Dogged Blog

Leavin' on a jet plane -- if nothing else goes wrong, that is...

In around three hours I'm going to Washington to visit my friend Terri and her Scottish Deerhounds and Silken Windhounds! I'm also going to meet, for the first time, my friend Nancy Campbell LVT, who runs the wonderful Vet Techs blog, and who lives in the same town as my friend Terri. They even have the same last name.

Then I'm going into Seattle to meet my editor from AfterElton.com, Michael Jensen, and his partner, author Brent Hartinger. And seeing other friends as well, all from online, some of whom I've met before, some of whom I haven't.

I'm ready for some fun, believe me. Words cannot describe the unbelievable chain of crap that has hit me in the last three days. In addition to the normal work binge I have to go on before any vacation, I had to reinstall my browser, which caused me some headaches that are too boring to go into here, my mom broke her toe, my toilet broke, Rebel got yet another bladder infection (related to his genetic kidney defect -- it's an ongoing problem), I lost my keys yesterday, and ummm... I don't know, ten million other things I'm currently supressing all awareness of.

I will be gone for six days. I'm bringing only three pairs of shoes. Obviously something is very, very wrong with me.

Before I leave, please go over to SFGate.com and read my holiday safety tips for pets. Every pet writer has to write one of these every year, it's part of our Code. Go tell my editors that mine is the best, most amusing, most compelling holiday pet safety article you have ever read in all your life since the dawn of time:

Ah, the holiday season! We mark its arrival by giving young children massive quantities of candy and putting little fireman outfits on our Dalmatians.

Then on to a celebration of thanks that can send us into a postprandial coma and our dogs to the ER with pancreatitis. We then move into Hanukkah, Christmas or another winter holiday of choice that brings joy to the hearts of the young and young-at-heart everywhere, at least until the cats jump up and knock candles over, potentially setting the house on fire, or get tangled in discarded gift ribbons.

It all finishes up with New Year's Eve, which admittedly is the one holiday that probably does more damage to us than to our pets.

I don't have any suggestions for what you can do about your waistline, your budget, or how to fit all the holiday shopping and parties in, but I can give you some ideas on how to keep your dogs and cats safe (and keep your house from burning down) through the whole holiday season, starting with Halloween.

If nothing else, check out the great photos, including a deerhound in a kilt! It's all here.

Happy Halloween!

Wherein I love Jon Stewart for money

When the Daily Show (blessed be its name) launched its new website and video clip archive last week, I was all over it like, well... you know, white Borzoi hair on black wool slacks.

And I convinced my darling editor Michael Jensen at AfterElton.com to let me write an article about the best of the gay (or maybe it's the gayest of the best) clips. And he said oh, well, if you must, I guess you must.

So I turned it in yesterday and it's up today and you know, that must mean he really liked it because that never happens.

And even though it's hideously immodest of me, I have to say it's pretty funny, and not just the embedded clips. So hey, you know... read it.

There’s a whole lotta gay going on in the brand-spanking-new archive of The Daily Show video clips launched last week by Comedy Central. Ever since 1999, when a relatively unknown political humorist named Jon Stewart took over as anchor and made “fake news” a household word, the anti-gay elements of society have been one of the main targets of his increasingly impassioned, brilliantly funny fake newscasts. So let’s check out the best of the best by looking at the highlights of the last eight years, stopping along the way to note a time or two The Daily Show really blew it (and not in a good way).

It does bear mentioning that there are plenty of queer comics doing pro-gay political humor. And Stewart isn’t even the only straight comic who supports gay rights. Kathy Griffin, Roseanne Barr, and many others have championed our issues and earned large queer followings. Stewart isn’t even the only straight male political comic with his own TV show who supports LBGT equality; so does, for example, Bill Maher.

What sets Stewart apart, aside from his tremendous mainstream popularity, is that his humor conveys a deeply-rooted sense of personal outrage at anti-gay policies, laws, and attitudes. He doesn’t, like Maher, support gay civil rights as part of an overall libertarian or progressive political ideology, but because, as he told conservative pundit Bill Bennett in what may be the greatest interview of Stewart’s career, gay equality is part of “the natural progression of the human condition” because “every gay person [is] someone’s son or daughter.” And in Stewart’s mind, apparently, you just don’t treat your kids like that.

It also has to be said, no matter how much it hurts, that Stewart isn’t perfect. Oh, his sense of humor rarely misses, and his hair actually really may be perfect. But when it comes to gay political humor, sometimes The Daily Show gets it wrong – hello, Stephen Colbert gay-baiting the inventor of “Gaydar,” a little electronic device that will vibrate whenever anyone else in close proximity has the same device.

It’s also true that The Daily Show and its spin-off, The Colbert Report, haven’t been making a lot of friends in the MySpace generation or the blogosphere lately. That’s because those buzz-killers at Comedy Central have been rampaging around YouTube and other video-sharing sites for months now, getting those shows’ clips yanked as fast as they went up. The reason is now clear: They’ve been building their own little Daily Show video universe, where every single clip of every segment of the show since the day Stewart joined its cast in 1999 can be viewed and embedded. The Colbert Report will be getting the same treatment soon.

The Daily Show site launched in mid-October with the butt-covering word “Beta” scrawled under the logo, probably to account for the fact that a lot of times, the videos just won’t play. Still, those seeking the gay can lose many, many hours in The Daily Show vaults, reliving past moments of queer glory and discovering many others previously unknown. After all, no fan, however obsessed, can ever really have seen every single episode – until now.

It's all here... have fun!

Windy weekends in October

I spent the day yesterday at the Silken Windhound Western Regional Specialty, and had a wonderful time. I'm more impressed every day with the firm commitment in the Silken community to medical, genetic, and scientific research about their dogs and their breeding program.

I got into an interesting discussion with one of their guest speakers, a canine genetic researcher from UC Davis. In fact, we stood in the parking lot for a couple of hours after the show, talking. I'm hoping to sit down with him again for an interview and tour of his lab. He had some ideas that really changed the way I think about what breed clubs can do to support research into their areas of concern.

I was saddened, though, on getting home to hear of the terrible fires down in San Diego. I'll be blogging about that, with information about the animals involved, over on Pet Connection in a few minutes. It reminded me of another dog show weekend, in October of 1991 -- almost exactly two years after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake -- when a terrible firestorm ravaged the East Bay Hills.

Both weekends, I was on my way home from a dog show when I heard news of the fire. It was eerie. And yesterday was incredibly windy, just like that long-ago weekend was.

My heart goes out to all my colleagues, friends, and everyone else evacuated or in danger in San Diego. 

In the East Bay Sunday? Come say BOO at Boofest!

I'll be ring stewarding on Sunday, October 21  for the Western Regional Silken Windhound Specialty in Antioch, CA, from 9 AM to noon. If you feel like seeing some pretty little sighthounds do their show ring thing, and me pretending to know what's going on, please stop by! Info here.

The photo is of 2005's specialty winner, my friends Alison Brendel, DVM, and Joyce Chin's lovely Sony (BISS Talisman's Sycthian Huntress CGC), just to give you an idea of the size and what they look like. More photos of Sony here.

 

Oh shirt of my dreams

Okay, kind of a drive-by, but I haven't done one of these in a while. Yes, it's time for stuff I like!

Tonight it's a strange catalog company called Soft Surroundings. I can't quite grasp their concept... I guess it's kind of a catalog that sells stuff that's fluffy or cozy or soft or comforting, plus anything else they feel like selling you. Some really nice clothing, a lot of fleece, and sheets and makeup and face cream, don't ask me, I didn't start the company, I just bought this really great shirt.

This shirt fits me so perfectly I want to cry when I put it in. It's the kind of shirt that you want to wear everywhere every day because it's as if it was made for you.

It looks much better on me than it does on the model in the catalog or in this somewhat strangely laid out photo from the website, right.

Regardless of all that? Best. Shirt. Ever.

Protecting victims of domestic violence by protecting their pets

My column this morning at SFGate.com:

It's no secret that a lot of people love their pets, and often consider them to be members of the family. Forty-one billion dollars spent every year on pet food, toys, vet bills, and even little dresses for dogs demonstrates the firm position held by companion animals in our society.

Unfortunately, there's another way pets are often members of the family, and that's when it comes to domestic violence. In research presented at the Fourth International Conference on Family Violence, domestic violence expert Frank Ascione reported that 71 percent of pet owners in a shelter for victims of domestic violence told researchers that their partner threatened to harm or kill their pets. One abuser threatened to bury a woman's cat in the lawn up to the head and "mow" the pet. Other threats included putting a kitten in a blender and starving a dog to death. More than half the victims reported that it went beyond threats, and their pets actually were harmed or killed. The threatened and actual abuse of family pets is part of what Ascione calls "a landscape of terror" in which many families are living.

Last month, things started looking up for California pet owners trying to cope with issues of domestic violence. That's because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 353, a bill authored by State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) that specifically allows judges to name pets in restraining orders. "This legislation will prevent abusers from harming or threatening to harm animals in order to exert power and control over their human victims," Kuehl said.

That might be a little optimistic, since such orders are often not worth the paper they're printed on when it comes to protecting human victims. However, obtaining one may at least prevent animal control agencies, veterinarians, or boarding kennels from being forced to turn over a sheltered pet to an abuser who is the animal's legal owner.

Perhaps more importantly, this new law offers recognition of how much harm is done to family members when they are terrorized by threats to their animals. "Victims of domestic violence have delayed leaving their homes, delayed seeking safety, because their abuser said, 'You take one step out of the house and I'll kill your dog,'" Kuehl told the Sacramento Bee.

Considering how many people refused to evacuate their homes in the face of Hurricane Katrina if it meant abandoning their pets, it shouldn't come as any surprise that some victims remain in abusive situations because they won't leave a companion animal behind. In fact, Ascione's research found that fear for family pets keeps nearly one in five women caught in domestic violence from seeking shelter.

That's why services for the pets of families where abuse is taking place won't just protect the pets; such assistance will help get victims out of dangerous living environments by eliminating one of the weapons abusers often use to keep their victims from leaving.

The rest is here.

The craptastic ending to a craptastic day

It's not like I thought he gave a damn about my rights. I knew he didn't.

It's not even like I didn't know he was going to do this. But hey, I'm a fourth generation native Californian, and my governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, just told me that while he totally believes "that all Californians are entitled to full protection under the law and should not be discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation," he's still vetoing the marriage equality act passed by both the California House of Representatives and the State Senate.

He says he thinks the voters should decide if I'm equal to them or not.

Well guess what, voters? I don't care what you think. I'm a citizen of California and of the United States and I really refuse to accept a second class of citizenship based on the gender of who I love just because of your prejudice.

I've had a terrible, horrible, miserable day and I'm on the thin edge of using a lot of ugly language right now, so maybe I'll just say goodnight.

But hey, Arnold? I'll be back.

What the FDA wants your vet to tell you

I'm not the world's biggest fan of the FDA, and this year's massive pet food recall didn't do anything to change that -- other than to make it worse. But their veterinary drug arm has come out with an informational pamphlet on the veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Rimadyl, Deramaxx, Etogesic, Metacam, Previcox, Zubrin, and Novox (carprofen), and it's good. Really good.

The question is, will your vet give it to you? I'd be more optimistic about that if I knew of more than a small handful of vets who even give out the client information sheet that the FDA requires be handed out to pet owners when they're prescribed these drugs for their dogs. In other words, there's a law telling your vet he or she has to give that piece of paper to you. But how many of you, when given a bottle of Rimadyl or other, similar drugs, were given that sheet? Or had your veterinarian cover the information in this new pamphlet?

I blogged about this at Pet Connection today. Check it out, look at the pamphlet, print it out in case you ever need it.

And let me know if you ever see it in your vet's office.

Things were different in the 90s...

Since getting my iPod, I've been slowly putting all my CDs on it, and this weekend, I put the first Red Hot + Blue compilation on it.

This was originally an album with a companion television show, a group of videos by different artists and directors to songs by Cole Porter. It was a benefit for AIDS research, and a number of follow-up albums were released.

This project was spearheaded by John Carlin, who commented in the notes for last May's DVD release that "Things were different in 1990."  They were; darker and far more frightening than they are today.

Each artist was paired with a director, and some of the best directors of the day were involved -- not just music video directors, but film as well. Wim Wenders, for instance, made U2's video to Cole Porter's "Night and Day." Derek Jarman, whose films were often really a bit too artsy and self-indulgent for me, was a director I thought might be best appreciated in music-video length. He was supposed to direct Annie Lennox singing "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," but he was too ill; he died of AIDS in 1994.

More and lots and lots of YouTube vids under the jump....

Stuff I don't like. At all.

I originally created this category as a place to mention products that I like. And so far that's what it's been.

Today, however, I felt moved to present to you two products that I not only don't like, but the existence of which strikes at the very heart of my normally pro-footwear, pro-shopping little soul.

I found both of them in the Herrington Catalog, which describes itself as "the Enthusiasts' Catalog." That sounds like it would be something I like, since I guess it means it's a catalog for people who like stuff and I do. I really do. I like stuff.

And I have, over the years, purchased items from this catalog, mostly as holiday gifts for my dad, because my dad loves cars and I'm going to guess that the first thing Mr. Herrington ever felt enthusiastic about was cars as there is lots and lots of high-end car stuff in this catalog.

The two items I am going to bring your attention to now, however, have nothing to do with cars.

The first is just something so wrong that I am not sure I can do it justice. At all. The description begins thusly:

Off Broadway, tiny recessed lights at the edge of the stage help actors avoid treacherous falls into the orchestra pit.

I am personally curious as to why this isn't also a problem On Broadway, but I digress.

But what if you’re at home late at night, and need to visit the bathroom or get a late-night snack?

I don't know, Mr. Herrington... maybe I turn on the lights?????

And you don’t want to wake your spouse by turning on the overhead lights?

This falls into the category of "Things I don't give a shit about for a thousand, Alex," but that may be why I don't have a spouse.

Oh, no, wait, that's because my government denies me the right to have one. But yet again, I digress. Back to the catalog, and its proposed solution:

Slip into Footlights and you’ll not only feel the reassuring comfort and warmth of thickly cushioned fleece slippers — you’ll also activate powerful LED beams that illuminate everything up to 20-25’ ahead of you!

Weight sensors activate the LEDs in each slipper as you stand up; built in timer delays shut-off until you’re safely back in bed. LEDs aim slightly upward for optimum illumination of obstacles. It’s like seeing in the dark — without wearing scary NightVision goggles!

Yes, it's exactly like that. And yet, in its own way I find it very scary indeed.

The next product is also terrifying. And again, my own words pale into nothingness next to the advertising copy in the catalog itself:

Mossad, the Israeli Special Forces unit, is known for its stealth, toughness, and deadly effectiveness. So when Mossad requisitioned a protective laptop case comfortable and light enough for extended travel, discreet enough for clandestine ops, but rugged enough for field duty, Ergo Armor got the contract. Triple-layer laminate construction sandwiches a protective layer of elasticized closed-cell foam padding between a soft, anti-scratch interior, and a highly abrasion-resistant exterior.

Large u-shaped, zippered top gives you unfettered access to a padded laptop sleeve, and a generous main compartment with dedicated pockets for personal electronics. Front zippered compartment offers the additional protection of Flexi-Shield Exo-Ribs for delicate equipment...

Like, I guess, small firearms.

...and movable interior padding for a custom fit. A special full-width rear pocket gives you instant access to pens, business cards, and other small travel essentials...

Like, I guess, small firearms.

And discreet styling means you won’t blow your cover!

I myself worry about that a great deal when transporting my laptop.

The takeaway message here is, if you are even now compiling a holiday gift list and my name is on it, these are two items you might want to, you know... scratch off.