Goldie

Some miracles happen right on time. Others take a little longer. For 13 little pups born at Christmas two years ago and then put in a box and thrown into a dumpster, there were three miracles one after the other. First, a store clerk heard them whimpering in the dumpster and went to investigate. She called in Community Animal Rescue and Adoptions (CARA) in Jackson, Mississippi, which wasn’t sure the puppies were old enough to survive. Next, they discovered an address in the box and tracked down the man who’d thrown them away. They persuaded him to give up the mother, who was reunited with the pups and carried on weaning them. The third miracle was that within months all 13 puppies had started new lives in new homes as far away as Pennsylvania.

But for Goldie, their mom, things didn’t go as well. CARA volunteer and board member Laura Lillard recalls: “Goldie was so happy when we put her back with her puppies. She was a great mother, very protective, and she had a lovely, happy-go-lucky nature while she was weaning them all. There really was something extra special about watching her take care of these puppies.

She continues, “But when they were all adopted, she became really depressed. She stopped wanting to go out and exercise. She didn’t want to eat. She just seemed confused. Everyone here loved Goldie, and staff would come in on their own time to work with her.”

Finally things started to look up.

clipping Kimo's nails

In the seven+ years that Kimo has lived with me, I had never clipped Kimo's nails.  Not only would it have been scary to do so, but they were also worn down by our frequent walks.

Well, lately the walks haven't been as long (he doesn't seem to enjoy walking that much any more) and I noticed the claws on his right paw were long and the top of his right paw was darker than the other paw.  I don't know if the paw had been injured or just dirty.

Anyway, it didn't seem his nails would get worn down anytime soon, so I figured it was time (to try) to clip his nails.

I found the nail clipper that my sister used (I assume) when Kimo was young, that I had never used and brought it out.  I held Kimo's collar and brought the clipper near to his feet.  Didn't get much reaction.

Then I positioned the clipper and clipped off the tip of his nails.  No reaction.  So I did it to the other two nails that were protruding.

So still long, but better than before.

That was yesterday.

I decided to cut the nails shorter.  This time Kimo wanted to pull his foot away as I applied the pressure to his nails.  But no big reaction (as in no trying to bite me).  And the job was completed successfully.

Sorry.  No big dramatic story.  (Well not so sorry :)

Lucky Dog

A new show by CBS takes on a topic we'd like to see more of in network TV: shelter dogs. In Lucky Dog, airing Saturday mornings and premiering this weekend, animal trainer and behaviorist Brandon McMillan, the host, visits his local shelter to rescue "hard-to-love, out-of control, untrained, and unadoptable dogs." Then he takes the dog back to his ranch for training before finding each one a home.

This doesn't seem to be a shoddy operation. According to his bio, McMillan trained as many as 10,000 dogs for television, movies, commercials, videos, and people before he started visiting shelters to rescue dogs, train them, and find homes for them.

"Over 1.5 million dogs are euthanized every year in America because they can't find homes. I'm just doing my part," he says on the show's website.

For the show, he spends each week at a shelter, evaluating dogs before picking one for the episode. Ultimately, he'll save 22 dogs in 22 weeks during the run of the show.

"I can only take one out. That means I have to walk by 99 I can't take. All 100 are very trainable, very place-able, and just as smart as the next dog. Often the one I choose just comes down to one I make a connection with," McMillan told the AP.

***

Any videos online?

Not on hulu.

Here's a promo.  And a short segment.  And more short segments from the cbs website. And a longer segment from Brandon McMillan (he trains wild animals too, like tigers, elephants, bears, etc.)  And the facebook page.

*** [9/10/14]

I see the episodes are on the CBS app on my ipad, but oddly not at cbs.com.  Wait here it is on cbsdreamteam.com.

*** [9/13/14]  Hey, I see Lucky Dog is on Hulu too.  Maybe it was there for a while, but I never took notice.  Actually now I see it's on Hulu Plus, but not on Hulu (the opposite of Good Dog!)