Don W. Strickland trains Dog News: sit, stay, woof! Userland's Radioland is a marvelous blogging tool, exploited with ease by anyone with even a smidgeon of programming skills and also by those of us, including Dog News, who don't know much of anything beyond html. Luckily for us newbies, dws (his nickname by choice), has decided to give us some much needed training and expert tutorials in Radioland's finer nuances. If you use Radioland and you're not an expert like Dave Winer (the creator of Userland and Radioland and Dave's handsome blog), Lawrence Lee, Russ Lipton, Jake Savin, Mark Pascal, Ernest Svenson, Andy Meadows, McGee's musings, then hurry over to Don's site and subscribe to his RadioAnswers. Dog News loves Radioland precisely because it is so forgiving of our doofus mistakes. Radioland gets 5 woofs: woof woof woof woof woof!

 Radio Free Blogistan, keeps a running journal at Salon.com, replete with links to the best blogging tools and experts and The Shifted Librarian researches all the newest tools of interest to news writers on the web. Naturally, Radioland's discussions  and Radioland's search tool are the first place to look when troubleshooting Radioland. Now if only dws can help us brush our dog's teeth...

Related: Radioland Documentation

Profiling animal abusers: who are they? US The Humane Society of the US provides some answers, based on statistical analysis. "The majority of animal cruelty incidents are committed by males and the majority of victims are companion animals like dogs and cats..." [The Pottsdown Mercury]

Denied insurance??*!*  our chow is a therapy dog MD It's one thing to deny insurance based on statistics -- that's simple breed discrimination; it's quite another to deny insurance based on breed,  when insurance applicants have demonstrated that their dog is exceptionally gentle and well-trained. That's just plain stupidity. We sent in our dog's exemplary service award, along with his advanced training certificates and additional information which demonstrate his gentle, obedient nature. But no, we got turned down anyway, even though our insurance agent wanted to see the exemplary award and everything else. Prior to denying our insurance, the agent told us we would also have to stop taking our dog to do therapy work with elderly people (imagine that; she wants to verify that he received an award and in the next breath, she's says 'no insurance if he continues his work' (it was demeaning, to say the least). We also can't have insurance because we live too close to a playground. (To get insurance for a chow, you must isolate your dog, never allow him to meet children or old people, and live far away from everyone... that's the gist of it, as far as I can tell.)

It's ironic because our dog loves children; he lays down on the ground and just wants to watch them. He loves getting cuddled. He just plain loves people and he has a noble demeanor. When he had hip dysplasia (now cured by two hip replacements by an excellent surgeon and veterinary care), he never complained; he just slowed down, was unable to walk and  sometimes groaned in obvious pain (but still, somehow, he remained a noble dog).

We're not alone: Insuring is impossible to do with some breeds reveals the bias and the sad results:

"Based on dog bite statistics researched by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Allstate recently comprised a list of eight dog breeds: Akitas, boxers, chow chows, Doberman pinschers, pit bulls, American Staffordshire bull terriers, rottweilers and wolf hybrids. "If you have any of these dogs, we will not give you homeowners insurance, period." ... [Los Angeles Daily News] (We don't have Allstate, but it might as well have been.)

What will happen with these breeds? I know we got our dog by good luck: we weren't looking for a chow, but here was this adorable dog, unclaimed, rejected and in need of a home. The fact is that our dog wasn't adopted sooner because he was a chow. We didn't know what a chow was: he was clearly alert, intelligent and gentle; that much we knew. It worked out for us... but it won't for other people who are being forced by statistics (which don't tell the whole story) to abandon their dogs to shelters. (more) (also Post-mauling backlash: Service dogs become swept up into hysteria )

Permalink:    Please comment   
Dog News: weird, inspiring dog tales | The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Beware: Insurers keep a dog | The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Beware: Insurers keep a dog | The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Beware: Insurers keep a dog | The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Beware: Insurers keep a dog | Beware: Insurers keep a dog blacklist | insure.com - The Insurance Guide Instant Online Quotes Go Front | The Basics -- Good dogs, bad dogs and homeowners insurance - MSN | The Basics -- Good dogs, bad dogs and homeowners insurance - MSN | Online Homeowners Insurance Quotes Company: insuring your dog ?

From The Jer zone, a wonderful weblog by Jerry Halstead,  a confirmation that dogs can count (or give you that impression):

"Of course my dog can count, can't yours? When Zeke was a much younger fellow I tested his counting abilities. Hold up one finger, one bark. Two fingers, two barks. Spot on (pun intended) like that until he reached six at which point I switched back to one and he barked once. Two for two, three for three. A miracle! It was after reaching three that I paused to mentally add up the millions we'd be making on the Counting Dog World Tour. I was still holding up the three fingers...Zeke continued to bark. Seems that what he'd really been doing was barking as long as I held up fingers. Of course when he reached the right number I'd lower the fingers. A good trick, but not world tour worthy."