Doberman Assistance Network case: Demi (warning: picture is pretty bad)

Demi is a female Doberman afflicted with mange, pulled from a shelter in California. If you'd like to donate for Demi's care specifically, or see who else needs sponsorships, you can visit the Doberman Assistance Network's sponsorship page and click on the handy Paypal buttons.

Also, the Flower Power Fundraiser is still on until April 26. The goal is to raise $1000; the current total is $88.

(DAN logo linked from DAN Facebook page)

Picture of Demi is behind the cut, poor little girl.

A Dog Named Leaf Giveaway Winner!

As always, entrants names were written by moi, and selected at random by Elkacopter.

The moment of choice:

And the winner is:

Congratulations! I ask that you email me your address by contacting me at TheElkaAlmanac AT gmail DOT com.

Wordless Wednesday March 27 2013

Safe Jerky Treats?

I occasionally go to both Walmart and Walgreens in my town, and of course I peruse the dog aisles. Cheap dog toys are a blessing sometimes. Of course, there's an increasing suspicion of anything Made in China, due to lead levels and other Bad Stuff found in everything from children's toys to baby formula to dog treats and toys. "Safe" is a state of mind, folks.

(pic unrelated. But seriously, remember spring? Summer?

Are you smiling at me?

Some Dobermans smile.

This is an unsettling thing to the unprepared owner. If you're not versed in the package of canine body language, such smiles might look like snarls. It is a lifting of the lip and a baring of the teeth. But there is no piloerection, no stiffness of posture; when I've seen it in pictures and video, it's been accompanied by body wiggles and airplane ears.

Of course, there are generally accepted "dog smiles" as well:

Dog Training Infographic

Dog Training graphic created by Matt Beswick for Pet365. Click here to view the full post.

The tribulation of Trixie the Doberman (don't worry, she's been adopted)

Spoiler alert: If you watch this, you will bawl your face off. Or maybe just tear up a little. 

The low down is that Trixie the Doberman's owner died 30 days ago (give or take, at this point) of natural causes, and she stayed curled up on the couch with him. She almost died herself, but neighbors called the police when they noticed the mail piling up. As is typically the case with stories like this, there were many offers to adopt her, but according to the above newscast, a vet tech fell in love with her and was bringing her home the next day.

Trixie is a sweet looking red girl, shaking very hard in the video. I wonder if part of this is because she was confronted by a camera. It could also be the shock of the shelter environment, which seemed very barky at the time, and is a whole lot of people when you've been with your dearly departed owner for a month.

I'm happy to hear that Trixie is going to a new and loving home, and I hope that she learns to love her vet tech as much as she did her previous owner. I hope she's never in a situation like that ever again, as it's a terrible thing for anybody to go through. In part, it's made me think of a post KB did a little while ago on Romping and Rolling in the Rockies, entitled "Do Dogs Understand Death?" My comment on the topic is currently thus:

I definitely read your post with interest, but I haven't really experienced dogs around death, so I don't really have a formed opinion on what they understand. Really, I don't understand death either, so I can't blame them if they don't.
I will say that Elka seemed particularly sad the first (and so far only) time that she killed a moth. She was following it and sniffing at it, and smooshed it against the glass of the front door. She then brought it to me and looked at me with big liquid eyes, like "Why won't it fly?" It was like a Disney movie.