The Dog Blog is a community of ordinary dog lovers who have come together to discuss our extraordinary dogs. Each Monday, a new topic is introduced. If you've got an opinion, share it. If not, look for the current "anything goes" topic and introduce a discussion of your own. On Fridays, weigh in about your training questions and successes.
Your host: Mike Lewis is a little-dog nerd and the proud owner of Eddie and Jillian, a pair of Yorkies who think they're Labs, and Rusty, an elderly Lab who thinks he's a Yorkie.
SECTION
See local photos, videos, pets available for adoption, lost-animal listings, and events for the animal lover on our new pets portal.
READER-SUBMITTED
It's time for our annual Howwwwl-oween costume contest, your chance to make your Scary Scottie, Ghoulish Greyhound or Princess Pug famous.
Does Alaska need tougher animal cruelty laws? - 2/8/2010 5:08 pm
Pet New Year - 2/5/2010 11:26 am
Friday training talk: What's up this week? - 2/5/2010 11:26 am
Anything goes: What's up with your pack? - 2/4/2010 3:58 pm
AACCC launches ID campaign - 2/3/2010 2:18 pm
Adoption of the week: Meet Callie - 2/3/2010 1:12 pm
Houston police shoot 8 unwanted shelter animals - 2/2/2010 9:49 pm
Is it possible to breed for profit ethically? - 2/1/2010 5:11 pm
Football fans enlist a beagle for battle cry - 1/31/2010 10:47 pm
Friday training talk: What's new with your pack - 1/29/2010 8:56 pm
Anything goes: What's up with your pack? - 1/27/2010 12:47 pm
Adoptions of the week: Meet Rufus and revisit Alize - 1/27/2010 12:38 pm
Video: AACCC volunteers training shelter dogs - 1/26/2010 2:52 pm
What do you think of idea presented for a fenced dog park? - 1/26/2010 1:49 pm
Friday training talk: Anything new to report? - 1/22/2010 12:47 pm
Adoption of the week: Gunner was a Hogs & Dogs winner - 1/20/2010 11:45 am
Anything goes: What's up with your pooch? - 1/18/2010 3:07 pm
A new page for pets: adn.com/pets - 1/18/2010 2:07 pm
Friday training talk: What's up with your pack? - 1/14/2010 9:34 pm
Adoption of the week: Meet Dotty - 1/13/2010 11:36 am
Meeting scheduled to discuss fenced dog park - 1/12/2010 1:49 pm
Anything goes: What's new with your pack? - 1/12/2010 11:49 am
FEBRUARY 8, 2010 - 5:08 PM
State Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, hopes to pass legislation that would treat the most serious cases of animal cruelty as felonies, bringing Alaska up to the standards of 46 other states. It's scheduled to be discussed on Friday.
Anchorage Animal Care and Control supports the bill. What do you think?
Check out the sponsor statement for SB 214 below, then view a PDF of the bill.
SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI
Sponsor Statement: SB 214
Animal Cruelty
The intent of SB 214 is to ensure the most heinous crimes of animal cruelty are treated as felony offenses.
FEBRUARY 5, 2010 - 11:26 AM
Pet New Year is set for Saturday, April 6, at Alaska Mill & Feed. These are always cool and informative events. They'll have a variety of booths, and you get to meet people and animals involved in the local pet scene. Here's the press release from Anchorage Animal Care and Control Center:
AACCC will be giving low-cost rabies vaccinations to dogs and cats for $5. The Alaska SPCA will be offering microchips for $30, with the first 30 spay/neutered animals over a year old receiving them FREE. Golden Days Pet Grooming will be offering free nail trims for pets to anyone making a donation to a local rescue group (Friends of Pets, AK SPCA, and Kitty and K-9 Connection will all be at the event). Lots of local vendors will be on site with information and samples, including local rescue groups, pet club, pet product vendors and more!
FEBRUARY 5, 2010 - 11:26 AM
Use this space to discuss training issues. You know the drill: seek advice from others, brag about successes, lament setbacks. ...
It took about 8 months, but Jillie is finally 100 percent housetrained. She's been perfect for the last month or so. I decided to go ahead and train her to go both outside and inside on a pad. She goes outside when I'm home to let her out, but she'll use the pad when we're not home. I can live with that. It's also good practice for traveling. She knows how to use a pad if we're stuck in airports.
I had hopes of housetraining her in 4-5 months, but it just didn't happen. Still, it's a one-month improvement over the last dog I trained, Eddie.
FEBRUARY 4, 2010 - 3:58 PM
Use this space to discuss anything you'd like or just to drop by and say hi.
FEBRUARY 3, 2010 - 2:18 PM
Dog Blog Note: Here's a press release from Anchorage Animal Care and Control announcing a cool ad campaign to promote licensing.
Check out AACCC's Facebook page to see the video.
“Let’s See Some ID”
These days, you need ID for just about everything, and that goes for our pets as well! Anchorage Animal Care and Control Center (AACCC) will be launching two public service announcements in partnership with Friends of Pets and local film company, SprocketHeads. The first of the two humorous ads will be unveiled at the Mayor’s Briefing this Wednesday, February 3rd, at 3:30pm, in the Mayor’s Conference Room at City Hall.
FEBRUARY 3, 2010 - 1:12 PM
Callie
Here's Anchorage Animal Care and Control's Adoption of the Week, courtesy of Brooke Taylor, AAACC's public relations coordinator.
Here is Callie, an adult, female, pit bull mix. Callie has unique coloring that is quite pretty and makes her stand out from the crowd. She is sweet and very curious with a happy personality. She enjoys playing with her friend, Alize, another dog currently up for adoption here.
FEBRUARY 2, 2010 - 9:49 PM
Dog Blog note: This story is appearing in tomorrow's paper. I'd love to hear the reaction from dog lovers.
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com
Houston police shot and killed all eight remaining cats and dogs lodged at the city’s Animal Protection and Safety shelter on Tuesday after homes could not be found for the animals.
Some of the four dogs and four cats had been unclaimed at the facility since November, and the city wasn’t prepared to keep them forever, said department head Sgt. Charlie Seidl, who shot them.
“We stretched out as long as we could,” Seidl said. “At one point in time, we were completely full. So we were able to adopt out the animals that we could adopt out, but with these ones that were left we weren’t able to do that. And like I said, we can’t hang on to them indefinitely.”
FEBRUARY 1, 2010 - 5:11 PM
At the risk of igniting an ugly debate about breeding and breeders, I'd be interested in your opinions on this. Is it possible to treat dogs humanely, do a great job on their socialization AND make money?
Almost every serious breeder I've talked to has told me there is no money in it. The time and expenses involved in raising puppies makes it a break-even proposition at best.
However, some people do claim to make money. Are they cutting corners? Are they getting lucky?
And no -- I'm not interested in doing this myself. I was recently Googling a breeder I'm familiar with and I ran across some chatter on a forum saying she ran a puppy mill. I know that not to be true, because I know she treated her pups like family. But it got me to thinking of the larger question.
JANUARY 31, 2010 - 10:47 PM
I hesitated posting this when it was pointed out to me because I wasn't sure if it was a harmless stupid dog trick or if the beagle was in distress.
Oh well, it's Super Bowl week. I'll let you decide.
JANUARY 29, 2010 - 8:56 PM
Use this space to discuss training issues, whether to brag about successes or to seek advice from some of the visitors to the blog.
My apologies for the late post! Got busy in the morning and still haven't caught up.
I've been working on Jillie's wait and stay. She loves fetching the ball, and was initially rabid to get it, but now she waits until I release her.
She and Eddie also have the dual and independent spins down. I tell Eddie to spin, and she'll hold her place. Then I tell her to spin, and Eddie holds his place. Then I give them a "both spin" and they spin in tandem. Kind of a fun stupid pet trick.
JANUARY 27, 2010 - 12:47 PM
Use this space to discuss anything you'd like or just to stop by and say hello.
Featured breed: Parson russell terrier
Too funny. I'm pretty sure I saw one of these last night when I popped in Alyeska Canine Trainers just to visit. It was in puppy class.
JANUARY 27, 2010 - 12:38 PM
Rufus
Here's Anchorage Animal Care and Control's Adoption of the Week, courtesy of Brooke Taylor, AAACC's public relations coordinator.
Here is Rufus, an older adult, neutered male, Chinese Sharpei mix. This friendly guy has a lovable, curious personality that will win you over in a heartbeat. He is housetrained very well and loves to go out for walks. He is easy to handle and though he is older, still has lots of energy. He is calm and quiet and did well in a recent Shelter Dog Playgroup.
JANUARY 26, 2010 - 2:52 PM
Anchorage Animal Care and Control Center has some awesome volunteers. Not only do they hold regular training sessions for shelter dogs, but now they're videoing them. Check ou
JANUARY 26, 2010 - 1:49 PM
Dog Blog note, 1/26 I'm adding an example of the good a fenced dog park can do for an area. This one is at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
By now dog lovers have probably seen the ADN story about an effort to turn a little-used municipal park into a fenced dog park.
JANUARY 22, 2010 - 12:47 PM
Use this space to discuss training issues -- brag about successes, lament setbacks, or seek advice from some of the others who visit the blog.
For my pack, Eddie had a good first week at physical therapy (see video). It really helped to have a well-trained dog for some of the exercises. They had him walk over some 2" pieces of wood in a little course, and he took right to it with a "walk-it" command from agility. Then they had him go from sit to stand several times to get him to use both back legs equally. His obedience training came in handy there. The one challenge was the water treadmill. He's not much of a swimmer and dislikes bath time, so he worked all the angles trying to avoid doing what he was supposed to do. But by the end, he got a good low-impact workout in.
JANUARY 20, 2010 - 11:45 AM
Meet Gunner
Here's Anchorage Animal Care and Control's Adoption of the Week, courtesy of Brooke Taylor, AAACC's public relations coordinator.
Here is Gunner, a 4-year-old, neutered male, pit bull/Rhodesian ridgeback mix. He is very polite and well mannered, excellent on leash, and already knows sit, shake, and down. He takes treats gently and has been good around the other shelter dogs and interacted well with other dogs in the City Dog Class here at the shelter.
JANUARY 18, 2010 - 3:07 PM
Use this space to discuss anything you'd like or just to stop by and say hello.
JANUARY 18, 2010 - 2:07 PM
Today the ADN is launching a new online pets page, and I, for one, am excited about it. It includes some cool features that I have been unable to properly address and display on the blog. While adn.com/pets is not designed to replace the blog, the Dog Blog is featured on the page.
One of things I like best about it is it prominently displays the pets category of the ADN's community calendar. You'll be able to see what events are coming up, and, better yet, you're one click away from submitting your own event for the calendar. You can submit pet events or other community events from the same link. I'll be adding events as well, but I'd encourage everyone to use the calendar so pet owners know what events are coming up.
JANUARY 14, 2010 - 9:34 PM
Use this space to discuss training issues: Brag about successes, lament setbacks, seek or offer advice.
Jillie, at 9 months, is starting to get more and more independent. While she used to follow me like a shadow, she's starting to think more about wandering. I realized that the other day when she ran across the street to see the neighbor dogs instead of walking directly to my car as she'd always done.
So it's back on the leash for her even for short jaunts to the car. I'm also going to work on a "stop" command. That's one of Eddie's most reliable and one we worked on in obedience class. If I remember correctly, the way to teach is to send the dog out to a plate for a treat, call them back and then give a STOP with hand out. Eddie picked it up pretty quickly. We'll see about Jillie.
JANUARY 13, 2010 - 11:36 AM
Meet Dotty
Here's Anchorage Animal Care and Control's Adoption of the Week, courtesy of Brooke Taylor, AAACC's public relations coordinator.
Here is Dotty, an adult, spayed female, pit bull mix. She is white with black spots. Dotty is a high-energy dog who will do well in a home that can give her lots of exercise. She enjoys playing fetch with balls and ropes but also likes cuddle time on the couch. She is a sweet girl who has done well supervised with the other dogs in several Doggie Playgroups. She is a tail wagger, eager to greet everyone and eager to please. She is very smart and has earned all A+s in Shelter Dog Training Class. She is very friendly and playful and would make a wonderful companion for someone. She can be adopted for $72, as she is already spayed, which includes MOA license, vaccinations, and microchip.
Read the adn.com updated privacy policy | 
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.
© Copyright 2010, The Anchorage Daily News, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company 
Contact Us | Newsroom Contacts | Communication Forms | Subscriptions | Advertising | Featured Advertisers
Daily News Jobs |
RSS Feeds |
|
ADN Store |
Newspapers in Education
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | About our ads | Copyright
