Home Zookeeper

I think the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are the biggest bunch of hypocritical jerks ever. I’m sure I’ve written about my dislike of them in the past. They claim to want to work for the fair treatment of animals but they do more to undercut their cause than they do to benefit animals.

Their latest gag involves a fly and the President. Of course, you probably know he’s not my favorite person, but for pity’s sake it takes skill to swat and kill a fly with just your hand so I give him props. But of course, PETA has to throw a fit and make a stink about killing a FLY.

He didn’t shoot a dog or run over a kitten. He didn’t even eat frog legs. He killed a FLY. I’m sure that they would grumble if he swatted and killed a mosquito too.

Their priorities are sorely misplaced and their goals seem more oriented around controversy and raising money for themselves than actual protection of animals.

Did you know that PETA run shelters have an astronomical kill rate? Only 0.32% adoption rate in 2008!

PETA rakes in nearly $30 million each year in income, much of it raised from pet owners who think their donations actually help animals.

Imagine how much good that money could actually do for animals in need? Say, working to show the horrors of puppy mills. Imagine how much in the way of advertising and marketing that money could buy.

(Not that I love the sad commercials put on by the Humane Society…they make me cry!)

PETA equates the eating of cows to the Holocaust and thinks that humans owning animals as pets is cruel. Yet killing adoptable animals is just fine. They are nuts and it’s horrifying to me that they are able to raise so much money…money that could go to actual animal causes.

The reason I still belong to Entrecard is because there are still tons of great blogs out there to discover. One such blog recently “dropped” their card here on Home Zookeeper and I was tickled to discover her blog…Marges Pets.

It’s a new blog but so far she’s doing great. I was very interested in the first few entries that I read…they caught my attention and were well written. Her goal is to raise funds to help her take care of animals. Which sounds like something I will do when I get older too. I’ve always told hubby that I want to have a barn renovated for rescuing dogs.

So head on over and take a look when you have a moment. I love her BB story.

I came across a cool blog and as I was reading some of her posts I came across one that mentioned something called NAIS. She is anti - NAIS which aroused my curiosity so I decided to dig a little deeper to find out what it was.

NAIS apparently stands for National Animal Identification System.

Sounds harmless enough. Unless you’re like me and never like the sound of a “national” identification system of any kind. Aside from drivers licenses we don’t need to be identified and tracked like cattle. Which is what this program wants for animals - a way to track them from birth to death and everywhere in between.

I am not a fan of the government tracking us or our animals for our “own good.” The premise behind this law appears to be the government’s way of preventing disease or at least discovering where they start. At least that is the excuse they are using.

Just like the issues with the Consumer Protection Act passed last year, the unintended consequences are rarely thought about by the politicians, who aren’t even affected by such laws. Thankfully, that law got a stay for another year so children’s clothing and items are okay for now, but who knows what will happen in this year.

The unintended consequences of the NAIS, to me, appear to be a massive overreach of government into personal lives. This country used to be much more free. People had the freedom to do as they wished with their land, their livestock, their businesses.

While some regulations are good and I have no problems with, this kind of system reeks of big brother. It does not just track the animals, but the people and their movement. It affects not just huge farms, but hobbyists and small businesses (just like with the CSPIA).

Even though USDA is advocating this program, the government has not done a cost analysis of the program. Costs for similar programs in other countries are estimated to range from $37/head to $69/head on average. With over a hundred million cattle and millions of other livestock animals in the United States, the NAIS will likely cost producers, businesses, and taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

Unintended consequences.

All in the name to “protect” us … usually from ourselves.

I cannot tell from reading whether this law will someday apply to companion animals like cats and dogs. My dogs are microchipped, but it was a voluntary decision, not mandated by law. I do not want the government coming in telling me that I *must* do something like the NAIS proposes.

My hubby turns 40 this year. The BIG one. He’s not one for parties so his sister and I are planning a get away to the mountains.

How does this relate to the home zoo?

Do you know how hard it is to find a cabin or house to rent that will accept dogs? Let alone FOUR dogs? Four BIG dogs?

It’s nearly impossible.

Two years ago we did rent a cabin and made special arrangements to take four dogs (we had three and my SIL had one). It worked out great and we left the place cleaner than we found it. Do you think that place would give us a referral? hahahaha Somehow I doubt it. We would stay there again but we really want some snow and it’s going to be April. So we have to go up into a real mountain … this place was only halfway up the hill.

It’s hard to convince a place - a business - that our dogs won’t cause damage. I’m sure all owners say that. But in our case it is TRUE. Trooper was still a puppy when we took him on this other trip and we watched him like a hawk (he wasn’t even neutered then) and had no accident issues at all.

Quinn leaks but it seems periodic and we’d bring her blankies for her. Kodiak is about as mellow and easy going as any of them.

Timber has never been to a new place but when I brought him home from the pound he never lifted his leg and he has only once or twice had an accident - and it was in the beginning. I have full confidence that he is fully house broken now.

I totally understand where the businesses are coming from but boy is it frustrating as a pet owner … and a responsible one at that. We want to go away and we always include our dogs. The only time our dogs don’t come with us on vacation is if we fly somewhere tropical.

There’s probably a great business opportunity catering to pet owners.

My first reaction to watching this video was disgust. If my husband were to do this I’d make fun of him and be mad. At first.

This is in my neck of the woods. The officer stops traffic on a very busy highway in order to let a momma duck and her ducklings cross the street.

Why do I say it, at first, made me angry? Because it is not the job of a police officer to protect wildlife that happens to wander on the road.

Not only that, but most law enforcement deaths are from traffic accidents so this officer was putting himself in even greater danger for some ducks. I would be furious if my husband put himself in this kind of danger. You can see that even though he was trying to stop traffic some of the cars were still going around (which also pissed me off … you see lights you stop or pull to the right…you don’t go around!).

On second consideration though I think that the cop did the right thing. Why such a change in thought?

I was discussing this with my coworkers and one of them brought up the fact that if he hadn’t stopped traffic that it is very likely that some moron would have swerved to avoid the ducks, thereby causing a serious accident and very likely a fatal pileup.

Knowing the people in this state I can say that is probably exactly what would have happened. There are people here who would rather swerve to avoid hitting a squirrel and put their own lives or the lives of others in danger than to hit the squirrel.

Me? I’d hit the squirrel if there were cars or people around. I hate squirrels anyway and no way would I try to avoid one if it meant crashing my car or hurting someone. [Lest you think me heartless, I also wouldn't swerve just to hit a squirrel...yucky.]

So after considering the situation I am glad the officer did what he did, even though my gut reaction was disgust. He probably saved the lives (or at least prevented serious injury) of people.

Oh…and yes, I’m specie-est (or whatever the word is) because if it would have been a dog I would have immediately been glad the officer stopped traffic. But whatever. =) I know my faults.

The zoo is finding a routine, for the most part. Timber and Trooper have really started to bond and play and enjoy each other. There have been some fairly large … we’ll call them “broo ha has” over toys and such but otherwise lots of rough housing and hanging out together.

Which is nice for Kodiak who is not much of a rough-houser. He prefers to watch … or he’ll act like he’s going to play and then run away and hide behind mommy or daddy. hahahaha He’s so cute.

So while Kodiak and Quinn are at the groomers today, Trooper and Timber stay home with mommy and daddy. It’s so great to have a younger dog for Trooper to play with…though Timber really does have more energy. I expect he’ll calm down a bit as he gets older. He is, after all, still a puppy.

Walking on a leash is still a challenge. Hubby is such a softy that he tends to let Timber walk ahead and pull, when he needs to keep him right close to his hip and keep the leash tight … it’s one of those special leashes that when he stops pulling it loosens up but when he pulls it gets really really tight. I hate it but it’s the same kind that Caesar of Dog Whisperer fame uses.

Even Trooper isn’t an angel on the leash. I had to take him DOWN on our Monday evening walk. I mean, full wrestle to the ground in the dirt take down. One of the neighbor dogs is unfriendly and his owner/walker person (a high school boy) was not keeping him under control. I had Trooper in a sit stay but he was still focused on Bear (the other dog) and he finally lunged (not a happy, let’s play lunge) so I had to take him down and get him on his back. He did NOT want to concede, but he did. Because he knows that I am his alpha mommy. Of course we both were covered in beauty bark. Oy.

Trooper has gotten more and more … I don’t want to say aggressive … but assertive maybe. He didn’t used to be so willing to fight another dog but has started to be “protective” when around me. It started before we got Bullet as a foster so it was around that same time. I’m not sure if it’s just him getting older or what.

Thankfully he is realizing that Timber is here to stay and that it is okay if mommy and daddy give Timber love too.

It’s so fun to watch them together. I love having 4 dogs. They all have SUCH amazingly different personalities. Each one is such a blessing to our lives. I’m just thankful that Timber is such a wonderful dog.

I find out all kinds of things listening to talk radio. Did you know that pet owners lean toward McCain for President? I think that’s so funny.

Dog owners specifically favor McCain over Obama 42 to 37 percent. People who own no pets favor Obama 48% to 34%. McCain has a lot of animals…I had no idea…

He has a veritable menagerie, including Sam the English springer spaniel, Coco the mutt, turtles Cuff and Link, Oreo the black and white cat, a ferret, three parakeets and a bunch of saltwater fish.

I LOVE turtles…aren’t those great names!?!

Are people who own pets inherently better people? I don’t know…there are plenty of bad people who own pets (uh…Hitler to name one evil one). But apparently the perception is that a candidate who owns pets is more responsible and compassionate. I suppose, but in my view I think owning pets is just sort of frosting on the cake … if a person is already good then owning pets makes them that much better. *grin*

While most of us will be celebrating this 4th of July with BBQs, hotdogs, fireworks, and a cold drink or two…animals at our local shelter will be facing off with the clock. Don’t wait until after the holiday if you have plans to adopt.

Go visit today or tomorrow and bring a new family member home.

Herd County animal shelter in Georgia has the most beautiful little Siamese kitty. I wish I could bring her home! Trooper would enjoy her as a snack. She would make a wonderful companion, as would the other sweet kitties and doggies in danger of being put down this Friday.

And Saving Shelter Pets needs your help!!! They have 52 - FIFTY TWO - puppies to rescue and transport. That is a lot of sweet, adorable, and adoptable puppies to save.

Look at that face!!! My heart melts. If you can spare it, please make a special Puppy Promises donation. I donated $25 yesterday and wish it could be $2,500! So far, most of the sales from my Etsy shop have gone directly to SSP. Don’t tell my hubby!

Thank you Hounds Good for your hard work to find these animals homes or rescue. You have inspired me so much in the last few months and I put in my application yesterday to be a foster mom. =) I’m nervous but excited and hope that I can make a difference and save lives! The minute I get approved I am going to start blogging about our experience.

Oh and I’ll also be asking for help and advice!!! =D LOL You can be sure of that.

Today in the Pacific Northwest it is in the 90s. It’s a “dry” heat, which means absolutely nothing to me except that I know humidity is just more miserable. We’re not used to this kind of weather though. Summer has been slow in coming, and while I was getting tired of clouds, this heat is no fun for me or the dogs.

Animals can so easily overheat in this kind of weather. I was sick to my stomach yesterday as I drove home. I saw two different trucks with their dogs in the back beds. The dogs looked absolutely miserable - completely out in the open with no shelter (not to mention no security…but that’s another topic altogether) and I presume no water. Their tongues hanging out, panting so heavily I just wanted to roll down my window and yell at the drivers. It was worse because it was stop and go traffic on the freeway - it just seems hotter surrounded by all that pavement.

I was thinking about those dogs this afternoon when I took Quinn with me to the Post Office. I’m sure someone thought I was being abusive to her - taking her out in this heat. What they don’t know is that Quinn LOVES heat. Seriously LOVES it. She will lay out on our deck even in the hottest weather and won’t come in unless we force her. She was born in a hotter climate (Spokane, WA has much hotter summers) but she’s still a black and white dog. She will come in panting like mad but she just loves it. I wonder if the heat feels good on her old bones.

Anyway, my point is that I know my dogs and I knew that she could handle the short trip to the Post Office. I left all the windows down (it wasn’t too busy so I felt safe doing that) and could see her from the post office as I waited in line. I watched her carefully and was prepared to go back out if she looked distressed. She didn’t even pant for the first few minutes. And she purposely stayed in the sun with her head hanging out the window. She’s so cute. By the time I got out to my car (no more than 10 minutes) she was panting (not heavily) but still in the sun with head hanging out. I offered her a drink of water from my water bottle and she wasn’t that interested.

I know how my dogs react to heat. I could never have taken Trooper or Kodiak on that short trip. Both would have been absolutely miserable. I also know Quinn’s limits and if I’d left her much longer she would not have been comfortable. All animals have different tolerances.

We can’t even walk the dogs in this weather. In 70 degree heat they get so hot that after we’re done they go immediately to their kiddie pool. Trooper and Kodiak spar to see who can get in and dig around the fastest. It’s hilarious.

Quinn rarely gets in the pool.

So now, in this heat, we have our small air conditioner (window unit in the bedroom) going full blast with the fan blowing on high and the dogs are still inside panting. Our house gets full on sun until around 4 p.m. so it heats up very hot. I need to get curtains to keep the sun out and keep the house cooler. The only reason we got the AC unit was for Trooper. Before we got it the house would get to over 100 degrees. With all his extra fur he’d probably get heat stroke.

While the dogs are miserable, my cats are in heaven. They love to sun bathe and at their new house with grandma I hear they are enjoying laying by the sliding glass door in the sun even in this hot weather. But even cats can get overheated.

Stay cool everyone!

My heart is as big as can be when it comes to pets and animals. However, I think that logical dictates that some animals have more value than others. I do not value a fish as much as I value my dogs. I do not value the life of the stray, unneutered Chow that wanders my neighborhood more than the lives of my dogs and would kill that dog (if necessary) if he attempted to harm my pets. Though Quinn would certainly do her best to defend us all.

Likewise, human life (okay, most human life…there are some humans I wouldn’t value more than slug slime) should be valued more than animal life. If my house was on fire and my husband passed out I would do everything in my power to save his life first. If he were okay I would then do what it took to save my dogs without killing myself. If I were unable to save them I would mourn like nobody’s business, but I would continue living, and probably one day get more dogs. If my husband died, life would not move on in the same way.

What’s my point?

I believe that there is a point at which so called “animal rights” activists go too far. Acts of violence against humans or human interests do nothing to further the goal of making sure animals are treated fairly. I don’t want animals tortured for unnecessary purposes like testing mascara. But I do believe science has a commitment to discovering new and better ways to treat humans (and animals for that matter). Doing so humanely is important, but the extremists don’t want any scientific progress whatsoever if it involves the use of animals.

What about pound dogs and cats? I have heard stories of people “adopting” animals and then taking them to a lab to use in testing. I have very, very, strongly mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I absolutely hate the idea of a potential loving pet being taken to a lab and used for experimentation. On the other hand, is it better to allow these animals to be euthanized with no benefit because there aren’t enough homes for them all? At least with testing they may be part of a cure or discover to help us all.

I do not think that animal testing will end anytime soon, though it would be a wonderful thing if science could instead use computers to test their discoveries. In the meantime, PETA and animal rights extremists should work harder to get dogs, cats and other abandoned animals new homes. It will do a world of good!

I get paid to write on this blog (not a lot but something is better than nothing right?). It’s one of the reasons I decided to join 451 Press but I also wanted a dedicated blog to write about animals and especially my dogs.

I am thinking that I want to donate all the earnings from writing here to Saving Shelter Pets - a non profit organization that tries SO hard to rescue dogs from kill shelters and place them in loving homes.

I earned a little over $7 last month (I know…big bucks!) so I’ll round up and donate $10 to their latest group of rescues in desperate need of funding.

Can you help???

SSP still needs over $700 to save this group of dogs who, through no fault of their own, are trapped in a bad situation and desperately want a loving home of their own. Every little bit helps - even just $5.

And all donations are tax deductible. I guess I should be keeping track every time I send a few dollars. Oops. I’m so bad at tracking those kind of things.

Every time you visit me here at Home Zookeepers I earn a few more cents that will go to save the special animals that wind up in shelters. If you have time, please visit every day. I will do my best to have something interesting to say.

I found this interesting article via Instapundit.

My dogs are of course the smartest dogs in the universe *grin* but apparently being smart isn’t necessarily a good thing for animals in terms of evolution and life span. Of course the scientists used fruit flies in their experiment (what is it about fruit flies?). I honestly don’t know how their results truly translate to larger mammal populations.

“…the very act of learning takes a toll. The scientists trained some fast-learning flies to associate an odor with powerful vibrations. “These flies died about 20 percent faster than flies with the same genes, but which were not forced to learn…”

I know I feel pretty drained after learning anything new. Ha! I just hope I’m not shortening Trooper’s life span by teaching him new things in Agility Training. =)

I wonder how this study would apply with cats. If Fade can learn how to play dead (*grin*) he has to have some smarts! I know that my kitties are so smart that they even clean their own litter boxes (that’s another story for another day).

This bird is at a shop in Maui and I had so much fun feeding him. The shop keeper told us he was a “bipolar” bird and to be careful when handling him. I thought a bipolar bird was hilarious…being that I’m bipolar myself. We were told to carefully wiggle our first finger until the birdie put his head down and then we could scratch him.

Another lady came over and tried to pet him directly and he bit her! *giggle* Okay, it’s not funny but she didn’t follow directions and she was warned. There’s even a sign!

We had a great time at this shop and bought a lot of plants…two of which have already died. We just don’t have very good luck with tropical plants. But we still have two Plumerias that are hanging on to life. I hope they live!!!

Visit the other Camera Critters participants and see fun critters!

We have a lot of tree frogs that hang out on the porch, especially at night. This little guy was hiding in the Dora umbrella and was a little startled when I opened it.

I snapped a few pictures then helped the him down. Then Rae had fun touching him and watching him hop away. She has since talked about the frog a lot. Those few minutes spent with him made an impression on her.

The other night there were four frogs around the front door. I think they were hanging out waiting for dinner to be attracted to the outside light. They sure are cute little fellas.

My niece’s horse hurt her foot recently. They went by the vet who gave them something to put on it to ease her pain while it heals. Apparently it is quite challenging to administer medicine to a horse. They got it done but will have to repeat the process for a few days.

It makes me glad we have small animals that are a lot easier to treat when they are hurt or sick.