Is The Puppy Purse Animal Abuse?

It's the ultimate fashion accessory for people who "love their dogs a bit too much."

Imported from the United States, these colourful and stylish "doggie bags" enable devoted dog owners to carry their puppies and little pooches wherever they go.

Designed to be "lightweight" with an adjustable strap, the "Puppy Purse" is exactly as it sounds.

I find these "pooch pouches" to be completely obscene. If you look at the photos of these types of devices, how can a dog breathe properly? "Teacup" dogs, especially, are known to have fragile internal organs. What about the dog's circulatory system? And what about exercise? And what about having to urinate or defecate? What about learning to walk on a loose leash and obeying? What is the justification for using such a thing? How can this be healthy?

In my opinion, anyone who would do this doesn't deserve to have a dog. Is this animal cruelty? I’d want a veterinarian opinion on such a device before I’d make that determination here. But, if it is, I would advocate arresting, fining and jailing anyone who would subject their dog to such a device.

This fashion thing started with Paris Hilton, who I think is a terrible role model.

Fashion trends are no excuse for animal abuse.

Presa Canario Mauls Woman To Death

In a ferocious attack never before seen in Broward County, a powerful, pit-bull-like dog mauled its owner to death Friday afternoon as she tried to give him a bath.

Here is a family dog attacking the owner's girlfriend. There are some clues in the story to tell us what happened. Assuming this story is accurate, here is my opinion of what was going on:

a.) Willey -- who has been cited in the past for having dangerous dogs. So, these owners had warnings about owning dangerous dogs. They had problems with more than one dog. And they own more than one dog.
b.) The dog was of a breed called Presa Canario, akin to a pit bull. They had a powerful breed, which is marketed as being a guard breed.
c.) The two officers who arrived at 3:25 p.m. saw the dog standing over her bloodied body. It was ''acting aggressively'' and they shot and killed the animal. This was a very personal attack by the dog. This was aggression with intent, and the dog knew what it was doing.
d.) Neighbors on Friday in this well-heeled neighborhood said warning signs had appeared in the past. The owners had allowed their dogs to threaten other people.
e.) Rafi Horwitz, 19, said a friend of his came over recently and gasped: ``I just got chased by two dogs.'' Willey had been walking a dog the day before and was struggling to maintain control over the canine, said neighbor Clemente Vaslo, 47. ''She had him on a leash but he was clearly having his way,'' he said. In other words, the dog wasn't under her control. The dog wasn't trained. She couldn't lead or manage the dog.
f.) In 2000, she was charged with having a dog at large, according to Hillsborough County court records. A dog ''threatened [a] witness into the house,'' records show. So, she had a history of having no control over her dogs.
g.) Willey also has a son in middle school. One neighbor, who declined to give his name, said the son had cautioned against playing with the dogs because ``they are mean.'' So, the family knew the dogs were challenging them in their own home!

Here is a perfect example of why you should train your dogs to obey. When you don’t have control over a dog, and that includes leadership over a dog, especially a large breed known for being protective, then you will endanger others, yourself, and your family. And to you "all positive", clicker training folks, or those of you who baby your dogs: this is what happens when you figure that you can train a dog without any rules, boundaries or leadership. This dog clearly got all it wanted in life, and it ended up killing someone.

Just because you think it would be cool to have a certain breed of dog, doesn’t mean you are going to be able to handle it on your own without professional training.

I get emails from people all the time telling me that they are having behavioral problems with a dog, but don’t see the need to train the dog.

In fact, these are the types who don't know a thing about dog behavior, but when it comes down to them having to work with the dog, they would rather either blame the dog, or tell me how they think the dog should be trained.

Check out this email I received last week:

"Hello, We got this puppy at eight weeks old he is now 7 months old. This is what I am noticing about him (my husband doesn’t think it's that bad). He sometimes growls when you try to put him in is cage. He sometimes tires to jump up and bite the kids when they are fighting they are 10 and 16 years old. When we took him to the kennel when we went on vacation they said he tried to bite them the first night and then he was fine (maybe he was scared)? The one girl actually said she was going to miss our dog. Sometimes when you are in the yard with him he tries to jump up and bite your hand (my husband thinks he just playing) I don't know if he is or not. He has showed his teeth to me and he doesn't like you to touch his feet at all especially trying to cut his nails. He is a little dog, Boston Terrier mix. He can be such a loving dog also he cuddles with you , but there is a side that can be mean. My husband doesn’t see it or doesn’t want to see it. I don't know what to do. My husband doesn’t think we should get rid of him. What do you think?"

I told her: "This can all be sorted out in obedience classes. There is no good reason to get rid of the dog. This is a problem created by not training your dog… it is your fault, not the dog’s."

Then, she responded: "There's only one problem with what you are saying, we had a dog before this one for 11 years who passed away last year and he never went to obedience class and he never did any of these things. Can you explain that?"

Just because you have owned a dog doesn't mean you know what you are doing with ALL dogs. This pup of theirs is heading down the wrong path. Training can and would fix this. Imagine such a person, letting a powerful breed of dog head down this path. You'd get the horrifying story you read about above.

MORAL OF THE STORY: All dogs need dog training. If you are too cheap, foolish or lazy to train the dog, then do us all a favor, don't get a dog.

Olympic National Park: REVERSE THE DOG BAN!

Olympic National Park is getting a new management plan that will set a course for the park over the next 20 years.

The public is asked to comment on whether the park should continue to be managed as it is today; whether to place greater emphasis on preserving the park as a wild ecosystem; or to increase development for visitors and tourism.

National Park managers have extended the public comment period on the plan, as well as scheduled a public hearing on it in Seattle.

The hearing is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Seattle REI, 222 Yale Ave. N.

To review the plan, go online to http://parkplanning.nps.gov/olym. Or, to request a printed or CD version of the document call 360-565-3004.

Copies also are available at the Seattle Public Library and at the University of Washington Library.

The public-comment period is open through Sept. 30.

Dogs are banned from our National Parks. I think you should write them and tell them that you want dogs allowed in the parks. They cause no harm at all.

Be prepared for the timid, politically correct letter back saying how dogs upset the “wilderness experience” for some people. In other words, Dog Haters are preventing you, the taxpayer, from using parks that you paid for, and should have every right to use.

Just remember, native Americans had pet dogs in these parks long before the European and Russians arrived on the West coast. So, dogs ARE a part of the natural habitat of that area.

Dolphins and Whales... Just Animals After All

Dolphins and whales are dumber than goldfish and don't have the know-how to match a rat, new research from South Africa shows.

For years, humans have assumed the large brains of dolphins meant the mammals were highly intelligent.

Paul Manger from Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand, however, says it is not intelligence that created the dolphin super-brain -- it's the cold.

To survive underwater, these warm-blooded animals developed brains that have a lot of insulating material -- called glia -- but not too many neurons, the gray stuff that counts for reasoned thinking.

The same goes for whales because they share the dolphins' brain composition, he said.

Uh Oh, another animal rights propaganda myth bites the dust. The argument has been that since these animals have brains as large as ours, they are really just some kind of fish people, equal to us in every way. Bah! This was then used as a way of enacting draconian animal rights legislation all around the world. Remember that Star Trek episode where they saved the whales? Even though I am a Star Trek fan, this kind of pseudo-science has been used to bludgeon pet owners all over the world.

Why can’t we be satisfied that an animal is just an animal, and that is OK? Is this just a way for those who want “something more” to invent their own gods, because they don’t want to accept that God really exists? I think so.

Animal Rights vs Animal Welfare

"We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. . . One generation and out. We have no problem with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding." Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP of Humane Society of the US, formerly of Friends of Animals and Fund for Animals, Animal People, May, 1993

NOTE: (Wayne Pacelle’s initial training was as a PeTA activist. Today he heads HSUS under the guise of "legitimacy". It is the largest and most profitable of the animal Rightist lobbying organizations.

Many people think that every “humane society” is part of the same organization. But, they aren’t. They are each distinct non-profit companies. Some are animal rights oriented, some are animal welfare oriented. You had better do your research before you send your money off to one of these groups.

Would you want to send your money to a group that was against the domestic dog?

WEIRD: Cancer Can Spread To Dogs As A Parasite

A strange form of cancer is being transmitted as an infectious agent among the world's dogs, without help from viruses or bacteria, a research team in England has found.

The discovery, reported in the journal Cell, shows how a single cancer cell can become a parasite, grow and then spread worldwide in susceptible animals.

Fortunately, even though the tumours grow aggressively at first, they eventually shrink and then succumb to the host dog's immune system. Remarkably, after the cancer has disappeared, the dogs have gained protective immunity, which blocks further infection by the cancer cells. The dogs' blood also can be used to vaccinate other dogs and block infection.

ANOTHER Mass Slaughter Of Dogs In China?

SHANGHAI, China — A second Chinese city plans a mass dog slaughter to control a rabies outbreak, state media said Friday, days after a similar cull in which dogs were beaten to death prompted a torrent of criticism.

Officials in the eastern city of Jining said Thursday they would kill all dogs within three miles of areas where rabies had been found, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The measure came in response to the deaths of 16 people from rabies in Jining in the last eight months, Xinhua said. It didn't say when the cull would begin or how the animals would be killed. It said the city had about 500,000 dogs.

Rabies cases are on the rise in China, with more than 2,000 people dying from the disease each year. Only 3 percent of the country's dogs are vaccinated against rabies.

So, let me get this straight… China is going to do ANOTHER mass slaughter of dogs to control rabies, when all they’d have to do is vaccinate the dogs? And how bad is this problem? In a country of over a billion people, they only have 2,000 deaths per year as a result of rabies? So, they figure that to save the 2,000 per year, they need to kill off entire cities full of dogs? This makes no economic sense... but then again, when have Communists ever understood economics?

There is more going on here than meets the eye. Did you notice, last week, that people went out and CLUBBED THEIR OWN DOGS TO DEATH? This sure smells bad. Wouldn’t you have to be COERCED to beat your own dog to death? I know I wouldn't do it voluntarily.

C’mon, folks.

This is why a closed and regulated media is bad for public policy. You don’t get the straight story, and a lot of bad things can be covered up.

Here’s the other weird thing, they were paying people about $.60 per dog as compensation. Now, figure this… if they were to purchase rabies vaccinations for all these dogs, how much do you think each shot would cost? Probably no more than this amount. And do you really think that killing off all these dogs will stop the rabies problems? This whole thing is completely inhumane and should be stopped immediately.

SHAME ON YOU, CHINA!!! You know better!

What Is Dog Whispering?

There are more and more dog trainers out there starting to call themselves “Dog Whisperers”. So, what does that mean, and how do you know if you are working with a Dog Whisperer? And should you hire someone who calls themselves a “Dog Whisperer”?

We Haven't Won Yet...

Have we won our fight against the Dog Haters? No, not yet.

Have we convinced the public that pit bulls are not inherently vicious? No, not yet…

But, a hint of sanity has appeared in the mainstream media (LA Times) today…

No one is suggesting that pit bulls have replaced the Chihuahua as the new "it" dog — at least not until Paris Hilton gets one. And county statistics show that the biggest concentrations of licensed pit bulls are in Compton and Lancaster, not Malibu or Beverly Hills. But trainers and animal shelter staffers and rescuers see a trend: increasing adoptions by families, professionals and others willing to attempt to raise a civilized pit bull.

Many who own or rescue pit bulls want to rehabilitate the image of a breed they believe has been unfairly maligned.

"I would say we're trying to restore the image," said Donna Reynolds, 44, who lives in Oakland. She and her husband rescue pit bulls and run a website, http://www.badrap.org , that seeks to dispel the belief that pit bulls are vicious and unmanageable. Reynolds says a pit bull is "an exceptional family pet…. People who tend to believe they're scary have been educated by the media.

"I say, 'Have you hung out or met a dog you consider to be a true American pit bull?' 'No, I haven't, but my neighbor has one chained out in the backyard.' Well, any dog chained in the backyard is going to be mean."

Cesar Millan, the famed "Dog Whisperer" who has his own show on the National Geographic cable channel, says pit bulls, like all the power breeds, can be trained through exercise and discipline.

He keeps pit bulls in his resident pack at his South L.A.-based Dog Psychology Center, which is part dog camp, part rehab center.

"My kids are around pit bulls every day," said Millan, who believes the dogs have been unfairly stigmatized. "In the '70s they blame Dobermans, in the '80s they blame German shepherds, in the '90s they blame the Rottweiler, now they blame the pit bull."

Mass Slaughter Of Dogs In China... Again

A county in south-west China has ordered all 50,546 dogs to be killed to fight a rabies outbreak which has killed three people, state media says.

It has taken five days, but authorities in Mouding County in south-west China say they have killed almost all of the 50,000 dogs in the area.

Some of the dogs were clubbed to death in the street as their owners watched.

Other dog owners took matters into their own hands, poisoning or electrocuting their pets.

They were paid around $0.60 (£0.32) for each dog in compensation.

China has a poor record of animal protection. There are no laws to prevent cruelty to pets.

This is reminiscent of what happened during the Cultural Revolution, when dogs were slaughtered en masse for evil political purposes. This is why we refer to these kinds of things as a Dog Holocaust.

There had to be a better way to do this. They could easily have asked animal welfare groups to help raise funds for vaccines (though, if you read the article, they even killed the vaccinated dogs). This cull was inhumane in every way. This is why you need better laws protecting dogs and dog ownership everywhere in the world. You couldn't do this in the USA

I really don't dislike China. I have great hopes for China, but they have so much baggage left over from their feudal ways, then colonialism, and the horrors of Communism... It is going to take a long time. I would love to travel there, and even better, conduct training seminars for dog owners and government officials. There is a lot of good to be accomplished. Who knows? Maybe someone is reading this and might make that connection happen.