This is the perfect story to go along with American Humane’s Adopt-A-Dog Month.  There is a new ‘101 Dalmatians’ musical starring shelter dogs, rescued from various shelters and rescue groups.

Animal trainer Joel Slaven didn’t have an easy time finding the dogs because shelters didn’t want a replay of what happened 13 years ago. After the original live action movie in 1996 and the sequel in 2000 dalmatians became the ‘it’ dog. Everyone had to have one, unfortunately many who adopted knew nothing about the needs of this particular breed. The other unwanted outcome was overbreeding at puppy mills due to the high demand, causing additional health problems in a dog that is already known to have issues.

This time Slaven was determined to do things different, to use the dogs’ celebrity to teach people about them. Read the rest of this entry »

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Seahawk Aaron Curry that is. It turns out the newly drafted Curry has a love besides football, his black lab Ali.

He made a promise that the first thing he was going to do after signing a pro contract would be to get another dog. The great news is he kept his promise and got a new pup, and because of his love of dogs there may be more additions in the future.

“When I get older, I’m going to get dogs, and they’ll be my dogs, and nobody will tell me what to do with them,” a teenaged Curry said to his mom.

He used to bring home strays — his mom remembers a dalmatian and a cocker spaniel in particular — and give them a temporary place to stay while permanent homes were found.

“He just loves dogs,” his mom said.

Last month his fiancee, Jamila, gave him a yellow lab and Chesapeake retriever mix for his birthday. Luckily, Jamila is also a dog lover because if she wasn’t I don’t think she would have accepted his marriage proposal.

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Yesterday I posted on the Obamas decision to get a Portuguese Water Dog rather than a rescue.  We received many comments with  varying viewpoints.

I do want to clear up one point, I agree the decision of what kind of dog a person gets and  where they get it is a personal one. However, when President, then Senator, Obama made the decision to announce at a public news conference that the family was looking at shelters it changes everything. Their private decision was no longer private, they invited the public in.

“We’re going to adopt a dog, I think,” Michelle Obama told Entertainment Tonight on September 30, 2008.

“A rescue dog,” said then-Sen. Obama.

That being said, it is great to have a dog in the White House.  Hopefully having a dog around will inspire President Obama to look into the important animal welfare issues that seem to have fallen by the wayside and put them back in the forefront.

The other issue to keep in mind is the concern the Portuguese Water Dog will go the way of the Labrador or the Dalmatian.  When a breed becomes popular due to  books, movies, or celebrities, people decide they want one too. Unfortunately it’s usually without much thought about what goes into taking care of the breed. Or even if the breed will fit their lifestyle.

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