The Poodle (and Dog) Blog

Judge rules Puddles will be returned to his original owners.

The Saga of Puddles is over.

The family in Alice, Texas will get its dog back as the judge ruled that the former mayor had wrongly kidnapped him.

The judge said, “I think a lot of this is just plain ridiculous.”

He stated that former mayor Grace Saenz-Lopez and her neighbors, the original owners, Rudy Gutierrez and Shelly Cavasos, should have resolved the dispute out of court.

He ruled that Saenz-Lopez should not have agreed to take care of Puddles while his family went on vacation last July and then told them that Puddles was dead while she hid the dog with her sister. Although she presented evidence that Puddles was gravely ill when the family left him, the judge ruled that evidence of the dog’s medical condition was irrelevant.

He denied the Gutierrez-Cavasos claim for court costs—nearly $10,000.

Saenz-Lopez and her sister both face criminal charges.

While it is wrong to kidnap a dog, Saenz-Lopez seems to be a loving if misguided person with compassionate motives. The words from A Chorus Line run through my head:

We did what we had to do. Won't forget, can't regret What I did for love.

Man chooses Police Canine Training facility for break in

This from Edmonton, Canada:

The sign on the building clearly said: "Premises Used for Canine Training After Hours."

But even though it was “After Hours,” Eugene Gluckie, 51, apparently decided to try his luck anyway sometime before 10:30 pm Wednesday. Probably not a good idea.

Minutes later, officers and three canine units arrived for training.

Gluckie scurried to the roof to hide. Officers heard him on the roof. Police helicopter AIR-1 was called in and spotted a man hiding on the roof of the building.

Gluckie was quickly arrested by the Canine units and charged with breaking and entering.

The mind truly boggles…

From the Edmonton Journal

Father to be allowed to care for his deployed son’s dogs

When the law is so inflexible that it doesn’t allow for human circumstances, we are inclined to agree with Charles Dickens’ Mr. Bumble: “…the law is a ass—a idiot.”

Henry Carroll, a 45-year-old Army veteran from North Carolina, owns three little Dachshund-Poodle mixes. When his son, Adam, was deployed to Iraq, he agreed to watch Adam’s two little Dachsipoos while he was gone.

However his county limits residents to owning only three dogs without applying for and being granted a kennel permit. One neighbor complained of barking late into the night, which Carroll denies.

While the law has good intentions, to keep people from hoarding large numbers of dogs and becoming a public nuisance, clearly it needed to be revised when the complaints of one neighbor could cause the county to become involved and demand that the two dogs be relocated regardless of the circumstances.

Happy ending: whether from compassion or fear of bad publicity, county officials agreed to amend the law to allow up to six dogs if people could document that the extra three were being cared for temporarily, such as deployment or hospital stays.

Hurray for election years.

Source

Wordless Wednesday: If gas prices continue to rise

Thanks to Beth

Send in the Clones: sniffer dogs

Seven cloned puppies, all named Toppy (Tomorrow’s Puppy),have passed the first round of tests in Korea to become sniffer dogs.

When the Toppies complete their second round of training, they will report for customs duty in June.

The nuclei of somatic cells from a sniffer dog Chase, a Golden Retriever, was used to clone the puppies. Chase is considered by customs officials to be the best sniffer dog. Theoretically, training clones of a skilled sniffer dog will be easier than training a normal dog.

The project, costing $323,000, was headed by South Korean scientist, Lee Byung-chun, who headed the world’s first cloning of a dog, Snuppy, an Afghan hound.

Hmmm, each cloned puppy cost over $46,000. Wonder if that includes food and toys.

Source

Pit Bull—the energy drink

I’m amazed at the popularity and proliferation of energy drinks on the market today. I can’t figure why anyone would load up on caffeine and sugar from a can when there is a world of glorious dark chocolate for that purpose.

But that’s just me. It seems like everyone with a faucet and some empty bottles has entered the energy drink market, including one called PITBULL.

With all the tragedies, breed bans and bad publicity associated with these poor dogs, this seems like an unfortunate choice of images. The juvenile cartoon features a spike collar, sharp teeth and …uh…anatomical correctness.

Ok, that can just makes me giggle. Let me lighten up here.

The makers of PITBULL probably know the market they are aiming for and it probably isn't the sophisticated connoisseurs of the world. THUNDERBIRD and WILD TURKEY aren’t great names either.

Besides I’m sure no one is going to buy an energy drink called SILVER POODLE, STUD MUFFIN, CHIHUAHUA MIX, or GENERIC DOG.

However, I did find a fascinating website, Taurine Rules, Energy Drink Reviews, that features reviews of the energy drinks of the world, “over 400 and counting.” It’s an encyclopedic consumers’ report of energy drinks.

Based in San Francisco, the website is professionally designed and well written, featuring high resolution pictures with no advertisements. It shows a lot of work, time, skill, and drinking.

They even have a listing of the energy drinks that give the best buzz and the ones that taste like crap.

Meanwhile I’ll just stick with dark chocolate.

Nevada dog finds her way home after eight days, 77 miles

For Moon, a two-year-old Siberian Husky, the Call of the Wild must not have been as promising as she thought it would be when she set out on her doggy adventure.

Owner Doug Dashiell of Ely, Nevada had taken his three dogs on a weekend trip when Moon escaped at a rest stop on April 6. After searching for several hours and notifying local authorities, he gave up and went home.

Eight days later his veterinarian clinic called on to tell him Moon was back in town. She had been found by a local resident who called them because she was wearing a clinic tag.

Her 77-mile trip home had taken her across Nevada's high desert and two mountain ranges.

Moon was in good physical shape, prompting Dashiell to think that she may have dined on rabbits during her journey.

Oh, and there was strong evidence that she had had an encounter with a skunk who had sprayed her somewhere along the way.

From the Eli Times

Stranded puppy rescued from Pacific Island

Eight-month-old Snickers has already had more adventures than most humans even want to have.

After spending three months drifting in a 48-foot sailboat on the Pacific with his owners and a parrot, they were shipwrecked and he was stranded on a tiny Pacific island for four months before being rescued.

When his owners developed mast problems with their boat, they had to swim 200 yards to the shore of Fanning Island with Snickers and Gulliver the parrot. The humans were able to hitch a ride on a cargo ship, but they had to leave Snickers and Gulliver in the care of the islanders.

Apparently the islanders have a “different concept of pets,” according to the Hawaiian Humane society.

Translation: the islanders consider animals as more cuisine than companions.

Recognizing the danger to Snickers, many people got involved to remove him from the island and a possible future in a stew pot.

Eventually the Hawaiian Humane Society was able to persuade Norwegian Cruise Line to pick up Snickers. He landed in Honolula, cleared customs and has been in quarantine until he can catch a flight to Los Angeles.

Retired Las Vegas resident Jack Joslin is going to adopt Snickers and is determined to bring Gulliver home too.

Read the complete convoluted story here

Thanks to Denny

Does one black Lab look just like another?

Some time ago I wrote a post about a couple from Minnesota who claimed they had gotten the wrong dog back after a stay at a boarding kennel. I thought that was really weird at the time. How can someone not know their own dog when they pick her up? But recently it happened again in Oregon.

Both stories involved black Labradors.

Do black Labs look that much alike? Or do owners somehow not really know their black dogs without a thorough examination? Or are they the kind of dogs that will greet anyone, family or stranger, with exuberance?

Or is this part of “Big Black Dog Syndrome”? Big black dogs, commonly Labs, Dobermans and Rottweilers are the last dogs chosen, according to shelter people. These dogs don't get adopted easily and are the most often euthanized even though they are as loving and wonderful as lighter colored dogs.

Some possible reasons they suggest: there are so many of them that not one stands out; black doesn’t show up well against the dimly lit shelter cages; lack of contrast between their black eyes and their faces make it difficult for people to gauge their feeling; folklore that has presented them as evil.

A few months ago a Nevada shelter offered special prices for adopting big black dogs. They were criticized for being “racially insensitive.”

Sigh.

GPS device locates lost dogs

A dog is lost every three seconds.

Even highly trained dogs like police dogs, service dogs and sniffer dogs sometimes get the urge to find out what is on the other side of the yard next door.

Zoombak’s Pet Locator is a GPS device that you can attach to your dog’s collar. It is rugged and water resistant, weighing only 2.5 ounces.

The device can be set up to alert you if your dog leaves a safety zone, which might be your backyard or other boundaries you outline. If the dog leaves the zone, you will receive a text alert on your mobile phone or an email on your computer. You can then track the dog’s location on a map on the internet or through a live 24/7 toll free customer line.

Of course you still have to go on a search and rescue, but at least you will know where to go.

The device costs $199 with a monthly service fee ranging from $9.99 to $14.99.

While it might be a little pricey for the family dog, highly trained dogs such as hunting dogs can cost thousands of dollars and are allowed a wide range to explore.

Available on line or at Petsmart.