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Tag Archives: Animal welfare

7.10.12 Kitty Goes to the Spa

10 Jul

I have to take Peanut to her 3 day college orientation in New York this week. It’s about 5 hours away (actually she is going to school about 15 minutes from where I grew up – isn’t that cool). I talked V and K8 into coming with us since they’ve never seen NYC.  The 7 animals must stay home of course, so we had to make creative arrangements.  The dogs will be spending the week with 5 of their dog friends at Sonja’s house, the dog sitter. This way the can stay cool and safe and play at the same time.  I have never kenneled any of my animals overnight, it just makes more sense to me to have them stay in a house with someone. One of K8’s friends is going to house sit for us to take care of the cats (and the house, of course).

We have a dilema though because of Miss Constance Kitty and her peeing problem.  We did not want to leave someone to have to deal with the damage she can do on a daily basis if not watched and carefully managed.  So she is going to a private kitty spa (aka much to expensive boarding kennel). OMG This place is amazing.  I had to tell the sales girl on the phone to stop giving me the ‘how wonderful we are’ chatter and just tell me what it was going to cost. They have 3 different choices for cats: regular, deluxe. or even a suite.  I could not believe they asked me if I wanted them to give her special tuna treats and bottled water every evening.  Heck, I don’t even get tuna treats!  I decided on the deluxe kitty condo (2 floors) with litter on the lower level and sleeping on the upper.  I got her the deluxe because she is going to be there for a week and it has a window to see the world (and I hate doing this so I feel guilty, etc etc).  Peanut says that Miss Kitty won’t want to come home.  It is hard enough for us, the owners, to take care of all our animals at this point because of certain, shall I say ‘idiosyncrasies,’ so this seemed like the best solution.

Dogwood Acres Kitty Condos

Now I remember why we haven’t gone away together as a family in a long time – who can afford all the animal care?

Years ago, when we had the Guinea Pigs, we used to sneak them into the hotels with us and then just never let maid service clean the room. We had some well-traveled piggies. Those were the days when the zoo was up to 11 animals but it seemed more manageable for some reason.  Dog went to dog sitter, we had a house/cat sitter, and piggies came with us.

Tuna treats and bottled water – really?!?  I was waiting for the Spa to offer her the evening massage rubdown for an extra $1.000.  Oh boy!

PS – My sister wanted me to tell any would be robbers that the house sitter carries a gun!  Just saying.

Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤

 
17 Comments

Posted by on July 10, 2012 in Cats, Dogs

 

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7.4.12 Happy Independence Day: Keep Yourself & Pets Safe

04 Jul

Fireworks may be fun for some humans (not me), but they are surely not fun for the animals. In the United States, 4 July is when we celebrate our Independence as a country.  That is done with great fanfare and noise. My Grandmother was born on the 4th of July, so I used to think that when my mother’s brothers and sisters (all 9 of them) got together with all us kids (I have around 78 cousins) and shot off fireworks, it was for Gram’s birthday.  I always hated the loud noise.  Even today I have trouble with loud bursts (like balloons) or thunder.  It is not fear as much as some kind of ‘pain.’ I can’t really explain it but it feels like deep emotional or psychic pain to me.  I figure that is how the animals feel when they experience these loud, unexplainable sounds.  Ground fireworks are legal to purchase in Maryland, though people have sky ones too.  They started shooting them off about 2 weeks ago and won’t stop for another several weeks.  Squash E Bear would not leave the house for the whole month of July.  I used to have to push this big dog out the door to just go pee.  Sofie barks at the pops right now and Lulu and her come running if they are out and the ‘boom-booms’ start.  I hate this.  Please keep your animals safe and remember that turning on a radio or television in the room with your pet may help drowned out the noise.  For me, I like to watch them on TV where they look pretty but I can turn the sound down.

Here is a little article on helping your fearful dog: http://thebark.com/content/reducing-fear-your-dog#.T_JOd3hgggh

And I just wanted to say thank you to all the people and animals that serve my country and continue to keep my world safe as possible.  You are appreciated and always remembered.

Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤

 
13 Comments

Posted by on July 4, 2012 in Dogs

 

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7.2.12 Beware the Derecho

02 Jul
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Friday’s Derecho aftermath. Pull out the chainsaws!

Mommy, it is really hot! When is the air conditioner coming back on?

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I will just keep rolling in the grass and eating sticks. That should cool me off and help Mommy clean up at the same time.

They say we had a Derecho Friday night. Sounded like a freight train to us. Aftermath looks like a tornado. Thanks to Wikipedia and The Weather Channel, I now know that a derecho is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo. Derechos blow in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to a gust front, except that the wind is sustained and generally increases in strength behind the “gust” front. A warm weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially June and July in the Northern Hemisphere. They can occur at any time of the year and occur as frequently at night as in the daylight hours.

The dogs were fast asleep already in their beds.  Storm came through around 11 PM (23:00 hrs).  Sofie started going crazy.  I opened the kennel doors and lied on the floor with them.  All the humans huddled in the bed room and we listened.  Then the transformers outside the house blew – one then two.   Power gone.  The storm past in maybe 30 or 40 minutes.  It was to dark to see outside but we figured we had ‘weathered’ the worst.

Morning came and it appeared mostly to be tree damage on the grounds and in the pool for us.  My neighbor, sadly, had 2 trees fall, one into each side of their roof, totally destroying the upper level of the home and the deck (that is their yard in the picture).  I can live with cleaning up leaves and no power compared to that.

The dogs were very good. When we first came out in the morning I wasn’t thinking, but of course, the gates would all have blown open (actually the wind was so strong that slates blew off the main gate). I ran to the main gate to find both dogs standing there inside the yard line, thinking about what this really meant and should they run.  They didn’t, I closed and secured the gates, and life went on.

The current temperature is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) during the days with no end in sight. Because we live on a peninsula, we are the first to lose power and the last to get it back (or so it seems). After losing power for 2 weeks last year, I finally got a gas generator. To run the refrigerator, a light and some fans, I had to drive 30 miles into Baltimore to get gas, but it was worth it.  The dogs are hot.  They keep wanted to know where the air conditioning is.  Everyone is napping a lot.  I am worried about the old cat, Muffin, his breathing is poor even in a cool house so this is very stressful on an old system, so I am forcing him to stay down stairs with us in front of the fan.

You never know when a strong wind or a ‘not thinking’ person is going to leave the gate open.  That is why the dogs wear name collars with my mobile phone number on them.  I guess you just never know when a Derecho is going to blew through.

Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤

 
23 Comments

Posted by on July 2, 2012 in Dogs

 

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Saturday’s Slider

30 Jun

[x]

Source: paulywesley

 
6 Comments

Posted by on June 30, 2012 in Cats

 

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Tuesday’s Hooter

26 Jun

Source: another-death

 
5 Comments

Posted by on June 26, 2012 in Animals

 

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6.25.12 The Street Animals of Istanbul

25 Jun

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Istanbul, Turkey is a beautiful city. The city is actually where the European and Asia continents meet and is divided by the Bosphorus Strait.  A fishing town, you would expect to see cats.  But there were feral cats everywhere.  In all the outside spaces and many of the indoor also.  The street dogs, though I did not get to take many pictures because mostly I was being whizzed by in the Taxis that go way to fast, seemed to be of Shepard, working dog, type bodies, with brown and black short fur.  “One estimate is that in Istanbul, a city of 11.3 million people, there are at least 150,000 free-roaming dogs.  Rabies is endemic in Turkish dogs and every year there are a small number of people who die from the bites of rabid dogs. The Turkish federal government passed a law a few years ago requiring cities to control the roaming dogs.  But as in America, few cities have all the resources they need to effectively control the loose animals.”(Managing-street-dogs-cats-turkey)

I was really glad to see stray dogs with ear tags.  It made me realize that the city may have a “trap and release” program to spay/neuter/vaccinate strays.  I checked and it does and I think that is a  great step in the right direction, especially after reading about some of the shelter tragedies in Turkey. Unlike Americans, the Turkish people appear to tolerant the free-roaming animals. I assume that has a cultural basis due to religious heritage and current beliefs.  Until this trip, and I travel a lot, I never really thought about another countries challenges with animal control, this is a huge problem worldwide. In Istanbul there appeared to be a calm coexistence (I did not see even one cat/dog fight).  Lessons from the street animals of Istanbul.

Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 

 
10 Comments

Posted by on June 25, 2012 in Dogs

 

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Friday’s Smile

22 Jun

Source: haters-wegood

 
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Posted by on June 22, 2012 in Animals

 

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6.16.12 Leaving On A Jet Plane

16 Jun

Mommy is on her way to Istanbul, Turkey today for work and won’t be back for a whole week. She is not taking us and we are very sad that she will be gone but she said 13 hours on an airplane is no place for dogs.  (What’s an airplane?) She told us to behavior ourselves and look after the humans, the cats, the blog, and each other. We are not happy about having all this work to do while she is gone and have decided that we will post some of her more interesting blogs instead of trying to paw new ones.  We think Mommy travels to much and should just stay home with us.  We miss her already.  Maybe she will bring us some exotic bones from wherever she is. I wonder if they have dogs in Turkey and what they look like.

“Take pictures Mommy so we can see Turkish pets.  We are going to sleep in your office and not move until you return.”  Love, your adorable sweet doggies – Lulu Belle and Sofie Bear

Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤

 
20 Comments

Posted by on June 16, 2012 in Dogs

 

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I will be a dream come true…

14 Jun

Reblogged from For the Love of the Dog Facebook page.

 
19 Comments

Posted by on June 14, 2012 in Dogs

 

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6.6.12 Sitting Proud

06 Jun

I love when the dogs and I are out on our daily walk and the post lady drives by in her little white truck and tells me what a great job they are doing.  They sit nice and wait until she passes.  I am sure that postal workers see the worst of animals when they have to come up to people’s homes to drop off mail and packages.  It is sad that so many dog owners do nothing about allowing aggressive animals to confront strangers and workers that they invite on their property.  As the owner of a fearful dog (Louise), I try really hard to ensure that she is not somewhere that she can lunge at a stranger or put herself, or them, in a compromising position. I watched a new TV show last night where this trainer was called in because this business owner refused to leave her aggressive dog home;  it jumped and bit at everyone that came through her office door.  She refused to accept that the dog should not be in the office, and she said “doggie looked sad if she was not near Mommy.”  First the trainer said, “leave the dog home.”  But the woman refused.  So next, he tied it up under a desk in the corner so it could not bolt to far.  Well, that seemed to make the owner happy and after a few frustrating lunges the dog actually did lie down. But, did it calm down? Truthfully, I think the dog would be happier and less anxious with the freedom of it’s own house and have less stress of the people coming in and out of the office all day, where it has to ‘protect’ Mommy.  This isn’t about the dog obviously.  It is about people who just don’t take the time, energy, or care enough, to try and put their animals in the safest and most calm environment for the animal.  Oh my… did I just get on a ‘soap box’ for animal rights!  Hummmm…  anyway, I am really proud of how far my little angels have come.

Just another dogdaz morning at the zoo ❤

 
11 Comments

Posted by on June 6, 2012 in Dogs

 

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