The AKC has announced that it is searching for canine heroes in the following categories: rescue, therapy, service and exemplary companion. Nominees are NOT required to be AKC-registered but must be an AKC-recognized breed. That eliminates the “mutts”, and many are very deserving, especially in the area of therapy. Where has it been proven that DNA means a dog is good at therapy, service and companionship? Does each breed have a written standard for these qualities? I look forward to the genome sequence discovery to validate this. If the AKC stands for the best in dogs and stands behind its Canine Good Citizen (CGC) program–open to all breeds and mixed breeds–why can’t it open this search?
AND SO NOW IT IS HAPPENING. Apparently the AKC decided UNANIMOUSLY TO HAVE A SPECIAL PROGRAM JUST FOR MIXED BREED DOGS. One of the goals is to enable this powerful organization to speak for ALL DOGS. Stay tuned for details of the proposed new program!
Taking this one step further–
When the CGC program began, one of the most noticeable effects was that people began to add a second dog to their family because they had found that one dog was easy to live with if it was a CGC. They came again to classes, this time with the newcomer. And, invariably the newcomer was a purebred dog because the CGC had opened the door to competition in obedience, agility, rally and a host of other AKC-sponsored activities. Would opening the search to mixed breeds have the same effect for the AKC? As one example, DogTown has found adoption success after training its shelter dogs to successful CGC evaluations. Could CGC training be the silver bullet to a forever home and more adoptions? Perhaps the spay/neuter contract should also include the signature of a trainer who could certify that the dog had successfully passed the CGC evaluation?
DOES THAT GOLDENDOODLE HAVE REAL CURLS?
A groomer interviewed for an article in a gooming magazine revealed that owners of GoldenDoodles whose dogs have straight hair have her apply human salon products to form curls. The curls last for weeks. Her business has boomed and owners book months ahead, drive long distances and pay top dollar for the “GoldenDoodle Look”. This seems to be a high maintenance mutt!
In 2006 Hills Nutrition began to develop diets targeted toward attacking illness on the genetic level. One of their successes in this new DNA diet effort is j/d. It is a prescription diet and so only available at a veterinary hospital. Those with arthritis have benefited from feeding j/d in as little as 4 weeks. Today there is a growing body of j/d positive anecdotal evidence.
TOO OLD TO USE?
Veterinarians often get calls about expired medications. For example, a box of heartworm pills purchased on Jan. 1 might have an expiration date of April. Does that mean the pills have lost their effectiveness? Not at all, says a veterinarian from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. The expiration date only denotes the time after which the product shouldn’t be sold or dispensed. The drug companies set the expiration date in advance of the time when any effectiveness might drop off.
Apr 18, 2009 | | Uncategorized
Nina Schaefer, American Kennel Club (AKC) Board member and President of the PA Federation of Dog Clubs, recently asked the AKC for a list of organizations whose mission it is to help companion pet owners when it seems they cannot pay for necessary services. The following information was compiled by the AKC at her request. I am only listing here organizations that will help with pets–not just dogs or those with cancer. The organizations serve companion animals that have a permanent home and whose owners need help with emergency vet bills when finances may be the difference in a critical decision. The listed organizations also accept donations and the help goes directly to the animal in need. Accidents requiring immediate care as well as long-term health needs that may require surgery or ongoing treatment are covered.
AAHA Helping Pets Fund http://www.aahahelpingpets.org. The American Animal Hospital Association helps those in need to access quality veterinary care for their sick or injured pets. They raise funds and award grants supporting veterinary care for pets that have been abandoned or whose owners are experiencing financial hardship.
Angels for Animals http://www.angels4animals.org. A non-profit organization and a program in the Inner Voice Community services, its mission is to serve as the guardian angel of animals whose caretakers find themselves in difficult financial situations. At Angels4Animals they believe that animal owners should not have to say goodbye to the animals they love. Their work is accomplished in conjunction with veterinary clinics across the country. The services offered range from financial aid to complete treatment of pets in need.
Help-A-Pet http://www.help-apet.org. This organization helps with vet bills for pets of the physically and mentally challenged, the elderly on fixed incomes and children of the poor. Proof of income is required and the pet owner must pay as much of the bill as they can to show the pet owner’s commitment to the well-being of their pet.
IMOM http://www.imom.org. (Acronym for “In Memory of Magic”) The mission of this group is to help people help pets. They are dedicated to ensuring that no companion animal has to be euthanized simply because their caretaker is financially challenged. This is an all-volunteer 501(c)3 charity.
The Pet Fund http://thepetfund.com. This group provides financial assistance to owners of domestic animals that need veterinary care. Companion animal owners must often make the difficult decision to put an animal down or neglect medical needs because of the cost involved. The purpose of the Pet Fund is to work towards a future in which such decisions about companion animal medical care need never be made on the basis of cost.
Apr 10, 2009 | | Uncategorized
Once upon a time I had the good fortune to interview LeRoy Ellis, one of the early CEOs of the PA SPCA. He explained to me how he and Carl “Red” Canouse chose the location for the Danville Shelter. “Red”, of course, had become involved in sheltering stray dogs after rescuing three that were being used for target practice at the town dump. He then founded the first shelter in Columbia County on Honeysuckle Lane. On Sundays Veterinarian George Leighow and his wife Anna neutered the dogs and cats at no charge. I remember Canouse speaking before the Covered Bridges Kennel Club about the early days. He paused at one point and called out to some people sitting in the last row: “We were all poor then, weren’t we–poor as dirt.”
The next PA SPCA CEO I met was Eric Hendricks, who believed in the cheaper mass killing of unwanted animals and spoke in favor of the decompression chamber at a hearing held by Senators Helfrick and Corman in Danville. Looking back, perhaps that was the beginning of the end of the PA SPCA’s mission of compassion.
Life has changed since then for us all but I would like to believe that the desire to be compassionate is still alive and well and am optimistic that this quality is still a part of all of our lives. On the other hand, a magazine named BARK, the “dog culture magazine”, offered a recent news story that noted the increasing number of falls among senior citizens due to their pets–so while our cats and dogs should be inside and with us as companions, evidently they are a danger, too, lurking with affection and toys underfoot! Taking the negative stories that have recently appeared in the press even further, the economy (culture) has clearly had negative effects on pets as well. Not surprisingly, incidences of dog bites have increased in poor neighborhoods. This is no doubt due to hungry dogs that are either homeless or living in homes where dog owner tempers are stretched to the point of cruelty–battered pets, children, women and the elderly. Thus, it is impossible not to discuss pets when discussing culture today in America. Does the dog on the levee of Fargo sand bags remind you of Katrina?
To return to the Danville Shelter–when the economy was good, the Shelter thrived. Now that times are difficult for both two- and four-legged family members the spirit of compassion appears to have disappeared from the PA SPCA mission. It has forgotten that its first logo dog carried a knapsack symbolic of the homeless and his name was “Tramp”. Yet there was room for him–a haven–at the Shelter.
Last year when the PA SPCA joined “mission orange” and adopted no-kill community guidelines, Danville followed. Now dogs and cats need to be quickly adoptable, eliminating all strays. After all, a stray can’t tell the shelter that it has all its shots, what age it is, its training and background. How does a stray audition for an empty cage in the shelter? To be quickly adoptable, according to current Shelter guidelines, the dog cannot be black or over 50 pounds, or middle-aged and must be good with children and other pets, easily walked and have no bad habits or visible health problems. The Danville Shelter has closed its doors to irresponsible owners of un-trained dogs and continues to do nothing to help those pets seeking adoption that have behavior problems. According to a recent news story the Shelter feels that it is being treated like a “dump”, but the challenges in placing pets, and ones newly taken to the Shelter due to the family’s economic problems, are not new–we could see this coming.
Today this large, multi-shelter private Philadelphia-based organization is not just morally broke–it appears to have lost its mission, compassion, and leadership. It is offering one message at the present time–TAKE CATS. Its online newsletter calls for foster homes for kittens and cats –”PSPCA relies on the many dedicated foster volunteers who take nursing moms and abandoned babies home to provide them with round the clock attention,” writes Beth Ann Smith White. However, at our local shelter Roxanne Greiner is quoted as saying, “if the cat has a litter, run an ad offering them free for free” and also “cats are wild. They survive on their own.” Is there a pack leader in Philadelphia and do the rest of the pack know who it is? (The current CEO is reportedly on leave of absence.)
If the Danville shelter wants public funding, either at the county or municipal levels, it must accept local public oversight and control. We know how to live in hard times and we know that compassion is not, and should not be, a stranger.
Apr 05, 2009 | | Uncategorized