The Poodle (and Dog) Blog

Wendy the “Bully Whippet” gets the celebrity star treatment in Manhattan

First an appearance on the “Today Show” and then on “Inside Edition.”

Wendy was driven from her $500 a night hotel room in an SUV to the studios and later to film a segment in Central Park while her adoring fans applauded and photographed her.

Wendy was more interested in the grilled steak portion of the show than the attention she was getting.

Wendy, the four-year-old muscular Whippet from Central Saanich, has been called the Arnold Schwarzenegger of dogs, among other things, because of her muscular build caused by a very rare genetic condition. Her muscles didn’t come from long hours in the gym. She was born with two mutated myostatin genes which makes her double muscled.

According to her owner, Ingrid Hanson, "She's healthy and happy. That's all that counts. She doesn't know she's got a genetic defect and she doesn't know about any publicity.”

More of the story

Virginia dangerous dog registry

After a year of discussion and debate in the legislature, Virginia’s dangerous dog registry is a reality.

Dogs that have been judged and determined to be a danger to the community will have their mug shots and home addresses listed by city and county on an on-line registry, modeled after the sex offender registry.

Besides registering the dog as dangerous, owners must post signs on their property, confine the animals in special enclosures, outfit them with special tags and markings, muzzle the dog when it is taken off the property and maintain a minimum of $100,000 in liability insurance to be renewed as long as the dog is alive.

This approach puts the responsibility on the dog owner rather than singling out particular breeds to try to ban.

Hopefully the penalties will serve more as a deterrent than a punishment.

About half of the people in Virginia think the law is too harsh and about half think it doesn’t go far enough, according to a spokesperson. Maybe that is the mark of a good law.

It will be interesting to see if this legislation has the desired result.

More on the registry

Lost dog found 2000 miles from home

Another success story for the microchip, but is it right for every pet?

Rusty, an 8-year-old Maltese–Poodle mix, disappeared from his home on the east coast of Australia. Two months later he turned up 2000 miles away in a dog pound in Darwin in the northernmost area, according to a story in The Guardian.

No one will ever know how he made the journey, but the condition of his paws shows that it wasn’t by walking.

He was identified by a microchip and flown home to his happy owner.

We are seeing more and more lost dogs returned because of microchips, but some dog owners may not want to insert one into their dogs for a variety of reasons.

What is a microchip?

It’s a tiny transponder, consisting of a chip, antenna and capacitor encased in a tiny hermetically sealed glass tube. The whole thing is about the size of a grain of uncooked rice. It is implanted with an injector that places the chip under the skin on the dog’s shoulder.

The dog’s identification stored in the transponder can be read through the skin by a scanner emitting low frequency radio waves and is matched with a data base of registered dogs.

Some people are reluctant to subject their dogs to a high tech device inserted under the skin and are concerned with long-term effects on the health of the dog. As one owner said, “My dog is my child. I wouldn’t put one in a child.”

Although most information on the internet comes from manufacturers, there have been reports of the chip shifting positions within the body of the dog and health problems possibly associated with the device.

And only a scanner compatible with the chip can identify the owner of a lost dog.

Although there are definite advantages at a reasonable price, the decision to insert a microchip into a dog, like other pet related decisions, is one each informed owner should make.

Rocky the zoo hog is more puppy than pig

What happens when humans have to raise a baby African Red River Hog from birth?

He becomes more like a puppy than a hog, a puppy that will grow to weigh up to 200 pounds.

After a difficult birth, the mother’ hog’s milk dried up, and eventually zookeepers at the Virginia Zoo realized that humans were going to have to step in and keep the baby, named Rocky, alive.

One of the zookeepers took him home so she could wake up to feed him every two hours. As he got bigger and stronger, he became like a playful puppy.

“We played hide and seek,” she said. “ When I'd hide behind a door, he'd make a squeaky noise, a little grunt, until I came out."

At 14 pounds it’s cute when Rocky greets his visitors at the Virginia Zoo by nuzzling their ankles and sucking and rooting at their skin. But when he gets a little larger, he can knock people down.

He’s been reunited with his mother and will begin training to get over his puppy habits and work in the education department of the zoo.

Complete story

The Loneliest Day of the Year

Has it really been a whole year since I took the dogs in for their annual teeth cleaning? The loneliest day of last year and now it’s time again to take them to the doggy dentist.

There were many things I had to do today—errands to run, stories to write, people to see, rooms to clean, email to answer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to read.

But it was still a long and lonely day.

No dances of joy when I came home, no sniffing at my ankles to see where I’d been, no tapping nails on the hardwood following me from room to room, no furry head to pat when I reached down.

It was just me and the cat. And even the cat seemed lonely.

Then there is the worry about the anesthetic. What did that release form I signed really say? Should I have read it? The office receptionist always says, “We’ll call you to let you know how everything went.”

That alone plants doubt in your mind that things might not go well. There is a new anesthetic that might be safer for smaller and older dogs, I was told. Safer than what? Was the old one dangerous?

And the wait for the phone call.

So much of what is part of daily life that I don’t even think about was missing today. It’s hard to concentrate…

Then the phone call from the veterinarian. Earlier than I had expected. Uh oh.

Hands shaking. Voice quivering. I answer the phone.

But all went well.

And now they’re back. They’re all smiles. They’re happy. I’m happy.

The cat can go back to looking annoyed.

Tiny Chihuahua saves baby from rattlesnake

This post is for all of you who think Chihuahuas are wusses (and you know who you are).

One-year-old Booker West was splashing in a bird bath in the backyard of his grandparent’s home in northern Colorado when a rattlesnake slithered up and struck. The family Chihuahua, five-pound Zoey, jumped to the rescue and took the bites.

For a while it looked like Zoey wouldn’t survive the attack, but now she’s back prancing around and ready to defend her humans again.

My childhood dog, Mickey, was a Chihuahua and I will always have a soft warm spot and a deep respect for the breed. She was my companion and defender for fifteen years.

Chihuahuas never quite get that they are little dogs. When there is danger to their humans, they are very courageous. Denise Long, the baby’s grandmother, said it well, “These little bitty dogs, they just don't really get credit."

Thanks to Matt at The Pet Haven for posting this story. Matt has just adopted a new puppy to become a multi-dog (and multi-fish) family.

Dog eats money, recovered from dog piles in yard

Maybe dogs can eat homework.

Pepper, an 8-year-old black Labrador-German shorthair belonging to Debbie Hulleman from Minnesota, loves to chew things. When she left Pepper with her mother, he got into a purse and ate $750 from an envelope.

Hulleman’s mother thought she had recovered all of the cash from what Pepper spit out, but when Hulleman returned and started cleaning up the dog piles in the yard, she noticed an undigested $50 bill sticking out.

Sorting through the remaining piles of poop netted more bills. In all they were able to recover $400 from Pepper’s impromptu snack and droppings. After soaking, straining, and rinsing, they could trade in most of it for fresh money at the bank.

One $100 bill is lost forever because it takes three-fourths of the bill and they were only able to recover half.

This gives new meaning to the term “money laundering.”

The story

She who must not be named and Mini-she

I’ll admit it; I enjoy making fun of celebrities. Especially the clueless and classless that seem to be basking in public ridicule and dragging dogs into it.

Fortunately, the dogs always seem to have more class and intelligence.

Click here to see a spread of she who must not be named on this blog (due to an unfortunate occurrence several weeks ago) and her Mini-me.

Oh, go ahead and click. You know you want to.

Puppy rescued from stonework fence

Over 60% of American households have pets. To many of us our pets are part of the family.

For that reason, more and more municipalities are including equipment, such as pet resuscitators, and trained animal rescue specialists as part of their first responders.

Besides helping animals that have been injured in a fire, rescue specialists also help dogs, cats, and especially puppies that can find creative and sometimes funny ways to get into trouble.

Case in Point: Angel, a four-month-old German Shepherd, jumped up on a chair and put her head through a hole in a concrete fence when she heard dogs barking next door. What goes in doesn’t necessarily come out easily and Angel found herself stuck in the fence.

Her owner, Anita Norton, said,”‘ I’ve no idea how she managed to get her head in that hole. Looking at it you'd never imagine it was possible.”

She called the Fire Department for advice and they sent out animal rescue expert, Anton Phillips. A few blows on the stonework with a hammer and chisel and Angel was released.

She was a little frightened when the hammering started, but with her dog memory, after a few minutes of freedom, she was bounding around the yard, not at all embarrassed by the whole incident.

And you probably thought your puppy got into trouble.

The Humane Society and puppy mills

Following the purchase of a puppy for $3000 from a pet store on my last post, the Humane Society director of outreach for companion animals issued this statement:

"Ms. Spears is setting a damaging example to the public," she said in her statement. "Most dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills -- factory-like facilities, churning out purebred and 'designer' puppies in large numbers.”

And yet the Humane Society supported California’s mandatory spay and neuter bill which was recently tabled. It would give exemptions to large scale breeders and pet stores.

If the Humane Society opposes puppy mills so adamantly, why support a bill that would exempt them from mandatory spaying and neutering?

Just wondering.