Climate Controlled Dog Crate

The climate-controlled carrier uses patent-pending conduction/convection technology that turns on cooling when the temperature reaches 72 degrees and warms up when it's below 65. The product has had extensive testing and inspection by veterinarians, according to Bob Inello, chief executive of Komfort Pets, who says the carrier "can provide sanctuary in unheated garages" and is equally useful for homes, cars, boats and RVs. The smallest carrier (19-by-13), designed for lap dogs or cats, is available in ruby or silver for $399 through Komfort Pets

I think there's a market for this kind of thing. Would the airlines allow this to run if the dog was on a plane flight?

Of Course, We Knew This Was Coming

BERN, Switzerland (AP) - The Swiss could soon be voting on whether lawyers should be allowed to defend animals in court.

Look, none of us condones animal abuse. However, that doesn't then logically mean we think that animals have the right or ability to hire lawyers to defend them in court. It is one thing to watch and enjoy a movie, such as Ratatouille. It is quite another thing to believe that rats are little people. C'mon folks, even as a little kid, I knew the difference between a real rabbit and Bugs Bunny.

When did we let the wackos start to run our lives? When we lost our way. When we decided to start attacking and tearing down the foundations of our society.

When things were tough, such as during the Great Depression and WW II, our nation honed what was to be called The Greatest Generation. Family, thrift, hard work, faith and a belief in our nation's founders saw them through. Today, we are overfed and underchallenged, so we have time to think up these ridiculous and self destructive concepts. No wonder the headlines are all about Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and the Olsen twins. We don't hear much about Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, or Franklin. Same thing with our sick sister, Europe. They have lost their way. Demoralized. No longer believing in themselves as nations, having purged their values and dispensed with their heroes.

So, we get this kind of foolishness. Garbage in, garbage out.

Idle hands are the Devil's playground.

Anyone Could Be A Nut... Going Postal

SANTA CRUZ - A letter carrier was arrested Friday in Freedom, a town near Watsonville, following a month-long investigation by the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General into allegations that she tried to extort hundreds of dollars from one of her customers.

Just because a dog is accused of biting someone doesn't mean the dog actually did it. I wonder how many fake dog bite calls happen every year? I know that nasty neighbors will sometimes make fake complaint calls about pets to harass people.

Dog Saves Child

Zoey is a Chihuahua, but when a rattlesnake lunged at her owners' 1-year-old grandson, she was a real bulldog. Booker West was splashing his hands in a birdbath in his grandparents' northern Colorado back yard when the snake slithered up to the toddler, rattled and struck. Five-pound Zoey jumped in the way and took the bites.

How long has it been since we heard a good news story concerning a dog? It seems that all the news is bad news, because that is what sells. Such bad news reporting turns pit bulls into devil dogs, gives the impression that we need to over regulate everyone's lives concerning every thing, and whittles away at our freedoms.

Pit Bulls and Stupid Fools
By Doug Giles

It’s sad that one of the greatest dog breeds ever to grace the planet, the American Pit Bull Terrier, has fallen into the hands of animal abusing idiots. Guys like Michael Vick, our nation’s scurrilous hip hop hoodlums and other waste-of-sperm-and-eggs are not even worthy to carry this canine’s excrement much less superintend their subsistence. The Pit Bulls should be walking these boys on the leash, teaching them to fetch, heel and sit and not the other way around.

I think I speak for all Pit Bull lovers by saying, “thanks morons for sullying a substantial animal’s rep via dog fighting.”

If True, What A Loser!

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges related to illegal dogfighting. Vick and three others were charged with violating federal laws against competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting the enterprise across state lines.

Dog Economics

The Virginia Veterinary Medical Association is advising its members to refuse to vaccinate dogs whose owners are upset by a new law that requires rabies certificates to be sent to local tax collectors. The measure is intended to improve compliance with the current dog-licensing law - which could mean a bill in the mail for a dog owner who previously avoided buying a license. But the association's advice could lead to fewer dogs being vaccinated, wrote Bob Kane, president of the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association, in an e-mail to the group's approximately 2,700 members, state legislators and reporters. Some owners want to keep their personal and pets' information private, Kane said. He urged veterinarians to protect clients' privacy by giving the vaccination but not sending the certificate.

Politicians should take a few economics courses before they try to enact legislation. Here is a good quote from an economist which says it better than I can:

Politicians have what we economists call a zero elasticity vision of the world. They think people will behave after taxes just as they behaved before taxes and the only effect of a tax is to bring in more revenue.

Regardless of what you think about requiring people to license their dogs, you can't ignore human behavior when enacting laws. What is worse, people not vaccinating their dogs for rabies, or people not licensing their dogs? I am against dog licensing. I think the fairest and most simple way of covering the cost of animal control services is sales tax on dog food (a consumption tax). Sure, larger dogs eat more than smaller ones, but who cares? Big deal. Licensing is an invasion of privacy and is often used to ban certain breeds of dog. Licensing doesn't make people responsible pet owners. It doesn't make them pick up poop, stop excessive barking, deal with those who don't socialize or train their dogs... nothing. However, if your dog isn't licensed and bites someone, licensing is used by prosecutors as an indicator of whether you are a responsible dog owner. Ignorant stuff. The current system doesn't work, but politicians keep passing the same types of laws and expecting new results.

Pet Neuter / Spay Bill Fails... For Now

SACRAMENTO – Senators turned away mandatory pet sterilization legislation Wednesday, ending months of passionate debate over an issue that touches millions of dog and cat owners throughout California. However, it may be just a temporary lull. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine already has begun to recast his measure to narrow its reach in ways that could attract more support next year.

This article was followed by this comment:

Lloyd Levine is the same freak who wants legislation outlawing incandescent light bulbs. This tool sits around all day thinking of things to ban. The problem in the People's Republic of California is that Government thinks its role is to tell you what to do, what not to do, what not to eat, where to smoke, and what to think. You'd think the legistators would actually be spending their time doing something to fix the problems in this state. Instead, they sit around and think of new ways to control what you do in your home. The people of California are stupid cows and they deserve what they get when they elect people like Lloyd Levine.

Say that! Amen, brother.

Dublin Council Bans 11 Breeds

Akita
American Pit Bull Terrier
Bandog
Bull Mastiff
Bull Terrier
Doberman
German Shepherd Dog
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Rottweiler
Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Tosa Inu

I have worked with every one of these breeds, and not one could be considered inherently vicious. It is interesting how there is never any scientific basis for establishing these lists of breeds. It is always done out of fear, ignorance, hatred of dogs, and publicity / attention seeking do gooders.

Mitt, It Would Have Been Better To Admit You Did Something Stupid

Mitt Romney placed his family dog, an Irish setter named Seamus, into a kennel lashed to the top of his station wagon for a 12-hour family trip from Boston to Ontario in 1983. Despite being shielded by a wind screen the former Massachusetts governor erected, Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack. When Romney's eldest son, Tagg, and his four brothers complained about the brown runoff down the back windshield, their father quietly pulled the car over, borrowed a gas station hose and sprayed down both the dog and the kennel before returning to the road. Romney dismissed any outcry about the 24-year-old incident, saying the dog enjoyed his rooftop perch. "He scrambled up there every time we went on trips," Romney said at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh Thursday. "He got in all by himself and enjoyed it."

OK, doing this to a dog is inhumane. It just is. The dog was wiped out, and the environment for the dog in that crate was extremely unpleasant. This was 12 hours atop the car. You try riding atop a car for 12 hours, strapped on in a windy box, and see how you feel about that. It would be miserable.

It baffles me why politicians can't just say they made a mistake. Not taking responsibility for this kind of thing is a big red flag to me when voting for someone. I won't vote for a liar, cheat, crook, or someone who has no sense of right or wrong (which is why there'd be no way I'd ever vote for someone like Hillary... I've had enough of her and Bill's circus).

By the way, this is no different that you idiots who put a dog in the back of your pickup without restraint so it could fall out, or in the direct sunlight on a 100 degree day so it can burn it's feet on the floorboards and overheat in the sun, or during a downpour so it can dangerously lower the dog's body temperature.

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.