Go To Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.

Six dogs died after being left outside Thursday in what the Arizona Humane Society is calling the worst day ever for heat-related pet deaths. The body temperatures of all six dogs had soared to over 109 degrees after they were left with no water or shelter in the summer sun, according to Kim Noetzel of the Humane Society. The temperature in Phoenix on Thursday afternoon was 109 degrees. In each case, the owners may face criminal animal cruelty charges.

I keep warning people to not leave their pets outside, unattended, unless they have built a proper indoor/ outdoor kennel. Maricopa County now has a full time prosecutor that specializes in animal welfare crime, and they will put you in jail if they find you have neglected your dog. But, not all listen.

I have watched dogs in the heat here, so I have a bit of knowledge on the subject. Even at 109 degrees, most dogs can be fine, provided they are supervised, have shade, have a wading pool in the shade, have plenty of water to drink, and are brought inside periodically if they look like they are getting hot. Note that the dogs that died had no shade, no water at all, and no supervision.

Further, some breeds do better in the heat than others, and dogs that aren't always in air conditioning can adapt to the heat... otherwise how do the coyotes make it in the Arizona desert? Coyotes are essentially dogs. I bet six coyotes didn't die of heat exhaustion yesterday.

In other news...

New York City: Get ready to wake up in the city that doesn't peep. That's the goal of the overhauled city noise code that takes effect Sunday. Boisterous bars, yapping dogs, ear-splitting construction and even Mister Softee ice-cream trucks are all in the cross hairs of the new rules... Also getting the muzzle treatment will be the city's pooches. Dogs that bark for 10 straight minutes - five minutes at night - could get their owners fined $75 to $175.

Most dog barking noise ordinances are more obnoxious than the dogs they are supposed to address. I do feel that there should be some kind of barking ordinance in cities to quiet incessantly barking, loud dogs. But, somehow they need to be written in such a way to not encourage the local busybodies to police the behavior of every dog and dog owner in the neighborhood.

Role Of Animal Control

Animal Control is supposed to be about public safety. Animal Control is a police agency. It is not supposed to be the proving ground for every wacko animal rights cause.

A New Jersey man paid $10,000 in cash yesterday to have his beloved mastiff released from a Brooklyn pound while he and dogged city lawyers continue their fight over whether the pooch should be neutered. The $10,000 he forked over will be held in escrow until the fall, when an appellate court will rule on the city's appeal of a Brooklyn judge's decision that a city law requiring stray animals to be neutered does not apply to Spartacus. The mastiff escaped from Georgoutsos' truck on May 28 when the vehicle was broken into in Queens while he was visiting friends. He also was told that a city law requires that stray animals be spayed or neutered before being released from shelters. On June 15, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack sided with Georgoutsos, declaring the City Council had not intended the law to apply to cases like this one. But Spartacus stayed where he was because the city appealed, arguing that the dog was picked up wandering city streets and thus fell under the law's provisions.

So, someone breaks into your home or car and lets your dog loose. It is not your fault. Then, when your dog, shot with 5 tranquilizer darts (which are quite painful and cause injury to the dog), is picked up by Animal Control, the authorities decide that your dog must be spayed or neutered because the dog is a "stray"? And then they fight you in court about it!

Don't think this could happen to you? Think again. Animal Control in many cities have been abusing their powers more and more lately. It is time to start fighting back. Talk to your legislators, contact the pro-dog organizations listed in this sidebar, and do something about it!

Nigerians Are After Me... And Everyone Else

Attn: Sir

My name is (Mr. MIKE MONEKE) who works as the operational manager in account management section in charge of credit and foreign bills of one of the prime banks here in Nigeria. I will like to introduce a very confidential business with you, there is a dormant account in my bank with a credit balance of ($48,223,000.00) Fourty-nine Million United state dollars which has been dormant for about five years now, on my further investigation I discovered that the owner of account is a foreigner who died five years ago in a motor accident along side his wife and two children, but left no information about his next of kin for the account because he was hiding the source of the money from the government. What I need from you is to use your name as the beneficiary and next of kin to the original account owner and then the bank manager will use his position as the Bank Manger to give Clearance and onward remission of the fund into your nominated account. The bank manager is involve in the deal, but sicretly involved do to his position in the bank. I will supply you with all necessary information about the account, which you will present to my bank through a lawyer, after the bank has accepted your application then I will go ahead and destroy every documents associated with this transaction and we will go ahead and share the money at the ratio 25% for your services to me and 70% for me, the remaining 5%will be set aside for any expenses incurred during this transaction. I will first transferUSD 20 Million to your account. I will fly over to meet you after the successful transfer for sharing according to the agreed percentages. I will have the remaining balance of USD28,223 Million transferred to your account only after the successful sharing.
Please your urgent reply is highly needed so as to stop further contacts, kindly include your telephone and fax numbers for easy communication.
Best Regard,
MIKE MONEKE

Well, Mr. Monkeybrains, you should have read the earlier post about how the new scam is to bilk people's money by pretending to sell them a dog, collecting the money, and then never delivering the dog. This old business of trying to get people to send you money is getting old. Try something new for a change. Get a real job.

I get this garbage in my inbox from time to time. It is amazing that this scam keeps going on and on. Who'd be stupid enough to fall for this kind of thing?

Apparently, some people do. It is unfortunate that it is now affecting pet owners.

I feel like Marty McFly in Back To The Future, except it isn't the Libyans selling plutonium to Doc, it is the Nigerians (or whomever) selling crap to the general public.

Dog DNA To Be Used To Identify Dogs In Bite Cases

IN what is claimed as a world first, a local council will use DNA testing to help bring canine offenders to heel. Melbourne's City of Port Phillip will issue DNA test kits to animal management officers as part of a three-month trial to see if advanced technology can help pinpoint dogs responsible for attacks on people and other animals. The officers will take samples of saliva, blood, hair or faeces left at the scene of an attack for later cross-matching against DNA obtained from dogs suspected of being responsible.

Big deal. The more important issue is when is it legitimate for a dog to bite a person? Some bites are unjustified. However, in some cases, bites are justified. I have no problem with dogs and owners being held to account for unjustified bites. I do have a problem with laws that don't take into consideration that sometimes a bite is justified.

Absurd Legislation

A proposed California bill would require dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered.

First, this is overkill. Way too much involvement in our lives by the government. Further, doesn't California have bigger problems to solve, such as illegal immigration, out of control spending, crime, prison reform, clean water, and fixing an unfriendly business environment?

I oppose this bill 100%. This is a decision best left to individual pet owners. I also believe this is an unconstitutional taking of property. There are other constitutional challenges that can be made against this bill. In fact, if they can do this, then can they tell ranchers that they must spay and neuter all their sheep, cattle, and swine? Can they tell fish farms to spay and neuter all their fish? You can bet the animal rights wackos are behind this.

Bunker The Dog Is Everywhere!

As many of you know, I trained Bunker the Dog, America's Cutest Puppy. He has now made the cover of a dog magazine. Check it out!

World's Ugliest Dog?

Elwood, a two-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, has been crowned the world's ugliest dog

I really have a problem with this kind of thing. I am tired of the freak shows in the media, I guess. I'm sick of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Jackson, the Bill & Hillary Clinton show, defrocked Catholic priests, over-steroided bodybuilders, and then, this kind of thing.

Why can't we start glorifying success, hard work, thrift, education, honor, faith, goodness, fitness, faithfulness, and raising functional families?

New Web Page

Hey, everyone, I've re-done my web page. I will soon be offering a wide range of downloadable dog training lessons, both written and video.

-- Sam The Dog Trainer

Nigerian Spammers Strike Back

Con artists are now targeting animal lovers. They use bogus ads with cute puppy faces to hook their victims. It happened to Kim McDonald of Gallipolis, Ohio. She went online to look for an English bulldog for her son. McDonald was willing to pay $500 (much lower than market rate) and was surprised to find three purebred puppies available for that price on PuppyFind.com. She contacted the sellers via e-mail. All three wrote back that they were at a conference in Nigeria.

OK, get this straight. When you get a solicitation of business from Nigeria, it is a scam. Got it? And you have to visit a breeder before you buy a dog. Never buy a dog without inspecting the breeder, the facilities, the breeding dogs, and the litter.

Consider Training

I was hired to do a Manners lesson last night. The dog was a nice dog, but had been allowed to become a brat, and the owners had gotten into a power struggle with the dog. The dog was starting to bite them, they were using too much force on the dog, and they didn't know anything about dog training. They were at the point of turning the dog over to a shelter. I spent about 90 minutes with them, showing them how to work with their dog properly, and gave them specific homework for each behavioral problem they were encountering. By the end of the lesson, the dog was relaxed, not doing all the goofy things it did at the beginning of the lesson, and the owners could see with their own eyes that their dog could be a good dog. I also recommended that they join one of my obedience classes so they could better learn how to relate to a dog. They were well meaning people, but left out the most important thing: they failed to work with a dog trainer long before these problems developed. All is not lost now, however. If they do the homework I suggested, this dog will work out well in their home.

Kid Mauled By Doberman

The attack may have happened when the child got too close to the dog's bone.

Kids should be supervised by parents. Kids should be told to leave dogs alone at certain times and in certain circumstances. I had to warn some parents the other day about letting kids lie with their faces near the food bowl while the dog is eating. Remember: it is an animal. It has instincts to survive and no amount of training can prevent dogs from being dogs.

Seattle Dog Nazis At It Again

He was moving out of Seattle to his family home in Florida, and taking the dog with him. But he didn't tell Seattle Animal Control, never believing he was supposed to. Now he's nearly $500 poorer — the result of fees and fines that snowballed and eventually were garnisheed from his bank account. What happened in Pendergast's case — the result of a licensing crackdown by Seattle Animal Control

Seattle's animal control is out of control and needs to be reigned in. It is time for the citizens to do something about it. Would you want this happening to you in your city? Would you tolerate this with your dog? Is this what animal control is supposed to be doing? This is absolutely outrageous. Shame on you!

AMERICA'S CUTEST PUPPY!

I AM THE TRAINER OF BUNKER THE DOG, AMERICA'S CUTEST PUPPY! Bunker The Dog won tonight on WETv's "America's Cutest Puppies" TV show. He is amazing, and he truly has that "It" factor they are looking for in the media.

Does Ketchup Prevent Dog Urine Burnout Of Lawns?

Urine is slightly acidic, but so is tomato ketchup, so it does not neutralise the urine as some people believe. Instead, the salt content of tomato ketchup, juice or sauce makes dogs drink more, diluting the nitrogen in their urine. Be aware that increased salt intake can cause problems with existing kidney or heart conditions

I regularly see people messing with the diets of their dogs. The latest is someone who is feeding their dog all fresh vegetables... which will kill their dog over time. If you don't know anything about dog nutrition, you have no business making up your own diet for your dog. Table scraps are one thing, a specialized diet based upon your delusions of health are another.

UPDATE

Feds search Vick's property in dogfighting investigation

They are going to crucify this guy if they can prove he was into dog fighting. Let's hope he is innocent. Dog fighting is a crime because it is a cruel blood sport.

Sanity In An Insane World

A woman facing jail time for "staring" at a police dog had charges against her dropped Monday after an Orange County prosecutor viewed videotape of the alleged crime.

There are good and moral reasons to arrest people for harassing police dogs. But this sure wasn't one of them. I sometimes am amazed at the judgment of some prosecutors. They are people, just like you and me, and sometimes they do things that are not morally justified. I feel that way about the Scooter Libby case. He's going to prison over a technicality, not over "outing" a CIA operative. And then, there's the Duke lacrosse case.

Prosecutors have a lot of power. Tons. And they can destroy a person's life. Somehow, there needs to be better checks and balances regarding the ethical behavior of prosecuting attorneys. Not everyone deserves a prison sentence, and not all crimes need to be pursued to the utmost in order to serve justice. I do believe "what comes around, goes around", and figure that one day, God will sort them all out. I've seen it in my lifetime, and it isn't always a pretty sight. I've seen the mighty fall. Better to live by a code to be a decent person, than to end up lower than those you harmed over the years. One day, you too will need a friend.