aliitle late with this update on Damien,sorry!! this week we are just reinforcing all of the ques that he ahs learned and really working with him on the stay que.ALOT of socialization this past week for the little guy at the park.Just learning to sit and watch people as they go by without reacting to them.He also FIANLLY let me brush him this week without trying to eat the brush!!! He is 5 months old and going about 60 pounds now.All the puppy teeth are gone! Also,we are not only going to get him into speed and agility..BUT he has shown a great nack for finding stuff that we plant so we will aso get him formally trainined and run him in the trails for that!!

WatfordFC: I'm sure that it is...all fertilizers that I know of is harmful to people and animals if swallowed.

Dolittle: Trainer just told us today that all frogs are poisonous to dogs..even if they don't eat them.when they bite down on them they will release a poison

snakes and frogs (frogs may be very poisonous if eaten by a pet) with not knowing the part of the country you are in...hard to tell what kind of a frog it might have been

Dolittle: My husband is of all things very anal about keeping our dog away from toads and frogs too..he said thay will make him sick if he eats one...Maybe call your vet? are they vomiting?

Gemina: LMAO!!!! OMG! I haven't thought about that in a long time!! My old dalmatian Patch would go into our garden and pick his own cherry tomatoes and eat them.Actually,Damien has never has one taste of table food.I hope that he never does either...Gemina...everything you remember about Patch...go to the COMPLETE oppisite side of the spectrum for Damien,lol.Patch HATED being sprayed with the hose,Damien will sit BY the hose till you spray him.Patch LOVED being brushed...don't bother Damien with such pettiness,LOL!!!! I cannot wait for you to meet him!!! Come soon!!!

Today was learning the formal command for "come" and also starting to work with him on the que for stay.He has al the others down perfectly...he gets very bored now with the basic sit,down command.He also now has "drop it" down perfectly..as soon as he brings the ball to me I don't even have to say anything,he'll just drop it at my feet and look up at me..AWESOME!!! Before he would run all around me with the ball and it would take 5 minutes to get the darned thing away from him,lol.He is starting to sit more readinly as soon as I stop walking.
After training we took hjim to the park for his walk and socialization for the day.We already have him enrolled in the next class that will start immidiatly after this one is done.

Sorry I'm late with my puppy update,LOL!! been so busy,it's crazy!! He is still going strong! this week was ALOT of focus on the socialization part..he is constantly being exposed to people,animals,even a doe and her fawn at the park where I walk him at during the week!! He is learning this week to "leave it" when I drop something on the floor,if he goes for it I cover it with my foot (just while learning the comand) and say leave it in a VERY stern voice...this command may very well save his life one day so he needs to know that even though training is fun...this command I mean seriously!! He is doing very well at it and can go about 95% of the time of just leaving it even if I don't have the item covered with my foot.He he working eveyday on the sit/down/watch me combo....and can come back to sit from the down position.I am so proud of him!!!

Rose:

xladymelx: it goes on all the time.People need to speak up and let these companies know that it is wrong and that we will not stand for it anymore!!

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is about as compassionate as a hit and run driver when it comes to animals. The DOT has sanctioned hideously cruel skin-corrosivity experiments to test hazardous chemicals on rabbits despite the fact these tests are completely unnecessary since there is a federally approved, non-animal test called Corrositexª available.

Animal tests are a one way street to pain and suffering. In order to test corrosive chemicals such as Savage Acid and Goodbye Graffiti, rabbits backs are shaved and corrosive chemicals are applied onto their raw skin and left for up to two weeks. The chemicals burn the skin, and the rabbits are given no pain relief. It's a dead end street for the rabbits who are killed after the test period.

Corrositexª, on the other hand, uses synthetic skin to accurately predict the effects of potentially corrosive substances on human skin, without hurting animals. The DOT is taking us all for a ride by using taxpayers' money to fund barbaric experiments on animals when a humane alternative exists.

Demand that the DOT yield to PETA's request that only non-animal tests, such as Corrositexª be used. Write:

The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta
The Secretary of Transportation
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 Seventh St. S.W.
Washington, DC 20590
E-mail: norman.mineta@ost.dot.gov

The Cincinnati Zoo Is Breeding Domestic Cats and Shipping Them Off to a Filthy Lab
Imagine what it would be like to be bred at a zoo to undergo a litany of reproductive experiments and then be shipped off to live in a cramped cage at a notorious laboratory testing facility that has been repeatedly cited by federal authorities for significant violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

This is exactly what’s happening at the Cincinnati Zoo’s Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) program, in which domestic cats are bred as a “research model [to] provide basic reproductive information about felids in general.” Experimenters attempt to extrapolate these findings to reproductively different, endangered, nondomestic cat species for the zoo’s small-cat conservation initiative—a process that is inherently riddled with scientific absurdities.

Leading conservationists from Yale University, the National Zoo, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park have published a landmark study titled “Limitations of Captive Breeding in Endangered Species Recovery,” in which they warn, “Captive breeding is no panacea for saving endangered species.”

They argue: “Captive breeding should be viewed as a last resort in species recovery and not a prophylactic or long-term solution because of the inexorable genetic and phenotypic changes that occur in captive environments. … [I]t should not displace habitat and ecosystem protection nor should it be invoked in the absence of comprehensive efforts to maintain or restore populations in wild habitats.”

While the Cincinnati Zoo focuses its efforts on in vitro fertilization techniques in endangered small cats, the long-term survival of these species hinges on their success in the wild. The authors state that animals can become domesticated in just two generations in captivity—making it impossible for them to survive in the wild. In fact, only 11 percent of the 145 programs that have reintroduced captive-bred species into the wild have been successful, according to a recent study.

The researchers also note other grave limitations of captive breeding, including low fertility rates, which make it difficult to sustain population levels, and a lack of administrative continuity and stable funding to maintain long-term programs. In addition, diseases can spread through close contact with species encountered in the wild. Inbreeding can also make captive-bred species more susceptible to disease.

In addition to breeding and experimenting on domestic cats, Barbara Rish, the zoo’s corporate communications manager, confirmed that there are approximately 80 domestic cats at CREW and that they are typically forced to stay there for about five to eight years. The older cats are then “donated” to Summit Ridge Farms, where they are locked away in cages and used for geriatric dietary experiments.

During random inspections, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited Summit Ridge Farms for the following AWA violations:

Section 2.31(d)(1)(ii): Failure to include in the experimental protocol a search for alternatives to painful procedures that were performed on animals. This was a repeat violation two years in a row for the same protocol.
Section 2.31(e)(4): Failure to include in the experimental protocol the name, dose, or route of various drugs that were to be administered to animals to minimize pain and distress. This was a repeat violation two years in a row for the same protocol.
Section 2.33(b): Failure to provide adequate dental care to dogs, all of whom had the facility’s “worst dental score” several years earlier and whose “premolars and molars [were] covered with tartar.”
Section 3.1(c)(2): Failure to properly maintain sanitary surfaces; the floor’s coating peeled up from the concrete, thereby preventing the floor from being adequately cleaned “when urine, excreta and dirty water [are] between the peeling floor coating and the concrete.”
What You Can Do
Please send polite letters to the Cincinnati Zoo and ask that it act responsibly by ending its breeding program for small domestic cats—animals who are part of the overpopulation crisis—and work with PETA to place these animals in good, loving homes. Also, please ask the zoo to stop shipping these cats to Summit Ridge Farms—where animals are forced to live in filthy cages for years on end and receive substandard care and where experimenters repeatedly shirk their minimal legal obligations to ensure animals’ welfare:

Gregg Hudson, President
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
3400 Vine St.
Cincinnati, OH 45220-1333
gregg.hudson@cincinnatizoo.org
513-487-3336 (fax)

Please also send polite letters to the zoo’s primary donors asking that they suspend their financial support until the zoo stops breeding domestic cats and shipping them to testing laboratories at Summit Ridge Farms:

Carl H. Lindner, Chair
American Financial Group, Inc.
1 E. Fourth St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-579-2113 (fax)

Thomas E. Hoaglin, Chair, President, and CEO
The Huntington National Bank
Huntington Center
41 S. High St.
Columbus, OH 43287
952-828-8998 (fax)

Joseph C. (Joe) Guyaux, President
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
1 PNC Plz.
249 Fifth Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2707
412-762-7829 (fax)

Allen Boerger, CEO
Recker & Boerger, Inc.
10115 Transportation Way
Cincinnati, OH 45246-1317

Murray Sinclaire, President
Ross, Sinclaire & Associates, Inc.
700 Walnut St., Ste. 600
Cincinnati, OH 45202-2027

Christopher J. (CJ) Fraleigh, CEO
Sara Lee Food & Beverage
3500 Lacey Rd.
Downers Grove, IL 60515
630-598-8220 (fax)

Kelly Summers, Principal
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP
4900 Key Tower
Cleveland, OH 44107

Michael Brown, Owner and President
Cincinnati Bengals, Inc.
1 Paul Brown Stadium Dr.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-621-3570 (fax)

Damien had his second session yesterday,again did very well.He was taught to sit and lay down all on que.To watch me from the down postistion,to sit when we come to a stop on our walk,and how to greet people.The last 2 are pretty tough and will take alot of dedication on my part to follow through,which I will,but I am quiclky learning myself that there is SO much more to training then simply setting or shaking hands!! He is actually learning manners,which he will really need as he gets older.We also took him to a creek behind my sister in laws house and he went swimming for the first time..he LOVED it.The small current kind of wierded him out at first,but we kept him on a lead so he did great...btw,he was weighed yesterday....50 pounds now!!!

xladymelx: either post a game in the waiting games area or post ask on the general chat,please.

ScarletRose: Honestly..when he was little he NAILED me BAD and yes,it was just a natural reaction that I popped him,soflty THANK GOODNESS because I did it without thinking.I did it as a natural refelx to the sudden pain.She stood there while he was biting her ankles so the hit wouldn't have been a "refelx action" it would have been a dileberate hit to him.I suggested that since my husband came out,he should have taken the dog and put him in his crate for a few minutes so the dog could settle down.A dog does not understand being hit as a form of punishment.

Gemina: He REALLY tested my mother in law yesterday.I need to talk to the trainer about it...to the point that he had her ankles in his mouth and she could not walk.She said she almost hit him....WELL,you know THAT will NOT happen as long as I'm alive so hubby and I got into it a bit over THAT one.I'm sorry,I don't care if she is his mother...she is NOT going to hit my dog!

CANDY22: please turn your caps lock off

Gemina: It's fuuny cuz one part of me wants Damien to stay little (well as little as he is,lol) forever,but the other wants him to come of age faster so that we can get him bred and get pick of the litter for our next pup!! Hubby still says we will take a son but I think I may be swaying him towards a female instead.I think having the 2 of them will be a blast!!!!

Gemina: we were awesome,huh? HE was awesome.I miss him still!!!

xladymelx: sorry hun,we have jobs and families,but we get in here often so just be patient with us if takes a day or two to respond to one of your posts....welcome though,please make yourself to home here!!

Rose: that is old for that breed!! Damien's Grandfather lived to be I think 12,which I thought was wonderful!

CANDY22: if it didn't work then you had a bad trainer.ALL dogs are capibale of being trained...German shepards are EXTREMELY inteligent aniamls..so like I said,bad trainer.

Niki: I wanted to,but hubby said no,he wasn't throwing money away on something stupid like that when he could sit,lay,come and stay.Well,that is really only a very small part of the training that they need.After he saw for 11 years how I stuggled with the dog (because we were always fighting for who was the dominant one) he said ok to us getting this one training.This one will get to over 100 pounds,the other only about 75.I told him I wasn't going to fight with this dog,I needed to be the one in control.He says he kicks himself too for not getting the other real training.

CANDY22: Hi Candy and welcome!! I ahd a dalmatian that was 11 1/2 years old.We just had to put him down on March 10th because he had bad hips and had trouble getting up and walking.That's why we have the pup now,I was lost without a dog.

Tuesday: I STRONGLY recomend training to even the most laid back dog...just 1 session and the difference is marked.I feel we did a moajor injustice to our other dog by not getting him even the most basic of training.Money WELL SPENT as far as I am concerned.

LOL!!! he had his first day of training today.I don't know who needs it more,him or us!!! We have to be trained as well! It was awesome though.We learned how to get him to "watch us" and how to get him to walk on a relaxed lead.He loves his trainer so hubby and I have decided that we will just stick with her for his next 3 courses of training.This first course is 8 weeks.She said that we are already well ahead of the norm because the obcessive person I am read all the books on german shepards that I could get my hands on when we got him!! She said that was good because we are more familiar with the breed because of it.She gave us some tips to keep his mind active and everything (almost!!) that we have been doing so far is good. I will let you know how he does next Monday!!

WatfordFC:

Hello all,jeez,bet you thought I forgot about this board...NEVER!! Animals are my passion,huh Gemina!!??!! I have been very busy with personal things as of late but wanted to give a little update on the pup! He is up to a bulking 40 pounds and was 15 weeks old this past Monday.Both ears are again standing up..they were up,one fell,now back up.Thought that was a sign (a welcome one!) that he would start to lose the little razor baby teeth but no such luck!! His training got delayed so he starts that this coming Monday.He walked his entire 50 minute walk on my left side for he first time since I started to walk him!! He sleeps the entire night through,till about 7 am without needing to go out at all.Unfortanatly,he still waked me up by slapping my face with his paw! at 6 weeks,that was cute,at 15 weeks and 40 pounds,it's painful! LMAO!!! He is the best,smart,funny,pleasant,cuddly..I just cannot say enough about him..I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! He really helped me feel better after Patch died..I wish all of you could meet him in person!!!!

Andre...I cannot get over your pic!!!! Is that REALLY YOU!!!!! WOW! nice little bit of eye candy,LOL!!!! now back to our regular discussion!!!!

nobleheart: BABIES!!!!!!!!

Dolittle: Glad that all went well but shame on them for telling you they had no waiting room...where do the patients wait for the Dr when they come for an appt? do they all stand around the receptionists office??

nobleheart: but I love my google!!!

Dolittle: aww,I'll be thinking of her!! i know when Patch had sergury for his bladder,I was a mess! Punkin will do goo though,so will you..let us know how it goes!!!

BUNNY22: turn your caps lock off...looks like your shouting at us,LOL!!

Gemina: OMG!! 31 pound and the goof ball STILL wants to climb onto my lap for me to HOLD HIM in my arms!!! And of course,you know me..I hol dhim,LMAO!!!! you know..he is only a baby one time! Funny,cuz he IS still a baby and he was bigger then most of the adult dogs at the vet this last time!! I cannot WAIT for you to meet him Gemina!!!

Gemina: and THAT'S why he is going to training,LOL!!! He is coming out of his "fear of everything" stage..I read books and he hit it at the age they said he probably would,so,that's cool.I weighed him today and he is 31 pounds now!!

ScarletRose: well,the ONLY place I could find to fit my schedule was Petsmart...they have alot of different schedules and they had a Saturday morning at 9am that fit well with my shedule.AND...the class is 100%garunteed..so if I'm not happy with the results,I can retake the entire thing for free...I thought that was a good garuntee!!

ScarletRose: well,the MAIN reson of putting him into the first class is to socialize him as much as I can.He needs to learn to be around other animals and people..he is going to be about 120 pounds so he needs to be able to let people come up to him..I need to make sure he can do that too...his looks alone will intimaidate poeple,he doesn't have to be unsocial to boot.Then I would like to get him into some agility when he is a bit olderbut in order to do THAT,he needs at least 3 courses of obidience.This is all to better him :)

Well,I should be on a bit more..hubby came through his surgery well,took 8 hours and 2 days in the hospital.Mother in law went home today so things should start getting back to normal!! Damien is up to 25 pounds at last weight in and will be 13 weeks old tomorrow.He starts kindergarden in 2 weeks.He still has round worms He got sick on the medicine one weekend though so I think that break in the meds had something to do with it..not sure.He now knows his name,will come on command,sit,FINNALY learnign to retrieve the ball,and learning to shake..I want him to be more advanced then the other kids in class,LOL!!!!

Hope that everyone has a safe and lovong Easter with your family!

Lamby: goodness..where do you find these links?? lol...google?

Groucho: OMG!!! I want to eat them up!!

I still thnk it should be brought out in the public view..I'm sorry if this upsets you,but I want issues like this talked about too.

WatfordFC: I'm sorry...it's just that people think this stuff doesn't happen and it does...it needs to be talked about so that maybe it can someday stop

Life in a Laboratory
Imagine living locked inside a closet without control over any aspect of your life. You can't choose when and what you eat, how you will spend your time, whether or not you will have a partner and children, and if you do, who that partner will be. You can't even decide when the lights go on and off. Think about spending your entire life like this, even though you have committed no crime.

This is life in a laboratory for animals. It is deprivation, isolation, and misery.

Now consider all the specialized needs of the species imprisoned for experimentation. Chimpanzees, in their natural homes, are never separated from their families and troops. They spend hours together every day, grooming each other and making soft nests for sleeping each night. They are loving and protective parents, and baby chimps will live close to their mothers for many years. But in a laboratory, chimpanzees are caged alone. There are no families, no companions, no grooming, no nests. There are only cold, hard steel bars and loneliness that goes on for so many years that most chimpanzees sink into depression, eventually losing their minds.

Rats and mice are denied a place to dig and hide. Dogs and cats are deprived of exercise, affection, and the homes that they long for with families to care for them. Rabbits have no room to leap. Pigs cannot root in the ground or build their nests. Even when the cages are clean–and this is not always the case–the animals are not allowed to engage in any normal behavior.

On top of the deprivation, there are the experiments. Animals are infected with diseases that they would never normally contract–tiny mice grow tumors as large as their own bodies, kittens are purposely blinded, rats are made to suffer seizures. Experimenters force-feed chemicals to animals, conduct repeated surgeries on them, implant wires in their brains, crush their spines, and much more. Think of what it would be like to endure this and then be dumped back into a cage, usually without any painkillers. Video footage from inside laboratories shows that animals cower in fear every time someone walks by their cages. They don't know if they will be dragged from their prison cells for an injection, blood withdrawal, a painful procedure or surgery, or death. Often animals see other animals killed right in front of them.

While some facilities are better than others at caring for animals–not every lab employee kills mice by cutting off their heads with scissors, a practice that PETA documented at the University of North Carolina–there are no happy animals inside laboratories. Read about the hidden lives of some of the animals used in cruel experiments rats and mice and baboons. To learn more about the laboratories that PETA has exposed, http://www.peta.org/about/history.asp

And with the arrival of spring comes lotes and lots of new baby animals...when you are out,please keep in mind that if you see a baby animal,but no Mother...that does not garantee that the animal is abandoned or orphaned.Alot of people just assume that this is the case.PLEASE leave all baby animals where you find them as the parent(s) are certainly close by.Animals will allow the babies to wonder off a safe distance while the whole time keeping a watchful eye on them...People automatiacally assume the worst and take the baby,either to nurse themselves or take them to a shelter.I have heard stories of after "do-gooders" take the babies,the mother is heard yelling and crying for her baby..PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE DO NOT try to "help" a baby that you may see without it's Mother.

Gemina: Thats my girl!!!! ;)

Groucho: it didn't let me do that..I did scroll down the page though and find something on metallica..I LOVE THEM!!!!!!! lol

Groucho: I go to a main page called deep fringe and have a big box with all kinds of cartoons to look at..I like the dog in therapy one,LOL!!