Sadly,  today I have two posts regarding lost dogs. I just received word from photographer Mark Rogers that one of his clients has lost their standard poodle.

Here are the details from Mark’s ‘Smile Like A Dog’ blog.

Readers of this blog will remember Raven, a standard poodle I photographed a few weeks ago.

Raven’s owners need your help: She escaped from a home where she was being watched in San Jose California and has been missing since the afternoon of September 30th.

Full details can be found on this page her owners have set up but if you live in or around San Jose or know someone there please be on the lookout for her. Here are the basics:

Monica Vigil Dombeck (510) 387-1367

* She’s a black standard poodle with a non-traditional cut

* She’s friendly but can be initially shy around new people

* She was last seen in San Jose moving along Junipero Serra Lane (parallel and just north of Moorpark; just south of 280) heading East

* There is a $500 reward for her safe return

If you see her or have any information at all about her, please contact

Mark Vigil Dombeck: (510) 235-6979  or via email.

We hope this beautiful girl finds her way home soon.

Share this entry with your pawple anywhere:

The CEO of Richmond’s SPCA, Robin Starr,  left her 16-year-old dog in her car where he suffered heat stroke and later died.

The blind and deaf dog was put into the backseat of the car by Starr’s husband Ed because she often took him to work with her.  Unfortunately her husband forgot to tell her and she didn’t realize until four hours later that Louie, their cocker spaniel/poodle mix, was in there.

Here are the details from the Richmond Times Dispatch.

It wasn’t until she left her office about noon that day — after the dog had spent nearly four hours alone in the car — that she discovered Louie in the back of the station wagon, showing signs of heat stroke.

She took the dog inside to the SPCA clinic, where it was stabilized and taken to the Veterinary Emergency Center in Carytown. Veterinarians worked unsuccessfully to restore kidney function in Louie, and the dog died about midnight.

“I just forgot . . . and didn’t think about it until I got this frantic phone call from Robin. I knew immediately what I had done,” Ed Starr recalled yesterday at the SPCA offices on Hermitage Road.

He added, “It wasn’t her fault. It was mine.”

Robin Starr has been one of the area’s most outspoken advocates for animals.  While her supporters are standing by her there are those that think she should resign. I cannot imagine anything more painful than knowing your beloved dog died on account of your actions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this entry with your pawple anywhere:

In Kaufman County Texas almost 600 dogs, along with some cats, were seized when the Humane Society and sheriff’s deputies raided a puppy mill.

The society said it started investigating the kennel, which is located near Prairieville just north of Mabank, when someone came to them asking for dog food donations. Representatives visited and found poor living conditions and malnourished dogs.

“If loving the animal is a criminal, then maybe I’m a criminal,” she said. “Because I work 6 o’clock in the morning until 11:30 at night taking care of these animals.

Representatives said most of the dogs were living in their own waste and many were under fed. Three dogs died after being rescued and several others have skin or foot conditions.

Watch FOX 4 reporter Fil Alvarado’s story.

If you can’t see the video click here.

Deputies said kennel owner, 72-year-old Margaret Boyd, faces animal cruelty charges.

Boyd told FOX 4 she is fighting to get the animals back. A court hearing is scheduled for Friday and both she and the Humane Society plan to ask for custody of the animals.

* Pic MyFOXDFW

Share this entry with your pawple anywhere:

A woman in Phoenix, AZ. has been fined $940 and sentenced to three years probation for her barking dogs.

Reness Maurer’s neighbors had filed a petition earlier in the year to have her prosecuted for allowing her dogs to bark non-stop over three years.

Municipal Court Judge Cynthia Certa told Maurer that she is not required to report to a probation officer, and the $940 will be reduced to $296 if the terms of her probation are completed successfully after the three years.

Other conditions of the probation included keeping Corky and Koo-Boosh, Maurer’s two dogs, inside when she leaves, and putting bark collars on the dogs if they are outside for longer than 15 minutes.

Maurer said she was disappointed about the sentencing and about her neighbors.

“I feel ostracized in my own community,” said Maurer, adding that neighborhood relations will now be “extremely awkward and uncomfortable.”

I realize how annoying incessant barking can be, it’s happened before in our neighborhood. After a while it can start to drive you a bit nutty. Maurer has two small dogs that are obviously not outside dogs, she should not be leaving them there for hours on end.  As a pet owner she needs to take responsibility for her dogs and deal with the problem.

However, the real reason I posted this wasn’t because of the barking issue but because of the penalty. Read the rest of this entry »

Share this entry with your pawple anywhere:

Really, it doesn’t get much crappier than this.  Jason LaMunyon of Salt Lake City, UT picks up dog poop for a living.

Realizing that the pet industry was growing and tired of being on the road working in sales he decided to start his own business, Fido’s Poo Crew.

“It’s extremely busy,” he says. “It’s a lot of work. Let’s put it this way: It’s really picking up.”

LaMunyon picked up his first dookie about a year ago, shortly after adopting a Labrador from a friend. At the time he owned an independent sales agency and estimates he spent about 140 days a year on the road – often with his dog riding shot gun. And at every hotel they stayed, they found the same thing: a stinky brown mess all over the designated pet areas. The poo – and an article from a business magazine that showed how fast the pet industry was growing got LaMunyon thinking.

“So I decided I was going to start my own bus and be home every day,” he says. And thus one crappy job was exchanged for another.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this entry with your pawple anywhere: