Nothing to share on writing at the moment…the past few weeks have been pretty consumed by work and dog issues.

First of all, the dogs are all okay, including Sierra, despite the Natural Balance recall scare. 

Seemed to be a coincidental tummy ache and food recall.  Everyone is now eating California Natural.

The vet found some mammary tumors on Olive.  Not sure what I want to do about it yet since they tend to be 50/50 malignant/benign.  So, it’s risky to ignore them and risky to put her under for surgery since she’s an old lady.

I said I’d revisit Namaste’s issues in a later post, so here it is.  He’s always had a history of being aggressive toward other dogs on the leash, even though he got along great with my dogs from the beginning.  He has a high prey drive - looks at my cats like they’re lunch and he caught a bunny in my yard in the first couple months I had him.  The thing with him is that when he gets excited about something - small animals, other dogs on leash, garbage trucks, etc. - he loses it.  Hence the paw through the window.  And the bite on my leg a few days after the window incident.  Things aren’t looking good for him.

Is biting always a deal breaker?

Well, that’s complicated.  A dog who has bitten once is likely to bite again (I recently learned that Namaste had bitten at least once in the past).  As a foster home, I feel that I can’t adopt out a dog who has bitten because I don’t want to be responsible for the dog biting someone else once he/she is out of my hands.  I know that I am more experienced and more careful than the average dog owner, so if a dog bit in my care, it’s quite likely to happen again.  So, unless the Adoption Fairy flutters down and presents me with the perfect experienced, trustworthy home, a dog in my care who has bitten will not go to anyone else.

Just because a bite-case can’t go to any ol’ family, does that mean he/she needs to be put down?  That’s a tough question and I think it depends on the living situation and the individual dog.  If the dog bit under very predictable and very controllable situations, then I can understand wanting to work with the dog and manage his lifestyle to keep him out of trouble.  If the dog bite was unpredictable, uncontrollable, unprovoked, or meets some similar “un-” criteria, that’s another story. 

Unfortunately, Namaste falls into the latter category.  Just like when broke the window, he didn’t give any warning when he bit me.  Zero to sixty in a second.  There are a lot of possible explanations for why Namaste is acting so impusively.  He’s been through a lot with his owner’s death and being shuffled around.  He went from a solitary life to one with other animals, on a busier street.  But explanations don’t make him a safer dog.  I can’t bring his owner back or isolate him from other animals or make my neighborhood quieter for him.  If I could…

Namaste and I have an appointment with a trainer tomorrow for her input.  But between my experience and conversations with other rescuers, trainers, and my vet, the conclusion so far is that he is an accident waiting to happen.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Namaste and what he’s been through and his life here.  His actions are proof that life here isn’t working out for him.  I don’t mean “here” as in my house specifically, but rather life in general.  Who knows whether it started as a puppy or from his lack of training or the loss of his best friend or the move to a busier place.  Whatever it is, it’s put me in a position where the only way I can keep him from being a danger to himself or others is to severely restrict his freedoms…then where’s his quality of life?

A little while ago, some folks were talking about knowing when to put an elderly dog down.  Someone said to think about your dog’s three favorite things and when he can’t do those anymore, then it’s time.  I think that applies here, too.  Poor Namaste probably had his first strike when his owner died.

As his caretaker/owner/fostermom, only I can decide what to do with him.  I’m waiting for tomorrow’s diagnosis, plus the results of blood tests to rule out medical causes, to make a final decision.  I’ve gotten a lot of support from friends - mine and Namaste’s - through this and it means a lot.  Seeking the answer to this sort of problem is heartwrenching…and lonely.

This time Natural Balance recalled their venison-based foods for dogs and cats.  Natural Balance was considered to be a premium food, and it was what I was feeding my dogs.  One of them had been having tummy issues, but I got her checked out at the vet and she seems to be okay.  I’ve switched over to California Natural.

The Itchmo blog seems to have its virtual thumb on the recall issue, so it’s a good place to check for updates.  On that site, I learned of another site that lists who is making what foods and where they source their ingredients.  It’s a good resource when you have to decide what to feed your pets next.

So, is anyone looking at these recalls and examining pet food industry practices as a whole?  Is anyone looking at these and wondering how they relate to the human food industry?  Not that I’ve heard.

The food industry - pet and human - has gotten out of control.  If your food was clearly labeled to tell you that the cow you’re about to eat had been turned from an herbivore into a cannibal (i.e. the source of mad cow disease), would you find that appetizing?  How about if you knew that your ingredients had travelled around the world twice instead of being bought fresh?  What if the package told you that the brand you thought you trusted was actually being produced with 19 other brands (like the first pet food recall revealed)?  I think the reason things like this aren’t revealed to consumers isn’t because they are unimportant, but because the companies know they are unappetizing.  If a company thinks it’s better to conceal information from consumers, that’s never a good sign.

The food industry is allowed to cut corners with what they give us to put in our bodies.  A little less taste for convenience is one thing, but when they start putting ingredients from sketchy sources and/or practices in the food just to have Wal-Mart prices, that’s just plain wrong.  There’s not nearly enough information out there on this topic that is so crucial to all of our daily lives, on the most basic survival level. 

The Slow Food movement is growing, and this whole pet food fiasco makes me think they’re really onto something.

Of all the things I learned in science class, I often think that inertia may be the one that I relate to the real world more than any other.  It applies to just about everything that needs a little shove of motivation - eating right, exercise, etc.

Most of all…writing.  I started my second novel several weeks ago.  Then I had to re-focus on my first novel to make a few revisions and get it to some agents.  Add a dozen other “external forces” to distract me from novel #2, and here I am, struggling to carve out the time to refocus on it.  Although I have the sitting still part down to a science (so to speak), I’m sure that new “external forces” will push me back into motion soon (i.e. my writing group).

Have I mentioned how invaluable writing groups can be?

Are the stories you hear about Breed Specific Legislation targeting innocent owners true?  Read the story of Aspen.  Poor family…Poor puppy…(This story came to my attention through a very reliable source, in case you were wondering if it’s biased).

I was checking out some of the related links and found my new favorite anti-BSL slogan: Laws are for people, I’m just a dog. 

The beauty of it is that so many “non-dog” people want to jump on the BSL bandwagon - the people who will wonder why you defend your family member who is “just a dog” think it’s worth legislating against those same creatures.  It’s kind of like people who deny that we can judge how animals suffer, yet want to run tests on them to make all kinds of conclusions about how things affect humans.  (Regardless of whether or not you think that animal testing is worthwhile, you can’t use an animal to gauge psychological trauma if you don’t believe they psychologically suffer).  See the faulty logic there or is it just me?

Dear Reader,

I have not forgotten you, nor did I get lost on the way back from Washington DC.  I’m home, but have been really busy.  I will probably continue to be very busy for another week or so with a manuscript on its way to an agent (yay!), resetting the rules for Namaste after he put his paw through a window, and lots of Earth Day activities coming up, including Dance for the Earth and Step it Up…Anyone else miss the days when it felt like spring leading up to Earth Day?

While I’m catching up on things, I’ve added a few more links to my blogroll - some of my favorite literary agent blogs and a couple of dog-related sites.  Enjoy! 

 Paw through a window??? you might be wondering.  Well, Namaste’s history and issues are for another day’s post.  He tries to look like such an innocent mutt, doesn’t he?

Kind of like Weekend at Bernie’s…except that there are no dead bodies and technically it’s been during the week.

Who is Halley?  Check out the “Aussie Halley” blog.  What you won’t learn there is that Hal and I have known each other since preschool.

What am I doing here?  Bumming a place to stay while I’m at a conference on technology for nonprofits.  Lots of good information that hopefully I’ll be able to put to use here (I’m still learning about the whole blogosphere thing!) as well as with the various organizations that I work and volunteer with.  It’s good to see resources like this out there for nonprofits.

The epidemic of pet food recalls expanded today to Pet Life biscuits, among other brands, commonly found in supermarkets.  In case you’ve missed the previous recalls, you can find links on the FDA’s website.

The majority of the brands involved in the recall are supermarket brands.  Part of me wants to be a pet food snob.  Despite its reputable-sounding name, Science Diet isn’t that great of a product.  I definitely do advocate for feeding high quality foods to your pets.  Do your research.  Look at the ingredients.  Your pets should be eating things like meat, not things that you need an advanced degree to pronounce. 

However, you get what you pay for with pet food and I don’t think it’s fair for people who can barely afford fresh ingredients for themselves - or who simply don’t know how to differentiate between foods - to have their pets dying because pet food companies are careless (or cheap, or corrupt, or however you want to classify them).

Then there’s the question:  Are human food companies any better regulated?  With the recent spinach and peanut butter fiascos, shouldn’t people be paying attention to this fiasco and investigating the situation, not only for our four-legged friends, but for ourselves, too?