ohmidog!

There’s a media firestorm rising out of vice-president-elect Joe Biden’s purchase of a German shepherd pup from a Pennsylvania breeder, but, as with many media firestorms, this one may be more smoke than fire.

At its center is this question: Did Joe Biden by his dog from a puppy mill?

Puppy mill is a subjective term. Some use it to describe large scale breeding operations where the welfare of dogs runs a distant second to making a profit. Some use it to describe any commercial breeding operation.

Linda Brown owner of the kennel in Chester County, Pa., insists that violations found after Biden purchased his dog — during a regularly scheduled inspection — mostly pertained to record-keeping, and she says they were the first she ever received.

That hasn’t stopped either over-zealous animal rights activists, or overworked journalists, from slapping the “puppy mill” label on Brown’s operation.

“Joe Biden hooks up with bad dog breeder,” read the headline in yesterday’s Baltimore Examiner — or at least in its online version. The story beneath the headline doesn’t substantiate that at all. Read more »

Pittsburgh morning talk show host Jim Krenn called off work Wednesday to look for his missing dog, Gizmo — showing that even though his dog wasn’t in the right place, his priorities were.

“He was just gone. He just disappeared,” said Krenn, who works for WDVE radio. “I’m just beside myself. As every pet owner knows, this is a worst nightmare.”

The dog disappeared early Tuesday evening; he was found Wednesday not far from Banksville Park, according to an MSNBC report. Read more »

The Dogs Trust in England has released a list of the top ten most irresponsible reasons pet owners have given for abandoning their dogs:

1. “My dog doesn’t match the sofa.”

2. “The dog looks evil and has different coloured eyes, just like David Bowie.”

3. “My black dog doesn’t match the new white carpet, can we swap him for a white dog?”

4. “My current dog is too old, can we swap for a puppy or younger model?”

5. “My dog ate the Christmas turkey cooling on the work-top.”

6. “My pet guinea pig got worried with a dog in the house.”

7. “The dog opened all the presents on Christmas Eve.”

8. An owner accidentally knelt in the dog’s urine while cleaning it up so brought the dog in the very next day.

9. A puppy was bought as a present for an elderly couple with dementia.

10. The owner was paranoid about recent bad press on Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and the dog was given up through no fault of its own.

Thirty years since the charity made famous the trademarked slogan “A dog is for life not just for Christmas,” people are dumping their pets for the flimsiest of reasons, the Independent reports. The trust says that although the number of dogs given as gifts has fallen over the past three decades, people are still taking on the responsibility of dog ownership without enough consideration of what it entails.

As a result, the trust says its 17 centers will put a moratorium on adoptions through Christmas. People will be able to visit and reserve a dog, but they will not be able to take it home until the New Year.

Clarissa Baldwin, chief executive of Dogs Trust, said: “The ‘A dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ slogan is just as relevant today as it was when I created it 30 years ago.”

The trust cares for more than 16,000 stray, unwanted and abandoned dogs each year.