Preparing for a Trip with Your Dog at Pet Monologues

Asides

If animals had an election.

Who would be the next President of the animal kingdom…

Find some answers here

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on this post - (2) Posts

Here Kobe, here.

Kobe Bryant’s popularity extends even to the animal kingdom. From a database of more than 465,000 pet insured animals including dogs, cats, birds, and exotic domesticated animals, 359 are named “Kobe,” making it the 189th most popular name of 65,536 pet names across the nation. Five pets in the database are named “LeBron,” two are name “Yao Ming,” and there’s a “Boston Garnett” along with a “Dirk Nowitzki.”

The most unusual sports name in the pet world, however, might belong to a Yorkshire Terrier that answers to “Kobe Shaq Jackson.” via los angeles times

Dress up games.

For Halloween one needs a creative tool to dress up Fluffy and Buddy. Here it is! Dressup games. My cute pet dressup.

Pets vote.

“Even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter.” vice president Al Gore Click on a dog to buy a vote for Bark Obama or McCanine. Check in daily to see who is pulling on the lead…

visit petsvote

Pets. Dead people. Asked to vote.
CHICAGO — More than 1,000 phony registrations were submitted, Lake County official says. Dogs, goldfish and dead people were sent voter registration forms by mistake as part of an aggressive registration drive in the northern suburbs, Lake County Clerk Willard Helander said Friday. "This is nothing like we've ever seen before," Helander said in a news conference in Waukegan, where election workers identified more than 1,000 phony registrations submitted over the past few weeks. Helander blamed the problem on a group called the Voters Participation Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is a project of Women's Voices/Women's Vote based in Washington, D.C. Sarah Johnson, a Women's Voices spokeswoman, said the group uses a commercial data list generated by a national vendor to send out registration forms and that mistakes happen. "Sometimes . . . people think it's funny to get a magazine addressed to their cat or their dog, and when they do that, their cat or dog ends up on the list," Johnson said. "But we're just trying to make it as easy as possible for people to register and vote." Election officials in Oregon, Kentucky and other states have complained that the Women's Voices project has caused confusion. A record 401,935 Lake County residents are registered for the Nov. 4 election. via chicago tribune [1] [1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lake-voter-fraud-both-18-oct18,0,7157423.story

Great Lakes wolf killing stopped.
Court Reverses Bush Decision to Strip Protection From Wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Breaking News! Agreeing with a Center for Biological Diversity legal action, a federal judge today overturned a 2007 Bush administration decision to remove Great Lakes area wolves from the endangered species list. The ruling puts an immediate halt on the killing of hundreds of wolves in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. While the Great Lakes wolf population has increased to 4,000 individuals under the protective cover of the Endangered Species Act, the species is still missing from most of its historic range, including the Northeast, the southern Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and the West Coast. Rather than developing a national wolf recovery strategy, the Bush administration craftily abandoned wolf recovery in most of the country by delisting wolves in the Great Lakes and the northern Rocky Mountains and declaring that the lack of wolves in other areas relieves the administration of any responsibility to continue recovery actions. In today's ruling, the judge agreed with the Center's amicus argument that stripping protection from local populations while refusing to consider the recovery of wolves throughout the lower 48 appears to violate the central purpose of the Endangered Species Act. The precedent setting ruling will protect hundreds of species from this backdoor strategy of abandoning species recovery. This is the second major victory in two weeks for the Center's wolf recovery fund. On September 16, the government announced it would give up defending against our northern Rockies wolf lawsuit. Thanks for supporting the wolf defense fund and sending thousands of emails and petitions objecting to the slaughter of wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This victory couldn't have happened without your help. Thanks also to our litigation allies at the Humane Society, Help Our Wolves Live, the Animal Protection Institute, and Friends of Animals and Their Environment.

Endangered species act under assault.
Send Comments to Secretary Kempthorne. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced devastating changes to the Endangered Species Act, signaling the end of protection for thousands of imperiled species. The new regulations would: - Exempt thousands of federal activities from review under the Endangered Species Act; - Eliminate checks and balances of independent oversight; - Limit which effects can be considered harmful; - Prevent consideration of a project’s contribution to global warming; - Set an inadequate 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to evaluate a project in the instances when they are invited to participate – or else the project gets an automatic green light; - Enable large-scale projects to go unreviewed by dividing them into hundreds of small projects. We must stop Kempthorne from fatally crippling our nation’s most successful wildlife law. Take action today. [1] [1] http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25351

Porpoises belly up to low-fat diet.
TOKYO — Dolphins at a Japanese marine park are going on a low-fat diet after developing potbellies and failing to look sharp in their aquatic performances. Kinosaki Marine World in western Japan said Tuesday that all its 19 dolphins have been on a low-fat diet since late August, when they started failing to hit jumping targets and keep upright while treading water. "We were puzzled by their poor performance. Then we noticed they looked rounder," said park spokesman Haruo Imazu. Keepers weighed them and found all had gotten plumper, some up to 22 pounds heavier just during the summer. All had the same menu—about 31 pounds of mackerel mixed with some white fish — but keepers found the mackerels had gotten fattier, adding too many calories. Keepers immediately put them on a weight-loss program, feeding them more white fish and less fatty mackerel while instituting an exercise regime, Imazu said. Less fat and moderate exercise seem to be working. via chicago tribune [1] [1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-dolphins_01oct01,0,4672913.story

Man punches shark. Saves dog.

SLAMORADA, Fla. — A dog is recovering after a Florida Keys carpenter dove in to save his pet from a shark.

Greg LeNoir said he took his 14-pound rat terrier Jake for a daily swim at a marina Friday.

The 5-foot shark suddenly surfaced and grabbed nearly the entire dog in its mouth.

LeNoir said he yelled, then balled up his fists and dove headfirst into the water. He hit the shark in the back and the creature finally let go of the dog.

Man and dog made it safely back to shore. The dog suffered bite wounds but was not critically injured.

PM editor’s note: OMG!

Elephant killed by bus.
MEXICO — A five-ton elephant was killed by a bus after it escaped from a circus in Mexico, and wandered onto a busy highway. Bus driver Tomas Lopez, 49, also died and at least four passengers were taken to hospital after the accident, which happened just before dawn on Tuesday in Ecatepec, north of Mexico City. The elephant had escaped from its cage at the Circo Union circus, according to Mexico State police spokesman Juan Sanchez, who said officers were still investigating the circumstances. It is understood that the 40-year-old animal, named Hilda, broke free as her keeper arrived to feed her. She apparently knocked down a metal door that led to the street and wandering through two neighbourhoods before trying to cross the road. Marcelino Ramos, 22, keeper at the Circo Union circus, told El Universal daily newspaper: "I untied her so she could eat. She never did this before, but suddenly she ran at full speed and broke through the gate." Police said the bus driver stood no chance of avoiding the elephant as it charged onto the road near the famous Teotihuacan pyramids. Last month, a 500lb lion escaped from a private zoo in southern Mexico. The animal killed two dogs and a pig and attacked a woman and child on a donkey before it was sedated and caught. via telegraph.co.uk [1] [1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/3069003/Escaped-circus-elephant-killed-by-bus-in-Mexico.html

Preparing for a Trip with Your Dog

If you’re going, he’s going! What dog wouldn’t want a whole new territory to explore and sniff? Any trip is a chance to spend more time with you. Follow these tips so you and your dog can enjoy a bon voyage.

Does he have the right stuff?
It is important to be sure your dog is in the condition for travel, especially if going by air. Any dog can become stressed and uncomfortable during plane travel.

If your dog is laid back, friendly, and used to traveling in a carrier, the trip should be smooth sailing. On the other hand, a shy, aggressive, nervous dog that despises being cooped up may do best staying with a good pet sitter or at a boarding kennel.

Before embarking on any far away adventures, be sure to make a trip to the veterinarian. Several states, and many other countries, require valid documentation of vaccinations and proof of a clean bill of health. Make sure to check with the country’s consulate prior to international trips as some countries require a quarantine period.

While visiting the veterinarian prior to leaving, ask if your destination presents any risks for your dog’s health. For instance, some areas of the country have higher concentrations of diseases such as Lyme disease or heartworm infection, making preventative medicine a must before leaving.

Underexposed
If your dog’s comfort zone is your home, it is likely she will be nervous or scared around new people and busy places. Try to expose her to similar situations before the trip. For example, walk down a crowded street and introduce your pet to senior citizens, children, heavy people, thin people and handicapped people.

Left out in the cold
Call ahead to make sure wherever you are staying at your destination is pet-friendly.

Did you forget anything?
After you’ve packed all your necessities, focus on the essentials for your dog. Include all health certificates, medications, dog dishes, soap to clean bowls, a leash, a brush, flea and tick repellant, a pooper-scooper and plastic bags for easy clean-up, and of course, some treats for the road.

To make your dog feel most comfortable, bring along some familiar items that will remind him of home such as a blanket or his favorite dog toys. Do not remove your dog’s collar or ID tags at any point during travel just in case he takes off. It is always a good idea to carry current photos in the event that he does get lost.

Don’t drink the water
Your dog’s stomach is extremely sensitive, so anything foreign can cause an upset tummy. If possible, pack enough of his favorite kibble to last the duration of the trip.

If the trip is long-term, pack enough of your dog’s regular food so that you can gradually introduce a new diet without stomach upset. To do so, add a little more of new food to the regular food daily so that his stomach can properly adjust.

Tap water contains different minerals in different locations and can easily upset your dog’s stomach. Similar to food, bring enough of your dog’s usual water to last the trip, provide bottled water, or gradually expose him to new tap water by mixing it with his usual.

A quick fix
In case of an accident, bring along a first-aid kit for your pup. This kit should include any medications your dog takes or may need; a thermometer; tweezers, in case of a tick; gauze pads and bandages; scissors; adhesive tape; diarrhea medicine for dogs; and antibacterial ointment for his skin. Keep the phone number for your dog’s veterinarian on hand at all times in case of an emergency.

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