Wheels For Pets

I stumbled on this company, Eddies Wheels For Pets, that makes wheel chairs for dogs who need help wheeling their hind ends around. I sometimes wonder whether Katy has dysplastic hips. It's a problem that runs in the breed. She came with a hips replacement warranty that means we will get a replacement Newf if her hips turn out to be so bad that she needs to be "put down" before she's two. I've already grown really attached to her so that would be horrible. It's nice to know there's something out there for her if she needs it. The photo shows a 120 lb Newf who used the wheels while recovering from spinal surgery. She now gets around without the wheels.

Yesterday's newspaper carried a story about China's new one dog policy to combat the spread of rabies. Not only are people not supposed to have more than one dog, but the one dog they can have has to be smaller than 14 inches. I think Max would barely qualify. A Newfoundland is out of the question. Why can they not just have the dogs vaccinated against rabies with a certificate of proof? I'm glad I'm not Chinese, and I'm also glad I'm not so naive to actually think that the war in Iraq has anything at all to do with safeguarding the freedom, like owning more than one dog, that we enjoy in the US. What I wonder is why the reporting never gets into why so few dogs in China are given rabies vaccines. Katy has actually been vaccinated twice for rabies because her vet office screwed up and vaccinated her again instead of Max.

Lately she has shown signs that she'd enjoy having a job. She is a working breed afterall. It's been very windy here lately. On a walk a few nights ago we saw a huge tree limb had crashed down on the roof of a house in our neighborhood. The wind has calmed down but the sidewalks are still littered with branches. Katy loves to swipe them and carry them around for the duration of her walk. She fit 4-5 good sized ones in her mouth the other night. One was about 5 feet long. We don't have a fireplace so bringing home kindling is cute but not terribly helpful. My Man With Gills thought it would be fun to outfit her with a blue and white U-B logo-d jacket to carry newspapers around for delivery. His newspaper is offering ten bucks for every new subscription an employee drums up. I wonder if Katy would be good at selling Newfpapers.