Dogged Blog

Wherein I bark and growl

Over on SFGate.com this morning, my article on the closing of the San Francisco SPCA's Hearing Dog Program, just a few months before it would have celebrated its 30th anniversary.

And now for a rant. Feel free to ignore it, I just have to get this out. Consider it a form of therapy.

My Borzoi Kyrie grew up in the country. She was born there and she lived there until I moved to San Francisco a year and a half ago. Although she went to training classes as a puppy, and I even showed her a few times, I got lazy and failed to continue to take her places where there were other dogs as she got older. She had many guests both canine and human, and got along with them all, as she got along with all my own dogs, who numbered as many as 11 during her younger years. The only exception was some prey drive she showed towards toy dogs. Well, one toy dog.

So I was unprepared for her fearful reaction to being approached by other dogs when she was on a leash. Over time she's become less reactive and less fearful, and I have no reason to believe she'd be a problem with off-leash dogs if she were off leash herself. But I haven't tested that theory, because I don't think it's ethical or fair to conduct an experiment with other people's dogs. She continues to be friendly with dogs who visit me at my house, whose owners can make the informed decision to take a chance.

(Rebel was shown for quite a while and lived for part of his early life in a town, where he went regularly to a dog park, so he's perfectly fine with strange dogs, on-leash and off.)

Now, in the year and a half since I have lived here, the number of incidents involving Kyrie and other dogs is zero. She hasn't gotten into a fight, gotten off her leash, or snapped at another dog. She used to bark when she'd see one, and back up in a fearful body posture, but she doesn't even do that anymore. I walk her at off hours (I work out of a home office so I have the ability to do that) and if I see other dogs, I just turn around and leave the area. I never have her in off-leash areas when there are other dogs around or likely to be around, and I never, ever let her off leash unless we're in a safely fenced area and there's no one there but us. Which in San Francisco is not often.

So, here I have a dog who I only suspect might tangle with another dog, and I'm acting like she's some kind of dangerous animal, simply because I love her and care about other dogs and don't want there to ever be a problem that I could have prevented. It was hard for me at first to accept that people in San Francisco allow their untrained dogs off leash in leash-required areas, and that they honestly don't care that their dog is racing a hundred miles an hour towards my leashed dogs, and that their dog has either gone deaf or never heard his or her name before and has no idea what the word "Come" means, which doesn't stop them from saying it over and over and over again.

No, I still resent that fact, but I've accepted it, which is why I never go anywhere there's likely to be such a dog.

So of course, the night before last I was out with the dogs at 9 at night. They were on a leash. We were in a leash-required area separated from a busy street by nothing more than a few trees. We were at the far end of that area, at least 100 feet from the road, down a hill from the path that runs parallel to the street, next to the trees. So, at least 75 feet from that path, down a hill that was itself covered with trees and shrubbery.

And a dog comes trotting down that path, off leash, her owner following behind, talking on her cell phone, leash looped around her neck.

The dog sees my dogs, and starts scrambling down the hill towards us.

My dogs do nothing. They don't bark or pull or advance. They do look up from the fascinating bits of dirt they had been sniffing, but that's it.

The owner breaks away from her phone call long enough to assure me that her dog just wants to say hi. I smile, hold the hand that's gripping Kyrie's leash up an inch or two, and say, "She's not friendly, so could you call her?"

Suddenly, owner goes ballistic on me. Says she's heard all about my dogs causing trouble in the park, that I have a bad reputation, just goes nuts. Now, I know what she's saying is impossible. Other than a short run-in I had a year and a half ago with a lady whose off-leash Jack Russell tried to bite Rebel's head -- something that prompted not even a growl from Rebel, who just looked at the little dog and said, "You're kidding, right?" --  and who I have never seen again in the park, I've never had any problems with anyone about my dogs.

Once or twice I've smilingly asked someone to hang onto their dog while I left the area so they could continue their use of the park without worrying about my dog (and again, these are unleashed, untrained dogs in leash-required areas), but never did anyone react with anything but prompt courtesy, and even one or two offers to leave or leash their dog. So she was either making the whole thing up to upset me (it worked) or had me confused with someone else (although none of my neighbors or fellow late-night dogwalkers has ever mentioned there being someone using the park who has problem dogs).

So, I actually laughed when she started saying these things. Then she got really vicious and started using a lot of four-letter words, called me "a cackling witch" and walked backwards out of the area screaming at me without ceasing the entire time.

And she never did put her dog on leash or even call her.

And neither Rebel nor Kyrie ever barked.

That was Sunday. This is Tuesday, and it's still bugging me, so I'm trying this. I guess I'm not as well-behaved as Rebel and Kyrie.

Of video and the written word

Dear people who want to tell me stuff,

If you send me to a website on which there is little or nothing but a video clip, the odds are very, very, very, very, very high I will not play it.

Only if you have also written text that tells me what is in it and put it in context as part of your message is there any chance at all I will click "play" on the video.

In fact, you had better just tell me in writing everything you want me to know, because even when you put that video in context, I'm still probably not going to click on it. Your video clip (or podcast, for that matter) needs to be in addition to, not instead of, written words.

This isn't about me approving or disapproving of the fact that apparently you are accepting (or maybe just assuming) that people no longer can or will read. I am not doing this as a form of protest or to send you a message. I'm telling you that if you want me to know what you want to tell me, then write it out.

This concludes my message to people who want to tell me stuff.

Just a round up post, ma'am

Why yes, I have been busy. Thank you for asking!

First, for something completely different: I wrote about fishies for the first time since I moved away from my koi pond! In the Pet Connection nationally syndicated feature this week, which appears in around a hundred newspapers:

Take one fish in a plastic bag, one fishbowl and one child, and what do you have? Chances are you'll soon have a dead fish and a very unhappy child.

But it doesn't have to be that way. The secret of making your child's first fish tank a success is choosing the right equipment and the right fish, along with equal parts planning and patience.

Beginners need to start with the basics, and when it comes to fish, nothing is more basic than water. Without plenty of filtered, aerated water kept at the right temperature, your child's fish will become stressed, ill or may die. That's why equipment, rather than fish, is the most important part of setting up your child's first aquarium.

By the way, that equipment does not include a fishbowl, kthnx.

My editor went out of town, so I snuck some more politics into my blogging at AfterElton.com, in "The Republicans hate us, but will that be enough this time?":

I got into a bloody battle the other day with some idiot on a blog who was pissing and moaning about the California Supreme Court's ruling that prohibiting lesbians and gay men from marrying was a violation of the state's constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law.

It's coming at a bad time, he said. He was afraid that having that issue in the news, and a constitutional amendment designed to strip that right away on the ballot, would drive right wingers to the polls and cost us the White House in November.

Of course, he's not insane; that Rovian strategy did in fact work quite well for the Republicans four years ago, and four years before that. And yes, it might work again, although I'm thinking, at least in California, it won't.

But whether I'm right or wrong about that, one thing I do know: anyone queer with a television or Internet access is going to have a few rough months, at least as far as political ads and punditry go. It's gays, guns, and God, and there are people who sincerely believe the last on that list wants them use the second on the first. And this hostility towards us and our civil rights is going to continue to feed the gaping maw of the sensationalism-hungry cable news monster.

Now on to the fluff. Also on AfterElton.com, my interview with the two gay team members on HGTV's new season of Design Star:

It's true that the third season of HGTV's Design Star doesn't have seven out gay male contestants like last season's Project Runway did. But the always-queer-friendly network that gave us David Bromstad is continuing its tradition of gay contestants and fielding a "Team Gay" of two: Michael Stribling, 23, and Matt Locke, 38.

[....]

It's not unusual that two out gay contestants made the cut, and not just because interior design is a pretty gay-male-friendly field. Since its first season, when David Bromstad (Color Splash) became America's first design star, the series has had out gay contestants in every round.

Last season featured Josh Johnson and Scott Corridan, although both were eliminated fairly early in the competition. I asked Matt and Michael how the producers approach the issue of the sexual orientation of the contestants.

(I also recapped the first challenge, again, on AfterElton.com.)

And bringing it all back to pets again, I updated and revised my "Ten Things I WILL Tell You" post into my column on SFGate.com:

For more than 22 years, I've been raising and caring for my pets using alternative and complementary methods. In that time, I've seen dozens of supplements, herbs and nutritional theories hailed as the one true way to pet health, and then fall by the wayside.

After interviewing dozens of holistic vets, following a lot of tips that sounded promising and undergoing a great deal of trial and error with my own animals in the past two decades, I've come up with a list of 10 tried-and-true holistic tips that have worked for my pets as well as many others.

One caution, and it's a big one: Talk to your veterinarian before trying to treat your pet at home. It's one thing to give a gingersnap to see if it helps a healthy puppy's mild carsickness; it's another to think you can treat a pet's violent or chronic diarrhea at home. There is nothing "holistic" about treating conditions without a diagnosis.

I was supposed to be at an event in the East Bay today, but the predicted 107 degree temperatures and my mom's health ruled it out... even in San Francisco, it's in the 90s, and the dogs are huddling at the little air conditioner like they did the last time it was hot. Poor puppers, and poor dogs and people all over this City that's normally "air-conditioned by Mother Nature"; we're just not prepared for this kind of weather.

That hormone thing, redux

I'm 49 years old, and in the last year, my hormones have turned on me.

I'm not quite sure when it began -- I started having trouble continuing to lose weight and sleeping at night a year and a half ago, but I blamed it on the stress and sleep deprivation of the period around the 2007 pet food recall, when I was working the (very busy) "graveyard shift" for Pet Connection.

Thank you pet food industry for the midnight "dump and run" media releases.

Although my life should have gotten back to normal last fall, I continued to have problems sleeping -- both falling asleep and staying asleep. I still couldn't seem to lose weight, even when exercising and diarying my food. And then in November, I didn't get my period for two and a half months, then when I did, it was short and weird, and then I skipped another. This after a literal  lifetime of menstrual periods I could set a watch by, or, at least, a calendar. I only even had cramps a couple of times a year, and my PMS was usually a single day of weepiness and irritability.

Now I was irritable for weeks on end, and kept finding things popping out of my mouth before I realized I was going to say them. I was easily pissed off, and easily hurt. I still couldn't sleep, I gained ten pounds despite not changing my exercise or food intake -- which after everything I've gone through in the last 5 years to lose weight scared the shit out of me -- and I felt tired and mentally not myself.

And my periods continued to be abnormal. And while they were nothing compared to those suffered by a lot of women, I was experiencing some fairly bad hot flashes, mostly at night -- seemed to be part of why I couldn't sleep. And the combination of hot flashes and sleep disruption probably were behind my feelings of mental dullness, too.

I went to the doctor (we can have the discussion about our fucked up health care system another day), but she was approximately 13 years old and just shrugged and said it was "normal for your age."

Let me explain something to the doctors of the world: Even if going literally in one month from a lifetime of regular and uneventful menstrual periods to nothing BUT abnormal and unpleasant menstrual periods is common, it's not normal. It simply is not. Not to mention that it's unacceptable; I can't and won't live like that for months or years.

More to the point, I started menstruating at 10 years old. My mother, who started menstruating at 12, didn't go into menopause until she was 53. Women typically go into menopause a little later than their mothers, and the earlier you start the later you tend to stop. So 48 years old seemed a little early to me. I also was concerned about how abrupt and severe my symptoms where.

I tried to convince her to check my thyroid, but she brushed the idea aside. Now, I'm going through the "constantly going back in and complaining" routine we have to go through to get doctors to actually look up from their little "medicine by the numbers" laptops and do something for us, and I'm one of the  pushiest people I know so I'm sure in time I'll get the tests I want (and in the meantime, Kaiser is sucking up fifty bucks co-pay every time they see me and did I mention I pay $582 a month for my coverage?), but in the meantime I took matters into my own hands, and started researching herbs and supplements that might address my symptoms.

Before I go on, let me say this: I personally hate testimonials. The plural of "anecdote" is not "data," my experience won't necessarily have any bearing on yours, this could all be a big coincidence, and I still haven't even pried a diagnosis of any kind of out of my doctor. Consider this statement fully caveated.

I'm a firm believer that soy sucks, so I avoided all supplements that contain it, and after a lot of reading, bought myself a product called Estrotone by New Chapter.

I started taking it in the morning, and that night, after two doses, I was sleepy at 10 PM, sound sleep 15 minutes after getting into bed, and I woke up the next day with the birds, full of energy. I laughed and sang and walked the dogs, all before 7 AM. I felt young again.

Two weeks later, I got my period, and it was a little heavy (my rare periods in the last six months had been so scanty I wasn't even sure they WERE periods) but otherwise normal.

Twenty-eight days later I had a second, perfectly normal period.

Twenty-eight days later, I had another.

All through that time, I felt energetic. My brain felt clear and sharp. My sleep patterns were perfect. My moods stablized, although only about 75 percent.

I still haven't lost weight, and I noticed something interesting: My measurements on my body are all unchanged except for my waist. Hips, bust, neck, arms, legs, all the same; my waist is three inches bigger. All that weight is in my midsection, another indication that this is hormonal.

I'm certainly not saying this is the answer to my problem. I'll continue to try to get my doctor to test my thyroid and, you know, help me. But despite my reluctance to add to the glut of supplement testimonials, I guess I just did.

Just me on the pity pot

I just realized that I'm never going to have a true day off, ever. I will never have a paid vacation, and I'll never have a day off that isn't really just a few hours "borrowed" from another day.

I haven't got the words to express how exhausted I am.

Oh the carefree life of the freelancer.

That loathsome twerp Joe Lieberman

Today, it's being reported that Senator Hillary Clinton, after a long and bruising contest for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, has been asking her pledged delegates to throw their vote to the nominee, Senator Barack Obama.

That's because, no matter what, first and last, Hillary Clinton is a Democrat.

And while all that's going on, Senator Joe Lieberman  is spewing bilge and bile all over the Democratic candidate, not just supporting the Republican but actively attacking Obama and the Democrats, all the while caucusing with the Democrats and holding committee positions courtesy of the Democrats. And what the hell is Harry Reid doing about it?

Nothing. Way to go, Dems.

Flesh shapes the day

It doesn't matter who you are
It does not matter what you say
Flesh shapes the day
--Tom Morello

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn't matter who you are
It does not matter what the fuck you say
Flesh shapes the day
-- Tom Morello

The law of unintended consequences

So, the California State Supreme Court found that it violates the state constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law to deprive me of my equal right to marry legally. Starting June 17, lesbians and gay men will, for the first time, be equal under the law to straight people, at least in California -- the federal government still has the "Defense of [some] Marriage Act" to deprive us of our federal rights.

Of course, some out-of-state hate group thinks this is a very bad thing, and they've been trying first to stay the decision (boo hoo, you lose) and now have put a measure on the ballot to amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Which according to an article in today's Washington Post, might create more problems than you'd expect. My favorite:

"If the November measure were to pass, we would be entering unprecedented territory," said David B. Cruz, an expert on constitutional law at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "We have never seen a constitutional amendment like this in California that would take away rights that people had already exercised."

Somehow I suspect many Californians (51 pecent of whom said in a recent Gallup Poll that they had no problem with marriage equality) are going to find that a much harder thing to do than just ban same-sex marriage with a proposition. Taking away rights is just kind of un-Californian, not to mention un-American, not to mention, you know, wrong.

If you want to see some of the other chaotic social changes that might result from this mean-spirited little amendment, the article is here.

Two letters on a Wednesday morning

Letter One:

Dear Lloyd Levine,

Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

Sincerely,

Me and my dogs

Letter Two:

Dear John McCain,

You're so screwed.

Sincerely,

Me (and my dogs, too... what the hell)

New computer blues

I hate getting new electronics. Hate hate hate. I hate getting a new computer more than anything on earth.

And I'm getting one on Thursday, because I have to. Because my existing computer is running Win 2K and can't see my USB interface anymore and, well... it's time.

And I'm upset and worried and full of dread, because I'm sure I have ten million little programs that I'll never replace, and even though my data is being transferred for me, I know that the forty bazillion auto-fills and stored passwords will mostly vanish, and OH GOD my FTP access info to the seventy bazillion FTP sites on the web I have to access, god... I feel like crying.

This, my darlings, is why I drive a ten year old car and won't get a flat screen TV and even when I'm given a new digital camera I don't use it and only got my first DVD player in November of 2005:  There are types of change I hate, and new electronic stuff is the biggest one of all.

I don't even like to get a new coffee maker.