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Vol. 2 Issue 4 February 24, 2008 |
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Everyday as we look over all the news feeds, we're appalled at all the stories about abandoned dogs, puppy mills, fighting dogs confiscated and abused dogs. On the frontlines trying to help these dogs are the shelters and large organizations such the Humane Society and the ASPCA. All these groups need support. There are so many, how do we decide who to donate money to? First and foremost should be your local no-kill shelters. The small local shelters and rescue groups are always in dire need of dollars. Do you have a favorite breed? Then look up the rescue groups devoted to that breed and help them out.
A new group we recently became aware of is called "Dogs in Danger" run by
The Buddy Fund. These folks search the "yes-kill groups" and find
the dogs waiting to be executed. On the site, you can search by
breed and/or state the dogs that come up will have how many more days they
have left until their termination. Please click here to visit the
site and, to us, they seem like one of the organizations worthy of
our hard earned dollars. There
are of course many others and as we find then, we'll bring them to your
attention. Unfortunately, we can't save all the dogs and we can't
fully fund all the organizations. But every bit helps.
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 by Joe Z |
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| Paris
Hilton?? I don't pay much attention to Paris Hilton and her escapades but suddenly there she is involved in a "dog controversy". In case you missed this one - she was on the Ellen DeGeneres show where, when asked how many dogs she had, she answered "17". In disbelief, DeGeneres questioned why so many. Well, they just kept having babies and she didn't want to give them away, she answered. This woman gives blond bimbos a bad name. Well, it seems that not only does she run afoul of common sense but also of the law. Where she lives, local laws limit the number of dogs you can own to 3. People complained and a full investigation was promised. There where cries that she was running a puppy mill, inadvertently or not, and should be prosecuted. The internet was filled with condemnations and criticisms of her ignorant actions. And so it should be. Yet, the situation calls to question some real serious issues of dog population control. Despite the number of dogs Hilton has, each lives in opulent luxury that few of us humans will ever experience. She has the means (& staff) to care for this many dogs. I wonder how much worse 17 small dogs living in a huge mansion on a large piece of land is from 3 Saint Bernards living in a small one bedroom apartment. There are many very good reasons that a community may want to limit the amount of dogs and animals. But putting a limit on the number of pets you can own is a very simplistic solution and doesn't take into account many factors. A better approach would be to create a licensing system where the cost & regulation per animal increases significantly with the number owned. This allows those with the means and resources to legally own as many as they can afford and care for. Of course, businesses/breeders would fall under different regulations. One size doesn't fit all. I know quite a few people with 5 or more dogs and there are no problems and the dogs are very well cared for. Unfortunately, I know others with only 1 or 2 dogs where that is too many. Limits on numbers as well as specific breed bans are the wrong solutions to legitimate problems. Are they going to confiscate 14 of Hilton's dogs and put them into rescue shelters?? Why are we spending resources pursuing Hilton when there is a plethora of real abuse cases waiting to be investigated? I'm thinking we need to start rethinking and overhauling our laws with more emphasis on dog & owner rights while protecting the community from excesses. Please feel free to leave comments by clicking here |
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| How does supermarket dog food compare? | |
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Over the last few issues, we've been talking about the best dry dog foods we can find. We've looked at the USDA Certified organic dog foods, the "almost organic" foods and the "natural foods" made by those companies. (if you missed those articles, you can read them by clicking here) While we're going to continue to search out the best quality foods for our dog, we'll first look at some of the popular brands. I was talking about dog food nutrition to someone and he said, "I feel that it's very important to feed my dog the best food. That's why I use Iams". So lets look at Iams Proactive Health Chunks and see how their food ingredients rate. Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal , Chicken Fat (first fat), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Meal, Chicken Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Flax Meal, Fish Oil (second fat)Chicken as the first ingredient is good but remember that it will lose about 70% of its weight in the cooking process thereby making the Corn Meal the main ingredient. This is followed by another grain and the lower quality chicken by-product meal before the first fat. We do find chicken meal and dried egg product - both good sources of protein - before the second fat. If you compare theses ingredients with the products we've looked at recently, you'll certainly notice that this is a lower quality product. Overall, there isn't anything "wrong" with a corn and grain diet. However, the protein isn't as readily available as the protein in meat. Nor does corn offer all the amino acids that our dogs need. That is why the chicken by-product meal and the chicken meal (as well as the chicken) is added. The chicken by-product meal isn't as horrible as some other ingredients in lower quality foods. However, it is not a great ingredient. Remember, these ingredients are the leftovers from human food processing. Chicken by-products do not contain beaks or feathers or feet but thay have been striped of the more nutritious components. In general, if we're looking for a good quality food, we'd want to avoid the by-product meals - especially if it's before the first fat. So we'd rate the ingredients in this Iams product a D. If we replaced the corn with chicken meal and left out the by-product meal, this would be a much better product. Again, due to space constraints in this newsletter, we'll continue this article in the Dog Den Digest Blog. There we'll look at another Iams product called Healthy Naturals as well as Beneful from Purina, Science Diet, Pedigree, and Ol' Roy. Just click here to continue reading. |
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 Copper
Send us a photo of your doggie! send to dogdendigest@cox.net please include the word "photo" in the subject line. | |
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*
Dogs know who their friends are. This story made
the national press and has been featured on most of the news
programs. Click here
to read this great story about a befriended Iraqi
dog! |
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| * Here's an odd one from Texas. It was even more bizarre
as it unfolded in the press over a couple of weeks. Click here
for the story of the Mayor: Dog Thief! |
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| * When you see "New Improved Taste! on the dog food bag or can, did you ever wonder how they knew? Well here's the answer. Meet Simon Allison - dog food taster - by clicking here. | |
| * A very large dog fighting ring was broken up
in Tucson, AZ with around 150 pitbulls being confiscated. No word
yet on the fate of these dogs. Click here
to read about this bust | |
| *
Okay - it's officially here: cloned
dogs. Click here to find out more about this odd offshoot of dog
breeding. | |
| * Do you know that dogs are still eaten
in some parts of the world. One of those parts is China where the
Olympics are about to be held. This French organization is trying to
bring the worlds attention to this deplorable menu choice.
WARNING: Sensitive readers beware! If you can stomach reading
a disturbing article and seeing a very chilling photo, click here. |
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Finally, here's a story about a lucky little guy named
Harley who decided he needed to freshen his breath a little.
Click here
to read about why this was not that good of an idea! |
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* I've a friend who recently got a new puppy. She's had dogs all her life and now currently has two. But this puppy is quite different than her other dogs were and she is constantly comparing them. " But the other dogs never......." That's not a real good thing to do - for you or for your dog. Click here to read this article about "The Other Dog". * As more and more of us take our dogs to the dog park. Confrontations with other dogs and, unfortuneately, their owners also, are unavoidable. Click here to read about good tactics to use at the dog park. |
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| Don't
forget that Dingo Leashes are the "swiss army knife"
of the dog leash world: the ONE leash to always
have with you! Visit DingoLeash.com to order some today! | |
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