Advocate for the Working Dog

Advocate for the working dog: read the latest on Save Our Dogs website about voting today on SB250. It's not over yet. We still need help with phone calls and faxes.


"... the Assembly might vote on SB 250 once again on Friday, or perhaps Monday or Tuesday if the Assembly reconvenes next week. Tuesday is the last day the legislature can vote on bills according to the state Constitution.
Your calls and faxes are making a huge difference."

It would be wonderful to throw a huge party when this stupid thing fails! Please help if you can.

No on SB 250 - Need More Calls and Faxes

This is from the Save Our Dogs website, posted today (08/24/10):

California SB 250 – mandatory sterilization for dogs and cats – is eligible for a vote in the Assembly at any time. If it passes the Assembly it may be moved very quickly to a final vote in the Senate. Additional polite No on SB 250 calls and faxes are needed from Californians to these legislators:


Assemblymember phone fax

Evans (916)-319-2007 (916)-319-2107

M. Perez (916)-319-2080 (916)-319-2180

Hall (916)-319-2052 (916)-319-2152

Saldana (916)-319-2076 (916)-319-2176

Lowenthal (916)-319-2054 (916)-319-2154

Adams (916)-319-2059 (916)-319-2159

Carter (916)-319-2062 (916)-319-2162



Senator phone fax

Pavley (916)-651-4023 (916)-324-4823

Correa (916)-651-4034 (916)-323-2323

Simitian (916)-651-4011 (916)-323-4529

Yee (916)-651-4008 (916)-327-2186

Negrete-McLeod (916)-651-4032 (916)-445-0128

Wright (916)-651-4025 (916)-445-3712

Survivor

Yesterday I had the privilege of judging a small schooling show (AHBA trial). It was my first experience in judging a whole trial (I had judged several non-comp runs in AHBA in the past). The trial hosts were informed in advance of my inexperience, yet hired me anyway, so there was full disclosure! ;-)  Anyway the venue was beautifully maintained as always, the dogs were nice and the stock well suited to the trial (for the most part). (The geese might be another story on that!) And, I survived! A major factor in my survival was the fabulous Clerk Debbie (below in blue) who was incredibly competent (I am in the pink). Judging is easy when you have such a great clerk.

They're making me think again!

There were several nice runs. Most of the dogs were border collies, even though AHBA is open to all breeds. I am not sure why more of the other breeds were not entered but that is a question for someone who knows more about it than I do. Runs were offered on sheep, goats and geese. The goats were a real trip and the geese, well, were geese-like. The sheep were very fit and worked well if the dog was right. It was not easy. Anyone who says that AHBA is too easy has not tried that venue. Anyway many thanks to the trial hosts for keeping this venue going in our area. And thanks for having confidence in me to judge! I feel like I learned a lot that will carry over into any venue where I choose to trial.

Californians Take Immediate Action - SB 250 is Back

Please check the Save Our Dogs website.

Senator Florez has pushed through amendments to SB 250 - the mandatory spay-neuter bill. The amendments while not yet in print, are very minor, and do nothing to address the reasons to oppose this bill. Senator Florez may push for an Assembly vote as early as this Thursday or Friday.

If you do not want mandatory sterilization for dogs and cats in California, it is critical that you call or fax the office of your Assembly member today. It takes less than one minute to call.

Ask your Assemblymember to continue to oppose Senate Bill 250 – mandatory spay-neuter for dogs and cats – when it comes up for a vote. The recent amendments do nothing to change any of the reasons for opposing this bill.

Coal on the Fetch

A friend took these lovely photos at the RESDA trial this past Saturday in Boonville. The trial functioned as a qualifier for the Mendocino County Fair trial which is to be held in September. The top eight dogs get into the finals that take place during the Fair. Coal and I did not get into the finals but I was really happy to get such nice photos. The sheep are commercial ewes from a working ranch, and are for the most part completely undogged, which made an arena setting trial quite difficult. The sheep fought the dogs quite fiercely to get back to the letout or over to the exhaust pen. Many teams had difficulty but there were some good runs and great dog work/dog handling. Photos by T. Tucker.

Tarweed

At one of the fields that we share for grazing sheep, tarweed becomes a problem every summer (right about now). It smells bad, it gets sticky stuff in the dog's fur that is hard to wash out, and the sticky stuff itself attracts every bit of dust that then clings to dogs and people alike.

Here is an article on Managing Tarweed, from UC Davis. This article promotes mowing in late summer as an effective method to reduce tarweed. We are wondering if anyone has tried this, with any success. If you have mowed tarweed and found it to be reduced, leave me a comment, please!

Tarweed (BLM.gov photo)

Bone Broth

This post is a follow-up to the entry made a while back titled, "What my Dogs Eat". A few years back a dear friend (who is both a dog person and a pharmacist) sent me an article about bone broth and its nutritional and medicinal qualities. At the time we both had very elderly dogs who were exceptionally dear to us. The dogs had good appetites but did not get around so well. It was my friend's suggestion that I start making up some bone broth to offer to the elderly one (who at the time was Augie). The link to the PDF article that my friend sent me then is now inaccessible and needs a password so I can't offer the direct link to what I read back then. But if you Google "bone broth" you will find plenty of articles like this one about the benefits of bone broth for human and dog alike. Since that time I have gotten into the habit of making bone broth out of any cooked bone that we happen to have coming through the kitchen. If I roast a chicken, we make bone broth. Then after pouring off the broth and discarding the bones, I add any veggies that need to get used up, cook the whole thing, then process in the blender, and voila! Doggie-V-8! The dogs love it. I am still getting a weekly box of veggies from Valley End Farm (which I am really enjoying). At the end of the weekend I clear out whatever is left to prepare for the new box on Tuesday and anything that is a bit wilted or faded goes into the Doggie-V-8, which is best when prepared with bone broth.

Of course if you are a real chef (which I am most certainly not!) you can use your broth to prepare gourmet cuisine. It is a traditional product common to most cultures and revered for medicinal qualities to help heal joints and provide other healing benefits. And when I make bone broth I feel a lot less guilty about "wasting" a chicken for myself when I could be feeding the entire thing to the dogs (with no waste whatsoever).

Even if you are still feeding kibble (!) you could make bone broth to pour over the dogs' meals. I'm just sayin'! Enjoy!