The Poodle (and Dog) Blog

No more free parking, state senator insists

But where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns.

For several decades downtown districts in California and across the country have attempted to avoid becoming blighted areas, as shopping centers have sprung up in outlying areas, attracting chain stores and taking customers away from downtown.

Hoping to attract store owners and shoppers to keep the downtowns from becoming eyesores of shuttered and neglected buildings, citizens have spent a lot of time and money on revitalizing downtown areas.

Many cities have been successful in improving the character and appearance of the downtown areas and in providing free and convenient parking so that the locally owned specialty shops could compete with the chain stores.

It wasn’t that parking meters were a great expense; it was knowing that as taxpayers we paid for the parking area AND the parking meters AND the salary of the cheery little man who scooted around and gave us a $40 ticket if we were a minute late getting back to our cars to put in our quarters.

Now in their infinite wisdom California state legislators are considering a law to ban free parking in downtown areas. And, of course, the politician's best friend, Global Warming, is cited.

State Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) has won Senate approval of a proposal geared to prompt cities to reduce the availability of free parking.

"Free parking has significant social, economic and environmental costs," Lowenthal said. "It increases congestion and greenhouse gas emissions."

Free parking encourages people to drive instead of taking the bus, walking or riding a bike.

Of course the Wal-marts, Targets, Lowe’s, Home Depots, McDonald’s, Walgreens, movie theatres, supermarkets, and malls on private property will continue to provide parking without meters.

And we're even smart enough to know that they don't offer "free parking" because they are fond of us.

One of the supporters said, “Free street parking is paid for by the entire community in the form of higher taxes.”

Of course the same can be said for the streets we drive on and the free street parking in front of people’s houses, both paid for by the cities, not the state. I’m guessing if you put parking meters in front of the houses on your street, you wouldn’t have any more guests than businesses would have customers.

But wait, here’s the best part: Besides the stick, here is the carrot. He is promising that cities which take action to prohibit free parking could get more state money for parking garages, transit programs, and “bonus points in competing for state grants.”

This from a state that has done everything it could to steal money from cities and counties to make up for an insane budget deficit.

Obviously the California legislators don’t get what every other citizen understands: THE. STATE. HAS. NO. MONEY!!

Send in the clowns, Don’t bother, they’re here.

Dog rescued from ice floe

 

This lonely little dog was rescued from an ice  floe that had carried him more than 100 miles up a river and out onto the icy waters of the Baltic Sea.

The dog was first spotted on the Vistula River in Poland, but firemen were not able to rescue him. When the crew of the Baltica saw him, he had drifted 18 miles out to sea.

At first they thought it was a seal, but as they got closer they realized it was a dog struggling to stay out of the icy water.

They managed to scoop the dog off the floe onto an inflatable dinghy. Fortunately they were able to rescue him before nightfall. 

The dog was definitely in the right place at the right time. Poland is in the grip of bitterly cold weather, with night temperatures in some areas falling as low as -31 Fahrenheit.

A veterinarian found him to be in "surprisingly good condition" and the dog, named Baltic by his rescuers, is perfectly happy to be a member of the ship's crew until his owner is found.

Owner of Vernon/Spikey is located

 The German Shepherd mix rescued by the Los Angeles fire fighters last week has been claimed by his owner, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Turns out Vernon is actually Spikey.

A family friend of an elderly Maywood woman went to the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority on Tuesday to claim the dog, whom firefighters had named Vernon, after the city where the dog was rescued.

"And Vernon just went crazy, his tail flapping," said Aaron Reyes, director of operations. "We see it all the time: Gosh, he really knows this guy."

Although animal control officials questioned why it took so long for the family to come forward to claim the dog, whose real name is Spikey, the friend said the owner speaks only Spanish and missed extensive TV coverage of the Jan. 22 rescue. A friend eventually pointed it out to them a few days later, Reyes said.

"It didn't get a lot of play on Spanish-language TV," he said.

Animal control officials visited the Maywood home, checked the dog's license and spoke with the owner. They also spoke with neighbors and learned that Spikey's "brother," a yellow Labrador named Polo, was picked up by animal control the day after the rescue after being found walking down a street, Reyes said.

The owner thinks her grandchildren may have left the backyard gate open, letting the dogs loose. Polo will be released to the owner once the backyard is cleaned up, Reyes said. 

So it would seem that Spikey's Grand Adventure has come to an end. With his Dog Memory he might remember the family friend, but he probably won't remember why he shouldn't leave his yard.

Rescuing a dog—and the trolls who hate to see it happen

You’ve probably noticed that every time there is a amazing story about the rescue of an animal, unhappy trolls crawl out of wherever trolls hang out to rail against all that money, time and effort to save a mere animal.

The dramatic helicopter rescue of the dog by the Los Angeles Fire Department was played on our local news, but I hadn’t realized that the footage was shown on TV stations all across the country until I got comments and emails from readers.

In a country where sometimes it seems that we can’t agree on much of anything, it’s wonderful when something like this happens to make most of us feel good about our world and to give us a sense of community.

But there are always the few unhappy souls who need to rain on everyone’s parade. It isn’t clear whether they hate animals, think only human life has value, or believe they are morally and intellectually superior to the rest of us.

They always decry the waste of taxpayer’s money (like it’s the only time THAT happens). And often they even play the starving children card. (Like helping an animal snatches food right out of children’s mouths.)

Even though they are a minority, they can be an obnoxiously vocal minority. Therefore the LAFD felt obligated to justify why they rescued the dog. Los Angeles Fire Capt. Steve Ruda stood by the decision.

They could have watched the dog drift down to a deeper part of the river and drown. (Does anyone want rescuers to pull a dead carcass out of the water?)

No extra taxpayer money went into the rescue. Firefighters and helicopters were already on the scene. That is what they get paid to do. (Although their jobs can be dangerous, if they didn’t get job satisfaction out of making rescues, they would seek employment elsewhere.)

Rescue teams had the equipment and experience to make a safe rescue. So often in a situation like this, an inexperienced person for one reason or another will try to make a rescue. According to Captain Ruda, across the country 900 people die in water accidents each year. One-third of them were trying to make a rescue.

"All life is important," Captain Ruda said. That is why firefighters carry oxygen masks for cats and dogs that become victims of fire.

The dog, named Vernon after the town where he was found, shows no sign of rabies. He is eating well, sleeping well and charming all the shelter workers. If no owner comes forward, there is a long list of people wanting to adopt the celebrity dog.

So a happy ending to a happy story—for everyone but the trolls.

Wordless Wednesday

Good news from Jiffy, the dog who was frozen to the sidewalk

I wrote about Jiffy in December, 2008. He was a morbidly obese dog who had been let out in six degree Wisconsin weather and had frozen to the sidewalk.

Animal care workers had to gently remove him with warm water, but there were patches of fur still stuck to the sidewalk after he had been taken away.

At the time he couldn’t even walk like a normal dog. At 120-pounds the 11-year-old Border Collie had to drag himself along with his front legs.

His owner was arrested for animal neglect after a neighbor reported the dog had been stuck for hours on the sidewalk.

Lacking opposable thumbs, Jiffy obviously had to have a lot of human help to reach that unhealthy weight. To be fair the owner may have thought she was showing Jiffy love by overfeeding him.

Fortunately Jiffy didn’t suffer any lasting effects and now with new owners, Patty and Peter Geise of Sheboygan Falls, he has become a happy dog who enjoys going for walks and lifting his leg up like a real dog to mark his territory. He even surprised them one night by rumbling up to the second floor.

After losing 40 pounds in a little over a year (that's one-third of his body weight), he is still a little portly, his owners say, but he is obviously happy to be moving like a regular dog again.

Presenting one of life’s losers (but at least he loved his puppy)

Have you noticed how life just doesn’t seem to go well for some people? Maybe they bring it on themselves. But still.

Like this guy:

From St. Louis Today. Jeffrey Pack, 47, of O’Fallon, Missouri was spotted by police running a red light. When he refused to stop, a chase ensued. Eventually he bailed and got away, leaving his Pit Bull puppy behind in the car.

Police learned that Pack was wanted for violating his probation on a charge of burglary. They seized his car and took his dog to the shelter.

Three days later the guy shows up at the shelter to claim his dog. Workers there stalled him while they called the police. When he saw a police car pull into the parking lot, he fled on foot leaving behind a pickup that contained materials used to make methamphetamine.

Trudging through the heavy snow, he was tracked by police officers and canine units from several agencies. Eventually he hopped into a running pickup that was being unloaded and sped away. An officer in the area recognized Pack as the man being pursued and joined the chase.

Unfortunately for Pack the road he was on dead-ended at a deserted playground. As he tried to stop, the pickup skidded in the snow and crashed into concrete barriers. He jumped out of the pickup and ran into a nearby Lowe's where police eventually caught him in the lawn and garden section.

Pack is being held in jail without bail while police sort out all the new traffic and felony charges he has accumulated in the last few days.

Pack’s puppy, a 4-month-old female named Maggie, is still at the shelter and may soon be put up for adoption. Hopefully to someone with a functional brain.

Dog brought to safety in a daring helicopter rescue

A series of week long storms have dropped up to 8 inches of rain in the Los Angeles area.

A German Shepherd, trapped in the Los Angeles river, was hoisted to safety by Joe St. Georges, a 25 year city fire department veteran, in a dramatic helicopter rescue.

It was shown live on TV and replayed over and over on local channels.

In Disney movies the dog is grateful, but in real life when a frightened stray, possibly feral, dog is grabbed by a stranger the natural reaction of the dog is to fight back. St. Georges suffered severe hand and arm injuries and has been hospitalized in “good condition.”

 UPDATE

Meeting with a throng of reporters after being released from the hospital, St. Georges shrugged  off his injury as a single bite on the thumb.  As to the rescue he said, "Somebody was going to go do it and then we'd have to rescue a human victim."

An Animal Control Officer  said the 6-year-old German shepherd mix was cold and wet, but otherwise unhurt. He showed no further aggression, and shelter staff named him Vernon. “He’s really lovable,” [the A.C. officer] said. “He’s appreciating all the attention he’s getting here.“ Source

Homeward Bound for one tiny Chihuahua—just not the right home

This amazing story started in June, 2009. Tony Fricano, a resident of Oakdale, California had been doing business in Stockton when he stopped to do some grocery shopping.

He left his 9-year-old Chihuahua, Odie, in the car, but while he loaded the groceries he let the obedient dog out to roam in a safe place as he always did.

When he went to retrieve her she was gone, along with some teens who had been loitering in front of the store. One had said something about stealing her, but he hadn’t taken it seriously.

He searched the neighborhood and over the next months returned to the area to put up reward posters, but came up empty.

Six months later in late December of 2009 he got a call from the police department in Ripon, a town 25 miles from Stockton, about his dog Odie.

As it turned out Fricano and Odie had lived in Ripon for six years before moving to Oakdale. Odie had found her way back to the old Ripon residence and was captured and turned in by their past neighbors. Fortunately, when they relocated to Oakdale, Fricano had put in a microchip with the new location.

Somehow the 10-pound Chihuahua had gotten away from her captors and made the 25 mile trek to Ripon, arriving in the dead of winter.

Odie was malnourished and had severe hair loss. “I nursed her back to health,” Fricano said of Odie. “Now look at her, she’s healthy and feisty as ever.”

Being without Odie for six months prompted him to get another deer faced Chihuahua whom he also named Odie.

“Now I have Odie 1 and 2,” he said. “And when I take them for a walk they are never far. When I go in a business I lock their two leashes. So they can’t be taken from the pole.

“They’re just amazing animals,” he said of his love for his Odies.

More from the Oakdale Leader

Look what followed me home

Can I keep it?

Bronson, an English Labrador Retriever, lived up to his breed name by bringing home a large copperhead snake.

Probably hoping to impress his owners, Peter and Deborah Allen of Australia, Bronson carried the snake to them on his snout.

After snapping a quick picture because they thought no one would believe them, they scooped the snake up with a chaff bag, and rushed Bronson to the veterinarian. Unfortunately a test showed that the snake had managed to bite him.

After flushing the poison out of his system, he was kept him on a drip for a few days. Now he’s fully recovered. Did he learn anything? Probably not, dog memory and all. The story