JOURNEY'S NIPS AT NEWSCLIPS
This is an e-mail reply I just got July 2008 about the possible breed ban of pit bulls. You can also click on the home page green links buttons to get more info about this horrible law in waiting. I still don't think pits belong in the park, and you can download your own flyer from the org. below who is a pit rescue group that is like me, against breed banning but also against pit bulls in our dog parks.
Dear Valerie,
Thank you for the kind words and for your advocacy on the breed's behalf. E-mails like yours keep us motivated. The situation in Ohio is troubling, and we can only hope good sense prevails over politics and misinformation.
Best wishes,
Josh Schneiderman
PBRC Volunteer
On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 11:49 AM,
From: Journey's Wet Nose News-The Latest Dog Park Scoop cirelly2@earthlink.net
Location: Eastlake, Ohio
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Thank you for being the BEST info out there about PBT's and the hard facts. My dog park web site has run your flyer along with a link to visit your awesome informative site for many years. I agree with your policy concerning pit bulls and the dog park. On the other hand, I am horrified as an Ohioan being faced with House Bill #568 banning pits as pets. If law enforcement & local animal warden laws were properly and promptly acted on, we wouldn't be talking about this terrible Bill. If this "breed ban" passes, who will be next? Rot's, Shepard's, Mastiffs? I have already seen for years at our local Cleveland shelters and surrounding suburbs, where pits that are surrendered by owners or picked up as strays, NEVER GET THE CHANCE FOR ADOPTION. They are an automatic down or euthanized. EVEN PIT MIXES! I have seen this first hand! This bill passing would just give them the official o.k. to do what they've secretly been doing for at least 15 years on the down low by lying to p!
eople who are asking about certain cage numbers. Using kennel code like 3 day hold, 5 day hold, (padlocked cages are often called red tagged) meaning the dog is marked for euthie but people are told the dogs are being held for vet. health testing. In my opinion, breed banning has already been going on here for MANY years under cover. Thanks for getting the truth, the good, the bad, and everything in between out there about these beautiful, powerful dogs who deserve a good home with EDUCATED, kind, loving, owners.
Valerie Cirelly Author of the
Unofficial East Lake Doggie Park Web Site //Called
JOURNEY'S WET NOSE NEW-THE LATEST DOG PARK SCOOP
http://www.webspawner.com/users/dogparknews/index.html
HERE ARE SOME SHORT ARTICLES PERTAINING TO DOGS. ENJOY!
I HOPE THAT THE POOR ROBO DOG OWNERS WILL NOW GO TO A DOG SHELTER TO GET A "REAL" DOG! WOULDN'T THAT BE NICE!
TECHNOLOGY
Sony puts robot dog to sleep
vert.sony.aibo.ap.jpg
Sony is pulling the plug on robot production as part of a major restructuring -- so long Aibo.
RELATED
Sony: Experience Aiboexternal link
FACT BOX
AIBO KEY FACTS:
-- Aibo is a robot dog with artificial intelligence software that recognizes its owners' faces and is programmed for sympathy, like a canine companion.
-- Aibo, which means "pal" in Japanese was first introduced in 1999.
-- Aibo costs about 200,000 yen, or $2,000 and comes in black, white, brown and gray.
-- Sony's robot dog has image-recognition capabilities and a digital camera in its head. It can connect wirelessly with other electronic devices, transmitting photos, sound files and messages.
-- At times, an Aibo will refuse to be toilet-trained and impudently raise a hind leg -- although, of course, it won't ever wet the rug.
Source: AP/Sony
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TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- The world's first mass-marketed robot, Sony's Aibo, recognizes its owners' faces and is programmed for sympathy, like a canine companion. Its eyes light up in red to show anger, green to convey happiness. It even learns its own name.
Aibo owners tend to be fiercely loyal, too. The robots have even been hacked by tinkerers seeking to add their own modifications.
But none of that prevented Sony Corp. from announcing last week that it was scrapping the four-legged robot pet as part of the company's bid to reverse flagging fortunes and cut costs.
Like so many things Sony has made over the years, the Aibo is a niche product. And since Sony is pulling the plug on robot production as part of a major restructuring, so goes the Aibo.
That isn't just disappointing Aibo fans, who bought 150,000 of the toy poodle-sized machines since they were first introduced in 1999 and now worry they won't be able to get spare parts.
It may also have robbed Sony of some of its mystique.
Typical of now-dispirited Aibo owners, Hiroharu Hashimoto, a Tokyo resident and student, isn't placated by Sony's promise to provide maintenance for the robo-dogs for seven years after production ends in March.
"Aibo is so symbolic of Sony quality I'm starting to lose faith in Sony's audiovisual products," said Hashimoto, a longtime fan of the company whose every home appliance practically is a Sony.
"The robot is like a real dog. It responds when I call it," he says. "It's so cute. It sulks. And it looks sad when things don't go right."
Paul Wallingford, the owner of a Los Angeles-based Internet business, owns four Aibos. Lately, he's been keeping them turned off often so they're less likely to have problems.
"I think you do develop an attachment to them," he said by telephone.
The Aibo, which costs about 200,000 yen, or $2,000, delivers an amusing illusion of spontaneity and personality. It comes in black, white, brown and gray and is programmed to move about on its own.
It has image-recognition capabilities and a digital camera in its head that allows it to chase a special pink ball and avoid bumping into walls.
To many, the Aibo represented the tradition of innovation at Sony, which gave the world the Walkman portable music player and PlayStation video game machine.
It matters little to Aibo fans that Tokyo-based Sony -- with its sprawling entertainment business including movies, music and video games -- has opted to reorganize and focus on its core electronics business in order to better compete with the likes of Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.
Owners have created fan clubs around the world, and some even dress up their canine robots like babies.
Some hospitals used the Aibo -- which means "pal" in Japanese and combines the first two letters of "artificial intelligence" combined with "bo" from robot -- in therapy.
The robots' charm comes in part from how their behavior somewhat reflects how they've been treated by their masters. At times, an Aibo will refuse to be toilet-trained and impudently raise a hind leg -- although, of course, it won't ever wet the rug.
An Aibo can understand 100 words and phrases and recognize three people's faces as it stores digital photos in its brain. It knows when its behavior is being praised because it has a sensor on its head that recognizes when it's being petted. Later versions have a built-in camera so Aibos can serve as home sentinels, and e-mail their owners.
Takeshi Ohashi, a Kyushu Institute of Technology professor, considers Aibo a gem of technological finesse. He plans to appeal to Sony to bring the robots back.
Ohashi has his motives. He is an organizer of RoboCup, an annual international competition in which teams use Aibos and other robots to play soccer.
Masato Maruyama, an engineer, believes Sony isn't just hurting Aibo owners, who feel as if they're being told their pets have just seven more years to live.
"I feel the decision to withdraw from a product that's so representative of Sony heralds an end for Sony as a global leader," he said.
Richard Walkus, a Madison, New Jersey, man who has a Web site devoted to Aibo, concurs.
"They lost something," he said of Sony. "They lost stature."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Putting on the dog
By Chuck Shepherd
A May Associated Press dispatch reported that the "dog culture" in New York City adds about $500 million to the city’s economy every year. Included in that figure must have been sales at the 19 upscale restaurants that serve dogs, featured in a July New York Times review; dog psychics; a limo service for dogs; a workshop for dog actors; an upscale dog fashion industry; and a mechanical automatic dog wash.
Putting on the dog
To be the best in this show, you'll need a pampered pooch, unbridled dedication and a sporting attitude. Cooked liver helps, too.
By KRIS HUNDLEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 16, 2002
ORLANDO -- A woman in a glittery tuxedo is trotting around a judging ring with a terrier on a leash, a dog biscuit in her mouth and a piece of cooked liver in her pocket. A retired Afghan breeder predicts cloning will turn his dead dog's harvested cells into another champion. And an insurance agent is giving his prize-winning Alaskan malamute a full-body massage.
It's time for the Oscars of the dog world -- the annual AKC/Eukanuba National Invitational Championship at TD Waterhouse Centre, which Wednesday attracted more than 1,500 top dogs from around the country. They came by plane, car and luxury motorhomes, bearing "Caution: Slobber," and "My Canaan Dog is Smarter than Your Honor Student" bumper stickers.
For the tightly knit and nomadic community of dog owners, breeders, handlers, concessionaires and hangers-on, the event, in its second year, has gained instant prestige. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City may be older. And Crufts in England is still the ultimate international event. But the American Kennel Club's show has become the place to be seen because entry is by invitation only to the top 25 dogs in each of 147 breeds.
The show also is the only one to offer cash prizes: a $225,000 purse, with $50,000 to Best in Show. But in the peculiar world of dog fanciers, where success is tallied up in winning points and silver trophies, some sniffed at the crassness of prize money.
"There was a fear that corporate sponsorship would somehow taint the sport," said Michael Canalizo, a judge and retired handler and breeder who lives in Palm Harbor. "This sport was founded by elitists and the purists have tried to keep it a gentleman's sport."
It's a pricey pastime. The pet industry is a $20-billion a year business. Owners spend up to $400,000 annually to take their top-winning dogs on the show circuit where they rack up championship points. And the best handlers earn six-figure salaries, tooling around the country 50 weekends a year with motorhomes full of show dogs.
But dedicated breeders like Marie Kaufman-Cardoza, whose Yorkshire terrier achieved the equivalent of a Pulitzer by winning Westminster's Best in Show in 1994, recoils at the suggestion a winning bitch brings higher puppy prices.
"I have people calling me from all over the world for my puppies," Kaufman-Cardoza said as she ironed the silky coat on Patsy, a 21/2-year old Yorkie. "But I breed them mostly for me."
Kaufman-Cardoza, whose husband is a surgeon, has more than 40 Yorkies at her home in Dorado, Puerto Rico.
* * *
It's 9:30 a.m. and Betty Anderson has been up since 6 a.m., getting her 3-year-old Vizsla, Ch Penlee Arthur of Postbridge, ready for the show. Her dog has just won first place in its breed and Anderson is basking in his reflected glow. As she is hugged by friends, competitors and Vizsla-groupies, Anderson said she always goes into the ring expecting to win.
"But it can get a little political in there sometimes," she said. "You see a lot of the same judges and some dogs have big money behind them."
Anderson, a youthful 71-year-old who has been showing dogs for 20 years, makes it clear she is not backed by big money. She runs Suds and Scissors, a dog grooming business in Bradenton, and is the breeder and owner of Arthur, pronounced with a British "Ahhh." She has nine more Vizslas, a breed of short-haired, midsized pointers, at home and puppies on the way. They all sleep with her in a king-size bed.
"I try to get in first," she said.
Anderson said that when she started showing dogs, she hired professional handlers to take them into the ring. "Then I ran out of money," she said. "It's the same as golf or boating. You do it for the love of the breed."
And there is no question Anderson is a lover of Vizslas, which originated in Hungary. Vizslas are portrayed in needlepoint on her vest. Arthur's prize-winning grandmother, now deceased, is memorialized in a pin on her chest. Her earrings are gold dog paws.
Pulling a piece of cooked liver out of her pants pocket, Anderson said the treat, which exhibitors frequently pop in their mouths during competition, can cause problems.
"I lose lots of pockets," she said. "The pants will be on the hangar and the dogs will chew it right out of there."
Anderson said she was pleasantly surprised that money was attached to her win in Orlando: $250 for Best of Breed and $250 more since she was the dog's breeder. And the day is young.
As Best of Breed, Arthur will compete in the evening's group competition for more prizes. All breeds belong to one of seven groups, with Vizslas belonging to the sporting category. The winners of group competitions go on to compete for the ultimate title, Best in Show.
The very thought of returning to the ring that night elates and exhausts Anderson. "I'd better go get some rest," she said, winding her way out of the arena. "Tonight I'm going to have to run this whole damn hall."
* * *
Paul Levesque of Tolland, Conn., has been a professional handler for 28 years and he bears the scars. An Akita in Colorado once tried to rearrange his face, leaving a mark on his nose. A boxer took a bite out of the top of his hand and a Rottweiler put a gash in a finger.
In addition to sharp teeth, the busiest handlers endure a grueling travel schedule. Since November, Levesque, 51, has shown dogs at events in Rochester, N.Y; Bloomsburg, Pa.; Syracuse, N.Y.; and Springfield, Worcester and Boston, Mass. After the Orlando show, he returns to Pennsylvania for a two-day show, then has a two-week break before the 2003 season.
Levesque, meticulous in dark suit, white shirt and tie, takes it all in stride.
"I enjoy immensely what I do," he said.
Handlers can earn from $65 to $150 a day for showing a dog, with bonuses if ribbons are won, Levesque said. He generally handles three to six dogs a show, though he had 13 in Sprin
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