Picture of Ghlaghghee (pronounced “Fluffy,” as I’m sure you all know) is from John Scalzi’s most wonderful blog, Whatever. I recognized John on the floor of the massive Book Expo America last year and introduced myself. We kinda-sorta know each other from our days working for Bees (him, Fresno; me, Sacramento) and from our time at AOL back in the day when working for AOL made you cool, not hopelessly 20th century.

John was gracious enough to look glad to see me, at least long enough to mention that he was late for a book-signing.

Since I’m stealing a picture from his blog, I need to say that I’m not a big reader of Sci-Fi, but John’s stuff is so intelligent, creative and funny that I have read it all. You should, too, so go check it out.

In any case, Ghlaghghee Scalzi is here to help me let everyone know we’re shutting down here until Sunday, so Christie and I can deal with our respective moms (mine’s coming home with her new knee on Saturday) and all our bloggers and readers can enjoy time away from the computer with friends and family.

Happy Fourth, everyone!

Unfortunately, the poor girl smells bad, pungently so, even to someone with a poor sense of smell like me. Her breath is awful and she licks her paws a lot from allergies. She’s starting to pee in the house after having enjoyed a bionic bladder all her life. I sent some Pooch Pads home with them.

Shirley brought Scooter over last night so that I could help trim some of the Maltese/poodle mix’s hair around her mouth that’s been getting dirty. Cleaning it will help keep Scootie comfortable and avoid skin irritation. Shirley held her while I tried to cut and/or clip. Scootie is not at all happy about anyone getting near her mouth, for obvious reasons. We got some of the hair around her mouth trimmed - not as much as I’d like - and we stopped when she was clearly pretty stressed.

While we were doing that, I kept Dodger and Ginger outside to keep Scooter as calm as possible. When we were done, I let my dogs inside once Shirley thought it was okay. They ran into the living room and practically came to a screeching halt. Their reaction to Scooter was an amazing display of canine behavior. Ginger, who generally tells Scooter to leave her alone, backed off and nervously sat at my feet, staring at Shirley and Scooter with wide eyes. When they circled each other, Ginger was silent for the most part, and she wouldn’t get too close. When Scooter came to her, Ginger would back away.

Dodger, my sensitive English Setter who practically cries if you look at him cross-eyed, tried his best to hide from Scooter. He avoided her like the plague. Dodger skulked under the kitchen table and trembled. Then he skulked across the living room to sit next to me on the couch. At one point he gave wide birth to Scooter, ran to Shirley and said hi, and then came back to the couch in the same huge semi-circle. Scooter was feeling curious and hopped off of Shirley’s lap to go to the couch and say hi to Dodger. She reached up on her short toy legs and he pulled back as though he’d been slapped and curled into a ball in the corner of the couch, his face pointing away from Scooter. He was afraid of her - I felt his revulsion - and he couldn’t bear to interact with her. He couldn’t even look at her. My normally energetic dog was as still as could be, almost as if he were asleep even though he was awake.

Both of my dogs reacted completely differently to Scooter than they have before. They knew she was ill. We kept telling my dogs that it was okay that Scooter was sick, that it was part of the cycle of life, and that her pain is managed. Of course that did nothing but make me and Shirley feel better. Oddly enough, Shirley and I met when our mutual friend died of ovarian cancer at 48.

After they left, my dogs calmed down.

Here’s wishing Scooter good quality of life with whatever time she has left. She probably won’t make it to her 14th birthday this August, but as long as she’s happy and eating, she’ll be with us. When the time comes, I hope with all my heart that her passing will be peaceful. Given my dogs’ reaction, I suspect it will be sooner rather than later.

Why do we need retrievers from top-level hunting lines at all? some asked, arguing that hunting should be banned, anyway, so who needs the dogs who do that work?

Several folks pointed out that the drive, trainability, athleticism and focus of hunting-line retrievers was ideal for search and rescue work.

Well, guess what? It’s also good for something else.

This morning I’m listening to NPR, a story about the military’s bomb-sniffing dogs. The reporter describes a drill the handler is doing with his dog, a Labrador retriever.  I didn’t have to imagine this drill from the description of the reporter: I’ve seen it, in field training.

From NPR:

Lode is a black Labrador retriever; his tall, thin handler is Lance Cpl. Robert Leddy.

“We usually air them out before we start to work them, so they don’t go to the bathroom while we’re running them and stuff,” Leddy says.

“When he’s all done, he usually comes up to me and tells me he’s ready,” he adds.

Lode and Leddy are one of 13 bomb-detecting teams attached to the Marines’ 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, whose home base is Camp Lejeune, N.C. Their task is to help clear the roads of the deadly bombs that are taking a major toll on U.S. troops.

In one training exercise involving foot-long rubber batons called bumpers, Lode plays an impressive game of fetch. He follows whistles and arm signals like a border collie, going to the bumper Leddy directs him to, while ignoring the others.

The drill trains the dog to be able to approach a suspicious pile of gravel or a box near the road that could contain a bomb.

Dear NPR: That’s not “like a border collie” at all.  That’s like a retriever. And that drill is done every day by working hunting dogs.

Good boy, Lode. Keep saving lives.

Here’s the rest.

He was followed by several other dogs who were very good therapy dogs. Chocho, a Papillon, made people laugh. Dax, an Australian Shepherd, took her job seriously and gave love just as seriously. Riker, another Aussie,  is just as affectionate as Care Bear was and I semi-jokingly say that he is Care Bear reincarnated.

With the experience of training and handling several therapy dogs, I’ve had fun watching Archer on his first few visits as he learns what his new job is and how to handle himself. His first visit went very well; his second visit was great; and during his third visit this week I realized that I’m going to have another awesome therapy dog.

Archer is very intuitive and is quickly learning what persona to use with different people. I watched him become happy and bouncy with some people; calm and quiet with others; and serious with a few other people. He’s also figured out how to get people to pet him using a variety of techniques. With some people he rests his head on their knees and then stares at them until they pet him. With a few other people he stands sideways to the wheelchair and leans close. When people are unresponsive he has nosed a hand until the hand is resting on top of his head. And once during this week’s visit, I saw him play bow (head and forequarters low and hips high) and bounce in front of a man in a wheelchair until the man laughed and agreed to pet Archer.

So far, though, Archer is only visited two different facilities. One is a skilled nursing facility and the other is a day care center for seniors. After a few more visits, I’ll begin taking him to other types of facilities so I can see where he really feels comfortable.

Riker, my ten year old Australian Shepherd, visits with kids at an after school day care center for kids. He has a tendency to be a ‘bull in a china shop’ so is too rough for senior citizens or very young kids, but he does great with grade school age kids. He can take their rough play yet will also snuggle and cuddle if one child needs that. He will lie quietly next to a child if someone wants to practice their reading skills by reading to him. But then he’s always more than happy to play ball.

Bashir, my now five year old Aussie, began his therapy dog career when he was young but then I stopped because he didn’t appear to enjoy it. I won’t force a dog to do this work so stopped bringing him on visits. However, this past April a good friend of mine died of cancer and Bashir and I made a last visit to her (that post is the beginning of this series). Bashir made it very clear that he was grown up now and very willing and eager to do therapy dog work so we’ve resumed. I have found that he’s particularly attracted to older people so we’ll be visiting that population; probably at retirement or nursing facilities.

Who knows where Archer’s talents will lead him? I don’t know, and it will be an adventure to watch him grow up. He is obviously very good with senior citizens. He likes kids but I’m not sure how well he can control himself right now if kids get rowdy. That’s something we’ll have to discover. Archer does like to be the center of attention so I’m not sure he would be happy to lie still next to a reading child. Our group visits a physical therapy health center where the dogs take an active part in physical therapy and I think Archer might enjoy that so we’ll check that out.

This is the last of the weekly posts about Archer’s new therapy dog career, but I will post occasionally, especially if something exciting or different happens.  The adventure continues!

It’s not too late to call and write, according to Susan Hamil, a longtime Bloodhound breeder and dog judge who is involved with CHIC and AKC’s Canine Health Foundation and is outspoken and passionate when it comes to this type of legislation. (Full disclosure: Susan is my vet’s wife and we’ve been friends for years.) We spoke earlier today about the bill’s progress–it was being debated in committee while we talked.

Kim Thornton: So have you been in Sacramento lobbying against this bill? I know John is there, or was yesterday.

Susan Hamil: John is there. He’s coming back this afternoon. Lots of organizations that I know wrote in opposing 250 are not listed as being opposed to it. It’s just criminal. The state of California is about to go bankrupt and [Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Dean] Florez is pulling out all the stops to get this passed. And I’m appalled at the money HSUS has that they’re putting into this legislation.

Kim Thornton: I thought HSUS wasn’t supporting this.

Susan Hamil: They are! Are they ever! It’s ASPCA that doesn’t support this.

Kim Thornton: It’s my understanding that HSUS has not come out in favor of it. [Note: HSUS makes no mention  of SB250 on the legislation page of its website.]

Susan Hamil: John was telling me last night that when he went into Florez’s office, there was HSUS stuff all over the office. There were all kinds of brochures and signs. Don’t tell me they’re not behind this.

Kim Thornton: Do you think Arnold will veto it if it passes?

Susan Hamil: I have no idea. I think if they don’t pass a budget, he’s going to veto everything.

Kim Thornton: So what’s going to happen if 250 passes?

Susan Hamil: On the surface, it sounds like something everybody could support, but when you really read the bill, you realize that if, in a city like Laguna Beach, where leaf blowers are illegal, my neighbor could have some guy using an illegal leaf blower, cause my dog to bark, I could be cited, my intact dog could be taken away from me and spayed or neutered, and the only hearing process would be through animal control. It’s worded in a way that animal control can be very arbitrary in how they approach this.

Kim Thornton: What would be a better piece of legislation, if any?

Susan Hamil: I think we should quit all this stupid 250 and 241 and have everybody get together and lobby to keep the Hayden Bill. The Hayden Bill did two things: It increased the hold time for stray animals and it required that they be spayed or neutered. That was a huge issue because it made sure that animal shelters, which are the largest source of reproductively intact animals, spayed or neutered pets before they went out.

Also, they never separate the cat and dog problems. Those are two completely different problems. 250 would make feral cat feeders criminals. They’d come in and round up all those cats and do what with them? Kill them.

Kim Thornton: Why do you think this type of legislation is so popular even though it doesn’t work?

Susan Hamil: Here’s the thing. If you get involved in the shelter world and rescue, you become so angry at people for not taking care of animals the way you think they should take care of them, that you end up restricting pet ownership and making it so onerous. In your desire for retribution, your frustration and anger and your perception of the way animals are treated, then you’ll do anything to try and punish people rather than help pets. People want to believe the worst of everything and they somehow think that if you never have puppies again…. Everybody’s ‘buy local, buy local’; well, what are we doing? We’re putting everybody who could have a litter of puppies that you could actually go see where they’re born out of business. We’re making it too onerous for them to actually have a litter of puppies. So what do we get? We get the lowest common denominator.

Kim Thornton: We get cheap imports from Eastern Europe.

Susan Hamil: And how are we going to stop that?

They’re getting more and more clever in how they present these bills. They know what the public will accept.

Susan checks the news online as we talk. Well, it looks like 250 is out of committee. The vote was 6 to 3. It’s so anti-dog. If your neutered dog is barking and carrying on, then what do they do? Take it away? We’re passing so many anti-pet laws: anti-barking, limiting numbers of pets.

This is the thing that makes me crazy. If you were in the shelter business and you were complaining because you had to kill dogs or cats, then why would you keep restricting pet ownership?

Me again. After I finished transcribing the interview with Susan, I decided to call and see if John was back from Sacramento. I asked him about the lobbying process and what he thought would happen next. Here’s the Twitterized version of what he said.

John Hamil, DVM: It’s a difficult and highly political process. Decisions are generally made along political lines and votes are almost invariably by party. Our two major points are “costs more, doesn’t solve the problem.” And in many instances, aggravates it. There is no nationally recognized group that ’s listed in support of this bill and many of the groups that supported 1634 are not listed in support of 250. Many of the groups have actually taken the trouble to write positions against it.

I was asked ‘Gee, you’re a veterinarian. It seems counterintuitive that you wouldn’t be in favor of this. Can you explain why the AVMA is against this?’ So I got to say two things: it interferes with the doctor-client-patient relationship on a life-threatening procedure that has many complications, not only of anesthesia, surgery, blood loss and infection, but also as complications of postsurgical effects on increasing certain cancers and causing certain orthopedic problems. But the major thing is that it doesn’t save dogs’ lives and it costs more money.

I specifically pointed out, using their example of Santa Cruz, that Santa Cruz, which is the best model they have, is not as successful as its neighbors who don’t have [mandatory spay/neuter].

It’s frustrating because you don’t find out until you’re standing outside in the hall how they’re going to set it up. They say ‘You’ve got five minutes, two speakers.’ So all the stuff you have prepared that would give you a logical flow of thought, you just don’t have time to do that. You have to pick out ‘Okay, you emphasize these two things; I’ll try to do these two things,’ and you end up not doing as good a job as you’d like to do.

It’s not over. It still has to go to finance. The California department of finance went out on the biggest limb I’ve ever seen. They said this was going to cost millions and millions of dollars to reimburse local governments.

I think ultimately that we’re going to prevail because we do have the economic thing on our side and we have the facts on our side. I don’t think the governor is going to allow very many bills to pass that have any money tied to them.

The best defense against Fourth of July problems is a good offense. Professional trainers and behaviorists start socializing dogs and making every potentially negative experience — such as fireworks and thunderstorms — into something rewarding. If a negative experience comes with tasty treats, then your pet is going to at least tolerate it, if not welcome it. This works best when started as a puppy, but don’t give up hope if your dog is already an adult: New behaviors can be learned.

One way to help your pet is to expose him or her to commercial recordings of thunderstorms or fireworks, and play them at increasing volume. Play the recordings at a low volume — recognizing how acute a pet’s hearing is — and give praise and treats. It’s a party! As the volume and duration are increased during subsequent sessions, give them really tasty treats so they have the expectation of a repeat treat. Initially, play the recording for five minutes, eventually leaving it on during daily activities as “normal” background noise.

That’s not going to happen with just a few days to plan, so make a note for next year, and get ready to cope with this year’s racket.

Provide pets with safe, secure hiding spaces inside your home. Dogs and cats who are comfortable in crates can find them a good place to ride out the noise, especially if the crate is put in a quiet, darkened part of the house. Whatever you do, don’t just throw your pet outside. A terrified pet can find a way out of the yard and, once out, will just keep running. The Fourth is a sadly busy time for emergency veterinary clinics, with a steady stream of pets hit by cars, and for animal control facilities dealing with an influx of lost pets.

If you know your pet becomes totally unhinged by fireworks noise, talk to your veterinarian before the holiday about an appropriate medication to calm your pet. Make sure you understand the dose and how long before the evening falls to give the medication. You might also ask to learn some acupressure points that will help to calm your pet.

They’ve also listed a few products that can help with the calming. Do remember to check the label, though: As A Dog’s Life blogger Nancy Freedman-Smith pointed out recently, the popular Rescue Remedy’s “pastille” version is made with Xylitol, which is toxic to pets.

According to Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the second most dangerous plant for pets is … marijuana! Check out the entire list of problem plants, drawn from the insurers claim records for 2008, here.

In “The Buzz,” Dr. Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon write about churches where dogs are welcome:

As churchgoers enter the sanctuary every Thursday at the Underwood Hills Presbyterian Church in Omaha, Neb., some may sniff their fellow parishioners. An occasional sharp note may even cause a woof to waft through the sanctuary. But this is forgiving audience: It’s full of dog lovers who join at least two other U.S. churches, in New York and near Boston, that allow dogs at regular weekly services, according to USA Today.

Want more? Read the entire Pet Connection for this week, or download the page (PDF) as it went out to our newspaper clients.

That means I have to replace his ID tag, his rabies tag, his dog park permit and his city license, or potentially receive an expen$ive ticket that the local authorities hand out like candy. I’m thankful the hunky park ranger who polices our dog park knows us and knows my dogs have their tags, but I still need to get them replaced.

Because Dodger had an unpleasant habit of chewing his metal tags into illegible junk metal, which sounded like nails on a chalkboard, I put his tags on the back of the harness he wears to the dog park. When he managed to chew them from the side I put them in a neoprene tag bag for a successful cessation to chewing his own tags. Sure, he moved on to Ginger’s tags, but after she wore a collar with no tags, he seems to have stopped that and she now wears her tags on her collar again. So far as I know, he has never tried to chew Dickens’ ID tag; the hissing would be intense.

It never occurred to me that he would lose his tags by rolling on his back, but now it’s a big slap upside the head. Duh. He loves the dog park, and quivers in excitement while waiting for me to open the entrance gate. He loves everything about it: running like the wind, stalking little birdies and then chasing them, sticking his head in varmint burrows and zooming down the fenceline at setter speed. There’s a reason he’s nicknamed The Blur; I’ve been thinking I should have named him Rocket Dog. This summer he has begun exhibiting his joy (or some itchiness) by rolling on his back in the grass with all of his legs stuck up in the air. His exuberance is obvious. He’s not like any other dog at the park: all the other dogs like to socialize either with dogs or with people. He doesn’t want to socialize, he just wants to run. Thanks to co-blogger and ace trainer Liz Palika’s help, he no longer humps other dogs.

But all that rolling now means spending time replacing those lost tags. The clinic is mailing another rabies tag today. I’ll go to the pet supply store and order another Red Dingo ID tag. Here’s the really annoying part: The city charges only a whopping 25 cents to replace his license, but $10 to replace the park permit. Go figure. However, while he must wear the license, he doesn’t have to wear the park permit; I can carry it so I’ll put it on my key chain where he won’t roll it off again.  His collar is embroidered with his name and our phone number, and he’s microchipped.

So let’s see: $10 for another ID tag, $10 for the park permit, and I don’t know what the charge will be from my vet to make another rabies tag. Plus, an hour gone, and at my billable rate…well, that’s an expensive roll in the grass. So much for the good things in life being free.

In the meantime, it makes me happy to see him roll on his back in the deeply green grass and look at the sky while waving his long feathered legs. It’s what summer is all about.

But some are finally figuring out that mandatory spay-neuter is a bad idea that doesn’t help any pets and is more about control and hate on the part of a few extremists.  In just the last few months, these changes from people who know about what works and what doesn’t:

• The ASPCA does NOT support mandatory spay-neuter.
• The HSUS has NOT come out in support of the latest version of mandatory spay-neuter in California. (I don’t CARE what you’ve read elsewhere: The HSUS is NOT IN SUPPORT of SB 250.)
• The AVMA does NOT support mandatory spay-neuter.
• Advocates for feral cats and no-kill solutions do NOT support mandatory spay-neuter.

The California Department of Finance does NOT support SB 250, either. They’re arguing just on the case of expense, which the state cannot afford.

And yet, because of the support of  animal-rights extremists with big campaign contributions and a spittle-spewing hatred of reputable, ethical compassionate breeders and no-kill advocates,  last year’s AB 1634 has been recast as this year’s SB 250, and made even worse, since now spaying and neutering is a punishment for all pets, at the whim of animal control officers.

This pet-killer bill with a big price tag goes before a California state Assembly committee tomorrow.

I’ll be spending my evening faxing letters to the committee members arguing that we need neither more dead pets nor more tax-payer money spent to pursue the vendettas of extremists who’ve duped a bunch of well-meaning animal-lovers with their lies.

I encourage all of you to do the same, fax your opposition to SB 250 before 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Read Christie’s earlier post, and regular reader JenniferJ’s comment, and get your letters faxed. Tomorrow, call and voice your opposition. The entire state is falling apart, and our Legislators are considering spending money to kill more pets?

Enough.

Visit the excellent SaveOurDogs Web site to see just how dreadful a piece of pet-killing slime this is. And get busy.  Contact information at SaveOurDogs.  Fax. Call.

The time is now. And if not now, maybe never.

I am proud to have bred a litter to help preserve one of our working heritage breeds. And I am proud to have run a pet-rescue organization.  I am proud to stand with those who support feral cat colonies and no-kill communities, and who fight people who secretly want an end to all pets so they cannot be “exploited.” I am done letting extremists and haters set the agenda without a fight. I am done letting them speak for the majority when they do not represent us.

Stand with me and say no to the extremists and the haters:  Call and fax your objections to SB 250 now.

Faith and her siblings were born in my bedroom 12 weeks ago today. They’re all doing very well, thanks to their new families, all of whom have a great of experience with working retrievers.

But still, I bet they’re like me, reviewing all the information to make sure they don’t forget something important as they raise their new puppies. In addition to my own books, including “Dogs For Dummies,” I’ve been checking out some of my favorite puppy-care writings. In our own free pet-care library powered by a grant from Pfizer Animal Health, I found this nifty little piece from my friends Susan and Dr. Rolan Tripp. (Pictured with the puppies a few weeks ago.)

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Get your puppy off to a great start

By Susan Tripp, MS, and Dr. Rolan Tripp

Puppies constantly try new behaviors to see what pays off for them. In the wild, this early trial-and-error form of learning would be critical for survival. In our homes, constantly trying new things is how a puppy learns to fit in with his new family.

Think about what puppies do from a puppy’s point of view and you’ll know they’re not just trying to be naughty. “If I bang on the food dish, will I get fed?” “If I put my paws on your knees, do I get your attention?” “If I sit under the table when you are eating, do I get handouts?” Puppies are always carefully noting the results of their behavior, and things that work to their benefit will certainly be repeated, for good or bad.

When you let your puppy choose his own way to communicate what he needs and wants, you are more likely to end up with a dog whose rude behaviors annoy you. That’s why it’s essential to take control of your puppy’s peak learning period — before the age of 16 weeks — and teach him how to behave on your terms, not his.
We’ve distilled what you need to know into six easy rules so you can help guide your puppy through the important period of early learning.

• Supervise your puppy. Punishing a puppy before he knows right from wrong is unfair. The biggest mistake people make in the first 24 hours home is allowing the pup to roam the house freely, punishing him when a mess is found. Instead, supervise your puppy. When you can catch the circle-and-sniff behavior, carry the pup outdoors to the designated potty area. When you can’t watch your puppy, limit his roaming to a small bathroom or laundry room with a crate on one end for naps and a doggy potty area on the other with non-destructible chew toys in the middle.
• Show the puppy what’s right. Don’t just run around yelling, “No! No! No!” Instead, teach your puppy what’s acceptable, and reward him for doing right. Puppies can learn to come, sit, lie down, wait, watch, stay and even do tricks beginning at 8 weeks of age. Reinforce a puppy’s good behavior with food, toys and attention, and your pup will become an attentive pupil.
• Teach your puppy adult dog rules. When large breed dogs are puppies, having them put their paws up is both cute and convenient. But it’s unfair and unrealistic to expect a puppy to realize the rules change when he gets larger. If you don’t want a 130-pound bull mastiff putting his paws up on people or his big fanny on your couch, the time to teach him is when he’s a puppy. It’s always easier to teach good behaviors than to correct unwanted ones.
• Don’t hit your puppy, ever. Begin a hand-feeding routine that includes gently massaging him while you feed him. Your puppy needs to learn your hands are powerful but never a threat. Lift your puppy like a toddler, feet dangling, and hug him. Hold your pup tighter if he wiggles, and release him as soon as he relaxes. Teach your puppy a little frustration tolerance, but never allow him to panic or feel pain.
• Teach your puppy not to bite. During play, teach him gentle mouthing with a cue word such as “gently.” Once your puppy knows what “gently” means, you can teach him not to mouth you at all. Provide non-destructible chew toys and praise all appropriate chewing. And don’t play tug-of-war games until your pup has learned to sit and give a toy on request.
• Take field trips. Give your puppy friendly introductions to as many people, other animals, places and things as possible. Give praise for bravery and friendly behaviors you want to encourage. Teach your pup to sit to greet people. Even better: Take your puppy to a puppy socialization class, and consider a reputable day-care program.

Seem like a lot of work? You bet it is! But the effort you put into raising your puppy properly will pay off with good behavior for life.

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So what’s your favorite book or other reference for raising a puppy right? Let us know!