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Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate it.  In NYC it is sunny although a little cold and the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue is in full swing.

I'm me.  Mom won't give me any Peeps so I wouldn't let her put ears or a bonnet on me.


Thursday, April 17, 2014

Home Alone

BJ has always been fine when he is left alone.  When I first got him, he slept in his crate and stayed the crate while I went to work  I came home during lunch to walk him and then put him back in his crate.  He never barked or whined.   

When he was housebroken and I felt he wasn't going to destroy things, I let him roam in the bedroom and bought a baby gate to keep him out of the rest of the place.  It was fine for two or three days and then one day I opened the front door, and who was right there to greet me - yes Houdini better known as BJ.  He climbed over the gate.  He was only about 8 months old so I didn't expect it.  I put him back in the bedroom and then watched him climb out.  A determined little terrier.

One of his sleeping beds
From then on he had the run of the apartment.  It's an NYC apartment so we're dealing with about 800 sq. ft.  He's now over 14 and all has been well.  He was used to being alone all day with  walk at around 1 or 2.



Now that I'm retired I'm home a lot and he has gotten very used to having me around.  He is still good about not barking or whining.

Somehow he knows when I'm getting dressed to go out without him.  Last night I was getting dressed to go to a seder and he was not pleased.  In no uncertain terms he told me exactly what he thought.


He got his point across.  I wish I could get him certified as a service dog.
 

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Euthanasia Way Down in NYC

I volunteer with the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals which celebrated their  10th Anniversary.  The goal is to become a no-kill community by 2015.   Their newsletter announced terrific news about the number of pets euthanized in 2013.
In 2003, 31,701 pets were euthanized.  In 2013 that number was reduced to 6,124.

That means that 25,577 pets were saved in the 10 year initiative.  An 80% reduction.   This was achieved by concerted effort to support spay/neuter programs for stray and feral communities.  That of course reduces the number of strays.  The other initiative was working with the AC&C (Animal Care & Control) to transfer  cats and dogs to adoption shelters.

To read the full story with all of the numbers and math, visit:

  • http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/about/progress2013.htm

Please copy and paste.  I'm having a problem getting the Link function to work.

Let's hope that other cities follow New York's lead.