Often I think I live in a bubble, one where animal welfare is part of the conversation. In the “real” world, issues that are crucial to me are simply off the radar. The other night I had dinner with a couple who seemed very enlightened — into organic food, meditation, and general save-the-world concerns. In…
News You Can’t Use: Toe-Eating Terriers & Tortured Kittens
The Toe-Eating Terrier Sometimes my email inbox seems booby-trapped. A couple of weeks ago, I got a press release with this subject line: Cautionary Tale for People with Diabetes: Dog Consumed Part of a Sleeping Patient’s Toe, Leading to Amputation Among the details that followed: In a case study that illustrates the need for people…
Selling Live Animals Online? Tell eBay No Way!
Several people have been blogging about how eBay has weaseled out of its promise not to sell puppies and kittens and other live animals online by shutting down its auctions but letting the abhorrent practice in through the back door of its classified ads. Here’s a sampling of the posts: Felissa Hadas at Two Little…
No Kill: Some Context from a Shelter Board Exec
I don’t know about you, but I often skip the comments section of a post if I don’t comment myself (in which case I go back to see if anyone agrees with or has dissed me). In the case of my recent post, Is”No Kill” a Misnomer? One Shelter Says Yes, it would be a…
Versatile & Lovely Blogger Awards, Pet Edition
Confession: In the past year and a half, I received a Versatile Blogger award from Jana Rade of DawgBusiness and one from Sharon Castellanos of Grouchy Puppy, as well as a Lovely Blog award from Vera Marie Badertscher of A Traveler’s Library. And I haven’t passed them along. That is VBBK (Very Bad Blog Karma).…
Caffeine & Dog Calmers & Fabulousness
We’re here! Here being the fabulous Hotel Indigo in fabulous San Diego. I’m not usually so superlative but I’m feeling very upbeat. The three-pronged approach to dog calming — playing the Through a Dog’s Ear CD, using the Calming Collar (though I put it on the car seat, not on Frankie) and giving Frankie an…
The cost of dog care: Where do you draw a line?
It’s peculiar and very unpleasant to be sitting and writing an article while listening to the proceeds of your work go down the drain. Literally. It started with a leaky faucet in my kitchen. It would be an easy fix, I figured, an extra expense, sure, but a manageable one. The plumbers came, agreed it…