Bark Blog

Reality Check for Groomers

Shear Genius meets the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show! Project Runway for dog lovers! With Animal Planet’s latest reality show in development, 12 groomers will get their chance to cash in on the reality show sweepstakes. According to notices posted on realitywanted.com and craigslist, Project Pooch is looking for dog stylists “with creative flare and personality to match.” The prize: Fame and $50,000!

Lisa Wogan

Adoptions on the Fly

The Seattle Humane Society unveiled its new mobile pet-adoption center in the parking lot of a local hardware store last Friday. The MaxMobile is a sleek, yellow truck with windowed kennels that brings animals in need of homes to people on the go. It's also a powerful visual reminder of the problem of pet overpopulation. I applaud any effort to find families for neglected animals, but I worry that parading adorable dogs and cats in front of folks who aren’t necessarily looking for a new family member will inspire impulsive adoptions. At least when people go to a shelter they have put some thought and energy into the decision. Critical to the success of the MaxMobile will be the Humane Society's measures to protect animals from being scooped up like candy at a checkout counter only to be neglected or discarded later.

Lisa Wogan

What's The Most Creative Dog Name?

Companies are getting too good at marketing ploys! Veterinary Pet Insurance recently (and smartly) released a list of the top 10 dog names and cat names using its database of 450,000 clients. The #1 name for both dogs and cats is ... drum roll, please ... Max! That's a safe, solid choice, and the other names follow suit, from Buddy to Rocky. Well, what do you expect from a group of people who bought health insurance for their pets? I imagine they're not gonna take many chances!

If you want to see some truly intriguing dog names, go to an agility trial. Some blazing fast dogs have obvious names like Bounce, Blur, Quick and Spree. Other dogs answer to Mayhem, Rebel and Riot -- perhaps a clue to their um ... exuberant personalities. But would you name your dog Rage? Or Chewbacca? Does your dog have a particularly creative or unusual name?

Julia Kamysz Lane

What's A Vet To Do?

Earlier this month, a Florida family was reunited with Candy, their Maltese, eight months after they paid to have the dog euthanized. The short version of the story: Candy had painful tumors in her ears that the family could not afford to treat. (Read the details.) They requested euthanasia. After they left their ailing dog at a Winter Park hospital, a “fill-in vet” performed the surgery to fix Candy’s ears and “rescued her” or “stole her” (depending on your perspective). Eight months later, the veterinarian-owner of the hospital contacted the family to say the dog was alive and would be returned. The family was not happy.

Mishandling aside, the situation raises a serious ethical question: What are vets to do when euthanasia is requested for a dog with a treatable condition? These situations are “troubling and stressful,” says to Dr. Patty Khuly, a veterinarian in South Miami, who wrote about Candy on Dolittler.com. Dr. Khuly pointed out there are options. Veterinarians can, and often do, offer to perform procedures for free or at discounts. They can also request to transfer ownership to the hospital, which will seek a guardian who can afford treatment. But what if the guardian insists on euthanasia?

It's a complicated legal and ethical zone. I’m curious to learn what Bark readers think.

Lisa Wogan

No Turkey for Vick

“Suspended” Falcons quarterback and dog-fighting pariah Michael Vick is going to miss Thanksgiving and Christmas at home. He voluntarily checked himself into jail on Monday—three weeks before he is formally sentenced. Vick faces 12 to 18 months under federal guidelines at the hands of a judge with a reputation for meting out harsh sentences. According to a story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he hopes the voluntary act will communicate his contrition to the sentencing judge. The cynic in me says that’s also why he attended a PETA class in empathy and animal protection in September. The same month, he failed a drug test while free on bond.

An interesting caveat, according to an online poll with the story, at last count, more than 55 percent of respondents think Vick will return to pro ball. I guess I’m not the only cynic out there.

Lisa Wogan

Puppy Lemon Laws

USA Today reports that Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois are considering puppy “lemon laws” to protect consumers against sick or “genetically defective” dogs. In the case of the Wisconsin Dog Purchaser Protection Act, buyers are entitled to reimbursement for veterinarian fees and “another dog of equivalent value” in the case of injury, defect or illness within two weeks of purchase.

While hearing dogs described as “defective products” makes me queasy, my first impulse was to think this law might create welcome problems for puppy-mill supplied stores and backyard breeders, and create incentives for better care. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Eilene Ribbens Rohde, executive director of the Wisconsin Puppy Mills Project, which opposes the law, says it doesn’t address cruelty and neglect. “Typically, the animals end up being victims once again,” she is quoted as saying in the story. “If the dog goes back to the breeder, a knock over the head with a hammer will solve the problem.” In its evaluation of the proposed legislation, the Project claims the law does not cover pet stores and will create problems for shelters and rescues, which would be considered sellers.

The fundamental problem I see with these lemon laws is that they bolster the notion of dogs (or cats, bunnies, birds, and so on) as commodities, which permits, in part, their inhumane treatment.

Lisa Wogan

Thailand's Soi Dog Rescue

Animal rescue is hard work, and perhaps even more so when the rescuers aren't citizens of the country in which they are working. In Phuket, Thailand, Soi Dog Rescue has developed and funded several programs that have improved conditions and life for the region's dogs and cats.

However, after being asked by the government to vacate the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office shelter that they've improved and run, they've had to find another location from which to continue their work. A new site was located and leased, but the group will require financial assistance to go forward with its development and maintenance. To learn more, visit them online.
Susan Tasaki

Happy Dogs Day

Have you honored your dog today? On this, the second day of Tihar, the Hindu festival of lights in Nepal, dogs are specially honored for their role as guardians of the home (and the underworld). Across Kathmandu, pets and strays alike are adorned with red tikas on their foreheads and marigold garlands around their necks. They also enjoy special meals and sweetmeats. Check out these wonderful BBC photos.

Lisa Wogan

Barkitecture & Dogtown

Architectual Digest, eat your heart out!  In both detail and whimsy, the doghouses that will be on display for three weekends in December in the old Ocala (Florida) public library rival anything that might be found on that magazine's glossy pages. Among the themed abodes are St. Paws Cathedral, Taj Ma-Dog, Ocala Fire Deputmut and Doghill Downs. A collaboration between the Marion Cultural Alliance and the Humane Society of Marion County, the "Barkitecture and Dogtown" exhibit is free and also includes large animal statues (both canine & feline) designed by local artists and school groups. Sounds like a perfect place to take the kids (or even just yourself) for a holiday outing. In February, the doghouses will be auctioned for the benefit of the collaborating agencies.
Susan Tasaki

Double Dutch Doggies

Don’t miss this quirky footage of dogs jumping rope on a Japanese television show. I gotta teach my girl how to do that (without the pink ear dye). Nods across the Internet to the Active Canines blog for digging up this little treat.

Lisa Wogan

Shelters Rock

As the proud guardian of a former Seattle Animal Shelter pup, I add my voice to the songs in praise of shelters during this National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week (Nov. 4-10). While I’m not a huge fan of setting aside official days for everything from child dental care to air conditioning appreciation (these are for real) , I welcome the opportunity to sing the praises of shelters (and rescue organizations and foster families) that help find loving homes for abandoned and neglected dogs, cats, bunnies, birds and more.

If you’re looking for ways to mark the occasion with good works, check out the Humane Society of the United States’ Ten Ways to Show Your Local Animal Shelter Some Love.  Donating beds, time, money and skills are just a few of the ways to support and appreciate these essential resources. Also, in the spirit of the week, take a coffee break with Mutts cartoonist Patrick McDonnell’s Shelter Stories.

Lisa Wogan

How Much Is That Doggie In the Window?

Although I'm not a fan of chains, I love that PetsMart and PetCo invite rescue groups to hold adoption days instead of selling puppies and kittens. I used to think this symbolized increased awareness of puppy mills and that the days of singing, "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window?" were over.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. Over the past year, two pet store chains that sell puppies have opened near me. Every other weekend, one of them posts a giant sign near a major intersection promoting its "Puppy Sale!" as if these puppies were furniture or clothes. I imagine they're getting older and no longer as cute so the pet shop wants to "move the merchandise" to make room for more "inventory." That mentality makes me ill.

So my new hero is Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, Australia. A few weeks ago, she introduced the Animals (Regulation of Sale) Bill 2007 to the New South Wales State Parliament. This would prohibit the sale of all mammals -- including dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats -- in pet shops in New South Wales. For details, go to Parliament of New South Wales.

Julia Kamysz Lane