More Dogs in the News

Okay.  I’m obsessed.  I admit it.  I just happen to love dogs.  Plus, I love writing about them. 

And that’s why I always zero in on things in the news about them. 

Last week I blogged about pet-flipping, a really nasty thing that some people do to make money. 

This week, I’ve seen all over the news a terrible thing that happened very near where I live, in Studio City, California.  A family left their dog in their van with the engine running while they made a brief trip into a store.  I suppose that keeping the engine on was intended to leave the air conditioning on for their pup.  The problem was that some villainous thief decided to steal the van.  The theft got publicized, so the person dumped the vehicle.  The problem was that he didn’t leave the air conditioning on or allow the dog out--so the poor dog died inside the hot car.  I was glad to hear that there were fingerprints, at least, inside the car.  I just hope they identify that horrible person and prosecute him for murder--well, okay, I guess the best they may be able to do is something like animal cruelty, but he did murder that poor, beloved dog.

But there’s also been good news.

I’ve seen the first official photos of new Prince George of England, along with his parents William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  With them is their dog, the cocker spaniel Lupo, and in the background is the Middletons’ family dog, a retriever named Tilly.  They’ve been hanging out with the Middletons as they all get acclimated to being a family, and Kate’s father was the photographer.  Of course the dogs have a presence there, too.

And then there’s a new member of the First Family of the U.S.  The Obamas have adopted another Portuguese Water Dog like Bo--a beautiful young girl named Sunny, who’ll be Bo’s best canine buddy.  They kept to the same breed because one of the Obama daughters has allergies and Portuguese Water Dogs are reputed to be hypoallergenic.  They Obamas did make a contribution to a humane society, though, in celebration, possibly because it’s more PC to adopt from a shelter than from a breeder.

What’s the latest news you’ve heard about dogs--preferably good news?

Synchronicity Follow-up

Last week I blogged about one day that was unusually filled with fascinating stuff relating to pets and pet rescues. Since then, my good friend Linda, who’d saved a dog in her Las Vegas neighborhood recently, forwarded an e-mail from another friend of hers who’d rescued a dog wandering the freeway near Victorville, California, and was trying to find it a home. This was a lot of rescue stuff compressed into a short time for Linda, who doesn’t currently even have a pet. And, by the way, if you know of someone interested in adopting an approximately 3-year-old shepherd/chow mix, let me know and I’ll give you what contact info I have. Of course, I’m not sure of the status of this rescue, and the pup may already have a new home.

In the meantime, my own little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Mystie made me frantically think of pet rescues for, fortunately, a short time this week when she disappeared while helping my husband Fred with his gardening in our backyard. Turns out the fence between our neighbor’s yard and ours has slats that are close enough together to keep most of our respective dogs where they belong, but Mystie is particularly petite and slipped through. Then she somehow sneaked into an area under a platform where we store our garbage cans--most of which is already enclosed. Fortunately, she started crying when we called her and Fred managed to coax her out. We hadn’t discovered the fence problem before, because Mystie hadn’t, either... till now. Fred is already making plans for putting up more fencing on our side.

And, yes, since I’m blogging about animals today--as usual--I can’t help but bring up the new First Dog, Bo. He’s a purebred Portuguese Water Dog, and I found it interesting that his adoption seemed initially couched in a sort-of rescue since he’d lived with another family for a short while, then was re-homed with the Obamas after a major training session. And as a gift from Ted Kennedy made sense to choose the animal they wanted, no matter which part of the public complained. Poor Vice President Biden, too, wound up being criticized for adopting a purebred dog, a German Shepherd. Controversy? Sure. President Obama had said, during his campaign, that he hoped to adopt a rescue mutt. But there would have been some controversy about any pup the Obamas adopted. If it had been a rescue, its ancestry would possibly be less determinable, so people would complain about the potential harm to the Obama daughter who has allergies. To me, it. In my opinion, it’s a personal decision. But the one thing I’m absolutely against is people who allow their pets to have babies indiscriminately, then abandon them. Or they otherwise mistreat their non-human kids. They’re the ones who really deserve criticism.

What’s your opinion of the Obamas’ adoption of Bo? And have you ever rescued an animal?

--Linda