It’s official: Magneto is a good citizen. This New Yorker strolls the streets calmly, unfazed by the sights and sounds of the busy city. Horn honks, sidewalk trash, subway smells, touchy passersby—Magneto takes it all in stride. Magneto is a good dog. And his owner has the papers to prove it.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) officially recognizes dogs that demonstrate good citizenship. The official title for these city-wise pups is Urban Canine Good Citizen. The Urban CGC is one of four titles the AKC gives for doggie citizenship.
Dogs must have a registered AKC number and pass the basic Canine Good Citizen test before being allowed to take the urban version of the exam.
The basic test has been around for about 25 years. More than 700,000 dogs have passed. The urban version requires a bit more self-restraint on the part of the pooch.
AKC officials administer the Urban CGC test in tough city settings. Streets, cars, noises, elevators, outdoor cafes, and other distractions are all part of the real-world exam.
Dogs perform a 10-step test of skills. For example, they must wait patiently for “walk” lights at pedestrian crossings, clamber in and out of cars or taxis, and ignore tempting street food. Two of the most difficult parts of the test involve a dog’s tolerating hugs and strokes from strangers and remaining still while its owner browses in a dog-friendly shop.
Some people think the test of doggie etiquette is barking up the wrong tree. “It’s more that the owners could step up their game,” observed one New Yorker.
Why do owners put their dogs through these urban paces? For one thing, it’s a way to “consider others,” as in Philippians 2:3. But additionally, from a practical point of view, some people believe good dog behavior will pay off. Some homeowners’ insurers have agreed to cover certain breeds with the basic canine good citizen title according to the AKC. Further, some think the Urban CGC title might help get a beloved pet into the best co-ops and condos.
What does the pooch get for its efforts? The AKC awards each dog that successfully passes the citizenship test the suffix “CGC” after its name—that and a doggie treat.
Some canines will do anything to stay out of the doghouse.
Gabrielle P
Well, at least I think that Diego may have neurological problems. Why? Well, he is bouncy and kind of crazy when he plays and he likes to jump up lots.
Gabrielle P
I forgot to tell you something--Abby ate out of my hand! When a dog eats out of your hand, it is a sign that he or she trusts you!
Gabrielle P
It turns out, Aladdin got adopted today! (I just saw a picture of Aladdin with his new owners on Loving Heart's Facebook page.)
Rebekah S.
Yes, I think that a business degree would be helpful. I know that wouldn't really be my area of expertise since my degree will be in veterinary science. I'm glad to hear about some of the dogs and cats at LHAS finding homes. It always makes me happy to hear about rescued animals finding loving homes.
Rebekah S.
My dog is like Diego. My Jack Russell jumps all over the place and acts really crazy when she's playing or if there are visitors at our house. It's like she can't contain herself. Wow, that's great. I hope that Abby finds a home, if she trusts you, then maybe it will be a bit easier for her to trust someone that is a potential adopter. Of course it will take time, but she seems to be making some progress. :-)
Gabrielle P
Yes, Abby is making progress. But when my mom and sister went in the room to see her, she was growling and barking, like in her "attack" mode. But with me, she's fine. I just hope that she can learn to get along with people.
So, where should our shelter or rescue be located?
Rebekah S.
Do you mean what state should our shelter be located? Sorry, I missed that question.
Gabrielle P
Yes.
I think it should probably be in an area that doesn't have many animal shelters and a huge animal population or a place where lots of animals are being put down. In Indianapolis, Indianapolis Animal Care and Control has a euthanasia list that they e-mail to Loving Heart (they probably e-mail it to other shelters too). The dogs on the euthanasia list are most likely dog-aggressive, cat-aggressive, food-aggressive, or something like that. Loving Heart recently pulled Ryker from IACC. Ryker was scheduled to be put down because he was dog-aggressive and food-aggressive. But at the shelter (at least what I've seen), he hasn't really acted "aggressive" around other dogs.
I think that our shelter or rescue should pull dogs and cats that are on death row, especially perfectly good dogs and cats that are going to die because there isn't enough space.
Gabrielle P
Well, I've always been interested in going to Montana because there is LOTS of land there--which, in turn, would be perfect for a large animal rescue or shelter. But the downside is, Montana has grizzly bears; Montana may also have cougars and other carnivores. A shelter or rescue near the beach would be fun as well, as we could take the dogs down to the beach and play with them there.
Or, we could start a shelter or rescue in a popular city--such as New York--where there are lots of stray animals.
Of course, because I live here, I think that Indiana would be a good place to start a rescue or shelter. :) We haven't got hit by a tornado (but have got hit by some REALLY bad storms).
Rebekah S
Okay, hmm, I hadn't really thought about a location; but I do think that we should be located somewhere that doesn't have many shelters in the same area. I've never actually been to Montana, but I would like to someday. Yes, I think that pulling animals off of the euthanasia list would be an excellent idea.
Rebekah S
Tbh, I have to say, that even though I live in Arizona, I don't think that it would be a good place to start a shelter. There are already so many different rescues and shelters, that I think that a different state would be a better option than Arizona. Although, I suppose that it would depend on which city you lived in. If our shelter was to be in Arizona, I would recommend it be located in Northern Arizona, like Flagstaff or the Grand Canyon where it is about 60-75 degrees in the summer and very cool in the winter season.
Gabrielle P
Arizona can get pretty hot!
Do your dogs take heartworm preventative? If so, what is it called? If your dogs don't take heartworm preventative, what do you do to keep heartworms and fleas away?
Our dog takes Sentinel Flavor Tabs once a month to rid of heartworms, fleas, hookworms, roundworms, and tapeworms.
Gabrielle P
On our trip, we stayed in Flagstaff. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of it.
Gabrielle P
I searched for shelters in Flagstaff on www.adoptapet.com, www.petfinder.com, and www.petango.com, and there aren't many shelters--maybe 4-6.
Gabrielle P
How would we promote our animals' adoptions?
I was thinking of posting a good biography of the animal, lots of good pictures, and a video. (Many shelters post poor photos that are for identification purposes. Many shelter also don't take the time to write any information of the animal.)
Article
I think it's pretty cool that they train the dogs to do all those things. My dog would definitely NOT pass lol
Rebekah S.
Sorry I haven't responded to you in a while, these past few weeks have been a bit busy. Okay, so I did research how many shelters are in Flagstaff, and I only found about 4 too. Yes, I think that your idea sounds good for adoption promotions. It sounds similar to that of the best friends website, which I thought was a really great way to promote their adoptable animals. I think that all of these wonderful ideas are really going to come together so that we can help animals all over the U.S. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of this plan. :-)
Rebekah S.
How was your birthday? And Christmas?
Gabrielle P.
My birthday was fun--we played lots of games!
Christmas was fun too! What about you?
Gabrielle P.
My sister and I have just come up with something called No-Kill Indianapolis (NKI for short). NKI's mission would be to make Indianapolis, IN, a no-kill city as quick as humanely possible. That would include pulling animals from neighboring animal control facilities (such as Indianapolis Animal Care and Control), saving strays, and addressing the overwhelming cat and kitten population.
Even though it's based in Indiana, I think that it would be great to make Indianapolis a no-kill city!
Gabrielle P.
No-Kill Indianapolis would be a no-kill, non-profit, 501 C 3 organization.
Gabrielle P.
Of course, for any of this to happen, we'd both have to finish "schoolwork", learn more about starting shelters, and maybe get college degrees in different areas. Then we'd need to find more people to get involved in this and find a suitable place to start a shelter. If needed, we'd also need to find or build out own admissions and adoptions buildings.
It's going to take LOTS of work and dedication!
Gabrielle P.
I understand about your life being busy--my life has been a bit chaotic too!
Gabrielle P.
Are you a Christian? I am.
Gabrielle P.
By the way....HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I found a Best Friends' video that you should look up. Go to their site, place your mouse on Stories, and click on Video Gallery. Then scroll down to the bottom of the videos until you see one titled, "Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Dog Admissions Grand Opening 2015". If you can't find the video on their site, search it on Google.
In the video, pay attention to the flooring inside of the building and the doors leading into the dog runs. I like the flooring because it appears easy to clean if it gets dirty. I also like the doors because you can see through them to see how the dog inside the run is doing. In the photo below, you can see the floor and the door in better detail. The dog in the picture is a Guardian Angel dog called Lego--he's doing better now.
http://dm76icm4097f8.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/GuardianAngel/20151209Le...
Gabrielle P.
Sorry for all my commenting!
Gabrielle P.
Here is an idea of what our dog runs could look like:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/35/1a/c6/351ac6323b65746c213a4...
I don't really like the image above because the runs are based inside a shed and they don't have good flooring, but the runs in our shelter should be leading outside and have plenty or room inside. (I really like Best Friends' runs for the dogs.)
Gabrielle P.
I definitely wouldn't want dog runs that look like the image below!
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4II1yR8BIDZvr4bwF...
The image below is kind of fancy, but it's more of what I like.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRIcKCIo9qqyTevivHr...
Gabrielle P.
I'm not too fond of chain-link fences for the inside part of the run--I'm more for a nice door like the ones at Best Friends. By an indoor chain-link fence, I mean something like this below:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQNPTR1q4CtAmMMP8Ff...
Gabrielle P.
What ideas do you have for dog runs?
Gabrielle P.
The type of cage below should be used for dogs recovering from their spay or neuter surgery--the dog can't run around a lot and would probably recover quicker. Just wondering, but are your dogs spayed or neutered? Our dog is spayed.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwhCOiE7wixIJ_DUW5...
Gabrielle P.
Of course, the type of cage that I showed you in my last comment should be at least a size bigger than the dog.
Gabrielle P.
I'm sorry that I have to be so picky about where the dogs would stay--I just want them to be happy and comfortable until they find their forever homes.
Once again, I'm sorry for all my comments! (I'll try to stop now!)
Gabrielle P.
One more thing--Rosa and Cora the Chihuahua sisters have been adopted!! I don't think Snow the Pomeranian has found a home yet. :(
I won't be at the shelter this week, so I won't be able to give you a shelter update. If you'd like, you can visit Loving Heart's Facebook page and see how they're doing!
Gabrielle P.
I believe that the picture below is of Indianapolis Animal Care and Control's dog kennels. (In case you didn't know, they are a high-kill shelter!)
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/9f0f5ad4bc52685d8806a4dafbac3bd243ea3d30...
Gabrielle P.
I just can't see how anybody would want to adopt a dog from there!
Gabrielle P.
Below is a picture taken strictly for identification pictures. (This picture is of a dog that used to be at IACC.) Don't worry about the dog in the picture--she has been adopted.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/pet-uploads.adoptapet.com/0/8/d/122590664.jpg?336w
Gabrielle P.
One of my favorite things that I received for Christmas is a dog grooming table. Even though I haven't gotten it out of the box yet, I'm excited to groom my dog on it! From the product description and reviews on the website my family ordered it from, it is high quality and people love it!
Rebekah S.
I had a great birthday, we went to see star wars with a few family members and friends, it was really fun. I had a good Christmas too. And Happy New Year to you as well!! Yes, studying areas and learning as much as possible would of course be a the best idea. Yes, I am a Christian, and I'm glad to have found another Christian girl with some of the same goals that I have.:-) Yes, both of my dogs are spayed. My puppy just got spayed before Christmas. Oh, it's no problem about how you would prefer the animals stay at our shelter. I think that their comfort and well-being is more important than convenience. Having a goal of seeing your city as only no-kill is an awesome goal, if we start one city at a time and see every city shelter become a no-kill shelter, imagine that our entire country could be full of no-kill shelters providing care for strays and abused animals. I can't see how that's humane in the slightest (Indianapolis Animal Care and Control), my heart is breaking for those poor dogs. What other types of animals are there? Are there just dogs, or are there dogs and cats?That sounds neat; the dog grooming table I mean. We didn't really have a huge Christmas this year, we mostly spent time together, but we did pass some gifts too. :-)
Gabrielle P
I'm glad to have found somebody else that shares my interest in starting a no-kill, non-profit, 501 c 3 animal shelter too! (For a while, I thought that I was the only kid that was serious about starting a shelter!)
I'm pretty sure that IACC had other animals than just dogs and cats--maybe some rabbits, other rodents, and possibly birds.
Of course, having an animal shelter for a specific city would mean that we could only rescue animals from other cities. Maybe we could start a shelter that would rescue animals from various animal control facilities--that way, we'd be helping more than one city (and a lot more animals!) at one time.
Yesterday, I went on Loving Hearts' Facebook page and discovered that Snow the white Pomeranian was adopted! I've also found out that Onyx, the pit bull mix that got hit by a car, had to have his leg amputated. After getting his leg amputated, he wasn't doing well for a while and had to stay at the clinic. But recently, he went back to the shelter and is happy and healthy!
Gabrielle P.
My family didn't have a big Christmas this year either, but we sure had a good time!
I was thinking that before we would accept any animals, we could find (or build) a nice facility and gather all the supplies needed to start rescuing animals. That way, we're prepared when we start accepting the animals.
One more thing....I don't think that the staff at Loving Heart spend much time with the animals. I mean that they do spend time at the shelter every day to let the dogs outside and do a few extra things, but I don't think that they spend the time to give each individual dog some training and TLC. (I'm not saying that they don't take good care of their animals; they do, but they don't really focus on the animals' "emotional" side. Do you get what I mean?)
I haven't been to the shelter in a while, but I don't think that Abby (previously known as June) is getting any better; if a dog like that came to our shelter, I'd make sure that she would get lots of love, care, and training to become a happy dog.
What do you think?
Gabrielle P.
Have you bought more food for your dogs from Trader Joe's? If so, could you tell me the ingredients?
Gabrielle P.
And about names...what are your favorite animal names?
I have LOTS of lists of names for both male and female animals and even some theme names for litters of puppies. Of course, the theme names for litters of puppies would vary with the amount of puppies in a litter and the gender of the puppies. I've listed the names for the "Pepper" puppies below:
• Bell
• Anaheim
• Cubanelle
• Habanero
• Pasilla
• Poblano
• Ghost
Below are the names for the "Peanuts" puppies:
• Charlie Brown
• Lucy
• Linus
• Sally
• Snoopy
• Lydia
• Rerun
• Frieda
• Peppermint Patty
• Marcie
• Violet
• Woodstock
• Schroeder
If you'd like, I can list more names. Do you have any name suggestions?
Rebekah S.
I"m sorry to hear that Onyx wasn't doing well, but I'm glad to hear that he's happy and healthy again. Yay, someone adopted Snow. :-D I totally get that. I think that their emotional well being is just as important as their physical well being. It's important for both the animal and the potential adopter. I would definitely agree that we should spend some time with each animal. I hope that Abby does better.
Rebekah S.
Yes, we have gotten more of the Trader Joe's dog food. The ingredients are: Chicken, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat, Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy and Sardine Meal, Flaxseed, Eggs, Menhaden Fish Oil, Carrots, Pumpkin, Cranberries, Tomato Pomace, Alfalfa Meal, Potassium, Vitamins (Vitamin E, Beta-Carotene, Niacin Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Vitamin B12, Vitamin A, d-Calcium, Pyrodoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3, Thiamine, Biotin, Folic Acid), Minerals (Zinc, Iron, Copper, Manganese, Sodium, Cobalt, Potassium), Papaya, Dried Kelp, Blueberries, Pomegranate, Glucosamine Chondroiten, Inulin, Yucca Extract, Cinnamon, Fennel, Peppermint, Lecithin, Choline Chloride, and Rosemary Extract. What are the ingredients in the Blue Buffalo dog food? And do they have any puppy formulas?
Gabrielle P.
Yes, Blue Buffalo does have puppy formulas. Below are the ingredients for the adult chicken and brown rice recipe that we feed our dog:
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Peas, Tomato Pomace (source of Lycopene), Natural Chicken Flavor, Whole Potatoes, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Alfalfa Meal, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries, Apples, Blackberries, Pomegranate, Spinach, Pumpkin, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Garlic, Dried Kelp, Yucca Schidigera Extract, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Turmeric, Sunflower Oil (source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Fish Oil (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Dried Chicory Root, Oil of Rosemary, Beta Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), d-Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Choline Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Salt, Caramel, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Dried Yeast (source of Saccharomyces cerevisiae), Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product
Gabrielle P.
Before we started feeding our dog Blue Buffalo, we fed her Purina One. That food has wheat and other grains in it, and because our dog was having some issues at the time, we switched her over to Blue Buffalo.
Have your dogs ever had problems with food?
In case you forgot, do you have any name suggestions?
Gabrielle P.
If you have any ideas or plans for a shelter or rescue, could you share them with me?
Rebekah S.
Being a fan of Tolkien and some of his characters, I might choose names for a litter from the books/movies. Like:
Nori
Ori
Dori
Kili
Fili etc.
What about types of Apples? XD
Honeycrisp
Fuji
Gala
Grannysmith
Jonagold (I don't think I spelled that right, lol)
Pink Lady
Ananasrenette
McIntosh
Ambrosia
Arkansas Black
Pacific Rose
Goldrenette etc.
And of course it would depend on the size of each litter. :-)
Rebekah S.
We fed our older dog Purina One for a while too, but she started getting sick a lot and we tried another the Nutro brand, but she seemed to be getting sicker when we gave it to her. Then we found Trader Joe's had dog food and decided on that one, we haven't had a problem since. My puppy was having problems for a while, but we figured out that she was teething and that it wasn't the food.
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