A colleague of mine and I were discussing our pets’ proclivities for snacking on flip-flops. Many of us have had the less-than-delightful experience of entering a room to spy the pup with more than one tongue in his mouth. The juxtaposition of playful innocence and “ruh oh!” guilt takes a bit of the sting off of seeing your favorite pair [...]
I’m going to be up front about a certain prejudice of mine. I’m all for scientific advances, but cloning kind of creeps me out. Cloning Fido creeps me out beyond measure. Who’s next? Grandpa? Mom? Maybe next week. But for right now, according to the article (did you click on the Cloning Fido link?), there’s a company ready to clone our pooches for a [...]
Did you guys see the canine and feline abodes featured in the Barkitechture story? Whoolaa! The two-day fundraiser brought in $40,000 for the Southern Oregon Humane Society . A “palanquin” was among 15 designer houses for cats and dogs up auction for SOHS auction Saturday at Eden Valley Orchards in Medford. Palanquin? I had to scramble for my Webster’s for [...]
Horrified onlookers called police last week when they witnessed a young woman abusing her Pomeranian puppy at a local shopping mall. Thank you, callers! By all accounts, this tiny puppy didn’t stand a chance without your help. After a struggle - wherein the pup suffered even more abuse by the owner - police were finally able to arrest the [...]
Mom loved all critters. Especially birds. Of course, I inherited the attraction. One of my earliest memories is watching little finches and chickadees dance around raindrops in the camellia bushes outside the living room window of my childhood home. Today I’m blogging from my kitchen table, looking out the sliding glass door toward the Rogue River. It’s early morning and the [...]
Speaking of miseries suffered by horses, some friends and I were mourning the passing of the filly Eight Belles, who died as a result of racing in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. In the interest of full disclosure, I grew up in the shadows of the beautiful Santa Anita Racetrack. And at the first race I attended, at age 19, a gelding suffered the same fate [...]
This is a rescue story near and dear to my heart. Thanks go to the Equamore Foundation! In my pre-journalism life, I managed, trained and vet assisted at several equestrian facilities in southern and central California. Consequently, I’ve seen a lot of the best – and the worst – of equine husbandry. Sadly, to lesser or greater degrees, the bad husbandry outnumbered [...]
