Dogged Blog

The tiny dogs of retail

Honestly, I don't mind it when companies use images of dogs in their advertising. I think dogs are the most appealing, beautiful, wonderful creatures on the planet and so naturally, when I see them in ads or on the covers of catalogs or posed among the scarves and sofas and piles of CDs it makes me smile and think that someone at the company loves dogs, too.



I'm easy that way.



But I got an email asking me to rate three potential covers for the spring catalog of one of my favorite stores on Planet Earth, J. Jill. This company does a lot of great work, supports breast cancer fundraising efforts, has perfect customer service, and sells fabulous clothes in styles and sizes real women can wear, from the tiniest of petites to the curviest of plus sizes.



I love this store, is what I'm saying.



But I really don't like any of the new covers, because each of the three of them features a tiny dog in a purse, and while I agree that dogs are friends, family members, companions, guardians, and best buddies, what they are not, is accessories.



I do understand that these "pick our next cover" promotions are gimmicks to get you to buy stuff. I know they already have chosen their next cover, and it's probably gonna be a little dog in a purse. I just wish they wouldn't do that, because it's something I've come to expect from the Britneys and Paris Hiltons of the world, but I don't like seeing it on the covers of catalogs from stores I buy from. Seriously, J. Jill, couldn't the dog be on her lap or the ground on his own four little paws? Did you have to stick him in the purse?

She lives

I can't quite believe I haven't blogged here since Dec. 21. I've blogged at the places I get paid to, which just goes to show I'm a mercenary bitch, just like you always suspected.

Seriously, my mom has been sick, I had company before the holidays, and lots of family stuff. And I'm trying, not entirely successfully, to enjoy a short period of no deadlines. I have nothing due until Jan 2, and that's just a Project Runway recap, and then nothing until Jan 7, when my SFGate.com column is due. This may be the longest period I've gone without a deadline in a year. I literally don't know what to do with myself, or at least, once I stop having to take my mom to the doctor, I presume I'll have problems with that.

I'm not good at relaxing. When did I turn into a Type A personality? (Friends from my youth are laughing now... "turn into???")

In other news, Kyrie looks very pretty in front of my Christmas tree, but resents being treated as a decorative object, under the jump.

Can the great dog bed drama be over?

I hope you're all prepared for news of earth-shaking importance: Mammoth Pet Beds finally sent me a replacement cover for the one that shrunk.



The previous installment of this riveting saga is here,  but in a nutshell, my mom bought two giant dog beds for my dogs Kyrie and Rebel. When I washed the cover on one of them, following the label instructions, it shrunk to the point where it no longer fit the bed -- it was literally unusable, as you can see in the photo at the right. The black edge on the bed is the bed itself, the burgundy is the cover. (The little grey smudge in the lower left hand corner is Rebel's nose. I just thought you'd want to know.)



The company did not respond to my emails or calls. I finally contested the charge on my mom's credit card, and the next day, amazingly, I heard from them.



After a long, frustrating exchange of emails, with days or even weeks passing between my replies and hearing from them again, and several pointless requests on their part for documentation (including information they already had been given), they said they were sending me a replacement cover. And around two weeks later, it arrived.



There's a bill for $79 in there, but I don't think they expect me to pay it. I won't be.



I have made the decision simply not to put these covers (I've still never washed the other one) in the dryer at all, and wash them in cold water. I don't think the covers should shrink when laundered according to instructions, and they assured me their covers don't shrink, but I'm not going to take a chance. So for the moment, the dogs are happy, I'm reasonably happy, I don't care if Mammoth is happy, and I will never, ever buy a dog bed from these folks again.



And that concludes the most hard-hitting pet reportage in the history of the universe.

Gratuitous sighthound holiday blogging

Yeah, yeah, I know Gina already covered this ground, but this is my beautiful Miss Kyrie Borzoi in her holiday finery.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday, and that your dogs like being decked out more than mine do.

Pet loss and illness during the holidays

When I first started working for PetHobbyist.com, one of the changes the site owner and I made was to create PetSupport.net, a community for those dealing with pet loss and the illness, injury, or handicap of their companion animals.



Because PetHobbyist.com was built around the core of its legendary reptile and amphibian website, kingsnake.com, we have always made sure that everyone felt welcome in our pet loss and support areas, no matter what kind of animals they share their lives with.



Knowing the holidays can be a rough time for people dealing with the recent loss of a pet, mourning the anniversary of a pet's death, or struggling with illness in an animal family member, we also made a commitment that we have honored since 2003: We host our pet loss and illness support chats 365 nights a year. So, just like every night, on Christmas Eve, Christmas night, New Year's Eve, and New Year's night, the chats will be held as scheduled. The times, and more pet support resources, are listed at PetSupport.net.



If you're struggling with sadness over the loss or illness of an animal this holiday season, please drop by.

Skincare update

Wow, what a riveting headline. But give me a break, it's almost 1 AM and I just got back from walking the dogs. Don't ask.

So, I think I may have solved my great skincare crisis. I've only been using it a few days, but Aveda's Calming Composition has definitely given me the baby butt-soft skin I wanted without irritating it in any way. I used to love Aveda skincare products but over the years I found they weren't doing it for me anymore. Their foundation and concealer don't make me break out, but they also don't cover as smoothly as I'd like. Still, they're what I was wearing until I fell in love with the Chanel foundation, which also doesn't make me break out -- it's just the Chanel skincare line that gives me perfect smooth skin for three days and THEN I break out.

Back in my Aveda days, this product was called "Calming Nutrients" and it was sold for use on face, body, and scalp. They seem to have de-emphasized the use on the face, for no reason I can determine. It's certainly making mine happy.

I'll keep my fingers crossed it keeps working. All I want is moisturized skin without my rosacea flaring up, is that really too much to ask?

Okay, that's not all I want. It's just all I want from a skincare line. The list of all I want is way too long for this post.

Lawsuit alleges LA shelters neglect, abuse animals

A press release from the National No Kill Advocacy Center, a group founded by "Redemption" author Nathan Winograd, hit my e-mail box this evening. It contained the startling news that the organization, along with two animal rescuers, have "jointly filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, its Department of Animal Care and Control, and the Department’s Director, Marcia Mayeda. The lawsuit alleges unlawful and abusive treatment of animals at all six Los Angeles County animal shelters."



The complaint, which is 29 pages long (PDF), includes a number of allegations of against the department, including:

(T)he County Department of Animal Care and Control routinely:

• Kills healthy and treatable animals before their state mandated holding period expires;



• Misclassifies animals as “ill” or “injured” in order to kill them before their holding period expires even though the animals are not irremediably suffering as required by state law;



• Kills lost animals without making reasonable attempts to find the animals’ owners;



• Fails to provide adequate veterinary care to impounded animals, resulting in animal deaths;



• Fails to provide adequate nutrition, water, shelter and exercise to impounded animals and to treat the animals humanely and kindly;



• Refuses to release animals to rescue groups that are willing to care for the animals until adoptive homes can be found and, instead, kills the animals.

In addition, the County Department of Animal Care and Control unlawfully retaliates against animal rescuers and volunteers who publicize its unlawful treatment of animals.

The press release from the No Kill Advocacy Center, including some very disturbing images, is here (PDF file). One animal named in the complaint is a dog named Zephyr, whose transition from healthy dog to emaciated, sick dog to death is chronicled in the photo montage above.



I've been following some rumblings about the LA shelter system on various blogs for a few months now, but this is the first time I've seen something like this laid out in such detail. I admit to being so upset by the images accompanying the complaint that it's a little hard to know what to say.



While there are obviously shelters that have a philosophy I believe is ultimately harmful to animals in general, and to the people who care about and for those animals -- or who would like to -- this is a completely different kind of accusation, one of actual abuse and neglect. What exactly is going on in Los Angeles? Are any of our readers familiar with this situation?

The straight scoop on gay-owned pets

One of the sites I write for to fill my empty bank account hours is LOGOonline.com, the website of the lesbian and gay cable channel owned by MTV/Viacom.



Yes, in my spare time I am a media entertainment hack. It's true. And, via their blog, I now find out I'm also incredibly trendy. Research shows that lesbians and gay men are more likely to own pets than straight people -- 71 percent of us, compared to "only" 63 percent of straight people. (Which is still the majority of people in this country so I'm not sure why pet lovers haven't taken over yet. Is anyone working on that?)



However, I am bucking the trend when it comes to just what kind of pets I have... dogs, instead of cats, although to be fair, this is the first time in my entire life, since birth, that I haven't had cats:

The poll also reports that GLBT pet owners are somewhat more likely than heterosexuals to own a cat. Of the GLBT pet owners, 63 percent said they owned a cat compared to a little more than half (52%) of the heterosexual pet owners. The inverse was found in dog ownership. About seven out of ten (71%) of heterosexual pet owners said they owned a dog compared to 63 percent of GLBT pet owners.

Statistically speaking, it's all here.

The Closet's Last Champion: Bill O'Reilly

There are very few articles I've ever worked as hard on as this one. Or felt so slimed while researching.

It's a look at Bill O'Reilly's attitudes toward lesbian/gay issues that I wrote for AfterElton.com -- so, okay, not exactly the kind of fun experience I had researching gay and lesbian clips in the Daily Show archive. But you know, a girl's gotta pay her shoe bill somehow:

It’s easy to call Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly a hypocrite, mostly, of course, because he is. He oozes concern for the plight of queer teenagers while doing his level best to make sure the world remains a dangerous place in which to grow up gay. He pontificates on the sanctity of the church while being sued by a former producer who claimed he whispered dirty fantasies to her over the phone. And he shakes his fist in defense of truth, justice, and the American way while repeating stories that are false.

But there’s one way in which O’Reilly shows a remarkable consistency. Whether on his nightly show The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News, his interviews on other people’s shows, or his radio program, the ideology of the closet permeates nearly every word about homosexuality that comes out of Bill O’Reilly’s mouth. He may describe himself as a moderate because he doesn’t want to see gay people bashed, imprisoned, or fired from our jobs, but the truth is, he just wants us to shut up, and doesn’t hesitate to say so.

The rest is here.

Pets without borders

I keep an eye on some online discussion groups related to animal-related legislation, and a recurrent rant some members of these groups engage in goes like this: With all the shelters so full of animals, and laws being proposed to regulate or criminalize breeding dogs and cats, why are we importing dogs and cats from other countries?



This rant is usually accompanied by a gallon or two of xenophobic vitriol that I've edited out. You can thank me now.



But here's the thing: I don't care. I want to see every suffering animal given a chance at a happy life, and if that means a plane ride, that's fine with me. I couldn't care less if that dog or cat was born in Puerto Rico, Mexico, France, Taiwan, or on the moon.



As long as the numbers of imported rescue dogs aren't being tallied in the local figures that are then used to justify intrusive and harsh legislation, what difference does it make? If rescue groups and shelters have the resources to foster and care for these animals, and local homes have room to adopt them, what possible reason can there be to oppose this practice?



Granted, those are big "ifs," but I never hear anything about them when this particular rant gets going. I believe that there is exploitation of horrific abuse suffered by some animals for fundraising purposes by animal welfare organizations, but that happens with home-grown dogs, too -- we saw it during Hurricane Katrina, and we're seeing it now with Michael Vick's dogs.



Simply transporting animals from a region without resources and homes to one that has them is a good thing. After all, my dogs don't have passports, and I'm guessing all those pound pups from Taiwan don't, either.