Pedigree Dogs Exposed

The incredible BBC documentary "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" is currently available on You Tube, broken into six 10-minute parts.

I watched it last night and encourage anyone interested in purebreds to take a look. Some of the scenes, especially in the first segment, are a little hard to look at, but there are serious questions and issues that are brought to light during this hour.

Here's a link to the first segment. After it finishes running You Tube will guide you to the next segment.

Mars issues pet food recall due to possible salmonella contamination

Mars has issued a voluntary recall of several brands of dry cat and dog food including some varities of Pedigree, Ol' Roy (sold at WalMart) and Natural Cat Food and Natural Dog Food (sold at Sam's Club).

For a full list of recalled foods go to the Mars Petcare web site.

A little love!

I got my first fan email today! Well, to be accurate, I got it 10 days ago, but didn't see it until today.

A very kind person wrote me in response to my article in The Northwest Voice about low-cost spay/neuter services in Bakersfield. It was great to see, not just because it was positive (which does help), but I got to know firsthand that someone, somewhere was actually reading what I contributed.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did previously write for the Northwest and Southwest Voice publications. Soon after The Northwest Voice was started I wrote a "Dear Daphne" column that dealt with pets and pet issues, and I did receive some positive feedback from some of the columns I produced, but my life got a little hectic and I had to hang it up for a bit.

When I decided to go back to it I wanted to write as me. Just me. I wasn't sure how well it would work out, or if there would be anyone interested in reading what I have to say (and despite the odd absences from this site, anyone who knows me can tell you I have plenty to say, especially as it applies to animals).

At least now I know that someone read it and, for now, that's good enough.

Greatest American Dog lost a viewer

I admit, I wanted to like the show, so I probably watched a little more than I would have if it had been any other theme, but my last viewing of this show came two weeks ago.

It wasn’t the fight that erupted between the judges (although that was not a pretty sight to anyone involved), and it wasn’t my increasing discomfort over some of the less than stellar techniques that were being employed by the contestants in the pursuit of winning the top prize.

It was the commercial for the next week’s episode. The commercial featured an elephant, and from the brief viewing we were provided, the elephant needed to be around the dogs, and vice versa. And yes, that’s what put me over the edge.

I am absolutely adamant about wild animals not being used for entertainment, particularly when asked to do something that is completely foreign to their nature, and I was appalled that a show which has marketed itself as being this big champion of the bond between people and their pets apparently believes only some animals are worthy of love, respect and kindness.

Elephants are complex, intelligent, amazing creatures. To see this show completely disregard that for the sake of ratings makes it clear that it’s not about caring about animals at all. At least, not animals outside of dogs.

I wanted to like the show, but there are some lines this girl won’t cross in the name of entertainment.

Helping the helpless

I sent my poor husband on a rescue mission yesterday. A dog we had seen on our walk two days earlier, looking injured and thin, was still loose in the front yard of one of our neighbors 24 hours later, still wounded and still thin. He tried to hobble up to us as we walking our dog, looking for a little affection. My husband gave him a few of the treats in his pocket (which we were carrying to try and get closer to the kittens in our neighborhood who also appear homeless) and we finished our walk.

Once back at the house, neither of us felt good about the dog or his plight. Since I had to go to work, my husband volunteered to go back and get him and deliver him to animal control. Taking the dog to Kern County Animal Control was also not something we felt good about, but in our hearts we believe that it is better for him to receive the benefit of humane euthanasia than to die on the streets.

Anyway, amazingly enough, when my husband blogged about his rescue and his frustration with KCAC on Bakersfield.com someone actually said that if we weren’t planning to pay for the dog’s medical treatment and either keep the dog ourselves or foster him until we found him a good home that we should have just left him where he was, wounded and hungry on the side of the street. Seriously.

I still can’t believe it.