Dog Blog

Saturday, September 27, 2014

PET FOOD ALERT!


More salmonella tainted pet food is making the rounds on America's pet department shelves.  This time it's Bravo brand turkey and chicken dog and cat foods. 

Monday, September 22, 2014

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF FALL

                                   Peach Orchard Autumn (Pastel)

Fall has always been my favorite time of year, though one often has to travel a distance from Sacramento to truly enjoy the change of seasons.  I have never been to Vermont in the fall to really see some autumn color, but I hope to one day.  Now that the weather is finally cooler, I hope to get out and do some pastel painting in nature.  A dry, dusty medium for a dry, dusty landscape.  Seems appropriate.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

PEACHES HATES MY NEW BED!


I have a new bed, which I love, but Peaches hates it.  It's a Create-a-Bed wall unit (like the Murphy bed I had before). It lifts up out of the way during the day, and it's so much easier to lift and wonderfully comfy to sleep on.  I'd forgotten what a restful night's sleep feels like.  The only problem is that it's a higher profile bed than before.  Peaches doesn't want to climb up or even use the doggy steps like she did.  

She has always been a strange dog and freaks out when anything new is introduced into her environment.  Suffice to say she doesn't accept change well.  It's perfectly understandable when you consider that my poor little girl had more than enough disruption in her first three years of life.  Even after all these years, she's still damaged by whatever happened in her past, and I know it wasn't good.  But I still want her to learn to sleep on my new bed.  

I made things worse by trying to lead her up onto the bed.  She fought me like a tiger, shot out of the bedroom and wouldn't come back.  You can't make that dog do anything she doesn't want to do.  I am hoping that after a while she'll adjust to the change in my sleeping quarters and will still climb up for her morning cuddle with Mom, at least.  I would miss that!  I still have a few tricks to try, like putting her blanket on top of mine, so her scent is on the bed again.  The factory new smell of my Beautyrest mattress and bedding may also be confusing to her.  Peaches' sense of hearing may not be what it was, but there's nothing wrong with her nose. 


Thursday, September 11, 2014

ALSO REMEMBERING THE HEROIC DOGS OF 9/11


The last surviving search dog of 9/11 is still helping to save lives.

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

EXPANDED DOG FOOD RECALL


Be advised that the recall for Pedigree has been expanded to include 55-pound bags of Pedigree Adult Complete Nutrition dry dog food products sold in Sam’s Club in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Bags purchased from Sam's Club and Dollar Stores may contain bits of metal in them.  That sounds completely nutritious, all right.  This is a voluntary recall, they stress, but I wonder how many pets had already ingested the kibble before the recall?

It's becoming more and more difficult to find pet food that's safe to feed our beloved companions, and price isn't always a factor.  Just about every brand has been on the hit list at some time or other.  I will say that I avoid purchasing my pets' food at stores like Costco, Sam's Club, or other discount outlets because of the Cheapo China Syndrome.  Our previous dogs were sickened by the Waggin' Train chicken jerky treats bought at Costco.  Fortunately, I figured out what the problem was before it became more serious.  

I am stunned that those treats were still sold on shelves at pet stores and my neighborhood Raley's Superstore long after I informed their corporate office about the problem.  Another well known pet chain put their tainted treats on sale but did not remove them from the shelves to prevent other pets from being sickened or worse.  They were going to sell all those boxes of poison, come what may.  Their bottom line is what matters to corporations.  And that, folks, is what America is all about.  Profit reigns supreme, not pets or their people.  It makes me sad and angry, but we have the power to change it by not spending our money on their products.