Quickie Homemade Dog Treats
1-3/4 CUPS WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR
2, 4.5-OUNCH JARS MEAT FLAVORED BABY FOOD
1/2 CUP BEEF/CHICKEN/VEG. BROTH OR SUFFICIENT FOR PROCESSING
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES. LIGHTLY OIL BOTTOM OF COOKIE SHEET.
IN LARGE BOWL, USING FORK, COMBINE FLOUR & BABY FOOD, MIXING WELL BLENDED & FORM INTO VERY SOFT DOUGH.
IF MIXTURE IS A LITTLE DRY, ADD BEEF BROTH 1/4 CUP AT A TIME UNTIL DOUGH PULLS AWAY FROM BOWL.
PINCH OFF SMALL PIECES OF DOUGH AND BETWEEN FLOURED HANDS, ROOL INTO SMALL BALLS.
PLACE BALLS ON OILED BAKING PAN 1/2 INCH APART & FLATTTEN WITH BACK OF FORK TO 1/4-INCH THICK.
BAKE @ 350 DEGREES IN CENTER OF OVEN FOR 18 TO 20 MINUTES (OR UNTIL TOPS ARE GOLDEN BROWN).
REMOVE COOKIE SHEET FROM OVEN & LET REST A FEW MINUTES. REMOVE COOKIES FROM PAN. ALLOW TO COOL TO ROOM TEMPERATURE. STORE IN NON-AIRTIGHT CONTAINER
Vote Yes on California Prop 2 – End Farm Animal Abuse!
STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY!!!
Tomorrow, on the “Oprah” show, I’ll be making the case to millions of people that California’s Proposition 2, if successful, will end the cruel confinement of 20 million farm animals.
I’m also excited to tell you that The New York Times endorsed Prop 2 last week — a huge win for the campaign. As you probably know, Prop 2 will end the practice of cramming farm animals into cages and crates so small the animals can’t even turn around, lie down, or extend their limbs.
If passed, Prop 2 will be the biggest victory for farm animals in California’s history.
But standing in the way is Big Agribusiness, which is pouring millions of dollars into a deceptive campaign here to defeat Prop 2 and preserve factory farms’ cruel confinement practices.
The next 21 days before the election will be pivotal — and we can’t win without your support and your vote on Election Day.
Here’s the latest news, and a few ways you can help:
On tomorrow’s show (Tuesday, October 14), I’ll be going head-to-head with the front men of the agribusiness industry in defense of the 20 million farm animals in California who don’t have room to turn around or stretch their limbs. Click here to find out when the show will air where you live.
Here’s a snippet: “The fact that such fundamental decencies have to be forced upon factory farming says a lot about its horrors. We urge California voters to pass Proposition 2. We urge every state to enact similar laws.” Click here to read the full editorial on my blog.
Here are two ways you can help pass this historic measure right now:
1. Support the YES! on Prop 2 campaign by visiting the campaign website and learning about the many ways you can help.
2. If you haven’t already, watch our animated video and pass it along to your neighbors, friends, and family in California.
YES! on Prop 2 is a true grassroots campaign, funded by thousands of small donations from animal lovers like you. By contrast, the deceptive No on Prop 2 campaign is bankrolled by a handful of rich agribusiness corporations from across the country – with an average donation of more than $40,000.
The factory farm industry is blinded by the bottom line. No matter how much money they dump into defeating this measure, they can’t stamp out the truth: Prop 2’s commonsense reforms are long overdue.
Thank you for being a part of this campaign. On November 4, millions of animals will be thanking you, too.
Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States
Permalink: http://justonemorepet.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/vote-yes-on-ca…nia-prop-2-end/
Texts From Elephant Warn Rangers of Trouble
OL PEJETA, Kenya (AP) – The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir’s screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms.
Kimani, a huge bull elephant, wears a collar with a mobile phone card that lets rangers know where he is.![]()
The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers’ crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message.
Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driver arrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimani back into the Ol Pejeta conservancy.
Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as “near threatened” in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The race to save Kimani began two years ago. The Kenya Wildlife Service had already reluctantly shot five elephants from the conservancy who refused to stop crop-raiding, and Kimani was the last of the regular raiders. The Save the Elephants group wanted to see if he could break the habit.
So they placed a mobile phone SIM card in Kimani’s collar, then set up a virtual “geofence” using a global positioning system that mirrored the conservatory’s boundaries. Whenever Kimani approaches the virtual fence, his collar texts rangers.
They have intercepted Kimani 15 times since the project began. Once almost a nightly raider, he last went near a farmer’s field four months ago.
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It’s a huge relief to the small farmers who rely on their crops for food and cash for school fees. Basila Mwasu, a 31-year-old mother of two, lives a stone’s throw from the conservancy fence. She and her neighbors used to drum through the night on pots and pans in front of flaming bonfires to try to frighten the elephants away.
Once an elephant stuck its trunk through a window into a room where her baby daughter was sleeping and the family had stored some corn. She beat it back with a burning stick. Another time, an elephant killed a neighbor who was defending his crop.
“We had to go into town to tell the game [wardens] to chase the elephants away or we’re going to kill them all,” Mwasu remembered.
But the elephants kept coming back.
Batian Craig, the conservation and security manager at the 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta conservancy, says community development programs are of little use if farmers don’t have crops. He recalled the time when 15 families had their harvests wiped out.
“As soon as a farmer has lost his livelihood for six months, he doesn’t give a damn whether he has a school or a road or water or whatever,” he said.
Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, said the project is still in its infancy — so far only two geofences have been set up in Kenya — and it has its problems.
Collar batteries wear out every few years. Sometimes communities think placing a collar on an elephant implies ownership and responsibility for the havoc it causes. And it’s expensive work: Ol Pejeta has five full-time staff and a standby vehicle to respond when a message flashes across a ranger’s screen.
But the experiment with Kimani has been a success, and last month another geofence was set up in another part of the country for an elephant known as Mountain Bull. Moses Litoroh, the coordinator of Kenya Wildlife Service’s elephant program, hopes the project might help resolve some of the 1,300 complaints the Service receives every year over crop-raiding.
The elephants can be tracked through Google Earth software, helping to map and conserve the corridors they use to move from one protected area to another. The tracking also helps prevent poaching, as rangers know where to deploy resources to guard valuable animals.
But the biggest bonus so far has been the drop in crop-raiding. Douglas-Hamilton says elephants, like teenagers, learn from each other, so tracking and controlling one habitual crop-raider can make a whole group change its habits.
Mwasu’s two young daughters play under the banana trees these sultry evenings without their mother worrying about elephants.
“We can live together,” she said. “Elephants have the right to live, and we have the right to live too.”
Chattanooga: Chihuahua Movie Raises Puppy Mill Concerns
(Chattanooga Times/Free Press – McClatchy-Tribune
Information Services via COMTEX) - Papi, the talking lead dog featured in today’s release of the film “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” says he puts “the ‘wow’ in ‘chee-WOW-wa.’”
But pet advocates are worried Papi’s big-screen presence could spark an unfortunate increase in demand for the tiny canine species. Such a spike encourages puppy mills and might fill shelters with abandoned animals after the movie’s appeal wears off, advocates say.
“Unfortunately, whenever a breed becomes suddenly popular, puppy mills will try to cash in on the trend,” said Leighann McCollum, Tennessee director for the Humane Society. “Chihuahuas have already seen their own detrimental spike after the launch of Taco Bell ads featuring the breed and celebrities making them a popular ‘purse dog.’”
As a species, Chihuahuas can be aggressive, territorial and bark a lot, pet advocates say, and they tend to bond only with a single person, even in a family household. When overbred in bad conditions, some of these bad qualities can be amplified, said Guy Bilyeu, executive director of the Hamilton County Humane Educational Society.
“Small dogs, the Chihuahuas and rat terriers, are some of the more notorious biters out there,” Mr. Bilyeu said.
Giving animals human-like qualities, as happens in “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” is dangerous, says Donna Deweese, spokeswoman for the McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center in Chattanooga.
“Movies like this always irritate me, because they have a tendency to portray Chihuahuas as accessories rather than living creatures,” Ms. Deweese said. “People see the animals as jewelry, and they don’t think about their needs.”
That sometimes means animals that are cute at first will find a home at the shelter in a few weeks, Mr. Bilyeu said.
“The first thing people are going to do after this movie is look in the newspaper for Chihuahua pups, but our advice is to know your breeder,” he said. “If you find a breeder, ask to see their facility. Any reputable breeder will be proud to show off their operation.”
“We have a few (Chihuahuas) in our shelter right now,” he said, “and you want to make sure that these animals have been brought up with the quality you would want to have in your home.”
Disney, the company releasing “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” warns viewers on its Web site not to rush out to adopt or buy the animals.
“Owning a pet is a major responsibility. Dogs require daily care and constant attention. Before bringing a dog into your family, research the specific breed to make sure it is suitable for your particular situation,” the Disney Web site warns.
Ms. McCollum said the Humane Society helped expose a puppy mill in Hickman County, Tenn., in June. About 700 dogs were rescued from the mill southwest of Nashville, and most were Chihuahuas, she said. They were kept in small cages and were diseased, she said.
“We have seen cages of Chihuahuas living in despicable conditions during our recent puppy mill raids, including this summer in Tennessee,” said Stephanie Shain, director of the Humane Society of the United States’ Stop Puppy Mills campaign. “They are one of the most common breeds being churned out by mills due to their small size and the ease in which they can be bred in cramped cages.”
And if you are going to get a dog… decide what type of breed you want, or better yet, don’t want, and then check the shelters and rescues first. If you buy one at a pet shop, make sure you know they are reputable and do a some questioning and checking into where they get their dogs (animals). Also ask yourself if you have the ability to properly care for a pet or make arrangements for them if are gone a lot. Pets like children are a full time commitment and should be a lifetime decision.
And if you suspect pet abuse or that people are raising pets in unfit or unsanitary conditions, report them.
Permalink: http://justonemorepet.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/chattanooga-ch…-mill-concerns/
Related Articles:
Beverly Hills Chihuahua Movie Opens Today
Special Screening of Beverly Hills Chihuahua Movie For Chihuahua and Their Owners
Shock Collars, Crate Training, And Needing To Control
Sharing a comment left on one of the pet sites I/we belong to…
Putting a shock collar on a dog is THE MOST OFFENSIVE, NASTY, HORRIBLE thing you can do to your ‘best friend’, or, as I think of my dogs, your child. I am ashamed to say, that in trying to make my second marriage work, I let my ex put shock collars on my dogs to keep them off the sofa and loveseat. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.
My older dog, Joey, is very intellegent. The first shock from the collar and he knew……..stay away from the living room furniture. My younger Lab mix is not exceptionally smart…….has a HUGE heart and is loving and loyal, happy and exuberant, and is the most compassionate dog I have ever had. She did not understand the shock collar. She freeked out. Cut her head on the glass coffee table and learned only after SEVERAL shocks that the furniture was off limits.
Today, the sofa is THEIRS. I get the recliner……because the sofa is always ‘full’ of my ’sofa loafers’. The ex went the way of the garbage… OUT ON THE STREET, where he belongs. Shortly after I kicked the ‘dog hater’ to the curb, my son tested the shock collar on his arm………………….needless to say, he was suprised to find out that it’s not just a ‘little zap’……..IT HURTS………ALOT!!! If you EVER think that this device is not a painful, torturing, frightening training device you are wrong…………don’t ever do it. Your conscious wil come back to haunt you.
And I don’t feel much different about locking your dog in a cage either. These creatures are your best friends. Is this how you would want to be treated?? Perhaps it is time to watch the origianl Planet of the Apes, again?!?
So what if your house or yard isn’t perfect? So what if your dog barks a bit. So what if you have to clean up some messes and do a few repairs. That is what parenting is all about. And in general, they will actually be better if you don’t cofine them and shock them, but instead smother them with love!!
These ideas and methods like shock collars, crate training, etc etc were created by people, who probably shouldn’t have pets, for their own convenience or ease or because they live in areas not friendly to pets and animals. How would you like to be shocked when you tried to speak out of turn or express yourself or have to sit in a tiny cage all without being able to relieve yourself… so someone who supposedly loves you has it easier or doesn’t need to clean up a mess?? Think about it, isn’t being home all day alone, especially in an apartment or condo punishment enough?? And, a little mess is good for the soul!!
Just because it is done… or someone calling themselves an expert says it is okay… doesn’t make it so!!!




If you have a dog, do something that he or she will enjoy after you return home from work, like a game of catch, hide-and-seek, or take a long walk. If you have cats, we recommend using fishing poles with dangling feathers – your cat will love the chase!















