Thinking about pet adoption ....

When we were young, Dad worked near the big city shelter for a while.  He began bringing home puppies we would adopt and we went through a series of pups who were sick until finally we found one we'd have as a family pet for life.

As grown ups, we went to a rescue group shelter and visited some cats, and eventually chose one (or she chose us?).  We haven't adopted from a municipal shelter before that we can recall.

The end of summer is a good time to consider adopting a pet.  As life settles back into a more regular routine, the new pet is part of the routine and makes it a little bit different in a good way!

You can usually find a full schedule of adoption events at local pet supply stores like PetSmart or Petco most weekends.

Have you adopted a pet from a shelter or rescue?  What was that like? 

PG Desert, and Weekly Round-Up

Last week saw several notable events hereabouts.

First, a new blog was launched on the Upper Marlboro Patch.  The first post covers the recent NO KILL CONFERENCE and PG County's role there.  The annual event hosted people from across the globe, and took place near the end of July in Washington, DC.  If you missed the conference, be sure and read and subscribe to the new blog!

Also afoot is a court case, to litigate the confiscation of a beloved and necessary service dog for a person with disabilities who lives in PG County.  That story is both heartbreaking and infuriating.  And litigating against an entrenched bureaucracy in PG as you may know, ain't easy! Read about the journey here.

And finally, do we live in the desert?  You may be  a food desert-dweller, according to the USDA's new map.  Food deserts, where people have no, or limited, access to grocery stores with fresh, non-pre-processed food, exist in the County.

You can learn a lot more about it, from USDA.

The Incredible Shrinking Pound

Did you think, like I did, that the reason for allocating funds and approving construction of a new animal control facility in PG County was largely to increase the capacity for sheltering dogs and cats?  Did you think that the new shelter would hold twice as many animals as the old one?  Did you feel that the millions of dollars of hard-earned tax dollars of County citizens was worth while because of the improved care and space for the animals that find themselves waiting there for their owners' claim?

In this early news article, AMD claims that the old building, in Forestville, MD, accommodated "up to 160 animals."  The hope expressed in the article was to double that in the building to be sited in Upper Marlboro.  That facility opened its doors in 2009.  According to what a task force in the City of Bowie was told soon after it opened, 250 dogs and 150 cats could be housed in the Upper Marlboro facility.  Let's see.  Add 250 to 150 and you come up with four hundred (400).  That's MORE than double the "up to 160" number of the old shelter, isn't it?

BUT WAIT!!!!  LAST WINTER, THE PG AMD FACILITY SHRUNK!!!  STOP THE PRESSES!!

Now, the Taylor/Wynkoop twins want you to believe the absolute capacity, in the worst disaster, and ONLY then, is, something like 326.  Yes, that's right, not 300, not 325, not 400.  But three hundred and twenty six.  Oh, that doesn't (I think) seem to include the "20 additional cages if necessary" or the "10 animals" or the "10 reptile/fish pets" that the Exotic room is claimed to be fit for.  So, er, in a disaster PG can now house 326, plus "if necessary" (but not in a disaster?!?!?) 20 plus 10 animals plus 10 reptile/fish pets.  So the capacity might be -- supposing always that Taylor/Wynkoop is thinking "straight," 366.  But NOT 400. And in NON-disasters?  It is a measly 238 animals.  Just 78 more than the small, dingy, old building.  Aaaaand, our tax dollars paid very handsomely for this 78 more animal capacity.  Really handsomely.

If you supported the construction of the new facility, and expected that it would provide safety for the pets of a growing County population, would you feel duped by this new revelation, that the PG shelter cost millions but only provides for 78 more animals?  (And if you're left with your head spinning over the various small counts in our last paragraph, I'm sorry -- it's taken directly from the Taylor/Wynkoop response to the simple question, "What barriers exist, if any, to creating flexible capacity (i.e., placing multiple animals in single cages) when the shelter is experiencing a high volume of animal intakes?"

You should know, that it is entirely humane and practical to expect animal care and control personnel to know how to create flexible capacity.  Litters of kittens or puppies can be housed together, and the mother cat or dog can usually also be housed with the litter.  Animals impounded together, often are MORE calm and comfortable when housed together so they have warmth and familiar companions. 

But even putting aside the question of why DER/AMD can't imagine any way of saving animal lives; even ignoring the question of just what exactly taxpayers and the County Budget paid for; the bigger concern may be, why can't Taylor/Wynkoop answer a simple question the same way twice?  What happened that made the new PG shelter shrink? 

Analysis, Accountability, Innovation

County Executive Rushern Baker launched the public side of CountyStat this morning.  It is an adaptation of similar "stat" programs (short for "statistics") in other jurisdictions, including the State of Maryland.  Although a feature of the website is the analysis and charts of County agency performance data, maybe the most welcome news is that CountyStat does provide more actual data than has probably ever been freely accessible by members of the public or the media.  In addition, the CountyStat model includes an open process, in which meetings between County leadership and agency personnel are open to the public, and documents transmitted as part of analyzing effectiveness are shared openly.

The idea is to keep an eye on what the County is doing right, and acknowledge it, but also to keep close tabs on what needs improvement, and to engage in friendly "borrowing" from other jurisdictions if their approaches show more success for the community.

Of particular interest to us at George of Denmark, is that the DER Animal Management Division is, for the first time, being asked some questions that we think better reflect the concerns that County residents have about hw dogs, cats, and other animals are being treated by County facilities, especially the impound facility.  You can check out some of the CountyStat data on this here, in a DER memo responding to various questions, and you can see all of the CountyStat analysis and documents made public to date at the County's webpage here.

I'd be very interested in your impressions as you read the analyses, and I will be posting mine as I review at least some of them.  Stay Tuned!

Could your pet be even healthier? Find out this summer

Local animal organization PGFF has announced that registration is open now for Holistic Health Care for Pets in June, in Lanham Maryland.  

If you're a pet owner, you may be impressed that other people's pets have better breath than yours.  Or that the coats and eyes of some dogs or cats are shiny and bright, while your pet has dull, or flaky coat, and runny eyes.

Do you wonder whether you are doing what your Veterinarian means for you to do?  Are there more things you could be doing with your Vet's cooperation,  that would heal an injury or illness more quickly?

Want to help tiny kittens in your neighborhood or from a rescue or shelter, but afraid you don't have the skills to know what to do?

All of these and more are topics you can learn about at the courses taught by Dr. Christina Chambreau and other professionals who teach so that you can absorb and enjoy learning the material.

Petties Time!

Congratulations to our fellow Bloggers on pet related issues recognized recently, by DogTime.Com, in their Petties Awards, a sort of Academy Awards ceremony.

If you like blogs covering pet ownership, rescue stories, and perspectives on cats, dogs, and other species from other areas of the world, you will want to check the awards out, here.

Though the sponsor is "DogTime," there are plenty of great CAT blogs highlighted, which is only right, because cats are the most popular pet in the US today.  (Not that we don't ADORE dogs too!)

Cats and Dogs!

Nice clear Infographic  compares and contrasts dogs and cats!

What is a 'pit bull' anyway?

Seventy five percent of shelter dogs are mixed breeds.  We really don't "know" what a pit bull  means.  This morning No Kill Conference attendees can hear about Turbocharging adoptions of so-called pit bulls.  When we
are labelling a dog a pit bull, we are actually claiming to be able to predict behavior, and that isn't really possible to any real extent.