"Pit Bull" love

So I admit a bit of fear of certain dog breeds - snapping poodles, snarling chihiuahuas, tiny little toy breeds that I am afraid of inadvertenly hurting.


What I am not afraid of is the media image of out of control breed known now as the Pit Bull.   I do admit that any dog can be dangerous, I am not crazy or naive but what I do NOT accept is that all Pit Bulls (a misnomer at best) or "rotties" or Chow Chows need special legislation.


This Breed Specific Legislation or BSL as it's known is rampant across America and is usually aimed at the Pit Bull - Staffordshire Bull Terrier (Target, Spudz MaKenzie),  and in some cases just the appearance or characteristics of pit bull.  There are over 200 counties in US that ban these breeds all together.


Insurance companies have a boon-town because owners must often purchase huge liability insurance policies, home owner insurance companies dictate to home owner what kind of pet they can have and threaten cancelation if a 'pit bull' or other breed they have determined as dangerous lives in the home.


These laws have unintended consequences with thousands of dogs being confiscated from owners and euthenized, owners being served eviction papers if they don't relinquish their dog, and mass populations of "pit" type dogs being abandoned to shelters and put down by the ten of thousannds across America every year.


A must see documentary - Beyond the Myth will be showing on April 1st at the Hollywood Theatre - 4120 NE Sandy Blvd


For more Info:  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/230653

Come show your support!  See you there

I want a family - the joys of adopting

We are lucky to live here in the Great NW for a variety of reasons - big trees, lots of green space, cool neighborhoods and coffee shops, and for me the political landscape.


One thing that is not so great, is the large number of pets without a home.  If you want to get a pet, and who doesn't, there are a plenty of places you can find them. There are rescue groups for almost any breed you would want, foster programs, adopt-a-thons and so much more. You can get breed education, training tips, and a friend for life.  Here are a few places for you to check out before you go out looking for that new family member

For overall resources, this is a FANTASTIC site:
http://www.portlandpooch.com/localresources/rescueorgs.htm

Family Dogs New Life (No Kill Shelter)
9101 SE Stanley Ave
Portland, Oregon 97206
Web Site: http://www.familydogsnewlife.org/
e-mail them at bark@familydogsnewlife.org

Greyhound Rescue - you will not be sorry you brought one of these lovelies home: http://www.gpa-nw.org/

Oregon Humane Society - 143 years young and going strong with a goal of 11,000 adoptions this year - check them out: http://www.oregonhumane.org/

Oregon Dog Rescue (simple and easy to understand huh!) These folks do great work and have a lot of resources to help your new kiddo fit right in:
http://www.oregondogrescue.org/

This is just a partial list of places to look at.  Not ready to get a pet?  How about volunteering or donating?  These places do a great service for the animals and our souls.  They are always in need help of one kind or another from adopt-a-thons and cat-nip spay clinics to fostering in your home to food and money!

Here is my 'sammy'

sh*T my dog does

Okay - I couldn't come up with a creative title for todays musing of the dogs in my world but there it is.  I wanted to share some of the strange things my lab mix does.


Picture this, it's dinner time at home - or breakfast or snack-time, or any time there is kibble in the bowl and the mood strikes him.  My 3 year old baby boy - bommalomma (after my fabulous President) starts eating.  He takes exactly one mouthful, chews it and swallows, he then fills his mouth a second time and walks away from his food bowl....Where does he go?  To find me - crunching and chewing and slowly walking - down the hall, in to the living room, in to my bedroom or office or whereever I happen to be.


I can hear him crunching and his collar jangling.  He finds me - he walks over to me and just looks at me.  I have to say - "good boy, eat your dinner" before he walks back to his food bowl and starts all over again.  Always the same rountine - first bite; chewed and swallowed, second bite - crunch crunch crunch-jingle jingle jingle....


He has done this since he was a puppy and I know that it started with me probably cooing and rubbing his tiny ears and talking to him the first few times it happened.  It's just so odd and endearing to me I had to share.


Second - he loves to remodel and help around the house....I will put together a list of items he has helped me decide to replace.  Let's just say that I would have to wear a disguise or send friends in to cable company with my chewed up remotes (about 15 of them - they were his favorite for about 2 years)

Third (and I do know dogs do this) when he wants to lay down in his bed he has a compulsive dance/act that he has to do before he can lay down.  It's a quick circling (in one direction) round and round several times, then he digs at the bed, then he circles round and round the OTHER direction then back to digging.  He does this several times and I am like - "BOMMA - lay down already".


This of course causes him to walk over to me to see what I need - and therefore starts the whole thing over. 
Send me some sh*T your dog does!

Happy Valentine's day other holiday musings

While I would not describe myself as the scrooge of all holidays, I must finally admit that I am not a big participant.  I am more likely to say ... "whoa - it's Valentine's day????" usually around 4:00 on the fateful day and when I discover that my love has decorated the porch with hearts and there is chocolate hidden in my bed.

I remember my first Valentine with my beloved where I received a perfectly darling white teddy bear with a box of candy and a sweet card.  This given to me with the expectant look of "where is my present" and I had to confess that I was really like a Jehovah Witness when it comes to all holidays.  Of course I also asked "please don't buy me any more stuffed animals"  they creep me out (or some such statement in my defense)  Lucky for me we are still together and today I got a nice note with 'happy valentine's day' written on a piece of paper and left on the counter for me this morning.  PERFECT!

Somehow, I block out the shamrocks, ghosts and costumes, the red white and blue streamers and firecrackers, and other 'stuff' that is out on display when I shop.  What this means that I do sometimes disappoint those I love.  Is this terrible?  No easter baskets, no green beer or special treats....Is there something wrong with me or do others have this same issue?
Maybe I spend too much time at the dog park and not enough with actual human friends.  

So today is Valentine's Day...to all my friends and family - I love you 365 days a year - didn't buy you anything!



Head out the window and other observations

Please take me with you

Planning a weekend at the beach should invlove at least a minimum of thinking and list making.  I am a prolific list maker but I rarely use much less remember what I wrote on them.


Ususally, I am grabbing up a bunch of stuff the night before and scrambling around in the morning.  One time I ended up with a neatly folded stack of dish towels that were underneath a single t-shirt.  I had just scooped up the pile and threw it in the bag. 


My sister has a bitchen' house at the coast and I am lucky enough to be able to go there sometimes when I need a break.   She is also a dog-aholic so this means we get to bring our hounds with us.  I was pretty sure my Bomma-Lomma's first trip to the coast here would be amazing and he did not disappoint.   


So I did my usual - sat at the dining room table writing a packing list that I wasn't going to use...kong, peanut butter, dog bed, dog food, dog treats, leash....see the pattern here?  We are going to the coast....


The magic morning arrives - up at 5:15, coffee on, and the schlepping to the car begins.  Meanwhile, my boy is about to come out of his skin.  Scrambling around, jumping, paw, and overall mayhem from him.  The other 'child' is a dignified 14 year old so she just sort of ran back and forth from the dining room to the back door....somewhat confused by everything that was going on.


An uneventful drive down with both of the dogs sleeping most of the way until we let them out in Astoria.  Then it was windows down and nose out.  When we got to the beach house, I decided  to just open the car door and let him out to run around and get rid of some pent up energy.....


Let's just say that hindsight is 20/20 and I will never do that again.  He took off like a shot - straight down the trail leading over the dunes to the beach.  I am not as agile as I used to be so the sight of me 'running' after him was probably not the best.  He did come back to me a few times but not close enough for me to grab him and put his leash on.  Continuing my slow 'jog' I heard the first of many screams of "NO",....Get away......G*D D**N DOG"....I got over the last low dune and there he was happily playing with a family - well he was happy anyway...the family wasn't.  He was diving around one young man on a floaty - trying to either hop on with him or tip him over.  The mother and father were trying to grab him as he ran past them and I was screaming his name at the top of my lungs like a fish wife.  He looked my way a couple of times with a "who are you?" look - he had never seen me before, never heard my voice, nothing!


WOW - I did not know that one could feel the death ray of looks from that far away - but if looks could kill or maim, I would have dropped over.  I scrambled over and said 'sorry sorry sorry' about a million times with them standing there with arms crossed fuming.  Meanwhile, my pooch has discovered the ocean and this is all I needed. 


I have see a lot of videos of joyful dogs and wished like crazy that I had a video camera to tape him on that day.  I forgot all about the crabby people and even they warmed up and managed a smile watching him. 


So glad I took him - so much fun - he ran and ran and made friends for hours then slept like a baby all night.  Going to buy a camera for next time for sure!

What to do when it won't stop raining.....

I wish I could shout to the world that I am someone who diligently takes their pups for long walks and adventures in a dog park, regardless of the weather.  Sadly, I am not.  When the temp drops below 50 degrees and it's pouring the rain, I find myself standing at the open back door with my best friends looking out on the yard...trying to get them to go outside for a minute.

Then by the second day, I am watching my 3 year old lab mix race around the house like his butt is on fire, listening to the cats yowling constantly as he tries to get their attention....(nothing like a lab nose scooting you around the living room) and even my older dog barking her head off at his bad behaviour.  I knew I had to do something for some stimulation and excericise before much more time went by or I was going to have my couch further modified.  (pictures to be posted later today) What to do....what to do...

I decided I would spend the day baking up dog treats - they could lick the bowl, sample the wares, and overall help me out in the kitchen. We all piled in to the car and off to the grocery store we went.

**Another bit of advice, select the treats you will make, and actually LOOK around to make sure you have everything you need before you start whipping stuff up.... just sayin

Here's a link to a great list of recipes:
Treat Recipes

First Up:

LIVER BROWNIES - Beware!!!! My dogs were thrilled with the smell - this was not the same for me but it gave me the opportunity to open the front and back door to air out the house.

1 1/4 lbs chicken liver
1 Cup wheat germ
2 Tablespoons wheat flour
2 Cups oatmeal (quick cook kind - not instant)
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
2 cloves garlic (optional)
1 Tablespoons of olive oil

Preheat oven 350°F. Liquefy liver and garlic in blender or processor. When smooth add eggs (shells also) and peanut butter. Blend until smooth. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add liver mixture and olive oil to dry mixture and mix well. Spread into a greased 9×9 baking dish. Bake 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into pieces.

Second in the oven: Super easy and really pretty good for not having sugar or chocolate
PEANUT BUTTER CUT OUTS
2 cups whole wheat-flour
1 cup skim milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon Baking POWDER

Preheat 375°F. Mix ingredients together and knead heavy dough a bit. Roll out to 1/4 inch and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

I will post pictures of us making these and you will see for yourself how helpful everyone was.  It even stopped raining long enough for me to grab the miracle toy - "chuck-it" and the glowing yellow priceless diamond that is his tennis ball and off to the park we went!

Driving, Walking, Babysitting

There are so many things to love about living here in the NW but I recently discovered one more thing....The Yeller Cab Pet Taxi. This is one of those ideas I put in my "why didn't I think of this?" category.


Here are a group of folks that saw a need - transportation for your pet when you are not able to drive them yourself and filled it beautifully. However, they didn't stop there - They offer a wide variety of walks, off leash runs, quick 'pit stops' and more. This service is wonderful for us who work a lot of hours and perhaps don't give our best friends the excercise and stimulation we really want them to have.


You can visit them on line at http://www.yellercab.com/ and register your pet for their passport and see all the different services they offer.


How about day care? We are really blessed here in Portland to have doggie day care in just about every neighborhood. I take my Boma-Lomma to several day cares in town and here are some things to note;


1) Your baby must be current in their vaccinations - always a good thing anyway but required for day care (if you visit a day care facility and they don't require this, walk away!!!)


2) Bordetella (kennel cough) is another vaccine you will need - this is a highly contagious disease and you should have your dog vaccinated for this if they are going to be with other dogs. The most common way to administer is through a mist sprayed in their nose. Trust me, they really don't appreciate this much but a treat and 15 minutes and all is forgiven!


3) Visit the day care and check it out thoroughly. See where the dogs spend most of their time, meet the handlers and folks who will be interacting with the dogs. Some places have web cams you can log in to and watch what happens. This is your best friend. Make sure your trust is warranted and that the people who work there not only love dogs but have a good understanding of behaviour and meaning.


Most day cares will or should require some sort of temperment test to make sure that the experience will be good for your pet and the others at the facility. This usually requires you to drop Fido off for a visit of 30 minutes to an hour to see how everyone gets along.

It's not free and many of us can't afford to take our dogs every day but I highly recommend giving your pooch the opportunity a few times a month if you can swing it. Lots of socialization (which helps when you go to the dog park), plenty of playing, and a stimulating environment which goes a long way to having a satisfied and relaxed best friend.