Dogs

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 is Spay Day

Ryan M. Hurst — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:15:42 GMT

PAWS sponsors a "Spay Day", spaying a pet however "uncomfortable an idea" saves lives, that's right save lives somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 million unwanted dogs and cats that are put down each year; having your pet spayed means you will not contribute to this disturbing statistic.

Check out the PAWS site for more information, also if you are considering getting a dog or cat see this post.

Justice, Michael Vic Convicted...

Ryan M. Hurst — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:58:40 GMT

Previously I have written about the Michael Vic case (see: Put an END to ANIMAL FIGHTING....) well he was just convicted and sentenced to 23 months in jail for his involvement in dog fighting; its been a while since I looked at this case but I do recall he killed the dogs that did not show enough fighting spirit, or the ones that lost matches; he did not just shoot them, he drowned them, hung them and electrocuted them.

The maximum for this crime was supposedly 5 years, I wonder what would have warranted the 5 years but either way this sends the right message to Vic and others like him.

Wood floors re-finished...

Ryan M. Hurst — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:25:52 GMT

We just had our wood floors refinished, the house is 7 years old and really should not have needed to have this done but that's one of the prices you pay when you foster dogs (did you know we have 3 dogs of our own and foster two more?).

I got a number of estimates, some through referrals and some through Craigslist, I liked some folks better than others (odly enough their quotes roughly aligned with how competent and easy to work with I thought they would be) but thats to be expected; we ended up going with Danny Vu of Beautiful Hardwood Floors; though I wouldn't say the floor turned out perfect I do think it turned out very good and I would use him again so if anyone in the area wants a reasonably priced wood floor guy who does a good job just let me know.

We chose to have a swedish finish done (3 coats) as its generally considered the most resilient (important with the dogs) but it does require you be out of the house while the finish is applied and while it cures; we through a referral found a kennel called A Canine Experience, they were nice and they gave us a break on the two foster dogs; the thing that is weird about that for me is that the 3 days with them cost 1/4 as much as having the wood floors done even with the break (dogs are expensive)!

Next thing for us to do is to get the carpet replaced, with all the dogs coming in and out of the house we can't justify going crazy on the carpet but we do want something decent; I have one more estimate to get done this week and I think we will make a call on what were going to do with that project.

My dad asks me why I bother with doing stuff like this (since we have the dogs), he is right that its expensive and its guaranteed it wont last with that many animals in the house but that doesn't change the fact I like to live in a nice home .

Meet Gracie and Leon...

Ryan M. Hurst — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:37:37 GMT

We work with the local chapter of the "North American Shar-Pei Rescue" from time to time, we will go and pick up dogs as from shelters and foster dogs in our home as well.

We currently have two foster dogs in our house, Gracie and Leon:

Gracie is a delicate girl, she love to be loved but that’s probably because she did not have much love in her life before finding us (see her profile for more information on her); she has been with us for about two months and is coming along nicely.
Leon is new to our home, we just picked him up from a shelter this last week, he is a very nice boy and just loves to give kisses.

If you’re considering getting a dog seriously consider Shar-Pei's they have a great disposition and rescues are a great way to go.

Put an END to ANIMAL FIGHTING....

Ryan M. Hurst — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:45:49 GMT

I just received a email from our local Shar Pei Rescue about a animal cuelty case involving Michael Vick a NFL quarterback, the stuff this guy did is just horible read more here: https://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=11740930

COSTCO recalls their dog food.

Ryan M. Hurst — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:56:22 GMT

Everyone who knows me knows I just love COSTCO, they seldom have the best deals but they always have fair deals, good products and great customer service.

Unfortunately this week it was announced that the COSTCO dog food was recalled as it too was found to contain melamine, a industrial rat poison.

We personally feed our dogs Canine Caviar, they produce grain and gluten free pet foods, they also use a higher grade of meat product in their foods; I highly recommend them.

The gluten and grain free thing is pretty important for dogs/cats, it’s actually the source of most skin problems and I have even heard stories of people who were allergic to dogs/cats on mainstream foods and then moved to gluten/grain free foods and not had the same problems.

As a indicator of the sort of company Canine Caviar is, notice that they too are doing a re-call not because their food contains poison but because one of their venders put gluten in the wet food and they were not supposed to.

If you’re interested they have a free bag promotion going on right now.

Wallstreet shows indiference to deaths of pets accross nation.

Ryan M. Hurst — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:07:13 GMT

According to the Associated Press the poisoned pet food found this last week had little impact on shares of companies that owned the recalled brands.

The food was produced by the Canadian company Menu Foods, whose products are distributed under many brands; I don’t know how I feel about this, normally I am amazed at how emotional the market is, what I would normally tell you is it doesn’t make sense but now we have a situation where a company through whatever means killed pets across the nation and the market doesn’t even blip, its sad.

We personally feed our dogs Canine Caviar, who knows who makes it for them (doesn’t look like its Menu Foods) but the food is free of animal byproducts, has no chemical preservatives, and doesn’t use cheap fillers like corn, bran, and barley that the other foods include to lower their cost per volume; that’s important because gluten ends up being the source of most skin problems in dogs.

Back to the issue at hand, I guess it’s good that Menu Foods responded the way it did and did not try to sweep it under the rug so in that respect I think they are trying to be responsible (that’s not a cheap exercise, recalling all of that food) but I am saddened by the indifference the market has shown in this case.

Gallery is now working!

Ryan M. Hurst — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:19:49 GMT

I finally managed to get the Gallery working and have put a few pictures of My Dogs up, you can also see my Media Center server in one of the pictures with my English Bulldog Daisy.

I still have a layout problem on the image view page, and I have a post on the subtext forums to see what’s the right way to fix this.

Ever consider rescuing a dog?

Ryan M. Hurst — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:12:44 GMT

Growing up I had dog, her name was Ralph; yes her name was Ralph you see I had been asking my parents if I could get a dog for a while but my mom and dad couldn't come to an agreement on when was the right time, should we get a boy or a girl, what breed, etc.

One day my Mom and I went to the local grocery and there was a family in front of the store with this box of dogs, I just couldn't leave without one of those little pups and my Mom gave in, so I carefully picked out the dog that was going to be mine and we went home.

The thing is we forgot a very important thing, my Dad wanted a boy dog; dad ultimately agreed to let us keep the dog on one condition we named her Ralph.

Ralph lived a long life, was a good friend, a protector and having her in my life helped shape who I became, really what little boy wouldn't want a dog?

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself." -- Josh Billings

Thing is as a adult I started to wonder what ever happened to those other dogs in the box, if you have a few minutes take a look at PetFinders (especially in LA) you will see so many abused, neglected and sickly looking dogs; that's the life that many dogs have to face it’s very sad.

As much as 60% the dogs in shelters are put down for no other reason than having no home, to make things worse many shelters don't have the breed experience to deal with the special needs of many pure breeds.

Checkout WikiFido for some reasons why people have given up their pets, most of the time it has nothing to do with the dog or its behavior.

Before you go and get a dog consider talking to your local rescue, they often times have dogs of all ages and they will be able to tell you about the specific breeds needs and if you decide against rescue they can also tell you which breeders to watch out for. A couple rescue organizations in the Seattle area I personally like are:

Key thing to remember when talking to "Rescue People":

1. Rescue dog people are well, a bit nuts but you have to be to give that much of yourself to something like this.

2. These people are taking care of the dogs out of their own pockets, they are not in this for the money they want to do what’s right for the dog (even if you don't agree).

3. They often do rescue in their free time (which they don't have much of) so the process works slow.

4. Many dogs never even make it to the rescue site, so don’t just register, contact someone in the rescue and show them your really interested, if they don’t respond nag them until they do.

Bringing a dog into your life can be very rewarding but remember, when you do so that dog is yours for life so do your research and be prepared for the lifelong commitment that decision entails.