September 2009 Archives

A bouncy tribute to rescue dogs:

Another upcoming Charm and Luck handbag fundraiser happens from 11 - 7 this Saturday at Dominick's Pizza, 28360 S. Western Ave., San Pedro.

Sponsored by Pedro Pet Pals with proceeds going to help the animals in the Harbor Animal Care Center in San Pedro.

South Bay Pets friend "josh's sister" (you'll see her dog Sherman featured in Josh's post below) also took Sherman herding recently at a place Robin on the Lamb. (This is really Sherman's day on the blog!)

I've wanted to take Tess & Cowboy herding ever since I've had them, but haven't had the opportunity yet. Maybe later this fall. Any other herding experiences out there?

Here's a video from the facility:

Sherman, as you may recall, is my sister's dog. Sherman and my dog took obedience classes together about a year ago. Although he's about a year younger than my dog, Sherman came in first place, while my stupid dog came in last.

A recent humuliation came when my sister took sherman to visit our parents. My mother couldn't stop talking about what a good dog he is. She's never said that about my dog.

To give Sherman an even bigger ego, my sister recently enrolled him in agility training.

Here's a picture of the little jerk. Yeah, he's pretty cute, even if he consistenlty has to put my dog in his place (come to think of it, that's exaclty what my sister did when we were in elementary school!)

Anyway, here's a little something my sis wrote about the experience. I promised I'd post this weeks ago, but I'm a lazy cuss and am now just getting around to it.

Sherman is almost 1 1/2 years old now and has taken classes in Obedience, Rally and Agility.   I think he has found his calling in Agility.   We still have a lot to learn, but having a great time doing it.
We are taking a course through Torrance Parks and Recreation at Entradero Park.  The instructors, Robert, Deb and Kelly are absolutely wonderful.  They are patient, kind, have a wonderful sense of humor, are great motivators, and best of all, they are generous with the cheese.  We have just completed out first session and have registered for the next session of classes.   In the picture, you can see Sherman on the dog walk

Sherman has made previously appearances at South Bay Pets. If you want, you can click on these links to see more. And by "you," I mean my sister and her dog friends,

Sherman's first day.
http://www.insidesocal.com/pets/2008/07/the-secondcutest-dog-in-the-so.html

Obedience school:
http://www.insidesocal.com/pets/2008/09/and-the-winner-is.html

Herding:
http://www.insidesocal.com/pets/2008/10/herd-any-good-ones-lately.html

Happy Birthday Sherman, 1 year old:
http://www.insidesocal.com/pets/2009/04/sherman-then-now.html

Sherman playing with his brother Cosmo:
http://www.insidesocal.com/pets/2009/07/torrance-twin-terror.html

This little item comes by way of the Dog Clothes Horse blog about an ongoing experiment that originated in the college town of Ithaca, N.Y.:

Several years ago, dog owners (in Ithaca) began worrying about all the plastic bags filled with dung that ended up in the landfill.

Leon Kochian, a professor of plant biology at Cornell and, more to the point, the owner of a yellow lab, recalled the thinking at the time: "This is Ithaca. There's got to be a more environmentally sensible way to do this."

This year, with Mr. Kochian's nudging, one of the city's dog parks -- part of the Allan H. Treman Marine State Park  -- became a dog waste composting park.

Special corn-based bags, made by the Biobag Company based in Florida, are available at several stations in the park. Dog owners put the bag and its contents into large bins near the park's entrances, which are removed once a week by a company called Cayuga Compost.

AT its composting facility, Cayuga dumps the waste into a pile -- mixed with a bit of yard and wood waste -- quite separate from the company's regular food-waste compost.

And there it will sit -- until the company figures out what it might be good for.

Late next year, Cayuga plans to run tests to determine the composition of the dog waste (after all, a dog's diet is arguably more varied than virtually any other animal's, in accordance with the whims of their owner). If it matures into nutrient-rich compost, it might be applied to potted plants or landscaping, said Mark Whittig, Cayuga's operations manager. If the compost is of poorer quality, it could be used for blending with topsoil, he said.

So there you go.

For the full story, go to the The New York Times.

K-9 corner, the fourth off-leash dog park in Long Beach, opened on Sunday at Ninth Street and Pacific Avenue.

(And that's not all -- two more dog parks are in the works in the Wrigley District at Golden Avenue and Wardlow Road and Scheer Park in North Long Beach, according to the city's parks and recreation department.)

K-9 Corner boasts solar power and cost the city $300,000 to develop.

Photo: Stephen Carr, Long Beach Press-Telegram 

Back from vacation. I was going to take Tess & Cowboy sheepherding, but it was too hot. Maybe next time.

But we did cross paths with a local dog photographer, Deirdre Holmes, who visited the dog park last week and was taking random shots of the dogs there that day. She managed to get one of the best photos of Cowboy I've seen (he hates having his picture taken). I guess that's what makes her a professional. She took some cute shots of Rocket, too, and Tess as well. They can be seen on Deirdre's gallery page:

We received another plea from a reader involved in animal rescue about a family of kitties who need homes.

There is the mom (about 1 year old, recently spayed -- brown tabby color, petite, "sweet"); and babies (8-9 weeks old with vouchers to be spayed or neutered at Clinico next to the Harbor Animal Care Center in San Pedro).

There are 2 gray kittens and 2 black kittens, male and female in each color.

If you're interested ("only responsible, loving, devoted people need inquire"), contact Lisa Petrich at detectivelp@msn.com or call 310-832-0006.

The babies (a gray one seems to be left out of this shot):

And mom:

It's that time of year -- the 11th annual "World Famous" LobsterDog Pet Parade takes place this Saturday (Sept. 19) at San Pedro's Lobster Festival:

Bring your favorite pet dressed up as a sea creature or seafood (no store-bought costumes) and have a chance to win a grand prize of $500 in cash.

Prizes also will be given in small (under 30 pounds) and medium/large dog sub-categories. First place wins $50, second place winner gets $25.

All entries -- win or lose -- will receive 2 free single-day admission tickets to the Lobster Festival (a $12 value).

The parade is great fun every year and proceeds (entry fee is $20 per dog) go to the nonprofit Peninsula Dog Parks group, the organization that started the Knoll Hill Off-Leash Dog Park in San Pedro several years ago (and is currently trying to get a permanent dog park out at Angels Gate Park).

Visit the Lobster Festival site for rules and regulations. You can also download a registration form or pick one up at Kritter Korral, 1724 Palos Verdes Drive North, Harbor City (310-514-4924). Or call Peninsula Dog Parks at 310-514-0338.

The parade is at noon at Ports O' Call Village and you can also register Saturday morning before the event. All contestants should check in by 10:30 a.m.

And if you don't want to enter, come by anyway. it's fun just to watch.

This has been making the rounds on dog-lover emails so you may have seen it. Very sweet.

It was created by Wendy Francisco.

I'm still waiting for photos, but there are 3 female (all spayed) kittens, 6-8 weeks old, who need foster homes.

Two are calico and one is gray and white.  They are adorable, but will need someone who can take the time to gain their trust (they come from feral parents).  They are hearty eaters!

Contact is Melissa 310-713-4220.

I will post the photos when we get them.

(I spoke with a contact I have with the Peter Zippi Fund for Animals in Hermosa Beach and she tells me that the kittens are probably at a critical stage in terms of socialization and their future potential in becoming good family pets:  "They need to be around a lot of people a lot of the time or you can lose them," she told me. "At that age they're either going to make it or not. The more kids and people in the household, the better.")

Justin Rudd of Long Beach reminds us that Long Beach will see the grand openings of two new dog parks in the next couple weeks:

Long Beach's 3rd dog park to open this weekend at Lincoln Park downtown by the library @ Broadway. (No other details available yet) ...  The 4th off-leash park "K-9 Corner" will have its Grand Opening at noon on Sunday, Sept. 27. Recreation Dog Park and the Dog Beach are the other two parks for dogs.

The ceremony for the K-9 Corner at 906 Pacific Ave. in downtown Long Beach will take place from noon to 3 p.m. Sept. 27. Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthall will be on hand along with several Long Beach city officials. The park features solar power lighting and drought tolerant landscaping.

The event also features free food, drinks, pet adoptions, information booths and children's activities.

It looks tiny, but nice:

Time to catch up on that ongoing effort by Bruce and Maureen Megowan to establish an off-leash dog park on the former Palos Verdes landfill site between Hawthorne and Crenshaw boulevards, north of Palos Verdes Drive North. (Here's a recent report  on the landfill parcel for background.) An aerial view of the property is shown below.

The Megowans have collected 814 petition signatures that they plan to formally present at several upcoming city council meetings on "The Hill," which is where supporters come in. They're asking that they have good turnouts for the meetings to show support for the idea. The park would be designed to serve all four of the cities on the Peninsula.

Here's the schedule of meetings:

• Rolling Hills City Council, 2 Portuguese Bend Road, 7:30 p.m. Monday -- Sept. 14
• Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, Fred Hesse Park Multipurpose room, 7 p.m. Tuesday -- Sept. 15
• Rolling Hills Estates City Council, 4045 Palos Verdes Drive North (northwest corner at Crenshaw Boulevard), 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 (a Tuesday)
• Palos Verdes Estates City Council, 340 Palos Verdes Drive West, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 (a Tuesday)

From the email they sent out this week urging supporters to attend the council meetings:

"This will probably be our best chance to build support for this effort. This email is being sent to over 500 of those who signed the petition and gave us their email addresses, so we hope to see a large turnout at each of the city council meetings. City council members only understand what they see at their meetings, so a large crowd in support of this idea is important."

Questions? You can reach Bruce and Maureen at 310-541-2980 or be added to their email list by contacting them at mmegowan@cox.net.

Here are more posts  we've done on the Palos Verdes dog park issue. Bruce first announced a launch of this movement more than a year ago. We posted about it back then for the first time.  He was motivated by his miniature Australian shepherd, Pepper (shown below).

You can read the Megowans' most recent message to supporters in full on the jump along with email addresses of city officials if you want to contact them about establishing the dog park.

I have heard that some people active in the equestrian community might have concerns about putting a dog park in this location, but I don't know the specifics. Anyone have any more details on that? Others may also question the safety of the soil on the property (see this April 2009 Daily Breeze article by Melissa Pamer on this topic.)  

Any strong opinions out there, either way?

A dachshund that held the record as the world's oldest has died at the age of 21. That's 147 in dog years, which leads me to believe that the forumla we use to calculate dog ages is slightly flawed.

Coincidentally, my own dog turns 3 today. How did the idiot dog celebrate? By running away last night. I chased him for three blocks before I caught up with him. The moron had run into somebody else's backyard.

If you're going to go to the trouble of running away, why would you run into the exact same place you're escaping from?

I dragged his sorry ass back home and vowed that this year, things will be different. Yeah, that's going to happen.

Here he is laughing about the whole thing.