It has been almost a year since the day Santa almost lost his shih-tzu. Well, it wasn’t really Santa, it was me. And it wasn’t my shih-tzu, it was a friend’s — and a dog who normally jumps on me as opposed to off of me.
Still, it’s a rare dog who doesn’t want his or her photo taken with Santa Claus — and there are three opportunities coming up.
The first is tomorrow (Sunday) — at the new Locust Point Dog Park.
Pet Pictures with Santa runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Proceeds go toward the maintenance of the park, which opened this fall.
Two Photos with Santa events will be held to raise money for Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter’s Franky Fund, which helps care for seriously sick and injured animals that arrive at the shelter — On Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 to noon at Federal Hill Park, and on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 10 to noon at Riverside Park.
All the events are for good causes, and the photos make great Christmas cards.
(If you know of others pet photos with Santa events, please feel free to add them to this entry in the form of comments.)
There’s a beautiful story in today’s New York Times that should resonate with dog park frequenters everywhere.
We wrack our brains to remember the names of dogs we’ve met before, then wrack them even harder to try and remember the name of the owner, and once in a while we stumble, calling the owner by the dog’s name, or vice versa.
Dick Sebastian resolved he would not make those kind of mistakes at the small-dog run in New York City’s Washington Square Park after he became a regular there a few years ago, along with his wife Susie, and his dog, Kitty.
After a visit, Sebastian, 71 and a retired surgeon, would return home, draw illustrations of the dog’s he had met and label them with their names. Later, he started bringing his chart with him to the dog run, where new dog owners started asking if he’d include their dogs on his ever-expanding artwork.
That led to Sebastian attempting less cartoony, more serious portraiture, sketching some of the dogs he had come to know. He started with a pug named Sidney, and in less than a year, he had drawn and presented, as gifts, 50 dog portraits to their owners.
The dog park crowd appreciated Sebastian’s efforts. Said one, “The fact that someone would care enough that he’d want to draw what’s unique about your dog for you …”
Sebastian was appreciated as well for his kindness, and his interest not just in other people’s dogs, but the people themselves.
He’d become a fixture, but now he’s leaving. Sebastian and his wife plan to move back to their native Ohio this month, so that Sebastian, who has Parkinson’s disease, can get easy access to care at a retirement home.
“New York is full of ad-hoc communities based on proximity and built up around mutual affection — walk into any watering hole at 7:30 p.m. — but they often have a live-and-let-live looseness to them. While parental oversight can stifle, en loco parentis oversight can be a rare, welcome comfort in the circles of urban life,” Times reporter Susan Dominus writes.
“For passionate dog people, the folks at the Washington Square Park dog run are also, it turns out, passionate people people, and there have been myriad parties scheduled in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian before they depart.”
It’s not the first time I’ve said it, and I’m not the first one to say it, but dogs — if they don’t just automatically make us better humans — certainly manage to open up the opportunities for us to be.
Dick Sebastian, it seems, recognized that — most artfully.
(Artwork: The small dogs of Washington Square Park, by Dick Sebastian)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use Pig Ears and Beef Hooves pet treats manufactured by Pet Carousel because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella.
The products were distributed nationwide in both bulk and retail packaging for sale in pet food and retail chain stores. Pet Carousel is based in Sanger, Calif.
Although no illnesses associated with the products have been reported, the FDA is advising consumers in possession of them not to handle or feed them to their pets.
The affected pig ear products were packaged under the brand names Doggie Delight and Pet Carousel. The affected beef hooves were packaged under the brand names Choo Hooves, Dentley’s, Doggie Delight, and Pet Carousel. All sizes and all lots of these products made by Pet Carousel are included in the alert.
Salmonella was detected in the treats during routine testing in September, leading to an FDA inspection of Pet Carousel’s manufacturing facilities. During the inspection, the agency collected additional pet treat samples. Further analysis found Salmonella present in beef hooves, pig ears and in the manufacturing environment.
Salmonella can affect both humans and animals. People handling dry pet food and/or pet treats can become infected with Salmonella, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the treats or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Pets with Salmonella infections may become lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever and vomiting. Some pets may only experience a decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected, but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed any of the affected products or is experiencing any of these symptoms, the FDA advises contacting your veterinarian immediately.
Something old and something new sent two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Jon Franklin on a quest to document the transition of wild wolf to family pet.
The old thing was a photo — a man and puppy, exhumed from a 12,000-year-old grave. The new thing was a wife — he married a dog lover. Though he’d never been a dog person, Franklin gave in, and soon he and his wife were sharing their home with a clever poodle named Charlie.
Between watching his own dog evolve from puppy to family member, and his interviews and research, Franklin spent 10 years studying the origins and significance of the dog, and its peculiar attachment to humans.
The result is “The Wolf in the Parlor: The Eternal Connection Between Humans and Dogs.”
Franklin — a former science writer for Baltimore’s Evening Sun, now a journalism professor at the University of Maryland – builds on evolutionary science, archaeology, behavioral science and his firsthand experience, arriving at the conclusion that man and dog are more than just inseparable; they are part and parcel of the same creature.
A dog stranded for days on the second floor of an abandoned North St. Louis building was rescued by firefighters.
The yellow-Lab mix was spotted on the ledge of a second floor window of a home that had been empty since a fire years ago, Fox 2 in St. Louis reported.
“The dog was in the front window, teetering on the window ledge there,” said St. Louis firefighter, Warren Sleep. “She’d been up here probably about a week with definitely no way down on her own.”
Randy Grim of Stray Rescue, an animal shelter and rescue group, had been checking on the dog. Each day she refused to come down the rickety stairway inside.
“It was terrifying to see her constantly going into the window sill and looking like she might jump. So we started leaving food, throwing food [up into the window],” Grim said. “The look in her eyes was pure panic and terror: fear…I tried to get up there one time. I fell through one of the stairs and a beam hit me in the head.”
A short time later, Grim flagged down a passing fire truck from Engine Company 9. Firefighters coaxed the dog off the ledge and inside. Grim named the dog “E-9″, after the firefighting team that rescued her.
“E-9″ is up for adoption, and neighborhood leaders have planned a “board-up” party this weekend, to seal the windows and doors of the abandoned building and another one next-door.
