pet connection

Welcome to a whole new year of news you can use!

No Kill done right in Detroit: Hard on the heels of Christie’s recent pondering of what no-kill means, we have a perfectly timed story from Detroit.  An Oakland County shelter’s getting it done, the right way.  I’ve gotta tell you, the following quote from Larry Obrecht, the head of the county’s Animal Control Division since 2003, just makes me smile.

“We’re there on dogs, and we’re almost there on cats,” Obrecht said. “The only dogs that are euthanized here are dangerous, really sick or critically injured.”Obrecht, 68, of Lake Orion said reducing the euthanasia rate for strays and other animals that come into the county’s Animal Care Center in Auburn Hills requires the right attitude, an aggressive adoption program and constant efforts to spay and neuter animals.

Sweet Georgia clay: Hey cat-lovers!  Did you know that the evolution of kitty litter technology is creating problems in the once-booming Georgia clay industry.

“[A] dizzying variety of new litter has entered the market in the last decade and threatened Georgia’s position as the leading litter producer.

At least two large factories have closed as cat owners shift to clays that form clumps when wet, allowing easy removal with a slotted scoop. Pine, wheat and other natural products have also gained in popularity.”

Canned pumpkin shortage alert: Thank you to Mary Mary for giving us a heads up on this.  There’s a canned pumpkin shortage in some parts of the country, and it appears to have been problematic since at least November.   It’s worse in some areas than others, and you do have alternatives, of course.  You could steam fresh pumpkins (we still have lots here in New England), check with other markets (I found no shortage here in the Boston area, calling around)  or, perhaps, use substitutes such as canned winter squash. Canned pumpkin, with all that wonderful fiber, is great stuff that keeps things moving on through, if you take my drift. Not to mention … pie.

Another reason I’m not a tarantula owner: Gina sent me something on New Year’s Day morning which briefly made me consider changing my e-mail address so she couldn’t send me anything more like it.   I wouldn’t think you’d need an excessive number of reasons to consider not owning a pet tarantula, but just in case, the LA Times has one more: The little monsters can (and do) shoot tiny, barbed hairs into your eyeballs.  That’s right, eyeballs.   Indiana Jones didn’t like snakes, and for the record I’m pretty seriously anti-spider.   There’s a lovely, sharp picture in the article that I opted not to include here in the post.  You’re welcome. (Oh, and here’s another version of the same story by ABC News which I could not bear to look at, sorry, but which I’m told features the expert advice of Cindy Steinle, one of our pals at PetHobbyist.com.)

What will we be talking about over the next 12 months? Pete the Vet offers a pointer to predictions of issues we may face in 2010 .  Would you believe the spider story gets a mention in the article’s preamble?  How many times am I going to be squicked out in one day?

A loving legacy from a grateful client: Vets get to make wish lists for Santa, too.  For Sydenham Veterinary Services in Kingston, Ontario, Santa (in the guise of a longtime client’s family) came through in a big way.

Not sure of what the dollar amount might be, the veterinarians at the clinic came up with items that ranged from $50 to $20,000. From the list, the family picked the surgical table.

They wanted something that would be a lasting testament to Mrs. Gemmell, said Mrs. McRobert. They also donated money to various charities in her memory, “but we wanted something that was a little more tangible.”

They are also donating a digital picture frame that can hold thousands of photos. One of the photos that they have already loaded is of Barbara Gemmell.

The stainless steel surgical table, about two feet by four feet, can be raised, lowered or tilted in any direction so it can be positioned just right for whatever procedure happens to be going on, said Chubaty.

As always, if you’ve run across a non spider-related story, please either give a shout in the comments, or send it directly to me.

Photo credit: Larry Obrecht: Patricia Beck/DFP.  Libby canned pumpkin: NYT.

Our Dr. Marty Becker was on “Good Morning America” this morning with the Best Pet Products of 2009.

The selection process take a long time — two months, at least –  and starts when Dr. B asks more than 100 veterinarians, behaviorists, trainers and other pet-care and pet-industry experts to nominate the products that really caught their eyes in 2009. From all those hundreds of product suggestions, Dr. B looks for the ones that turn up again and again on every list. And then, he draws up a list of the top 20 or so and asks the companies to provide information to his “GMA” producers, who alone decide on the handful of products that will make it onto the air.

Some of the big companies seem to make the list every year because they’re always developing new products and can get them into the distribution and promotion channels. But every year there’s a small company or two with a product that comes out of right field and grabs everyone’s attention. This year, those products include one of the Nina Ottosson food puzzles and a little gadget called the Tick Key, that fits on your key chain and snags those little pests in the field immediately. Both are Teh Bomb, speaking personally. Those two were on MY list of the best, added into the mix with the rest of the pet-care folks.

Read the whole list here.

And click on the image below to watch the video:

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I was here at my computer this morning, fingers flying, when Archer nudged my arm and well, you know:  The delete key got some use and the spellchecker went wild.

I couldn’t blame Archer, though. I got started on the computer early this morning. I changed our normal routine –  oh no! — and the dogs had been waiting patiently for me to get up and get moving.

My dogs and I have a deal: They will –  for the most part — wait patiently for me to do my work at the computer, and I will make sure they get plenty of exercise, playtime, and training every day. This works for us.

When you take into consideration Australian Shepherds are a versatile herding dog bred to be an all purpose farm/ranch hand, you can understand why inactivity doesn’t suit them well at all.

The dogs and I walk every morning, and we did this morning, too. But I can’t consider walks as exercise for them; walks are a social outing.

Exercise is chasing the ball or toy and bringing it back –over and over again. All three dogs love to retrieve, and I vary the rules of the game. Sometimes I throw one toy and all three dogs compete for it and other times I throw one toy apiece and each has to get his toy.

Exercise is also running alongside the bike (on a Springer). I like the Springer (vs. other similar products) because it puts the dog in the heel position by my side where I can see him. I can make sure he’s running easily, and I can stop when he needs a break.

Exercise is also running on the three acres at the training yard. Chasing birds, hunting for critters, or just plain running. I teach all my dogs as puppies to “Go run!” That means just go run as fast as you can. They do that then circle back to me and I send them out again. Great command!

Playtime for us can be combined with exercise –  retrieving games — or it might be playing a Nina Ottosson game. Play can be trick training. Who knows! Playtime is when the dogs and I do stuff and they make me laugh.

Training and playtime overlap just as exercise and playtime overlaps. Trick training is fun, but it’s also training– training that can be done in the house. Archer has discovered that trick training is great fun,  and he’s quick to offer his tricks when he wants some attention.

With this breed, mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise.

Ooops! I just got nudged again. Time to go.

Image: Archer!

I stopped reviewing new vehicles for our DogCars.com site because I was falling behind when my dad was sick and then dying. Kim picked up reviewing out of Southern California, and Keith kept the home fires burning on the site, which became pretty quiet during a time when the economy was so bad that almost no one was even considering a new car and the car companies were scrambling for their very survival.

Things seem to be easing up some, based on the interest we’re seeing again in the DogCars.com reviews. And I’m a better place, too, which is why when Honda woofed I agreed to take a look at their new Dog-Friendly edition of the Element, with built-in crate, ramp, bone-stamped matting and ultra-tough, stain-resistant upholstery.

The test vehicle arrived a little while ago, and I gotta say: It’s pretty cute.

More after a few days of driving …

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Lot of red ink in 2009, let’s get that out of the way. It belongs in the Blue Christmas post. But funny how so much of what has helped me through the kidney stone year that was 2009 seems to have something to do with the color red.

Like Faith. The One Who Chose Me was originally “the Red Puppy” — absolutely by chance.

Like the Red Sox. My dad signed with them in 1954, and I gotta tell you, after dad died we heard from a lot of people who played with him in the Red Sox minor leagues or remembered watching him play. Diehards never forget.

Like the Red Truck. After my van decided he like getting visits from the tow-truck driver and spending expensive quality time with the mechanic, I filched my brother’s 1986 Mazda pickup for my daily driver. But that meant replacing his truck with something newer.

Just about then, my former boss decided to retire, and as part of that he also decided to sell his 2005 low-mileage Nissan Frontier pickup. We bought that for my brother to drive, and although he was initially not so much in love with its fire-engine red color, he has since come to love it, color and all. Not the least of which is because bright flaming red is the primary color of the high school where he’s one of the football coaches.

So we bought it, and that very night I went to the grocery store, only to turn the corner on an isle and run smack into a display of Red Truck wine, two bottles of which I then had to buy that very second, one for me and one for my brother.

Then …

Our latest blogger, my friend David Greene, was 3,000 miles away from home doing some consulting work at the University of California, Davis. David came over to see the Red Puppy (and others) and brought with him a CD with a red truck on the cover — “”Sweet Ride,” by his wife, Perry Desmond-Davies.  (Click on the image to hear and buy it.)

Of course, David went home with my bottle of Red Truck wine, which I’ve subsequently replaced twice over.

Now, the very last of the “red” stuff:

This morning I’m listening to National Public Radio, and there’s a piece on the artist Nellie McKay, who has done a new collection of Doris Day songs. Doris Day! How perfect, since she was not only a ray of upbeat perkiness but also the founder of her own animal group and a hotel that welcomes pets and turned Carmel-By-The-Sea, Calif, into one of the most dog-friendly of get-aways.

So I pop over to Amazon and not only is Ms. McKay wearing a red dress on the cover of her Doris Day CD, “Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day,” but she’s posing on a couch with pit bulls in pearls!

That’s two must-buy CDs and a bottle of wine for your antidote to a Blue Christmas.

The Red Puppy, you cannot have.