I don’t like it. Normally when I watch football I can cheer for either team. I like it when any team does something amazing. But I can’t cheer for Michael Vick. To me, it would be like cheering for a pedophile.

It makes me sad how easily people forget. He’s done his time, but I just can’t get over it. Honestly, I don’t want to get over it. I care too much about dogs to ever get over it.

Michael is doing his job and doing it well and he has every right to do that. But I just can’t be happy watching him. I look forward to the day when I can watch football and not be forced to think about the cruelty of dog fighting.

But that’s the current state of crisis in the dog community. There are too many dogs and because of that their lives are not highly valued. Ironically being stolen could have saved some of the dogs lives because these men were motivated to find them homes, although possibly not good homes.

What can we do to even make a start at changing the situation of having so many homeless dogs?

Two surrender in theft of dogs from Hernando County shelter

Apparently it’s not even just dogs that get hurt by drinking these chemicals but children as well. Would you support a law like this in your state?

Local Pastor Backs New Antifreeze Law

There’s even a dachshund involved:

City Councilor Dave Marshall and Mocha, his long-haired mini-dachshund, attended a news conference Monday to demonstrate the masks.

Portland organizations raising funds for pet oxygen masks

Our canine caller picks his Super Sunday winner

Dead dachshunds pay no bills

When reading this story, I imagined this is probably because of the nature of how many dog breeds were created. The process is brutal, which is why we don’t have any new breeds today. Here’s how the breeds were created.

Find two or more dogs that have the traits you want in a breed. Get a batch of puppies then kill all the puppies except for the ones that have your goal traits. Then breed those puppies. Again, kill off all the ones you don’t want, and potentially their parents as well since they are no longer of use.

When you get some strong traits that you really like, breed father-daughter, mother-son, or brother-sister. This will “lock in” the traits.

The fact that these traits are “locked in” is why purebred dogs have such little genetic variance. Even today, the breed standard for some breeds, such as Rhodesian ridgebacks, recommends “culling” pups with certain undesirable traits. From Wikipedia:

Traditionally, many ridgeback puppies were culled at birth for numerous reasons, including ridgelessness. Contemporary breeders are increasingly opting for surgical sterilization of these offspring to ensure they will not be bred but can live into maturity as non-showing, non-breeding pets. Some breed parent clubs and canine registries have even made the culling of ridgeless whelps a requirement.

And you thought shelters were sad. Think about people purposely breeding dogs and then killing most of the puppies. That takes real… um… well… it takes a special person.

Few Genetic Variations Separate Great Danes and Dachsunds

One couple actually paid $600,000 for one of these dogs.

Bitter thought for the day: I would like to meet this couple and ask them how many shelter dog’s lives they think could have been saved for $600,000.

Tibetan Mastiffs: Dogs That Fetch $600,000 in China

Photos: Animals That Can Think

It’s always a good reminder to take responsibility for your dog, even for us owners of small dogs. Believe me, I know it’s hard, I live in an apartment and have no backyard to let my dog loose in, so we have to go out together a few times a day for Kody to potty.

From the article:

We have a Dachshund and he stays either in the house or in the back yard. If he ever does get loose, you can bet that I am immediately chasing him around the neighborhood until he is captured. Now, mind you, he is a pretty harmless dog, but it is a matter of principles.

Liam and his wife have a dachshund:

The 37-year-old performer recently signed a classic Epiphone Casino Guitar at the Gibson Guitar Showroom in London and brought along his wife Nicole Appleton, 35, and their Dachshund dog Ruby Tuesday.

The instrument will be auctioned off to raise money for Pup Aid, which will be taking place on September 19 in Brighton. Gallagher admitted that he is hoping to make people more aware of the cruel facts of puppy farming taking place in Britain.

Cute pictures and comments on the nature of dachshunds.

This is so horrifying. I think Kody wouldn’t like flying in cargo very much anyway.

Have you ever flown with your dog in cargo? How did it turn out?

But I want to post this, just in case any of you feel from your dog root canal experience it’s super expensive, I’m also going to call around to make sure, but after looking online, it unfortunately seems about right.

• Root Canal: $1,400
• Crown: $1,100

Adding a crown is important for Kody because he took some off the side of the tooth and the crown will add that area back which will deflect food away from the gums which will prevent decay.

As with humans, these are two separate procedures done on different dates. Many dogs can get away with just a root canal. The point of the tooth would still be missing, but the tooth itself would be fine.

Adding a crown is important for Kody because he took some off the side of the tooth and the crown will add that area back which will deflect food away from the gums which will prevent decay like the natural tooth shape would. Also, adding the crown will allow him to chew as he did before using the tooth. Of course, he won’t be allowed to chew on such hard things anymore, but he’ll still have softer safer chew toys.

The doctor did explain that extraction was an option that wouldn’t make me a “bad dog parent”. Kody would still be able to do basic chewing on that side of his mouth because there are more teeth around that area. But an extraction is expensive too, about $900, although the vet quoted a little cheaper price. I just feel like I should do what I can here since Kody is so young. I don’t take the cost lightly, that is a lot of money and while I have the money, my income with a new business will not cover it, it’s coming out of savings.

The doctor was very nice and I was confident in his skills, but he did one thing I didn’t like. When he went out to get the cost estimate sheets he didn’t come back and instead had an assistant give me the estimates. I just felt I would have liked him to be the one to spend that last five minutes with me and answer any final questions I had, and really, just say goodbye. I though it was bad form. On my way home I thought, That’s a lot of money to spend. I like to be taken to dinner before I get screwed! Oh well, no dinner this time. Kody goes in next Monday.

I guess I should probably get insurance now since Kody seems to be quite accident prone. I’m not sure why I don’t already have it, I guess I just thought how most people seem to go their whole dog’s life without an accident, but then, I am certainly not most people. And when Kody has an issue I’m more likely to notice it and more likely to want to fix it. So insurance, even just for the future is probably the right choice for me.

Featured Story

Our Prattville Pets of the Week at the Prattville-Autauga Humane Shelter: Buster Brown and Bartel

Where

Prattville, Alabama

Buster Brown at the Prattville-Autauga Humane Shelter Photo by Marc Parker

Excerpt

The Our Prattville canine Pet of the Week is an adorable male Dachshund/Chihuahua mix named Buster Brown. A small black and tan colored pup, Buster is a little shy, but he warms up quickly to strangers and is especially good with children.

At approximately six years old, Buster is a sweet and friendly tail wagger who is sure to make someone a loyal and adoring pet!

Comment

This picture is so cute I had to post about this article. If you live in Alabama follow the link to find out more about pets up for adoption.

Quick Facts

Featured Story

Nature turned upside down

Where

Young County Humane Society Shelter

Graham, Texas

Excerpt

When four young kittens were brought into the Young County Humane Society Shelter on Oct. 9, Kim Baxter had a choice to make.

Baxter said the kittens were found in a warehouse at Swan right after a severe storm. She said the storm likely scared the mother cat away.

“They were in fairly good condition,” she said. “You could tell they had been nursing. He did the right thing.”

Since the kittens were too young to live on their own, Baxter could either set up around-the-clock feedings, giving them milk every two hours, or she could find a new mother to adopt them.

There was only one problem. The only new mother in the shelter was a dachshund. Baxter said she has heard reports of dogs taking in kittens and feeding them, so she decided to give it a try.

She put one cat in the cage with the mother dog and her two 4-day-old puppies and was surprised to see the dog immediately take to the kitten. She slowly put in the other three.

“She took them right away and started cleaning them,” Baxter said.

Comment

We all love these stories. I wonder how these kittens will react to dogs when they get older. I wonder how they will react to cats? How will the puppies react to cats? It would be interesting to find out what happens.

Featured Story

Celebrities Love Halloween Just As Much As Children, Gay Dudes

Excerpt

Model Veronica Webb is either going to be a lion, devil, or witch — her kids get to decide. But she won’t be dressing up her pet dachshund. “You can’t put clothes on a dachshund, their legs are too short!” she said, mournfully. “Some dogs are into it, you know, like some guys are drag queens and some aren’t.”

Comment

There isn’t anything more in this story about dachshunds, but I just had to point out this funny quote.

Featured Story

Puppies in cages saved by cops

Where

Bihar, India

Who

Manoj Basu

Excerpt

Thirty puppies huddled in eight tiny cages were rescued on Monday afternoon from a city-based dog breeder who was taking them to an animal fair in Bihar by bus.

Police said Manoj Basu, 32, violated rules governing animal transportation and was charged under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Comment

It’s interesting to hear that they are fighting puppy mills in India too. Even better, in the rest of the story we find out it was an animal lover that reported this to the police.

Featured Story

Valley Oak SPCA Pets of the Week

What

Very cute dachshund mix up for adoption

Where

inside the Visalia Mall, south entrance

Visalia, California

Who

Nala: female dachshund mix

Excerpt

This little Dachshund mix is pretty quiet, said to like kids and an overall sweetheart. She was brought to the shelter by her previous owners because they were moving and couldn’t take her with them. So, of course, she is confused and misses having a family to love and call her own. Won’t you help ease that confusion and take little Nala home?

Comment

I wonder if these people dropped their kids off somewhere, too? Having said that, maybe the dog is better off if it finds a new family. How can you look at those eyes and leave a dog.

This is yet another example of how beautiful dachshund mixes can be. I hope somebody adopts this beautiful dog!