By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Life saving pet first aid course

What do you do if your dog or cat is choking or not breathing?  Or if your pet needs first-aid immediately but you are no where near a veterinarians office?  Often times as pet owners we don’t even consider these things in our daily lives, but injuries and emergency situations can and do happen to our pets.  It’s better to be prepared and know what to do for your pet’s sake.  Luckily for pet owners here on Long Island and in Queens and Brooklyn we have a certified Pet CPR and First Aid instructor that proactively offers classes teaching life saving techniques and first aid for pets.  Robyn Elman, who is also the President of In Home Pet Services, Inc., (http://www.inhomepetservices.com/), is the only certified ‘Pet Tech’ Instructor in the Tri-state area is offering these classes to pet owners, pet professionals, and anyone that wants to learn these very important pet life saving procedures. 

Robyn said, “It is so important for not only pet industry professionals to learn Pet first Aid & CPR, but also first responders like police officers and firemen and women.  Often times a pet may not survive an emergency situation because the people initially tending to them may not know what to do.  According to the American Animal Hospital Association, 1 out of 4 pets would survive if just one pet first aid technique was applied prior to getting the pet to emergency veterinary hospital.” Robyn is certified by Pet Tech National Training Center based in Carlsbad, CA and works with different pet organizations and businesses throughout Queens, Long Island, NYC and other boroughs.  Robyn has been teaching these classes for over 3-years. 

Using a life sized stuffed animal dog, this class will teach participants how to: restrain an injured or ill pet; CPR and rescue breathing; bleeding injuries; heat and cold element injuries; bandaging; insect bites and much more.   As a way to give back, Robyn offers a portion of the proceeds from the class to non-for-profit animal organizations that want to be involved.  Pet owners in the area are in luck because the next class will be offered this Saturday, October 2nd from 9:30 am – 1:30 pm at Best In Show Pet Resort in Mineola, (244 Herricks Road Mineola, NY 11501).  Robyn is thrilled to once again be working with Pet Safe Coalition (www.petsafecoalition.org) for this class and a portion of the proceeds of the class will go to this very important Long Island pet organization.  A recent class participant said this, “The instructor was great, and the material really covered a lot of subjects. We even practiced CPR on the stuffed animals. I would reccomend it to any pet owner,” stated Alice Laby.

To register for this class, individuals can call (718) 347-7387 or send a check or money order for $85.00 payable to In Home Pet Services, Inc. and mail to: 88-25 247^th Street, Bellerose, NY 11426 – or pay cash at the door – but registration is necessary.  Each participant will receive a take-home reference manual and a certificate that they completed the course valid for 2-years. For more information about this course or about In Home Pet Services, go to: www.inhomepetservices.com.

By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

This week from Sunday, August 8 through Saturday, August 14, National Assistance Dog Week (NADW), http://www.assistancedogweek.org/, is celebrated across the United States.  In recognition for all the amazing things assistance dogs do for their companions, to help them live their lives to the fullest – NADW was born.  Whether the person is blind, visually impaired, a diabetic, an amputee, has a traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder or owns and works with a therapy dog, we honor all the canines, their handlers and trainers this week.

Here on Long Island we are fortunate to have a two dedicated organizations that train dogs to be assistance dogs. The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, Inc., in Smithtown was started 1946 and has been providing guide dogs free of charge to blind people who seek enhanced mobility and independence. Located in Patchogue, the Northeast Region of Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), provides highly trained assistance dogs, that are also free of charge to children and adults with disabilities in 13 states across the Northeast and opened 1989.  Both of these much needed amazing organizations are non-for-profit and relay on donations to continue their efforts.

While the Guide Dog Foundation continues to provide dogs to assist the blind and visually impaired and they also have a sister organization called America’s VetDogs.  America’s VetDogs was created to consolidate and increase their outreach to veterans. VetDogs provides guide dogs for veterans who are blind or visually impaired; service dogs for those with disabilities other than blindness (amputations, traumatic brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, etc.); specialized facilities dogs that provide physical and occupation therapy at VA and military hospitals. Also, unique combat stress control dogs that are deployed with combat stress control teams to work with soldiers in the field dealing with combat stress, issues on the home front, or sleep disorders.

Photo’s courtesy America’s VetDogs and The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind/William Krol

The Guide Dog Foundation has developed a special balance harness for work with amputees and provide refresher training for guide dog users. Guide dogs are also taught “intelligent disobedience,” which means that they will not proceed if they and their handler are in danger.  For disabled veterans with traumatic brain injuries who may also suffer from some cognitive impairment, a service dog trained with intelligent disobedience stops them from crossing a street if a car is coming.

“With the expansion of both our guide and service dog programs, there many career paths for our dogs. It’s rewarding to us that so many more people can be helped by a dog that’s matched with someone who needs it the most – no matter what its job,” stated William A. Krol, Communications Manager at the Guide Dog Foundation. “Each day is a new adventure as we serve people with disabilities, but we could not accomplish what we do without our donors, volunteers, and staff. We are supported entirely thanks to the generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, and service groups. We do not receive regular government funding.”

At Canine Companions for Independence which started in 1975 in Santa Rosa, CA, and has regions across the US including our own in Patchogue, the life changing result begins with their CCI breeding program.  They use advanced technology, so with their breeding program they meticulously select and pair dogs for breeding.  Volunteer breeder caretakers provide homes for the breeder dogs and whelp the puppies, returning the puppies to CCI national headquarters in Santa Rosa, California at age eight weeks.

Then the puppies are placed in volunteer puppy raiser homes across the US for socialization and obedience training.  At the ages between fifteen and eighteen months the puppies return to one of five CCI Regional Training Centers across the country for six months of in depth training.

CCI dogs are train four types of assistance dogs and master over 40 specialized commands.  The dogs are trained in one of the following categories: Service Dogs, Skilled Companions, Hearing Dogs and Facility Dogs. Once the dog has completed the training, the dogs are teamed with a graduate during an intensive two week training period, called Team Training.

While these dogs are friendly, they are working dogs.  The general public needs to respect this and always ask their handler if they can say hello prior to petting the dog.  As this goes with any dog, it is especially important for assistance dogs.  We applaud all the hard work the dogs, organizations and volunteers do to continue to make assistance dogs a possibile and vital part of their owner’s lives.

For more information on how you can become involved with either the Guide Dog Foundation or Canine Companions for Independence as a puppy raiser, volunteer or make donations go to their respective websites: http://www.guidedog.org/content.aspx?id=548 or http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.3978475/k.BED8/Home.html

By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Firemen, hot cars and cool dogs all for a great cause!

Calling all hot rod enthusiasts and dog lovers!  There is a really cool event coming up on August 28th in Merrick, a car show and swap meet – but this has a twist, it’s gone to the dogs!  The first annual “Cruisin’ for Canines,” hosted by Vinyl Concepts, a local family owned and operated sign business, will bring together two of mans, (and woman’s) favorite things, cool cars and their four-legged best friends. The best part is all the proceeds from Cruisin’ for Companions will be donated to Forgotten Friends of Long Island Animal Rescue to continue their mission to save pets on Long Island and The North Merrick Fire Department to maintain their volunteer efforts for the community.

Vinyl Concepts decided to create this unique furtastic event for their love of animals. Owners, Joann & Jesse Ferrara adopted both their dogs and they can’t imagine their lives without them.  Joann Ferrara said, “This show will bring people together and continue to save lives of precious animals who have been overlooked and deserve a second chance.”

“Cruisin’ for Companions” will take place on Saturday, August 28th from 9am to 5pm with a rain date of Saturday, September 4th.  The event will be located at Four Towns Training Center (Fireman’s Field) on Merrick Road in Merrick. (Off of exit M9E on the Meadowbrook Pkwy.) This family event will have something for everyone. A mobile pet adoption from Forgotten Friends of Long Island Animal Rescue, judging and trophies for the car participants, doggie contests, all kinds of vendors, professional photography for cars & pets and raffles much more!

Admission for adults is $6.00.  Children are FREE and Pets are FREE.  For Pre-registered car participants the admission fee is $25.00. For same day car participants the admission fee is $30.00.

Long Islander’s love their cars, and their dogs – don’t miss this pawsome event, to benefit two amazing organizations. So come down with your dog for a great cause! Please make sure you’re responsible for pet, by curbing your dog and making sure that they are vaccinated and play good with others.  If you don’t have a four-legged friend, there will be plenty of pets that need a good home available for adoption.  So, open your mind, heart and home to the animals in need.  And heck, there might be some hot firemen there to go along with the hot cars!

For more details on how to register your car for the event or to become a vendor call Joann (516) 804-9461 or go to:  http://www.vinylconceptscorp.com/Vinyl_Concepts/News.html

By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Update! Local Law 9 was repealed last night after a long night of public outcry from dog owners across Long Island, New York City, and Westchester who were in attendance at the Rockville Centre Village hearing.  Due to the large crowd, at least 250 people, the hearing was held in a larger location where everyone who wanted to speak out against this illegal law was able to do so.

A very important point that was made, was the Rockville Centre does not need to add ANY additional dog laws, that there are already state laws in place that are excellent laws to help protect citizens from ANY dog, regardless of the breed, that may be deemed dangerous.  A point the Mayor and Trustee David A. Krasula clearly did not know about.  Rockville Centre officials need to enforce existing leash laws, NYS Dog Licensing requirements (all dog owners in NYS need to have their dog licensed through the state), and deal with any problem dog (and owner) based on a case by case basis, i.e. the existing state law as described above.

Trustee David A. Krasula who doesn’t seem to be a dog friendly person mentioned that what if ALL dogs were to be muzzled in public, he was booed and yells of “No!” from the crowd.  He then suggested what if it was based on dogs over a certain weight – again boos and shouts of no.  So think about that, if they decided to add another law of muzzling dogs, ANY DOGS regardless if they have ever done anything but be great dogs, but because they are over a certain weight, they would be need to be muzzled in public?  That means YOUR dog too – Labs, Goldens, Standard Poodles, Wheaten Terriers, Dalmatians, Greyhounds, Border Collies, etc. etc. etc., you get the point.  This is where BAD laws like this turn too – “Well if we can outlaw certain breeds then why not just muzzle them all?”  Because that makes so much sense, right? (Can you hear my sarcasm?).  So I would say while we are thrilled the Mayor and trustees that originally voted, (Trustee Oppenheimer voted against the ban from the get go), to ban Pits, Rotties or any dogs that kinda sorta look like one of those breeds, I would tell the dog owning community, especially in Rockville Centre, to pay attention to what your government may try to pull next.   Watch their hearing calendar’s like a hawk on their website to make sure another absolutely ridiculous, discriminatory law is not passed.

Rockville Centre needs to offer free education classes to its citizens, like the Towns of Islip does, and Huntington did – and the board of Trustee’s should be in the very first class offered.

There were also at least 25 dogs there with their owners in protest of this (in the parking lot), and while there were different breeds the majority of breeds were Pit Bulls.  Every dog was perfectly well behaved, friendly, and super sweet.  It is not hard to be a responsible dog owner, own a Pit Bull or Rottweiler and have one of the best dogs in town – the owners & dogs in attendance last night proved that.  Two of the sweetest Pit Bulls were there, and they are working therapy dogs here on Long Island.

A sleeping giant awoken…

A huge turnout of dog owners, rescue groups (Littler Shelter, Forgotten Friends of Long Island, Bobbi & the Strays, etc.), and dog organizations, (Rottweiler Club of America, LI Dog Coalition of Dog Fanciers, LI Dog, AKC Members, Long Island Pet Professionals members, Rescue Ink and more), showed up in full force of over 350 people strong to protest and speak their opinion at the Rockville Centre Village hearing on June 28.  Only 108 people were let into the actual hearing, and everyone that spoke and addressed the Mayor and Village Trustees were all completely against this ban of Pit Bulls and Rottweilers within the Village (or anywhere for that mattter).  The law, enacted on June 8th unbeknownced to anyone in the dog world on Long Island or in the New York area is now suspended until July 20 where their will be a pubic hearing on the topic.  It was very clear that the village officials did not expect the giant crowd that attended, and the hearing was delayed a bit before letting anyone in.  The police cheif even said, “They were not expecting this many people to show up.”

News vans from ABC, CBS, NBC, News 12 and Fios1 were also there and gave great reports about on each news station.  In speaking with fellow outraged dog owners, many were saying how horrible this law is, discriminatory, unfair and illegal too.  There were many animal lawyers in attendance that oppose any Breed Specific Legislation and planning on coming back with even more people on July 20 at 7:30pm (Anderson Recreation Center, 111 North Oceanside Road, Rockville Centre, NY).  Rockville Centre Village officials should plan to host the July 20 meeting in the local high school auditorium as everyone there plans on coming back and bringing even more dog owners with them. *Note the location change above – guess they were listening.

Frankie – too cute!

People all the way down the street and around the corner.

Rescue Ink crew

Standing room only

By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Breed Specific Legislation on Long Island?

On June 8, 2010 the Village of Rockville Centre, NY passed a new law banning two popular breeds of dog here on Long Island, the Rottweiler and the American Pit Bull Terrier/American Staffordshire Terrier — or any dog that resembles that breed. The catch is, this law is completely illegal and cannot be enforced by village authorities. Why is this law illegal? The law is illegal because New York State prohibits any municipality, (hamlet, village, town, city, county), from banning a dog based on breed alone:

New York State is one of 13 states that prohibit discriminatory breed profiling and breed specific dangerous dog laws. New York municipalities with breed specific laws cannot legally enforce them. Article 7, Paragraph 107, Section 5 of Agriculture and Markets law states:

Nothing contained in this article shall prevent a municipality from adopting its own program for the control of dangerous dogs; provided, however, that no such program shall be less stringent than this article, and no such program shall regulate such dogs in a manner that is specific as to breed.

Link to law: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AI/AGM_ART_7.html

The outrage of this illegal law being passed is growing like wildfire as many responsible dog owners on Long Island are finding out about this. There was no reason or incident for the village of Rockville Centre to pass such a law, according to the LI Herald report, (http://bit.ly/bRfZdr), just complaints about one house with a few supposed American Pit Bull Terriers.  Even if there was an incident, the Village is still prohibited from passing such a law based breed alone. So it makes you wonder what message the Village of Rockville Centre is really trying to get across?   If there was a real problem, did RVC officials reach out to any of the many dog organizations, experts or canine behaviorists for help or guidance? Or was this yet another knee jerk reaction to a complaint on one house by neighbors?

Luckily for the dogs on Long Island we are an immensely strong community of voting citizens and will not stand for any illegal discriminatory laws against any breed of dog. RVC should take a lesson from the dog friendly Towns of Islip and Huntington who have offered and still offer Free Responsible Dog Ownership classes, which have been a huge success in helping educate dog owners of all breeds including Rotties & American Pit Bull Terriers.  RVC should pay attention to the many amazing dog groups, trainers and associations that are helping every day to keep Long Island, dog friendly and dog safe.  RVC should embrace the hundreds of people planning on attending the hearing at their Village Hall, (1 College Place, Rockville Centre, NY), on Tuesday, June 29 at 7:30pm, where the LI Coalition of Dog Fanciers who will be addressing Village officials.  The Mayor and Trustees should be open minded and learn from the many professionals, who work and live on Long Island who happen to own dogs, including the breeds they think they can ban.  We should also applaud Trustee Edward Oppenheimer as he was the only member of the board that voted against this.  According the LIHerald article, Oppenheimer said he felt the village’s current vicious animal law was sufficient, and that it wasn’t necessarily right or fair to target specific breeds of dogs. (Oppenheimer for President!).

If you are a resident of Rockville Centre and happen to own one of these wonderful breeds of dog, your dog is grandfathered in, meaning you can keep your dog if you already owned it prior to this illegal law being passed under our noses.  Here is a link to this absolutely ridiculous, illegal law.

http://www.rvcny.us/rvcagenda/2010%20DOCS-773201-v1-RVC_LL_9-10_pit_bulls.pdf

RVC needs to rescind this law and apologize to dog owners in Rockville Centre, on Long Island and in NYS.   If that is not done by June 29, I think the trustees should prepare themselves for a lot of dog loving and upset folks to be at that hearing.

June 21, 2010
By Pamela Fitzpatrick, of YourDogWalkers, shihtzu58@optonline.net

This Friday, June 25^th, is TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY (TYDTWD). Businesses, pet care professionals, and animal shelters around the work will work together to better the lives of shelter dogs everywhere by participating. Created in 1999 by Pet Sitters International, TYDTWD is designed to celebrate our canine companions and encourage the adoption of dogs from humane societies, animal shelters and rescue groups. This annual event allows employers to recognize a special day to promote pet adoptions. If you can, join us in celebrating dogs on their special day!

If bringing your dog to work is impossible, ask your employer if you can organize an off-hours event for the dog lovers in your group.

If you plan to participate in Take Your Dog to Work Day, there are a few steps you need to take to get ready.

1. Get Permission Unless you are the boss, get permission. In all cases, talk to co-workers to make sure that no one is allergic or has issues with dogs. Make sure that there is adequate room for your dog and those of others and that that everyone can get along. Assess your space- can you safely and responsibly keep your pet there during the work day? This is especially critical if you share space with others.
2. Is Your Dog a good Candidate? In order to participate in this event, your dog must be well behaved, socialized with both people and dogs, and able to deal with the stress of an unfamiliar environment. Knowledge of basic obedience commands is a must! Health is another important factor to consider…..make sure your dog is up to date on all vaccines, is in good health and well groomed. Don’t bring a puppy or very young dog. If in doubt……err on the side of caution. (You can always bring photos of your dog if you decide they’re better off at home) If you work close to home, you might want to consider bringing your dog in for a half day the first time to see how things go. Remember that one of the main purposes of this event is to encourage animal adoptions, so you want your dog you demonstrate his best qualities.
3. Be Prepared Make sure you have the right supplies for the comfort and safety of all. Make sure to have a leash and collar, water/food bowls, dog treats, and toys. Don’t forget to bring a bag for waste cleanup.

Hopefully you will have the opportunity to introduce your four legged “best friend” to your co-workers this Friday. For more information on this event, visit the PetSitters International website at www.takeyourdog.