Amber Alerts for Pets

http://www.findtoto.com/
I saw this on another blog I read and wanted to post it here. I can not imagine how devestated I'd be if I lost one of my little tribe....
It is good for both lost and found pets...check it out....pass it on....

What a Brute is Spring

Spring is well into its adolescence here in the Pacific Northwest. She's trying on Summer's clothes and pouring 90 degree heat down over us. The azaleas have unclenched their tiny fists of color in the lace of new leavesand wilt a little; the clematis snakes its fingers out to feel the wall and the tulips hold their cups up for water. The earth that was black with rain dries and cracks; a tornado of scent swirls in the dust. The evening bruises with color. Branches of the butterfly bush shoot out in chaos. The night aches with growing.

In the morning I watch my little dogs flash -- white and red and black-- and strike poses in the green green grass. I notice that Gus’s chest has filled out; his ruff carves an elegant “S” starting just under his jaw. Flynn’s soundness echoes in the air, all legs firm beneath her.

As she marches away from me in the grass grown too high, I can see the curve of her hip and thigh under the wide flow of her satiny culottes. She is eight this month, and I feel time moving away from me, as surely as this new season crashes in from above and below. Everything new is coming into form; everything is already aging and moving away. In the stalk of the daffodil is its wilting…in the fullness of my dog’s age is her leaving.

The strangest thing is going on....It's a gloomy damp Saturday here in the Willamette Valley and I can hear what sounds like THOUSANDS of angry crows very close by...An actual riot of crows...
I feel like I'm in The Birds 2.

They've been rioting for over 5 minutes now...and the jays are starting to squawk as well. One lawn mower is buzzing obliviously.

It's kind of scary....the dogs are snoring through it.

Sonny Has a Bath

but he hates to have his ears blown dry....so we let them air dry, and he is grateful.

Maudie Visits the Chiropractor

My dogs have a chiropractor. He is a strange and gifted soul.

Flynn first went to him after the 3rd time I found her under the table
shaking so hard I thought her muscles would spring. The vet’s diagnosis was constipation and she spent the day in hospital with a subQ line and periodic emptying….and the 3rd time we went to our favorite vet who looked t the X rays of her bowels and said it was probably her back that was behind all the trouble. So up the I-5 we trundled to see the guy all the dogs see. She has been seeing him once a month or so for a year and is doing fine.

I love the relationship they have. He says “Hello Beautiful” and looks into her eyes, and she looks back with her dark dark liquid eyes full of feeling. I love watching him work, one hand moving in little circles on the bottom of his clipboard, the other searching out the places where the road has buckled. All the while Flynnie is still looking at his face, trying to read his roadmap.

Last time we went I mentioned Maudie’s seizure and told him about my suspicions regarding the Interceptor. His response was too complicated for me to quite follow (darn it), but I kept hearing the right words, like blood brain barrier, cerebellum, liver…and so I brought her in the next week.

She was nervous being in the little room at first, certain she was at the vet’s and certain she didn’t want to be there, but he worked his charm on her. He spent long minutes adjusting her atlas, slowly slowly, and at one point she stopped fidgeting, sighed and held very still. Bingo. She practically fell asleep. Below the sound outside of chainsaws and lawn mowers we listened to her breathe.

On our way out she actually leaped up as I got her in the wagon and I think her energy has been brighter. Today we went for our second visit. She was panting and pacing at first, but by the time we left, she was all melted and calm and sad to see him go.

I have no doubt that he is helping both my girls. It’s not just about moving pieces of bone back into place, it’s about lining up the planets of the body so that energy moves freely; on ball bearings rolling…up and down from head to tail, out their eyes and back again.

What is a "Good Breeder"?

In the local news yesterday was another story about a hoarder who was a chihuahua "breeder". Something like 100 chis of all ages were pulled out of this house in rural Washington County that looked more like a dump or a bad nightmare than a house. Garbage spilled all around the house; the dogs were in tiny cages piled up on one another with sometimes 2 or 3 to a cage; small filthy dark rooms were crammed with exercise pens that were filled with feces and food scattered all over the floor.
Someone who had gone to the house hoping to buy a puppy reported the conditions to the County police, and subsequently there was a raid on the house. Children cats, birds, chickens were also stockpiled there.
Apparently the "breeder" has an online "business." Caveat Emptor indeed.

Everyone with half an ear open has heard about puppy mills by now, but I'm not so sure "puppy mill" has been well defined. A single person with a website or an innocent ad in the newspaper can be a puppy miller, or a bad backyard breeder. So how do you know how to identify a good breeder from a factory?
On the television news the reporter claimed that this chihuahua person was not "licenced as a business" as if that were a telling fact. But truth be told, more puppy mills are licenced as businesses than good breeders are.
Good breeders work for the love and betterment of a breed of dog. They study pedigrees, genetics and health records and breed for themselves, hoping to produce a great show or working dog, and those puppies who will not become part of their plan will be placed in the best pet homes the breeder can find.
One of the most telling ways to identify a good breeder is that you will be grilled; nobody gets a puppy of theirs who does not meet a certain standard. Not only do they NOT take credit cards, but roughly half the people inquiring about a puppy or dog might be turned away. One breeder I know will not sell a puppy to anyone whose house she has not personally visited.
There are other things to look for as well..and despite the temptation to buy a cute puppy on line, I wouldn't suggest buying any animal from someone I was not able to experience and check out first hand. Nor would a good breeder sell to just anyone with cash in hand.
Here are some other guidelines:

Primary Characteristics of a Reputable Breeder

1. Provides a written contract of sale with a health guarantee and written instructions on feeding, training, grooming and care
2. Provides access to the mother (dam) who should be on site and exhibit a healthy, happy temperament
3. Does not sell puppies until they are at least 8 weeks old or in some cases older (12 weeks in the case of toy breeds)
4. Shows you where the puppies are kept. This area should be very clean
5. Provides you with a record of the dates and types of vaccinations and de-worming done, feeding instructions, a pedigree, and a registration certificate to apply for registration of the puppy in your own name with the AKC.
6. Is able to prove he has performed pre-breeding health checks on the parents
7. Provides references of people who have purchased puppies in the past, the names of other breeders, and the veterinarian who provides care for the breeder's dogs.
8. Offers a return-buy back policy and make it clear that his/her responsibility continues as long as the dog is alive. They should be available for advice whenever needed, and help you over many rough spots.
9. Abides by code of ethics, typically by belonging to a breed club or association
10. Is very knowledgeable about the breed he or she is selling
11. Requires or encourages the neutering of all pet-quality dogs
12. Sells puppies only to approved buyers and never sells to brokers or puppy mills
13. Has mindfully socialized and can discuss socialization of the puppies and can make recommendations for their continued socialization and training
14. Usually breeds no more than two breeds.

People who show their dogs are often the most conscientious and ethical breeders and it doesn't matter a whit if YOU want to show or not...they are the breeders to seek out. And surprise surprise, you will usually pay LESS than you would at a pet store that gets their "stock" from mills. Maybe a little more than from a backyard breeder who advertises in the classifieds, but the extra money is well worth the investment for the sound mind and body of a purebred puppy.

The Original Rescue

I'd call the baby Moses....It being Passover. But why is "rescue" in quotes?

Dogs "rescue" girl abandoned by mother
Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:11am EDT

PATNA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of villagers have flocked to a remote Indian village to see a baby girl who was saved by stray dogs after she was abandoned in a mound of mud by her mother, officials said on Tuesday.

Villagers in the eastern state of Bihar saved the newborn on the weekend after they saw three dogs barking near a baby covered with mud.

"The dogs removed the soil around and began to bark and the baby started crying which drew attention of the local villagers," Ram Narayan Sahani, a senior government official, said on Tuesday from Bihar's Samastipur district.

"The girl is crying but is safe in the lap of a childless couple who have adopted her."

Police said they were looking for the girl's mother, who they think had left the girl to die.

Female foeticide, though illegal in India, is widespread as boys are traditionally preferred to girls as breadwinners, and families have to pay huge dowries to marry off their daughters.

The United Nations says an estimated 2,000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India.

(Writing by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Alex Richardson)