Sunday, November 25, 2012

Nico's Story

From my pal, Hellkitty:
Narrated by Bridget Swan (Nico's Mom) The Story of Nico is a story about a rescue dog that over came troubled odds to become a majestic caring, loving, adorable, gentle ...did i say loving companion.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Where is "Costa Blanda?"

 Espana, 1 Nov, '12: Vamos surf, ahora. Cada uno ha ido haciendo surf.
Clean !

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

How To Approach a Strange Dog Safely

How to approach a dog safely

Lots of people seem to have been trained to believe that any and every dog they encounter is JUST LIKE Ol' Shep. They do not consider that the strange dog could have been socialized in ways which mightn't comport with someone's naive ascriptions. Kids, especially if they have dogs at home, are prone to approach any dog as if it were "Fluffy" or "Muffy" or "Buffy." This is NOT a good idea.
This is a very useful video, and the accompanying text is straight-forward and easily understandable.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Dogs Don't Keep Time, So Ending DST = NOTHING




It happens every fall, like clockwork, you could say — and you’d be right. On that first Sunday after daylight saving time ends (Nov. 4 this year, if you haven’t made note), we set the clocks back and look forward to enjoying a longer night's rest. An extra hour of sleep is such a wonderful thing, especially on a cold morning — except that sometimes, not everyone in your house understands that this is a time to sleep in.
Unfortunately, your dog isn’t as easy to set as the clocks. Wait an hour for breakfast? Not in his world! It's time to get up!
Most dogs will adjust to the time change within a few days, but others will continue to demand that you get up and at 'em at the old time for weeks without realizing — or caring — that for you, there’s still another hour to go before the day starts. And some dogs are just early risers by nature, regardless of where we are in the daylight saving calendar. Can you adjust your dog's internal clock? You probably can, and here’s some help.



Thursday, October 18, 2012

Friday, October 12, 2012

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Buyers' Remorse: WA St, and Private Liquor Sales




This is fascinating.

Back in the late 70s, I worked on a campaign to put this initiative--to privatize liquor sales--on the ballot.

That was before the days of "big box" stores. Fred Meyers was a big deal. Most of the original sentiment came from mom & pop outfits, mainly people who just wanted to run a bar, not a bar-cum-restaurant. There were rules stipulating the ratios of revenues from food and booze, because you stay sober longer if there's food in your system. Our arguments were founded on "tenets" which now would resonate with and of Ron Paul. Individualism! and Profit! The usual.

I wrote propaganda for 'em: press releases, briefings, white papers, all that shit, on an apple computer, in the basement of a Restaurant/Bar in down-town Seattle (on Spring St.?)...

Turns out: There are LOTS of desperate, subtle, and very unpleasant side-effects to the privatization which are evident now and  which I didn't understand when I was advocating for it. The guy I was working for was probably a neo-Libertarian, and so our arguments were not grounded much in questions of the public good.

We eventually got the attention of the Seattle mob, and they "lent" us a shyster.  I remember a meeting with some of the "boys" in a trailer-park under the fly-way of the jet-liner traffic at Sea-Tac, chosen because the noise of the jets rendered "unauthorized' listening more difficult. I absented myself soon afterwards, and took up a career in construction.

Then one night out in Tuckwilla, (natives will know the "Riverside Inn") in April of 1980, I met the "last Ex-Mrs. Dr. Woody" at a saloon. We clicked.

Folks usta marvel at the disparate appearances we conveyed: she, shy and self-contained; me, well you know...I was frequently asked how we got together, and I routinely replied: "She was visiting from California; she and her sister and her sister's husband were out pub-crawling one Saturday night, and we met when they got down to my level."

I subsequently moved to Santa Barbara, where we wed a couple of years later; and thence on to Baton Rouge and later Norman, Ok., and that road was VERYdifferent...

Friday, August 24, 2012

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Chops, August 27, 2011: Awesome

This was a day like no other ever recorded. The reef at Chops (Teahupoo) pitches up enormous, perfect barrels on a REGULAR basis.
But this day was EPIC! It happened right in the middle of the scheduled Billabong Pro Surfing event, but the competition was postponed for this one, incredible, astonishing day. I watched it on-line as it happened and it took my breath completely away.

Canine Assistants: Rescuing Dogs and People


Canine Assistants trains and provides service dogs to people with medical conditions and disabilities. The results are nothing short of amazing. Recipients experience a freedom that would be otherwise impossible. The dogs change peoples lives. And all of it free of charge. Founded in 1991 by Jennifer Arnold, Canine Assistants now places 75 to 100 dogs annually. More on Canine Assistants: http://www.canineassistants.org

Friday, May 25, 2012

Young Animal-Saviors Open No-Kill Shelter in Philly

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Find YOUR BFF at the local animal shelter!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A Very Good Dog!

Be sure to watch to the very end. It is so charming and COOL!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Pibble/Parolee Connection Keeps Growing!

With thanks to Villalobos Rescue folks, who got the program started, and who now do their 'good doggy" work here in New Mexico.

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

After Two Events, 10-Time World ASP Champ Kelly Slater' Atop the Table, Again

He tied for fifth at the first event, the Quicksilver, Gold Coast, in OZ, and finished second in the next, also in Oz, at the Rip Curl event at Bells Beach.

Here's the stinger for the Bell's event; if you let it run, there are highlights from the whole event. It wasn't massive, as it's been in previous years, but there were challenges. Mick Fanning and Sally Fitzgibbons--both from Oz--emerged winners.

Swimming with a Polar Bear! No, REALLY!



ABBOTSFORD, CANADA: Grizzly man Mark Dumas, 60, is the only man in the world who can touch a polar bear. And as these incredible pictures show the fearless bear handler from Abbotsford, British Columbia, even goes for dip in his swimming pool where he and 16-year-old polar bear Agee enjoy a watery cuddle together. Mark and wife Dawn, 60, train the 60-stone (800lb) friendly beast - the world's largest land predator - to star in high-budget TV adverts. She has even performed in movies like 'Alaska' in 1995 when she was just a few weeks old. With his incredibly intimate bond Mark wrestles on the grass with Agee, kisses her, puts his head in her huge jaws, and even bear hugs her as she rears up on her hind legs to over seven feet. Mark and Dawn have owned Agee since she was six weeks old and the colossal mammal even lived in their home as a cub where she played with the family dogs and was bottle fed.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Very Kewl: Cheetah and Golden Retriever Bond in Zoo

Baby cheetah and puppy pal celebrate 1st anniversary together at Busch Gardens

TAMPA - Busch Gardens Tampa is celebrating a milestone anniversary for a very special relationship.

Monday, April 16 marked the one-year anniversary of the first time park guests got to see an 8-week-old male cheetah cub and a 16-week-old female yellow Labrador puppy start to strike up a friendship that the park’s animal experts expect to last a lifetime.

The pair – later named Kasi and Mtani by park fans via a Facebook poll – spent only supervised play times together at first. Now, a year later, they live together full time at the park’s Cheetah Run habitat and even travel together to schools, events and television studios, helping the park’s education team teach the public about the plight of cheetahs in the wild and the importance of Busch Gardens’ conservation efforts.

Park guest can see Kasi and Mtani daily at Cheetah Run, where they spend a portion of each day playing together on the habitat, training with their keepers and exercising with the habitat’s lure system, designed to encourage the animals to do what cheetahs do best: run and chase.

This video is not of the animals named in the story, but apparently it is not all that uncoimmon for captive cheetahs to be paired with domestic dogs at zoos all over the world. The animale in the vid are at the San Diego Zoo.

Although this is Busch Gardens’ first cub-and-puppy combo, it is not uncommon in the zoological community for a single cheetah to be raised with a canine companion. “Male cheetahs are social and often live together in coalitions,” said Tim Smith, a zoo manager who works with the cheetah team daily. “This social bond will be a very similar relationship, and they will be together for life.”

Cheetahs are included on both the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of vulnerable species as well as on the US Endangered Species Act list of threatened species. Only approximately 12,400 cheetahs remain in the wild.
Copyright 2012 Southern Broadcast Corp of Sarasota All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Monday, April 2, 2012

Honor the Elderbulls: They'd do it for you...


Shania. Age 12. Lives in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Nicknames = Poops McGavin, Pooper Troops, Niah, and Shizzy. Has also lived in Arkansas and New Mexico. Likes playing dress up, sun bathing, mani-pedis, rolling in stinky things, going for walks, fetching sticks in the water, sleeping with 3 year old Savannah, wrestling with her BDF (best doggy friend) Memphis, car rides, sleeping in, and being with her family. Shania is growing old gracefully with a family that includes: two adults, one 3-year-old girl; two other Elderbulls (UNO and Memphis), an elderheeler (Bella), a ninja cat (Sushi), and 10 backyard laying hens of whom Shania has been known to share a snack with.

The family is expecting a second baby due on Shania’s 13th birthday in June. Shania’s mom writes:
“If there has ever been an animal that has changed my life and the way I use to view the world according to stereotypes, it’s Shania. Abandoned at an animal clinic I worked at when she was about 5 months old, no one would take her home because they were afraid of her breed. For a month and a half she lived in the kennel area of the clinic until Christmas Eve of 1999, I took her home to spend Christmas with her. The greatest gift I received that year was my parents agreeing that this was the dog for our family and allowing her to stay. I didn’t know anything about pit bulls but I committed to learning what I could about them so I could prove popular opinion wrong.

I’ve never gotten it all right with Shania but we have been right for each other from the beginning. Her presence has encouraged me, helped me get over heart breaks, patiently waited as I finished college, stood with me on my wedding day, and now shares her wise old dog heart with a 3-year-old little girl. I tell her all the time that she has to live forever because I don’t know who I will be without her. In a way, she’s my soul-mate. In the words of Willie Nelson, she’s my angel that flew too close to the ground. She’s the epitomy of aging gracefully: always enjoying today and never wishing for more tomorrow.”

Friday, March 30, 2012

Dog Whispering


Good Dogs Do Bite: Training Advice from the *Real* Dog Whisperer



“When I’m training a dog I develop a relationship with that dog. He’s my buddy and I want to make training fun,” says Dr. Ian Dunbar. “Training a dog to me is on a par with learning to dance with my wife or teaching my son to ski. These are fun things we do together. If anyone even talks about dominating the dog or hurting him or fighting him or punishing him, don’t go there.”

Dr. Dunbar is perhaps the world’s most respected authority on dog training and behavior, combining sound scientific theory and gentle common sense implementation. He was “dog whispering” long before Cesar Millan.

In part one of this interview, Dr. Dunbar, founder of Sirius Dog Training in the San Francisco Bay Area, talked about the crucial importance of early training and socialization for young puppies. Here in the conclusion, he shares the nuts and bolts of training dogs of all ages, including some counter-intuitive advice about bites.
The page (Forbes, the fuckerz) won't let me copy the wole piece. You gotta go to the link...HERE!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Hungry Eagle SWIMS Dead Prey To Shore

From Baton Rouge, LA:
Apparently some hunter shot a nutria and left it in the water. An eagle spied the prey and tried to lift it, but couldn't.
I have NEVER seen an eagle swim...

Sunday, February 19, 2012

CPR For Canines: It Could Happen

I once had to administer a Heimlich maneuver to an elderly miniature poodle. She bit me, but her teeth were so bad by that time I hardly noticed. Dear "Sparkle." She lived another couple of years after that.
Click over Image to Enlarge!


Wednesday, February 8, 2012

One More Time: The Truth About Pit Bulls

The Truth About Pit Bulls

Over the decades there have been myths told about many breeds including pit bulls. Below are some facts that dispel some of these myths.

Pit bulls feel pain just like any other dog. The people who fight dogs have promoted the idea that their dogs don’t feel pain to excuse their abusive and criminal actions. We must stop buying into to the insidious claims of criminals. All dogs are individuals and will respond differently to pain, but every dog feels pain.

Pit bulls are not predisposed to human aggression. Human aggression is not a breed trait attributed to American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and American Pit Bull Terriers (also called "pit bulls") by the UKC or the AKC. While human aggression does occur in all kinds of dogs, it should never be considered to be expected or acceptable behavior in these breeds. All cases of human aggression should be evaluated on an individual case by case basis and not judged by breed. Please consult a trainer for human aggression in any dog of any kind.

Pit bulls have varying degrees of dog-dog tolerance. Dog directed aggression and human directed aggression are entirely unrelated. They are completely separate behaviors and do not cross over. As all dogs are individuals, some dogs may always be social with other dogs throughout their lives while others will have minor to severe levels of dog-to-dog issues, even if they have been well socialized. Those that show leash reactivity can be trained to be calm around other dogs while on leash. Each individual dog should be evaluated based on his own level of reactions to dogs and not because he’s this breed or that. Over-the-top or extreme dog-to-dog aggression is not expected or acceptable in pit bulls.

Pit bulls with scars were not necessarily used for dog fighting. Dogs get scars from all kinds of injuries, not just dog fighting. It is not helpful to speculate about how a dog received scars. Instead, spend time getting to know the dog to determine if previous experiences or injuries have affected the dog’s behavior or physical abilities. Scars do not predict behavior.

Pit bulls are just as likely to be good with children as any other kind of dog. American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and American Pit Bull Terriers (also called "pit bulls") are expected to be very safe around children. Well socialized dogs of all kinds do well around children generally. Supervision between dogs and children is always a must in any setting. Sometimes children may not know how to interact with dogs. It's also key to teach children how to treat animals appropriately.

Pit bulls do not have locking jaws. All dogs are mammals and no mammals have locking jaws.

Pit bulls are not guard dogs. Pit bulls are not known or expected to be guard dogs. Better get a guard dog for your pit bull!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

January 18, 2012: Stop PIPA/SOPA Day

January 18, 2012: Stop PIPA/SOPA Day

It is probably unrealistic in the EXTREME to imagine that a functioning oligarchy in full cry might permit the continued, unmodified, uninterfered operation of so fundamentally liberating a technology as the Intertubez has become, and still remains. We need only regard how television was co-opted, and its liberatory poitential was turned aside, to become--along with the rest of its flickering-screened scions--the most POTENT agent of propaganda promulgation ever invented.

I regard the present structure of the Intertubez as I regard the Constitution: It works pretty well as it stands, and fucking around with it pretty much invites the bullies in, so leave it the fuck alone.

--Woody, Jan 18, 2012

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Kewl Stough From Our Marine Animal Brethren: Octupi & Dolphin

First: Scientists observe the first instance of tool-use among invertebrates when they discover and film octopi in the warm waters of Indonesia carrying coconut shell pieces with their suckers and using them for shelter and defense.


Meanwhile, other scientists have determined that dolphins actually "talk" to one another. They use "language." The LINK HERE will connect you with the pertinent texts about their linguistic accomplishments.