How many leashes does your dog have?

How many leashes does your dog have?

• 1
  (8 votes)
• 2
  (8 votes)
• 3
  (5 votes)
• 4
  (0 votes)

My new dog

I adopted a new dog a few months ago. I found him online in Alabama (via www.petfinder.com). He’s a 3 year old mix. I’m not really sure why I was interested in him but something about his photo and description intrigued me, I guess. So after going through all the adoption paperwork, etc. he made his way to the northeast on the “transport”. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but he was definitely different than what I expected. Most people would probably be really pleased to have a dog like this. He has a lot of really good qualities. He didn’t need to be house trained (thank goodness!!). He walks pretty well on a leash and gets along with other dogs. He doesn’t bark. He sits patiently. He loves to be brushed and he rides well. (Although riding in the car isn’t his favorite activity.) So I should be in doggy Shangri La, right? Not quite. I recognize (cognitively) that I got a wonderful dog but (emotionally) he’s not my old dog. It’s not an easy thing to let go of good memories and start new ones. I’m working on it and so is he.

MA House bans renting of pets

A woman from California has been wanting to open up a pet renting business and lots of people thought that this was not a very good idea. There was a letter writing campaign to state officials and it was reported that the House voted yesterday to ban this type of business. It is currently awaiting a vote by the Senate. Let’s hope they side with the House vote.

This from the MSPCA website: “The bill would prohibit the practice of renting pets in Massachusetts. Recent news of a company, FlexPetz, coming to Boston has prompted concerns among people who care about animals. The MSPCA has been working with The Coalition to Prohibit the Renting of Pets to pass this bill.”

Renting pets is a bad idea for any number of reasons. For more information, visit the mspca website at http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=flexpets

Puppy Mutilation

I was at a vets office the other day. Not my usual vet. While in the exam room I heard an awful lot of very painful sounding crying coming from another room. I asked what it was. Tail docking of 9 puppies. I couldn’t believe what I heard. First that this was still legal (in the US) and second that no type of pain killer was given to the pups. I was shocked. I’m still shocked. I don’t think I’ll ever get the sounds out of my head.

Doing this these days is strickly for a “look”, it doesn’t serve a purpose anymore like it did when dogs had jobs that they were originally bred to do. Why is this barbarism still going on? How can this be happening locally? I thought we were civilized around here?

Summer Protection

Did you know that dogs can get sunburned, too? That must be why companies are now manufacturing sun screen for dogs. I’ve come across two brands. There are probably more out there. Epi-Pet Sun Protector Spray (www.epi-pet.com) and Nutri-Vet Sun Defense (www.nutri-vet.com).

Of course the more stylish dogs forgo the spray and wear hats and sunglasses. Check out www.k9koolhats.com and www.doggieshades.com.

For those of you with swimming pools, look into getting a ramp to help your dog get out of the pool easier. There are several manufacturers including www.skamper-ramp.com and Doggydocks Floating water ramp.

For the more electronically savvy, there’s the PoolEye Pool Alarm (which is probably good for kids, too) (www.smartpool.com) and the Safety Turtle alarm (www.safetyturtle.com) which attaches to your dogs collar.

Enjoy the summer!