With a lot of help from the IT people at Novascotia.com - the video I made about why I think Nova Scotia is the best place to live - is now live and available for voting at the "I Love Nova Scotia" Contest Site!
I'm sure it will never overtake the other contestants who've been up previously - but it would be neat to have a dog video get some hits and interest in the tourism website - it's always been my dream to have Nova Scotia become a destination for dog tourism - so to have a totally dog focused video on the site is wonderful - and the fact that they worked hard to get it there is super wonderful.
So go vote - and vote often! haha!
And if you feel moved to forward the site on to other people who might enjoy watching it and voting for it - and spreading the good word about how wonderful Nova Scotia is - feel free to do that too!
The web site is at http://novascotia.com/en/home/funstuff/contests/ilovenovascotiacontest/vote.aspx
Friday, July 31, 2009
Just in from Nathan today...
The title of Nathan's email is "Making Lemons out of Lemonade" - and I think it pretty clearly shows what an exceptionally successful shelter is doing to adopt animals out - and how they're partnering with the community - and also what they think about the naysayers in the community - and also acknowledging that there are people who disagree with what they're doing - and showing the world that the people who are against them are actually wrong.
Isn't Nathan Winograd fabulous?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
A moment before the floodgates opened
Jackie went to the beauty parlour today - and while me, Bobby and Buttercup waited for him we took a walk over to the Halifax Commons.
It was pretty muggy today, but it didn't really occur to me that it was going to rain, so I didn't take any rain gear with me.
We had a nice walk from Metro Dog Wash to "Janes on the Commons" to get some supplies -
and then over to the middle of the Commons to have a sit down and a snack, and then I took these photos here -
And I no sooner put the camera away when it started plop-plopping out of the sky big rain drops and within a couple of seconds - a huge downpour started.
And it wasn't a regular rain storm - it was one of those downpours where you've got to pull the car over when you're on the highway because you can't see in front of you.
And we were in the middle of the Halifax Commons.
I can tell you that the dogs were not impressed - especially Bobby, because it appears that he has an especial aversion to water. When we got back over to Cunard Street - his first chance to duck under a porch - he refused to come out and I had to carry him back to the car. He is a funny little dog - and to me, that's funny - haha, but to others that may not be quite so funny haha - but he's pretty funny.
Jackie seems to be very happy with his much more svelte self - he loves it after his hair is cut - and he always looks so beautiful with his shorter hair cut - although he looks very cute with long hair too - but he's got a serious hum when his hair is long.
I think this was what he was trying to get back when we got home because he was doing quite a bit of rolling on the carpet - trying to get his hum back I think.
It's pretty funny watching a dog who's all belly traying to roll over - it's such an accomplishment for them when they actually do it.
Charlie was just happy that everyone was home, happy, and safe - and that the hard rain didn't bring any thunder with it this time!
Bobby felt like he hadn't quite worn himself out on our adventure - so he decided that he needed to abuse Mr. Piglet - I don't know though if Mr. Piglet felt he deserved this kind of treatment.
One last shot of Jackie chillaxing - by the time his haircut was finished there was a lull in the rainfall - so he didn't have to suffer through getting wet - he didn't know what he missed - and I don't think he felt sorry about that...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Some More Thoughts and Information about the Desperate Situation at the Metro SPCA Shelter
I got an email today from the newly minted Executive Director of the Metro SPCA Shelter - Sandra Flemming - who is a familiar name in the local rescue community about my post last night. She is the lady who is a major reason behind the transformation at the shelter in the last many months - the renovations, the raise in morale, the vast decrease in euthanizations, and rise in adoptions, and the beginning of movement of animals between shelters in Nova Scotia when there's empty cages at one shelter but full cages at another - thus saving lives everywhere.
So having already done big things - we can expect bigger things with this really important position that has been created at the Dartmouth shelter. The position has existed for awhile, and has been filled at least twice - but as soon as people were hired and realized how huge the job was and how tough it was going to be to fulfill it's mandate - the people very quickly tendered their resignations. It was pretty funny actually how the guy who took the job shortly before the AGM in April stood up and waved his hand proudly at the AGM in front of the membership quit the following week! That's what you call dedication to the animals of Nova Scotia!
But I digress - today Sandra emailed me because last night I talked about the disparity in numbers between what was in a news article yesterday and the number of animals published on the shelter's Petfinder site - 53 in the article as opposed to 16 on the Petfinder site. And by the end of our email exchanges I think we both realized that there were lessons to be learned from our experiences today.
It turns out that there in fact 53 dogs on site at the Metro SPCA - but only 16 of them are currently available for adoption - and in a press release that the SPCA put out yesterday - they were trying to show the public how much work is going on at the shelter currently - that regardless if they are all on Petfinder, they all need to be cared for until their time for adoption comes and they wanted to have a sense of how many animals there are in the building. It didn't occur to them that it might seem disingenuous to not say that they weren't all currently available for adoption.
To me though - I think that it would show just HOW busy the workers are - to break down where the dogs are in the system - so Sandra said I could let people know the numbers she gave me to give some indication what's going on behind the doors there -
So when you look at it this way - it really shows the flow of the shelter, all the work involved - the process that needs to take place when evaluating dogs and this process takes time and a great deal of effort on the part of everyone at the shelter.
So that really gives you a nuts and bolts look at the shelter and the ebb and flow of the 53 dogs - and how it can come down to only 16 dogs being available - and that's really great - and it shows a few things - #1 - that puppies come into rescue, which is fabulous, #2 - that pre-approved applications DO get dogs, and #3 - that animals do get to move through the system
If you want to read the original press release - you can read it on the SPCA's website, it's quite long.
So now I want to go on to some other meaty stuff - that's included in the press release, and also about the fact that an Executive Director is now in place at the Metro Shelter - and that's the fact that the Metro shelter does not accept owner surrenders, and is still really reactionary in its adoption policies, and doesn't do things like off-site adoptions or anything really creative except for things like when things go completely ape-shit offer discounts on cats.
As anyone who reads this blog knows - I am an avowed lover of all things Nathan Winograd - and he is the king of all things No-Kill - and he has got some amazing ideas about ways to make shelters truly no-kill - and one of his things about considering a shelter to be truly no-kill is when you make your shelter an open admission shelter - when you start accepting everything that comes through your door. Until you start doing that - you are not really a no kill shelter, because if you refuse animals coming through your door - those animals are going somewhere else - and wherever that is - they are going to either be tortured, abused or killed.
So it behooves you as a no kill shelter to accept everything that is offered to you. No questions asked. And statistics prove that 90% of those animals will be adoptable.
So what do you do with those animals that are coming through your doors? You can't pile them to the ceiling and become a hoarder of animals - you become creative with your adoptions. You take your animals off-site - bring the animals to the people. You open an adoption centre in a mall, you work with pet stores to bring animals in once a week to feature animals, you have a weekly adoption special on every news show in the city - not just one show. You have a weekly or monthly cable news show on Eastlink. You have your newsletter - and it features the animals in the shelter.
There are TONS of ideas out there on the interweb - and they are GOOD ideas. To be an excellent no kill shelter - we would not be inventing the wheel. It's been done before - in many places with many more animals and populations much larger than us. We just have to have the will and the way.
Unfortunately though, I am just the person writing this post, not the person doing the work. So I wish the new Executive Director luck. It's hard when you're mired in the cleaning of the cages - that was the problem of the last administration - I hope that doesn't happen with the new one. But that's why I thought the position of Executive Director was created - so hopefully what I believed was the vision will meet the reality.
What makes me write all of this is stuff written in the press release like -
"The numbers of animals that we are seeing this year is incredibly high, with dozens of phone calls coming in each day at the shelter with people looking to bring in both owned and stray animals and unfortunately we can't even come close to meeting the demand," says Shelter Director Sandra Flemming. The Metro Shelter is also concerned with disease control and the stress that a full shelter has on the animals in their care. "With this many animals, it becomes more difficult to care for them and disease outbreaks become more common, which is what we are seeing now."
"Since we don't euthanize for kennel space or for length of time an animal spends at the shelter, we can only accept new animals in the building as other animals are adopted and a kennel is freed up. We are proud of the fact that we only euthanize in situations where an animal is too aggressive to be adopted or we are medically unable to treat the animal but this means that it limits how many animals we can help," says Flemming."
If the shelter actively worked at adopting animals out - there would be more cage space - and that's what the shelter needs to start working at, is looking at things like that - and they also (in people like mine's opinions) need to start looking at things like adoption coordinators who work with potential adopters to make sure that good fits are being made with animals and adopters - that actual home visits are made.
I have been in the shelter and have seen staff talk to potential adopters about dogs and heard them say "all the dogs have been temperament tested" - and it was like she was telling them that because the dogs were temperament tested they had no issues and were good to go behaviour wise - which we all know in some cases is not the case.
So successful adoptions is a many pronged event that needs to be taken seriously on all sides. And (I'll say it again) - now that the new Executive Director is in place - hopefully these issues can now be looked at.
And herein stops my sermon for tonight.
So having already done big things - we can expect bigger things with this really important position that has been created at the Dartmouth shelter. The position has existed for awhile, and has been filled at least twice - but as soon as people were hired and realized how huge the job was and how tough it was going to be to fulfill it's mandate - the people very quickly tendered their resignations. It was pretty funny actually how the guy who took the job shortly before the AGM in April stood up and waved his hand proudly at the AGM in front of the membership quit the following week! That's what you call dedication to the animals of Nova Scotia!
But I digress - today Sandra emailed me because last night I talked about the disparity in numbers between what was in a news article yesterday and the number of animals published on the shelter's Petfinder site - 53 in the article as opposed to 16 on the Petfinder site. And by the end of our email exchanges I think we both realized that there were lessons to be learned from our experiences today.
It turns out that there in fact 53 dogs on site at the Metro SPCA - but only 16 of them are currently available for adoption - and in a press release that the SPCA put out yesterday - they were trying to show the public how much work is going on at the shelter currently - that regardless if they are all on Petfinder, they all need to be cared for until their time for adoption comes and they wanted to have a sense of how many animals there are in the building. It didn't occur to them that it might seem disingenuous to not say that they weren't all currently available for adoption.
To me though - I think that it would show just HOW busy the workers are - to break down where the dogs are in the system - so Sandra said I could let people know the numbers she gave me to give some indication what's going on behind the doors there -
"Of the 53 dogs, 16 of those are puppies. Of the 16 puppies, none were able to be posted on Petfinder until their surgeries were complete. We spayed and neutered the first 8 just yesterday, 4 of which are going to Shaid, and the other 4 are being adopted by us. We already contacted a number of pre-approved applications for puppies first thing this morning with viewings being set up as we speak. We prefer phoning people who have pre-approved applications first. The second group of 8 will not be available for adoption for at least another 2-3 weeks, as they are only 6-7 weeks old at the present time and are not ready to be altered and therefore cannot be viewed by the public.
When you subtract the 15 dogs currently on Petfinder and the 16 puppies, that takes our dog number down to 22. Of the 22 remaining dogs at the shelter, 10 of those dogs are Animal Control dogs, another 4 are currently being held as cruelty and/or seizures. That now takes our dog number down to 8 "other" dogs at the shelter. Of those 3 are in foster for either medical reasons or for socialization and two are not presenting well in their kennels and we are giving them time to adjust to the shelter before evaluating. . As for the last 3, they just moved up from Animal Control in the last 48 hours and will be temperament tested and posted hopefully within the next 24 hours."
So when you look at it this way - it really shows the flow of the shelter, all the work involved - the process that needs to take place when evaluating dogs and this process takes time and a great deal of effort on the part of everyone at the shelter.
So that really gives you a nuts and bolts look at the shelter and the ebb and flow of the 53 dogs - and how it can come down to only 16 dogs being available - and that's really great - and it shows a few things - #1 - that puppies come into rescue, which is fabulous, #2 - that pre-approved applications DO get dogs, and #3 - that animals do get to move through the system
If you want to read the original press release - you can read it on the SPCA's website, it's quite long.
So now I want to go on to some other meaty stuff - that's included in the press release, and also about the fact that an Executive Director is now in place at the Metro Shelter - and that's the fact that the Metro shelter does not accept owner surrenders, and is still really reactionary in its adoption policies, and doesn't do things like off-site adoptions or anything really creative except for things like when things go completely ape-shit offer discounts on cats.
As anyone who reads this blog knows - I am an avowed lover of all things Nathan Winograd - and he is the king of all things No-Kill - and he has got some amazing ideas about ways to make shelters truly no-kill - and one of his things about considering a shelter to be truly no-kill is when you make your shelter an open admission shelter - when you start accepting everything that comes through your door. Until you start doing that - you are not really a no kill shelter, because if you refuse animals coming through your door - those animals are going somewhere else - and wherever that is - they are going to either be tortured, abused or killed.
So it behooves you as a no kill shelter to accept everything that is offered to you. No questions asked. And statistics prove that 90% of those animals will be adoptable.
So what do you do with those animals that are coming through your doors? You can't pile them to the ceiling and become a hoarder of animals - you become creative with your adoptions. You take your animals off-site - bring the animals to the people. You open an adoption centre in a mall, you work with pet stores to bring animals in once a week to feature animals, you have a weekly adoption special on every news show in the city - not just one show. You have a weekly or monthly cable news show on Eastlink. You have your newsletter - and it features the animals in the shelter.
There are TONS of ideas out there on the interweb - and they are GOOD ideas. To be an excellent no kill shelter - we would not be inventing the wheel. It's been done before - in many places with many more animals and populations much larger than us. We just have to have the will and the way.
Unfortunately though, I am just the person writing this post, not the person doing the work. So I wish the new Executive Director luck. It's hard when you're mired in the cleaning of the cages - that was the problem of the last administration - I hope that doesn't happen with the new one. But that's why I thought the position of Executive Director was created - so hopefully what I believed was the vision will meet the reality.
What makes me write all of this is stuff written in the press release like -
"The numbers of animals that we are seeing this year is incredibly high, with dozens of phone calls coming in each day at the shelter with people looking to bring in both owned and stray animals and unfortunately we can't even come close to meeting the demand," says Shelter Director Sandra Flemming. The Metro Shelter is also concerned with disease control and the stress that a full shelter has on the animals in their care. "With this many animals, it becomes more difficult to care for them and disease outbreaks become more common, which is what we are seeing now."
"Since we don't euthanize for kennel space or for length of time an animal spends at the shelter, we can only accept new animals in the building as other animals are adopted and a kennel is freed up. We are proud of the fact that we only euthanize in situations where an animal is too aggressive to be adopted or we are medically unable to treat the animal but this means that it limits how many animals we can help," says Flemming."
If the shelter actively worked at adopting animals out - there would be more cage space - and that's what the shelter needs to start working at, is looking at things like that - and they also (in people like mine's opinions) need to start looking at things like adoption coordinators who work with potential adopters to make sure that good fits are being made with animals and adopters - that actual home visits are made.
I have been in the shelter and have seen staff talk to potential adopters about dogs and heard them say "all the dogs have been temperament tested" - and it was like she was telling them that because the dogs were temperament tested they had no issues and were good to go behaviour wise - which we all know in some cases is not the case.
So successful adoptions is a many pronged event that needs to be taken seriously on all sides. And (I'll say it again) - now that the new Executive Director is in place - hopefully these issues can now be looked at.
And herein stops my sermon for tonight.
Some Pictures for Pleasure
Sunny afternoons can be so much fun, even when they are after work and in your own back yard.
Today was just such a day.
Even with the "pool party" going on next door and the music blaring so loud that I couldn't hear the tv going on in my living room.
Yes, I am getting a bit cranky about that. But luckily the dogs are still able to have fun in my back yard, so that's the important thing.
And have fun they did.
So here's a few photos so that I can look back and remember it...
Where we live
I tried entering that "I Love Nova Scotia" contest tonight - but it won't accept .wmv files, which is what my movie is, and I can't figure out how to convert my movie to an avi or flv file without making it such a small file size that the movie is just a useless blob of pixels - so I guess I'll just post the movie here for everyone's enjoyment. I originally used this video a couple year's ago, but then the Nazi's at You Tube disabled the original audio - so I picked out some new audio tonight and added some text as to why I think Nova Scotia is the best place to live - I've been prostelyzying about that fact for just about forever.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
SPCA Metro Shelter Desperate for Adopters
The below article talks about how the Metro Dartmouth SPCA is desperate for people to come and adopt dogs and cats from the shelter, that they have over 200 cats and cats and 53 dogs looking for homes - so I went to their Petfinder site to see what was available - and guess what - they only have 16 dogs up as available for adoption.
I have Janet Young from Reigning Dogs and Cats inside my head about how she's always going on about shelters not using Petfinder - and here we are again with a shelter not using that website - such a shame - because Petfinder does really work - it really is the first place most people look when they're looking to rescue a dog. They see something they like, then they go meet him or her in person. I really wish people in the sheltering community would believe people in the rescue community about that. Anyway, here's the article - at least they're lowering the prices on cats for awhile -
SPCA Metro Shelter Desperate for Adopters
Today the Nova Scotia SPCA Metro Shelter is issuing a community plea for support and assistance as it deals with an overwhelming number of animals - especially cats and kittens.
The Metro Shelter currently has over 200 animals in their care - 146 cats and kittens, 53 dogs and 1 rabbit. In the spring and summer season the Metro Shelter SPCA normally sees its numbers creep up as a result of "kitten season" - where unwanted litters of kittens are dropped off or brought in by members of the public.
This year is even worse, with the shelter at 5 Scarfe Court in the Burnside Industrial Park bursting at the seams with unwanted kittens from newborn age to those who are ready for adoption. Additionally, there are a very large number of adult cats in the building. To try and combat the inactivity on the adoption front, the Metro Shelter has discounted its adoption fees for all adult cats who have been at the shelter for three weeks or longer, hoping that it may entice people to adopt.
"The numbers of animals that we are seeing this year is incredibly high, with dozens of phone calls coming in each day at the shelter with people looking to bring in both owned and stray animals and unfortunately we can't even come close to meeting the demand," says Shelter Director Sandra Flemming. The Metro Shelter is also concerned with disease control and the stress that a full shelter has on the animals in their care. "With this many animals, it becomes more difficult to care for them and disease outbreaks become more common, which is what we are seeing now."
What is making this situation even worse is that it is also the slowest time of year for adoptions which means that animals aren't getting adopted quickly, keeping the shelter full to capacity. "It's like the perfect storm, you have your highest period of need during the summer months, but your lowest period of support from the public because people are thinking about taking vacation and they have their kids home and adopting a new pet isn't a priority," says Flemming.
What has also added to the shelter's burden is the number of animals that have recently been seized due to cruelty investigations. As the main facility housing cruelty seizures for the entire province of Nova Scotia, the Port Felix seizure of approximately 60 cats and 24 dogs placed even more stress on the shelter's resources and staff over the last month. "With all the media interest in this case, we were able to adopt out the 24 dogs fairly quickly, but what was concerning for us is that no one from the public expressed any interest in adopting the cats," says Flemming.
As cruelty investigations continue, the shelter has taken in another 17 dogs and at least another dozen cats and kittens in the past 10 days alone. "Since we don't euthanize for kennel space or for length of time an animal spends at the shelter, we can only accept new animals in the building as other animals are adopted and a kennel is freed up. We are proud of the fact that we only euthanize in situations where an animal is too aggressive to be adopted or we are medically unable to treat the animal but this means that it limits how many animals we can help," says Flemming.
The Metro Shelter would also like more understanding from the public in regards to their mandate. "Dozens of phone calls come in each week from people looking to surrender their owned pets, and when we say we can't take them, they get angry and abusive with shelter staff," says Flemming. The Metro Shelter would like people to understand that their first priority is to help abandoned, abused, injured and stray animals and right now, that is all they are able to accept. "If someone is no longer able to care for their own pet, they need to be responsible and find another home for it themselves, instead of looking to us to solve their problem. As a non-profit organization with limited resources and kennel space, the shelter cannot possibly do it all."
The shelter would also like to make the public more aware of the perils of adopting an animal through websites like Kijiji. Every animal adopted from the Metro Shelter is spayed or neutered, dewormed, microchipped, flea treated and have received their first vaccines upon adoption, and adopters are given a free vet initial vet visit. All of these services come at a fraction of the cost that someone would have to pay if they had to take their new pet to a vet themselves. "The risk to someone who adopts a pet from our shelter is minimal in comparison to someone who adopts from an unknown source, like Kijiji," says Flemming. "People don't realize that they then have to spend $300-$400 dollars to get the same services as an animal that is adopted from our shelter."
For now, the Metro Shelter will continue to take in and help as many animals as their building will allow, but they really would like to see the public come forward and help, either through adopting a pet or through financial assistance to help pay for their care. "We really need the public to come in and support us right now. If someone has been considering adopting an animal for awhile and they feel like they have the time to commit to a new pet, we would really encourage them to come in to the shelter and see the animals that we have up for adoption."
I have Janet Young from Reigning Dogs and Cats inside my head about how she's always going on about shelters not using Petfinder - and here we are again with a shelter not using that website - such a shame - because Petfinder does really work - it really is the first place most people look when they're looking to rescue a dog. They see something they like, then they go meet him or her in person. I really wish people in the sheltering community would believe people in the rescue community about that. Anyway, here's the article - at least they're lowering the prices on cats for awhile -
SPCA Metro Shelter Desperate for Adopters
Today the Nova Scotia SPCA Metro Shelter is issuing a community plea for support and assistance as it deals with an overwhelming number of animals - especially cats and kittens.
The Metro Shelter currently has over 200 animals in their care - 146 cats and kittens, 53 dogs and 1 rabbit. In the spring and summer season the Metro Shelter SPCA normally sees its numbers creep up as a result of "kitten season" - where unwanted litters of kittens are dropped off or brought in by members of the public.
This year is even worse, with the shelter at 5 Scarfe Court in the Burnside Industrial Park bursting at the seams with unwanted kittens from newborn age to those who are ready for adoption. Additionally, there are a very large number of adult cats in the building. To try and combat the inactivity on the adoption front, the Metro Shelter has discounted its adoption fees for all adult cats who have been at the shelter for three weeks or longer, hoping that it may entice people to adopt.
"The numbers of animals that we are seeing this year is incredibly high, with dozens of phone calls coming in each day at the shelter with people looking to bring in both owned and stray animals and unfortunately we can't even come close to meeting the demand," says Shelter Director Sandra Flemming. The Metro Shelter is also concerned with disease control and the stress that a full shelter has on the animals in their care. "With this many animals, it becomes more difficult to care for them and disease outbreaks become more common, which is what we are seeing now."
What is making this situation even worse is that it is also the slowest time of year for adoptions which means that animals aren't getting adopted quickly, keeping the shelter full to capacity. "It's like the perfect storm, you have your highest period of need during the summer months, but your lowest period of support from the public because people are thinking about taking vacation and they have their kids home and adopting a new pet isn't a priority," says Flemming.
What has also added to the shelter's burden is the number of animals that have recently been seized due to cruelty investigations. As the main facility housing cruelty seizures for the entire province of Nova Scotia, the Port Felix seizure of approximately 60 cats and 24 dogs placed even more stress on the shelter's resources and staff over the last month. "With all the media interest in this case, we were able to adopt out the 24 dogs fairly quickly, but what was concerning for us is that no one from the public expressed any interest in adopting the cats," says Flemming.
As cruelty investigations continue, the shelter has taken in another 17 dogs and at least another dozen cats and kittens in the past 10 days alone. "Since we don't euthanize for kennel space or for length of time an animal spends at the shelter, we can only accept new animals in the building as other animals are adopted and a kennel is freed up. We are proud of the fact that we only euthanize in situations where an animal is too aggressive to be adopted or we are medically unable to treat the animal but this means that it limits how many animals we can help," says Flemming.
The Metro Shelter would also like more understanding from the public in regards to their mandate. "Dozens of phone calls come in each week from people looking to surrender their owned pets, and when we say we can't take them, they get angry and abusive with shelter staff," says Flemming. The Metro Shelter would like people to understand that their first priority is to help abandoned, abused, injured and stray animals and right now, that is all they are able to accept. "If someone is no longer able to care for their own pet, they need to be responsible and find another home for it themselves, instead of looking to us to solve their problem. As a non-profit organization with limited resources and kennel space, the shelter cannot possibly do it all."
The shelter would also like to make the public more aware of the perils of adopting an animal through websites like Kijiji. Every animal adopted from the Metro Shelter is spayed or neutered, dewormed, microchipped, flea treated and have received their first vaccines upon adoption, and adopters are given a free vet initial vet visit. All of these services come at a fraction of the cost that someone would have to pay if they had to take their new pet to a vet themselves. "The risk to someone who adopts a pet from our shelter is minimal in comparison to someone who adopts from an unknown source, like Kijiji," says Flemming. "People don't realize that they then have to spend $300-$400 dollars to get the same services as an animal that is adopted from our shelter."
For now, the Metro Shelter will continue to take in and help as many animals as their building will allow, but they really would like to see the public come forward and help, either through adopting a pet or through financial assistance to help pay for their care. "We really need the public to come in and support us right now. If someone has been considering adopting an animal for awhile and they feel like they have the time to commit to a new pet, we would really encourage them to come in to the shelter and see the animals that we have up for adoption."
A few neat emails
I've gotten a couple good emails in the last couple days that I thought I'd put here.
The first one I got was from a guy named Robert Sachs down in the States. He's got a radio show on "NPR" called "What Would Rob Do" and the byline on his website says -"It's a guide to life's most trying dilemmas, but not those life-or-death dilemmas, more the quandaries we face every day. Rob Sachs leads the way into personal territory others fear to tread."
The link he gave me goes to a page that looked kind of wonky to me, so I googled him a bit and came up with a page that lists all of his past podcasts - so you can listen to a bunch of his subjects, which are interesting - that page is at http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510065 - and his dog podcast is actually pretty interesting because it features an interview with Victoria Stillwell - of "It's Me or the Dog" fame. So that was quite a coup to get that interview, I'm sure! He's also got a Facebook page at his "Rob Sachs Fan Page" - and of course he's also got a blog at http://www.npr.org/blogs/wwrd/
The second email I got came in today and it's about a contest where you can win $15,000 for making a 2 minute video about why you love Nova Scotia!
This is what the email said -
The contest runs from Contest runs from July 9 to August 31, 2009, voting continues until September 30, 2009 - and as of today it looks like they've only had 15 videos submitted - so there's a lot of wiggle room - and a lot of cute dogs that need to be videotaped!!!!!! You could email Cynthia@novascotia.com if you wanted more information.
The third email I got was about where I post information about local dog events coming up - and I thought I'd put my answer here, because it's good information.
I recognize I have been negligent in the past few weeks about this. I have several things in my file that I have to post about that are coming up, and usually once a summer I make a page over on my Charlie loves Halifax site about fun touristy things to do that are dog friendly - like the fact that Shakespeare by the Sea is dog friendly, and that you can take your dog with you onto the Tall Ship Silva, and that there's dog friendly B&B's locally like "The Pebble", and that the "Fiesta al Fresco" film festo is dog friendly - but I haven't done that yet this summer - but hopefully I'll get to that soon.
But what I do usually is that periodically I'll make a blog post called "Upcoming events" - and put a link to that blog post on the main page of the Charlie loves Halifax website - and then sometimes I'll also put events on the side bar of that main page if I'm feeling especially energetic.
So that's one of the ways you can find out about upcoming dog friendly events - you can also join Facebook and sign up for any of the kajillion Facebook groups for local stuff - they're too many to list here - I've got a few of them on my page "Ways to connect with other local dog owners"
The first one I got was from a guy named Robert Sachs down in the States. He's got a radio show on "NPR" called "What Would Rob Do" and the byline on his website says -"It's a guide to life's most trying dilemmas, but not those life-or-death dilemmas, more the quandaries we face every day. Rob Sachs leads the way into personal territory others fear to tread."
He emailed me and said - I was just reading your blog and I thought you might be interested in listening to my recent podcast on what to do you when your does something embarrassing. Here’s a link: http://tinyurl.com/neb3uk
The link he gave me goes to a page that looked kind of wonky to me, so I googled him a bit and came up with a page that lists all of his past podcasts - so you can listen to a bunch of his subjects, which are interesting - that page is at http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510065 - and his dog podcast is actually pretty interesting because it features an interview with Victoria Stillwell - of "It's Me or the Dog" fame. So that was quite a coup to get that interview, I'm sure! He's also got a Facebook page at his "Rob Sachs Fan Page" - and of course he's also got a blog at http://www.npr.org/blogs/wwrd/
The second email I got came in today and it's about a contest where you can win $15,000 for making a 2 minute video about why you love Nova Scotia!
This is what the email said -
We want to hear from Nova Scotians and visitors alike about all the things they love about it. I think it would be totally funny if you put something on with you and your dogs. There are so many people who travel with their pets. Really pets deserve a vacation too right!
It doesn’t have to be fancy…it just has to be real and genuine. The prize is a $15,000 custom built dream vacation in Nova Scotia. That means the vacation is tailored to what you love, whether you love nature, outdoor adventures or restaurants and spa retreats, or a combination of it all, we’ll give you the vacation of a lifetime. And think of the friends or family you might like to invite to join you. With $15,000, you can even fly them in.
If you want to learn more about the contest visit www.novascotia.com/ilove
The contest runs from Contest runs from July 9 to August 31, 2009, voting continues until September 30, 2009 - and as of today it looks like they've only had 15 videos submitted - so there's a lot of wiggle room - and a lot of cute dogs that need to be videotaped!!!!!! You could email Cynthia@novascotia.com if you wanted more information.
The third email I got was about where I post information about local dog events coming up - and I thought I'd put my answer here, because it's good information.
This was what the email I got said - "I see that you are looking for dog events – I was wondering where you list them when you do get them? I’d love to check it out.
Also – my contribution – I take my dog (Milo) to the Chewed Slipper (www.thechewedslipper.com) in Lower Sackville on weekday nights (there is a schedule) for Doggie Socials – it is great! It is $5 and the can run, play and bark all he wants. He comes home exercised and exhausted. He nearly digs through the car door to get out when we get close to the building he loves it that much. Highly recommended!
I recognize I have been negligent in the past few weeks about this. I have several things in my file that I have to post about that are coming up, and usually once a summer I make a page over on my Charlie loves Halifax site about fun touristy things to do that are dog friendly - like the fact that Shakespeare by the Sea is dog friendly, and that you can take your dog with you onto the Tall Ship Silva, and that there's dog friendly B&B's locally like "The Pebble", and that the "Fiesta al Fresco" film festo is dog friendly - but I haven't done that yet this summer - but hopefully I'll get to that soon.
But what I do usually is that periodically I'll make a blog post called "Upcoming events" - and put a link to that blog post on the main page of the Charlie loves Halifax website - and then sometimes I'll also put events on the side bar of that main page if I'm feeling especially energetic.
So that's one of the ways you can find out about upcoming dog friendly events - you can also join Facebook and sign up for any of the kajillion Facebook groups for local stuff - they're too many to list here - I've got a few of them on my page "Ways to connect with other local dog owners"
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Pugapalooza 2009
I'd say that the organizers of Pugapalooza 2009 would herald the event a complete success - there were a ton of pugs at the event this past Saturday, and they all ran around with crazy abandon and everyone had a ton of fun.
There were pugs everywhere - fawn ones, black ones - big ones, small ones
Ones all dressed up - this guy was particularly funny, don't you think?
Luckily the weather turned out good - and the pugs could also run around outside - so they had all their contests for prettiest pug and dressed up pug and things like that outside - and it looked like their prizes were really good - too bad Bobby didn't magically turn into a pug.
This guy's name was Molly - I guess she's an old pro at these types of costumes and loves it - she just sort of sat in the middle of the room and took everything in - Christmas in July is nothing new to her!
So there were about 100 pugs - and then there was Bobby! He was just about the only non-pug there which was pretty funny - we were there to sell our dehydrated liver and to try and let people know that we've started selling our liver at the Three Dog Bakery over in Dartmouth Crossing - one thing that sucked about Saturday was that it was an off leash event - so we had a ton of dogs coming to our table to try and knock it over to get to the liver - but none of them had their owners with them!! So none of the humans knew what fabulous stuff we had at our table - luckily though Bobby had a fabulous time
He was such a good boy - I was completely amazed at how good he was - he really was quite perfect and I am so happy that he had such a good time and he did really well
So I am really glad we went just for him - it was his first time being off leash around other dogs - and really, his first time off leash - and he loved it. It's the first time of innumerable times that we'll have experiences like that, I'm sure
Isn't this guy funny? He has the perfect pug face.
Another shot of him with the flash off - and still his face looks perfect!Here's a slideshow of shots from Saturday!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Somebody is very unhappy
Poor Daisy - I think she impaled herself on something on our walk on Monday because she's got a goink in her left armpit that she's been working on.
She's licked off all the hair so that it's basically now a hot spot that's oohy and gooey, so I borrowed this elizabethan collar from my friend Lisa - and Daisy's not too happy about it.
I figure I'll leave it on Daisy for about 24 hours to let the sore dry out and start to form a scab.
Daisy has never had to undergo this form of torture before though and is currently banging into everything in the house, she's currently completely given up and is just lying perfectly still on my bedroom floor hoping that the world will somehow completely disappear. She can just lie there for the next 24 hours until the sore starts to scab up I figure. Poor Daisy. Even with this on though she's still startlingly beautiful.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
What it takes to be a dangerous dog in Los Angeles
There's an interesting case of a dangerous dog down in Los Angeles that some of us are familiar with here in Halifax because of his owner - his name is Stu. He maybe was killed today - I don't know, I haven't heard, but in reading through documents it's interesting how Los Angeles defines a dangerous dog.
"The Los Angeles Municipal Code Establishes a Procedure for Determining Whether a Dog is Dangerous"
A dog owner must “have an opportunity to be heard prior to the destruction of his dog unless there is need for prompt government action.”
Section 53.34.4 defines and establishes criteria for determining whether a dog is a dangerous animal. “The Department [of Animal Services], after a hearing, may declare any dog or other animal to be a dangerous animal whenever it has bitten, attacked or caused injury to any human being or other animal.”
And here's the beginning of the good part - Eleven criteria “shall be considered” in making a determination whether a dog is dangerous:
“1. Any previous history of the dog or other animal attacking, biting or causing injury to a human being or other animal; 2. The nature and extent of injuries inflicted and the number of victims involved; 3. The place where the bite, attack or injury occurred; 4. The presence or absence of any provocation for the bite, attack or injury; 5. The extent to which property has been damaged or destroyed; 6. Whether the dog or other animal exhibits any characteristics of being trained for fighting or attack or other evidence to show such training or fighting; 7. Whether the dog or other animal exhibits characteristics of aggressive or unpredictable temperament or behavior in the presence of human beings or dogs or other animals; 8. Whether the dog or other animal can be effectively trained or retrained to change its temperament or behavior; 9. The manner in which the dog or other animal had been maintained by i[t]s owner or custodian; 10. Any other relevant evidence concerning the maintenance of the dog or other animal; 11. Any other relevant evidence regarding the ability of the owner or custodian, or the Department, to protect the public safety in the future if the dog or other animal is permitted to remain in the City.”
I really like the 2 sections I highlighted - because they deal with the OWNER - and they give an "out" to the animal control department when they feel that perhaps the animal is not to blame for the behaviour of the dog - but when it's the OWNER of the dog who's enabling that particular dog's behaviour - and that maybe that dog should NOT go back to that particular owner, but should not necessarily be killed because he is inherently dangerous.
The court in the case of Stu the dog down in Los Angeles decided that this dog was dangerous because "it is unlikely that (the) petitioner can or will prevent such an incident from occurring in the future, and that innocent people are therefore likely to be injured if the dog is not destroyed. The weight of the evidence produced at the administrative hearing supports such findings".
You'll find that quote on page 8 of a court document that Stu's owner has published - it's great reading.
I think that is pretty neat - and it is unfortunate that for the last 4 years - Stu's owner has been trying to bury that fact and say that it's the City of Los Angeles's fault, the Manager of Animal Control's fault - and anyone else that he can think of - for the reason why his dog has remained incarcerated.'
But the court documents lay the blame straight on the dog owner - they don't even blame the dog Stu - they blame the dog owner - so the City CAN get away with saying that the dog himself isn't dangerous - it IS the dog owner who's the asshole, the person at fault - and they've written their bylaws in such a way that they can do that.
I think that is awesome. We should do that with our bylaws too - we'd be able to free up some cage space I'd say. And save some dogs some some long time incarcerations.
I could write a ton more about this, but who has the energy to beat their head against a wall. I know I don't.
"The Los Angeles Municipal Code Establishes a Procedure for Determining Whether a Dog is Dangerous"
A dog owner must “have an opportunity to be heard prior to the destruction of his dog unless there is need for prompt government action.”
Section 53.34.4 defines and establishes criteria for determining whether a dog is a dangerous animal. “The Department [of Animal Services], after a hearing, may declare any dog or other animal to be a dangerous animal whenever it has bitten, attacked or caused injury to any human being or other animal.”
And here's the beginning of the good part - Eleven criteria “shall be considered” in making a determination whether a dog is dangerous:
“1. Any previous history of the dog or other animal attacking, biting or causing injury to a human being or other animal; 2. The nature and extent of injuries inflicted and the number of victims involved; 3. The place where the bite, attack or injury occurred; 4. The presence or absence of any provocation for the bite, attack or injury; 5. The extent to which property has been damaged or destroyed; 6. Whether the dog or other animal exhibits any characteristics of being trained for fighting or attack or other evidence to show such training or fighting; 7. Whether the dog or other animal exhibits characteristics of aggressive or unpredictable temperament or behavior in the presence of human beings or dogs or other animals; 8. Whether the dog or other animal can be effectively trained or retrained to change its temperament or behavior; 9. The manner in which the dog or other animal had been maintained by i[t]s owner or custodian; 10. Any other relevant evidence concerning the maintenance of the dog or other animal; 11. Any other relevant evidence regarding the ability of the owner or custodian, or the Department, to protect the public safety in the future if the dog or other animal is permitted to remain in the City.”
I really like the 2 sections I highlighted - because they deal with the OWNER - and they give an "out" to the animal control department when they feel that perhaps the animal is not to blame for the behaviour of the dog - but when it's the OWNER of the dog who's enabling that particular dog's behaviour - and that maybe that dog should NOT go back to that particular owner, but should not necessarily be killed because he is inherently dangerous.
The court in the case of Stu the dog down in Los Angeles decided that this dog was dangerous because "it is unlikely that (the) petitioner can or will prevent such an incident from occurring in the future, and that innocent people are therefore likely to be injured if the dog is not destroyed. The weight of the evidence produced at the administrative hearing supports such findings".
You'll find that quote on page 8 of a court document that Stu's owner has published - it's great reading.
I think that is pretty neat - and it is unfortunate that for the last 4 years - Stu's owner has been trying to bury that fact and say that it's the City of Los Angeles's fault, the Manager of Animal Control's fault - and anyone else that he can think of - for the reason why his dog has remained incarcerated.'
But the court documents lay the blame straight on the dog owner - they don't even blame the dog Stu - they blame the dog owner - so the City CAN get away with saying that the dog himself isn't dangerous - it IS the dog owner who's the asshole, the person at fault - and they've written their bylaws in such a way that they can do that.
I think that is awesome. We should do that with our bylaws too - we'd be able to free up some cage space I'd say. And save some dogs some some long time incarcerations.
I could write a ton more about this, but who has the energy to beat their head against a wall. I know I don't.
Monday, July 20, 2009
10 year reunion for Charlie and his brother Solie
In February 1999 I adopted Charlie from the Dartmouth SPCA - at the same time Jeanne adopted Solie from the Dartmouth SPCA. It just so happened that on the same day - we both took our dogs in to Carnegy Animal Hospital 3 months later to have them neutered - so we found out that each other existed - and then a couple months after that, we met up at Point Pleasant Park, and have stayed in contact ever since. We've had tons of fun ever since - and I think Solie and Charlie have too!
On Monday we met up again and went for a walk in the woods behind my house and I took a few (okay, a ton!) of photos - and it still continues to amaze me how much all the dogs from this family look exactly alike. Here Solie is totally looking like his sister Leonard who I used to have when I was married - and who now lives with her "father" in Toronto
This was Leonard - she was ball crazy
These are some shots of Solie on our walk at one of the watery spots - can you tell I live very close to a very nice spot to walk?
This is a shot of Daisy thrown in - most people think that Charlie is a rottie mix - but Daisy is the only one with any rottie in her - Charlie is 1/2 sheltie and 1/2 lab!
Who is this, is it Charlie? Or is it Solie......
There were 12 dogs in the litter - here is Solie, Charlie and Leonard back when they were much younger - both Charlie and Solie came from the SPCA - and Leonard came from an ad from the newspaper when she was 7 week's old. I've told the story before, so I won't bore everyone here..jpg)
Just about everyone from the litter has ended up in rescue - as is typical of back yard breeders - this is Sarah - who was at the Dartmouth SPCA last year
Philip was a dog who was dear to my heart - he had been deemed unadoptable and was going to be killed at the Dartmouth SPCA, but I was able to adopt him - he'd been chained his whole life - and had the most beautiful, gentle soul. He found a home in Berwick and lived for 3 wonderful years with a wonderful loving family and died last year. He was a good dog.
I met Zorro at Point Pleasant Park once, and then somebody found this sign on a store in Dartmouth - another victim of disposable petdom - I hope he found a good home.
Beethoven was also at the Dartmouth SPCA - brought in through Animal Control - and found a good home - he was smaller than Leonard - whenever a dog has come in through the SPCA I've always left my contact information - maybe someday we'll have a reunion, that would be neat.
I met Conrad at Point Pleasant Park - I was walking Charlie and Leonard and my head was down and I looked up and all of the sudden there was 2 Leanard's! It was so weird! And it turned out that Conrad and his Dad went to Seaview everyday - so when I started going there everyday too I got to know him and his Dad really well - so that was really good.If you're interested in reading - I wrote a post in 2005 about "designer dogs" - because Charlie and the rest of his litter actually qualify as them because they are the product of 2 purebred dogs - a shetland sheepdog and a yellow lab - and why the business is so useless - and shown by this litter of dogs - it's at http://dogkisser.blogspot.com/2005/02/my-dogs-are-perfect-examples-of.html
This is a slideshow of the photos I took on Monday if you're so inclined -
Sunday, July 19, 2009
HRMDogPac Group Formed Today in the HRM
Today a group of interested people met in person for the first time and created a committee that will hopefully create positive change for dog owners who are interested in exercising their dogs off leash in the HRM - and hopefully other dog owners who understand the importance of exercising their dogs off leash, and also realize that the bureaucrats at the HRM don't quite "get" the number of dog owners there are in the Halifax Regional Municipality who take their dogs' health seriously - will join up - and through the power of positive actions, we can create an off-leash lifestyle that we know our dogs deserve and need.
Today we were just a couple of people, but we know that there's a ton of people out there exactly like us who feel the same way we do, and are as frustrated as we are with what we currently have here in Halifax - we have a great city, great parks, a great lifestyle, Halifax really is very dog friendly - that's why so many of us have dogs - but to be able to take our dogs off leash legally anywhere is stressful, quite often - actually most times - illegal, and a lot of times, not very much fun. And that's not right.
Dogs need to run - and do you know what? Not every dog needs other dogs around them in order to have a fulfilled life, either - not every dog can handle other dogs - and I believe that legal off leash spaces can handle those dogs too - and that's something that should be talked about when you're talking about setting up dog parks. You should also talk about dogs that are not dog friendly - because they should come into the equation - because they need off leash exercise too - but that's another post...
But anyway - today we talked about things like working with the city to use tracts of city owned land that aren't being used - but that are already fenced in, having land donated to our group, and the group maintaining the land through fundraising - so we are serious about doing something about off leash spaces - we even have a name for the group - it's going to be called "HRMDogPac" - "HRM Dog Park Action Committee" - the Domain name will be http://hrmdogpac.ca/ - if you're coming to this blog post just after it's written, the link probably won't work because I've JUST bought the domain name, so it'll probably take a couple hours for the link to go live - but the link will go to our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114705216984#/group.php?gid=114705216984
If you are interested in off leash exercise for your dog and want to become involved, you should - because we want to approach this in ways that haven't been done before - through positive dog training ways - if it works for dogs - why wouldn't it work for humans? Instead of being punitive about people not picking up their poop - advertise that once a week a member of our group will be going to the park and giving dinner for 2 at a local restaurant when they see someone picking up their dog's poop - reward people for doing things right - don't let them have opportunities to mess up - give them all the tools to do things right the first time - things like that.
It's a bold new adventure, and it will be fun on many levels - so if you're a positive person, and you believe in the good effects of positive training and off leash exercise - this will definitely be a good thing for you to get in on!
Today we were just a couple of people, but we know that there's a ton of people out there exactly like us who feel the same way we do, and are as frustrated as we are with what we currently have here in Halifax - we have a great city, great parks, a great lifestyle, Halifax really is very dog friendly - that's why so many of us have dogs - but to be able to take our dogs off leash legally anywhere is stressful, quite often - actually most times - illegal, and a lot of times, not very much fun. And that's not right.
Dogs need to run - and do you know what? Not every dog needs other dogs around them in order to have a fulfilled life, either - not every dog can handle other dogs - and I believe that legal off leash spaces can handle those dogs too - and that's something that should be talked about when you're talking about setting up dog parks. You should also talk about dogs that are not dog friendly - because they should come into the equation - because they need off leash exercise too - but that's another post...
But anyway - today we talked about things like working with the city to use tracts of city owned land that aren't being used - but that are already fenced in, having land donated to our group, and the group maintaining the land through fundraising - so we are serious about doing something about off leash spaces - we even have a name for the group - it's going to be called "HRMDogPac" - "HRM Dog Park Action Committee" - the Domain name will be http://hrmdogpac.ca/ - if you're coming to this blog post just after it's written, the link probably won't work because I've JUST bought the domain name, so it'll probably take a couple hours for the link to go live - but the link will go to our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114705216984#/group.php?gid=114705216984
If you are interested in off leash exercise for your dog and want to become involved, you should - because we want to approach this in ways that haven't been done before - through positive dog training ways - if it works for dogs - why wouldn't it work for humans? Instead of being punitive about people not picking up their poop - advertise that once a week a member of our group will be going to the park and giving dinner for 2 at a local restaurant when they see someone picking up their dog's poop - reward people for doing things right - don't let them have opportunities to mess up - give them all the tools to do things right the first time - things like that.
It's a bold new adventure, and it will be fun on many levels - so if you're a positive person, and you believe in the good effects of positive training and off leash exercise - this will definitely be a good thing for you to get in on!
Pet Care Facilities in Shubenacadie Lakes being considered August 6, 09 at 6pm
There was an ad in the Municipal Notices in yesterday's paper that Harbour East and Marine Drive, Valley & Canal Community Councils "intend to consider and if deemed advisable, approve the following application to - define pet care facilities and permit this land use within the R-6 and R-7 zones subject to specifid site standards"
They're going to have a public hearing at Dartmouth City Hall on August 6th if you live in this area and this is something that interests you - it's a very interesting application, because it doesn't seem to be driven by a business owner's application like Pampered Paws in Hammonds Plains, or the Canine Casbah on the Halifax Peninsula was - it seems to be driven by the HRM planners themselves - to change the Land Use bylaws on princicles alone - you can read the background information on the case at http://halifax.ca/Commcoun/hecc/documents/090702hecc102.pdf - it's very odd - I'm sure there's more to the story than what is in this document.
Tall ships festival here in Halifax today
So I went down to the Tall Ships Festival today - I heard on the television on Friday that they were expecting one million people to go down to the waterfront to see it - and I can believe that those numbers would have shown up if it hadn't have poured rain yesterday - because there was a TON of people down there today. It was hot, humid - and chock-a-block with people this afternoon.
I saw this guy walking his dog in a buggy and it was just too cute and somebody else had stopped him to talk to him so I took a couple pictures - the dogs name is "Flopsy" - and I asked him if he had the dog in the cart because she was too old? And he said no - she's just too lazy!
This was just the moment I arrived at the waterfront - so that was just too cute. There were a ton of dogs down there which was awesome - the people of Halifax really DO want to spend quality time with their dogs - and the dogs were loving it - and a lot of the vendors actually had water bowls down for dogs walking by, which was super to see. I had originally planned on bringing Bobby with me, but I had a meeting to go to previously and my car broke down yesterday so it's currently at Canadian Tire until tomorrow, so blah blah blah - it did not work out - so it was just me and my camera today unfortunately.
Here's a couple shots of our most famous Bluenose II Schooner - the ship that is on our Canadian dime. A lovely little boat.
They also had a big pavillion called "Canada" or something and they have kiosks with all kinds of information about the Canadian government which was really neat - I wonder if it goes all across Canada to different festivals - it was a really good idea if that's what it does - I learned a few things walking through it, that's for sure - so that's always a good thing!
Talking about crowds - it was SO hard - maybe it was just me, I don't know - but I was finding it really hard to take photos of the ships for all the people - these 2 photos are one example - this was a really big boat - and I could NOT get a photo of it without a ton of people in the shot, the best I could was a shot of it with this one woman who just would not move.
This is the same boat with all the crowds going by.
These are shots of a few more boats at the festival - there were 44 tall ships in port altogether.
When I got home, I shared my shopping booty with the dogs - I tried to keep it on the nautical theme as much as possible -
I got Charlie a cute new handerchief with sailboats on it, he always looks so manly with a handerchief on - I'm not sure what he thinks though!
I found these 2 glass buoys at the "Island Beach Company" - it has always been my dream to find these on a beach somewhere - but fishermen don't use them anymore - so I am happy to have found some in a store - I've never them for sale in a store before - and they were only $4.50 each, so I thought that was a great buy!
Would you pay money for a rock that looks like this?
Would you pay money for a rock that looks like that on the outside, but looks like this on the inside? Isn't this neat? It's an amethyst rock! I went to Blomedin once determined that I was going to find some amethyst rock, but I never did - so I will study this rock - and someday I will find me some raw amethyst rock.
I don't have to tell you that like all little dogs - my little dogs felt it was completely unnecessary that they got left behind today - and they told me so in no uncertain terms when I got home.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Bobby's first trip to the beach - Crystal Crescent today
I cannot believe that my life has deteriorated to the point where I can say that I've had Bobby for more than a month and a half and today is the first time that he's been to the beach.
That it's been that long since I've been to the beach. It was a great day to go though, and we had a really good time - Bobby had a fantastic time.
It was also the first time that I've let Bobby go off-leash and he did really well - although at the end he didn't seem like he really wanted to be leashed back up - so I think I'll be careful next time and surprise him a bit more about when it's time to go back on leash - but overall he did really well.
He certainly had a great time running around the beach, and tonight he's completely passed out from being tired, which is super.
Charlie and Daisy had a good time too - which was nice to see.
And they both were being very photogenic, which was good for me. Charlie never has a bad day as far as the camera is concerned.
And Bobby proved that he not only likes to dig in my backyard - he also likes to dig at the beach too - I am going to have a bed full of sand tonight - you'll see later in this post that there was also some rolling action too.
All the time we were there I only saw this 1/2 of a buoy - so the buoy booty was very bad, nothing at all to take home with us.
And I guess I must have felt like taking pictures of flowers today -
Because I took photos of these different flowers that we came upon
I think the purple ones were the prettiest of course
This is Bobby sitting for a treat - even at the beach we were working on our sit
And this is Daisy saying - "I don't have to sit for a treat because I am perfect in every way!"
This is Charlie and Daisy sharing a quiet moment - except for the fact that I'm taking a photo of it
This is a shot of our own private beach - on a beautiful, warm, sunny day - only in Nova Scotia would you be able to find a barren white sand sunny beach 15 minutes outside of the capital city for the province - it really is shangri-la here isn't it?
Daisy was being so cute today, I could feel her nose on the back of my leg almost the whole time we were at the beach for some reason - although she's always been like that - she's always been a dog who's stayed close by when we're out on hikes, and maybe it's just because I was wearing shorts today that I could actually feel her nose making contact with the back of my leg - or maybe it was because I had my treat pouch attached to my belt today? Who really knows!
These next photos are the rolling that I was talking about at the beginning of the post - and this sand was extremely stinky for some reason - very sodiumy.... the dogs loved it.
Charlie looks like - "I've fallen and I can't get up!"
Charlie being perfect, once againHere's a slideshow of all 94 photos from today...
Monday, July 13, 2009
At least Paul McCartney seemed to like dogs
Paul McCartney played his only Canadian show here in Halifax this past weekend - to a crowd of about 50,000 paying customers, and probably that many non-paying on the streets outside. Me and the dogs stayed well away and did a lot of sleeping this weekend instead of indulging in all that fuss and bother. The thing I like most about the Beatles and Paul McCartney is Oasis - and they weren't anywhere near the Halifax Commons - so there wasn't much for me to see.
But one of my friends today sent me a link to a Paul McCartney song that I thought was neat - it's called "Martha my dear" - and it was orignally thought to be about an old english sheep-dog that Paul and his family had a long time ago - but when his biography came out in 2005 it was discovered that "Martha" is actually the inner muse inside his head - and that he'd named his dog after the muse - so the muse came first - so six of one, half dozen of the other I'd say - it's still a cute song. You can hear it below and also see pictures of the man himself with the aforementioned doggie-wogg. From what I hear the concert here in Halifax was a brilliant success.
But one of my friends today sent me a link to a Paul McCartney song that I thought was neat - it's called "Martha my dear" - and it was orignally thought to be about an old english sheep-dog that Paul and his family had a long time ago - but when his biography came out in 2005 it was discovered that "Martha" is actually the inner muse inside his head - and that he'd named his dog after the muse - so the muse came first - so six of one, half dozen of the other I'd say - it's still a cute song. You can hear it below and also see pictures of the man himself with the aforementioned doggie-wogg. From what I hear the concert here in Halifax was a brilliant success.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Cesar Millan being debated on about.com
My friend Adina forwarded me a debate that's going on at a Veterinary Medicine blog on "About.com" because she and I share an - I wouldn't call it an obsession, but it's a "special interest" in the training methods used by Cesar Millan - and the article and comments being left on the post at this blog have been really interesting - it's at http://vetmedicine.about.com/b/2009/07/07/veterinary-behaviorists-take-a-stand-against-cesar-millan.htm - so you can go read it.
The author is taking the stand that "In February 2009, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) issued a "position statement" about the use of punishment for behavior modification in animals, detailing 9 possible adverse effects of negative reinforcement (punishment) training. While not naming any trainers by name, the statement was written to counter Millan's techniques featured on his National Geographic channel show, The Dog Whisperer."
She gives a link to a video clip that shows Cesar "hanging" a dog in order to get him to submit to him and ends the post with - "If a "professional trainer" such as Millan can be bit several times in a few minutes, so can you. Or worse. What are your thoughts on dog training methods? Are you more or less likely to buy products that feature a celebrity spokesperson? Please add your comments below. " - and tons of people have added their comments, that's for sure - including the owner of the absolutely huge "Dog Whisperer fan Yahoo Group" that has over 3,000 members - she is a pretty smart lady and I've read her stuff before and she can give some compelling arguments.
Both Adina and I also left comments amongst the over 70 comments so far, and I'm sure that Adina won't mind if I paste her comment here - she said -
Instead of listening to Cesar as he talks the good talk about his love for dogs etc., try watching the dogs’ body language when they are interacting with him. They are often SCARED! look for tucked tails, slinking bodies that are close to the floor, lip licking, whale eyes (where you can see the whites). These are all signs of fearful dogs and given that 90% of dog aggression stems from fear, it is no wonder that the man so frequently gets bit on his show. I have watched many episodes of the DW and I continue to be amazed that people accept this as a humane way to train their dogs. If I was just in the business of dog training for the money, trust me I would want Cesar to stay on the air because the vast majority of the money I make comes from repairing the relationships between people and their dogs who have been mis-led by National Geographic. I have been in this business for over six years and have worked for the local animal shelter where we see worse case scenarios and I have never been bitten because I respect the dogs and don’t push them past their limits. I can tell you about four dogs in the past year who were PTS after biting their owners. What were the owners doing when they got bit? Alpha rolls! Cesar’s techniques may work with 75% of dogs without negative long-term consequences but his fan club doesn’t seem to care about the 25% of dogs that won’t tolerate this type of training.
Cesar fans please learn the truth about pack theory and dominance before you believe everything the Dog Whisperer has to offer. Look to scientific journals for facts. The articles may be more boring to digest than a well-edited episode of the Dog Whisperer but you need to EDUCATE yourselves and not accept everything that a celebrity is spoon feeding you.
In my comment I said - I’ve been watching his show everyday for about the last year, so I’ve seen a lot of Cesar Millan – and I’ve been following his training for philosophy since I first heard about him because his idea of “discipline, exercise, affection” in that order has seemed so foreign to the way that I’ve personally found has made my own multi-dog – rescued, many issued, multi-layered and very interesting canine household home a happy one. Cesar has gone so far as to say that love is not required to make a dog a balanced dog – his exact words are “Many clients I work with are surprised to learn that dogs don’t need love and affection to lead healthy, balanced lives.” ( http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-information/cesar-millan-dog-whisperer/article_let_dog.aspx )
That is such a shock to North American people who are so used to giving love to their animals – I know that’s why I personally have dogs – because I have a lot of love to give. and that’s why I just can’t give myself to Cesar Millan’s training methods.
As well – I wanted to comment about something that Harry Nguyen said – “For those who think Cesar is a cruel person or his methods too harsh. I challenge anyone to find me a pack 30-40 formally troubled dogs, of different breed, size, and temperament, that are more balanced and happily living together than the ones living at his center.”
I’ve had this same problem myself in my own home – I’ve had fosters that could live in my multi-dog household really well, and they’d get adopted out to seemingly really great homes – but they’d get returned for fighting with the other dogs in their new homes – and there was always this question – “why can they live with no fights in my home – yet in someone else’s home they become aggressive?”
If you notice on Cesar’s show – a lot of dogs come to the “Centre” for training for a couple months, and then go home – and start their old bad habits again – and at the end of the show what happens is that Cesar keeps the dog and gives the people a new, easier to manage dog – and their original dog stays at the Centre with Cesar as a permanent resident.
Maybe it’s not because Cesar has been able to “rehabilitate” the dogs at his Centre, maybe – could it be – he’s able to “manage” the dogs at his Centre?
As a person who is just a dog owner – I’m just going to throw that out there for all of you – dog whisper fans, and professional behaviourists, alike – to chew on.
Cesar is a trainer who appears to want to control every aspect about a dog’s life – and want the dog to ask before he can do everything – including when he can take a pee. That’s a lot of responsibility for the average dog owner. Some of us are up to it, and some of us aren’t.
If you’re interested in a couple more links of Cesar like the one that sparked this article – you can check them out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&hl=en&v=9TRE7Zv7xdE&NR=1 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUeD4oxGLs&feature=channel
There was another really interesting post from Theresa DePorter, DVM who said - "The training methods I would recommend for a dog like this,(the one in the 30 second video that the blog owner posted) and yes, I have treated dogs like the one in the video, require safety, prevention of aggression, prevention of arousal, teaching coping skills and rewarding appropriate behaviors. Devices like basket muzzles and head halters can be wonderful for a dog like this when used properly. There are a great ways to work with a dog like this one that real people can employ with their dogs and obviously, despite the “don’t try this at home” warnings, a lot of people do indeed try this at home. Severely anxious or fearful dogs may seem to improve in the short term but constant vigilance is required by the ‘dominant’ training methods and after time people grow weary or guilty, the dogs habituate and require more assertive owner responses and then someone is bitten either when the dog isn’t controlled or during efforts to control it."
What she said is basically the same thing as what I said, which I thought was pretty neat.
On another - but related note - at the same time I am reading the current issue of "Best Friends magazine" - and there's an article in there called "The Science of Kindness - Why Compassion matters in our interactions with animals" - and it's a super article. Best Friends Magazine is a great magazine and you get if FREE when you become a member of the organization - you should go and join up! Older copies are available free on their website, so I thought it wouldn't be too bad if I scanned the article and put it on my server for awhile since it will be available on their website in a couple months anyway, because it's such a good article - you can click - here - and read it now. But you should definitely also think about getting the magazine too, because it's awesome. But the lady Susan Friedman has got some great things to say about the way that Cesar tends to train dogs.
There's a section about "flooding vs shaping" - she says "many animal caregivers and trainers simply take it for granted nowadays that the best way to train an animal is through positive reinforcement. But at the time of Brinker and Friedman's initial email exchange, the previaling animal training strategy was to dominate, to make animals know who was the boss. It meant using some kind of intimidating stimulus from which the animal cannot escape, thereby scaring the animal into submission and making him easier to handle (think of the whip used by the lion tamer). In parrot training, flooding involves strking a caged bird with two wooden dowels until the bird stops lunging an dbiting. This technique of "breaking" animals is not just morally and eithically bereft, but according to fifty years' worth of studies, it produces short lived results. Also, it all but ensures that the animal will eventually lash out at the trainer or simply shut down completely.
The article ends with talking about moving these teaching methods over to humans - "Friedman confesses that, though she devotes so much of her time and energy to the behaviour and training of animals, her main objective all long has been to change the way we interact with our hman loved ones - our partners, children and friends". Previously in the article she had said - Every time someone has yanked the choke collar around his dog's neck, or forrced a bird inside a cage, or hobbled a horse, there may have been some pang, some moment of doubt that it was the right thing to do - in spite of what the so-called experts were saying to the contrary. Many people have asked themselves, I wouldn't dream of doing this to my child, so why am I doing this to my animal? What Friedman helps them realize is that dominating behaviour can be just as damaging to the animal as it is to the child. Sadly, there are some people who might treat their children or spouse in a dominating manner, but not their animals. As for them, Friedman's teaching are just as life-changing.
I personally have to attest to this - everything that I have learned about positive dog training and am continuing to learn have leaked over into my work life, and it's showing in a better work atmosphere where I work - I am on my policy and procedure committee for my department and I am working towards making our policies not something that our employees have to "live with" and that makes their jobs harder - but something that is positive for them and is in their best interests - and just a change in mindset - turning things around from a negative to a positive - can make all the difference - even with humans. From making animals and humans must do something into something that they want to do - into "win-win" situations - is good for everyone.
It's like the by-line of the Best Friend's magazine - "all the good news"!
The author is taking the stand that "In February 2009, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) issued a "position statement" about the use of punishment for behavior modification in animals, detailing 9 possible adverse effects of negative reinforcement (punishment) training. While not naming any trainers by name, the statement was written to counter Millan's techniques featured on his National Geographic channel show, The Dog Whisperer."
She gives a link to a video clip that shows Cesar "hanging" a dog in order to get him to submit to him and ends the post with - "If a "professional trainer" such as Millan can be bit several times in a few minutes, so can you. Or worse. What are your thoughts on dog training methods? Are you more or less likely to buy products that feature a celebrity spokesperson? Please add your comments below. " - and tons of people have added their comments, that's for sure - including the owner of the absolutely huge "Dog Whisperer fan Yahoo Group" that has over 3,000 members - she is a pretty smart lady and I've read her stuff before and she can give some compelling arguments.
Both Adina and I also left comments amongst the over 70 comments so far, and I'm sure that Adina won't mind if I paste her comment here - she said -
Instead of listening to Cesar as he talks the good talk about his love for dogs etc., try watching the dogs’ body language when they are interacting with him. They are often SCARED! look for tucked tails, slinking bodies that are close to the floor, lip licking, whale eyes (where you can see the whites). These are all signs of fearful dogs and given that 90% of dog aggression stems from fear, it is no wonder that the man so frequently gets bit on his show. I have watched many episodes of the DW and I continue to be amazed that people accept this as a humane way to train their dogs. If I was just in the business of dog training for the money, trust me I would want Cesar to stay on the air because the vast majority of the money I make comes from repairing the relationships between people and their dogs who have been mis-led by National Geographic. I have been in this business for over six years and have worked for the local animal shelter where we see worse case scenarios and I have never been bitten because I respect the dogs and don’t push them past their limits. I can tell you about four dogs in the past year who were PTS after biting their owners. What were the owners doing when they got bit? Alpha rolls! Cesar’s techniques may work with 75% of dogs without negative long-term consequences but his fan club doesn’t seem to care about the 25% of dogs that won’t tolerate this type of training.
Cesar fans please learn the truth about pack theory and dominance before you believe everything the Dog Whisperer has to offer. Look to scientific journals for facts. The articles may be more boring to digest than a well-edited episode of the Dog Whisperer but you need to EDUCATE yourselves and not accept everything that a celebrity is spoon feeding you.
In my comment I said - I’ve been watching his show everyday for about the last year, so I’ve seen a lot of Cesar Millan – and I’ve been following his training for philosophy since I first heard about him because his idea of “discipline, exercise, affection” in that order has seemed so foreign to the way that I’ve personally found has made my own multi-dog – rescued, many issued, multi-layered and very interesting canine household home a happy one. Cesar has gone so far as to say that love is not required to make a dog a balanced dog – his exact words are “Many clients I work with are surprised to learn that dogs don’t need love and affection to lead healthy, balanced lives.” ( http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-information/cesar-millan-dog-whisperer/article_let_dog.aspx )
That is such a shock to North American people who are so used to giving love to their animals – I know that’s why I personally have dogs – because I have a lot of love to give. and that’s why I just can’t give myself to Cesar Millan’s training methods.
As well – I wanted to comment about something that Harry Nguyen said – “For those who think Cesar is a cruel person or his methods too harsh. I challenge anyone to find me a pack 30-40 formally troubled dogs, of different breed, size, and temperament, that are more balanced and happily living together than the ones living at his center.”
I’ve had this same problem myself in my own home – I’ve had fosters that could live in my multi-dog household really well, and they’d get adopted out to seemingly really great homes – but they’d get returned for fighting with the other dogs in their new homes – and there was always this question – “why can they live with no fights in my home – yet in someone else’s home they become aggressive?”
If you notice on Cesar’s show – a lot of dogs come to the “Centre” for training for a couple months, and then go home – and start their old bad habits again – and at the end of the show what happens is that Cesar keeps the dog and gives the people a new, easier to manage dog – and their original dog stays at the Centre with Cesar as a permanent resident.
Maybe it’s not because Cesar has been able to “rehabilitate” the dogs at his Centre, maybe – could it be – he’s able to “manage” the dogs at his Centre?
As a person who is just a dog owner – I’m just going to throw that out there for all of you – dog whisper fans, and professional behaviourists, alike – to chew on.
Cesar is a trainer who appears to want to control every aspect about a dog’s life – and want the dog to ask before he can do everything – including when he can take a pee. That’s a lot of responsibility for the average dog owner. Some of us are up to it, and some of us aren’t.
If you’re interested in a couple more links of Cesar like the one that sparked this article – you can check them out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&hl=en&v=9TRE7Zv7xdE&NR=1 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUeD4oxGLs&feature=channel
There was another really interesting post from Theresa DePorter, DVM who said - "The training methods I would recommend for a dog like this,(the one in the 30 second video that the blog owner posted) and yes, I have treated dogs like the one in the video, require safety, prevention of aggression, prevention of arousal, teaching coping skills and rewarding appropriate behaviors. Devices like basket muzzles and head halters can be wonderful for a dog like this when used properly. There are a great ways to work with a dog like this one that real people can employ with their dogs and obviously, despite the “don’t try this at home” warnings, a lot of people do indeed try this at home. Severely anxious or fearful dogs may seem to improve in the short term but constant vigilance is required by the ‘dominant’ training methods and after time people grow weary or guilty, the dogs habituate and require more assertive owner responses and then someone is bitten either when the dog isn’t controlled or during efforts to control it."
What she said is basically the same thing as what I said, which I thought was pretty neat.
On another - but related note - at the same time I am reading the current issue of "Best Friends magazine" - and there's an article in there called "The Science of Kindness - Why Compassion matters in our interactions with animals" - and it's a super article. Best Friends Magazine is a great magazine and you get if FREE when you become a member of the organization - you should go and join up! Older copies are available free on their website, so I thought it wouldn't be too bad if I scanned the article and put it on my server for awhile since it will be available on their website in a couple months anyway, because it's such a good article - you can click - here - and read it now. But you should definitely also think about getting the magazine too, because it's awesome. But the lady Susan Friedman has got some great things to say about the way that Cesar tends to train dogs.
There's a section about "flooding vs shaping" - she says "many animal caregivers and trainers simply take it for granted nowadays that the best way to train an animal is through positive reinforcement. But at the time of Brinker and Friedman's initial email exchange, the previaling animal training strategy was to dominate, to make animals know who was the boss. It meant using some kind of intimidating stimulus from which the animal cannot escape, thereby scaring the animal into submission and making him easier to handle (think of the whip used by the lion tamer). In parrot training, flooding involves strking a caged bird with two wooden dowels until the bird stops lunging an dbiting. This technique of "breaking" animals is not just morally and eithically bereft, but according to fifty years' worth of studies, it produces short lived results. Also, it all but ensures that the animal will eventually lash out at the trainer or simply shut down completely.
The article ends with talking about moving these teaching methods over to humans - "Friedman confesses that, though she devotes so much of her time and energy to the behaviour and training of animals, her main objective all long has been to change the way we interact with our hman loved ones - our partners, children and friends". Previously in the article she had said - Every time someone has yanked the choke collar around his dog's neck, or forrced a bird inside a cage, or hobbled a horse, there may have been some pang, some moment of doubt that it was the right thing to do - in spite of what the so-called experts were saying to the contrary. Many people have asked themselves, I wouldn't dream of doing this to my child, so why am I doing this to my animal? What Friedman helps them realize is that dominating behaviour can be just as damaging to the animal as it is to the child. Sadly, there are some people who might treat their children or spouse in a dominating manner, but not their animals. As for them, Friedman's teaching are just as life-changing.
I personally have to attest to this - everything that I have learned about positive dog training and am continuing to learn have leaked over into my work life, and it's showing in a better work atmosphere where I work - I am on my policy and procedure committee for my department and I am working towards making our policies not something that our employees have to "live with" and that makes their jobs harder - but something that is positive for them and is in their best interests - and just a change in mindset - turning things around from a negative to a positive - can make all the difference - even with humans. From making animals and humans must do something into something that they want to do - into "win-win" situations - is good for everyone.
It's like the by-line of the Best Friend's magazine - "all the good news"!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Snakes, bums, bad knees, and Bobby
I don't know about where you live, but here in Halifax Nova Scotia the weather has been completely shitty for quite awhile.
We haven't had a sunny day from beginning to end since June 18th - and today is July 9th - so today being a beautiful day was a big thing, and I'm sure a lot of people got out and enjoyed it - I know me and the dogs did - although Jackie seems to have spent the better part of the afternoon in the well ventilated comfort of the darkened living room. He's not really the outdoorsy type. I guess spending the better part of 8 months completely indoors at one point in his life, letting the pads of his feet go baby soft and then having his nails embed into those baby soft pads sort of spoiled him for being an outdoorsy get his feet wet and dirty kind of dog.
Charlie was very happy to just lolligag wherever the lawnmower was NOT - haha!
I love this photo - and the next closeup of Bobby - I don't know if he was about to sneeze, or what, isn't it cute! He has such a beautiful face.
We went to the vet today because he's been having problems with his bum - brown stuff leaking out, so we thought his anal glands might be impacted, but the vet "expressed them" - and she said they weren't too bad - the contents were just a bit "chunky" - as it were. So that was good news.I also had her check him over to see whether he might have a micro-chip implanted in him - but lucky for me he didn't - so he really is mine - finders keepers, losers weepers. And I also had the vet give him a good feel over because I hadn't had him in to get just a general health check - and wouldn't you know it - both of his back knees have got bad luxating patella. On a scale of 1 to 4 he's a 3 - both back knees pop out really easily - so he's going to be just like Buttercup and at some point in his life I'll be dealing with his knees. Currently she said his muscle mass in his back legs isn't that greaqt either - which isn't good - the way I kept Buttercup healthy for most of the time I've had her is that she led a "big dog lifestyle" - she got tons of exercise - and that'll be the way to keep Bobby healthy too and hold off surgery on his knees. I knew something was up because I had seen him hop-skipping down the back steps when he went out to the back yard - so I figured he had something wrong with his knees. I also had him weighed - and he's a big 10 pounds!
This picture is a photo of Daisy when she's looking at a snake that was in the backyard this afternoon who came out to say hello when I was mowing the lawn!
And this is a shot of Daisy just looking beautiful - that's not hard for her to do.
Here's a couple shots of the snake - it was almost exactly a year ago that I found another snake in the backyard and took a couple shots of him/her - isn't that weird? Maybe next July I'll find another snake again. That would be pretty neat.
Daisy was actually pretty freaked out by the snake. She was really cute.
Last night at obedience class Jack and Bobby did really well - my Dad thought that Jack was the best dog there of course.
This is Jack looking over at me saying - "why is Bobby getting all your treats and I'm getting none?" He has completely forgotten about the fact that he's getting a ton of treats from the man who's sitting in front of him - he still wants all the treats be given out in the room!
Bobby came very close to learning how to sit - which was amazing because up until last night he totally did not know how to sit. So that was a big step forward for us.
Another shot of Jack giving us the hairy eyeball - and in the background is George - one of Amy's dogs - giving my Dad the hairy eyeball because I had inserted a squeaky toy in my Dad's treat pouch - and it turns out that George is really turned on by the sound of a squeaker - so my Dad had 2 dogs very tuned into him last night - it's lucky my Dad likes a lot of attention!
Bobby is pretty good at staying focused on me when there's a hint of liver on my body.
Earlier in the week we took a trip out to my Dad's cottage - and everyone got to go for a dip in the lake - everyone likes to get their feet wet, but no one likes to swim - but whatever makes them happy makes me happy - Charlie likes to just walk around in the water and drink and drink
Buttercup likes to do the same thing, and eat the grasses
And it turns out that Bobby is not a water dog, which is strange - I thought that poodles were a water dog - but Bobby does NOT like the water. He wouldn't even come down the steps to the beach. He was having no part of the lake. That was too bad.
Daisy really likes to eat the grasses that grow along the beach - they must take like ham or something.
Me and Bobby had a really nice walk in Clayton Park this week - I'm going to make a new page on the Charlie loves Halifax site about it - Clayton Park is just such an awesome spot for people who own dogs - there are so many places for super on-leash walks - nice wide sidewalks, great little parks - the Mainland North Linear Parkway - if I was rich I would definitely live in Clayton Park
This is Bobby trying to figure out how to get at the ducks without having to get in that nasty water!
Monday, July 6, 2009
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