Jack Russell Terrier races!

Think your Jack Russell is the fastest? Put 'em to the test!

This year's Steeplechase at Callaway Gardens is fast approaching. The Jack Russell Terrier races will be held Saturday, Nov. 1 in Pine Mountain. Doors open at 10 a.m. EST.

Here's the 411 on races and times:

FLAT RACES – 11:30 a.m. Open to all terriers. No entry fee.
Muzzles required fo dogs 12 months & older.

HURDLE RACES – 12:15 p.m. Open to all terriers. No entry fee.
Muzzles required for dogs 12 months & older.

STAKES RACES - 12:45 p.m. Entry fee $10.00.
100 percent paid back.

Wanna enter? Make sure you pre-register. (Entries must be received by Oct. 17.) Call 706-324-6252 or visit the Web site at www.steeplechaseatcallaway.org.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, CeCe!

I was unable to get to a computer on Sunday, so I couldn't announce that it was CeCe's birthday! She turned 2 years old.

That's my baby girl!

Payback for puppy poop

Happy Friday, everyone!

I can always count on my girl Sonya to find me the oddest news stories.

She recently forwarded me this Reuters article about an Israeli city's efforts to punish pet owners who let their dogs poop on the street.

Seriously.

Oh, and if they find you're picking up your dog's poop and placing it in receptacles, you get a prize.

Seriously.

This will all be done through DNA analysis.

Seriously.

Check out the story here.

Bless this pet

My co-worker Allison just let me know that annual Blessing of the Animals services are coming up.

I've never gotten the chance to go the past couple of years, but this year CeCe and I will be there. Hopefully with pet treats and other animals nearby, she won't cause an unholy ruckus. (CeCe loves food and creatures of all kinds - just like her mama.)

According to Allison, all types of pets are welcome, "even stuffed animals."

Here were the services she knew of so far:

- Christ the King Catholic Church (6721 Ga. 354, Pine Mtn.) - Oct. 4 - 11 a.m.

- Trinity Episcopal Church (1130 First Ave., Col.) - Oct. 5 - 3 p.m.

- St. Thomas Episcopal Church (2100 Hilton Ave., Col.) - Oct. 5 - 6 p.m.

Presidential pups

(Pictured above: Pres. Bush's dogs, Miss Beazley and Barney)

The Obamas have promised their daughters, Malia and Sasha, that they'll get a family dog after the Nov. 4 election.

So what breed?

According to 42,000 people surveyed by a national poll, the Obamas should get a poodle (one of the Obama girls has allergies, and poodles are hypoallergenic.)

Read more of this story here.

What kind of pet would you suggest for the Obamas?

I had been wondering if either of the presidential candidates had pets. According to the story, the McCains already have four dogs.

Pres. Bush has two Scottish terriers: Barney and Miss Beazley. In fact, Barney has his own Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/.

Impressive, isn't it? Makes me want to set up a Web site for CeCe! In fact, she already has a Dogbook page (dog version of Facebook.)

Pet of the Week: Bailey!

This Wednesday's Pet of the Week is Bailey Michelle of Columbus!


This four-year-old princess' exact ancestry is unknown, though many have guessed she is mixed with labrador or hound. Owner Sonya brought Bailey home from the Muscogee County Humane Society about two years ago and the two have been inseparable since.

According to her mom, Bailey has "a voracious appetite for both men and Mexican food." She has a "gruff, often stoic, temperament" - which one can witness when you try to hug Bailey...and she just stands there. Bailey idolizes Michael Phelps...actually, scratch that. She vows to one day out-swim Michael Phelps.

Bailey, congratulations!

If you want to see your pet featured as a "Pet of the Week," e-mail me a picture and description at ahernandez@ledger-enquirer.com.

Odd pet jobs?

My co-worker Tony just shared this new Careerbuilder.com survey with me about the most unusual jobs from A to Z.

What does it have to do with this blog, you ask?

Well, a number of the jobs had to do with animals.

The unusual job starting with letter "C" was cat nanny. Letter "D" was donkey trainer. "K" was kitty litter box decorator (haha!) "T" was turkey wranger, and "X" was x-ray technician for zoo animals.

Here's the complete list.

If you think about it, cat nannies are not that unusual considering the growing number of pet sitting services out there - including in the Columbus, Ga., area.

But kitty litter box decorator? I've never met one of those.

Have you ever held an animal-related job that some said was peculiar?

Celebrity dogs

(Pictured above: Jessica Alba and her two pugs, Sid and Nancy.)

Is anyone else as obsessed as I am about the glamorous lives of A-list celebrities? You know you are.

Anyway.

I saw a little blurb in last Sunday's Parade magazine about Michael Phelps and his English bulldog.

I find it interesting when celebrities mention they have pets. It's like they're real human beings like the rest of us.

I also think the kind of pet a celebrity owns also says something about them. Is the pet a 1.5-lb. diamond-clad Chihuahua who doesn't know what a floor looks like because he/she is carried in a pink purse all day? Or is the pet a large mutt from the local shelter, who runs alongside his/her owner during their morning jogs?

Hmmmmm.

Check out www.parade.com/personality for more pictures of celebrities and their pets.

Housetraining woes

I'll admit, when I first brought CeCe home I didn't realize how difficult it would be housebreaking her. Oh, the many times I'd clean up a mess then turn around five minutes later to find another! My carpet cleaner was definitely put to use that first year.

I remember I once tried putting a wee-wee pad inside her crate, just in case she felt like going while I was at work. I learned quickly that wasn't effective - she ended up tearing up the pad.

I wish I had read this article when I first started housetraining my little girl.

I found the article's "magic formula" to be pretty interesting: a two-month-old puppy, for example, can only "hold it in" for two hours.

Maybe diapers could work.

Just kidding.

Dog owners: what was your pet's housetraining experience like? The story mentioned how bichon frises and pugs had difficulties in that department. Bichon and pug owners, any truth to that?

Columbus firefighters to receive PETA award

Remember the Ledger-Enquirer story last week about the four kittens rescued from a garage fire? Columbus firefighters will now receive a PETA award for their good deed.

Read the story here.

And here's a link to the original story.

Heartwarming

The Sept. 17 issue of Northland Neighbors had a very cute story today written by Georgia Brown. It's all about her dog Dee Dee, a black Lab mix whom she and her husband adopted years ago.

You can check out Northland Neighbors when you buy/receive the print edition of the Ledger-Enquirer (it's not available online.) Dee Dee's story is on pages 14 and 15.

Pet of the Week: Jody!

Introducing Jody, an 11-year-old Jack Russell Terrier from Fortson.

This cute little guy is owned by Jim and Patty Slaughter. Jim says the following of Jody:

"He is 11-years-old now, obtained by Patty as a Christmas present for Jim in 1997. About three years ago, he injured himself by tearing the ligament away from the bone - rotator cuff you might say. The vet told us that he could reattach the ligament for $4,000 or he could reattach it with "fishing line" for $1,000. I said, 'Let's go fishing, Doc.'
The operation was a complete success. The vet told me not to let him chase squirrels anymore. Ha! That's a big joke. There is no way that I can keep him from doing what he was bred to do, short of keeping him in the house all the time. But we have doggie door in our back door, which opens out into a large fenced in back yard - lots of grass and trees. He goes out anytime he feels the 'urge' along with his buddy Butch, a fawn colored Chihuahua."

Jim also sent this follow-up e-mail about their daily trips to the mailbox:

"The morning trip out to the mailbox to pick up the paper is the only time they get to go out into the front yard. They get excited when we put their collars on (rabies and identification tags.) Their first order of business is to fight with neighbor's two dogs through a chain link Fence. Then they follow my wheelchair down the driveway to the mailbox, marking almost every tree along the way. Jody will catch the scent of a squirrel and dash from tree to tree looking for him. But thank goodness he never catches one. LOL."

Thanks to Jim and Patty for submitting to Pet of the Week!

Think your pet deserves to be on Girl's Best Friend? E-mail me at ahernandez@ledger-enquirer.com.

Don't scratch!

Has your pet ever experienced an allergic reaction and you couldn't figure out what they were allergic to?

I had a scare a few months ago with CeCe. She developed hives all over her body - even her face, snout and area around her eyes swelled up. Hives are pretty weird. They go away, then when you think they're gone, they crop up again in full force.

I immediately brought her to our vet, who advised me to give her human Benadryl. But the hives persisted and I continued to worry.

I tried to think of what I had given/exposed her to as of late and couldn't think of anything. That is, until I did my own research and realized the cause: I had switched her ceramic water bowl (which had broke) to plastic.

Plastic! I couldn't believe something as simple as plastic could have caused that awful reaction. Apparently out of all the things pets can be allergic to, contact allergies are the least common.

Here's an article from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which goes over the types of pet allergies and ways to treat it. This is also the article that helped me realize the plastic bowl was the "culprit."

As always, if your pet breaks out, consult your veterinarian first before any Internet source.

Pet food recall

There's been another recall of pet food - this time for food potentially contaminated with Salmonella and produced at a Pennsylvania plant between Feb. 18, 2008 and July 29, 2008.

Mars Petcare US produces some pretty well-known brands, including Roy, Pedigree and Paws & Claws.
Please check the list here to see if you have purchased anything on it.

Kitty cat license plate winner announced!

So I hope you voted for your favorite kitty for Georgia's new spay-neuter license plate. I had posted something on it a week or so ago.

The winner was recently announced: Randalyn Bieniek of Duluth. Her license plate design was actually in the lead voting-wise for the most part.

Check out the new license plate design at www.fixgeorgiacats.org.

You can buy the new Feline Friend license plate - in addition to two other spay-neuter license plates - starting in December.

They're an extra $25 - I'm guessing by "extra" they mean in addition to the regular license plate price. More than $22 out of the $25 goes to the Dog and Cat Sterilization Program.

The Dog Whisperer's coming!

Hey everyone!

So I read on the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Web site that the Dog Whisperer is coming to Atlanta!

If you don't know who the Dog Whisperer is, get a clue. Haha...just kidding.

He's Cesar Millan, and he's a pretty famous dog mind reader of some sort. He teaches people how to fix a dog's behavioral issues by "learning how to see the world through a dog's eyes" (that came from the event description.) He has his own show "Dog Whisperer" and has written a number of books as well.

He'll be at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale now. They're $24 to $249 (plus fees.) Visit the center's Web site here to find out more and to buy tickets.

If you want to read up on Cesar, here's his Web site.

Black lab mix up for adoption

The following e-mail found its way to my inbox today:

From: SWeigl
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:08 pm
To: Susan Weigl
Subject: Dog Up for Adoption

"One of our neighbors, Tina Littleton, has gotten one of the dogs that has been roaming the neighborhood out of harm's way temporarily. The dog is a female black lab mix with some white on her, about 10 months old, and very friendly. She will need to be spayed.

Unfortunately, Animal Control does not have the room to keep her for long and PAWS can't take her. Unless Animal Control is contacted by 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 12th by someone to adopt her, they will euthanize this dog. Please call Animal Control at 706-561-8602 if you might be interested and can adopt her. She is in Kennel #24 and was picked up from 727 Veterans Pkwy.

Thank you!!"

Selling dead cats?

Macon news station WMAZ had a story on their Web site about a Warner Robins animal shelter that is selling euthanized cats to bio-medical research groups.

They say they are using the money - $3 per euthanized cat - for shelter upkeep and care of the other animals.

Read the story here.

It's a sad reality that animal shelters are crowded and euthanization is implemented at some facilities.

But is it ethical for these shelters to sell euthanized animals for the sake of maintaining the facility?

Comment or e-mail your thoughts to me at ahernandez@ledger-enquirer.com.

If you are interested in adopting a cat (or other animal) from Warner Robins Animal Control, visit their Petfinder page, which has a link to animals available for adoption ("Our Pet List.") Warner Robins is east of Columbus and south of Macon (about a two-hour drive from Columbus.)

Want to buy a horse?

The Georgia Department of Agriculture is auctioning off 38 horses that were impounded for poor condition. The horses have been nursed back to good health.

If you're interested, you can head over to the Georgia Department of Agriculture Jasper County Impound Facility in Mansfield Saturday, Sept. 20, to place your bid. I looked it up and Mansfield is about 2.5 hours from Columbus.

The auction is at 11 a.m. You can inspect the horses that day between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

For more information, including directions, click here.

You can also check out photos for the horses here (Equine catalogs 1&2.)

Please submit for Pet of the Week!

So I have been having a little trouble getting people to submit for our Wednesday Pet of the Week feature. Unfortunately, no one has sent me anything since last week so I can't post anything today. =(

I'll be doing some legwork over the next week to get people to submit. If you want to see your handsome/pretty pet on the blog, please e-mail me at ahernandez@ledger-enquirer.com.

In lieu of a local Pet of the Week, here's a picture of me and Mimi, the toy poodle I mentioned in the last post. This California girl likes wearing t-shirts and escaping from her El Cerrito home - literally.

Mate-hating pets

I once read a book in my single days in which the author wrote that the reason why single people get pets is to avoid loneliness. He went on to say that single people need to learn how to be comfortable by themselves - without pets - before they can begin dating anyone.

I forgot what the book was called and who the author was, but it was not the first time I had heard that argument.

I wonder if that author ever considered how animal instincts can actually help your dating life.

It's been said that animals can sense death, danger, natural disasters, etc. I believe pets may also be able to sense a good or bad person - which helps when you're trying to pick a boyfriend/girlfriend.

Take my friend Yvette, who owns a toy poodle named Mimi. Yvette started dating this guy. He met Mimi. Mimi would bark at him incessantly. He was also scared of her (by the way, Mimi weighs five pounds.)

Yvette stopped talking to the guy, rationalizing her decision with: "You don't like my dog, I don't like you."

Yvette now dates someone who Mimi likes. Her boyfriend even rubs Mimi's hip (she has a bad hip.)

What do you think? Do you think when Fido barks maniacally at your date, that's saying something about his character? Would you break up with someone if your pet didn't like him/her (or vice versa)?

Kittens rescued from fire

The Ledger-Enquirer's Tim Chitwood and Joe Paull created a great package on the Columbus Fire Department's rescue of four kittens from a burning garage on South Andrews Circle.

It's in today's paper (local section) as well as on our Web site, accompanied by a really cute video shot by Joe Paull.

Check it out online here.

Pet care with household items

When it comes to your pet, you can do some pretty cool things with baking soda, salt and vinegar.

I'm not talking about feeding them any of the above.

The Web site How Stuff Works (www.howstuffworks.com) has some great tips for pet care using baking soda, salt and vinegar.

For example, you can treat bee stings with baking soda or protect your parrot from zinc poisoning with vinegar.

Here are the links:

Uses for Baking Soda: Pet Care

Uses for Salt: Pet Care

Uses for Vinegar: Pet Care

I'll probably try giving CeCe a dry bath with baking soda. Not sure about bathing her with a little vinegar, though.

Vote for a cat for GA's new license plate!

Want to vote for Georgia's new "Feline Friend" license plate?

Then go to http://www.fixgeorgiacats.org/ and pick your favorite design.

The design with the most votes by this Monday (Sept. 8) will appear on the new license plate.

As of today around 2:20 p.m., here was the license plate in the lead with 3.77 stars out of 5:


I particularly like this one:

The contest, which got 200 entries from all over the country, and the chosen license plate are part of a funding intiative that helps the Dog the Cat Sterilization Program, which provides money for spay/neuter procedures by vets in 159 Georgia counties.

Good cause! Go vote!

Pet of the Week: Dave!

Here's our Pet of the Week, Dave, from Columbus, Ga.

"My head is sooooo heavy."

Here's a description from mom Lily:

"My name is Dave. I am a 3-year-old, 89 pound Weimaraner. People tell me I'm big for my breed, but mommy says I'm perfect just the way that I am. I love the Red Sox, mommy and daddy, going to stick park and stealing treats from my treat bin. My interests include sleeping, eating, slobbering all over everything, trying to act like a person and sniffing things I shouldn't."

If you want to see your pet on Girl's Best Friend, please e-mail me pictures and a description at ahernandez@ledger-enquirer.com!

Neighbors and noise

In the first few months of CeCe and I being together, I kept her in the kitchen while I was at work. Soon it became apparent that she would not take being alone quietly - she started barking and howling while I was away. How did I know? The neighbors complained.

Did you know that Columbus has an animal ordinance that states it's "unlawful" for owners to "allow, permit or by negligence fail to prevent such animals from" causing a nuisance? A nuisance includes animals howling, yelping, whining, barking, etc. that disturbs people in the neighborhood.

Read Columbus' Animal Ordinance here.

As for CeCe, I started leaving the tv and radio on while I was away so she wasn't as bored. She also has plenty of toys and bones to play with. And she gets to roam the living room.

So far, I think it's worked. No more complaints.

Here's a Yahoo Pets article about being a good pet neighbor.

What have you done to make sure your pet is a good neighbor?