The Dog Whisperer

I was pretty skeptical about this show when I first saw it, because it just sounded like a cheesy concept to me. And actually, the first time I heard about Cesar Millan was when they did a parody of him on South Park. But even if you don't care at all about dog training, it's pretty impressive what he's able to do when confronted with a dog who seems out of control, like this one:



They show Millan interacting with a lot of different kinds of dogs, with a lot of different problems. They'd have to, obviously, or else all the episodes would be the same. And a few episodes are ridiculous, like the one where some crazy woman in Hollywood who had a completely pink condo had actually dyed her poodle pink. But a lot of what they show is actually cool, especially when it's a dog who has gone through some kind of trauma.

The Puppy Mill Law

Iowa just passed a law to deal with "puppy mills," where dog breeders keep the dogs in poor conditions. This is from a story by Rod Boshart of the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Sen. Joe Seng, D-Davenport, a licensed veterinarian, called the bill a good compromise that “solves a lot of people’s problems” by providing for better regulation of the commercial companion animal business while capturing fees and sales tax from the sale of those animals to help pay for the increased state oversight.

I wasn't clear on exactly what this bill does that wasn't already being done. Weren't there already laws that made this stuff illegal? But according to "Blog for Iowa,"

Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture licenses and inspects some puppy mills, but only those that sell wholesale to pet stores — not those that sell over the Internet or directly to the public. Iowa is one of only two states (along with Kansas ) where state officials are not able to inspect these puppy mills, even if complaints have been reported.

According to the Gazette story, some Iowa lawmakers aren't sure it's even going to do anything. Others are worried that this is opening the door to regulation on other kinds of animals (like chickens, on farms). But it seems to me that if it allows the state to do something about people keeping puppies in little cages in order to sell them online, that's probably a good thing.

Sit, Ubu, Sit

If you're wondering about the URL I chose for this blog, it was inspired by this production company signature that showed up at the end of some shows I watched as a kid. Gen X'ers should recognize it right away, I'd think:



Thanks to Wikipedia, I now recall that Family Ties was one of those shows. I also had no idea that the dog in question was named for a nineteenth century play. Love Wikipedia (but don't cite it as a source!).

Those inclined to complain about such things will note that my URL is "see ubu sit," which is not what the guy is saying in the clip. But "situbusit.blogspot.com" was already taken.

Welcome to "Good Dog"

I've always been interested in training dogs, and I'm thinking about getting licensed to do it. So during this unit, I'm going to find stories out there about dog training, and write about what I find. I've already found a book to read by that Dog Whisperer guy, so I'll be writing about that. And I want to figure out exactly what it takes to become licensed in Iowa; if it turns out that it's not hard to do, I might even start the process during the school year, and blog about that. I'll also be blogging about my own dog, Sparrow, who I've been trying to train. That's him in the picture.