this is a board that talks about issues concerning animals...your own pets as well as animal rights,alerts,bills before congress that need our attention.This is a family board but as abuse cases may be posted it may not always be for the sensitive readers.Please be kind to each other,thanks!
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.
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!!
anastasia: I thought you and Patch made an awesome pair. He will always be missed :) My german shepard is 9 and she stays young because of my pug who keeps her on her toes lol
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: 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!
anastasia: just curious.. What is then.. the normal reaction to getting a dog to stop biting one's ankles?? LOL
Sorry.. but, if a dog is trying to use any part of me as a chew toy.. that dogs nose is getting smacked.. and a big NO! with a GENTLE.. NO BITE!! command will be stated.. if my skin is breaking through his bite.. I may even whack him where I can reach at him.. That would be my reaction.. (I am not suggesting beating a dog mind you)
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.
Sand Springs (AP) - Preliminary tests show a swarm of bees that attacked and killed a great Dane dog this week weren't Africanized "killer" bees.
Thousands of bees stung and killed the 140-pound great Dane in front of the dog's family on Monday.
State Agriculture, Food and Forestry Department spokesman Jack Carson says the tests normally take two weeks, but the agency placed a priority on the tests because a large mammal had been killed.
Carson says D-N-A tests show the bees were European, although the tested bees will be sent to a lab in Arizona to rule out any possibility of African lineage.
The Agriculture Department says the closest case of Africanized bees to Sand Springs came last year in McIntosh County in east-central Oklahoma.
Carson says a swarm of European bees can act aggressive if they've been exposed to Africanized bees.
my friend tamy finally got her 6 month old pitbull back..her dog was missing for 2 wks..her neighbor was responcible for stealing her..my friend is so happy now.
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!!!
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)
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
Observation for the day: What is it with cats? I just sat watching two of mine who are siblings, lay in the same bed, all wrapped around each other and wash each other. There were no qualms about sticking a tongue in the others ear to clean the ear goop out, or lick the eye goo off of even lick the other ones butt. BUT, try to feed them a new food an they stick their noses up as if to say, 'I aint eating that!' What is up with that?
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!!!
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.
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!!!
anastasia: a few years back, my neighbors dog would do the same with their cherry toms.. LOL I remember how Bridgett would get on little cuz.. so funny..
Had a storm last night and when my dogs went out after rain stopped, they got hold of a frog and wound up very sick. Does anyone know if those toad frogs are poison or what?
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?
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
anastasia: it was a toad..we get them in our yard a lot, especially after a rain. my ShihTzu bit into it but didn't eat it..within just a few minutes she was gagging and had froth on her mouth. she vomited several times during the night but seems ok now..I am in Oklahoma!!