Teaching Kids about Dogs: Martha Speaks

Martha Speaks

I have been a dog person since I can remember. My parents had a rescued Sheltie Shepherd mix named Foxy when I was born- one of father’s fraternity brothers from PENN (who he incidentally had dinner with this week)  had found the dog after the 1971 earthquake and somehow convinced my parents, neither of whom had ever had a dog, to adopt him.

Foxy was awesome- smart, playful and ever-patient as I am sure I was not exactly a gentle or delicate kid. He along with the Woody–the  puppy we got when I was 3– were my constant companion as a child. From that point on I was just drawn to all things dog…particularly dog rescue.

Kids & Dogs

But for normal kids how do they find out about rescue… what happens at a shelter… how to treat and properly care for dogs?

Today the answer is most likely an amazing show on PBS called Martha Speaks. The series and the books follow a family dog who eats alphabet soup and gains the ability of human speech. In addition to its mission of vocabulary development–always a good thing– the series aims to educate children 4-to-7 about shelter animals, and inform families on pet ownership and responsibility.

I love this show, and I’m particularly excited about its new season premieres on September 14th.  Over the course of the new episodes, viewers will see a two-part episode that further explores Martha, the title character’s days as a shelter dog and other new episodes that present strong anti-littering/pet safety messages in a way that is accessible to kids. Here is a preview of the episode airing today

A woman named Susan Medaugh created Martha Speaks.  The idea behind came one day over lunch with her then-seven-year-old son when he asked what would happen if he fed their family dog his alphabet soup. From there Meddaugh has educated and inspired so many kids and families about dogs. She is truly a role model for me. I hope the work I do with my book (The Complete Single’s Guide To Being A Dog Owner, Adams Media 2009) and this blog might make even a fraction if the impact she has had on helping to protect and cherish the dogs of this world!

Be sure to tune to your local PBS affiliate (even if you don’t have kids) today, September 14th!

Americans Consider Pets Part Of Family

AP Poll: Americans consider pets family

Me & Woody circa 1979

By MEGAN K. SCOTT – 1 day ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Susan Jacobs and her companion Kingston both like chicken and collards, chilling on the couch and riding in her convertible with the breeze tussling his curly black hair.

Kingston, it should be said, is a black poodle. But for Jacobs, 45, of Long Beach, Calif., he is like a child.

“The next time I travel, I’ll probably take him with me,” said Jacobs, a Mary Kay consultant and freelance writer. “I’m just used to him being around.”

An Associated Press-Petside.com poll released Tuesday found that half of all American pet owners consider their pets as much a part of the family as any other person in the household; another 36 percent said their pet is part of the family but not a full member.

And that means pets often get the human touch: Most pet owners cop to feeding animals human food, nearly half give the animals human names and nearly a third let them sleep in a human bed. While just 19 percent had bought an outfit for a pet, 43 percent felt their pet had its own “sense of style.”

Ranger and his girlfriend Idaho

Nathan Nommensen, 19, a college student who lives with his parents in Winthrop Harbor, Ill., said their golden retriever Molly sleeps in his parents’ room, goes with them on camping trips and appears in their annual family Christmas photo.

He doesn’t consider her a full member of the family, though. “She’s part of the family but not a human part of the family,” he said.

Singles were more likely to say a pet was a full member of the family than married people — 66 percent of single women versus 46 percent of married women, for example. And men were less likely to call their pet a full member of the household.

For some single women, pets become surrogate children, said Kristen Nelson, a veterinarian in Scottsdale, Ariz. She said men are also attached to pets — but are less likely to admit it because it’s not seen as masculine.

Debbie Jablonski, 50, of Wilmington, N.C., talks about her cats like a mom talks about her children.

My Son Ranger

Milkshake, who sleeps at the foot of her bed, sticks his cold nose on her eyelid and touches his paw to her face at 4:30 a.m. to wake her up and feed him. The other cat, Licorice, sleeps on the couch and has a habit of sitting on her newspaper when she is trying to read it.

“If you try to budge her, she will not move,” said Jablonski, laughing. “You will have to practically pick her up and move her.”

Jablonski, who works for a laboratory equipment manufacturer, celebrates the cats’ birthdays, includes photos of the cats in holiday cards and watches home movies of them playing.

Most pet owners don’t go that far, according to the survey. Only a little over a quarter celebrate their pet’s birthday or the day it came to live with them and just a third have included a pet’s photo or name in a holiday card.

Still, 42 percent of pet owners have taken a pet on vacation, with dogs more likely to accompany the family than cats. Dog owners were also more likely to take their pets to work (21 percent) or somewhere the animal wasn’t allowed (18 percent).

When it comes to feedings, nearly half of all dog owners and 40 percent of cat owners admit giving their pets human food at least sometimes.

Jimmy Ruth Martin, 73, who sells real estate in Louisville, Texas, said she gives her border collie Samantha table food: chicken, steak, potatoes, salad, ice cream. “She’ll eat anything I’m eating,” she said.

She said her dog has gotten so fat, she can’t climb up on the bed. “The table scraps have done that.”

Helen Reed, 60, of Clearfield, Pa., said her cat Sadie has personality — she is not a lap cat, sleeps at the foot of the bed and likes to be in the same room as her. But she doesn’t dress her up.

Martin doesn’t squeeze Samantha into cute outfits, either, though she said the dog does have her own sense of style. “She’s still a dog and I know it,” she said.

Bernice Miller, 71, of Springfield, Mo., said she likes to dress her Maltese up as a pumpkin on Thanksgiving and Santa on Christmas. She has a photo of she and the dog on her wall, signs his name “Tully” to cards and gives him treats on his birthday.

“He’s the best little thing,” said Miller, who is retired. “He just begs to go with me, so I don’t leave him too much. He’s just like a little kid.”

The AP-Petside.com poll was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media from May 28-June 1, 2009. It is based on landline and cellular telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,110 pet owners. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

Associated Press polling director Trevor Tompson contributed to this report.

• http://www.petside.com/petspoll

It’s Confirmed: I Love Dogs

Betsy Rosenfeld Class of 1995'ish

I went back to visit my alma mater, The University of Pennsylvania last week and in the few short hours I was there, I had one of those “DUH” realizations. That just makes you kind of laugh at yourself that you have missed such an obvious truth for so long. In this case, it was my truth that I love dogs, and how much their sheer presence impacts me.

I was not exactly a good student in college. I worked harder at not studying than I would have had to if I had just done the assigned work. But truly, I kind of hated the school part of school. Sitting still, reading endless pages of meaningless (or what I assumed would have been meaningless as I didn’t read them) assigned texts and writing papers in stodgy academic speak… YUCK. Instead I concentrated on boys, parties, and manipulating the PENN educational system to my benefit…who else turned 3 weeks in Greece and Turkey (including 5 days on a cruise) into 2 classes-worth of credits.

Halloween 1993

In the midst of this mire of academic waste, sorry mom and dad, a few classes do stand out… European Film… it reminded me of my high school film class at Crossroads, and my favorite teacher Jim Hosney. Women in Film because I dated my T.A. (technically after I turned in my last paper but I did get an A-) and finally a Communication class my senior year about First Amendment and Free Speech.

I always think of that class as a time when I actually did the assigned reading and participated in class. (As an aside, Elizabeth Banks was also in that class.) While I happen to now work for a first amendment scholar (Tracy Westen at the Center for Governmental Studies www.cgs.org) it doesn’t have much to with my later use of the material. To tell you truth I kind of never thought much about why I decided to pay attention in that class, that is not until last week’s visit to PENN when I felt compelled to seek out the professor of that class. Dr. Carolyn Marvin did I finally make the connection.

Over coffee, I showed her my book and we talked about what I’d been doing for the last (gasp) 14 years.

If you’re still reading, you’re probably wondering what the hell this has to do with my love of dogs. Well, Dr. Marvin aside from being an amazingly dynamic woman with a fantastic southern accent and a sassy attitude who taught an amazing class, she had a German Shepherd named Megan that came to class each week.

I of course remembered Megan fondly– she was an older shepherd girl with a fluffy coat belly made for tummy rubs—however it wasn’t until Dr. Marvin jokingly suggested that maybe it was Megan that helped me concentrate in her class that I made the connection.

Could it be that having a Megan in class pushed things over the top for me? Could being able to pet her while listening to a lecture, or give her a quick pat before taking a test have put me at ease and lessened the stress of school for me enough that I got past my otherwise ADD approach to school?

Abso-effin-lutely.

Just as dogs just have a calming presence for heart patients, for me, the presence of a dog can make you, or at least me, go above and beyond where I might have otherwise stopped. And nothing is a better testament to that than my book, The Complete Single’s Guide to Being A Dog Owner.

The Complete Single's Guide to Being A Dog Owner

For a girl who would have an anxiety attack about writing a 1000 word paper in school, I turned in the equivalent of 183 such papers when turning in my manuscript. And they were good papers too!

So I guess the moral of this little story is for the love of a good dog you can do almost anything!

Happy Dog Story

My friend Ryo was walking her dogs on Sunday, she when saw a dog run into traffic and get hit by a car. The driver sped off and the jogger walked right by him. What’s wrong with people?!?!? She wanted to help, but her dogs can be a bit dog aggressive, so she tried to run back home to put her dogs away first. Immediately “Ziggy” (named after his zigzag tire marks on his back) got up and started running towards her! Her dogs went into attack mode, but all Ziggy wanted to do was play. He play bowed and rolled over, jumped side to side… such a silly-pit!

Sweet Pit found in Traffic

 After 10 minutes or so, her neighbor heard her and came to help… at that moment, Ziggy saw a cat and started to chase, but as soon as they called him, he came right back with his happy wagging tail.As Ryo was full up with rescue dogs at her house, she brought Ziggy to the North Central Animal Shelter for the requisite 5 day hold. While she assumed his owner wouldn’t be claiming him, she gave them the benefit of the doubt and besides that was 5 days during which time Ryo with the help of her rescue friends could figure out something to do with him.

 Aside from the tire marks and loss of hair where he was hit, he looks like he was well-taken care of… Ziggy knew his sit and responded well to his handler. He was super friendly and such a goofball of love.

 For a rescuer this is a quite a common story. Somehow we always seem to find dogs, but rarely do we ever find these babies’ original homes, nor would those homes be places we’d want to send them back to. Yet sometimes even us jaded rescuers get thrown a curve ball, and this case it’s a good one!

Found Dog Flyer

 24 hours after finding sweet Ziggy Ryo found this:

 “Ziggy”’s real name is Francis, and his owners have been looking for him all night and day! He was named after the daughter’s father who passed away recently (and that’s why they just moved down here).

The mother called to let Ryo know she “saved” her family… that her daughter hasn’t been able to eat or talk to anybody since yesterday. She promised me she will be going to the shelter first thing tomorrow morning and said she will get him microchipped and get him tags. And yaaaay, he will be neutered before the shelter releases Francis to his family!

Ahh… finally a happy story to start my day and yours!

Betsy!

Off on A Trip

I am sitting in the airline club waiting to start a 10 day trip- Denmark, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and then home. Aside from my panic of making sure I haven’t forgotten anything, I tend to do that, I am very much missing my sweet Labrador, Ranger.

My Boy Ranger

This is really  the first time I will be leaving him for an extended time and I mean I knew I loved him, but I didn’t realize how attached I had become to him. I guess I was focused on mourning Bella, but with his big brown eyes and sweet demeanor the little guy has stolen my itty bitty heart.

Gladly Ranger is staying with my rescue partner Amy who I trust 100%. She by the way is available to dog sit in the LA area at your house or hers.

I’ve checked in about 4 times in 12 hours and Ranger is having a great time. I’m sure he doesn’t miss me at all! But I won’t hold that against him

Debate: Do All Dogs Go To Heaven?

Follow the debate being played out in a southern town between Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic Church and Cumberland Presbyterian, a fundamentalist church.  From top to bottom see the response and counter-response…

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2228641/posts

My Yellow Lab Ranger

My Boy Ranger

Ranger is everything I could ask for in a dog. After 9 years of having to cross the street to avoid dogs (My Bella was not always so cordial to other dogs) I get to cross the street to say hi to them as Ranger LURVES other dogs. He is also extremely mellow, sometime borderlining on being catatonic. On walks he sometimes even lags behind; there’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just taking his time. That is until he sees another dog, or gets a chance to go off leash, in which case he’ll either perk up or take off like the wind. We have to keep an eye on him at all times. It may be how he ended up in the pound in the first place.

Ranger can also be somewhat reserved. You can tell he loves people, and gets super excited to see new people but I don’t think he was coveted in his old home or showered with love like he is now. He just doesn’t know what to do with that kind of attention and there have been times in the last two months where I have said to myself, I don’t even think this dog likes me. I mean Bella was 80lbs of emotive love; I clearly got spoiled. Ranger’s aloofness has thrown me for loop.  How dog-co-dependent am I?

 But I think I’m bringing him over to the dark side. This weekend we spent a lot of time together. We took many long walks and cuddled quite a bit. When I ran home this morning because I forgot my glasses, he just looked at me with those big chocolate eyes as if to say “I love you Mommy, how can you leave me (with the housekeeper who gives me treats and takes me for walks.”)

Me & Woody circa 1979

While this little vignette is everything the dog whisperer would despise, and I don’t advise others to create such co-dependent dogs–as my mother says, do as i say, not as i do–I felt it to be a cherished moment; a milestone in a distinguished line of loved, spoiled Rosenfeld dogs that go back to the 1970’s.

Check Out My Guest Blog Post on BargainBabe.com

Click here to visit Bargainbabe.com!

I recently connected with a great blogger. Her name is Julia, AKA The BargainBabe.

Her blog, BargainBabe.com offers excellent advice about how remain fabulous while keeping on your budget. I will be doing some guest posts for her in the upcoming month about how to save money when it comes to all things dog!

Click the photo to ready my first contribution!

Should Bo Obama Be Considered A Rescue?

Yesterday I wrote about Bo Obama- the girls named him Bo– and referred to him as a rescue dog. I actually struggled with whether I should add the words “sort of” at the end of that statement. Ultimately I left it off and now I regret it.

While Bo was given back to the breeder, something that happens a lot with puppies (FYI a sign of a good breeder is whether or not they will take a dog back,  so I am at least grateful that they found a decent ethical breeder) I realize that I don’t think their bringing Bo into the White House is in sync with what was promised– that they would rescue a dog. Sorry, but no matter how much I have been behind Obama, I can’t quite buy that a dog from The Kennedy’s chosen breeder should be consider a rescued dog.

Reports indicate that The Obamas will donate to the Humane Society, but to me actions speak louder than words, and in this case money. The donation is  a consolation prize and while a nice sentiment, it will be but a blip on the Obama dog radar. Rather Bo will be around for a long time, and people will think in order to get a good, worthy dog they must get a breeder dog.

And lest anyone claim it was an issue of allergies, there are hundreds of dog dying in shelters around the country every day who are just as hypo-allergenic as Bo Obama.

I am sad and extremely disappointed in the example The Obamas are setting.

My own Marley & Me

Sitting in bed last night watching TV, I had an ah-ha moment…I have adopted my own Marley.

Marley & Me

It’s amazing, and in fact borderline embarrassing that it never occurred to me before. Ranger is not only the spitting image of Marley but he is also quite a mischevious puppy!  He isn’t as the destructive as his fellow Yellow Lab brother Marley, but Ranger’s puppy personality is a’coming out, so the jury may still be out on that one!

When we first got Ranger a few weeks ago, he was playful but quite happy with our routine of a few long walks everyday. But no more!

Yesterday, Ranger went on his morning walk with me. Spent the day with my Mom who took him on two long walks and then he accompanied me to a meeting after work.

Ranger with my Parents' Dogs

When we stopped at my parent’s house after the meeting, you’d have thought he had been kept in a cage all day! He ran around the yard doing circles and scooting along the grass like a crazy man. It was what I call a puppy fit, but of course Ranger is supposed to be closer to middle age than puppyhood. 

But maybe, again like his kin Marley, the lab that never grew up; maybe this is who Ranger is? And if that is so, we will love him and exercise him accordingly, because if I’ve learned one thing in all my rescue work, dog book writing, and time with Bella…
A GOOD DOG IS A TIRED DOG!!!