The puppy factor

There's nothing like a new puppy to make you realize that carpet is way overrated. Meet Hunter, a 10-week-old beagle who has joined our household. Hunter has been a part of the family for two weeks now, and in that time, he has: torn through a pile of Newsweeks I was meaning to read, carried every shoe from our closet into the living room, and learned where we keep the dog and cat food. But most surprising of all is the change he has made in the daily routine of Waldo, our 16-year-old Labrador retriever who is the namesake of this blog. We worried that bringing a rambunctious puppy into our house would be too much for Waldo, who struggles daily with old-age issues like deafness, blindness and arthritis. But something miraculous happened. Waldo and Hunter are the best of friends. Waldo still stumbles around the house, but now he has a six-pound escort. It's probably best that Waldo can't hear Hunter, whose beagle-esque vocalizing sounds like a really bad night in a karaoke bar.

Way to go, Ziggy

We love these "Incredible Journey" stories. In this one, a stowaway cat named "Ziggy" survived a 2,000 mile journey over 17 days without food or water after being trapped in a container shipped from Israel to Great Britain. Ziggy's journey started when the container was filled with plastic goods and sealed at a factory in Northern Israel. The fluffy white cat stunned workers when he jumped out of a sealed contained as it was unloaded at a warehouse in the UK. But Ziggy wasn't done - he continued to evade capture for five hours and was eventually lured into a cat trap with some tuna cat food.Workers at the kennel where he's staying have started a fund to raise money to keep him quarantined for the required six months. Meanwhile, officials are trying to find Ziggy's owners in Israel.

Wacky pet names

OK, I'll start it off. This is one of my cats, Darth Grayder. We got them about two years ago, shortly after we moved into our house. She and her sister, Black Maul, were offspring of feral cats near a co-worker's house. We bottle-fed them for the first week or so after we brought them home.

Darth Grayder and Black Mal were named by my son, who was 10 at the time and a huge Star Wars fan. They often are 'otherworldly.'

So what's your pet's wacky name? Comment below. To post a photo (I'll post one later of Black Maul, with her silky long black and white fur), send it to deb.acord@gazette.com

A dog's life in China

It's a dramatic culture clash. The Christian Science Monitor reports that having a dog as a pet is a new fad in China. But that doesn't mean a dog's life in China is carefree. Dogs are also still slaughtered for their meat and sold to restaurants throughout China. Those who choose to be dog-owners must be constantly vigilant, because the government has imposed strict regulations after of a huge increase in rabies deaths among humans and often sweeps towns and confiscates dogs. When that happens, the outlook is grim. Read the whole story at
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1102/p15s01-woap.html

Welcome to Waldo's World...

This blog for pets and pet owners is dedicated to Waldo, a yellow Labrador retriever who has lived long and hard.
If Waldo could talk, he would say, in this order, "Yes, I'm still alive," "what, no biscuits?" and "where did I leave that tennis ball?"
I wrote about Waldo last March in The Gazette. At that time, my family was trying to get used to the idea that this vibrant animal was reaching the end of his life. He was deaf and blind, had lost his sense of smell, and was becoming increasingly arthritic. Hundreds of readers responded to that story of love and loss, of aging pets and realizations that life, especially a life with a dog, is fleeting.
Eight months later, Waldo is still alive. He is in a slow decline, but with that decline has come a kind of peace. Waldo exists because he chooses to. We're letting him hang around as long as he wants to. Each day, he is a little slower. Each night, he sleeps a little deeper.
But his spirit remains strong.
With this blog, let's celebrate that spirit. Let's talk about our cats and dogs, our gerbils and our lizards. And yes, even our rats. Send your stories and pictures to deb.acord@gazette.com or bill.radford@gazette.com
and we'll post them here.