Good luck finding this information on the Hartz website, by the way. From their media release:

The Hartz Mountain Corporation is voluntarily recalling one specific lot of Hartz Naturals Real Beef Treats for Dogs due to concerns that one or more bags within the lot may have been potentially contaminated with Salmonella. Hartz is fully cooperating with the US Food and Drug Administration in this voluntary recall.

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Hartz Mountain Corporation is recalling 74,700 8-oz bags of Hartz Naturals Real Beef Treats for Dogs, lot code BZ0969101E, UPC number 32700-11519, which were imported by Hartz from a Brazilian supplier, Bertin S.A., and which were distributed to a number of customers in the United States.  While regular testing conducted by Bertin (prior to shipment to the US) did not detect the presence of Salmonella in any packages of this product, random sample testing conducted by FDA did indicate the presence of Salmonella. Hartz is aggressively investigating the source of the problem.

Gee, one specific lot sounds so much better than 74,700 bags, don’t you think? Oh, and by the way:  All recalls are voluntary. Gimme a break on the fake corporate responsibility ploy.

Although God willing, that will change soon, so we can get some decent behavior from the dump-and-run folks, in the pet industry and in others.

Full dump-and-run release here.

A few years ago Hartz sent me a case of their products to review. I can still smell the cheap Chinese plastic.  Fail.

We now resume our Labor Day weekend.

And when we come back, we’ll be introducing a couple of new bloggers!

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Update: Scout, the golden retriever puppy I was watching for friends, went home Friday. I’m thinking he doesn’t miss me at all, now that he has his own boy again! Ryan and Scout: The (re-)beginning of a beautiful friendship. :)
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Our daughter, Mikkel, just sent us some incredible photos of the world’s most beautiful baby, Reagan, helping take care of Bruce and Willy the Pugs, our Quora and Quixote, and our newest grand-dog, Teddy.

Reagan’s got a great future in the pet care field. I just know it!

It’s not to make the animal seem as victimized as possible. It doesn’t involve making people feel pity or guilt or horror. It definitely doesn’t have anything to do with ominous or frantic warnings that the pet will be killed in horrible ways at an uncaring animal control facility if someone doesn’t step up and adopt him.

Some of the research done for the Ad Council’s Shelter Pet Project (which I do some work for) revealed that the main reason people who start out wanting to adopt a pet from a shelter don’t carry through on that plan is that they’re worried that the pets in shelters come with too much baggage, and have too many health and behavior problems to fit into their families.

PetSmart Charities also researched obstacles to adoption, and while they broke down their data into categories that seem designed to drive a pet overpopulation message rather than one promoting pet adoption, if you look at their findings, they’re actually quite similar to the Shelter Pet Project’s.

While the inability to find the kind of pet (17 percent) or breed (13 percent) desired are the number one and two reasons people fail to adopt, for a total of 30 percent, that total is misleading.

The other ten reasons given for not adopting, which add up to 68 percent, are all perceived problems or concerns about shelter adoptions in general — health and behavior problems of shelter pets, poor customer service or other bad experiences at shelters, etc.

So if fears about either shelter pets or shelters themselves are the main obstacles to adoptions among those who have indicated they’d like to adopt a pet, it stands to reason that emphasizing the negative things about an individual pet or the facility where that pet is housed will do nothing but make those obstacles worse.

That’s because relentless negative messages make the vast majority of people shut down and avoid the negativity instead of taking a desired action. Or rather, such messages are often very effective for getting people to donate money, but are much less so in getting them to walk into a shelter and adopt a pet to live with their kids.

Even worse, those negative messages risk not only turning most adopters away from that pet, but turning them away from the idea of adopting altogether.

What does work to get people to consider adoption is seeing the pet as an individual, with his or her own personality and story. The pet doesn’t need to be perfect, and certainly shelter and rescue workers shouldn’t hide illnesses, potential problems or special needs from prospective adopters.

But don’t lead with the animal’s problems. Don’t start out talking about how abused the dog was, or how the cat was “dumped” or “abandoned.” Don’t castigate the previous owners or begin your description talking about the pet’s health or behavior challenges, if any.

After all, when we fall in love with people, we do it on the basis of the things about them we find appealing. When we later learn about their flaws, we usually take them in stride.

Shouldn’t we give prospective adopters a chance to fall in love before hitting them over the head with the sob story? Can’t we devote, I don’t know, a paragraph to the things that make that animal special and wonderful before we mention the dog’s heartworm infection or the fact that the cat doesn’t like men?

Last weekend I was hanging out with a cute little puppy who needs a home. She’s safe in foster care, and she’s healthy and has a great personality, so there’s really no “sob story” here, and no problems, unless the fact that she’s a pit bull counts as a “problem.”

I was snuggling with this little girl outside of Whole Foods Market in Sacramento, getting my chin kiss-chewed and marveling at her pretty face and sucking in that wonderful puppy breath. She was a feisty little thing in her neon pink collar, and I started making her dance around my lap singing the greatest hits of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts… “Bad Reputation,” “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” — you know the songs.

“Should I name her Joan Jett?” her foster mom, Jennifer Fearing, asked, laughing at me.

I had a different idea.

“I used to have a pit mix named Lita,” I said. “She was named after Lita Ford, the guitar player in Joan Jett’s first band, The Runaways. You could name her Lita because she’s a perfect rocker chick puppy, and in honor of my Lita, too.”

And so it was done. A pretty little pup in a pink collar became a bad-ass rock ‘n’ roll pit bull puppy destined to make some bad-ass rock ‘n’ roll chick a happy dog mom.

It may not be an image that appeals to you, but it’s exactly how you give a pet a personality. And while of course Lita is perfect, even if she does turn out to have a few flaws, well… if you like those rocker babes, you won’t care. You’ll just love her even more.

And if you or someone you know are, in fact, in the market for a bad ass rocker girl pit pup, let me know in the comments!

Photos of Lita the puppy taken by Jennifer Fearing, her foster mom. Photo of my Lita taken by me. And the photo of Lita Ford is by Shadowgate and  is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Today while writing I watched the puppies play. (Including shred whatever they could find, of course.) Most of the time FayBee, my 16-month-old retriever, played with the two 10-week-old boys while the “grown-ups” ignored them. But a little while ago, 5-year-old Woody came in with a toy in his mouth to gently play with all three. Moments like these are why I do not regret quitting the “day job” — and why I always have a flipcam and digicam at hand.

Woody is such a wonderful boy, gentle and loving, hard-working and sensible.
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After three or four times of this, he reached forward and sniffed a green tomato.  I said, “Nope. That one’s not ripe.”

He sniffed a different one. I said, “Good boy, that one is ripe.” I picked that one and gave it to him.  He took it very gently and ate; he knows what tomatoes are and likes them.

As I continued to pick, he continued to watch and I could see he was thinking hard. He nosed another green one, “Nope.” He indicated a ripe one, “Yes.” I gave it to him.

Ah ha! The brain cells were burning! He didn’t indicate another green one and pointed out only the ripe ones. I had to laugh because he figured it out just that quickly. I love it!

Now Archer, on the other hand, just reaches in and picks his own. I don’t mind; I always plant lots of tomatoes. But Bashir works so hard to please me and be polite.

Image: My tomatoes!

After a year of counseling together, my husband of almost four years and I decided that we were better off not being together. Details spared, Pat and I are trying to work out a loving, supportive arrangement for our 9-month-old daughter, Reagan, who is the love our lives. Pat’s parents went through a divorce when he was young, and we both hope to spare Reagan the worst of what can happen by making our separation one where we can still speak highly of each other, be supportive and stay friends. We both dread not having our daughter with us all the time, but this is a challenge we must meet.

There was also the issue of our pets. Our two pugs, Willy and Bruce, have been buddies since they were puppies but they both seem to prefer our company even to each other’s. Each dog had long ago picked out on which one of us he belonged to: Willy has always been my shadow, and Bruce has been Pat’s play buddy. We followed their lead, and so a couple weeks ago as I moved back to North Idaho, I left Bruce with Pat. And yes, I cried, but it was the right decision for him, and for Pat. I have had Bruce here since while Pat visited family, and they love being reunited. But I know it’s temporary, even if they do not.

But Willy is friendless no more. I was checking out the PetFinder.com application, which I’d downloaded on my iPhone, more out of curiosity for the new program than for anything else. The first dog who popped up was a Pomeranian named Mister Teddy Bear, age 10. He was older than I would have once considered adoptable, but I know far better now. I couldn’t resist his sweet puppy-faced picture, and I passed the iPhone around to my family to share.

We all talked about him, and we all knew that I could make the rest of Teddy’s life as loved and well-cared for as possible. I called and was delighted to hear that he had a “therapy dog personality” and loved everyone, including children and other pets. I had to meet him, and the rescue group set a time to come over to my new home.

I opened the door to a happy fluff ball who looked like a husky puppy, and when he looked up I could see why he was named “Mister Teddy Bear’ — his round, chocolate eyes and his roll- polly body covered with fuzz that made him look like Reagan’s stuffed bear. Teddy attached himself to me like a conjoined twin as I talked to the adoption representatives about him.

I found out that Teddy had been on Craig’s List needing a new home, and that he was in desperate need of veterinary care: To start, he needed to have nearly all of his rotted, painful teeth removed. The rescue group picked up Teddy as soon as they saw the ad, and they found his condition worse than they’d anticipated. His hair was so matted that what looked to be part of his chin was actually a mass of fur, plastic, food, and other debris. The mat had been on Teddy’s body for so long that it actually had become a part of him, and they needed to remove part of the skin and start him on antibiotics for an infection. In addition to the dental surgery (all but two teeth were to come out because those two were needed to keep his jaw from collapsing), he needed to be completely shaved because his hair was too tangled from years of not being brushed to get a comb through. He also had not been neutered.

“Teddy was a fighter and had a strong spirit,” Debbie and Catherine told me. After all the work on him was done, he was more energetic than ever.

We introduced Teddy to the pugs, and after a few sniffs of greeting, he was accepted into the family. The way Teddy acted so attached to me at our first greeting, comfortable in my home and with the pugs, it almost felt as if we’d met before, and I knew Teddy was mine.

After signing final adoption papers, Teddy officially became Mister Teddy Bear Becker, a dog who now had a forever home. Teddy is already sleeping on the bed, following me around like a second shadow behind Willy, and is sleeping under my desk right now as I write. Even if Teddy is small in stature and old in years, I am amazed at the warmth of spirit he has, and I feel all the more blessed that God has brought me Teddy for just the right change at just the right time.

In the spirit of change, I realize that Teddy will take different care from the pugs, who are young, healthy, and full of energy (and have all their teeth.) I will be training Teddy with the clicker, but, I realize many of the treats I use for Willy won’t work for Teddy, because he doesn’t have teeth to chew. Any suggestions from all of you for treats a toothless dog can eat? Also, Willy has way more energy than Teddy. Today on our walk I carried 8-pound Teddy for most of the walk, while WIlly surged forward with gusto. Any other wisdom from all you of you to share about balancing dogs of different ages and stages?

Yes, it’s a lot of change. I’ll soon be alone with my daughter, half as many pugs and a new heart dog named Teddy. Through faith, family, friendship and furry friends, life’s changes become that much more bearable, I know.

It all started a few years back when Tonja Robertson ferried the occasional cat to be neutered when the shelter where she volunteered needed transportation help.

Now the former gift-shop owner is a one-woman show responsible for hundreds of southern Indiana pets getting sterilized every year — preventing the births of thousands of unwanted kittens and puppies.

As founder (and organizer/orchestrator/driver) for the non-profit Spay Neuter Indiana Pets (SNIP), Robertson has distributed hundreds of discounted sterilization vouchers to mostly rural folks who had never spayed or neutered their dogs or cats. Moreover, twice a month she launches her military-precision pickup of animals at pre-arranged spots in three towns for people unwilling or unable to make a vet trip, traveling 205 miles between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., returning with sterilized animals.

“Often, the call comes from a person who started feeding one cat outside and then there’s a litter, and it quickly turns to 10, and the person is desperate,” Robertson says.

Last year more than 400 cats and dogs were sterilized because she made it happen (about 75% were cats); this year she anticipates 600.

If you think the problem is too big and you can’t do it all, just remember what Margaret Mead said:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Companies teaming up for adoptions: Do you have this week’s issue of Time Magazine? Check out the advertising insert. Petco, Iams, Hoover, PetFinder and Sargeants came together to publish an eight-page insert, cooperatively promoting responsible adoptions. Before you jump all over big conglomerates as being uncaring, remember they are capable of helping the greater community. (hat tip to KC Dog Blog for the link)

Animal health is tied to human health: When animals are sick, the threat to human health is increased. Translate that idea globally, and the mandate is clear: taking care of animals helps everyone. The Kansas City Star recounts a symposium of veterinarians, scientists and experts at the city’s Bartle Hall convention center.

Even animal diseases that don’t transfer to humans could cause billions of dollars in the damage to the U.S. economy in a matter of weeks. Barbara Drolet, a U.S. Agriculture Department microbiologist, said the country needs to spend more to diagnose animal diseases and to develop the ability to quickly produce vaccines.

“This is absolutely a threat to the United States,” Drolet said.

DC cabbies discriminating against blind people with service dogs: The Americans with Disabilities Act forbids cab drivers from discriminating against or charging a surcharge for passengers with service dogs. District of Columbia law says largely the same thing. Yet, the Washington City Paper highlights a study from the Equal Rights Center showing that’s exactly what’s been going on.

The Equal Rights Center study was based on 30 tests in the District. A blind person with a service dog was placed up the street so they would be seen by the cab driver first. A person who wasn’t blind and didn’t have a service dog stood on the same side of the street after the blind person. In 15 of the 30 tests, the cab driver drove past the blind person and picked up the sighted person without the dog. In three of the tests, the cab driver attempted to add a surcharge to the blind person’s fare for transporting the dog.

I have a hunch that D.C. might not be alone in this kind of discrimination.

Let’s just be humans leading training: I’ve been looking for an article like the one I found in DogStar Daily. A drawback of approaching dog training as a “dogs are wolves” issue, is that, in the words of the article, it’s

an insult to both dogs and wolves, and, advertises a complete misunderstanding of their most sophisticated social structure.

It’s a good article. Please read and discuss.

Bunny time!!

Monday is Labor Day, so I’ll be back with the next news wrap on Thursday the 9th. Have a great weekend.

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: Charlie, Danese Kenon/The Star.

The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is voluntarily recalling a small number of bags from a specific lot of one of its dry cat food products due to potential salmonella exposure.
No illnesses have been reported, and no other Iams pet food products are involved.

Only one code date is affected by this announcement:

Product Name	Version	Code Date	UPC Code
Iams Indoor Weight Control with Hairball Care dry cat food	6.8 lb bag	02304173 (B1-B6)	1901403921

The company successfully traced and retrieved nearly all of the affected product and estimates that fewer than 60 bags from this production run may have been purchased by consumers.

This production run was sold through a single retailer in the following states:  Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

Consumers who have purchased one of these few bags with the specific code date listed above should discard it.  For a product replacement or refund, please call P&G toll-free at 800-862-3332 (Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST).

The full release is here.

Two days ago, Scout was joined by Sport, a flat-coated retriever puppy of about the same age. Sport’s breeder is a friend of mine, and she needed him to get some city socialization while waiting for a minor heart murmur to resolve. Her veterinarian believes it will, but of course he can’t go to a forever home until the full extent of the condition is known. His breeder didn’t want him to stay on her property when he needed to continue his social development and training without his mom at his side.

As you can imagine, the two 10-week-old puppies became immediate BFFs.

While Scout will surely miss his playmates here, I’ve no doubt he’ll be happy to have his own boy, and vice versa. And Sport? There’s a great family in his future, too — they just don’t know it yet.

Their names are too much alike, though, and I’ve started referring to them collectively as “Spout.” Or just, “Da Boys.”  What a darling pair: