More Justice Round-up here or maybe we should start calling them INjustice Round-ups  Unfortunately, these are very pitiful sentences.
John L. Heine
The obstetrician who delivered countless babies to joyous parents only to retire and toss newborn puppies in a dumpster after trying to drown them.  Click here for the background story.
Pleaded no contest to the [...]

There were many comments to the Loyal Golden Retriever story I did a few days ago, many people were upset that the dog was put in a shelter while the family deals with his owner’s death.  Here is another story of a dog that tragically lost her owner, this time to a hit-and-run accident.  She [...]

Elizabeth Weise over at USA Today is reporting on the fires raging in Southern California:

As wildfires surge around the Los Angeles basin, pet owners need to take special care that their charges are safe. Most important is to take pets with you if you’re evacuated, says Heather Case, the American Veterinary Medicine Association’s coordinator of emergency preparedness and response.

“Everyone should be thinking ‘How am I going to transport my pets?’” she says. “Take the order to evacuate seriously. Animals, because they’re smaller than we are, are quite sensitive to smoke.”

[....]

Several groups are offering to take in animals who need to be boarded during the fires. They include the Casitas Hotel for Cats in Glendale, which can only take cats, and the Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA, which is taking cats, dogs and some wildlife. The Kitty Liberation Front provides details on local shelters that are accepting both cats and dogs.

Huge props to the VCA chain of veterinary hospitals, which is taking in pets of people affected by the fires for free:

VCA Animal Hospitals announced that all VCA facilities located near the Station Wild Fire that is burning thousands of acres north of Los Angeles are offering free boarding for companion animals whose families have been evacuated or displaced from as a result of the current firestorms.

“As people are being evacuated to shelters or facing the loss of their homes, VCA is committed to assist them by offering free boarding for pets so they can focus on the critical issues with their families and homes,” said Art Antin, Chief Operating Officer of VCA Animal Hospitals. “We want everyone to know that they have this option to keep their pets safe during this difficult time.”

VCA Animal Hospitals situated in Los Angeles can provide a safe environment for pets that have been affected by the fires on a space available basis as long as the fires persist.

Boarding assistance for pets is based on space availability at participating hospitals and owners can call in advance to ensure that the facility of their choice has space available to accept additional pets. A list of all VCA Animal Hospitals located in the Los Angeles area can be obtained at www.vcapets.com.

And don’t forget to get your family — including your pets — ready to face a natural disaster, whether it’s a hurricane, earthquake, flood or fire. Check out Gina’s post here, or the federal government’s pet disaster plan here.

One of my favorite radio programs, NPR’s “Fresh Air,” is running Animal Week this week. While not quite as gripping as Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, this comes in a close second by a whisker.

They are spotlighting animal related articles and stories, and it’s well worth tuning in.You can find showtimes on www.NPR.org.

I have already heard Temple Grandin (autistic animal advocate and consultant on the construction of animal-oriented slaughterhouses) and journalist Michael Shaffer (author of “One Nation under Dog”). I was late taking my son, Connor, to pre-school because I was having one of those “driveway moments” where I just couldn’t turn off the radio. I have my priorities, and the provision of excellent education to my son is high on the list, but some things just top it all at times. I mean, if the car was on fire, I probably would have just listened to the segment and not the whole show, but hearing how you would actually design a humane slaughterhouse had me riveted.

Michael Shaffer discussed a lot of the pros and cons of dog parks, a subject I am still grappling with. He mentioned that the social interactions between people are an important and beneficial by-product of the dog park phenom.

But, I have a hard time aligning this with the terrible carnage I see come into the ER as a result of dog on dog aggression from dog parks. I know that my perspective is skewed by what I do, and I acknowledge that there are many, many good things that can come of a well-run and cooperative dog park, but I still see so much tragedy come from these places that it is hard for me see the positive side sometimes.

I would encourage anyone with an interest in pets and animal-related issues to give it a listen.

One’s too dangerous, the other one’s too fast. They’re both too big, and also: kind of weird, right?

The list of things people think they know about rescued pit bulls and retired racing greyhounds could fill a book, but I settled for a column over on SFGate.com this morning:

When it comes to choosing the right dog, it’s not reality that bites. It’s the seemingly endless list of myths and misconceptions that result in too many people bringing a dog into the family that’s exactly the wrong one for them while passing up a dog who might have been a perfect match.

Take two of the dog world’s least-known treasures, rescued pit bulls and retired racing greyhounds. Far more of these dogs are available for adoption than ever find homes.

Pit bulls and pit bull mixes are the most common dogs killed in many shelters because no one will adopt them. As for greyhounds, there is a vast network of rescue organizations trying to help them find homes, but there are always more dogs than adopters.

Sadly, far too many of these dogs are rejected or never considered at all, not because they’re actually the wrong dog for a particular home, but because the potential adopter doesn’t actually see the dog sitting in front of him. Instead, he sees the idea of the dog he has in his head.

I interviewed Donna Reynolds of BAD RAP for the true story on pit bulls as pets, and talked to Barbara Judson of Greyhound Friends for Life about ex-track greyhounds. Fantastic organizations, terrific interviews, and great dogs. It doesn’t get much better than that for a pet writer! Check it out here.

And in case you’re wondering, yes, I did get equal numbers of photos of pit bulls and greyhounds, but only one of the greyhound photos made the cut. I put another one of them here on this post, just to make myself feel less breed-discriminatory, even though I have to admit pibbles really are easier to photograph than sighthounds!

The two greyhounds in the photo are ex-track dogs named Bali (left) and Coach (right). Bali is 11 and a half years old; Coach is 7. They live in San Francisco with their humble servants Erik Schulz (with Coach) and Rob Kachajian (with Bali), and deigned to pose for me outside of Pet Food Express on Market St. here in San Francisco one day, shortly after having been water tortured bathed at the self-service dog wash inside.

If you’ve heard of dog life jackets and think that they are solely for older dogs than you are mistaken. Many people have a misconception about dogs. They assume that all dogs are natural swimmers. Most animals have a swimming instinct, even humans. A new born human baby can naturally swim underwater, this doesn’t mean that a toddler won’t drown…

Children are simply mini adults however we can forgive our puppy for miss-understanding this, if he has not been taught from an early age. It is essential that he understands that he has had good experiences with children of all ages – young and older. Your dog may get distressed when around a baby as they cry, make strange noises and move around by crawling.

We all want our puppy to grow up being well-behaved, confident, contented and happy. We need to introduce them to situations in the correct way while they are as young as possible and this means getting them to socialize.

Puppies chew things. A new puppy, left isolated in a kitchen while the owner is out of the home, will chew chair legs, window sills, molding, and anything else that he can find to alleviate the discomfort caused by his newly emerging teeth. Once the teeth are fully in, this type of chewing usually stops automatically. During the puppy stage, it is a good idea to isolate the dog in a pen or a crate that keeps him away from household items that can be damaged, and protects the dog by keeping him away from electrical cords and other undefined dangers.

Although dogs cannot talk like humans, there have many other highly effective ways of communication. And much of it is soundless. Dogs have very impressive ways of communicating some of which include smell, sound, barking, growling and hollowing.