Wordless Wednesday November 27 2013

Special Needs Dobermans Senior of the Week: Angel

Angel is an 8 year old Doberman with Distinguished Doberman Rescue, Inc. She was surrendered to rescue after her family had a baby and felt they did not have enough time for her. Poor girl! As a part of the Senior Doberman Project, Special Needs Dobermans has selected her as their senior of the week.

(picture from Ddrinc web site)

Angel is a healthy 8 year old with no special needs other than being, well, 8. She's very attached to her foster dad, likes cuddling on the couch, and loves eating (sound like any dogs you know?). She's all right with other dogs, and less tolerant of puppies. She's fine with kids, though DDRinc suggests 10 and up would probably be best (this is something I've noticed a lot with Doberman rescue, and believe it has to do with their size and chance of boisterousness. Elka steps on us all the time without meaning to). 

You can either donate to help with Angel's care, through SND or Distinguished Doberman Rescue inc, or if you think Angel sounds like a great match for you, she's looking for a forever home! She's currently in Pittsburgh, PA, and information about adopting through Ddr, inc. is here on their web site.

Intersex Aggression in Dobermans

A big huge flag in the Doberman community is when a male puppy is sold to people with another male dog in the household already. Why?

Well, the stories say that Dobermans can be same sex aggressive. Two males, two females, there is a chance that when the second dog reaches sexual maturity (or both dogs, if you're making the equally dubious choice to raise them together), there is a chance that the dogs will become aggressive to members of the same sex and want to fight.

This is problematic, as we do not typically want dogs to fight. Not unless you're a scumbag.

Wordless Wednesday November 20 2013

More Doberman rescue followups: Sandy and Mordecai

In keeping with trying not to just "drive by" the adoptable dogs I've posted about, I'm going back through my older posts and seeing if they're still available for adoption, or if they've found homes. Last week, I had the great news that Jasmine had found a home.

Virginia is no longer listed at the Main Line Animal Rescue in Chester Springs, PA. I'm going to assume she's been adopted, so congratulations to Virginia! Blitz, who was with DDR, inc. is also no longer listed. Of course, they still have plenty of adoptable Dobermans. Tommy is no longer at the Lycoming County SPCA and Bankston was "transferred to a breed specific Doberman rescue", and though it doesn't list which one, that's a golden ticket!

This week, I'm sorry to say that little Mordecai is still waiting to be adopted. He's with Doberman Rescue Minnesota and is nine months old now. How quickly they grow up! He still has his adorable "zipper" nose, is crate trained, potty trained, has great manners...what's not to like? It really surprises me that this puppyboy is growing up in rescue, rather than having been adopted already.

Oh yeah, and he loves to swim!

Remember Sandy, the lovely senior girl with Illinois Doberman Rescue? She's still there, and still needs a home. You can visit her IDR page if you're interested in adopting her, or if you'd like to help out by sponsoring her in some way.

So, a lot of question marks, but I'm just going to be optimistic about those dogs. My hat is off to people who work on the front lines of dog rescue, pulling dogs from shelters, doing transport, fostering. I'm just here reporting, and it still hurts my heart sometimes.

Doberman Ornaments fundraiser benefits Doberman Assistance Network

Yeah, yeah. Not Thanksgiving yet. Etc. But, if every store ever can do it, I guess I can do it for the Dobermans.

These here customizable Christmas ornaments (order deadline is December 9, USA orders only) give a portion of each sale to help the Doberman Assistance Network. They have no shortage of cases and Dobermans they're trying to help, and a little bit of holiday cheer goes a long way, n'est-ce pas?

And look! Each ornament you order will not only be totally adorable, but a creation unto itself. So many choices.

So, the nitty gritty of ordering (LOOK AT ALL THE CHOICES!):

• Each ornaments costs $25.00 and is personalized with your Doberman's name on it.
• Shipping for 1st class mail is $4.00 and for each additional ornament add $1.00 for shipping.
• Please submit and submit your order via Paypal - D.A.N.'s email address is for Paypal is helpdobes@dobermanassistance.org.
• You can also mail in a check to the following addressoberman Assistance network C/O Heidi Merriman 3852 La Colina Road, El Sobrante, CA 94803
• We will need your name, e-mail address and shipping address.
• Orders need to be submitted by December 9th, 2013 (sorry USA only).
• Please let us know color of Dobie and bulb and Dobie's name.

Dogster and Dentastix contest

I was super excited to see a photo contest on the Dogster (entries are through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), in conjunction with Dentastix. I'm okay with Dentastix; they might not be the bestest ingredients, but Elka likes them, they seem to work, we can all have junk once in awhile.

So then I toddled over to read the contest rules and found this gem:

License to Use Entries: By submitting an Entry, each entrant agrees and hereby grants to Sponsor and its successors, licensees and assigns an unlimited, perpetual, irrevocable, assignable, royalty-free, fully paid-up license to reproduce, distribute, perform, create derivative works of, edit, alter, display, exhibit, combine with other materials, exploit and otherwise use the Entry, and all elements embodied therein, in any manner and in any and all media now known or hereafter devised throughout the universe for any purpose whatsoever, without compensation or notification to, or permission from, entrant or any third party and hereby waives any moral rights in the Entry.

My picture is my picture. My dog is my dog. Why should I release rights in perpetuity for something I've created of something I love a great deal to somebody to do what they want with it?  I understand that, in general, rights like these are so they can make those creepy "dog with human teeth" advertisements. But seriously, even if you don't win, even if you just enter, you are giving these rights to Dentastix (and Pedigree, by extension, it would seem) and its successors royalty free and across the universe however they want for ever and ever amen. And they're not responsible for third-party usage of submitted entries. And you're not allowed to watermark them, because identifying information, yadda yadda. 

In my Why I Watermark my Pictures post, "protection against misrepresentation" was one of the reasons I gave. I would be just sick if a contest entry of mine, given in good faith, became a stock image for Dentastix/Pedigree/whoever to trot out any time they wanted a vicious or dangerous dog picture, or even to just advertise a product I dislike and wouldn't support. Maybe I'm paranoid, maybe I'm thinking too much about it, whatever.