Dogged pursuit of legislation?

From a dog's point of view, every day could be "Take Your Congressman to Work Day."

Here's a photo gallery of the pooches of Capitol Hill and the Congressmen and Congresswomen who love them.

I love the idea of squeaky toys scattered around the office.

Pets vs. the environment

What impact does your pet have on the environment?

The first thing that comes to mind is the amount of waste, for lack of a better word, pets produce every day. Think litter box. Think pooper scooper.

I've been using biodegradable bags to collect Kate's droppings for a couple of years now, even though I know all the trash collect in the city where I live goes to a dump.

It's a small thing, but at least I'm not using plastic baggies that will never degrade.

Nina Shen Rastogi, writing the Green Lantern column for the Washington Post, asks whether pets' food consumption has an environmental impact.

Read the entire article here.

You're right that the carnivorous diets of cats and dogs are likely to be worse for the environment than the diets of, say, birds and guinea pigs. But the meat we feed to our pets isn't quite the same as the stuff we eat ourselves. Most commercial dog and cat food is made from the parts we humans don't eat, such as organs, scraps, and rendered bones and tissues. Looked at one way, then, pet food is a kind of recycling operation: It takes waste products and finds a use for them.

Rastogi even brings up a debate as to whether dogs or cars are worse for the environment.

Does that mean you should ditch your Alsatian for the sake of the planet? No. The Lantern understands that pets are important members of many families and that suggesting that readers get rid of them -- no matter how big of a paw print they may have -- is a bit like suggesting you kill yourself to spare the Earth (a recommendation that appears with some frequency in the Lantern's inbox).

Pretty interesting stuff to think about. Read the article and follow the links Rastogi supplies. You'll see some thought-provoking things.

Dogs — and more — in antlers

From the Washington Post, a photo gallery of pets in Christmas finery.

Click here.

Time to vote

I know most people aren't yet over having to vote in November and around here some village elections are coming soon.

But it's time to cast your vote for what is really important: Cats or dogs, which make a better comics pet?

Washington Post blogger Michael Cavna poses the question in today's entry of Comic Riffs.

Garfield aside (please), how do you feel about the way dogs and cats are portrayed in the comics?

Sure, there is the usually funny, sometimes touching Earl and Mooch in Mutts; Farley, the dog who literally gave his all in For Better or For Worse; Rover in Red and Rover who Red loves more than anything and Peekaboo, the cat in Rose is Rose whose dexterity never ceases to amaze.

While I'm not fond of books, movies and TV shows that anthropomorphize dogs and cats — they hate that — I do love doggies and kitties in my morning comics.

Good question

An article on the KidsPost page of the Washington Post caught my eye.

Sure, it's aimed at kids, but it contained information that was interesting.

The question was asked, "Why are there more kinds of dogs than cats?"

Here's the whole answer.

Here's part of the answer:

One big reason is that dogs have been bred to do different things, such as hunting, guarding and herding. Cats have not.

Cats herding? How about herding cats?

Remember this commercial from EDS?

Putting pressure on the pres-elect

All this week "Mutts" creator Patrick McDonnell is talking about President-elect Barack Obama and his desire to get a shelter dog.

Here's what I've had to blog about the matter.

You can't read "Mutts" in the Poughkeepsie Journal, unfortunately, but you can read it online at the Washington Post here. That's where I get my daily Earl and Mooch fix.

Michael Cavna, who writes the "Comic Riffs" blog for the Post, interviewed McDonnell about his first foray into the political arena.

Read the interview here.

Pictures of presidential pets

With all the interest in what kind of dog the Obamas will eventually get for the White House, the Washington Post has assembled a slideshow of presidential pets.

See it here.

There's even a horse or two.

And thanks to the Presidential Pet Museum, here's a list of, well, presidential pets.

Old dogs, the best dogs

There was a touching story in yesterday's Washington Post. It was an excerpt called "Something about Harry" from a book entitled "Old Dogs" by Post staff writer Gene Weingarten.

Click here to read the excerpt. Be sure and look at the photo gallery, too.

The story tells the tale of Weingarten's 13-year-old dog and his last days, and why old dogs are the best dogs.

"Old dogs can be cloudy-eyed and grouchy, gray of muzzle, graceless of gait, odd of habit, hard of hearing, pimply, wheezy, lazy and lumpy. But to anyone who has ever known an old dog, these flaws are of little consequence. Old dogs are vulnerable. They show exorbitant gratitude and limitless trust. They are without artifice. They are funny in new and unexpected ways. But, above all, they seem at peace."

I think of Kate when I read things like this. She's 13. She doesn't play like she used to.

And still there are times when I see the puppy in her eyes. When she wants a little attention. When she knows I need lick on the hand.

I know the days we have in front of us are considerably less than the days we have had.

That gives me pause.

And then I look at Kate — sleeping, shedding — and though when the time comes I will miss her, I wouldn't trade the now for anything.

New way of thinking about dogs thinking

Does your dog sit around and think about the state of things? Does Fido try to find new ways to do things? Is he trying to build a better dog house?

Research from the University of Vienna is finding that dogs may be smarter than we think and can decide how to imitate a behavior based on the circumstances.

The study centered on whether dogs would break from normal behavior (using their mouths to perform a task) when shown an alternate way of doing something.

"Whether they imitate or not depends on the context," said Zsofia Viranyi of Eotvos University in Budapest, who helped with the experiment. "It's not automatic, insightless copying. It's more sophisticated. There's a kind of inferential process going on."

There are two versions of the same article from the Washington Post: one on MSNBC's Web site and the other on the Post's Web site. The Post requires you to register, but it is worth it. There are explanatory graphics and videos there, as well as the transcript of an online chat session with the article's authors.

Not everyone is convinced. The article says that this behavior might just be another example of dogs' ability to interpret subtle clues given a long, close relationship with humans.

Nevertheless, I am hiding the keys when I get home tonight.