In the interest of dogs…

Note:  This is cross-posted on http://lindarella.wordpress.com.

Here’s an interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell, writer for The New Yorker and author of The Tipping Point (mentioned in a post on my other blog), in which he discusses how dogs perceive our body language.  He uses Cesar Millan from the cable TV show, The Dog Whisperer, as an example.  I myself have noticed how perfectly Cesar is able to mimic the facial expressions and movements of the dogs he rehabilitates.  He obviously is in tune with the animals and understands that they don’t think or reason the way we do, although many humans refuse to accept this.  Just watch the show (on National Geographic Channel) and you’ll see.  But read the article first, so you’ll know what to look for.  I’ve just happily discovered Gladwell’s website.  He has a fresh and often fascinating viewpoint on an eclectic mix of topics, and I always enjoy reading his material.

Here is another article about the Michael Vick merchandise, in particular, the 22 dog-earred, chewed up Vick trading cards that went for $7,400 on eBay.  A comment in the article reminded me of Gladwell’s concept of “stickiness” and how it shapes

Agility classes for the enormous puppy, Candy

I knew when she was a puppy that she would be bigger than the standard female Doberman. Her huge paws said it all. This is what she looked like at eight weeks old:

Now that she’s 18 months, she’s pretty much full grown.  At last weigh-in, she was 77 pounds.  She is beginning to scare people when they first look at her, just because of her size!  She is also quite powerful and agile.

What is a Vick trading card worth these days?

Ha Ha again!  Here is more news on the most popular Michael Vick merchandise.  I absolutely love the idea of the Vick chew toys.  I wouldn’t buy anything, though, unless I was sure some of the money was going to shelters or other animal charities.

What is a Vick jersey worth these days?

Ha Ha — I just love news like this!  Speaking of jerseys, check out the great selection of Doberman apparel on My Amazon Store.  There are jackets, hats, tote bags, aprons, and even baby stuff, too.

Look at the pictures, damn it!

Some blogs are worth reading, with or without photos, but this isn’t one of them.  Doberman lovers are obsessed with photographing their dogs and showing them off.  They also enjoy looking at photos of other Dobermans.  And why shouldn’t they?  After all, Dobermans are The Cadillac of Dogs:  sleek, elegant, luxurious, etc.  But they are also cute and adorable (especially as pups) and can be downright silly a lot of the time.  Therefore, I’ve decided to contribute to the photo frenzy with my Dobie Gallery.  Here you will find pictures of my dogs and other dogs I’ve found online while searching endlessly for Dobie-related material.  Because the Gallery is on a separate page, and you cannot assign tags to pages (only individual posts on the home page), I am posting this entry simply to help others locate more photos.  Enjoy!

The Vicious Doberman owner

I found this article on the Rocky Mountain News website:  Knife that killed pit bull finds way to owner’s heart.  In a nutshell, a little Pit Bull gets into a fight with a Doberman at the dog park.  The Doberman’s owner runs over with a knife and stabs the Pit Bull five times.  He also slices the dog’s throat twice.  The Pit Bull bleeds to death on the way to the Vet.  Geez!  Whatever happened to dumping a bucket of water on the dueling dogs?  Why was this guy bringing a knife to the dog park in the first place?  It was unclear which dog attacked first, but clearly the Doberman owner has a screw or three loose somewhere.

Humane Society scam?

I have REMOVED the Stop Puppy Mills link to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) website.  This was due to allegations that they scammed people for donations to “take care” of the rescues from Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring.  I was just about to donate to them when I heard of this through the dobe-obed listserv on Yahoo.  However, I was not able to find enough trusted information to substantiate it.

Is it just me?

I’ve added some new pages in the Dobie Gallery, but it hasn’t exactly been easy.  The WordPress editor is at best, difficult to use if you’re trying to lay out photos and text in a post.  Things don’t move where I want them to sometimes, and then other times, they don’t stay where I put them.  I wonder if other blog software is easier to use.  I guess I can’t fight it anymore.  I’ll have to spend some time developing my “real” website at www.cadillacofdogs.com — I own the domain and have complete creative freedom with the layout and heirarchy of pages.   When I get the gallery up and running on that site, I will simply link to it from here.