Careful, Charlie.  I hear you never come out the way you went in.

Couples' self portrait at Flann's.


Charlie and Jim swam today at Spy Pond in Arlington.

Someone sent me a link to this site, which appears to be selling a variety of wheeled contraptions that you can attach dogs to. I'm all for making dogs earn their keep--if you're going to be feeding these things and picking up their feces, they ought to do something useful, too. I like the scooter (click the HOW IT WORKS link) but the person who sent me the link emphasized the 'trike,' which I don't actually see anywhere. But as far as the scooter/dog idea goes, the big variable is what if the dog decides to bolt after a squirrel/other dog/motorcycle/whatever triggers your dog to act like an idiot? Perhaps it's for people who don't have dogs that do such asinine things. What do you think?

As the owner of a German shepherd/yorkie/Boston terrier mix, I wouldn't know much about this subject, but it is nice to see a positive pit bull story in the news: Pit bull saves owner from attack by two dogs

In other dog news, a proposed bill would allow Pennsylvania towns to make their own dog laws, unshackling them from the tyranny of the state, I suppose. Pit bull advocates see this as the first step toward Breed Specific Legislation that would target their dogs. However, one online commenter sees it as an even greater first step:
This is a step in the right direction to eventually outlaw dogs completely. Dogs should be restricted to farms or released back into the wild. They are far too unpredictable and dangerous to be part of the community fabric in residential areas. It is sad that it has become so commonplace to own dogs. People have the mind set that this is normal practice and that certainly needs to be changed.
I can't see this catching on right away, what with there being 75 million pet dogs in America at the moment, but hey, a looney can dream.

If exotic animals are more your thing, why not go to the zoo? Perhaps you don't know where the nearest one is. Well, I was planning to make an interactive map showing them all (inspired by the discovery that there's a zoo in Utica for some reason) but naturally someone has already made one. In fact, two someones. Here's a global one http://www.zoos-worldwide.de/zoos.html and here's a little better one, unfortunately with an American bias http://www.americanzoos.info/Files/Webpages/USA/States/States.html

Hey I forgot to mention that I noticed something earlier this week! I saw two different common grackles rummaging through the clogged gutters on the zoo hospital. They were flinging out clumps of oak flowers, which are everywhere in obscene quantities, putting invisible pollen in my eyes and gathering on the ground into huge sausage shaped tumbleweeds. I thought maybe the grackles were collecting nesting material, but then I saw one pick a caterpillar out of the duff and eat it. I've seen birds drink from gutters, but this was the first time I've seen them eat from them.

Baby starlings and robins are also everywhere in obscene quantities. That's one reason I'm happy not to be working at the Audubon society right now. Every weekend until July dozens of people with the best of intentions will be bringing apparent orphans to Drumlin Farm and to various wildlife rehabs, only to be told they should have left it be. Nature is heartless, folks, let it run its evil course--it's part of God's plan to kill 3/4 of baby songbirds before they reach adulthood. If it wasn't they'd only lay two eggs.

That'll wrap up this depressing, but all-animal post. Hopefully I'll be finishing up last weekends pictures before I take too many this weekend.

What breed of dog do you think this is?


( According to BioPet Vet Labs... )

The issue of dog attacks can be framed many different ways. In the past 30 years there has been a tendency for the media to frame the issue in terms of dog breeds. Earlier in the 20th century and back to the 19th, the media would report on dog attacks in their full context, often with a moral lesson about approaching strange dogs, approaching dogs while they're eating, or mistreating dogs.

Coincident with the popularity with pit bull type breeds in the 80's, the media began framing these stories differently. They concocted a mythological beast, a dog that had abilities beyond other dogs, and that was uniquely unpredictable. They continue to propagate this story, often choosing and omitting facts to suit the legend. Incidents that in the past would have been too trivial to report, such as dogs killing cats and goats, and dogs chasing but not biting anyone, are reported--as long as the dog involved can be named as a pit bull.

In my google news alerts I get stories containing the words 'animal attacks.' There are usually a couple stories about dog attacks, on people, dogs, or other animals. This week I got two interesting stories that deviated from the pattern a little.

Pet dies after dog attack in town park
This is a story about a small dog killed by a big dog in a dog park. It probably happens hundreds of times a year, but it's only reported upon when the big dog is a pit bull, or if the big dog also attacks a human. The surprise this time around is that the big dog is a 'golden labrador' which must be one of those designer mutts that hobbyist breeders come up with. I can only guess that this newspaper is in a small news market, justifying a 'dog bites dog' story.

Dogs on the loose causing problems
This one really surprised me. The story is that in this locality, dog owners are not obeying the state and local leash laws, causing trouble for the understaffed animal control officers. The emphasis is on the danger that puts the dogs in, from motor vehicles and other dangers. When pit bulls are mentioned, as is inevitable, it's in the context of dogs' health. An animal shelter worker recalls a loose pit bull brought in with such bad malnutrition, mange, and ringworm that it had to be euthanized. Oh my god, they actually wrote a news story where we are supposed to feel sympathy for a pit bull!
Maybe I should write a thank you letter to Michael Vick.

The kid discovered, through her internet connections, a love song written from the point of view of a supervillain toward one of his captives ("Skullcrusher mountain"). The lyrics "I made this half-pony half-monkey monster to please you / But I get the feeling that you don't like it / What's with all the screaming?" are pretty darn charming. A little investigation shows the singer-songwriter to be Jonathan Coulton, who has staked out some musical territory between Flight of the Conchords and They Might Be Giants. It turns out I'd heard him some time ago, with his sweet folk cover of "Baby Got Back." (Even white boys got to shout!) Picking through his long list of songs, which you can listen to in their entirety free before buying them for a dollar, I found a lot of interesting stuff, not the least of which was an unexpectedly spooky tribute to the town I live in. ("For when the darkness finds you, the sun will cease to shine / In the end, your only friend, Brookline")

The problem with Pandora by the way, is that it doesn't know who I was dating when certain songs came out, or where I was working, or what friends of mine were in bands, or how drunk I was when I heard the song for the first time, or any of the other important variables that determine whether I like a song or not. I am, however, currently enjoying the radio station it created based on "Spanish Flea."

I saved this news story mostly for my brother, who is inordinately fond of a certain phrase in the headline: Completely starkers cop nabs would-be thief.

In other, sadder news, another dog-related tragedy happened, this time in Mt. Carmel Illinois. A beloved family pet, apparently without warning, bit a two year old toddler so badly that he needed 200 stitches and had to have his ear reattached. Large dogs and small children are a bad mix, especially when both are unsupervised. It makes you wonder if certain dog breeds should be banned outright. Read about this golden retriever attack here.

I bought Charlie a 3 pack of squeaky birds (because I feel bad that Jim has all the squeaky toys and Charlie doesn't have any) and he decided to open it in the car.

Charlie and Jim, on the "Island" I keep talking about.

Freakish weather we're having. But it's pretty typical of March, I suppose.

For whatever reason (I haven't been paying attention to detailed forecasts) the blizzards that dumped on Ohio didn't do the same here. We had steady soaking drizzle all day yesterday, culminating in evening downpours. It was cold and nasty to be outside. 5 degrees colder and it would have been ice and snow. Then, when we took the dogs out around 8:00, the rain had more or less stopped, and the air felt warm around us. It was probably in the low 50's, but since it had felt so cold when the sun was out, it felt downright tropical.

We took the dogs across the street to a relatively protected piece of park: we call it "The Island" because it's bordered by the Muddy river on one side and a swampy area on the other; When it floods, the swampy side turns into another river. So we let Jim off leash, and then Charlie, and they ran around and played in the floodwater and stuff. At one point I was holding Maggie's leash and she pulled and pulled to get into the water intil my sneakers (I left my boots at work) were completely submerged. The water was cold at first, but once I got back onto land my body heat warmed up the water in my shoes, and it wasn't too uncomfortable.

We went in before the big winds were supposed to kick up (30-50 mph) and missed all that. We could hear it from inside.

This morning (hey look it's ten o'clock already!) I took Jim out and it's brightly sunny and below freezing out, with enough wind to make it feel like 4 degrees F according to accuweather. We'll go for a brisk walk out with the dogs later, and I bet Alexis will take some beautiful pictures out there in the sunshine.

I appear to have caught the stomach bug that's going around. I went home at midday and spent the afternoon under the covers with dogs. I watched "Family Feud," and "The Call of Cthulhu." Then I ate a whole bunch of crackers with jelly and wrote a review of the movie. Now I want to crawl back under the covers, but the dogs have to be walked, darn them.

I took Jim to a Boston Derby Dames bout last night. Jim actually belongs to my good friend, dogsitter, and drinkin' buddy Alex (belen1974), who is also a scorekeeper. I watched the bout while Jim slept. It was the Comonaughties versus the Wicked Pissahs. I chose to root for the Pissahs, for a couple reasons: their team name (derived from a typical New Englander's accented evaluation of how good something is) as well as their symbol. I can't seem to find a large version of it, but it pictures a gull entangled in a six-pack holder. I wholeheartedly support the use of local urban wildlife in sports team iconography. Their mascot, pictured above leading the pack, is "Sully tha Gully.
( more pictures )

See full set of pictures here.

cottonmanifesto posted about the Antigua & Barbuda Humane Society on her journal, and people are starting to offer their kindness. We are planning on buying a bulk order of durable dog toys (Kongs and such, for those of you who know what they are) to send them. The Humane Society was relatively well-equipped, considering that the island is not especially rich, but they were short on dog toys. From an animal care point of view, giving the dogs something to do while they are kenneled is a form of enrichment which will help decrease their stress and keep them in better health.

We haven't figured out a plan yet, but I thought I'd see if there was any interest here in helping out.

On a related note, if you donated to my Bowling with Rhinos thing, I still have your money, and I'm still going to participate. I haven't forgotten, they just haven't rescheduled yet. I will post pictures of that event, too.

Last Wednesday I volunteered at the Antigua Humane Society. After I did some work, I took some pictures. ( Read more... )

Not that this should have been a revelation, but it was. I noticed African Wild Dogs smell like dogs.

We had ourselves a little adventure at the Quincy Seashore. There were many opportunities for noticing things and making discoveries along the beach and in the salt marsh. We found this tiny shark, which I can't identify because I didn't at the time know what field markings to look for. I did a little research and I think next time I'll have a chance. It's probably a spiny dogfish.



There are eight more photographs, including another dead thing that might be a little harder to look at than this well-picked over fish. Standard dead animal warning. (It's not that bad, but I thought you should know). There's also a panorama that might push the edges of your page around.( Read more... )