alfie dog publishing is named after a real dog

Finally I have discovered how Alfie Dog publishing got its name.

The website says it is named after their

patron, writer and family pet, Alfie Dog, who has written his diary as a highly successful blog since 2006. The smiling dog logo is in honour of this happy animal.

That's a year longer than Penny has been blogging! I'll have to keep an eye on Alfie's adventures. 

gallant dogs in war

I recently read in The Age newspaper about the painting by Peter Wegner that won this year's Gallipoli Art Prize. It portrays a dog wearing a gas mask. The report says:

Wegner's Dog With Gas Mask recalls the era when dogs were fitted with specially fitted gas masks and sent to search for wounded soldiers on the battlefields of World War I.

The article mentioned a dog called Judy who was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese after she helped rescue the crew of HMS Grasshopper, sunk in World War II.

That seemed like an amazing story, so I looked around for more information. Amazing sure is the word for the exploits of Judy the pure-bred liver-and-white English pointer.

I was fascinated to find a copy of a magazine from 1975 with an article about Judy. I loved this magazine when I was young! It was called Look and Learn.

Judy is buried in Tanganyika.

Birds in Warringal Parklands are used to dogs

After scaring myself that Penny might nibble some rabbit droppings along The Plenty River Trail yesterday, I moved her walk to our old favorite, Warringal Parklands. We had our usual fun, with lots of walking and swimming, but the difference on this walk was the number of birds we saw.

Do you know that feeling that someone is watching you?

Well, in this park they are!

(Sometimes from behind a blade of grass.) 

A big flock of ducks was munching on grass, and disobligingly flew off when I crept closer to take a photo of them, but when we came back from Penny's swim in the Yarra, they were back in the same place. 

I left them in peace this time, because I knew I couldn't get a photo in focus with my little point-and-shoot camera. Here's the one of them leaving previously:

The various birds that live in the parklands don't seem to care about dogs. They simply fly into the air, circle and land in the same place a couple of minutes after we pass by. 

Here: 

Gone: 

Back again: 

Penny found the birds quite boring. She would rather eat some grass.

who is Alfie the dog?

I've just added a new blog to my list of must-reads. It's called Alfie Dog and it seems to be a great place to download single short stories.

I wonder why it's called after a dog?

While I was rummaging through the site, trying to find the answer to that question (which I didn't find), I discovered there is an offer of a free download of seven stories. I'll go over there and get the stories after I finish writing this post.

And as to why I'm sort of off-topic for Penny's blog... it's  because I'm expecting one of my short stories to be published there soon! Of course there's a dog in my story - but it's not Penny.

I'll have to try to think of a story featuring Penny. But it wouldn't be a whole book, as Hsin-Yi is doing about Honey the Great Dane.

pindone poison info

After walking in an area where Pindone poison had been put down for rabbits, I wanted to know more. This is what I found:

It's an anticoagulant, and it sounds like a terrible death for the poor creatures:

Pindone interferes with the routine synthesis of vitamin K-dependent blood clotting factors in the liver. Without these factors, the normal daily damage to blood vessels can no longer be repaired. Poisoned animals usually die from multiple causes associated with anaemia or hypovolemic shock. A large single dose (18 mg/kg for rabbits) or repeated smaller doses (0.52 mg/kg/day over 7 days) are generally needed to induce death.                                               
• After ingestion of anticoagulants, there is usually a lag period of 3-5 days before the onset of clinical signs. This delayed onset reflects the time required to deplete existing stores of vitamin K and blood clotting factors. Initial signs of poisoning are depression/lethargy and anorexia followed by manifestations of haemorrhage including anaemia, laboured breathing, pale mucous membranes and weakness. Bleeding may be visible around the nose, mouth, eyes and anus and animals may pass bloody faeces. Swollen tender joints are common as a result of bleeding into the confined joint space.
• Discomfort and pain from haemorrhages in internal organs, muscles and joints typically lasts for several days before death. The time to death is around 10 to 14 days after the initial dose. 

Just frightful! (This reinforces my decision not to use anticoagulant poisons on rats in our garden.)

It seems a dog would have to eat a lot to be poisoned by this product, so I think my worry about Penny eating rabbit droppings was unnecessary.

Poisoning of non-target species can occur either directly by eating the carrot, oat or pellet baits intended for rabbits (primary poisoning) or through the tissues from a dead or dying poisoned animal (secondary poisoning).
• Although information on the toxicity and non-target impacts of pindone is limited, it is thought to be moderately toxic to a range of species. Whilst rabbits are extremely susceptible, sheep, possums and horses are comparatively resistant. Cattle, goats, chickens, cats and dogs are less susceptible than rabbits, but still may be at risk if exposed to large doses or smaller doses on successive days. A number of native species are likely to be as sensitive as rabbits to the effects of pindone. Macropods, bandicoots and a range of granivorous birds are susceptible to primary poisoning. Secondary poisoning can occur in species which feed on poisoned rabbits and carcasses eg. dasyurids and raptors.
• Rabbits dying from pindone poisoning can become lethargic and less aware of their surroundings. This can predispose these animals to predation which can in turn place predators at greater risk from secondary poisoning.
• Non-target species that accidentally receive a high enough dose of pindone will exhibit the same clinical signs as target rabbits i.e. physical weakness and lethargy, coughing and respiratory distress, pallor, anorexia, and ventral haematomas as well as internal haemorrhages.
• Because pindone is slow acting, if accidental poisoning of stock or companion animals occurs, vitamin K₁ (phytomenadione) can be administered by a veterinarian as an effective antidote. It is usual to treat an affected animal with vitamin K₁ for at least one week after an initial loading dose. If bleeding is severe, whole blood or plasma can be given to replace clotting factors and red blood cells. 

dogs and rabbit poison

Today Penny and I set out for a new walking place, the Plenty River Trail. It's a beautiful area and I had mentally marked it for exploration. Because I had an appointment nearby, and it's a cool day, I thought Penny could walk for an hour and rest afterwards in the car while I went to my appointment.

But what was this? A scary sign.

I thought we'd be fine, because the poison was in carrots and I couldn't see any carrots around. And Penny was on a wide path and on lead. But as we continued, I became nervous about whether she might scoff the little heaps of rabbit poo along the edge of the path. She loves herbivore poo - possum, kangaroo, and most delicious of all, wombat poo.

So we turned back and looked for a different place. 

There were still notices about Pindone poison, but it seemed less likely Penny could find anything untoward on this neat path. But when I arrived home, later, I  looked up some information about Pindone poison and dogs. 

We saw some nice edible indigenous plants, too. (Not that Penny fancies them. We have them in our own yard and she has never nibbled them.) We saw kangaroo apples...

and what I think is berry saltbush. 

We also looked at some kangaroo grass. 

All of which was interesting for me, but not much fun for Penny, so after my appointment and her wait in the car, we headed off to Warringal Parklands, which was much more enjoyable for her. But more about that next time...

at Best Friend Holiday Retreat

Penny has just been on holidays once again, staying in a dog-friendly cabin in the lush Tarra Valley.

On the way, we stopped at Yarragon Village while Penny's human (me!) had a cup of coffee and a sandwich. I chose the Yarragon Cafe, because it has a cute little garden out the back where a dog can mooch around and smell the smells.

The Best Friend Holiday Retreat at Tarra Valley is a great place for a dog to relax, as I've blogged previously here and here, and The Ninety Mile Beach is just amazing.