Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Turtle race! (21 of 30/87 of 274)

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Despite my appreciation for sea turtles, I somehow managed to miss hearing about the start of this year’s Great Turtle Race on April 16. This is Day 6 of the race, following 11 leatherback turtles from their feeding grounds in Canada to their breeding grounds around the Caribbean.

Leatherbacks are one of the three sea turtle species considered native to Hawaii, thus my interest (the other two species are the green and hawksbill). If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you have seen my posts about Lanikea “Turtle” Beach. Check out my turtle vacation photos if you haven’t already.

Still more than half the race to go (although some turtles are closing in fast), so I’m glad I didn’t miss it entirely!

Dog-friendly rides (15 of 30/81 of 274)

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Last week at the New York Auto Show, Honda showed its Dog Friendly version of the Element. Press release and photos can be seen here:

New York 2009: Dog Friendly Honda Element Concept

Although my Rottweiler wrecking crew would surely make short work of the soft fabric crate and the cushioned pet bed, I still think it’s cool that Honda would run with a concept like this, and with features that really will be useful to many dog owners.

I seem to remember this being done before, though, but I can’t find any online references to a dog-friendly minivan done several years ago by one of the American carmakers (I want to say it was a Chevy Astro, but I’m not 100% sure on that). I didn’t save the paper article and apparently I didn’t blog about it, nor post to any forums either!

When I got my first Rottweiler Heidi, I still had a 1986 Honda Civic CRX. That would be the 2-seater hatchback. It was a good thing we had only one Rottweiler for a while. I was a bad dog owner and let her ride in the passenger seat, usually unrestrained. Fortunately she was one of those dogs that would fall asleep in the car almost immediately. I learned to fully recline the passenger seat before letting her in the car and surprisingly enough, we were both happy and comfortable and never got hurt.

That car was replaced by a Honda Civic coupe, and my husband replaced a Thunderbird with the ultimate dog-friendly vehicle, a Chevy Suburban. Shortly after Civic #2 was replaced by a Dodge Caravan minivan, he traded in the Suburban for the light truck he really wanted and ever since then, the dogs have had a Caravan as their main transportation. The newest one was just picked up in March. The middle row of seats immediately got folded into the floor, and probably won’t emerge until it’s time to sell or trade.

The Caravan was not my first choice vehicle, but it’s been a good one for us. I’d be all over the Dog Friendly Honda if it were an Odyssey though!

Obligatory First Dog comments (11 of 30/77 of 274)

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All of us psycho dog people with blogs have an obligatory First Dog post to make at some point, so here is mine. My psycho dog person credentials: 15 years in Rottweilers, show occasionally, trial infrequently, training is lifelong, health testing is done as appropriate for my breed, not currently a member of any clubs but my personal code of ethics would meet or exceed that of the clubs, have not bred a litter.

Shortly after TMZ broke the news about Tuesday’s upcoming arrival of the First Dog, the mainstream media picked up on it and a few different versions of the story have been reported. However, everyone seems to be in agreement that the pup is a male Portuguese water dog, six months old, from a breeder in Texas who is also the breeder of Senator Ted Kennedy’s dogs. Some are reporting that the pup is in fact Senator Kennedy’s youngest PWD Cappy. Other sources are reporting that the pup is one that was returned to the breeder for rehoming, and is from the same or similar bloodlines as Cappy.

As a psycho dog person, I have very mixed feelings about the whole First Dog thing.

I never had a dog or cat as a youngster, and when I hear my husband and friends talk about their childhood pets, I feel I missed something important by not having that experience. Nothing that permanently scarred me, of course, but if the Obama kids don’t have to miss out on it, good for them.

I didn’t live in the limelight as a child, nor do I now. The Obama family does. Celebrity pets (and I would argue that all of the recent presidents are just as much celebrities as politicians or statesmen) are another thing I have mixed feelings about. They will obviously have all of their material needs taken care of, but in many cases, it won’t be a typical family life they get to live.

The Portuguese Water Dog community is wary of the fallout that the sudden attention to their breed will bring. It’s the same fallout that is familiar to anyone in a breed that has been popularized by a movie or television show: overbreeding, people buying or adopting a pup “like the one in the movie” and between six to twelve months later, an influx of that breed to rescues and shelters because people didn’t research the breed and expected it to be “just like the one in the movie.” You know, the one that some professional trained, and that was performing according to a script.

Since the Obamas and the media have referred to the faux breed name “Labradoodle” whenever the First Dog subject came up, I am glad they did not pick one. I have nothing against mixed breed dogs in general. I have everything and then some against purposely bred faux breed mixes with dumbass cutesy names and inflated price tags.

I’m not surprised at the comments at TMZ and other media sites from people who are unhappy that the Obamas are not adopting a shelter dog. I am slightly surprised at the pure hate in some of those comments, and the ones that say that now they cannot support Obama because he is getting a dog from a breeder. Ummm. There are valid reasons for a person to not support Obama, but his dog source would be a real reach for being any kind of reason at all.

Of course it would be a much better feel good story if a homeless dog went from shelter to White House, but I don’t feel the Obamas are being irresponsible to get a dog from a reputable breeder, especially in light of Malia’s allergies. I really don’t know how many purebred dogs of the so-called hypoallergenic breeds turn up in shelters each year. I don’t think it is many compared to the more common breeds and mixes.

The breeder is a member of a Code of Ethics club, and their breeding dogs appear to be Champions and health tested. If the news reports are true and the almost-First Dog was returned to the breeder by the original owner, the breeder is one of the good ones that take responsibility for a dog for its entire life, and the original owner is honoring a contract that undoubtedly requires them to contact the breeder if they cannot keep the dog for any reason.

So that’s what this psycho dog person thinks. What about you?

Out like a lamb (31 of 31/66 of 274)

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Not exactly, unless you mean out cold like a lamb that was just t-boned by the lion who has been hanging around since bringing March in. Spring is seriously struggling for a foothold, even here in Chicago, which has been spared much of the truly serious weather received by other areas.

March showed some promise of going out like a lamb, with some warm and beautiful days. But winter returned on Sunday. It was a very short return, though, with not quite two inches of snow falling between about 2:00AM and 7:00AM. Most of it melted by mid-afternoon. It’s been cold, windy and rainy since then, and the bunnies and robins just don’t look very happy. Or maybe they look unhappy because Rottweilers are chasing them.

I always look forward to seeing the first robins of spring. They have been here for a while now, and there is one rather unusual-looking robin that has been hanging around the neighborhood. He has a lot of white patches all over his body, almost as though someone dabbed him with paint. I’ve never noticed any robins with this type of coloring before.

robin01

robin02

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I did some searching on the ‘net after I took those photos and it seems that the probable explanation is that this bird is a partial albino. According to Journey North’s American Robin pages, this condition could either be genetic or caused by injury or age. Check out their article Photo Study: Who is That Masked Robin? and see if you agree that is the story for my visitor as well.

This concludes NaBloPoMo for March 2009. Give it up for all who participated!

Giving information: canine parvovirus (18 of 31/53 of 274)

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Oprah Winfrey’s loss of one of her two recently-adopted cocker spaniel puppies to canine parvovirus is a sad story on many levels. Although I have disliked Oprah for years, I do truly sympathize with her loss. Parvo is a horrible thing for both dog and owner to go through, and it is a sad fact that even those with the financial means to provide the expensive and intensive care needed will sometimes have to face the loss of their beloved pet. The fact that canine blood bank Hemopet was contacted suggests that no expense was spared to provide excellent treatment.

There have been questions regarding whether the shelter followed proper quarantine protocols, as the timeframes involved suggest that the puppies contracted parvo at the shelter. Parvo is highly contagious and lives for a long time in the environment, so it’s not impossible that the puppies got it somewhere else either.

As a psycho dog person, I also wonder about things like why a shelter would adopt out two puppies of the same age to the same person, even (or should that be especially) a famous person. Or why puppies that were basically too young to have received more than one vaccination in the recommended series of 3-4 shots would be allowed to go to the filming of a television show, where they would come into contact with who knows how many people.

I am not a veterinarian and thankfully I have no first-hand experience with parvo. Rottweilers are one of the breeds that are most susceptible to parvo, so it is definitely a major concern of mine until my dogs are over a year old and getting their first annual booster.

Oprah’s sphere of influence means that many more people are now aware of parvo and how serious it can be. I hope there will be some follow-up to also make them aware of how to prevent and treat the disease as well. Here are some links if you don’t want to wait:

Adopting puppies can be devastating: Dr. Patty Khuly’s commentary on the incident from her excellent “Dolittler” veterinary blog.

How my puppy survived the PARVO VIRUS: The BAM Parvo Treatment: Sina Norris is a veterinary technician and a Rottweiler breeder. This is a day-to-day medical diary detailing the treatment that saved puppy Jarci’s life.

Intervet’s Progard vaccine is the vaccine of choice for many Rottweiler owners as it is the one that appears to be most effective in preventing parvo when administered on the proper schedule. If you do have parvo on your premises, be aware that even with proper disinfection with bleach or Parvosol, most veterinarians will recommend that you not bring a new puppy (or an older dog whose immunization history is unknown) in until at least 6 months to a year have passed.