The Poodle (and Dog) Blog

Tiny house dogs take on invading cougar

While these guys might look like your normal wimpy house dogs, in reality (or at least in their own minds) they are fierce guard dogs.

Earlier this week around 10 o’clock at night a cougar jumped over a fence and entered their backyard in an Oregon neighborhood which backs up to a wooded area. Rosie a Border Terrier and Chiquita a Chihuahua who had been let out for their nightly business were having none of this. Like most dogs, regardless of size, when they saw something invading their territory, they went after it.

The cougar quickly pinned down Rosie, but Chiquita in typical Chihuahua fashion, barked most ferociously. For whatever reason, the cougar decided that he really wasn’t that hungry at the moment and abandoned his entrée of Terrier Tartare unhurt.

Police searched the area, but found no sign of the cougar. Sightings of cougars have been relatively rare in the area. Police Chief Ken Eklwer said that although the area had been posted with warnings this is only the third cougar sighting in the past year. He recommended that people call 9-1-1 when they spot a mountain lion. I hope they don’t send the SWAT team.

Loren Wingert, owner of Rosie and Chiquita, had a better idea. She said her family will be watching the dogs more closely when they go to the back yard late at night.

To survive, cougars must hunt and kill. Anything on four legs is considered fair game. We can’t expect them to know the difference between a destructive rodent and a beloved pet. They rarely attack humans. In fact there has never been a documented case of a cougar attacking a human in Oregon.

It would seem that the cougars, who probably got there first, are doing their best to live near civilization.

Miracle dog saves woman’s life

Is it really a “miracle” or is it doggie wisdom that goes beyond human understanding? Or maybe that is what a miracle is.

Jacque-Pierre, a seven year old Malti-poo (Maltese-Poodle mix) accompanies his owner Pat Harlan to work every morning. Harlan is a nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospice Care in St. Louis.

Last October Harlan’s supervisor, Mary Phillips, was on the phone when she suddenly got a headache that was so bad she decided to lie down on her office floor. Her co-workers begged her to go to a hospital, but she refused until Jacque-Pierre and Harlan walked into her office.

"Pierre came into my office and just started going wild and licking my head. Licking, licking, licking my head," Phillips said.

Some studies have actually shown that dogs can recognize illness and as a hospice nurse, Phillips said she's seen that for herself. She said animals can sometimes tell you more than the patient. The way Jacque-Pierre was acting, she agreed to go to the hospital.

"The dog convinced me. The dog started my miracle," Phillips said.

A few hours later neurosurgeons at the hospital rushed Phillips into the operating room for a ten hour surgery after discovering a very large aneurysm in her head.

Before this, Phillips was not particularly fond of dogs, but now it’s easy to understand why she loves them.

So does Jacque-Pierre know he’s a hero? According to Harlan he’s pretty conceited. And he has a right to be.

"Pierre started my miracle and everybody else carried it through," Phillips said. "And I'm very thankful to be here." The complete story

Will dogs on the beach oust the seals?

Instead of having dog sounds played on the Children's Pool Beach in La Jolla at a yearly cost of nearly $700,000 to get rid of the 200 seals, one councilwoman is proposing allowing real dogs to do the job.

San Diego councilwoman Sherri Lightner distributed the following memo yesterday:

In an effort to diminish litigation while keeping the public's trust, I suggest the city consider allowing dogs on the beach at the Children's Pool. Allowing dogs will keep the seals away from the Children's Pool and allow the area to once again be used by San Diego families.” Source

Seals began gathering in the early 1990’s and health officials closed the beach to humans in 1997 because of high bacteria levels from the seals’ feces. Many lawsuits in state and federal courts have followed. The memo doesn’t mention how the problem of dog feces would be handled.

Stay tuned.

DVD and Furminator Giveaway

 I have some DVD’s and a Furminator to give away so let’s have fun.

Get in the spirit of an organization that says, “If it’s on a website, it has to be true.”

To enter, in comments write a sentence that you want to be true about you or a pet. See examples on this post. Enter as often as you can think of something you want to be true.

Winners will be chosen in a random drawing. The first drawn will be offered by email the choice of the five prizes. Second drawn will be offered choice of four prizes, etc. Each winner will have three days to respond with their choice of prizes. You can’t win a prize without a valid email address. U.S. postal area only (sorry).

        Prizes are:

Labou DVD ($19 value)
Dr. Dolittle, Million Dollar Mutts DVD; ($19 value)
Marley and Me DVD (Marley dies.) ($25 value)
Double edge Furminator ($50 value)
Cesar Milan Mastering Leadership Training 3 volume DVD Set ($50 value)

Contest ends June 13, 2009

Labou: DVD for childen—A review

Three children, not really friends in the beginning, go on an adventure to find a pirate treasure in the Louisiana bayou in this recently released children’s DVD.

Along the way they encounter a pirate/ghost; a descendant of the ghost; Labou, a denizen of the swamp who is a cuddly ET lookalike; and two greedy oil tycoons who want to build a refinery on the swamp. (They would have too if it weren’t for those pesky kids.)

This is a fast moving children’s adventure movie with many elements that children love: a hidden treasure, a treasure map, a ghost, the supernatural, comedy, a cute and friendly magical creature, an abandoned southern mansion, silly adults, slapstick, and mud baths.

There are a few semi-scary moments, like being lost in a swamp with alligators, but nothing that would cause trauma (such as some films from my childhood, e.g. Old Yeller, Bambi and Snow White).

Even though the children are at times lost or facing adversity, they mostly have the situation well in hand. We know the kids will outsmart the adults. The adorable Labou lends a hand to help them. Expect tie-ins with Labou dolls (action figures?) to be everywhere.

The children are cute, if perhaps a little too “Hollywood” in the delivery of some of their lines. One of the boys is selfish and overbearing at first, but through the movie he learns an important lesson about friendship. The filmmakers had a good balance of kid entertainment without course humor and moral lessons without being preachy.

It was entertaining for me and most important, Damon, my 9 year old grandson and film critic, liked it.

Important report from the Poodle (and dog) blog

There is something I haven’t told you.

My dogs can talk.

In fact, Misty is finishing her PhD in nuclear physics, Timmy is training to be an astronaut, Chamois will enter medical school in the fall, and Tudee has passed the bar in two states. And I can prove it… with the logic used by the Humane Society of the United States.

As you know last week a report/exposé about HSUS was aired by ABC News affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta. Shortly after the newscast, the station took the video down. All over the internet, including my blog, those videos mysteriously disappeared. Here are two that are still working so far. Thanks, Yes Biscuit and Fuzzy Logic.

Among other allegations, the TV report stated that only $7 million of the $34 million donated to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina was actually used for the purpose it was intended.

After the broadcast the station posted a brief clarification on its website. The clarification states that: “…HSUS says all $34 million of the funds raised in the wake of Katrina are tracked on its web site in a detailed report.” To see the entire report, click here.

Here takes you to a report on the HSUS web site dated August, 2008. In other words HSUS’s proof about where their money went is in their own report.

So if you don’t believe what I have written about my amazing dogs, see my report. This IS my report.

Now, fellow bloggers, with this logic we can prove anything we want just by pointing readers to our blogs.

I won a Nobel Prize. I can bench press 190 pounds. I just signed to quarterback the 49’ers. Russell Crowe is hot for my bod. (As soon as I can change my checkbook) I’m a millionaire. Um…let’s see, what else?

Unusual method is successful in finding a little lost dog

This method of finding a lost dog would certainly be worth a try.

It did find a little white Poodle who had been lost for three frigid nights in a wilderness full of rattlesnakes, bob cats, mountain lions and coyotes.

Tony Alti and son Michael had been hiking with their Poodle, Rocky, in the Santa Monica Mountains in California. Near dusk Michael asked a friend to hold Rocky while he went to get their car. But Rocky jumped down to follow Michael and disappeared.

They searched through the frigid night, seeing only rattlesnakes and hearing coyotes. But they didn’t give up. They continued searching for the next three days even though they had little hope that their little dog “who's used to eating at Gelson's and drinking Fiji water” could survive for long in that environment. Being a white dog, Rocky even lacked camouflage.

After searching all morning and afternoon of the third day, Michael set up a humane trap with chicken as bait along the trail where they had been hiking. He also took the advice of a rescue group and left his sweater in an opening between bushes, hoping that his scent would draw the dog. Often dogs will return to the spot where they last saw their owners.

"I went to check on the trap and monitor the site again [the next morning], and there he was, lying on my sweater looking straight at me," Michael said. "I didn't want to scare him so I got on my knees, but he ran up and licked my face. "Dogs like your smell, they're comfortable with that," he said.

Rocky had more that 35 tick bites, but was physically healthy. Now, however, he is afraid to leave the side of his humans.

Michael said that the experience has taught him “to never give up and keep trying, no matter how bad a situation looks.”

 Now can we stop thinking of Poodles as wimpy little hot house flowers with no survival skills?
The story

The Saga of the Seals of La Jolla Children’s Pool Beach

From the San Jose Mercury News:

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Saturday that the city will seek court approval next week for a plan to use recordings of barking dogs at Children's Pool Beach in La Jolla.

The city hopes the recordings will disperse about 200 seals. The plan will cost nearly $700,000 a year.

Marine experts say the seals likely will adjust to the noise, but city officials say their backup plan is to add other sounds and spray the seals with water.

Animal rights activists say they'll oppose the plan.

This battle between seal lovers and bacteria-free beach lovers has been going on for over ten years in both state and federal courts. State courts have ruled that the seals should be removed while federal courts have mostly taken the side of the seals. Unless the state legislature steps in, the city is under an order from a state superior court judge to remove them.

Measures to carry out the plan have not been revealed. Will city workers walk among the seals with squirt guns and boom boxes playing barking dog sounds or will they find even more annoying sounds? Will the seals move out or just be amused?

Stay tuned.

The Veteran

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us
freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us
freedom of the press.
 It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us
freedom of speech.
 It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer, who has given us
freedom to assemble.
It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who has given us
the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN, not the politician, who has given us
 the right to vote.

Remembering the fallen warriors.

Thanks to Bob

Puppy Glove

By Will Bullas
Posted with permission of the artist