somerville dog: a weblog

The 24th annual MSPCA-Angell Walk for Animals, Sunday, October 17, 2004 at the Boston Common, will be a fun community-building event for Somerville dog owners. As a "team captain" my goal is to walk with a team of twelve Somerville dog owners and our dogs! MSPCA-Angell welcomes "all dogs that enjoy the company of other dogs" and that are "leashed, licensed, in good physical condition and up-to-date on all vaccinations." If you have a pet that cannot participate in the Walk, bring a photo for the "I Wish I Were Here" board!

If you are interested you can join the somervilledog.com team or make a donation online.

In addition to serving local communities with animal health clinics and adoption centers, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a national and international leader in animal protection; their "services include animal protection and adoption, advocacy, humane education, law enforcement and the highest-quality veterinary care available anywhere in the world."

MSPCA has seven animal care and adoption centers and three premier veterinary hospitals, including Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, one of the foremost clinical veterinary institutions in the world. MSPCA law enforcement officers investigate cruelty complaints; inspect facilities and events involving animals; testify in court; work with police and social-service agencies in animal-related cases; and speak to school and community groups about animal care and protection. As an advocacy group MSPCA promotes workable "pets allowed" policies, help for pet owners with HIV/AIDS, Spay/Neuter Assistance, and Humane Education. MSPCA's Niven's Farm facilitates in rehabilitation and adoption of all kinds of farm animals. The Hillside Acre Animal Cemetery offers a lasting tribute to beloved animal companions, bringing support and peace of mind to bereaved pet owners.

If you would like to take a lovely stroll with your Somerville dog and support the MSPCA on October 17, please join the somervilledog.com team. How will you and your leashed dog get to the Boston Common on Sunday morning? Why not take the T?

Posted by Michèle at 8:06 PM
Categories: D.O.G.s (Dog Owner Groups), Events, Somerville
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I like dogs. . . . They do not tell lies because they cannot talk.

. . .

I don't like proper novels, because they are lies about things
which didn't happen and they make me feel shaky and scared.

On the very first page of Mark Haddon?s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher John Francis Boone discoverers a body. It's not a murder mystery like Arthur Conan Doyle's, The Hound of the Baskervilles:

Two dogs were killed in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the hound itself and James Mortimer's spaniel, but . . . they weren't the victims of the murder, Sir Charles Baskerville was.

Every good crime-fiction reader knows that to prosecute a suspect, you need to establish method, motive and opportunity. Method, in this case, is pretty obvious. To establish motive, Christopher resorts to the statistical evidence that "you are most likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on Christmas day." If his murderer's motive was to make Wellington's owner, Mrs. Shears, upset, he reasons, his prime suspect would be the one person he knew who didn't like Mrs. Shears: her husband, who had left her two years ago.

I want to take a moment to consider "opportunity" in this case. Given that Mrs. Shears's dog was murdered in the night-time in her yard, everyone in town that night had the opportunity to murder Wellington. And, given that her dog was murdered in her own yard, Mrs. Shears had the best opportunity of all.

A responsible dog owner Mrs. Shears is not. The only thing she is responsible for is her dog's death: Wellington was murdered because Mrs. Shears left him unattended in her fenced-in yard. Yet, like most evil masterminds in related genres, Mrs. Shears evades prosecution: she is not even on Christopher's list of suspects.

If all of the characters in the story were as responsible toward and respectful of other species as Christopher, their own inter-personal relationships wouldn't be so dysfunctional. Like the odyssey of Dorothy and her little dog, Toto--which, I have argued, would have been averted if Toto had had a responsible owner--if Mrs. Shears were a responsible dog owner, there would be no murder and no murder mystery in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Bad dog owner; good novel.

Posted by Michèle at 11:58 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Literature
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About forty people and their dogs enjoy the annual Dog Walk at the Forest Hill Cemetery. Leashed dogs are welcome in the Cemetery, which is open to the public every day, from 8:30 a.m. to dusk.

Saturday, October 2, 10 am
$10 per human
Raindate: October 9

The Dog Walk is a unique annual expedition for sociable dogs and their owners. Historian Dee Morris leads this lively walking tour of monuments of interest to our canine friends. Certificates and treats are awarded upon completion. $10 admission for each human.

Reservations are strongly recommended as attendance is limited; call 617.524.3354.

Sponsored by Polkadog Bakery

Make your reservations today to enjoy this year's walk!

The admission fee covers the cost of the walk guide, Dee Morris, a social historian who recently conducted a tour of Medford Square and, this summer, conducted the Cambridge Discovery Walk, "Side by Side: A Cambridgeport Ramble." Morris will be leading a tour of the Mount Auburn Cemetery on September 26, "Memories of the Civil War at Mount Auburn Cemetery: Personalities of the Times."

Posted by Michèle at 10:05 AM
Categories: Destinations, Events, Massachusetts
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We took Strummer to the Pet Rock Festival, yesterday. I failed to take any good pictures, but Hamor Hollow Hedgehogs has a couple of photo galleries of the festival on their website. Sean Hamor took the pictures posted here.

I think Strummer thought she had died and gone to doggie heaven. Unlike the real world, where most people a dog meets when out for a stroll are not with dogs, in doggie heaven almost every person is with a dog! They even have squirrels on leashes in doggie heaven! Strummer noticed the ferret before I did, but fortunately someone gasped, "Oh my gosh," and caught my attention before Strummer had a chance to pounce. (The ferret, a fine animal, probably would have had Strummer for lunch.)

When we arrived at the festival grounds at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, the Blue Dog Group a was beginning a Canine Frisbee show. One of the amazing Border Collies that performed is a rescue. The Pet Rock Festival benefits Massachusetts-based animal welfare organizations, including shelters, cruelty watchdogs and rescue leagues. There are nearly 100 rescue groups and shelters listed on their site.

Strummer, who doesn't retrieve (she's a meta-retriever and likes to chase dogs that are playing fetch), really, really wanted to play with the fabulous Border Collies in the Canine Frisbee exhibition. She actually barked. Twelve times. Since we adopted her in April she has barked twice.

We visited the booth of the Friends of the Sharon Dog Park. Opening Day of the Sharon Dog Park is October 9, 2004. The Friends of the Sharon Dog Park are accepting donations to cover the cost of fencing, which must be installed before opening day.

Our friends at Poodle Rescue of New England had the booth right next to the Sharon Dog Park booth. We met other rescued poodles--Bonnie, a chocolate standard, and the elegant and gregarious Diva, a small white standard. Keah, an apricot standard, who is available for adoption, was relaxing in the shade with her foster mom.

We arrived too late to see the Weston Whirlwinds flyball and Gemini Dog Training & Daycare agility demonstrations, but Strummer and I enjoyed an agility course walk-through with one of the Gemini trainers.

Posted by Michèle at 10:19 AM
Categories: Events, Massachusetts
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It is not surprising that Boston is not the only major metropolitan area having a problem with aggressive dogs. After a Chihuahua was allegedly beheaded by pit bulls when it allegedly interrupted their dinner, which they were eating at the United Nations Plaza, the New York Times printed an editorial about the need for legislation that addresses dog-on-dog violence to stop aggressive dogs before they ultimately injure a human.¹

Now if the fact that the owner of the accused dogs allows herself and her dogs to be photographed like this doesn't suggest that she is insane, certainly her admission to feeding her dogs dinner in United Nations Plaza should raise questions about her commitment to the social contract.

But what really concerns me is the Times' argument that laws that address dog-on-dog aggression will protect the person who otherwise finds it necessary to shield her pet with her own body. First of all, according to the earlier article, New York City law does not protect a person who puts herself in danger by interfering in a dogfight. Second, dog-on-dog aggression is in itself a serious problem that human communities should take seriously. Humans have brought dogs into our communities, and we owe it not only to ourselves, but also to our dogs, not to tolerate sociopaths who allow their dogs to threaten their neighbors.

¹The Somerville City Ordinances do address dog-on-dog violence. According to Sec. 3-32. Restraint or muzzling of dogs,

the chief of police or officer designated by him or her may restrain or order to be restrained or muzzled any dog for . . . Having killed, maimed, or otherwise caused damage to any other domesticated animal . . . .

Posted by Michèle at 11:39 PM
Categories: United States
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Fortunately, I don't have my own cautionary tale about the risk to dogs riding unrestrained in cars, but my friend, Dave Trowbridge, does. Dave's story has a happy ending: his German Shepherd Dog, Oka, was properly restrained in a VariKennel and survived the accident unscathed.

But Dave's admonition is one that responsible dog owners should take seriously:

If you have a serious accident with your dog unrestrained in your car, your dog will die. If you have any sort of accident with your dog tethered in the back of your pickup truck, your dog will die. (And if you carry a dog in your pickup truck without restraint, you should be publicly flogged.)

Worse, it's all too likely your dog will suffer horribly for quite some time before it dies: you may not leave the scene of an accident, even if you can, and there are no provisions for severely-wounded animals, save the doubtful mercy of a peace-officer's gun. Very few people know how to quickly and painlessly kill an animal with a firearm (draw a line from each ear to the opposite eye, and fire into the point of intersection), and it generally can't be done with a frightened, thrashing dog, anyway. How will you feel, when it's all over, knowing that a $100 crate could have prevented a horrible, prolonged death for your beloved pet?

In my compact four-door sedan, however there just isn't enough room for a crate that can accommodate a standard poodle. I asked a member of the Poodle Club of Massachusetts how to travel safely by car with my dog, and she said: the best vehicle restraint harness for dogs is Ruff Rider. With a tensile strength of 9300 lbs., it surpasses SAE standards for human seat belts, and its design is orthopedically sound, ergonomically correct, and warranteed for the life of your animal.

Restraining a dog in a vehicle insures the safety not only of the dog but of the human occupants of the vehicle as well. The owner of Ruff Rider, Carl Goldberg, says "If you brake hard at 30 mph, a 60-pound dog will fly forward with a force of 1,200 pounds per square inch." That's a dangerous projectile--at only 30 mph: even on short, local drives, say to Sheepfold in the Middlesex Fells or to Canine University in Malden, I exceed 30 mph.

In my car (as in all things), I try to do right by my dog. Strummer travels in the Roadie LX, and she loves to go for rides!

Posted by Michèle at 9:35 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, DogNet, Gear, Strummer, Your Dog's Health
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