This last week, the LAFD’s daring and heroic rescue of a drowning dog triggered a lot of the hate mail. My response, outlined in this blog post, was a Facebook fan page to thank firefighter Joe St. Georges that now has more than 5,000 members. The L.A. Times poll says 98 percent agree with what the LAFD did, and firefighter St. Georges himself has been buried in appreciative cards and letters, including these abso-freakin’-lutely adorable ones from second-graders in Northern California, picture sent to me by their teacher, Kerry Forni, who also has flat-coated retrievers, which is how she knew where to send the shot.

All this pro-pet news really drove the haters nuts, to judge from the volume of hate we vaporized this week.

The rest of the hate I figure is a full moon thing. Love the ones that say, “All you people ever write about is pets.” Hello? Look at the top of the page. “Pet Connection.” What on earth did you expect to find here? An historical analysis of the Nazi occupation of Poland?

But here’s what has really made me guffaw — what a great word, huh? — this afternoon: There’s one regular hate-spammer who lands in our spam filter at least three-four times a day. His ho-hum refrain, coming from different e-mail addies but always the same IP address (and the same misspelled words)  is this: Pets are stupid. People who love pets are stupid. People who love pets hate people. Blah blah blah blah blah.

You never see this nut-case’s comments, because they go straight into the spam filter, as I said. Every few days Christie or I glance through all the spam for porn and mail-order pharmaceuticals looking for real, on-point comments that have accidentally landed there. We liberate those, and then we  hit “delete all” and zap the rest.  We barely glance at what this dope writes. Frankly, his comments are worse than stupid:  Stupid can be amusing, but boring never is.

And yet, he keeps on writing it, apparently never, ever noticing that no one ever sees it.

Seriously, dude, not even the stupidest pet is that stupid.

The amazing story of Druse the Dachshund:

Ketamine recall:   The Teva Pharmaceuticals story is only getting worse, and of course we’re on it.   Nobody is doing a better job of keeping on top of the unfolding saga than our own Christie Keith.  Her most recent Pet Connection post on the case, in case you missed it, should be bookmarked (until the next one).    In that post is a link to her fuller SFGate column, which, if you haven’t seen it, is required reading.

This void of information, from the highest corporate levels of Big Pharma, to the halls of government, right down to the plight of a sick dog and his worried owner, does as much damage to public health as tainted food and drugs.

It does it by destroying trust. People lose faith in their doctors, pet owners lose faith in their veterinarians, and veterinarians and doctors as well as average citizens lose faith in agencies like the FDA, ostensibly tasked with protecting both human and animal health.

“The domino effect applies,” observed Fiala. “Everybody falls.”

It bears repeating: if your pet is going to be facing surgery, make sure both you and your veterinarian are fully up to speed on what is and is not considered safe right now (and be aware that today’s list might not be tomorrow’s).

Paying tribute to Zak the Police Dog: My eldest niece (I say “eldest” like she’s 80.  Leigh is in her 20’s) lives in Connecticut and was struck by the tribute to Zak, a German Shepherd who, by all reports, was a tremendous public servant.  Zak passed away suddenly on December 12, and all of Stratford’s official community came out to pay tribute, plus more.

Police from towns and cities across Connecticut and even New York, including 44 K-9 teams, plus a number of Stratford firefighters and town residents, attended Friday’s service for Zak to pay their respects.

The dogs’ barking mingled with the mournful wail of bagpipes in tribute to their fallen comrade, and some handlers and people in the audience brushed away tears during the ceremony.

If you’re up to it, a slideshow of Zak’s memorial service is here.   Thank you for your faithful service, Zak.  You were a very, very good dog.

Rescue dogs heading for Haiti: The nation of Haiti has been devastated by a massive earthquake. The country was environmentally damaged and crippled with poverty and corruption even before the powerful 7.0 quake destroyed what some estimate as half its buildings.

Haitian rescue organizations are overwhelmed, and many citizens are either dead or trapped under rubble. A number of nations, including France and the United States, are sending aid and other forms of assistance, including dogs specially trained to search for survivors in the aftermath of earthquakes.

From USA Today:

The United States and other nations began organizing aid efforts, alerting search teams and gathering supplies that will be badly needed in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. The International Federation of the Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations.

The U.S. Agency for International Development was dispatching a disaster response team and deploying search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Va., and Los Angeles. The search teams include six sniffer dogs that can search for people trapped in wreckage.

The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, “a non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen America’s emergency response network by producing the most highly-trained canine-firefighter disaster search teams in the nation,” is also on its way to Haiti:

National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to recruiting rescued dogs and partnering them with firefighters to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters, today announced six Canine Search Teams are en route to Haiti to assist with search and rescue efforts in response to the powerful 7.0 earthquake that struck the island on January 12. The State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance are working in conjunction with California Task Force 2 (CA-TF2), a FEMA urban search and rescue task force based in Los Angeles County.

CA-TF2, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, is one of two U.S. Task Forces charged with responding to international natural or man-made disasters. All six teams deploying with CA-TF2 were trained by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation to find people buried alive under the wreckage of disasters.

“The Haitian government has requested assistance from the U.S. in responding to the most devastating earthquake to hit the island in 200 years,” said Debra Tosch, Executive Director of Search Dog Foundation. “We know that the first few hours after a major disaster has occurred are critical in saving lives and the search and recovery teams are in place now.”

Hope you caught that — these are rescue and shelter dogs on their way to help people in need. All of us at Pet Connection hope their mission is a successful one for the people of Haiti and these brave dogs and their handlers.

Got a tip?  Got a story?  Don’t keep it to yourself.  Send it to me, or give me a shout in the comments.

Photo credit: Doxie in field: DPA