The Poodle (and Dog) Blog

One Nation Under Dog—A book review and giveaway

Win a copy of the book

One Nation under Dog by Michael Schaffer chronicles the phenomenon of the pet culture in America today. Once mostly an outdoor working animal, today’s dog has become part of the family and serves as both child and companion to many single people. Because of the love for fur babies, the pet industry has grown to $4.3 billion.

Understand up front that Schaffer is one of us, a goofy dog owner. He is not some sanctimonious prick who is distraught about our spending money on pets when there are starving people. He doesn’t think we’re ridiculous or evil if we choose surgery for our dogs over a big screen TV or a yacht. He is not someone who is seriously disturbed that some people seem to love dogs more than people.

After Schaffer and his wife adopted cuddly rescue Saint Bernard, Murray, they stopped by the pet store to “pick up some food and stuff.” (You probably see where this is going.)

He writes: “It didn’t take long to realize that the line between sober pet owner and spendthrift overindulgence wasn’t as clear as I’d imagined.” (Been there, realized that.)

His investigation into the pet industry took him to many places and interviews with a lot of engaging and knowledgeable people. Along with carefully researched facts, he supplies entertaining anecdotes that shed light on the feelings people have for their dogs.

One Nation under Dog explores pet social networks, dog parks, serious breeders and puppy mills, dog shows, pet sitters and doggie day care, pet entrepreneurs (petrepreneurs), veterinary hospitals, dog training, legal matters, pet food and toys, pet portraits, doggie fashions, pet deaths and bereavement counseling.

How we treat our pets is a definite reflection of our values as a society. 

One Nation under Dog was released today, available at Amazon and your local bookstore.

Win a copy of One Nation under Dog. ($24 value).

To enter, all you need to do is in Comments, tell what your
favorite dog or cat book is. Deadline: April 7.
(U.S. mailing zone only. Sorry, the price of kibbles keeps going up.)

Jasmine, surrogate mother to abandoned baby animals

Thanks to JackieSue for sending me this story. The last picture is a classic.

In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, found a frightened cowering dog who had been locked in a shed and abandoned. She was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.

The police took the dog, a Greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run Geoff Grewcock and known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work to restore the dog they named Jasmine to full health and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They started to find her an adoptive home.

But Jasmine had other ideas.

No one remembers now how it began, but she started welcoming all baby animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn't matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting animal, Jasmine would go to the cage or box and welcome them.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them and it helps them to not only feel close to her but to settle into their new surroundings."

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted orphan, became the sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which seems to have been born. She has cared for five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits.

And one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. When she arrived at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the Roe deer with affection and makes sure nothing is matted.

"They are inseparable," says Geoff "Bramble walks between her legs and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It's a real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she can be returned to the wild. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.

Jasmine’s family from left, Toby, a stray Lakeland dog; Bramble, orphaned Roe deer; Buster, a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; Sky, an injured barn owl; and Jasmine with a Mother’s heart doing best what a caring Mother would do... Such is the order of God's Creation.

Judge fines woman for suing police dog

A Michigan woman, Inez Starks, 55, filed a lawsuit against the city of Warren, several police officers and Liberty, the police dog, claiming he bit her in the buttocks during an altercation outside her daughter’s home, according to the Detroit News.

In April, 2007, police were called to the home because of a truancy issue with her daughter’s child. During the visit the police found the woman’s brother who had an outstanding warrant. When he tried to escape, the dog was brought in.

Meanwhile Starks who lived across the street from her daughter came over to complain and a fight broke out. Starks claims the bite caused damage to her sacroiliac nerve, impairing her ability to walk and causing her pain.

However, no evidence that Starks was bitten was found. When she failed to appear for a February hearing, Judge David Viviano, fined her $500 for frivolously naming the dog as a defendant and another $500 for failure to appear.

Sadly, Liberty has lived under the accusation for two years and some people will remember only that a police dog was accused of biting this total idiot citizen.

Doggie double dactyls

I recently found an old notebook from a time when my friends and I were writing double dactyls. What? Didn’t everyone?

In case you didn’t misspend your youth, a dactyl rhythm is dot dit dit-- A double dactyl is like “pocketa, pocketa.” Sometimes nonsense words are used to start the double dactyl. The rules for writing them are quite strict, but we took a lot of poetic license.

This is one from my notebook. Sometimes we zinged each other:

Pocketa, Pocketa,
Peter J. Harrison
Undemocratically
Broke every rule.

When we accused him
of Megalomania
Peter consistently
Acted the fool.

And here is one that is just a wee big pretentious:

J. Alfred Prufrock
asked Hugh Selwyn Mauberley,
“Whatever happened to
dear Gertrude Stein?

The one with the passion for
language obscurity?”
“The world has forgotten her.”
“Pity.”
“Design.”

Getting back into the rhythm of the whole thing, I came up with:

Yellowdog Granny and
Rosemary’s Attic
Are wonderful ladies
I met on our blogs.

Granny has Annie and
Rosie has many.
 Some may be cats,
but we do all love dogs.

Wait, there’s more
.
.
.
.
Once there were groups that said
doggies have rights.
They collected some millions
to stop the dog fights.

Compassion was missing.
They said, “That dog bites.”
And with some of the money
they put out his lights.

Perhaps I should put the notebook away.

Bear dogs scare bears away

Bears are very smart animals. They can figure out that rather than searching through the forest for food, a whole smorgasbord awaits them in the garbage cans, pet dishes, and bird feeders in suburban backyards.

Bears from the Cascade Mountains in Washington have become not just a nuisance, but a danger to themselves and the people living in the area.

Enter Mishka, the state’s wildlife service dog, to the rescue. Mishka is the first Karelians Bear Dog to be used in wildlife enforcement in the country. He is a medium size black and white Finnish Hunting Dog, trained to handle the bear problem.

Bear dogs like Mishka help wildlife officers in two ways:

• They can track down a bear hiding in the woods
• They help wildlife officials frighten the bear away from visiting people’s yards

In a “hard release,” the bear is tranquilized with a dart, tagged, and allowed to wake up where he is or moved a short distance away. Then as he regains consciousness, officers shoot rubber bullets and bean bags, set off fireworks and shout at the bear while the dog barks at him a safe distance away. As he escapes (probably with a really bad headache), the dog chases him deep into the woods away from civilization.

"We give 'em a chance to become a better bear," one official said. “If they come back, they're in trouble."

The old way of transporting the bear hundreds of miles away into the high country is more dangerous for the bear since they will not be familiar with the new area and may face starvation.

Over a lifetime each bear dog, who lives with his handler, costs about $10,000. Like most state agencies, there is not money to buy, care for, and train new bear dogs, so they must rely on private donations. More from the Seattle Times

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

To change the way most animal shelters are operated, Nathan Winograd is willing to give his book Redemption—The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America, to City Council Members, Board of Supervisors, Mayors, Assemblymen, Senators, County Commissioners, even staff reporters and animal control directors. All they need to do is ask for it. No strings attached. Details

The Bad 

According to recently released public records from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, PETA killed 2,124 pets or 95% of the adoptable pets in its care in 2008. They found homes for only seven pets. This is according to PETA’s own “Animal Record” annual report.

The Ugly

Since 1998, a total of 21,339 dogs and cats have died at the hands of PETA workers.

Wordless Wednesday

University of St. Francis adopts Saint Bernard mascots

Instead of having a human dressed in a Saint Bernard suit as the team mascot (pretty hokey when you think of it), the University of St. Francis at Joliet, Illinois will use the real dogs.

Named after the patron saint of animals, the University adopted the Saint Bernard dog as its mascot in 1991.

The University has started a partnership with the Illinois Saint Bernard Rescue (ISBR). Often people will buy adorable puppies of large breeds and then say, “We didn’t know it would grow this big.” (They do.) And then they turn them over to shelters and rescues. ISBR rescues some 65 to 100 of the breed a year.

Otis and Twitch, two rescued Saint Bernards who live with Tammy Falletti, president of ISBR, will kick off the partnership this Friday with fundraisers to benefit the organization. "This is not about the money," Falletti said. "It's about finding a home for the dogs and getting word out about the rescue efforts."

Dogs, other than Otis and Twitch that appear at the games, will be available for adoption. The dogs will wear USF bandanas and mini kegs, the symbol of their rescue efforts.

Adopting a Saint Bernard is a big commitment. They can weigh more than 200 pounds, but they “are the laziest dogs around,” according to Falletti. “They sleep like 18 hours a day." Source

Cesar Millan: “Mastering Leadership” 3 DVD set—a review

I’m not a dog trainer. I don’t even play one on my blog.

With my little guys, I rely mostly on reasoning and logic, my superior size and intellect, my ability to provide food to the pack, and sometimes yelling raising the volume of stern commands. For the most part it’s all good.

[Except for the occasional magpie homicides, of course. Some of you have asked about those, and they seem to have abated. My theory is that area magpies have evolved with warning capabilities]

I had not watched Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, on TV since I don’t get the National Geographic channel. I had read the usual arguments on blogs and forums. Some people love him; some seem to think he is a terrible influence on the dog world.

Recently, I received a three volume DVD from the good people at National Geographic to review. And I must say I am most impressed. He is engaging, entertaining, but best of all, he makes sense and his methods seem effective.

It may be that the biggest problem is that he is too successful, too charismatic, too popular and that makes him an easy target.

Dog training, like human teaching, is an art. And like human teachers, dog trainers are different in their personalities and approaches. As long as there are good results, there are different ways to achieve them. There is no denying he gets some incredible results.

On to the DVD’s.

Volume one is “People Training for Dogs,” as he explains to an audience some of his basic principles. First, a dog is not a person in a fur suit. Although this seems obvious, how many times have you seen people treat their dog as a furry person, a spoiled furry person, which is totally confusing to the dog. Cesar lays out the importance of the human role as leader of the pack and the dogs’ needs for rules and boundaries. Calm assertiveness is his key to success.

Volume two, “Becoming a Pack Leader,” introduces three dogs that are completely out of control. They aren’t vicious; they are just dogs behaving badly. Without any respect for the human as leader, they have learned that they don’t need to follow rules. He demonstrates to the family members how to change the behavior with calm assertiveness. What he is able to accomplish with each dog is amazing.

Volume three, “Your New Dog: First Day and Beyond,” covers what to look for in selecting a dog to match the human’s lifestyle and energy level. He goes with three different prospective dog owners to three different venues, a shelter, a rescue and a breeder. He lays out what to look for and what to avoid in choosing the right dog. Then each dog is brought into the home and he shows the people how to immediately establish ground rules to avoid problems later on.

After watching the series, you may decide as I did that you’re not such a bad dog trainer after all. I just need to do more whispering and less...uh, raising the volume.

Cesar Millan's Mastering Leadership - Volumes 1-3 is available at Amazon

Two legged dogs inspire and encourage

Mother dogs will often reject puppies that are deformed. It might reasonably be argued  that these dogs should have been put down as puppies. However it is inspiring to see the remarkable feats dogs can accomplish with only two legs.

The most famous is Faith who walks upright on her back paws. Faith has made many television appearances and is a favorite on YouTube. Many people including veterinarians advised that Faith be euthanized, but she has learned to get around by hopping and walking.

Hope, a Maltese puppy, was born without front legs. She first moved around by hopping, but doctors said this would eventually damage her tiny bones and spine. So she was fitted with a specially designed device using wheels from a model airplane. A tiny Maltese-mobile.

Sugar is a  miracle dog, who was found in Taiwan more dead than alive as a puppy. She overcame abuse, pneumonia, a badly broken leg, and an unsuitable adoption family to become a happy dog doing happy doggie deeds:

That humans are able to save these dogs and help them lead happy doggie lives says as much about the spirit of the human as it does about the spirit of the dog.