A consequence of terrorism

Air Canada announced yesterday that as of July 15, it will no longer accept pets as checked luggage for domestic flights and, pending approval from the Canadian Transportation Agency, for U.S. and international ones as well. However, pets can still travel through its cargo division.The policy change comes as a result of record load factors – about 80 per cent – in the past three years and a need for more space for luggage, a spokesman said. "The security requirements around the liquid and gel ban have led to an increase in checked bags we have to carry," he said. "When you have an animal in the hold, that restricts the amount of luggage you can put in a plane because you've got to leave room around the animal's cage for air and ventilation. It comes down to carrying bags for the vast majority of our customers or carrying pets for a small number of our passengers." This restriction is in force with all major carriers, it would appear. An interesting statistic: before this policy change, Air Canada charged $105 per animal for a one-way domestic flight and $245 for an international flight. A price estimate given yesterday for a medium-sized dog to fly one-way as cargo from Toronto to Vancouver was quoted at $202. Apparently animal transportation is a booming business.We can only hope that the cargo planes are properly equipped to carry pets so as not to harm them during waiting time on the tarmac. Temperatures vary from very hot in the summer to extremely cold in the winter especially in North America. In Europe we tend not to worry about air travel with our pets too much as distances are not so huge. The other day we traveled from Calais to Dover with Belle on P&O and were charged 25 € for a single passage whereas our fare was 100 € for the car and its 4 passengers. Exorbitant really just for checking the Pet Passport and reading the microchip. Plus the dog has to stay in the car during the crossing. I agree it is a booming industry. Without the likes of Amelia Earhart, all this would be irrelevant and we should have a special thought for her. She disappeared on 2nd July exactly 70 years ago over the Atlantic in an attempt to be the first woman to fly around the world.

Native American Indian Dog

Exactly 131 years ago in June 1876, Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana. Sitting Bull’s force was 4000 strong and hundreds were killed on both sides. In incidents such as this, I also think of the dogs. The dogs are known as the Native American Indian dog. It is a very rare, almost extinct breed of dog that was used by the Native Americans to pull travois and pack loaded with the family’s possessions' across thousands of miles of the North American continent. These dogs were used for hunting everything from quail to rabbits, bear to beaver, elk to caribou to moose and were even taught how to fish by the Native Americans. They were used to baby-sit the elderly and very young and guard the village from intruders. They accompanied the women and children while they were gathering berries, roots, herbs and other food sources and protected them from man and wild beast alike. They played a very vital role in the lives of the original Americans and were their sole beast of burden until the horse was introduced by the Spaniards.

Encore Byron

'Tis sweet to hear the watch dog's honest bark
Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home;
'tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
Our coming and look brighter when we come.

Lord Byron again

I thought I would repeat this post ( January 2007 ) as I was reminded of this poem today.
Lord Byron (1788-1824) honoured his beloved Newfoundland with the following inscription on a monument in Newstead Abbey:
'Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed
Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning
Flattery
If inscribed over human ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the memory of
Boatswain, a Dog
Who was born at Newfoundland, May 1803
And died at Newstead, Nov.18th 1808."

Get this.

A dog has become a local celebrity in a Chinese village after she reportedly gave birth to a kitten. It was the third in the litter. “The first two puppies the dog produced were both normal, but when the third baby came, the whole family was very surprised to see a cat-like creature. It is a cat, not a dog at all,” said Hua, the dog’s owner. Local residents have been flocking to the man’s house to see the ‘kitten’ which local vets say is really a puppy which looks like a cat because of a gene mutation. It apparently yaps like a puppy.

Don't let the bedbugs bite

Trained dogs can detect the scent of everything from bombs to humans, and now bedbugs may be added to list of things dogs can sniff out.
While termite-sniffing canines have been used since at least the 1990’s, a resurgence of bedbugs over the past few years prompted the additional training.
Dog handler Peruyero’s J&K Canine Academy in High Springs, Florida, has been teaching dogs like Nudie, a Chinese crested terrier mix, to find the elusive insects. Peruyero said many different breeds, including mixes, are up to the task, but "hound types tend to work better."
More than one trainer handles the dogs, which work every day, to get them used to dealing with different people. A food reward system — usually treats procured from a bag latched onto the handler’s waist — encourages the dogs to sniff and search for bedbugs. Repetitive training teaches the canines to associate bedbug odours with work, which, in turn, is associated with tasty treats.
Bedbugs are wingless, reddish brown, oval-shaped nocturnal parasites that feed on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded hosts. Their name comes from their insidious habit of hiding in bedding before feeding on people at night.
A spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, said that from 2000 to 2005, bedbug inquiries to pest control agencies went up 71 percent. While it is estimated that termites cause around $5 billion worth of damage each year in the United States, she explained that it hasn't been possible to assess their total monetary damage because there is a "stigma" that keeps hotel and building managers from reporting them.
No one is entirely sure why bedbugs have been on the rise, but entomologists have proposed that increased travel may play a role since the parasites may hitch a ride in luggage and clothing. Still others have suggested that the U.S. ban on the insecticide DDT, which is linked to health and environmental impacts, led to the bedbug increase.
Researcher indicate that the bedbug-sniffing dogs offer a more environmentally friendly, and perhaps an even more effective solution to the problem.

Howling dogs

Rokedi, the Briard I look after, howls when he hears the ice cream van. And only when it plays the Blue Danube. Now, not all species of the dog family howl. Foxes do not howl. Members of highly social species such as domestic dogs, dingoes, coyotes and wolves do.
The literature on wolf ecology suggests that they howl for two reasons: first to help assemble the pack before a hunt and second lone individuals either to seek contact with other pack members or to attract others during mating/breeding season.
Some wolves and dogs howl at the moon or the sky: no one knows why. And some howl in response to the sound of singing or the violin or the sound of the vacuum cleaner as if to imitate the sound they are hearing. But like lone wolves, domestic dogs most often howl when they are on their own, deprived of the company of humans or other dogs, especially if they are shut away. Often dogs also howl when their owners die. It is a way of expression grief and seeking companionship and comfort from the humans around them. This may stem from a long evolutionary ancestry because researchers into wolf behaviour in the face of death have observed that wolves howl in a particularly mournful way when a beloved companion has died.