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Dog Training
Douglas Mello and Casey have been actively involved in dog sports for eight years. And while Mr. Mello is the only human on this team of two ?Casey is a beagle ?maximum effort and training are required of both of them.
That's just one reason local agility enthusiast, competitor and dog trainer Douglas Mello ?who also owns and operates Avonlea Agility ?believes that dog agility should gain recognition as a proper sport.
He defined a sport as consisting of a physical and mentally competitive activity carried out with a recreational purpose for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of a skill or some combination of these.
"A sport has physical activity, side-by-side competition, self-motivation and a scoring system. The difference of purpose is what characterizes sport, combined with the notion of individual or team skill or prowess," he said.
Mr. Mello believes agility easily fits this description. With at least four to six runs per day, the activity is very physical. And there is strategy involved.
"You are always trying to find the quickest, cleanest line for your dog to run?in order to keep your course time to a minimum without incurring any faults like knocked bars, wrong courses or missed contacts," he said.
There is also a sense of teamwork between the handler and his dog that goes beyond the one-minute run.
"The dogs have to learn the desired behaviour or behaviours for each obstacle plus learn to work with the handler to follow their signals, whether verbal or physical," he explained.
He said teaching the dogs is relatively easy compared to teaching their owners how to handle.
Margaret Every, president of the Dog Training Club of Bermuda, said, "Dogs already know how to do these things?They just have to learn how to do them when we ask them to."
Any dog can do it
Mr. Mello said that while certain breeds are more prone to agility, any type of dog is capable of being successful at it. Avonlea Agility, for example, has everything from a tiny Yorkie to a large Pit Bull, including several SPCA shelter dogs.
Dogs are natural athletes. And just like humans, some competitive canine athletes have their own massage therapists and receive acupuncture treatment in preparation for the competitions.
Bermuda has hosted several internationally recognized top trainers including Joan Meyer, Sarah Mairs, Carolyn Dockryl and Stacy Peardot Goudy, all of whom have competed at international agility events including world level competition.
There are between 30 and 40 dogs that do agility in Bermuda. Most of them train at least once a week with their owners.
But it's not strictly serious competition. Dogs enjoy a number of benefits when doing agility that go beyond scores or times or ribbons.
"Agility gives the dog a release and a chance to bond with its owner," Mr. Mello said. "It gives the dogs a sense of purpose, it helps relationship building and provides stimulation?It also keeps the owner active."
To learn more about dog agility contact the Dog Training Club of Bermuda (291-4230), Avonlea Agility (293-6611), dog trainer Vincent Madeiros (799-7014) or the International Dog Events Association (238-0779).
Dog Training
Cape Town - A yacht which ran aground off Table Bay's Woodstock Beach with two men from Cape Town aboard was pulled out of danger on Sunday, said the National Sea Rescue Institute.
It took about 45 minutes to tow the 43-foot eShowe that had run aground off the beach at 13:33 on Sunday, said Craig Lambinon of the NSRI.
"The vessel was towed to the entrance to the Port of Table Bay where she motored under her own power to her mooring at Elliot Basin," said Lambinon.
He said Pat van Eyssen, the NSRI Table Bay station commander, had reported that the vessel, with two men and a small dog aboard, had run aground off Woodstock Beach.
The NSRI Table Bay launched a 10m Breed Class deep-sea rescue craft, Rescue 3, and the 5.5m rigid inflatable, the Rotary Endeavour.
Ran onto a sand shelf
The police, who were at the beach, reported no imminent danger to the two-man crew and the dog aboard the yacht, which was lying on her side in shallow water at a 45' angle.
The yacht apparently ran onto a sand shelf off Woodstock beach at low tide with sea conditions of half a metre swell and light winds.
Lambinon said: "Two NSRI crew were put aboard the yacht to secure tow lines. We gradually pulled the vessel free of the sand shelf using the incoming waves to aid buoyancy.
Dog Training
VIJAYAWADA: A pall of gloom descended on the house of Gangadhara Rao at Kamaiahthopu on the city outskirts when shiny died on Saturday.
The tragedy drew over 250 people to the house. A usual scene when tragedy strikes. But Shiny was no human. It was a pet dog that endeared Gangadhara Rao and his family for many years.
The pet was draped in new clothes kept in an ice chamber and then the last rites were performed with full honours. The loss is irreparable for Gandadhara Rao's family.
"They loved the pet as their own son. Their only daughter Praveena (20), who has been staying in London after her marriage, has not yet been informed as the news would upset her," said a family friend.
Shiny, a breed dog, that joined the Gangadhara Rao family seven years ago, lived life king size. The family provided the best facilities they could afford. It was allotted a separate air-conditioned room and was provided a bed and was spoon-fed till the last.
A few days ago when the Vet doctor suggested physiotherapy, the family allotted a room for the pet in the upstairs. However, Shiny could not recover from her sickness and died on Saturday.
Dog Training
LIMA ' A scrawny tom cat meanders down the alley on his way to what he hopes will be dinner, his head on a perpetual pivot, looking for food, enemies or both. He's a grayish tiger, long in the legs but thin for its size, scarred and rough and a little torn up by life.
Today's stop is a rusted green dumpster behind a downtown restaurant. Bad aim and overspill make it a fairly reliable spot for a daily meal. The tom isn't the only one who has figured this out. By the time he arrives, there are others staking out the site ' a big yellow tom, a couple of once-white tabbies and a herd of gray-brown kittens a little too mobile to get a reliable count on. Before long, there are a dozen or more cats wandering the alley.
Some may be feral, others either are or once were someone's pet. They are all a problem.
The same scene repeats itself daily in alleys and fencerows across the region. Hundreds of stray cats and dogs wander around in search of food and mates. While the number of agencies working with the animals seems to multiply almost as fast as the pets, the situation doesn't appear to be improving.
'We have a big problem here, and I'm not sure it's getting better,' said Sandra Laing, director of Angels of Animals Rescue League, one of the more than a dozen area agencies working to take care of strays. 'It doesn't end. You adopt one out, another comes in. And we're only seeing a part of it.'
The trouble with strays
The actual number of stray and homeless cats and dogs in the area is impossible to peg. Right now, there are more than 400 dogs held in area shelters. The number of cats is more than twice that. That's just the animals they have room for. Hundreds more are out there with no place to go.
'We here at the Humane Society of Allen County, as well as Angels for Animals and Cat Haven, none of us have any room to accept,' said Humane Society Executive Director Mark Twyford.
The Humane Society can house about 70 dogs and 200 cats at a time. Last year alone they took in 863 cats and 492 dogs. Right now, they are at capacity and have a waiting list of people who want to drop off dogs or cats they can no longer care for.
It's pretty much the same story everywhere in Allen County. The Allen County Dog Warden's shelter on Seriff Road can hold about 45 dogs, not counting puppies that can be stored two or more to a cage.
Last year they took in more than 2,200 dogs. Of those, 470 were eventually picked up by their owners. Another 556 were adopted out through other area shelters or breed rescue programs. The rest were killed.
'Unfortunately we have a lot of people who don't spay or neuter their pets. Others don't purchase a dog license, or they do purchase them and don't have them on them. Either way, they end up here,' said Allen County Dog Warden Julie Shellhammer.
A local problem
The problem doesn't necessarily translate to other parts of the region. In Auglaize County, Shelter Manager Tammy Kinstle sees plenty of unwanted dogs and cats come in, but not as many as Allen County sees. In the first six months of this year, her shelter took in 300 dogs and 166 cats. Almost all were adopted or returned to their owners.
'We don't have the bigger city or the dog fighting, things that add to the numbers,' Kinstle said. 'Actually, our biggest issue is farmers who come in a month after their dog's missing looking for him. They didn't look earlier because they were used to him taking off for a while.'
Putnam County Dog Warden Mack Schroeder said the size of his county's animal problem seems to vary. Right now, there are five dogs in the shelter, and four of them have owners who just haven't picked them up yet. At other times, there are more dogs than he can find space for. As much as he'd like to find homes for them, it's not always easy.
'We're talking about getting some stuff lined up with other shelters around where we can get them out for adoption. But everybody I talk to now, they all have waiting lists,' Schroeder said.
It's difficult to compare the region's stray population with the rest of the nation. No one organization keeps numbers on strays. Allen County appears to have a bigger problem then other counties in the area, and Laing believes the problems here may be among the state's worst.
'I have people come here from Cleveland and other cities to adopt because we have so many more dogs available,' Laing said. 'It's economics. We have a lot of people who can't afford to spay and neuter their animals.'
If the local numbers are disturbing, the national statistics are downright overwhelming. The Humane Society of the United State estimates between six and eight million dogs and cats enter American shelters each year. Of those, about half are adopted or returned to owners. The rest ' three to four million dogs and cats each year ' are killed.
About 1,200 dogs were euthanized at the Allen County Dog Warden's office last year. They do not take in cats. The Humane Society no longer euthanizes healthy animals. But in 2003, the year before it became a no-kill shelter, its employees euthanized 2,242 cats and 401 dogs.
The cost of managing pet overpopulation runs well into the millions each year. Beyond that, there are social costs, animals roaming the streets, disease, illness and the problems that come from bad breeding.
'The quality of the dog is at issue. You wind up with dogs with temperament problems and health problems,' Shellhammer said. 'By not spaying or neutering, you end up with aggressive dogs. We have over 500 calls each year for dog bites because of dogs with aggression problems.'
A dog's life
If the overpopulation problem has a face, it ought to be Dolly, a massive brindle mastiff Laing picked up from the Allen County Dog Warden's shelter, where she had been taken after being hit by a car. She had been so abused and starved she couldn't even gather the strength to stand up on her own. At the time Laing brought her home, she weighed about 60 pounds. She should be closer to 200 pounds.
'Someone has to have just starved her,' Laing said, stroking the dog's massive head. 'Who knows how many litters she's had. Who knows what she went through?'
After a weekend of round-the-clock supervision and a few weeks on the farm, Dolly is improving. Her eyes are clearer. She can walk around the yard. She's even put on some weight.
But even at her current 125 pounds, she looks tragically thin.
Despite all the abuse, she trusts. Her tail twitches as you approach her, hungry for attention. Her head nuzzles into your hip and tilts as you scratch her neck, eating up the affection.
'She's such a sweet dog. That's what makes it hard sometimes. They don't deserve to be treated like this,' Laing said. 'You wonder how people can do this.'
Dolly's future is fairly bright, as abandoned animals go. She'll spend some time in the prison program where she'll get basic obedience training and, hopefully, put on some more weight. After that, she will stay with Angels for Animals until someone takes her home.
For Laing, finding a home for a stray is always a victory. She knows it's not the real answer to the problem.
'I love adopting them out. But that's not the real answer,' she said. 'If I adopt her out, I help her. But the real answer is to spay and neuter. When you do that you provide help for generations.'
'Fixing' the problem
A cat can produce three litters a year. Given the exponential nature of stray breeding, a single female cat and her offspring can theoretically produce as many as 420,000 cats in a seven-year period. For dogs, the number is around 67,000.
While people may question those numbers, there's little question as to how serious the problem is. There's a consensus among those who help clean up after the problem exactly what the solution is.
'Controlling animal overpopulation is a problem that could be solved immediately if every guardian or animal control-related entity would spay and neuter,' Twyford said. 'This isn't a problem that we don't know how to correct.'
The roots of the problem may vary ' irresponsible owners, bad breeders, even poverty plays a role ' but in the end, it is a simple equation: the more animals fixed, the fewer animals. After long enough, you wind up with few enough animals that there's a home for each of them. Call it supply and demand for the pet set.
'There simply are not enough homes for the animals out there. If we got that number down, there might be. But there's only one way that's going to happen.'
Almost all the area's animal agencies have some sort of spay-and-neuter adoption policy.
The Allen County and Auglaize County Humane Societies and Angels for Animals make sure all animals are fixed before they leave the building. People adopting animals too young to be sterilized must agree to have it done and are scheduled for later appointments. The cost of sterilization is included in the adoption fee, which ranges from $30 to $90, depending on the place and pet.
'No animal welfare organization or department of animal welfare should allow an animal to be adopted out that isn't spayed or neutered,' Twyford said.
In Allen County, only the dog warden's office adopts animals without sterilizing them first. Shetlander said that is an issue of law and economics, but it's one she's working to correct.
'The dog warden's responsibilities are very clear. It doesn't include having a vet or sterilization. That takes finances that are not in the dog warden's budget,' she said. 'But we are trying to initiate a program.'
Finding the funds
The solution might be readily available, but the funding for it isn't. On the while, animal welfare organizations struggle to get by on the money they have. Through donations, some grants and the use of volunteers to supplement staff, most are able to take care of the animals in their care. But to step out beyond that would take a real money commitment.
'If we got a grant and could just feed off that, maybe enough to spay and neuter animals for free, that would make a real difference,' Laing said. 'But it takes money, more than we have right now.'
Angels for Animals opened a spay and neuter clinic in Elida last year. Local veterinarians work the clinic for $50 an hour and can spay or neuter about three animals an hour. To date they have fixed more than 700 animals. But that's just a drop in the bucket.
'If we got, say, a $50,000 grant, we could spay a heck of a lot of animals. It just takes the money,' Laing said.
Twyford believes it will take more than groups working on their own to really fix the problem of pet overpopulation. He is in the process of coordinating an Animal Welfare Summit to pull all the local animal welfare groups together to work on the problem.
'The Humane Society can't just do this by itself. And it can't be done with just the animal welfare organizations either. Local government would have to play a substantial role,' Twyford said.
Twyford hopes eventually to create a universal database of animals housed in Allen County facilities that would help owners or potential owners find animals. He also wants to see the group work together to educate the public on the problems and to promote legislation aimed at decreasing the number of homeless animals.
Rhode Island's General Assembly recently passed legislation that would prohibit any person from owning a cat over 6 months old that's not spayed or neutered without a $100 annual breeding permit.
Twyford admits that legislation and money won't end the problem of pet overpopulation. Ultimately, it comes down to pet owners taking responsibility for their animals.
'Some people wouldn't get their animals altered if you offered it for free,' Twyford said. 'Irresponsibility is really the second prong of the issue.'
Dog Training
The dog chosen for the role of Toto would have to be willing, friendly and calm and take a liking to the young woman playing Dorothy.
And it had to be able to sit and stay in Dorothy's basket. That was critical. Six dogs were put to the test yesterday in Balboa Park by directors of the Starlight Theater production of 'The Wizard of Oz.' Some refused the basket, no matter how many treats were tossed inside it.
But none seemed to mind the roar of the planes on their descent into Lindbergh Field. That was a good sign, since the planes are a constant distraction at this theater, where actors freeze mid-scene to allow a plane to pass.
The show, starring 18-year-old Lindsey Grubbs of Encinitas as Dorothy, starts its two-week run Aug. 10.
Toto auditions began at 11 a.m. yesterday and ended two hours later. Most of the dogs trying out were cairn terriers, the breed of Toto in the classic Warner Brothers movie. The compensation for the part wasn't clear yesterday. It was either the $350 chorus pay, or free tickets to the show, said co-director Dan Regas.
Grubbs, who graduated Friday from Santa Fe Christian School in Solana Beach, has played the role of Dorothy before, in a Christian Youth Theater production.
Toto was played by her own dog, a Maltese named Sammy. Sammy since has died, and he left Grubbs with an idea of what she needed in the new Toto. 'Just someone who's easy to work with,' said Grubbs, who had her long brown hair in two French braids. 'It's really important they feel comfortable with you.'
With each audition, done on the grass outside the San Diego Air & Space Museum, Grubbs gamely dropped to her knees, holding out treats and calling the dog by name.
Then, she'd stand up and coax the dog to follow her, a treat in one hand. Often with help from its owner, she'd try to hold the dog.
All the while, Regas and co-director Shauna Markey watched closely.
First up was Tavish, a wheat-colored cairn terrier from Spring Valley. He had arrived in a gold lam' jacket, with 'Toto' lettered across the back. His friend, a white West Highland white terrier named Kiltie who came for moral support, wore a gingham Dorothy outfit, with a cap that had brown pigtails attached.
Tavish had taken agility and obedience courses, but never had an acting role.
'I think he has a lot of enthusiasm,' said his owner, Janet Blenner.
'He's good at following directions and he's very sweet.'
'And handsome!' said Blenner's husband, Ron Toigo.
Tavish obeyed Blenner well during his audition, but he didn't like the basket. Between tricks, he ran around excitedly.
Next was Andi, an 8-year-old cairn terrier and a dead ringer for Toto. Andi, from Fallbrook, had played the part before, for parties and conventions at the Hotel Del Coronado.
Andi tolerated the basket and obliged the directors' other requests, like taking a bit of hot dog off the end of a skewer, as Toto does when Dorothy stops to talk to Professor Marvel.
A petite cairn named Gypsy Rose seemed a shoo-in. Her owner, Michelangelo Esparza, said the crowd went wild every time she'd appear on stage during a recent Gay Men's Chorus production of 'The Wizard of Oz.'
Gypsy Rose loves attention and dressing up, Esparza said. Her claws showed peeling pink nail polish.
She hopped into the basket and stayed there when the flap was shut. When it was opened, she popped her head out to a chorus of 'Awwww' from everyone who watched.
After seeing each dog, the directors narrowed the selection to three: Andi, Gypsy Rose and Darby, a cairn owned by Dee McMillen of Ocean Beach.
The three dogs and their owners then went down to the stage, along with animal trainer Marilisa Markey, cousin of co-director Shauna Markey.
Marilisa Markey worked with the dogs and Grubbs, and after each dog had its turn, the trainer, actor and directors retreated to the corner of the stage.
After a few minutes, a decision had been made: It was Andi. 'Andi was very willing, very calm, easily went into the basket,' said Shauna Markey.
'She took cues really quick from Lindsey, wasn't distracted by all the elements. She just had a really great demeanor about her.'
Shauna Markey sent Andi and her owner home with a list of Toto tricks, and the basket.
This actor's preparation would begin immediately.
Elizabeth Fitzsimons: (619) 542-4577; elizabeth.fitzsimons@uniontrib.com
What Annie Leibovitz is to rock stars and celebrities and Richard Avedon was to the rich and famous, Amanda Jones is to pets: the best portrait photographer.
Not bad for a woman who only eight years ago was doing freelance photography in San Francisco for Red Herring magazine, which specialized in business technology. Nine years before, she was a recent graduate of Ithaca College in New York with a degree in cinema and photography. Now it's dogs, dogs and more dogs. (An occasional cat seems to slip in as well.)
And she doesn't come cheap: $850 for the portrait session, proof sheets and five final prints of your choice from 150 photos taken. But in the world of dog owners who have blinged their hounds with Swarovski crystal-encrusted leashes, diamond-studded collars, Burberry raincoats and accessories, there is no shortage of clients. They know what they want, and they want their dog photographed by the woman considered the alpha photographer in the rapidly growing world of pet portraitists.
Here's their checklist on the day of the shoot. Are the dogs clean? Groomed? Nails clipped? Hair moussed? Don't laugh -- many of Jones' clients have made appointments months in advance.
It doesn't matter whose dogs Jones photographs -- Danielle Steel's, Mary Tyler Moore's. It doesn't matter if she's at a client's home or at a studio in one of the many cities to which she is bound (next week is Los Angeles, the week after is Portland; this week it is the Bay Area). The procedure is pretty much the same: Jones positions herself down right in front of the subjects, talking and moving, and offering treats.
"Take off their collars," Jones says when she gets to work at my house in San Rafael. My dogs -- Nikki and LacyLu (borzois); and Misty, Mercury, Winter and Spring (silken windhounds) -- look a little puzzled, and for a moment I wonder if they think they are going lure coursing (a sport in which dogs chase an artificial "prey"), which involves removing collars. But no. Jones is sitting cross-legged on the seamless white paper she has spread out over a third of the living room and up the wall (furniture has been moved outside), busily leaning this way and that, handing out small dog treats.
When Jones lived in San Francisco for nine years, she did portraits. "I wanted to do Annie Leibovitz-style work -- portraiture. And what was happening out here was the dot-com thing, so I began photographing with Red Herring. I wasn't that inspired by the images I was producing. So I tried something different.
"I invited my best friend, Aaron, who lived out here as well, who had a yellow lab, Ruby, whom I had known since she was a baby as well, to the studio for an official photograph of her so I could have it for my office wall and he could have it for his living room.
"It was a great, fun job. The pictures came out great, and I realized I was really good at photographing dogs."
After sending out a series of 13 dog portraits as a mailing piece, people called -- not to see the rest of her work but to make appointments to have their dogs photographed. And it isn't just Americans who are smitten. When she can find the time to leave her 9-year-old dachshund, Lily, with relatives, she hops across the pond to England, where she is booked solid. Jones and her husband, Chris, take their daughter, Sophie, who is 4 1/2, with them most places.
Jones' husband is, as she puts it, Mr. Mom. "We decided that he'd stay home and I'd continue working," Jones says with a laugh as she sets up another shot. Each day is filled with appointments, either at a rented studio or, in the case with this shoot, at the client's home. Jones adjusts the lights, taking advantage of the natural light coming in through the side windows.
She has three books to her credit (all published by the Penguin Group) and a fourth under way. "Greyhounds Big and Small" features the sleek canines at various locales in San Francisco, New York, Vero Beach, Fla., Miami and Los Angeles, with shots of her subjects at home, at the beach, in midflight or simply peering around a doorframe. "Dachshunds Short and Long" must have been a natural for her, since her own dachshund is, of course, a household member. "Frenchie Kisses" features photographs of French bulldogs.
She is working on "A Breed Apart," which will feature certain mixed-breed dogs, or what some refer to as designer dogs -- Labradoodles (Labrador/poodle mix), Puggles (pug/beagle mix), Doxadors (dachshund/Labrador mix), silken windhounds (a relatively new breed that essentially combined borzoi and whippet), and the dogs known as Bullets, which are a combination of pit bull and basset hound.
If Jones has ever found any dogs she can't photograph, she can't recall the breed, however she does admit that cocker spaniels are the trickiest. "They don't like the setup and they pant and they shake," she sighs.
And some, like my borzoi Nikki, find the strobe is not to their liking.
Not even food is the ultimate temptation for Nikki as it is to the other dogs. She keeps darting across the seamless paper, which gives off a sound like thunder, to get back outside to the deck, where she peers in as Jones continues photographing the other dogs. Chow hounds, one and all, the others respond avidly to food treats. Nikki simply adopts a buzzard pose and watches. Jones eventually coaxes Nikki back inside for a few shots. But it is an uneasy alliance, unlike with LacyLu and Winter, who are busy hamming it up for the camera. Jones makes intriguing noises to get them to move their heads this way or that.
This petite woman with the big Hasselblad digital camera was almost born to the art. Both parents, Gretchen and John Tatje, are well-known photographers in Greenwich, Conn., and they presented her with her first camera at age 11; it wasn't a point-and-shoot but a Nikon F3.
"So I started printing my own film, since we had a darkroom in the house, and processing it," Jones says. "I've been doing this for 27 years. My first subject was my cat Oscar, and he was the coolest cat. I grew up with cats. We never had a dog."
Her senior year she did a photography project on animals. She also did wedding pictures. But what she thought she really wanted was to photograph celebrities, as Leibovitz did.
"I wanted to work for Rolling Stone. Then I realized it was a tricky, weird business, photographing celebrities. There's a lot of sucking up to do and I'm not good at that."
What she is good at is relating to animals. As the session ends, it's Spring's turn to be photographed, and she is the cautious one: not as cautious as Nikki, but it takes a delightfully high voice and the promise of "Here, Spring, a cookie!" to get her to come over. What Spring wants to do is lie down on the large cushion beside her mother, Misty, and that's acceptable for a number of winsome shots. There are many intonations to the words "Good girls," and the shoot is over.
Jones didn't even have to use her secret weapon: string cheese. When all else fails, pull out the string cheese. It gets them every time.
For more information about Amanda Jones Photography, visit www.amandajones.com.
How to take great photos of your pet
Amanda Jones on how to get that picture-perfect portrait of your pet.
Get down to eye level. Shots taken looking down will never contain the candid nature you want to capture. At eye level, your dog will come up to you and you can indulge in some fine portraiture, such as a quizzical look, a tilted head, or even a smiling canine. They love when their masters (or mistresses) are on the floor with them.
Use natural light if possible. "Filtered sunlight is the prettiest, and light is 90 percent of what makes a photograph good," Jones says.
Keep the background uncluttered. "Simple and clean," Jones advises. If need be, set the camera to blur out the background, keeping the focus tight on your dog. If you can set your camera, put the f stop at 2.8 or 3.5, which keeps the focus forward.
Try to get their ears up. "That always makes them look sweet. Attractive. And focus on the eyes. When they have direct contact with the photographer, I find it makes a stronger image. And make sure their eyes are clean. Also, a good brushing ahead of time. Get the mud out."
Tidbit treats. A great way to coax your dog into doing what you need done. Jones begins by handing out small treats, one at a time, on the seamless paper spread out on the floor (and continuing as a backdrop). You can use a sheet, taped to the wall and the floor. Start handing out the treats, one at a time, and praise your pup.
It's so much easier with a helper. "One person can concentrate on just taking the picture and the other can get them into position or tease them with a squeakie toy."
Keep the sessions short. You can also indulge in some high-pitched noises (imitation of cats is a sure winner to get dogs to tilt their heads) or squeak toys. Jones uses a squeaking salmon and a soft frog that makes croaking noises. Be sure it isn't a toy they have played with already. Indulge in a new inexpensive squeaky one, or use the plastic bladder from one of your old toys.
Buy the best camera you can afford. For the serious amateur, Jones recommends the Canon Rebel XT 8.0MP or the Canon EOS 20 D.
The real trick is not the camera but the eye of the photographer. You have to watch your dog, be aware of the mood and capture the moment. After all, some of the best photographers started out with simple point-and-shoot and graduated up as they learned not only what to photograph, but what to leave out of the photograph. What you are really closing is the distance between you and your pet.
Be patient.
-- Adrianne Marcus
E-mail comments to home@sfchronicle.com.
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Dog Training
At a Rockford City Council committee meeting last week, the statistics were grim regarding dog bite cases in the City of Rockford ' 415 last year.
However, what was truly shocking was that only five dogs in the last year had been deemed dangerous by the animal control administrator.
Illinois has one of the most comprehensive dangerous and vicious dog laws in the United States.
An animal control administrator can deem a dog 'dangerous' if it merely threatens a person or companion animal or for any bite to a human.
Indeed, McHenry County sends out letters to every bite victim asking if they would like the county to deem the biting dog 'dangerous.' Peoria is routinely deeming dogs dangerous under this provision.
Statistics reveal that the vast majority of bite cases involve dogs that have not been spayed or neutered. Virtually every fatal dog attack that has occurred in Illinois has involved unsterilized canines.
Because hormones are not necessarily a good thing in man's best friend, the General Assembly passed Anna's Law, which requires that every dog picked up for running at large is spayed or neutered at the second or subsequent impoundment. Any 'dangerous' or 'vicious' dog must also be sterilized and microchipped for permanent identification.
Because so many irresponsible owners are repeat offenders, enforcing all provisions of the Illinois Animal Control Act would undoubtedly go a long way to reducing the costs of animal control.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has offered to give a presentation on Effective Public Safety Laws to the Rockford City Council.
By using proactive state and city laws, our children will be safer and fewer dogs and cats will be killed at our shelters. It's a win-win.
Ledy VanKavage is director of legal training and legislation for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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Dog Training
City and county officials toured the Bay City-Matagorda County Animal Impound Facility Friday and will finalize operating procedures for the joint facility and begin training next week.
'We will have a meeting early next week with city and county animal control officers to set operating guidelines,' Mayor Richard Knapik said during Friday's tour.
'We want to operate as a cohesive unit.'
Animal Control Officers working with Bay City Police Department and the County Environmental Services Department will get training on equipment and computer systems at the facility beginning next week.
Additional workers currently stationed at the city's water treatment plant will be trained and certified in animal shelter operations beginning in July, Young said.
Public Works Director Clark Young designed and oversaw construction of the facility.
A two-story row of 40 dog cages can house 80 dogs per week, Young said.
Depending on the breed, size and temperament of dogs being held, some cages could hold more than two dogs and would increase the facility's capacity.
'We'll just have to wait and see how many dogs are out there that we'll have to handle,' Young said.
Work crews will complete installation of the 20 cages on the second story of the dog run next week, Young said.
The cat room currently has 12 cages and space is available for additional cages.
Cages are divided by a weighted pulley system which allows impound staff to move animals to one side of the cage during cleaning.
Food and water bowls are attached to the cage door which allowing caregivers to feed animals efficiently cannot be turned over by pen occupants.
The floor of each kennel is covered by a cross-hatched yellow mat that allows water to drain.
The cages drain into a flushing system that will continuously remove animal waste into the city's sanitary sewer system, Young said.
Young also pointed out black boxes mounted on the wall that will use an ultrasonic system to control barking.
The ventilation system completely exchanges the air in the impound facility every six minutes.
'Every molecule of air down to six microns is removed through an activated charcoal filtration system,' Young said.
'That's not a state requirement, that's a best practices recommendation from the health department.'
Other features were designed into the facility to help protect the health of the animals being detained and the workers who care for them.
Young pointed out the walls are made of Hardiplank fiber cement siding ' as opposed to drywall material that is vulnerable to moisture and can trap odors ' and trimmed with a concrete/plastic composite that resists bacterial growth.
The floors are covered with a restaurant-grade epoxy armor seal to control bacteria, Young said.
Separate rooms will be used to quarantine cats and dogs who are suspected of rabies or other health concerns, Young said.
A wireless computer network is installed both for facility security and to assist pet owners reclaiming their animals, Young said.
City Information Technology Director Doug Goodman demonstrated how animal control officers will use digital cameras to photograph all incoming animals and post the photo and information on a web site.
If the owner sees their pet on the web site, they can call the impound facility and place a hold on the animal and make arrangements to reclaim it, Goodman said.
'This may not be a big deal for people who live in Bay City, but since this is also a county facility it will save residents from outlying parts of the county from having to drive here just to find out their dog isn't here,' Goodman said.
Kennel cards will be kept on all animals, Goodman said. Impound facility staff will use an air panel ' a portable computer smaller than a laptop ' to track information on animal care and feeding.
The kennel card includes a description of the animal, license and vaccination data and whether a microchip was detected. Details on how the animal was fed and cared for and where it was picked up will be logged on the kennel card and it will be available to the pet owner when the animal is reclaimed.
Knapik said the web site address will be publicized when it is complete and the impound facility opens.
Security features at the facility include a motion-activated camera system, Goodman said during the tour.
One concern expressed during facility planning was that someone might attempt to break into the facility to reclaim an animal.
Motion at any of several likely entry points will trigger the system to make a 15-second recording, Goodman said. Up to 30 days of recordings can be stored on the system.
Young said the construction budget for the facility was $71,000 with an additional $12,000 in start-up costs such as supplies and equipment.
'I believe we've stayed within that,' Young said.
The city and county will split construction and operating costs, an estimated $33,300 per year. The county has agreed in principle to fund 44 percent of the project. Commissioners will vote on an interlocal agreement during their Monday meeting.
Goodman added that the ShelterPro software installed at the facility help officials track finances, licensing information as well as monitor locations where ACOs have set traps or captured animals to identify trouble spots.
Dog Training
Yes, another one. This is the fourth one council has considered in a little over a year. And even this latest one was changed before passage.
In general, the new four-page proposal sets containment and care standards, penalizes owners who allow their dogs to roam freely, levies a $500 fine for staging dog fights, assigns to the owner liability if a dog bites anyone and sets a $1,000 fine for abandonment.
It also states that dogs are personal property and declares the city 'recognizes the right of people to own any breed of dog in a responsible manner.'
And it states it is the owner's responsibility' to provide for the dog for the entirety of its life.'
But before passage, council President Joe Yannuzzi offered a handful of amendments.
Two clauses were pulled out completely.
The original draft had the owner of a dog that kills someone charged with negligent homicide and the dog itself euthanized.
Another clause read that if a dog injured a person or caused an accident while at large, the owner was to be charged with reckless endangerment and the dog either placed into a responsible home or euthanized.
Yannuzzi proposed both clauses be stripped from the bill, saying both were out of the city's purview.
Two other clauses under a different section were also yanked, but for different reasons.
One read that a person who is bitten while teasing a dog would have no legal recourse, while the other read that in the case of a child mauled by a dog while the parents were not in attendance, the parents would be charged with reckless endangerment.
Yannuzzi moved to pull both clauses, saying those questions were subject to civil suits rather than municipal law.
Another section read that those who do not provide a clean environment, daily food and water and necessarily veterinary care for dogs are considered guilty of cruelty to animals and face court dates. Courts, the proposal stated, can order the animal removed and/or the owner to post signs reading 'Irresponsible Animal Owner' on all perimeters of his property.
Yannuzzi proposed that be pulled out, calling it 'a little too much.' In the same section, he proposed a $300 fine be added for cruelty. It had called only for jail time.
All those changes were proposed as one amendment and passed 4-1, with Yannuzzi, Vice President Jack Mundie, Tom Gabos and Bob Nilles voting 'yes;' Evelyn Graham voted 'no.' Graham gave no reason for her 'no' vote, though she seemed unhappy at the suggestion of withdrawing the 'irresponsible owner' signs.
Graham also proposed a change. The original wording declared that dogs must be 'securely constrained' to the owner's property but 'may not be inhumanely restrained by tying to a restraint for more that 18 consistent hours per day.' Graham proposed that be changed to eight hours, though she added 'I'd rather see it two hours.'
That amendment passed unanimously.
Tom Gabos proposed a change regarding when a dog can be euthanized.
One clauses stated that if a dog killed or injured another animal, the owner would be placed on one-year probation, adding that should another violation occur during that time, the dog would be confiscated and either placed into a responsible home or 'humanely euthanized.'
Gabos moved euthanization be stripped. That move was adopted unanimously.
The rest of the ordinance was unchanged. As such, it states that dogs must be 'securely leashed' when off the owner's property and that parents who allow children to walk dogs 'assume liability for any accident, harm, injury or trespass caused.'
Elsewhere, that section requires owners Under Section Three, owners who allow their dogs to run free are fines $100 for a first offense. A second offense results in a $200 fine and required training. A third violation means a $400 fine and confiscation of the dog. If that happens, the dog would be evaluated and either given to a responsible owner or euthanized, if deemed necessary. All fines are doubled in this section is the dog is unlicensed.
The amended motion then passed unanimously first reading. Council is expected to pass it on second and third readings during its next meeting July 13.
To enact this ordinance, council allowed a more controversial dog ordinance to die on the table. That one barred kids under 14 from walking a dog in public and charged parents with reckless endangerment if a 'child under the age of 14 is found in public with a dog or, or off leash'
Those clauses generated criticism from the public and councilmembers. Plus, Solicitor Chris Slusser said it was unenforceable.
Last year, council passed a dog control ordinance, but it was set aside when clauses in it were found to be at odds with existing state dog control law.
But even that ordinance was a derivative from an earlier one that was breed-specific, which is contrary to commonwealth law.
Dog Training
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