Celebrate Halloween with the Animal Rescue League at AZ Pet and Pondz on Wednesday, October 29 at 6:00pm for costume contests, prizes, food and fun!  AZ Pet and Pondz is located at 4274 Perkiomen Ave in Reading Station.

And for all of you jewelry fans, come on out to Van Scoy Jewelers in Wyomissing for a 2-day trunk show of dog and cat charms by David Gantt.  Also featured will be bracelets, pendants and cufflinks.  Most dog and cat breeds will be available or customized in the likeness of your pet. The show is October 30 and 31.

Every day, some of the companion animals (dogs, cats, critters) are adopted here at the ARL.  But it's not every day that one of the farm animals finds a home.  I was pleasantly surprised last week to hear that one of our horses and the three goats were adopted!  Ginger the horse went to live with a woman and another horse who used to be here at the ARL.  And Lucy the goat and her 2 sons, Sparky and Joey, found a great home at a farm with other goats and animals, and a mom and dad who love them.  We just heard today that Sparky has taken a real liking to his new dad.  We are so happy to hear that our farm animal friends are loved.

By the way, all of these animals were listed on our web site where their new families saw them and fell in love.  Thank you for helping the animals!

Owners of dogs and cats who were sickened last year from the melamine-tainted pet food have until November 24 to file a claim for a portion of the just-approved $24 million settlement.  The reimbursable costs include medical treatment for the pet, burial costs, replacement of carpets that may have be ruined by the sick pets, time off that owners may have needed to treat the pets, and the controversial “replacement value of the pet.”  While the settlement is a good thing - getting the companies to own up to the terrible pain and suffering caused to the pets and their owners – the issue of the pets’ true value is something that the settlement does not address.  By law, pets are simply property.  The replacement value is what they paid for the pet.  The emotional loss is completely ignored.  This is so sad.  I know that my pets, both rescues, are worth to me hundreds, thousands more than what I paid for them…well, really I cannot put a dollar figure on their worth.  They’re my buddies!  It’s time that the courts begin awarding settlements for loss of companions because, let’s face it, our pets are often our best friends. 

I was at Main Line rescue last night, attending a tree dedication for the 80 dogs slain in Kutztown in July, when Bill Smith announced that HB2525 had passed the Senate.  He was waiting to hear from Governor Rendell that he had signed it.  According to Bill, the Governor would like to do a ceremonial signing, to make it a happy event, but Bill has encouraged the Governor to sign right away, then do the ceremonial signing for the press.  The faster the bill is signed into law, the more protection the dogs have from senseless killings.

Unfortunately, for House Bill 2532 which Rep. Caltagirone introduced, that bill has been sent to the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee, according to his office whom I spoke with this morning.  Bill Smith heard that this was one of the concessions to passing HB2525.  Let’s hope that it moves through this committee quickly and passes.

Bill was encouraged by the passage of the HB2525, but it’s clear that we have more work to do.  The bill was passed but with some changes.  Now we need to chip away at the changes.

The incident over the weekend when the German Shepherd/American Bulldog mixes attacked the woman who lived with them raised a few questions in the “animal behavior” side of my brain with my years of experience dealing with aggressive dogs.  I have had many clients ask me to train their dogs to be attack dogs but insist that the dogs be friendly to people who are non-threatening.  They want their dogs to be able to distinguish between someone entering their home as a threat or a friend, especially when the owner is not home.  This question is preposterous! Dogs cannot make that distinction!  So we are left to deal with people who instigate aggression in their dogs so that the dogs are “protection” without knowing what they are doing.  They create a dog with a hair-trigger who is likely to go off with the least bit of provocation. These owners are likely to suffer the dire consequences of the dogs attacking family members or unsuspecting, non-threatening victims, just as what happened over the weekend. 

The most likely scenario in this weekend’s incident may have been something called “redirected aggression.”  If the dogs were outside barking at someone or something, the dogs were in a heightened state of anxiety, adrenaline pumping.  If the woman attempted to pull them away while in this state, the dogs very likely turned and attacked because they were being thwarted from their target.  It can take several seconds to several hours for the adrenaline to settle down.  Until it does, dogs will continue to attack.

The bottom line: if you want a protection dog, buy a little dog who barks a lot.  Most people won’t go near a home with a barking dog!  Never, ever provoke a dog into aggression.  It's inhumane and dangerous.