My friend Jag lost her dog night before last, but the internet came together to help her find him:

After the the Garage Theft of 2007,
we put up a new fence that enclosed the garage area and had two big
gates that allowed us to drive into the backyard.  With this being our
first foray into gate making, they aren’t the sturdiest things, and a
year later, they sag enough so that the latch doesn’t always stay
latched.  Such was the case last night when the wind picked up and the
gate was blown open enough to let a big dog through to eat grass and
poop in yards other than his own.

After discovering that Houdini had made a run for it, we loaded up
in two cars and canvassed the neighborhood until midnight.  We drove
every street an alley from Eastland to Davidson, from 5th to 20th, many
of them twice, but no luck finding a big black dog in the big black
night.  Though our dogs are sloppy, mushy lovers, they’re big and have
rottweiler markings, so we’re always conscious that strangers may see
them as a threat.  Desperate, we put posts up on Craigslist,
Petfinders, and the East Nashville listserv.

Head over to Jag’s place to find out how the internet helped her find her dog, including some Twitter pals who went over looking for her dog and how the listserv helped her get reunited with her dog.

I have to make a confession. I use plastic bags to scoop poop. I know, I know, it’s terrible. My dog poops enough to clog a landfill with plastic bags all by himself. I had always wondered if there was perhaps a better way, but hadn’t really done any research. Fortunately, Lola the Eco-Dog has an ecologically friendly answer to scooping poop. Fabulous!

Now, if I could just find a better way to deal with cat poop. :/

So, on Saturday night I took my dog Tiny out to pee one last time before bed. Suddenly, I heard a rushing sound and I found myself with my dog in my arms. Tiny had leaped into my arms because he was afraid of the great big dog that was rushing at him. Talk about trusting me- I was a bit afraid of that dog, and I’m not afraid of dogs in general.

But this one, y’all, he was rushing at us, teeth bared, growling. Yikes. I reacted without thinking, I kicked at the dog (didn’t connect, thankfully- I would feel bad about kicking a dog) and shouted, "NO! NO! NO! GO HOME!"

Just then I heard my neighbor across the street. "Buddy," she said languidly. "Come here." Then, "Is that my dog?" I sighed a shaky sigh of relief. It was Victoria, my neighbor across the street and her dog Buddy, who is not usually mean.

"Yeah," I said, "It’s Buddy. He doesn’t seem to be too cool with my dog being in my own yard." Again, she said, "Buddy," and Buddy dashed back across the street to Victoria. I shouted back across the street and said, "Would you mind leashing him while he’s out here? This isn’t the first time he’s come over here." But, I thought, this was the first time he’s tried to attack my dog.

Fortunately, ever since Saturday Victoria’s kept her dog on a leash when she’s out there with him. But I just don’t get people that go outside with their dogs but don’t put them on a leash. Especially in my neighborhood where people drive way too fast and you could lose your pet in a second. This episode almost makes me want to fence my yard in. Almost- my yard is irregularly shaped and on a steep hill and it would be a nightmare to fence. But man, that would make taking my dog out a million times easier.

Over at That Mutt, Lindsay asks a great question: Why do we love our dogs?

You know what I love the best about my dog? He doesn’t talk back. He doesn’t question me and what I’m doing. He never doubts me. I guess that’s why issues where pet owners are cruel to their pets- whether intentionally (which is worse) or unintentionally- makes me so mad.

Animals trust that you’ll take care of them. Well, most of them, I’m pretty sure my cats don’t trust that I’ll feed them on time, which is why they remind me about 8 million times about an hour before feeding time. But even they trust that I’m not going to do anything crazy or mean to them. I remember one time I had a visitor at my house that was being mean to my cats and they were just shocked about it. Poor kitties.

This is going to sound so ridiculous to you bird lovers, but I’m afraid of birds. When I was a little kid, I was in the yard playing and a crow zoomed close to my head. I have been afraid of birds ever since. Stupid, I know, but it is what it is. This naked cockatoo? Terrifying, but funny.

We haven’t checked in on Jeffraham Prestonian and his catblogging in awhile. Let’s see how it’s going, shall we?

It seems he’s on the road and is visiting other people’s kitties! I’d like to know where I can get a cowcat of my own. I think Simon and Spike would be down with a cowcat. Wait, maybe not. They’re very, very breedist, those bad kitties!

Speaking of Simon and Spike, they started the Kittitarian Party to run against Mabel. Will they prevail? Only time will tell.

I see it on my Freecycle list constantly. The post goes something like this:

OFFER: Sweet cat to good home

We just had a new baby and we can’t keep our cat! She’s very sweet. Please give her a loving home or we will have to take her to the shelter.

I’m sure animal shelter workers see this constantly as well. It breaks my heart because there is really no need to give away your cat just because you have a new baby. There are many myths surrounding cats and babies that are still perpetuated to this day.

When my youngest son was born, a well intentioned older lady I knew said, "I bet you’re going to get rid of all those cats you have now, right?" ("All those cats" being the 2 cats I’ve had for the past 9 years. Yeah, I’m just crawling with cats.) I told her I had no intention of rehoming my cats. She looked shocked and said, "Aren’t you afraid your cats will steal your baby’s breath while he sleeps?"

Yes, there are people in 2008 that actually believe cats will steal a baby’s breath. And while I doubt that most of the cats that are being given away because of a new baby are being given away by owners who believe that tripe, there is a grain of that in what these owners believe.

Many people think the cat will be jealous of the new baby. It’s possible. However, why wouldn’t you wait until the baby is actually there to see if the cat is actually jealous or not? And if the cat is jealous, why not try to work with your cat instead of giving him to strangers?

I was lucky with my cats- they didn’t like my babies at all and hid from them whenever they saw them around. Now that my babies have grown up to be full fledged kids, my cats tolerate my rambunctious kid and they love my sweet kid. My oldest son was 5 when we got the kitties, so they’ve grown up with him.

Give your cat a chance- don’t give it away just because you’re having a baby!

Photo: Etolane on Flickr

Thanks to the stupidpetowners community on Livejournal for my "….whut?" moment of the day:

A woman and her daughter had signed up for a basic obedience class with
me and had only come to class maybe twice. I had noticed something was
a bit "off" about their dog, but I didn’t get a chance to see how the
dog turned out through the next few weeks of class because they didn’t
finish.

Yesterday
they came in and I asked how the dog was doing. "Oh, well we ended up
having to take her back to the Humane Society…" To which I replied,
"Really? Why? It just wasn’t working out?"

"Well yes, that and she turned out to be a coyote."

Eeeeeek!Stupid Humane Society? Or the work of Evil Genius Don Coyote? The world may never know.

Photo: Wikipedia

Now, I normally don’t get into politics online because I think most people are already set in their own ways, and when their ways are wrong, it makes me very irritated. However, I cannot let this pass without letting everyone know where I stand.

Forget Obama and Hillary, forget McCain. There’s a new dog in town:

Engineers crack me up! Hat tip to Craven’s World!