One of your fellow Dogsters wrote in to ask for advice on ear piercing for dogs. Connors asks:

Shasta and I love jewellery. I have been using the magnetic earring on Shasta and she loves it. I only put it on her one ear. What I was wondering, is there a safe procedure for actually having her one ear pierced? I only use tiny, non dangling earrings so they cannot catch on anything. If so, what type of place would I go to to have this done?

I live in Ontario, Canada, so please no USA addresses please.

Thank you.

Okay, Dogsters, we need some help here. I don’t even have MY ears pierced so I wouldn’t know where to start on this subject for the furkids. Bark out and help Connors and Shasta with some advice.

You’re right, I do run a lot of photos and stories about smaller dogs. But they’re sooo cute. Now here’s a story about some big babies, literally! Check out the 100+ Pounders Club in Dogster Groups. Koda, seen above, is the group administrator and boy, he must have his paws full with these big furkids!

So if you’re dog is feeling large and in charge, stroll on over to the group where spit happens. As I tell folks, I don’t make this stuff up. I just enjoy it!

If you haven’t read either The Man Who Talks to Dogs (about Randy Grim) or Quentin the Miracle Dog (by Randy Grim) then you’re missing some of the most moving real dog stories in print. Well, times a wasting! Get those copies soon because I’ll be interviewing Randy Grim in a few weeks and, among other things, I’ll be asking him YOUR questions.

This is your chance to catch this illusive rescuer and ask him those questions you’ve always wanted to ask. As most people who know Randy will tell you, he’s not easy to catch and even harder to get talking about himself. But I will!

If you want to learn more about Randy and the rescue organization he founded, Stray Rescue, then you might want to check out this recent article in the Christian Science Monitor and Stray Rescue’s web site.

So send your questions to me at joy@dogster.com. I’m looking forward to sharing them with Randy!

Here’s a follow-up to the story about Mooie, the pit bull puppy who was viciously burned with acid and had to be euthanized. The Petition Site has a petition available to be signed calling for justice for Mooie.

Also, thanks to Bono in the Over the Rainbow Group, there is now a Dogster stroll set up to honor Mooie.

There is a Justice for Mooie stroll on Dogster and Catster. All you have to do is go into your photo manager and tag a picture “Mooie” and you will be included in the stroll. Currently, only my family’s cats are included in the stroll but please every cat and dog, tag a picture for the stroll - let’s show our support!

In the time after Bono sent that message out another 150+ dogs and cats signed up for the stroll.

Meanwhile in Washington state, the agencies who should be bringing the human monster to justice seem to be having problems getting themselves together. Here’s the link to an article from Tuesday’s Seattle Times.

Pasado’s Safe Haven has a website with lots of information and links to other information about Mooie’s case. Before you click to it, please be aware that there are some very graphic photos of the injured dog.

Got just toooo much time to sit in front of your computer? Need something to make those idle hours at work just whoosh by? Love puzzles? Then here’s a site to check out — ArtPaw.com’s Puzzle Games. Its brought to you by the same artists who bring you dog portraits in various styles such as Warhol, Great Masters and more.

The difference here is that to see the art you’ve got to play the game. You solve the puzzles by clicking and dragging the pieces together. I guess this does beat the old-fashioned way of laying the pieces out on the table. By the time I got the puzzle to look like anything some errant dog or sibling would walk by and knock the thing back into its 1000 pieces.

One of the lovely features of the site is that if you just don’t have the patience to solve the puzzles yourself, you can always hit the “solve” button and watch those little pieces slide themselves into place. Wow! Are computers great or what?!?!?

Our hearts go out to a Dogster who recently lost a pet in a freakish auto accident. Here is her letter. Vicki C. shared her loss with us in hopes she could save others’ furfriends.

Hello, I’ve had my sweet boys on your website for a while now and have really enjoyed it. Now I hope that I can give back something for the pleasure your website & members have given me.

I have very sad news but must share it in hopes of sparing someone else or their beloved pet harm.

On February 27th my husband and I had our two pups in the car and were on our way to a park. A woman ran a stop sign and slammed into our car, killing Yogie. His neck was broken in two places and he was paralyzed immediately.

A kind lady who witnessed the accident took Yogie to the vet almost immediately. Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done for him but give him an IV and something for pain. Our sweet boy didn’t so much as make a sound but was in horrible shape. There was nothing that could be done for him.

Fortunately our other pup was shaken up but is okay.

Please, please, please do take steps to safeguard your pets. Use specially designed seats and/or safety belts. We were only making a short trip. A trip on a highway with a maximum speed limit of only 35 miles per hour. What should have been a pleasant trip for our babies ended up taking one of their lives. Needless to say we are heart broken.

We’ll never be able to replace Yogie but are thinking about finding another Lhasa boy to love and help fill the void. We miss him terribly and have yet to go a day without crying over losing him.

Take care and be safe, I hope you will gain something from our experience.

Vicki

Thank you Vicki. I hope with you that Yogie’s story can help save another dog.

This sounds like the plot of a “Lassie” spin-off doesn’t it? But according to Boston Channel 5 (WCVB) Cinnamon, a Sheltie, saved four-year-olds Joshua and Addilyn from being more seriously injured when a rabid fox attacked them in Joshua’s New Hampshire backyard. The rabid fox bit both of the children but did not break Addilyn’s skin. Cinnamon distracted the fox so the children could be rescued.

Everybody is okay except for the fox, which was captured and euthanized. Cinnamon and Joshue are undergoing a series of rabies shots but other than that, they’re fine.

Funny thing about the story is that they call Cinnamon, “an unlikely hero.” I guess the writer doesn’t know dogs because what else would you expect of the famliy dog, much less a Sheltie?

Way to go Cinnamon!

Its not just dogs who need finding. Often the people need finding more. Author Ken Foster recounts his being found and helped by dogs in his new book, The Dogs Who Found Me. According to Foster, dogs have helped him recover emotionally from experiencing the World Trade Center attack and living through Katrina. In turn he has tried to repay his debt to dogs by rescuing street dogs in need of assistance.

Foster details his experiences both with his own dogs and the street dogs in a recent Voice of America article. But he goes much further than just recounting harrowing times. Foster also suggests what we can learn from dogs.

The writer says humans get as much satisfaction from their relationship with dogs as the animals get from people. He says dogs have helped him deal with the death of two close friends and cope with a heart condition that nearly killed him.

He says dogs are social animals, just as people are, and that is probably why they get along so well.

“I think that’s why the relationship between dogs and men and women is so unique, is that they want to be part of a pack, and the pack can include people as well as other dogs,” he said.

But dogs, says Ken Foster, have an advantage over people because dogs are intuitive. He says the dogs that have found him, in parks and animal shelters and at the side of highways, have helped him understand what it means to be human.

And the choir howled a resounding “Amen!”

If you have had a chance to read Foster’s book, bark out to me and let us know what you think about The Dogs Who Found Me.

How sick do you have to be to burn a four-month-old pit bull puppy with acid so badly that she has to be euthanized? I don’t know but may I suggest that its sick enough to BE euthanized? I understand dog “hoarding” in that those people usually have an emotional need to keep the dogs, cats and other animals. I’m not forgiving it, just saying I can understand it a little bit. But what was done to this puppy, Mooie, is absolutely beyond understanding or forgiveness as far as I’m concerned!

Here’s the awful story as reported by the Seattle Times and Pasado’s Safe Haven, the rescue center which conducted the investigation into Mooie’s murder and which is leading the charge in bringing the perpetrator to justice.

Before you go to the Pasado site to read more of this story please be aware that it has some EXTREMELY graphic photos of the abused dog, both before and after she was euthanized. According to the attending veterinarians, who often work with abuse cases, Mooie was too far gone to help. She was burned over 80% of her body and it looked as if she had ingested some of the lethal acid, if only as she was desperately trying to lick it off her body. In short, this poor puppy suffered in ways we can only imagine. The kindest thing that could be done was to remove her from her pain-wracked body.

“This poor baby would have needed all of its skin transplanted. There was just nothing left to save.”

The burns were so powerful that a hazardous-materials team eventually responded to the vet’s office because workers were having trouble breathing, and experiencing rashes and burning on their arms and necks.

Investigators told Engstrom they thought it was a type of acid that can be used for cleaning concrete, such as in a swimming pool, but that may sometimes be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

But she is not being forgotten. Pasado’s Safe Haven is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the soulless person or people who committed this atrocity. The reward was originally only $10,000 but outraged folks across the web have upped the ante in hopes of cementing the perp’s punishment.

Investigators have some strong evidence against the pup’s owner/torturer. They found a substance that could have been that used on Mooie in the owner’s backyard. Obviously this subhuman is evil and stupid!

I look forward to the day I can report that the vicious excuse for a human that did this to Mooie has been tried and convicted.

Thanks to Jade Snoop, one of the Pet-O-Nomics group administrators for alerting me to this story. The Pet-O-Nomics group is for pets and people who support animal rescue and spaying/neutering.

There’s a big birthday coming up on April 10th.  The ASPCA is turning 140 and lots of dogsters are already planning ways to celebrate.  You can too! 

Are you joining the Pet Poetry group and wearing orange?  Have you got something else planned?  Let us know and we can get into the spirit with you.

As for me, I’m looking for the orangest thing in my closet (I think its a shirt from Laguna Beach) and I’m laying in some orange bandanas for Sol, Annie, Star and Beatrice. If you don’t have anything orange enough, you can always order an ever-stylish orange t-shirt and/or wrist band from the ASPCA swag site.

 Let me know what you and your groups are doing to celebrate!  Send photos or links to photos so everybody else can see what’s going on in your end of this really big dog park.

Bambi already has her ASPCA orange working!

If you’re looking for more ways to participate, the ASPCA has some suggestions.

Get orange and have fun with it!