WALKING THE DOG

Two universes mosey down the street
Connected by love and a leash and nothing else.
Mostly I look at lamplight through the leaves
While he mooches along with tail up and snout down,

Yet another unanticipated and painful effect of the subprime mortgage crisis is playing out all over Massachusetts as foreclosures force former homeowners to surrender their pets to local shelters. See this heartbreaking article about the issue from The Boston Globe.

See this article in the Boston Globe. What a great way to contribute!

This great article in the Boston Globe about a local pit bull rescuer was written by Ann Cortissoz, a friend of CDOG.

The AKC's summer pet care list is worth a close reading. It goes beyond the usual suggestions such as not leaving your dog in a car and providing plenty of water to cover topics as diverse as airline summer shipping regulations, toxicity from swimming in chlorinated or bacteria-infested water, and factors that make particular dogs susceptible to heat exhaustion, as well as heat exhaustion symptoms.

From the MSPCA website:

Summer Safety For Pets

It’s important to keep your pet safe and comfortable during the dog days of summer. The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has come up with a list of pet care tips to ensure your animal has a safe and healthy summer.

Ever since the Boston Globe reported on June 27 that Mitt Romney had strapped his Irish Setter, Seamus' crate to the roof of his car for an 8-hour drive to Ontario for a family vacation, there has been a storm of protest on the blogosphere and in print.

The Chicago Tribune yesterday reported a heartening trend: pet owners are buying higher-quality foods for their pets in the wake of the Menu Foods disaster in which many commercial and some higher-end foods were found to be tainted with melamine. If anything good can come out of this terrible situation, it may be that the manufacturing of pet foods will be more closely overseen. But there's another issue which seems to be cropping up: the dilemma of choosing whether to buy pet foods which are completely or partly produced overseas versus more expensive US- made products.

I think the dog seat belt idea is great. I have one of those dog car seats that the dog sits in and also has a built in seat belt. I always get scared if he is free to roam the car that if there was an accident he would get seriously hurt, for instance, when he is free he likes to perch himself up to look out the window and I'm afraid he could slam right into the window or even worst, break out of it, in the case of an accident.

Today's Boston Globe contains a piece about how various towns in Massachusetts are developing emergency plans for residents' pets. See the article here.

Owners are already limited to one pit bull per household in Canton, and apparently the state will be considering cracking down on the breed this month. Apparently the state proposal would involve either banning pit bulls or requiring training for their owners and registration of all pitties as dangerous dogs.

Here are some suggestions for keeping your pooch safe and healthy during our current cold spell!

LIMIT OUTDOOR PLAYTIME IN EXTREME WEATHER
Wind chill makes days colder than actual temperature readings. Be attentive to your dog's body temperature, and limit its time outdoors.

http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nr_news_releases_dog_whisperer

Denver (September 6, 2006)

The training tactics featured on Cesar Millan's “Dog Whisperer” program are inhumane, outdated and improper, according to a letter sent yesterday to the National Geographic Channel by American Humane, the oldest national organization protecting children and animals.

In today's NY Times (August 31st), there's an Op-Ed by Mark Derr entitled "Pack of Lies" which echoes the view widely held among positive-reinforcement dog training advocates that Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, has set dog training back 40 years.

Animal Rescue League Spay Waggin Visits Cambridge

The Cambridge Animal Commission has arranged for the Animal Rescue League “Spay Waggin” to visit Cambridge There is a limit on the amount of animals that can be spayed/neutered in one day and it will be on a first come, first serve basis.