Monday, March 02, 2009

Dogs dogs dogs

All the dog-related stuff swimming in my brain:

BSL everywhere. New Mexico drops their proposed pit bull ban. An Oregon senator promptly proposes a pit bull ban. Florida, Texas, and Hawaii are all still dealing with possible statewide BSL. I went away for the weekend on a relaxing trip and came back to find my inbox overflowing with necessary updates for the StopBSL website. I hate BSL. It ruins my free time and keeps me up at night, but I can't let it go, because I just can't tolerate such a massive injustice.

Star and Dozer did surprisingly well on our trip. Dozer hated it, needless to say, but he didn't destroy anything. Neither dog required crating. I actually used Star a couple of times to help catch one of the other resort visitors' little dog--it liked to run away from people but not from other dogs.

On Tuesday I'm going to go to a seminar on canine search and rescue, to find out whether Star might be at all suitable for SAR training. She loves to smell every little thing on our walks.

I just missed Intro to Agility classes at the Travis Agility Group. I will enroll Star in the next Intro class, whenever that starts up.

I got the city to agree to put up a bulletin board at the city dog park. I think it will be a good place for dog owners to share information. I especially want to put up info about free training classes, events, and legislation. I think it will be a bit easier than telling people or handing out flyers at the park, which is what I've been doing lately.

Both dogs are itching something awful. It doesn't seem to be fleas. Star has some dandruff; she might have dry skin. I have pretty dry skin too due to the dry winter, but unlike Star, I can slather lotion all over myself. I'll give Star a hydrocortisone shampoo and see if that helps her. Dozer has known seasonal allergies. Dozer will get his cortisone shot at his annual vet visit at the end of March. That should help him a lot. I would get him a shot earlier, but he isn't supposed to get the shot very frequently, and the worst time for him is usually late spring/early summer.

6 comments:

Julia said...

I was wondering if you have any recommended resources about SAR training? I suspect that's something that my pup might enjoy as well :)

Raising Addie said...

Sorry, it looks like Dozer cried a lot on your trip.

I don't like hearing about breed bans. When will people realize it is not the breed but the people that raise them.

Our vet had a pit bull puppy that had parvo. Once the parvo was all gone he was adopted into a loving home. That puppy was very sweet and loving. He lost a few teeth on Addie. LOL I just loved him.

That is sooo cool that you play WOW! My husband is the gamer and got me to try it once. I was then addicted. He has a few 80 characters. We play on spirestone PVP. No females that I know even know what the game is. Well, except my friends with kids and then it's just weird. Yeah, I play a game that your kids play. LOL

Thank you sooo much for your comment! It really made my day. LOVED the murloc reference! My talking murloc is on a shelf above my monitor.

FOR THE HORDE!!!

Staci

Forsythia said...

Wow, you've been a busy bee. Ramsey, our on-loan PB, has also been scratching more than usual. I know it's not fleas. And our gorgeous tuxedo cat has--gasp--dandruff!

Ramsey also has a great nose, as good as or better than our late beagle's. He gets a dog biscuit for dessert. My husband hides it in a different place each day near Ramsey's food bowl, which is on the patio. It never takes him long to find his treat, no matter how cleverly it's hidden.

The Oceanside Animals said...

I suppose you could slather Star up, too, but then she and Dozer would just lick it off. Dogs are so silly.

Anonymous said...

I am having a difficult time with some of the news about BSL and the dog fighting massacre (I don't know what elsee to call it). I just get so depressed, and feel quite helpless. I realized what I can do though is make sure that Daisy is the model for her breed, to get the word out. So we are starting our K9 Good citizen class soon with the goal to do get into a dog therapy program. There are many Therapy programs who discriminate againts pits too! And the local hospital in Pasadena wont allow pits in. So overcoming these challenges will help make people understand that its not the dogs, its the owners who should be punished. I hope we can do opur part.

happypitbull said...

@Julia,
To be honest, I don't know much about SAR training. I didn't even know we had a local SAR group until just the other day! My best advice for you is to check your local resources like Craigslist, pet stores, training facilities, etc. and just see if anyone knows anything about SAR in your area. Sadly, the seminar I was going to go to fell through, so I have to wait for the next seminar.

@Staci,

LOL. I have great respect for folks who play on PvP realms. I HATE getting killed, and PvP scares me because it's so unpredictable. You're just walking along thinking about the next quest and WHAM! Someone blasts the crap out of you just for the heck of it. You really have to be on top of your game to manage PvP.

I play on Aerie Peak (PvE) with my husband, sister, and sister's boyfriend. I don't know a lot of people who play, either, but I'm occasionally surprised. Sometimes when my husband wears his WoW shirt, people will stop him and ask him about his characters; they're always surprised when I pipe up and rattle off more characters than him. Not many people imagine the wife being the computer geek.