Australian Shephoarder

What's in Your Pet's Food

Eddie, the little dog who is the spokesdog for the EWA, is collecting money to test pet foods. These will be the same evaluations that are done on food for human consumption.
Let's face it. Pet food manufacturers are not required to be totally honest about their products. They approximate, they generalize and they condense the information about exactly what their products contain--even down to the TEFLON COATED BAGS! They do not have to mention it when they change their ingredients, either.
You can help Eddie & get lots of information by going here.

Another Week, Another Show

Second show in two weeks around here and last week was an interesting time on the back of Tatabra Oprah. The daughter and the experimental horse do well together.
Competition will be much the same this week, maybe a shift, but not much different.

Miss Oprah is Green

Here's the lovely young Tatabra Oprah ready to go into one of the Children's classes at the Tulsa Spring Goshow: She had a fairly decent show, considering her training status is that she's "green," and doesn't get many lead changes & many of the other more subtle trained qualities.

Dog Yard Float

Remember how proud I was the other day of the two new "turnouts?" I even posted photos of them.
To make them such wonderful doggie playgrounds, we had A LOT of work done to improve drainage. It cost A LOT of money--but it was necessary, as rainfall had begun causing pooling around the back yard area.

So, if you spend A LOT of money on a project like that, you kind of expect the situation to improve, just a little, whatever the circumstances.

Here is a photo from 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning:

See my less-than-a-week-old fence?
Do you suppose maybe there was a serious flaw in the design of the new drainage system?
At least it's getting fixed.
Maybe.

Busy Weeks

We are busy with two horse shows for the next two weeks. The amusing thing is, we are showing two horses, neither one is ours.
That giant sucking sound really is the money getting sucked from my wallet.

New Digs

When we had 8 dogs, we were getting a little cramped & decided to make some major changes around our house to accommodate the pack. We needed to 1)provide more "secure" play area and 2)work on the grass situation.

Drainage has always been a problem here and first of all we fixed that. Then we expanded the old dog yard & added a new one. The drainage thing, as some folks know, is amazingly expensive. The new drains in the dog's area absolutely call to the pack.

Here's the new main yard:

and here's the new "auxiliary" turnout:

Here is what a drain should look like after it is installed:

And, after my lovely animals play around it for a while:

The knuckleheads not only removed the cap/grill, but then began pulling out the underground tubing. Now we are repairing our repair.
But they've had a difficult week being crated while the fence was down & they will be much more tired next week.

Anger Flares

Yesterday's post was all about what we can do to keep our dogs healthy. But yesterday afternoon, I saw this:
I was on an errand when I saw this guy fly through an intersection with this poor, frightened animal barely hanging on in the back of his pickup. The dog slid all around & kept trying to lean over the edge to make contact with the driver.
I could not believe this...moron. Do you think he wants to kill his dog or have it killed by another driver intentionally? Why else would he allow the poor creature to ride in the pickup bed?

Granted, this is just another "stupid owner trick," and I have to wonder if he is stupid, irresponsible, ignorant, negligent or what? What on earth can a person be thinking to drive down a busy, crowded city street with a huge animal continually trying to jump out of his car? Plus, he was an erratic driver & whenever he proceeded from a stop he had to floorboard the gas pedal thus flinging the animal to the back:   I felt so sorry for this dog.

Most Important Post. Ever.

Recently released was some very disturbing information about animal toxins from the Environmental Working Group.
After last year's pet food scare, I think more pet owners are paying attention to the ingredients in their pet food.
However, what about the PET FOOD BAG?
According to the EWG, the way your pet's food is packaged may very well be one of the sources of cancer-causing toxic chemicals that make them sick. The EWG site section on Pet Health released yesterday a frighteningly detailed report.
Here's just the small summary from the EWG website:

Detailed findings

Dogs: The 20 dogs tested included 5 mutts or mixes and 15 dogs of 7 different breeds, including a Pug, Great Dane, Dachshund, Great Pyrenees, and others. In the group, 12 dogs were female and 8 male; ages ranged between 6 months and 12 years (average age 6.3 years). The laboratory analyzed composite blood and urine samples collected from the animals. The dogs’ blood and urine was contaminated with 35 chemicals altogether. These included 7 chemicals (20%) with average levels at least 5 times higher than typical levels in people, and another 7 chemicals with average levels up to 5 times amounts found in people. Relative to people, dogs showed high levels of stain- and grease-proof chemicals (perfluorochemicals in the Teflon family), plastics chemicals called phthalates, and fire retardants called PBDEs:

• Teflon chemicals - Highest levels. Tests showed 6 of 13 perfluorochemicals present in dog blood, with five at levels higher than those in more than 80 percent of people tested nationally, including 2 at levels more than 5 times higher than average amounts in people. Dogs were polluted with 2 chemicals in the Teflon family of stain- and grease-proof coatings (perfluorochemicals) at higher levels than any detected in people in national studies by EWG and CDC (perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluorohexanoic sulfonate (PFHxS)). Only PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), known as the “Teflon chemical” because it has been used to make Teflon and other non-stick pans, was detected at levels in the range of what is typically found in people (45th percentile) as opposed to far in excess. For dogs likely sources of exposure include food contaminated with PFCs leaching from dog food bag coatings, as well as house dust, and stain-proofed furniture, dog beds, and carpets.


• Toxins in plastic toys and medicines. Dogs were contaminated with breakdown products of four plastic softeners (phthalates) at average levels higher than those in more than 80 percent of Americans tested nationally, at levels ranging between 1.1 and 4.5 times the average concentrations in people. These included breakdown products of DEHP, DBP, and DBzP, which are used in veterinary medicines, plastic containers and toys, shampoos, and a huge range of other consumer products. Six of 7 phthalate breakdown products were found in dogs altogether. These chemicals pose risks for reproductive damage, birth defects, and cancer.


• Fire retardants in bedding, house dust, and food. Dog samples contained 19 different fire retardant chemicals known as PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, of 46 chemicals tested. Compared to people, levels were very elevated for highly brominated forms of these chemicals, with 5 compounds that are octaBDEs, nonaBDEs, and decaBDE found at levels higher than between 97 and 99 percent of people tested nationally, ranging up to 17 times the average amounts in people. PBDEs disrupt the normal functioning of thyroid hormones and pose risks to the brain during development. For dogs, potential sources of exposure include foam furniture and bedding manufactured before 2005, contaminated air and house dust, and food contaminated with PBDEs that pollute the environment, especially seafood.

I don't like to "copy and paste" from another website, but the report is so full of alarming information, it's almost overwhelming. It covers dogs, cats, birds & all the chemicals they come in contact with.
More importantly, it thoroughly explains why pet product manufacturers basically do not have to follow any of the guidelines manufacturers of human products.

To stay on top of these issues, people can sign up for alerts. Another very great part of the EWG is a blog called Pets for the Environment, which has lot of information on the toxicity of our animals. You can sign up to get involved, send e-card (ready-made or create your own), and read Eddie's Blog -- a friendly environmental activist dog.

Stand Off

Olive loves to chase squirrels, but recently she treed one and planted herself under the trees. She did not budge for over 30 minutes. Neither did the squirrel.

Martha's Tribute

I don't have much in common with Martha Stewart, as a matter of fact, in most ways I am the opposite of Martha.

But Martha and I have something in common...loss of a beloved pet. On her blog, Martha has a wonderful tribute to her Chow Chow Paw Paw who died last weekend. Good writing and good photos. And, hey, I like that the dog is on the kitchen counter. Impressive!