September 2008 Archives

The epidemic of fatness is reaching into the fish world.

TOKYO - Dolphins at a Japanese marine park are going on a low-fat diet after developing pot bellies and failing to look sharp in their aquatic performances.

Kinosaki Marine World in western Japan said Tuesday that all its 19 dolphins have been on a low fat diet since late August, when they started failing to hit jumping targets and keep upright while treading water.

I took Tess up to my vet's office this morning since her limp only became worse on Sunday (see my post from over the weekend).  

Diagnosis: A broken toe.

Of course.

I left her there for the day so they can fit her with a splint (someone at work asked if she would get a little cast that we could all sign). Looks like no running or fetch in her immediate future. She'll be sidelined for a while.

 To be continued ...........

Travellers to unknown regions would be well-advised to take along the family dog. He could just save you from entering the wrong gate. At least, it happened that way once--in a mountainous area of the Twilight Zone.

So what happens when Catholics and Presbyterians argue about dogs? 

(All in jest, of course, there's apparently a web site where you can create these mock-up church signs.)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- In a state considered the American birthplace of hunting with hounds, George Washington's favorite sport has become a target for some Virginia landowners who say baying dogs and their owners are trampling property rights.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- In a state considered the American birthplace of hunting with hounds, George Washington's favorite sport has become a target for some Virginia landowners who say baying dogs and their owners are trampling property rights.

Here are some photos I found that I'd taken at the San Pedro Dog Park not previously posted: 

Pepsi is part corgi. A cow-patch rescue dog whose build is short, sturdy and long, Pepsi's name originally was Betsy when her San Pedro family adopted her from a rescue group.

But "Betsy" was kind of hard for the kids to say, so the name became "Pepsi." 

And, yes, she dressed up as a cow at one of the dog park's Halloween parades.  

Raven is a very handsome standard poodle (this picture doesn't do him justice). He's rarely seen without his favorite toy, a red kong which he chases with abandon whenever his owners bring him to the dog park. 

Raven is also a leaner. He'll sit next to you as you're standing and lean full force against you. Which, as you'll quickly discover, puts him in the ideal position for a head rub or chest scratch.

I've seen advertisements for this before, but it seemed a bit pricey. And I'm still not convinced.

But the folks at Dogster say the new HydroSurge RapidBath Animal Bathing System, despite their own prior skeptism about the hose-attachment gadget, works pretty well.

While smaller dogs are easily bathed in bathtubs or sinks at home, larger or even medium-sized breeds present more of a challenge.

I've relied on the self-serve tubs at local pet stores, but even those are getting a bit expensive at $12 to $14 a bath (I think it was more like $7 a pop when I started using them 10-15 years ago).

My dogs both have long hair, so that compounds the problem of bathing them at home. My plumbing is old and simply couldn't survive the amounts of loose hair they lose during a bath. 

So I've been thinking the hose might be my best option. But by itself, it's a bit primitive, which is why the RapidBath gadget caught my eye.

Horst Hoefinger at Dogster was able to do a free test "wash" with it on his dogs and said it works quite well.

The RapidBath comes with shampoo cartridges along with a claim that you can wash your dog with professional results in a very short time.

The down side: The system costs around $70 (more like $79 from what I could find, even on Amazon). So I'm still holding off, for now.

I wouldn't have posted this except I've seen the ads and have wondered, Is it worth it? (That and it gives me yet another opportunity to post poor Cowboy's classic "I hate baths" pic below. He always gets lots of public sympathy for that.)

But if any of our readers have tried this product -- or other do-it-yourself home bath systems for dogs -- let me know what you think. What's the best (and most efficient -- and cost-saving) way you've found to wash your dogs, especially if they're big and furry?

Until I discover something better, it's off to the self-serve dog wash for us.

(Oh, if you don't want to pony up the $$$ for the RapidBath but still would really like one, you have a chance to win one. Dogster is offering a contest to win a free RapidBath -- the winner is the person who can post the best dirty-dog story on Dogster's site.)

As Donna wrote about before, Purrfect Partners, a nonprofit cat rescue and adoption group, is  presenting a "Black and White Affair," an adoption event that will feature only black-and-white   or black cats and kittens.Of course, Oreo cookies will be served.

It's at Centinela Feed and Pet Supplies, 413 Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach.
Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27.

For more information, go to www.purrfectpartners.com.

We had something of a class reunion today at the dog park. Rocket and Godzilla Riley, his nemesis friend from dog school (Riley came in third, and Rocket came in fourth, a fact that Riley's owner, Kathy Jo reminds me about constantly. And yes, there were only four dogs that graduated).

Riley was smaller than Rocket until about three months ago. but as you can see from this picture, he's now the size of an elephant. And he's still growing.

Here they are fighting mugging for the camera.

I was clearing out some photos on my computer yesterday and came across this one I'd taken of Tess during a break from playing fetch at the San Pedro Dog Park. Don't think I'd ever posted it, so here it is.

(That's Bonnie's front dog leg you see hanging off the bench. She likes to sit with the people.)

Got a call from a San Pedro resident, Mary Lou, who says there are lots of dolphins frolicking off the shore of Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. Not sure if they're still out there, but if you're in the vicinity, go check it out. Maybe you'll get lucky and they will still be out there.

And send us a picture if you can....

*****************Update: Mary Lou called us back later this afternoon, saying how incredible the sight was. It all took place from 11 a.m. until early afternoon, she said.

"We were there and it went on for an hour," she said, "it was unbelievable. They were leaping way up and coming so close to the land line. There was some guy in a kayak out there and they came all around him, they were just so friendly."

When Mary Lou went to the movies later in the day, she was talking about it when someone in line who was from Redondo Beach overheard her. "Oh, those are our party boys."

Sorry we didn't have a photographer in the vicinity. But if anyone sees them again, give us a call.

Call them the Puppy Professors.

This Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the dogs from PAWS to Read will be at the main Redondo Beach Library for a new Animal Assisted therapy children's literacy program.

Children can practice their reading skills by reading to one of the dogs in 15-minute sessions. "Dogs in the program help children overcome their fears by providing an attentive, uncritical, non-intimidating ear," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, L.A. chapter. "The kids are then free to proceed at their own pace, leaving with a positive reading association."

The program, which is free and open to all readers, will be offered at the RB Library on the fourth Saturday of each month (Sept. 27, Oct. 25, Nov. 22, and Dec. 27). The library is at 303 N. Pacific Coast Highway. For information, call 310-318-0675, Ext. 6.

 LA.  for children

 Domesticated dogs: No better than wolves when reading human clues?

That's what this article from NewScientist.com says.

Dogs are no better than wolves at picking up on human cues. That's the conclusion of animal psychologists who have compared the ability of the wolves and dogs to understand human hand signals.

When tasked with choosing between two paint cans based on a trainer's hand signal, tamed wolves actually proved more adept at picking the right can.

This casts doubt on the idea that domestication some 15,000 years ago imbued dogs with a window into the human mind, says Clive Wynne, an animal psychologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

And then Wynne says this: "Any idiot can tame a dog."

Now that hurts.

  The deadline is less than a week away for Los Angeles pet owners to comply with a new city law that requires most dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered by the time they are 4 months old. Deadline = Oct. 1.

Exemptions include animals who compete in shows or sporting competitions, dogs in the process of earning agility, carting, herding, protection, rally, hunting, working or other titles; gude, signal or service dogs; law enforcement dogs; and animals for which there are valid breeding permits.

Information on the new law can be found at city's Web site.

Related Post: LA Spay and Neuter 

You know that art festival they have in Laguna where people pretend to be paintings?

I think I'm going to enter one this year. It's of that iconic painting of dogs playing poker.

Below is the original. Under that is my rendering.

There's poop.

An then there's POOP. You know the kind we mean.

A new heavy-duty brand of poop bags is on the market, supposed to be 5-times stronger and heavier than the competition. And they're biodegradable.

Available at PetSmart online as part of the store's "favorite things" promotion..

HT: Pet Haven

Last week, I proudly wrote about how my dog won a 4th place ribbon at his graduation ceremony.

Sure, there were only four dogs competing, but  that was beside the point, I thought.

Well, guess who complained? The dogs that came out ahead of him. What a bunch of braggarts and show offs!

Here's an e-mail I got from Riley's owner, Kathy Jo. Riley is a friend of Rocket.

Hey, where's your sense of humor.... how come you haven't posted the final standings of our dog class. Doesn't your sister have a picture of Sherman you could use to show the first place winner?????

OK, fine. Riley came in third. Are you happy now, Kathy Jo?

A dog named Lucy came in second.

And first place? My sister's stupid dog Sherman! Can you believe it? My sister came in first place and I came in last place. And her dog is only four months old.

This is how it's always been. She always got better grades than I did. She always had more friends. And our parents like her more.

And now this! Well, let me tell you something: Dinner is going to be very tense this Thanksgiving. 

Here's Sherman and his stupid ribbon. I'd show you  a picture of rocket and his ribbon, but he keeps trying to eat it.

You've probably seen the ads and trailers for the new movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" that opens Oct. 3.

And while the Disney flick is destined to be a hit, animal welfare advocates already are

The film's popularity, they warn, could spark a rash of the tiny dogs being purchased from pet stores.

The concern is so great that animal welfare advocates turned out last week to picket the star-studded Hollywood premiere of the film, according to LA Unleashed..

"We know the movie is cute," said Kim Sill, who runs the campaign against puppy mills for Last Chance for Animals, the group that organized the protest. "We don't want to say we're against the movie. We're against people going to a pet store after they see the movie. We want them to go to a shelter, because there are a lot of Chihuahuas there."

.... when a movie is about to open, puppy mills, she contends, gear up to produce more of that breed to supply pet stores.

 The film credits include an advisory that gettng a pet is a serious and lifelong commitment that needs research.

Some good articles in the October edition of  Dog Watch, an excellent newsletter published by the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. The new edition arrived in my mailbox last night and I have to say, this is one of the best publications I've subscribed to  over the years. You can also subscribe online. It's available through Amazon as well.

Articles this month include how to deal with a dog's nonstop licking and chewing due to allergies or other conditions (boy is there a lot of that going on this time of year), and a piece written by C.C. Holland on how to successfuly introduce a new dog to a resident dog when expanding your canine "family" or pack. From the article:

Start two dogs off on the wrong feet, and you'll have a long, hard road of behavioral management ahead of you. But if you do things right, you can create a relationship that's rewarding for both you and your dogs.

Suggestions:

• Avoid the "Sink or Swim" scenario: Don't just bring a new dog home, introduce him to your present dog -- and thet the chips fall where they may.
• Try to choose your new dog wisely: Think about what kind of dog would be a good fit both for you and your current pet.
• Smart preparations: Sharpen your dog's obedience training in preparation for the new arrival. ... In the house, determine where the new dog will eat, sleep and hang out.

Wonderful news: Sophie, the cute scruffy pup we posted about  a few days ago, has found a new home.

But there's more work to do.

Lisa Petrich, our reader who let us know about Sophie, also has two kittens who need homes. And they, too, are adorable (what kitten isn't?).

Here are some details (and check out the fancy-shmancy names):

• Captain Brandy Walker: silver grey, neutered male tabby with white chest & paws; approximately 4-5 months old.
• Don Julio: a black-brown neutered male tabby with white chest and paws; about 3 months old.

Both "love to cuddle and purrr in your lap."  They'd like to keep them together in the same home, if at all possible.

Call Lisa at the numbers or email address listed below on the flier.

  Women's hooded sweatshirt says it all.

HT: Barkability

Rocket finished school today.

He passed his final exam!

Rocket won a ribbon for coming in fourth place!

There were only four dogs in the class.

Seatbelts and other car restraints for dogs have been around for a while now. I confess I've bought a couple, but either they haven't worked or I am too lazy to deal with it.  

My first experience was with my dog Mercy, an Australian shepherd-collie mix, when I was in the process some years ago of moving from Long Beach to San Pedro.

Mercy liked to ride shotgun, in the passenger seat of my VW Jetta (though she preferred the driver's seat). I was trying to train her to stay in the back, for her safety and mine.

So on one of the pre-move trips when I was still hauling whatever I could over the bridge to the new place, I carefully buckled her up safely in the back seat.

By the time we got off the VT Bridge in San Pedro, I looked over and there she was, sitting next to me as always, in the passenger seat. I'm not sure how she managed to get out of the contraption, but she did. The ones nowadays are probably better. Or maybe I hooked it up wrong.

 Anyway, all that's to say, there's a group called  Bark Buckle Up that is that's dedicated to pushing the message that dogs riding in cars should always be safely secured.

Because the group has named Volvo as its 2008 "Pet Safe Vehicle," they're having a Pet Safety Day event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 21) at Volvo of Santa Monica, 1719 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. Bark Buckle Up will help educate pet owners about the importance of pet safety in the car and demonstrate how to use pet restraints.

"Seat belts protect millions of people very day," said Christina Selter, pet safety advocate and founder of Bark Buckle Up. .... "In the event of an accident, an unrestrained pet can escape and be hit by another vehicle, cause another collision, or attack emergency crews trying to reach an injured party."

Selter buckles up her dog, Betty, even if she's just going to the supermarket.

Here's a nice video about animals that were rescued from Hurricane Ike.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3100132&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,424342,00.html

OK, I think this is one of the cutest dogs I've seen in a long time. Her name is Sophie and she needs a new home (her owner's son who has asthma, wound up in the hospital due to an allergic reaction to the pooch).

Sophie's a puppy, only about 9 months old, and is a Maltese/Shih-tzu mix.

She's spayed and "is a good puppy," the owner tells us.

Contact Beth Murphy: beth.murphy@dedola.com; 562-719-2863.  ****UPDATE: Over the weekend, Sophie found a new home. Yay!

Now this is what I call a bad experience:

MOUNT CARMEL, Pa (AP) -- A Pennsylvania woman who thought she was petting a neighbor's cat got a smelly surprise when it turned out to be a skunk. Not only did the skunk spray the woman before dawn Monday, but it ran into her Mount Carmel home. Police spent hours at the home before leaving the scene, but there was no word on whether they were able to remove the animal.

I had an Australian shepherd, Pilgrim, who frequently got skunks and cats mixed up, too.

HT: Animal Crazy 

Here's an idea from the blogger called "The Happy Homesteader":  The greenest grocery bag ever, she says, might just be sleeping on your couch.

If you have a large dog loafing at home while you peddle to the store -- you're both missing out on some serious usefull exercise. Dogs have been used for thousands of years to haul sleds, pull carts, and yes, even carry groceries. Your dog can be of use, too, with the right training and gear. ...

If your new to all this working dog business, make sure you do some research before jumping in. Be certain to buy your dog's pack from a reputable outfitter like Ruffwear or the wonderful people at Wolfpacks. Kelty also makes a great little pack called the Chuckwagon, and all that can be ordered online. ... A proper pack needs to carry weight the same way a sleddog pulls, in his chest and shoulders and not across his back.

So there you go.

But I have to say, I don't think Cowboy or Tess would be too keen on this sort of setup unless we could rent a flock of sheep to walk ahead of us as their motivation. 

Maybe Josh's sister could think about it, though. I'm told she has some sled dogs.

I took Cowboy to my vet (Centinela Animal Hospital) yesterday, he was due for his annual check and some shots (although Dr. Palmquist does vaccine "titers," a blood test to see if the previous vaccination is still active, in order to avoid over-vaccination).

Most of my dogs have been well behaved at the vet's. But not all of them.

Pilgrim, the Australian shepherd I lost about a year ago, was always quite anxious (and he had to go to the vet's A LOT). He'd whine and fidget in the waiting room and was known to take a nip at the doctor once inside the examining room. His chart bore a bright orange sticker: "CAUTION."

The dogs I have now, Cowboy and Tess, are so good they make ME look good. But they're both just incredibly low-key, submissive, quiet, and friendly.

The vet's office, which is tiny, was crowded yesterday after a couple emergencies backed up the afternoon appointments by close to two hours. Cowboy and I wound up in the parking lot, where some extra chairs had been set out for waiting clients.

But I don't really mind waiting, it's always fun to talk with other pet owners. Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time talking with Mrs. Williams who was there with her Shih Tzu who had allergy problems. I liked Mrs. Williams because she told me how much she liked reading the Daily Breeze.

There were a couple of cocker spaniels, a Bouvier Des Flandres (which you don't see every day), a poodle and several cats in their carriers. Several folks commented on Cowboy's eyes, which are a color mixture of blue & brown, marble like. (That's why his eyes look sort of spooky in the photo above.)

Cowboy, despite being as good as gold (he even reluctantly rolled over for the vet to do a tummy inspection), was glad to leave when it was all over. Dr. Palmquist sent us home with a prescription for an antihistamine. It is allergy season and Cowboy has had a hot spot and some skin discomfort.

I think the hardest part for Cowboy was leaving Tess behind at home. They've been pretty much inseparable since I adopted Tess last spring, so both dogs seemed confused when I had to tell Tess to "stay."

If your dog has behavioral issues going to the vet or groomer, here's an article on how you can help your animal prepare for the sometimes intense experience.

And do tell us: Does your dog like going to the vet? Or not? How do you help your dog or cat get through the experience?

This is a real converstation I had with a Daily Breeze reporter the other day. I was at the dog park and she called me from the office with a question.

 "Oh my god! What's that noise?" she wanted to know.

"Oh, that's just my dog," I calmly answered. "He's barking at a squirrel."

"I've never heard anything like it before," she said. "It sounds like a dinosaur."

Yep, it's that time again.

San Pedro's 10th annual Lobster Festival kicks off this weekend, with the very popular LobsterDog Pet Parade at noon Saturday (Sept. 20) at Ports O' Call Village.

The parade features an array of dogs dressed up as a sea creatures or some kind of "seafood." Past contests have included dogs depicting everything from lobsters to sharks and mermaids.

Silly, but the grand prize is $500 in cash, making it worth your while to think about it.

Costumes must be original (not store-bought) and not repeats from past parades.

There's an entry fee of $15 per pet. Call 310-514-0338 for details. Proceeds go to Peninsula Dog Parks Inc., the group that sponsors it each year.  

Here's a worthwhile and interesting post on a new blog I discovered a few weeks ago (called Raise a Green Dog) about the importance providing lots of water -- and high quality water -- to your dog. Water, the post says, is "the most important nutrient for a dog's healthy life."

I tried buying bottled water for my dogs for a while -- those big jugs -- during my super-perfect-dog-owner phase.

But eventually it became too logistically difficult and expensive to maintain, so we've gone back to tap water. The author of this blog, as you might guess, takes issue with serving tap water to your dogs. Here's this from the post: 

"Since water is so important to our quality of life, the quality of our water needs to be of great concern. With reports of fluoride and chlorine in tap water, Giardia in standing puddles, salts, and lawn and farming chemicals in rivers and ponds, how do you know if your water is safe?"

The post goes on to provide some resource articles. There also are some pretty good suggestions, even if you don't use bottled water (like never reusing plastic water bottles for your dog's supply).

Any opinions or experiences any of our South Bay dog owners would like to share on this topic? 

An online search turned up several specialty bottled waters for dogs that are now on the market, including one called FortiFido with vitamins and minerals designed for the canine crowd. "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan also has launched a bottled water product as part of his new line of pet supplies carried at PetCo stores. But at about $2.50 for just a 2-liter bottle, it seems like few of us could afford it on a full-time basis. 

Now for some fun. Check out this thirsty dog video sent to us by our reader & dog park friend, Indi's Mom :)

The "Official Dog Walker" garb -- offered at Dog is Good -- tells your neighbors that you're a bonafide member of the Special Division Papa Delta (Poop Doody).

$18.99 each, pre-washed.

HT: Barkability.com

  There's a great video today on the CNN web site about a dog named Buddy who saved his owner's life by calling 911.

Joe, the dog's owner, suffers potentially fatal seizures stemming from a 10-year-old military injury. About a year and a half ago, Joe acquired Buddy, a young German shepherd, and trained him to bring the telephone to him in an emergency. He also trained him to bite down on the phone to automatically connect to the pre-programmed emergency number.

You can hear an actual tape of the 911 call on the video. The operator answers and asks "What is your emergency?" Buddy replies: WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

After a night in the hospital, Joe is now back home with his best friend in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"He's always there," Joe said of Buddy. "I just hope I can be as good to him as he's been to me."

Yesterday, I posted a story I wrote in 2004 about pets that had been evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina that had made their way to Los Angeles.

Today, I'm posting a story I wrote a few months later about one of the dogs that found his way back home. For this family at least, the story has a happy ending.

This is the kind of story that really gets to me. A family in New Orleans had to evacuate as Hurrican Katrina barrelled through town. They didn't want to, but they were forced to leave their beloved pet dog behind.

Aside from a pile of food the family left for him, Bo was alone to fend for himself.

He wound up in Los Angeles, but because of his unusual markings, Bo eventually found his way home. I never met his family, but when I spoke to them on the phone a few monhts after the hurricane, they were thrilled about getting their dog back.

They had lost so much in the disaster, but the idea of being reunited with Bo brought filled them with joy.

Here's the story:

Not a lot of dogs look like him. Part Akita, part Dalmatian, he's black on top and white underneath, with a pair of pointy ears and a twisty curlicue of a tail.

But it was his feet -- four speckled paws that look like he ran through a mound of chocolate-chip ice cream -- that got Janet Taylor's attention.

The Rancho Palos Verdes resident saw him when she was visiting some of the hundreds of dogs that arrived in Los Angeles last month after Hurricane Katrina separated them from their families. She didn't know his name -- like many of the rescued animals, he had no tags and no collar.

"I just happened to take his picture," Taylor said. "I never saw a dog with spots on his feet like that."

The next day, while searching through a Web site that listed lost Katrina pets, she found one that sounded suspiciously like the dog she had seen the day before.

"I said, 'That has to be him,' " she said. "I called the number at 6 that morning."

That's when Taylor learned how the dog with the dappled toes wound up so far from home.
He was just a pup when he followed 12-year- old Willie Martin to his New Orleans home two years ago. They named him Bo, but nobody is really sure why.

"He was this little puppy from nowhere," said Willie's mom, Denise Martin-Marrero. "He was following all the children. My son felt sorry for him."

He quickly became part of the family. Martin-Marrero took to calling him her little baby.

"People thought I had a newborn baby with all the toys on the floor," she said. 

All these hurricanes that have hit the country this year reminded me about a couple of stories I wrote after Hurricane Katrina a couple of years ago.

I'll post one today and the other tomorrow.

The first one is about a rescue group that brought lost dogs and cats to Los Angeles by airplane because rescue groups in Louisiana were overwhelmed by disaster. A coalition of rescue groups joined forces to get them here.

At least one of the animals found its way back home, but that's tomorrow's story.

They've endured a hurricane, a flood and separation from their families. They were hungry, dehydrated and so scared after their flight that they cowered shivering in their crates.

But there's not much wrong with a dog that a cookie and a good ear scratching won't fix, and within a few minutes after arriving in Torrance on Tuesday afternoon, 90 canine survivors of Hurricane Katrina were jumping, barking and wagging with abandon.

Operation Rescue for Ruffugees was under way.

"I think they're happy just to have someone hold them," said Katherine Hopkins of Santa Monica, who hugged a pooch as it was being tested by a veterinarian.

The dogs -- along with 20 cats -- arrived in the South Bay because shelters in New Orleans were too overwhelmed to handle them. As soon as they showed up at the warehouse of the Centinela Feed and Pet Supplies corporate office, they were photographed, fed, dewormed and scanned for microchips (those that didn't have a chip were soon given one). There were even plots of grass lining the concrete floor so the animals could have a place to relieve themselves.

One of the good lessons learned from the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina a couple of years ago is that animals need to be tended to. Of course, humans are the first priority, but anybody who ever had a pet knows how devastating it can be when something happens to their cherished animals.

I wouldn't be happy to lose my home or my possessions, but if something happened to my dog or my cat, it would make things even worse.

And if something bad was going to happen to me, I'd be happy to know that my animals will be taken care of in my absence.

I've interviewed families from New Orleans who lost their pets in the hurricane. I've visited scores of dogs that were flown to Los Angeles after the disaster. And I remember seeing little children crying on the news because they couldn't take their beloved pets with them during evacuations.

So kudos to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles, which is sending out an animal response team to Houston to help with animal rescue efforts after Hurricane Ike hit.

This story is from City News Service:

A ``Disaster Animal Response Team'' from the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is leaving Los Angeles this morning
and heading to Houston to help in animal rescue efforts resulting from
Hurricane Ike.
   The team is being dispatched in response to a request for assistance
from Texas authorities.
   ``We want to provide as much aid as possible,'' said Madeline Bernstein,
SPCA-LA president. ``As proved during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the
2007 California wildfires, our DART unit can provide emergency help in various
types of disasters.''
   The DART team, which consists of 9 SPCA employees, will leave in a five-
vehicle caravan from the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village and Education
Center in Long Beach at around 7:45 a.m. Saturday morning. The team expects to
reach Houston on Monday, Sept. 15.
   The DART team vehicles are outfitted with full communications systems
capable of monitoring and dispatching emergency services.
   DART provides temporary shelter for animals and frontline veterinary
care. In addition, DART can help local state and national agencies to assist
families and their animals with medical, food and housing assistance.

And I thought the McCanine and BarkObama bandanas were silly.

Seems now there's a presidential look-alike contest where you can send in photos of your dog who, yes, you think looks like Barack Obama or John McCain.

We are looking for the dogs that look most like our candidates for the "My Dog Looks Like Obama or McCain Photo Contest." Hurry, there is only one week left! Due to such great response, we have extended the deadline for photo submission until Sept. 15.

The "Is Your Dog Presidential?" contest is sponsored by Rover411 in Michigan and there are rules.  Among them: 

Entrants have to agree "that you will not upload or post any photos or other content that is or may be threatening, profane, harassing, defamatory, unlawful, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable...."

In other words, be civil, be good. Please. (I was going to add "respectful" to the list, but then wondered if that's even possible when you are, after all, comparing the next leader of the free world to a DOG. Yikes. But you get the idea.)

You can email your photo submission, but you must be 18 years old and register as a member of the web site first. Online voting takes place from Sept. 22 through Oct. 22.

Yeah, it's silly, but kind of nice to see some light-heartedness in this way-too-edgy campaign.

Not sure what they're looking for? Here's the web site's samples:

(now stop laughing!) 

Call it the bad dog lineup, the one time when being bad was actually good.

Check out our story  in today's Daily Breeze about what happened when producers for Cesar Millan's Dog Whisperer Show came to San Pedro for an open-call audition.

Chiquita, the snarling chihuahua shown above, appeared to have Cesar potential.

So did the co-dependent, sometimes-snippy Mia, the way-too-cute shaggy dog straight out of a Disney movie shown lying down at left in the photo below. After her one-on-one interview, producers said Mia could be among those seriously considered to appear on the 5th season of the hit National Geographic show which begins this fall. Go Mia!

We'll try to update you on which dogs, if any, are selected from Thursday's open casting call in San Pedro. If you missed it and would like to apply, there are still two more opportunities:

Sept. 18 (4 to 6:30 p.m.) at the Petco Store at 1425 N. Montebello Blvd., Montebello

Sept. 25 (4 to 6:30 p.m.) at the Petco Store at 742 New Los Angeles Avenue, Suite A, Moorpark.

Owners must turn in a 5-minute video of their dog's bad behavior. You can read about that and what other materials are required at Cesar's Web site.

(And those of you who remember our earlier post this week on Theresa Sardisco's dog Willie will be happy to know that Theresa did manage to get Willie to be his bad old self for the video they turned in. Go Willie! We knew he could do it.)

Photos: Scott Varley, Daily Breeze

(An online photo gallery link is included with the Daily Breeze story) 

Attacking the printer!

Dogster, one of our favorite "other" pet blogs, has posted a moving tribute to the 9/11 rescue dogs.

"If these dogs only knew what a difference they make. Certainly, there's nothing that can replace the precision of a dog's nose -- and absolutely nothing that can replace a dog's heart." -- Bob Sessions, rescue worker, Federal Emergency Management Agency

Absolutely worth checking out and includes a link to a photo gallery. 

I wrote a story in 2006 about South Bay folks and how 9-11 changed their lives. There was the lady who lost a friend and another who continued to show thanks to local firefighters.

But since this is a pet blog, I'm going to focus on one part of the story. It's about a dog that lost its owners during the terrorist attacks. Looking for a way to help, a Redondo Beach family decided to adopt him and give him a home.

Here's what I wrote:

They don't know exactly where he came from, and he can't tell them. But when the Ezzes family of Redondo Beach saw the dog with the sorrowful mien and the sad eyes staring at them from inside a cage at the pound, they knew they wanted to adopt him.

My daughter wanted a dog, but before she wanted to get a dog, she really wanted to lose a tooth. She was in kindergarten and everybody loses a tooth. The class makes a big deal about it. She was the only kid who didn't lose one. So I was trying to make it up to her. 'OK, when you lose a tooth, we're going to do something special. We're going to get a dog.' That's how it all started.

She wanted a Lab. I found him on the Internet. He was so sad looking, just a sad-looking face. I'm sure every dog in the pound is sad, so I'm wondering how I'm going to know this dog is for me. I'm going to see a million pit bulls and sad dogs and they all deserve a home. How do you pick one?

They said this dog has to get out of here. He doesn't deserve to be here. You need to get him out of here.

So I went to the pound. I looked at him. He's in a cage. He's all covered with poo and dirt. He wasn't even white. Just muddy. He had been in the cage since this happened.

I came home crying. I told my husband I wanted this dog. He's very cool, very sad, very thin.

I tried to research the family. I contacted the Red Cross, a bunch of organizations trying to find them because he had to have some family somewhere. Would this family want this pet? Maybe at first you don't because it reminds you of that person who died. But later on, you think, well, this is all they had. But it was a dead end. The pound would not tell me who the owners were. I just feel bad. I'm sure he had a family.

We always do something. We belong to mitzvah committees, we do stuff with our temple. With Sept. 11, the kids were very young and it was hard for them to understand. But we had to find some way to help. To us, it feels like we've done something. So when Sept. 11 comes up every year, we think of his owner. We have a moment to say that's the day the owner died, but it was our gain, too. That's why I wonder about this guy's family. Even if they didn't want the dog, they should know that somebody loves this dog.

There had to be something we could do for somebody and this was one of the nicest things we could do.

Wow. Get a load of the new -- and third dog park -- that just opened this week in downtown Minneapolis.

Gateway Park, which opened Wednesday (photos are from the construction phase), features an array of designer perks, including:

• Dog ottomans
• Doggie bowl sculpture piece for drinking water, made from Dresser, WI trap rock
• Stainless steel drinking bowls
• New fence created from "Hardy Panel cement board" with "cutouts to provide porosity" (OK, I don't think I really know what that means, but, boy, it sounds snazzy!)
• Stunning (!) modern benches by Landscape Forms.

A nonprofit group called Dog Grounds spearheaded the effort. The group administers and maintains all the downtown dog parks.

From their web site: "This crowning achievement is worth the wait! Designed by award winning architecture firm Oslund and Associates, this park is the perfect marriage of beauty and functionality."

Winning architectural firms now designing dog parks?  

My Daily Breeze colleague (and fellow dog owner) Kristin Agostoni agreed that the dog park looked very nice. But then she added: "It'll just get peed on."

Yeah, there is that.

But hey, congratulations anyway, Minneapolis dog owners. It is a sharp-looking dog park. And kudos to Dog Grounds, which sounds like a go-getter of a dog park support group.

Photos courtesy of Dog Grounds

What's black and white and sweet all over?

If you answered Oreo cookies, that's true enough. But this question has more than one answer.....

PURRfect Partners, a non-profit cat rescue and adoption group, will sponsor its Black & White Affair from noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 27 (that's a Saturday) at the Centinela Feed & Pet Supplie store, 413 Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach (across from Whole Foods).

All black and white and black kitties needing new homes will be up for adoption.

And the event's refreshments?

Yep, Oreo cookies.

Our sister paper in Long Beach, the Press-Telegram, reported this week about a pet fox that was found at a home in Norwalk.

"It's a troubling trend because no matter how cute they may look, they are not meant to be household pets," said Capt. Aaron Reyes, director of operations at the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority.

Other animals confiscated within the last two years include alligators, a baby coyote, several ferrets and a bobcat.

The 18-pound California gray fox, which was found sitting on the owner's porch wearing a leash and collar, appears to be healthy and is being kept by animal regulation officials. Because the year-old male fox has been domesticated, he cannot be released into the wild, authorities said.

Owners of such animals can be charged with a misdemeanor.

This story comes from England. I like how instead of saying "a neighbor called animal control," the article says, "