Category: Communication

Dogs are not disposable!

It’s even a difficult title to write for today’s story.

There are some despicable people for whom having a dog is not a loving companion nor a humane business interest. I can’t define them and, frankly, they are not even worth the mental effort required to think of a term.

That makes it all the more important to share this article with you.

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Dogs Are Not Disposable

Some people dump pets that are too old, not ‘perfect,’ or to go on vacation.

By Mary Jo DiLonardo

Mary Jo DiLonardo

Published June 11th, 2021.

Blind puppy Gertie weighs just over 2 pounds. Mary Jo DiLonardo

This may seem like a no-brainer, but with all the news from overwhelmed shelters and rescues this summer, it’s probably worth saying out loud.

Dogs are not disposable.

Disreputable breeders toss out puppies that aren’t “perfect.” Some people give up the family pet when they go on vacation so they don’t have to pay for boarding. Others give up an older puppy whose cute behaviors are now obnoxious or a senior dog who may have other health issues.

That little mouse you see at the top of the page is one of two special needs puppies I’m fostering right now. She’s actually a 2.1-pound puppy that we were told is an Aussiedoodle. I still think she might be an exotic guinea pig.

Gertie was dropped off by a breeder at a vet’s office to be euthanized because she was blind. The vet contacted a rescue instead.

I also have a deaf puppy that was given up by a breeder. Many other fosters are also doubling up because the need is so great right now. Probably the biggest reason is that it’s the summer and people are traveling for the first time again in more than a year. That means it’s hard to find adopters and it’s hard to find fosters. Everyone wants out of the house.

I’ve seen messages and social media posts from rescuer and shelter workers who say they feel helpless because the requests for help right now are so crushing.

“My rescue cannot keep up trying to save them,” one wrote.

“I’m sickened at the number of rescue and surrender requests we are getting and I am completely heartbroken,” wrote another.

“We need a lifeline,” said another rescuer.

There are some news stories that claim many pandemic puppies are being returned, but the numbers don’t back that up. Instead, it’s just a crush of other reasons, many involving summer travel.

I think the hardest thing for most loving pet owners to fathom is the idea that some people would drop off their dog at a shelter on their way out of town. There’s just anecdotal evidence and no statistics about how often it happens, but it’s cited very often from disheartened rescuers and shelter workers. 

The people who surrender their pets say they don’t want to pay for boarding and they’ll just get a new one when they return. Shelter workers say it’s heart-wrenching to hold a dog while they watch their person drive away. Some will stare out the door for hours, thinking for sure their family will return.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t surprise us anymore which is really sad,” says Jen Schwarz, one of the directors of Speak! St. Louis, the special needs rescue I foster for. The rescuers hear the story often from shelter and humane society workers.

“They don’t want to pay for boarding or can’t find anybody to take their dog,” says Schwarz. “It’s basically being selfish.”

And people might think they’re doing their dog a favor by taking it to a shelter, hoping they’ll get adopted by someone else. But typically, if shelters have to euthanize for space, they’ll turn to owner-surrendered pets before strays because they know no one is looking for them.

“That’s the sad reality,” Schwarz says.

The other thing that happens often is people asking to have the family pet put to sleep because they’re too much hassle.

“That happens a lot. The kids are gone, they want to travel, the dog’s too much, and they have it euthanized,” Schwarz says. “That’s worse than dumping it at the shelter.”

Rescuers are saving as many as they can and that’s why I have one puppy sleeping behind me in my office and one napping in a playpen in the living room. Soon everyone will head outside for a game of tag where I’ll make sure everyone gets a chance to win.

And the only thing disposable here is an awful lot of very tiny puppy poo.

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When Jen Schwarz says: “That happens a lot. The kids are gone, they want to travel, the dog’s too much, and they have it euthanized,” I wonder what a lot is numerically. Anyone know?

The stories from the shelter workers breaks hearts here as well. Dogs are so intuitive; so smart. It is no surprise that they will stare for hours trying to work out what has happened.

Dogs too can form perfect friendships

Dogs are such a special species!

I know this has been said before and no doubt I will say it again many times but dogs frequently bond closely with other dogs. There’s no knowing, frankly, what triggers the friendship but we humans can see it so clearly.

Take this recent article published on The Dodo about a dog and his sister.

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Dog Knows Just How To Help His Anxious Sister When She Gets Carsick

Dogs are too pure for us ❤️

By Lily Feinn

Published on the 25th June, 2021

Meet Eddy — a dog who knows exactly when his family needs a little extra help.

Ashley Karlin adopted Eddy, a black Lab, from a shelter two years ago as a companion for her senior dog, Daisy. And since that day, Eddy and Daisy have been inseparable.

“Eddy and Daisy play like siblings. They egg each other on and run around in the backyard together,” Karlin told The Dodo. “They sleep next to each other and sometimes on each other.” 

The 95-pound cuddle bug is also extremely perceptive. Eddy can sense immediately when something is off with a member of his family — and he hops into action.

Eddy uses this skill frequently when traveling with his sister. Daisy has always had car sickness and gets anxious when it’s time to go for a drive, but Eddy is a pro when it comes to soothing her.

“When she lies down in the back seat and starts to drool, Eddy lays the opposite way so he can rest his head on top of hers,” Karlin said. “If he doesn’t do this, Daisy constantly gets up, lies down, gets up, lies down on repeat until she vomits.”

“I think Eddy just has a sense of when others aren’t feeling well and he’s always there to comfort her,” Karlin added. “We’ve noticed every time they lie down together like this, she doesn’t puke and usually will fall asleep.”

Eddy also monitors his mom to make sure she’s OK and is always the first to know when there’s any change. 

“My husband and I recently found out I’m pregnant, and one of the signs that tipped us off was that Eddy constantly would put his head on my tummy,” Karlin said. “Eddy has [also] on numerous occasions woken me while sleeping to alert me that I was going hypoglycemic, even though he’s not trained to do so.”

Eddy is always there when his mom or sister needs him — and they can’t picture their lives, or car rides, without him.

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All photographs by Ashley Karlin

This is yet another example of the caring and bonding that dogs make. Make with many other dogs and many of us humans.

They are an example to all of us!

And another case of ex-rescue dogs bearing no scars!

Will it ever be normal again!

These are strange times!

We made a plan for evacuation but just a plan.

We are relying on a Level One call, a Be Ready call, to finish off the packing. Of course we hope that never comes but at least we have done the planning.

The Dodo had a great article the other day and I wanted to share it with you all.

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Dog Refuses To Eat Snow Cone After Mom Orders The Wrong Flavor

By Caitlin Jill Anders

Published on the 11th June, 2021

Lola’s story started when she was taken in by a local shelter, but when she was spayed she experienced rare complications that left her unable to walk. She started to recover very slowly, and after a few months, she was taken in by Big Hearts for Big Dogs. The rescue found her a foster family who could commit to taking her to physical therapy every week, and they fostered her for two years — before deciding they couldn’t pretend anymore and officially adopted her into their family.

ANNIE BELANGER BURLEY

Now Lola lives on a farm with her forever family, where every other animal has a rescue story, too. She’s blossomed into the weirdest, most personality-filled dog her family has ever met, and they wouldn’t have her any other way.

Annie Belanger Burley

“We have had her for six years, but she’s been ‘ours’ for four,” Annie Belanger Burley, Lola’s mom, told The Dodo. “We have no clue how old she is, but she literally doesn’t age. She has the most amazing temperament, but she’s a total weirdo! She requires being tucked in at night. She’s goofy, she snores when she’s awake, other dogs think she’s growling, but she’s really just breathing. She has looks that could kill. Sometimes her happy face looks like her mean mug.” 

Annie Belanger Burley

Lola’s family loves her so much and loves to spoil her whenever they can. One of her favorite activities is going out for snow cones, and she always gets so excited, even if she’s not always sure how to show it. 

“We go to Pelican Snowballs in North Fort Myers a few times a month,” Burley said. “Her favorite flavor is chicken broth served with a Milk-Bone on top … When she gets excited, it’s usually with her eyes. She has a grumpy face the majority of the time.” 

Annie Belanger Burley

Lola and her mom were getting snow cones recently, like they always do, but this time, Burley decided to order Lola a plain snow cone because she’d had an upset stomach the night before and she didn’t want her to overdo it. She figured Lola would still enjoy a treat even if it wasn’t her normal order — but she was wrong. 

Annie Belanger Burley

Lola sniffed the plain snow cone, then stared at her mom and made it very clear that she had absolutely no intention of eating it. It wasn’t the right flavor, and she refused to compromise. 

“She refused to eat it the entire way home and glared at me in her usual side-eye,” Burley said. 

Annie Belanger Burley

Instead, Lola let the snow cone melt right next to her. She decided it was better to stand up for what she believes in rather than eat it. She’s strong in her convictions.

Annie Belanger Burley

Even though Lola didn’t get her snow cone that day, there will be many, many other trips, and hopefully, her mom can redeem herself in Lola’s eyes by ordering her the “correct” thing again next time.

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To be honest if it were not for our dogs (and Jeannie) I don’t think it would ever be normal again.

But one can stroke and cuddle a dog or six and cuddle up to Jeannie and forget about the outside world for a tad!

And it’s a lovely story!

 

Fire-wising call.

Normal service is being interrupted!

I have been reluctant to tackle the fire preparations. One of the issues is that daily temperatures have been excessive and that makes working outside difficult.

But we have to and it is going to take some planning and preparation to be ready to evacuate should we get the call.

So for a short while there is going to be a break in me offering posts to you all on Learning from Dogs. I don’t know how long and it could be just a quick break.

For information to any others who want to know more. the Oregon State University provide a fantastic Fire Program website.

Frankly it would be so much easier to ignore it all because what with our dogs and horses and our parakeets and preparing the home and so much more it is a great deal of work.

But I know that is not the answer.

Being prepared is!

Read this, Please!

I need your input.

I am writing another book; my third. It is about the changing planet.

But first I want to tell you a story.

I know Scott Draper. He is the founder and CEO of the Club Northwest. It is the club that Jean goes for her Rock Steady class, and she has been going there for some time.

Indeed Scott and I have struck up a friendship and we now meet up at Scott’s home.

At our first meeting at Scott’s home he lent me the National Geographic’s Earth Day, 50th Anniversary Special Issue printed in April, 2020. It is a magazine that may be flipped and read from either end. On one side there is “A Pessimist’s Guide to Life on Earth in 2070”. On the flip side there is “An Optimist’s Guide to Life on Earth in 2070”. It was a very powerful read.

For on one hand the pessimist’s opinion was speaking of now, of current trends, of the fact that if we don’t change, and change relatively soon, say within the next five years, “our reckless consumption and abuse of resources have made the world a deadlier place for us and for the rest of life on Earth”.⁠ It conveys despair!

On the other hand the optimist’s opinion is that life will be different in 2070 and also warmer, “but we will find ways to limit carbon emissions, embrace nature, and thrive⁠”. It conveys hope!

I asked Scott which opinion he supported. Scott told me the following:

There is a legend of two people; a grandfather and his grandson. The grandfather explains to his grandson that there are two wolves fighting inside of him, that they will always be there as he grows up and becomes an adult.

“I have a fight going on in me, even at the age I am,” the wise old man says. “It is taking place between these two wolves. One is evil; he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

The grandfather paused and looked at his grandson, and then continued; “The other wolf embodies the best of our emotions. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. Both wolves are fighting to the death. It is a fight that is going on inside you and indeed every other person, too.”

The grandson thought for some time about what his grandfather had just said. Then he looked up at his grandfather and quietly asked, “Which wolf will win?”

The grandfather gave his reply: “The one we feed”

Now this is an image that serves as a metaphor for our inner sense of conflict. This parable is a powerful reminder of the fight that every human being must face. Regardless of the type of person you are or what kind of life you lead, you will find yourself battling two conflicting emotions at many points in your life. Whether the fight is between anger and peace or resentment and compassion, it is important to recognise the conflicting feelings inside you and to feed the values and choices that matter most to you.

Now I am of an age where I won’t be alive in 2070.

But I am interested in the opinions of others who will be.

I want to ask the following questions:

First Name: Surname: DOB:

Email Address:

Do You Support An Optimist’s Guide to Life on Earth in 2070: Yes / No (please circle one)

Do You Support A Pessimist’s Guide to Life on Earth in 2070: Yes / No (please circle one)

How Many Years Before It Is Too Late To Demand Change: (Please tick your answer.)

Less than 5 years

Between 6 and 10 years

Between 11 and 20 years

Between 21 and 50 years

More than 50 years

How concerned are you? (5 is highest, as in very) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Please circle one.)

Please leave a message if you want to:

Please will you consider helping me.

I am not going to present another post this week. In other words, I will leave this up until the end of Saturday, 26th June.

If you are happy to help me then send me your email address (to paulhandover ‘at’ gmail ‘dot’ com) and I will send out the above survey on the 28th June, 2021. All the recipients will be a bcc.

The survey feedback will be required by a week later; July 5th, 2021.

I will publish the results just as soon as they have been collated.

Thank you very much.

Freshpet Dog Food Recall

Another alert from the Dog Food Advisor

It is shared with you all exactly as it came in to me.

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Freshpet Dog Food Recall

June 13, 2021 — Freshpet Inc. of Secaucus, New Jersey, is recalling a single lot of Freshpet Dog Food due to potential contamination with Salmonella bacteria. 

What’s Recalled?

The following defective dog food is being recalled:

  • Freshpet Select Small Dog Bite Size Beef and Egg Recipe
  • Package size: 1 pound bags
  • Sell by date: 10/30/2021

Sell by date, along with UPC code and lot code, can be found on the bottom and back of each bag. Product images are posted below.

No other Freshpet products or lot codes are impacted by this recall.

What Caused the Recall?

Workers at Freshpet discovered a single lot of dog food that was contaminated with Salmonella bacteria… and had designated it for destruction.

However, the contaminated product was accidentally shipped to retailers in limited geographic markets between June 7 to June 10, 2021.

Where Was the Product Sold?

The recalled products may have been sold at: Publix in Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia. It was also distributed at limited Target locations in Arizona and Southern California.

Most of the product was intercepted at retailer distribution warehouses and not delivered to retail stores.

According to the company, “Freshpet has received no reports of illness, injury, or adverse reaction to date, and has issued this recall because of our deep commitment to the safety of our pet parents and their dogs.”

About Salmonella

Salmonella can affect animals eating the product and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. 

Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. 

Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Dogs with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. 

Some dogs will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. 

Infected but otherwise healthy dogs can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. 

If your dog has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

What to Do?

If pet parents have products matching the description above, they should stop feeding it to their dogs and dispose of it immediately.

Consumers are asked to call the company if you have any of the recalled product in your possession. 

You may also use the following link to request a refund: https://freshpet.co/ssdb21.

Pet parents who have questions or would like to report adverse reactions should call 1-866-789-3737, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 9 pm ET and Saturday through Sunday, 9 am to 1 pm ET… or visit www.freshpet.com.

U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.

Or go to the FDA’s “Report a Pet Food Complaint” page.

Canadians can report any health or safety incidents related to the use of this product by filling out the Consumer Product Incident Report Form.

Get Lifesaving Recall Alerts by Email

Get free dog food recall alerts sent to you by email. Subscribe to The Dog Food Advisor’s emergency recall notification system.

There’s no cost. No spam ever. Cancel any time.

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Once again, please share this as widely as you can.

Our lovely dogs don’t deserve this!

This is amazing!

Puppies are born ready to communicate with humans!

This was an article that I saw in The Smithsonian and, as such, I am not allowed to reproduce it in full.

But I will give you a small extract:

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By Alex Fox

SMITHSONIANMAG.COM 
JUNE 3, 2021

Dog owners might not be too impressed when they’re able to point out a fallen piece of chicken or a thrown stick to their pooch, but dogs’ ability to follow that seemingly simple gesture places them in rare air in the animal kingdom. Some research suggests that even chimpanzees, our closest evolutionary relatives, don’t understand pointing as well as dogs.

For decades, researchers have debated whether dogs obtain their ability to understand pointing by spending time with humans and learning it or if our furry companions are born with a capacity to comprehend this deceptively complex feat of communication.

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And if one follows that link above then one comes to Current Biology and, again, an extract:

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Summary

Human cognition is believed to be unique in part because of early-emerging social skills for cooperative communication.1Comparative studies show that at 2.5 years old, children reason about the physical world similarly to other great apes, yet already possess cognitive skills for cooperative communication far exceeding those in our closest primate relatives.2,3 A growing body of research indicates that domestic dogs exhibit functional similarities to human children in their sensitivity to cooperative-communicative acts. From early in development, dogs flexibly respond to diverse forms of cooperative gestures.4,5 Like human children, dogs are sensitive to ostensive signals marking gestures as communicative, as well as contextual factors needed for inferences about these communicative acts.6, 7, 8 However, key questions about potential biological bases for these abilities remain untested. To investigate their developmental and genetic origins, we tested 375 8-week-old dog puppies on a battery of social-cognitive measures. We hypothesized that if dogs’ skills for cooperating with humans are biologically prepared, then they should emerge robustly in early development, not require extensive socialization or learning, and exhibit heritable variation. Puppies were highly skillful at using diverse human gestures, and we found no evidence that their performance required learning. Critically, over 40% of the variation in dogs’ point-following abilities and attention to human faces was attributable to genetic factors. Our results suggest that these social skills in dogs emerge early in development and are under strong genetic control.

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And I am going to sneak one of the photographs in the original article!

A young puppy responds to a human pointing to a treat during an experiment conducted by scientists at the University of Arizona. (Canine Companions for Independence)

And what better to close the post that one of the photos I showed yesterday of dear Joy.

We are all connected!

Thank you Patrice Ayme for sharing this.

I can’t remember when I first came to know Patrice Ayme; it was quite a few years ago. I followed him for years and then had to take a break simply because there weren’t enough hours in the day! Not because I disliked what he was writing – no siree!

He is a most prolific author. Pop into Patrice Ayme’s Thoughts and have a browse around.

Anyway, Patrice recently forwarded me an article that rightly deserved much attention. Here it is:

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Saving The Animals, Thus Ourselves

Animals die in great numbers trying to cross human transportation systems.

When one provides the animals with crossings, they rush to use them (so are used even before they are finished, by a Noah’s ark of species).

Respecting nature is not just about the beauty and naturalness it provides us with, it is about respecting how we became who we are, at our best. We have to learn to share the planet with animals. Not just because we are smart, but also because they are smart and our smarts evolved from interacting with their smarts. So interacting with wild animals is smart all around… and it has made our species smarter! Wildlife interaction is how we evolved our smarts.

Not book smarts, but the deepest smarts.

Hence by respecting animals, we respect how we became human… and it keeps on being human to do so. Economy means managing the house, in particular, managing earth, which is our common house. As the greenhouse heating proceeds at an accelerating pace, we then have to reserve an increasing part of our economic activity to save the animals by helping them to cope with the changes we have brought.

Morality comes from the mores, the old ways, the ways which perdured, and thus, insure survival. Having a natural environment, full of animals, is the ultimate morality. If we can’t save them, how can we learn to save ourselves?

So it is not just smart and economic to save the animals, but also moral. The money engaged so far is quite small. But the price of an unbalanced environment tottering towards ruin, is incomparably higher. For a nice article with nice videos of animals using their smarts crossing freeways and roads, consider:

As a badger digs, say for ground squirrels whose burrows have many exits, could not it be that the coyote would seize a fleeing squirrel, and share the meal? This is basic economics and strategy, and it turns out that coyotes and badgers have figured out that behavior, and cooperate together.

The next question would be this: do the individuals concerned figure it out by themselves, as cephalopods do, or is the behavior culturally instigated, namely both badgers and coyotes learn elements of interspecific cooperation from teaching by their elders? I believe the latter.

After all, I trained the (wild) nesting birds on my balcony to benignantly ignore my weird and intrusive ways … which thus had to learn to be a bit more respectful than they usually are. But of course these ways tend to incite the red tail hawks to not land on this particular balcony on a determined culinary mission (as they have been seen doing…) And the birds know this [1].

Saving the animals is first of all about saving us… Not just our sense of beauty.

Patrice Ayme

[1] Hummingbirds set their nests below hawks’ nests, as this protects them from gays. Local hawks do attack nests of birds who are big enough (like gays, crows, etc). And I have seen them pass 10 feet from me, eyeing me suspiciously… Their feathers can be two feet long…

See this: https://www.audubon.org/news/why-hawk-hummingbirds-best-friend

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We are all connected as I said in the title to today’s post.

The only way we are going to survive as a species on this planet is for all of us to recognise this fundamental law of nature. Or should I say this fundamental law of Nature!

It is a little over fifty years since the inaugural celebration of the first Earth Day; on the 22nd April, 1970. In other words we are just over halfway through if one imagines the celebration of the one hundredth Earth Day: 22nd April, 2070. In 1970 the planet was home to 3.7 billion people. Today there are nearly 8 billion people. But more than that these 8 billion people are living to an average of 72 years, up from 59 years in 50 years.

Our failure to address climate change is harming the planet and all the species, including us humans, who live on Planet Earth. I shall be dead by 2070 and also a great many of my fellow humans. But for all those born in the year 2000 and later it is increasingly going to become the number one priority: Saving the planet from a total catastrophe!

We don’t have long!

Picture Parade Three Hundred and Ninety

That total lunar eclipse!

This stunning photograph was taken by Roger Barnett who describes himself as a former semi-pro ski photographer now shooting wildlife, landscapes and astro….. Retired, mostly..arborist/tree service owner.

It is republished with Roger’s permission.

It was seen on the blog site Ugly Hedgehog and I also include this text from ‘kenpic’:

Often called the “flower moon,” the May full moon is nearly upon us. Earth’s nearest neighbor will reach the full stage early May 26, meaning it will appear full both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The moon’s closest monthly approach to Earth happens at the same time, making the flower moon a supermoon, as well.

For early risers, there’s another astronomical treat in store: This year’s only total lunar eclipse happens in the hours before sunrise May 26. When Earth’s shadow begins to cover it, Luna often takes on a reddish tint, leading to the name “blood moon” for those rare times when a lunar eclipse aligns with a full moon.

Plus, two photographs to close with. Firstly, this image from Unsplash!

landscape photo of mountains under starry sky at nighttime

We live on a very beautiful planet.

Lastly, this photograph of a dog howling at the moon. Taken from DogWalls! (And hopefully I’m alright with the copyright!)

What a fantastic image!