a smile that I was always a square peg in the round hole of civil service.

So it’s  time to put the sensible behind me once again. Besides, I don’t have much time to worry: Dr. B and I have a book due May 1 and another due  six months after that. And two more articles for Parade due within two weeks, and a weekly syndicated news feature due Monday.

This time, I hope I’m really on my way.

Top: Ben (died 2005) and Heather (d. 2009) at Alligator Point, Fla., January of 2001. Bottom: The award-winning SMUD headquarters building (Dreyfuss and Blackford). Here’s another view of this splendid building, which is awaiting California Office of Historic Preservation for being  “a virtually pristine example of the International/Miesian style of post-WWII Modernism.”

I turned on my cell phone and got the news that our precious 16-week-old granddaughter, Reagan, had been hospitalized in Twin Falls with a serious respiratory problem called RSV.

I tried to talk with daughter Mikkel and wife Teresa about this logically (as a father and grandfather) and clinically (as a doctor), but could only mutter a few words each attempt before crying — can’t catch your breath, blow your nose crying. For over an hour I sat in my truck, engine running but not moving, paralyzed with fears and overcome with tears.

I’m not a guy who’s afraid to cry. I tear up when I see members of the armed forces greeting their families after returning from deployment. I cried when Reagan was born, and when we had to say goodbye to my best friend, Teresa’s dad Jim Burkholder.

I get tears in my eyes when the “Star Spangled Banner” plays, and on seeing images of suffering in Haiti or a single dog shaking with fear at the back of a shelter cage.

But none of those are anything like the tears that flowed when Reagan was at risk.

What is very much like the tears I shed for Reagan are those I cried six years ago when our Wirehaired Fox Terrier Scooter (our daughter Mikkel’s first dog) was euthanized at the age of 13, suffering from terminal cancer. My colleague and friend Dr. Rolan Hall at Bonners Ferry Veterinary Hospital pushed the plunger as I held our special Scootie.

I kept it together in the veterinary hospital, but as I held her lifeless body in my lap — wrapped in her favorite blanket with her favorite toy — and began the drive home to bury her in the dog cemetery we have in our orchard, the geyser started. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, and had to pull off the road for almost 30 minutes.

Yesterday I read Kim Campbell Thornton’s wonderful post about the possibility of saying goodbye to her beloved 14-year old Bella, and decided to go out and visit Scooter. I told her how much she’d meant to Mikkel during a difficult part of her childhood and reflected on the pure joy and love we’d shared. I told her about Reagan’s illness, and shared with her the good news that she’d been released from the hospital and was on the mend.

With the loss of a pet like Scooter, or Bella one day all too soon, your heart breaks. But luckily for many of us pet lovers it expands to allow other four-legged family members into our life — like Teresa’s beloved canine cocktail, 7-year-old Quixote, pictured above by Scooter and Lucky’s graves.

Some might say it’s wrong to compare the tears shed for a dog to those that flowed when my granddaughter was ill, but they’re missing the heart of the matter. Love is love, and there’s enough to go around for the dogs that cuddle little Reagan and for Reagan herself, too.

The same is true of tears.