http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/ Denise Flaim's award-winning blog gives news and advice on all things furry, feathered and scaled. en Copyright 2008 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:32:32 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The many dog lovers who came together and bonded over a little lost show dog named Vivi are always on the lookout for similar stories. If Westminster's famously wayward whippet did not have a happy ending (at least as far as we know), then perhaps someone else's dog can. The most recent lost dog, Jeddah, has a story eerily similar to Vivi's. She was lost at Washington's Dulles Airport on July 10. The 4-year-old dog, who looks similar to a Pharaoh or Ibizan hound, was being flown to Saudi Arabia to accompany her soldier-owner on his year-long Middle East assignment. She never made it on to the United Airlines flight. Like Vivi, Jeddah's story has occasioned much media coverage. Sightings are being called in every day. And her owners have not given up hope. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/vivi_redux_help_find_jeddah.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/vivi_redux_help_find_jeddah.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:32:32 -0500 Missouri gets all the press for being the nation's main puppymilling state, but Pennsylvania has its share, too. The ugly reality of what happens when dogs are treated as livestock and not family companions hit the news recently when a Berks County commercial breeder decided to shoot 80 of his dogs rather than have them examined and treated by a veterinarian. A vigil was held last week outside the property, and the governor has called for legislation making it illegal for anyone than a veterinarian to perform euthanasia. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/puppymiller_shoots_80_dogs.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/puppymiller_shoots_80_dogs.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:50:21 -0500 The Doberman Pinscher Club of America is celebrating the centennial of the breed in the United States this year. If you aren't going to be caravaning to Topeka Kansas to attend the club's 83rd Specialty Show or its Centenntial Event in October, you can meander on the club web site, www.dpca.org. There, you'll find a tribute to the Doberman's role as a trusted military and search and rescue dog. "While the breed has been much maligned over the years, its 100-year history and heritage of helping people in need flies under the radar. We would like to change that," says the DPCA in a press release. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/happy_100_doberman_pinscher_1.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/happy_100_doberman_pinscher_1.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:23:22 -0500 Save-A-Pet Animal Rescue in Port Jefferson, lost 11 of her personal animals -- seven dogs and four cats -- to a house fire. Dori, her husband and their four children were not home at the time. And Lab rescuers across the country are mourning over the news that Sandee Nastasi, founder of Long Island Labrador Retriever Rescue, lost her battle with cancer recently. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/a_sad_week_for_local_rescuers.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/a_sad_week_for_local_rescuers.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:20:46 -0500 a television ad depicting two chained pit bulls lunging at the owner of a LG Dare phone, Verizon Wireless has yanked the offending ads. A piece in Ad Age points to the influence of special-interest groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in effecting the turnaround. But irate pit-bull owners were also a grass-roots force in the opposition, complaining that -- yet again -- their human-friendly breed was being depicted as a savage junkyard dog. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/verizon_turns_tail_on_pitbull.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/08/verizon_turns_tail_on_pitbull.html Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:14:49 -0500 Joanne reports that the "groomathon" began the next night, headed up by local fancier and groomer Anna Stromberg. "We discovered that Velveeta served as a pacifier for stressed out sweeties," she writes in an e-mail. "The girls, Jane and Charlotte, were most matted ... and most traumatized by the ordeal .... Frost, Mr. Congeniality, really did not like having his ears shaved....acted like the bucking bronco. Anna always has Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc..." ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/rescued_afghan_hounds_on_long.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/rescued_afghan_hounds_on_long.html Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:56:13 -0500 Nutrish for Pets line of dog food. (A kitty version is in the works.) All proceeds of the sales are slated for her Rachael’s Rescue group. Among the slated recipients: Spirit, a terrier-mix who made the news recently when he was brutally beaten at the U.S.-Mexico border. Her Web site, rachaelsrescue.org also features recipes that can be shared with your pooch, including Pumpkin Barley with Turkey and Oatmeal with 'Nanas and PB. — Denise Flaim]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/rachael_ray_finds_fourlegged_m.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/rachael_ray_finds_fourlegged_m.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:19:36 -0500 Can you hear me now? Hopefully, Verizon is heeding the tsunami of complaints generated by its unfortunate commercials depicting two raging pit bulls lunging at a man trying to retrieve his LG Dare phone. The Humane Society of the United States has also stepped in to ask the phone company to pull the 30-second spots -- so far, to no avail.]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/thumbs_down_for_verizon.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/thumbs_down_for_verizon.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:29:39 -0500 border-collie energy: Gin, one of those relentless herders, performs with her human Kate on the second season of "Britain's Got Talent." Who says Simon Cowell is congenitally cantankerous?]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/thumbs_up_for_gin.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/thumbs_up_for_gin.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:18:55 -0500 Read it . And watch it. And weep. Last week, authorities in San Miguel, New Mexico, removed 67 Afghan hounds from a hoarder's home. The Afghan Hound Club of America pitched in with a countrywide rescue effort to find a home for the dozens of dogs, which were living in years' worth of filth and decay. Unfortunately, 10 of the dogs have already died, some of parvovirus. Three of the female dogs are also reportedly pregnant. Seven of these exotic Middle Eastern hounds have found their way to Long Island, where they await foster homes. Rescuers have named the traumatized and matted dogs after literary figures: Whitman, Frost, Edgar Afghan Poe, Cyrano, Dante, Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre. Donations and additional foster homes are urgently needed. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/afghan_hound_rescue_1.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/afghan_hound_rescue_1.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:34:07 -0500 here. It shows the footage of their reunion with him in the wild, and a better case for anthropomorphism you will never find. Beware, however, the snarky YouTube version that intersperses video of a lion attack with the Christian footage. Some people.]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/christian_the_lion.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/christian_the_lion.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:37:37 -0500 an avowed cat lover who fed strays before he was elevated to pontiff -- was loaned a gray kitty on his current Australian trip to help pass the time in the bush. The pope's spokespeople have refused to confirm the story, and in the past have taken pains to point out that the only cats in the pontiff's Vatican apartment are made of ceramic. But some press reports express curiosity about whether he has spirited some cats therein. The pope was the subject of a kitty tell-all, "Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI As Told By A Cat," an authorized biography of the Pope for young people approved by the Vatican. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/papal_cats.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/papal_cats.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:04:55 -0500 Those Rescue Link guys have their motors runnin'. The world's most tattooed -- and softest-hearted -- animal rescuers are sponsoring a Ruff Riders Rally on Sunday to benefit Save-a-Pet Animal Rescue in Port Jefferson Station. Registration is $20. The ride starts at the Brookhaven Amphitheater at Bald Hill, tours along Suffolk's South Shore, and ends at Mulcahy's Pub in Centereach. For more info, visit saveapetli.net or rescueink.org (click on "Events"), or call 631-473-6333. http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/vrroooming_for_rescue.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/vrroooming_for_rescue.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:31:24 -0500 presidentialpup.com), Best Friends Animal Society has launched the rival obamafamilydog.com to encourage the candidate to adopt a shelter dog. “For a candidate focused on ‘hope’ and ‘change,’ adopting a homeless pet is the right choice for the Obamas,” said a Best Friends spokesperson. ]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/obama_take_2.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/obama_take_2.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:16:56 -0500 freerice.com, the site that donates grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. Now here comes freekibble.com, created by Mimi Ausland, a 12-year-old from Bend, Oregon, who wanted to help feed the dogs at her local animal shelter. Every day that visitors play a trivia game ("What are the two varieties of the Collie breed?"), 20 pieces of free kibble are donated by the site's sponsors. (It doesn't matter if you get the right answer, which, by the way, is "rough and smooth.") Close to 3 million pieces of kibble have been donated since April. Go, Mimi, go!]]> http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/feed_me.html http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/flaim/blog/2008/07/feed_me.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:26:55 -0500