Penny was eating her breakfast as I sat reading The Age newspaper today. When I read an article about a German organisation called Tiertafel I realised how lucky we are to be able to feed Penny well.
With times so hard all around the world, many people are having to make the hard decision to give up a much-loved pet because they have to choose between feeding themselves (or their children) - or feeding the pet.
Many elderly pensioners are in this sad situation and we all know that if an old pet is given up to a shelter it's unlikely to be adopted.
Tiertafel was set up to stop people having to make this awful choice. Pet owners in financial difficulty, short term or long term, can get free food for their pets.
There are about 19 of these free food outlets in Germany now. I had a look at a lovely feel-good video clip showing the 'pet soup-kitchen' in action in Berlin. Even if you don't speak German, it's a nice video to look at. First it shows 'two-legs' patiently queuing with their four-legged pals and then explains that people need to prove they are in need. Then we see volunteers bringing in donations and a lady explains that she's donated some food because she feels for people in this situation.
Showing posts with label petfood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label petfood. Show all posts
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Saturday, 26 July 2008
knackeries and dog food
Penny generally eats a diet of raw food, but sometimes we supplement it with packaged 'pet food'.
My attention was caught by a piece in today's career section of The Age newspaper - an interview with a knacker. I'll quote a bit of what he said because I can't find a link to that section of the paper.
The worker, George Marsh, said, "We only do animals for pet food. The good meat goes into pet food and the rest of it is boiled down.' He had previously explained that they slaughter animals like goats, sheep, cattle or horses, basically animals that are suffering with things like broken legs. He said sheep and goats don't have much meat on them.
Here's the bit I found interesting. "Anything that's adulterated - like with cancer or something - can't go to an abattoir...we do things that aren't fit for human consumption." Further on he said, "But now the Government want our places looking like (an) abattoir - like the food's for human consumption - that makes it hard."
To me it's a case of "good news and bad news", the positive side being that not all of the diseased or cancerous material goes into the pet food and the fact that the government is trying to regulate this industry.
The negative? Well, the implication is that even the so-called "good meat" isn't too good.
And don't ask me to write about the indescribably sad accompanying photo of horses waiting to be killed.
My attention was caught by a piece in today's career section of The Age newspaper - an interview with a knacker. I'll quote a bit of what he said because I can't find a link to that section of the paper.
The worker, George Marsh, said, "We only do animals for pet food. The good meat goes into pet food and the rest of it is boiled down.' He had previously explained that they slaughter animals like goats, sheep, cattle or horses, basically animals that are suffering with things like broken legs. He said sheep and goats don't have much meat on them.
Here's the bit I found interesting. "Anything that's adulterated - like with cancer or something - can't go to an abattoir...we do things that aren't fit for human consumption." Further on he said, "But now the Government want our places looking like (an) abattoir - like the food's for human consumption - that makes it hard."
To me it's a case of "good news and bad news", the positive side being that not all of the diseased or cancerous material goes into the pet food and the fact that the government is trying to regulate this industry.
The negative? Well, the implication is that even the so-called "good meat" isn't too good.
And don't ask me to write about the indescribably sad accompanying photo of horses waiting to be killed.
Saturday, 10 November 2007
dog training in Darebin Parklands
Penny and I set out in the cool of the morning to take part in a special free dog training session in Darebin Parklands.
It was arranged by the City of Darebin Animal Management, and Lynne Hiscock was the contact officer who organised it. Darebin DOGs (Dog Owners Group) advertised it through their email contact group - darebindogs@hotmail.com. Bruce, one of the organisers of the Darebin DOGs, is pictured here discussing the day with Lynne and making plans for the future. I'm very grateful for the work they put into this day.
A local dog obedience club ran the session.
It was an enjoyable morning, even though it quickly got very hot and we were all heading for any little bit of shade. I'm not much into formal obedience, I must say, but got a few good ideas for working with Penny.
The things I will practise are:
walking on the short lead without surging ahead;
doing a five-minute sit at home;
making sure the recall is very strong.
When Penny is on the long extending lead I don't care if she's out in front. I don't have any sense that she thinks she is leader of the pack when she's ahead. I think she is just aware that if she wants to sniff evey vertical surface, she'd better rush ahead so she can do it before I catch up and hurry her on. Likewise when she's off lead and going places with me I don't mind if she ranges out from me.
However, when we walk up to the shops it's great if she's walking nicely and I'm going to do what the trainer said. How we did it was that she walked on my left, as normal, and when she surged ahead I stopped and walked backwards a few steps, calling her if necessary and when she was level with me on my right I turned towards her so she was on my left and we walked a bit in that direction, before heading back the way we had been going. I think that was it...
I'd like to try the five-minute sit because, even though I'm not into dominance, it would be a good exercise to try occasionally to check that she does have the self-control to do it.
The recall was discussed at some length. I agree with the trainer that this is the most important obedience command. Although I may not like obedience training, I know that there are some things that MUST be taught to a high level. He reminded us that it is vitally important that all recalls must end with a pleasant experience for the dog and that we should never chastise a dog when it comes to us, no matter how irritatingly slow the return was.
It was a pleasant surprise at the end of the session to discover that there was a free bag of goodies from the 4-Legs dog food company. It's a brand of food that I do buy sometimes, when we're slacking off from the only-raw-food thing. I also use the 4-Legs Doggy Cool treats because they seem to have wholesome ingredients and they can be cut up into tiny pieces without falling apart.
We allowed Penny to have a look in the bag and she pulled out a bone-shaped rawhide treat and rested in the shade whilst chewing it. I don't think I would be buying them, though, as I don't like rawhide treats because I got a fright one night when she seemed to be choking on one (not a 4-Legs one).
Oh, course, seeing we were in the beautiful Darebin Parklands, it just wouldn't be a satisfying day unless it ended with a swim - and the water was crystal clear, today.
It was arranged by the City of Darebin Animal Management, and Lynne Hiscock was the contact officer who organised it. Darebin DOGs (Dog Owners Group) advertised it through their email contact group - darebindogs@hotmail.com. Bruce, one of the organisers of the Darebin DOGs, is pictured here discussing the day with Lynne and making plans for the future. I'm very grateful for the work they put into this day.A local dog obedience club ran the session.
It was an enjoyable morning, even though it quickly got very hot and we were all heading for any little bit of shade. I'm not much into formal obedience, I must say, but got a few good ideas for working with Penny.
The things I will practise are:
walking on the short lead without surging ahead;
doing a five-minute sit at home;
making sure the recall is very strong.
When Penny is on the long extending lead I don't care if she's out in front. I don't have any sense that she thinks she is leader of the pack when she's ahead. I think she is just aware that if she wants to sniff evey vertical surface, she'd better rush ahead so she can do it before I catch up and hurry her on. Likewise when she's off lead and going places with me I don't mind if she ranges out from me.
However, when we walk up to the shops it's great if she's walking nicely and I'm going to do what the trainer said. How we did it was that she walked on my left, as normal, and when she surged ahead I stopped and walked backwards a few steps, calling her if necessary and when she was level with me on my right I turned towards her so she was on my left and we walked a bit in that direction, before heading back the way we had been going. I think that was it...
I'd like to try the five-minute sit because, even though I'm not into dominance, it would be a good exercise to try occasionally to check that she does have the self-control to do it.
The recall was discussed at some length. I agree with the trainer that this is the most important obedience command. Although I may not like obedience training, I know that there are some things that MUST be taught to a high level. He reminded us that it is vitally important that all recalls must end with a pleasant experience for the dog and that we should never chastise a dog when it comes to us, no matter how irritatingly slow the return was.
It was a pleasant surprise at the end of the session to discover that there was a free bag of goodies from the 4-Legs dog food company. It's a brand of food that I do buy sometimes, when we're slacking off from the only-raw-food thing. I also use the 4-Legs Doggy Cool treats because they seem to have wholesome ingredients and they can be cut up into tiny pieces without falling apart.
We allowed Penny to have a look in the bag and she pulled out a bone-shaped rawhide treat and rested in the shade whilst chewing it. I don't think I would be buying them, though, as I don't like rawhide treats because I got a fright one night when she seemed to be choking on one (not a 4-Legs one).Oh, course, seeing we were in the beautiful Darebin Parklands, it just wouldn't be a satisfying day unless it ended with a swim - and the water was crystal clear, today.
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